"Kenneth" <kdw### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
> > >
> > It seems that the /special/ DLL provided by Moray to communicate with
> > POV-Ray, only works with version 3.5. When you have installed POV-Ray
> > v3.5 you can see at the top "GUI-Extensions" and within "Moray
> > Communications DLL" which is probably installed there I guess, the first
> > time you link both apps. Somehow, Moray is unable to link that DLL with
> > a more recent version of POV-Ray.
> >
>  Aha! That's very interesting, and probably the most important clue to the
> problem I'm having. Thanks for the info!
>
> From my own tests with the changed library path, I was genuinely surprised that
> Moray could even fire up POV-ray v3.7/3.8 automatically. So it does seem that
> Moray is *trying* to make the 'tandem' connection with it...but something goes
> wrong during the process.
>
> Meanwhile, I hope I can find POV-ray v3.5 available somewhere...

I'm guessing that since it was a sort of home-brew app, then maybe there's a lot
of stuff like filenames hard-coded into the Moray source.

Is there a way to run a decompiler or some other analysis software to see what
filename Moray is trying to find/execute?

I'm guessing that Moray somehow needs the editor to make the SDL file, and
that's why POV-Ray needs to be installed.

Perhaps fill a directory with all known POV-Ray editor and engine filename
permutations and see which one got accessed?

Maybe a later version can be renamed and placed into a 3.5 directory to see what
happens?

Just shooting in the dark here.

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Op 28/05/2023 om 18:14 schreef Kenneth:
> Meanwhile, I hope I can find POV-ray v3.5 available somewhere...
> 

It is available at the POV-Ray site itself:

https://www.povray.org/ftp/pub/povray/Old-Versions/Official-3.5/Windows/

:-)

-- 
Thomas

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Op 28/05/2023 om 17:39 schreef Kenneth:
> "Kenneth" <kdw### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
>>
>> I am going to download POV v3.5, if it is still available on Github.
> 
> Well, apparently it is no longer available for download there?? v3.7.0.0 is the
> earliest version available. Unless I am looking in the wrong place...
> 
> https://github.com/POV-Ray/povray/releases
> 
It is available at the official POV-Ray site:

https://www.povray.org/ftp/pub/povray/Old-Versions/Official-3.5/Windows/


> Here's something interesting: As an experiment, I changed Moray's default
> library path for finding the POV-ray pvengine.exe file-- to my v3.7.0 install,
> and also to v3.8.0 beta 1. (I chose the 32-bit versions of each in the POV 'bin'
> folder).
> 
> Then in Moray's 'Render' menu, when I press either 'Raytrace' (F9) or 'Render',
> POV-ray automatically starts up! But nothing is actually rendered, as expected--
> Moray's render-image pane is black; nor does the Moray scene show up in POV-ray
> as SDL.
> 
> It was worth a try though, just to see what would happen.
> 
Yes, I had the same happen to me indeed.

-- 
Thomas

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Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
>
> It is available at the POV-Ray site itself:
>
> https://www.povray.org/ftp/pub/povray/Old-Versions/Official-3.5/Windows/
>

Great! Many thanks. Just out of curiosity, is there an obvious or official link
to that page, somewhere in the newsgroups?

I wonder if there are even earlier versions available, tucked away in some
equally obscure(?) location.


[JR wrote:]
> if you can find someone to build it for you/your Windows machine, I have
> the 3.50c source to hand.

Thanks for the offer. Personally, I know next to nothing about compiling a
program for Windows. Or even what kind of older(?) tools and tricks that might
be required for compiling such 'ancient' v3.50 source code, ha.

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Op 29-5-2023 om 16:21 schreef Kenneth:
> Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
>>
>> It is available at the POV-Ray site itself:
>>
>> https://www.povray.org/ftp/pub/povray/Old-Versions/Official-3.5/Windows/
>>
> 
> Great! Many thanks. Just out of curiosity, is there an obvious or official link
> to that page, somewhere in the newsgroups?
> 
> I wonder if there are even earlier versions available, tucked away in some
> equally obscure(?) location.
> 

Yes. Go to the official site: https://www.povray.org/download/

Scroll to the bottom of the page where you will find "Old Versions of 
POV-Ray". They tell us that all official releases since version 1.0 can 
be found there (old version tree).

