The Windows section of the download says, "The 32-bit version requires at
least Windows 95 ...", implying that it will run on Windows/95; however the
current v3.6 binary does not.  It installs properly but when you attempt to
start povray,  an error message-box appears saying somthing about povray
being linked to shell.dll which is missing export GetSpecialFolderNames."

It would be helpful to have a binary that continues to run properly on
Windows/95, thanks.

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1Daedalus wrote:
> The Windows section of the download says, "The 32-bit version requires at
> least Windows 95 ...", implying that it will run on Windows/95; however the
> current v3.6 binary does not.  It installs properly but when you attempt to
> start povray,  an error message-box appears saying somthing about povray
> being linked to shell.dll which is missing export GetSpecialFolderNames."
> 
> It would be helpful to have a binary that continues to run properly on
> Windows/95, thanks.

You should install the strongly recommended Internet Explorer 4 if you 
haven't.  A proper shell.dll certainly is included with it.  I don't know if 
it is included in IE 3 or not (the download page says IE 3 is required, that 
might be outdated, I just don't know.)

The function you are missing probably is "SHGetSpecialFolderPath" as there 
is no such thing as "GetSpecialFolderNames" anywhere in the POV-Ray for 
Windows source code.

	Thorsten

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Thorsten Froehlich <tho### [at] trfde> wrote:
> 1Daedalus wrote:
> > The Windows section of the download says, "The 32-bit version requires at
> > least Windows 95 ...", implying that it will run on Windows/95; however the
> > current v3.6 binary does not.  It installs properly but when you attempt to
> > start povray,  an error message-box appears saying somthing about povray
> > being linked to shell.dll which is missing export GetSpecialFolderNames."
> >
> > It would be helpful to have a binary that continues to run properly on
> > Windows/95, thanks.
>
> You should install the strongly recommended Internet Explorer 4 if you
> haven't.  A proper shell.dll certainly is included with it.  I don't know if
> it is included in IE 3 or not (the download page says IE 3 is required, that
> might be outdated, I just don't know.)
>
> The function you are missing probably is "SHGetSpecialFolderPath" as there
> is no such thing as "GetSpecialFolderNames" anywhere in the POV-Ray for
> Windows source code.
>
>  Thorsten


This system has IE 5.0 installed.  The unsuported function POV-ray
references is actually "SHGetSpecialFolderPathA" (the non-unicode version
of that Win32 API function).

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1Daedalus wrote:
> Thorsten Froehlich <tho### [at] trfde> wrote:
> 
>>1Daedalus wrote:
>>
>>>The Windows section of the download says, "The 32-bit version requires at
>>>least Windows 95 ...", implying that it will run on Windows/95; however the
>>>current v3.6 binary does not.  It installs properly but when you attempt to
>>>start povray,  an error message-box appears saying somthing about povray
>>>being linked to shell.dll which is missing export GetSpecialFolderNames."
>>>
>>>It would be helpful to have a binary that continues to run properly on
>>>Windows/95, thanks.
>>
>>You should install the strongly recommended Internet Explorer 4 if you
>>haven't.  A proper shell.dll certainly is included with it.  I don't know if
>>it is included in IE 3 or not (the download page says IE 3 is required, that
>>might be outdated, I just don't know.)
>>
>>The function you are missing probably is "SHGetSpecialFolderPath" as there
>>is no such thing as "GetSpecialFolderNames" anywhere in the POV-Ray for
>>Windows source code.
>>
>> Thorsten
> 
> 
> 
> This system has IE 5.0 installed.  The unsuported function POV-ray
> references is actually "SHGetSpecialFolderPathA" (the non-unicode version
> of that Win32 API function).
> 

Sounds like Shell32.dll was replaced by an older version. I'd recommend 
reinstalling IE5 or downloading and installing IE6 (if it runs on 95...)

-- 
~Mike

Things! Billions of them!

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Mike Raiford <mra### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> 1Daedalus wrote:
> > Thorsten Froehlich <tho### [at] trfde> wrote:
> >
> >>1Daedalus wrote:
> >>
> >>>The Windows section of the download says, "The 32-bit version requires at
> >>>least Windows 95 ...", implying that it will run on Windows/95; however the
> >>>current v3.6 binary does not.  It installs properly but when you attempt to
> >>>start povray,  an error message-box appears saying somthing about povray
> >>>being linked to shell.dll which is missing export GetSpecialFolderNames."
> >>>
> >>>It would be helpful to have a binary that continues to run properly on
> >>>Windows/95, thanks.
> >>
> >>You should install the strongly recommended Internet Explorer 4 if you
> >>haven't.  A proper shell.dll certainly is included with it.  I don't know if
> >>it is included in IE 3 or not (the download page says IE 3 is required, that
> >>might be outdated, I just don't know.)
> >>
> >>The function you are missing probably is "SHGetSpecialFolderPath" as there
> >>is no such thing as "GetSpecialFolderNames" anywhere in the POV-Ray for
> >>Windows source code.
> >>
> >> Thorsten
> >
> >
> >
> > This system has IE 5.0 installed.  The unsuported function POV-ray
> > references is actually "SHGetSpecialFolderPathA" (the non-unicode version
> > of that Win32 API function).
> >
>
> Sounds like Shell32.dll was replaced by an older version. I'd recommend
> reinstalling IE5 or downloading and installing IE6 (if it runs on 95...)
>
> --
> ~Mike
>
> Things! Billions of them!


The machine had IE 4.0 when I installed POV-Ray v3.6 (replacing V3.0).
When I encountered the "GetSpecialFolders..." error I installed IE 5.0,
knowing that IE upgrades sometimes fix such things.  At this point, other
than reporting this incompatability to the POV-Ray team, there is no point
in diagnosing the problem further.  The grade-school kids who use this
system can make do with v3.0.

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