some programs (VMware Server v1.0.4 build-56528 and DOSBox v0.72 are two 
such programs). After I close POV-Ray the problem disappear.

For example VMware shows the following message when I try to switch to 
fullscreen:





I installed Debugging Tools for Windows and tried to debug pvengine.exe. 
The problem appears after POV-Ray loads xpsp2res.dll (after the call to 

enough debugging skills and knowledge to pinpoint the problem further by 
this way.

Is there some way to pinpoint or solve the problem?
This problem exists from years... Maybe other programs can cause it 
also, but for now I'm aware only of POV-Ray.


I use Windows 2003 SP2 on 32 bit machine with 1GB RAM. I updated my 


restart for 1-2 months) and this is the only problem.

Thank you in advance,
Maxime

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Hi Maxime.
Have you tried changing Compatibility options? Right-click the program then
select Properties, finally Compatibility tab. You could try setting to XP,
and/or try Disable Themes.

I don't have Windows 2003 (Server?) but I checked and I think it can do the
above.

Bob

Post a reply to this message

omniverse wrote:
> Hi Maxime.
> Have you tried changing Compatibility options? Right-click the program then
> select Properties, finally Compatibility tab. You could try setting to XP,
> and/or try Disable Themes.

Thanks for the suggestion. I started POV-Ray in compatibility mode for 
Windows XP. I was able to switch VMWware virtual machine in fullscreen, 


Next, I started POV-Ray without using compatibility mode and tested 
DirectDraw from DirectX Diagnostic Tool (dxdiag). It passed the test. 
Then I maximized POV-Ray and ran the test again. This time it failed:




I started POV-Ray again and after that I was able to start DOS-Box in 


tried to run DOS-Box again but it refused to switch to fullscreen.





The video card is ATI Radeon 9600 and it seems to work fine.

Thank you,
Maxime

Post a reply to this message

Maxime Marrow wrote:
> omniverse wrote:
>> Hi Maxime.
>> Have you tried changing Compatibility options? Right-click the program 
>> then
>> select Properties, finally Compatibility tab. You could try setting to 
>> XP,
>> and/or try Disable Themes.
> 
> Thanks for the suggestion. I started POV-Ray in compatibility mode for 
> Windows XP. I was able to switch VMWware virtual machine in fullscreen, 

> 
> Next, I started POV-Ray without using compatibility mode and tested 
> DirectDraw from DirectX Diagnostic Tool (dxdiag). It passed the test. 
> Then I maximized POV-Ray and ran the test again. This time it failed:
> 


> 
> I started POV-Ray again and after that I was able to start DOS-Box in 


> tried to run DOS-Box again but it refused to switch to fullscreen.
> 

> 

> 
> The video card is ATI Radeon 9600 and it seems to work fine.

In addition to this I found that if POV-Ray is started with 


fullscreen, even if the POV-Ray window is maximized.

Maxime

Post a reply to this message

"Maxime Marrow" <mma### [at] gmailcom> wrote in message 
news:47b310b5$1@news.povray.org...
> Maxime Marrow wrote:
>> omniverse wrote:
>>> Hi Maxime.
>>> Have you tried changing Compatibility options? Right-click the program 
>>> then
>>> select Properties, finally Compatibility tab. You could try setting to 
>>> XP,
>>> and/or try Disable Themes.
>>
>> Thanks for the suggestion. I started POV-Ray in compatibility mode for 
>> Windows XP. I was able to switch VMWware virtual machine in fullscreen, 

>>
>> Next, I started POV-Ray without using compatibility mode and tested 
>> DirectDraw from DirectX Diagnostic Tool (dxdiag). It passed the test. 
>> Then I maximized POV-Ray and ran the test again. This time it failed:
>>


>>
>> I started POV-Ray again and after that I was able to start DOS-Box in 


>> tried to run DOS-Box again but it refused to switch to fullscreen.
>>
>> The video card is ATI Radeon 9600 and it seems to work fine.
>
> In addition to this I found that if POV-Ray is started with compatibility 

> then there is no problem to switch other programs to fullscreen, even if 
> the POV-Ray window is maximized.