-- 
Thomas

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"Bald Eagle" <cre### [at] netscapenet> wrote:
>
> I'm guessing that Moray somehow needs the editor to make the SDL file, and
> that's why POV-Ray needs to be installed.
> [snip]
> Maybe a later version can be renamed and placed into a 3.5 directory to see what
> happens?
>

That gives me a rather crazy(?) idea for an experiment with POV-ray v3.7/3.8 and
Windows 10 : I wonder if POV's v3.5 magical DLL(s) that Thomas mentioned could
be placed instead in the appropriate v3.7/3.8 folder location--assuming that
Windows will allow it-- then to see if Moray will recognize those DLL(s)
*there*. The idea being that Moray might then work correctly with POV v3.7/3.8
when Moray's F9 or Ctrl-F9 commands are invoked. Assuming that Moray is given
the correct library path.

I really have no clue as to what might happen; playing with DLLs is not my
'standard practice', ha. Maybe it would melt-down Windows 10 into slag :-O  But
hopefully not.

It seems like an experiment worth trying, at least.

But first, I need to try out the 'proper' combination of Moray and POV v3.5, to
see if that solves my 'export' problem.

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Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
> Op 29-5-2023 om 16:21 schreef Kenneth:
> > Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
> >
> > I wonder if there are even earlier versions available, tucked away in some
> > equally obscure(?) location.
> >
>
> Yes. Go to the official site: https://www.povray.org/download/
>
> Scroll to the bottom of the page where you will find "Old Versions of
> POV-Ray". They tell us that all official releases since version 1.0 can
> be found there (old version tree).
>

Well well! Not as obscure as I thought, ha. Thanks. I just need to use my
eyeballs better.

BY THE WAY: I have not been able to locate Moray itself as being available
anywhere; my searches have turned up no links. I thought that there was--or used
to be-- a link to it, somewhere on one of the official newsgroup pages. Maybe
I'm just being 'blind' again?

Luckily, I happened to have an archived copy of the Moray v3.5 installer from
long ago.

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In Moray, something which seems to work *every* time(? fingers crossed) 
is using The "Export" option under the "Render" switch, alternatively 
Ctrl+F9 . This bypasses the use of POV-Ray v3.5 and writes the INC, INI, 
and POV group of files from the MDL scene to the POVScn folder. Do *not* 
use the "Export" option under the "File" switch!!

Hope this works for you too. It would solve the present conundrum.

-- 
Thomas

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Op 29-5-2023 om 17:13 schreef Kenneth:
> Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
>> Op 29-5-2023 om 16:21 schreef Kenneth:
>>> Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
>>>
>>> I wonder if there are even earlier versions available, tucked away in some
>>> equally obscure(?) location.
>>>
>>
>> Yes. Go to the official site: https://www.povray.org/download/
>>
>> Scroll to the bottom of the page where you will find "Old Versions of
>> POV-Ray". They tell us that all official releases since version 1.0 can
>> be found there (old version tree).
>>
> 
> Well well! Not as obscure as I thought, ha. Thanks. I just need to use my
> eyeballs better.
> 
> BY THE WAY: I have not been able to locate Moray itself as being available
> anywhere; my searches have turned up no links. I thought that there was--or used
> to be-- a link to it, somewhere on one of the official newsgroup pages. Maybe
> I'm just being 'blind' again?
> 
> Luckily, I happened to have an archived copy of the Moray v3.5 installer from
> long ago.
> 
Afaik, since the Moray site closed down a couple of years ago, Moray 3.5 
has not been available any more anywhere on the web. I also got a copy 
in my archives (Build 9330). I still have a register code but as the 
site is down I cannot use it.

-- 
Thomas

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Just to prove my claim :-)


-- 
Thomas

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