Are you leaving the display color setting at 16 bit instead of 24 or 32?

I had used a Radeon 9000 (not 9600) set to 16 bit color without problems, 
something might be different for you.
I couldn't guess if it's the video driver or POV causing the trouble, but if 
you are sure the video driver is up-to-date that would be about all you can 
do for it.

Seems a rare thing to hear about such graphics card problems where POV is 
concerned.
-- 
/*bob hughes*/

Post a reply to this message

Bob Hughes wrote:
> "Maxime Marrow" <mma### [at] gmailcom> wrote in message 
> news:47b310b5$1@news.povray.org...
>> Maxime Marrow wrote:
>>> omniverse wrote:
>>>> Hi Maxime.
>>>> Have you tried changing Compatibility options? Right-click the 
>>>> program then
>>>> select Properties, finally Compatibility tab. You could try setting 
>>>> to XP,
>>>> and/or try Disable Themes.
>>>
>>> Thanks for the suggestion. I started POV-Ray in compatibility mode 
>>> for Windows XP. I was able to switch VMWware virtual machine in 

>>>
>>> Next, I started POV-Ray without using compatibility mode and tested 
>>> DirectDraw from DirectX Diagnostic Tool (dxdiag). It passed the test. 
>>> Then I maximized POV-Ray and ran the test again. This time it failed:
>>>


>>>
>>> I started POV-Ray again and after that I was able to start DOS-Box in 


>>> and tried to run DOS-Box again but it refused to switch to fullscreen.
>>>
>>> The video card is ATI Radeon 9600 and it seems to work fine.
>>
>> In addition to this I found that if POV-Ray is started with 


>> to fullscreen, even if the POV-Ray window is maximized.
> 
> 
> Are you leaving the display color setting at 16 bit instead of 24 or 32?

The display mode that I use is 1280x1024 with 32 bit color at 60 Hz.

> I had used a Radeon 9000 (not 9600) set to 16 bit color without 
> problems, something might be different for you.
> I couldn't guess if it's the video driver or POV causing the trouble, 
> but if you are sure the video driver is up-to-date that would be about 
> all you can do for it.

Thanks for the information.
The date of my video driver is 20.12.2007. I did some experiments:

I switched to 16 bit mode and ran the DirectDraw test (from dxdiag). It 
passed.
[1]
Then I started POV-Ray (it started maximized). I ran the test again - 
this time it failed. I ran the test yet again - this time it passed. 
Then I closed POV-Ray. I repeated this procedure two times starting from 
[1]. The result was the same.

So definitely there is a difference between 16 and 32 bit mode that 
affects the ability to switch to fullscreen.

 > Seems a rare thing to hear about such graphics card problems where POV
 > is concerned.

I will try to report this issue to ATI.

Thanks,
Maxime

Post a reply to this message

Bob Hughes wrote:
> Seems a rare thing to hear about such graphics card problems where POV is 
> concerned.

Which is as it should be - POV-Ray doesn't do anything special with
graphics at all. It's just an ordinary Windows app from the point of view
of Windows. No directx, no framebuffer access, nothing like that.

-- Chris

Post a reply to this message

"Chris Cason" <del### [at] deletethistoopovrayorg> wrote in 
message news:47b9594d$1@news.povray.org...
> Bob Hughes wrote:
>> Seems a rare thing to hear about such graphics card problems where POV is
>> concerned.
>
> Which is as it should be - POV-Ray doesn't do anything special with
> graphics at all. It's just an ordinary Windows app from the point of view
> of Windows. No directx, no framebuffer access, nothing like that.


Good to know, thanks Chris. I had wondered before if something special was 
needed for any of its integral parts (toolbar, render window, editor) to 
display properly. I expected the worst when I got Vista, but that's all user 
access security trouble not display stuff.
-- 
/*bob hughes*/

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