| Author |
Message |
Adam R. Wood (Zotmeister)
Junior Solitaire Player
Username: Zotmeister
Post Number: 4
Registered: 9-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - 1:13 am: | |
I was just reacquainting myself with one of my favorite solitaires of all time - Antares - after a long absence from PGS (I'm pretty sure it was version 9.something I used to play; I spent far more time on PGMJ). I recently upgraded to the latest version and I must say I really like some of the new features, but of course that's not why I'm here. I'm here because I was well on my way to solving deal #3 when I found I needed to move the off-the-bottom-of-the-screen Ten of Clubs onto the Jack of Clubs (both were in the Scorpion piles), and saw no apparent means of doing so, and browsing the help file found no solution. So I did what seemed straightforward enough: I changed the card size from Automatic to Small. (The window was maximized at 1280x1024; the cards were apparently Huge size. I tried unmaximizing the window to see if scroll bars appeared, but no such luck.)
The cards became Small alright... but they also jumped back to their original dealt state, as if I'd never made a move! No Undo was available; my Snapshot was gone; all progress in the deal, which I was very close to solving, had vanished without a trace.
Needless to say, I was rather angered. I'm almost certain this didn't happen before. What frustrates me the most, though, is that I can't get it to happen again. Maybe I'm not duplicating my moves exactly right, or maybe it was some arcane combination of window and/or cardset changing, or maybe it's something that only happens the very first time someone tries to resize cards (which this was for me), but I was hoping to give a set of instructions to get this to happen, and I can't provide one. I suppose I should be thankful that it isn't happening again, but there's a bug here, and I want it dead, and I know it can't be killed if it can't be repeated...
By the way, I noticed a curious... let's call it "oversight" on the part of the right-click AI in that deal. I know that right-clicking isn't perfect, but this seems simple enough that I was surprised it didn't work. This is easy to duplicate: at the start of Antares deal #3, move the Six of Hearts onto the Seven of Hearts, then right-click the King of Clubs. Nothing happens. I'd expect it to move into the empty column, and this is of course a legal move and can be performed by dragging the King to the space, but the right-click doesn't do this. The program has no problem moving the King of Spades to that space via right-click, though. Weird.
- ZM |
Markus Reischl (Markus)
Master Solitaire Player
Username: Markus
Post Number: 307
Registered: 7-2009
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - 1:55 am: | |
Hi Adam, in another threat, we just talked about the snapshot button. In my opinion, it does not work properly in PGS and it seems to be a bug, but we have to wait for an answer from Thomas. |
Adam R. Wood (Zotmeister)
Junior Solitaire Player
Username: Zotmeister
Post Number: 5
Registered: 9-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - 1:58 am: | |
I just duplicated it. I'm certain now that it has something to do with the first time solitaires are launched. I just started my first game of Quadruple Yukon (random deal: #1173074432 if it matters); the window stayed maximized, and I never opened the help file (or switched to any other program). Before long, I found myself in a position where a long column of cards in the top half of the tableau was overlapping the column in the bottom half, obscuring what cards were available down there. I saved my game, then changed the card size from Automatic to Standard. It was a very good thing I saved the game: the deal restarted, just like before.
I then experimented a little: I reloaded the save, and the cards reassumed the position I had saved them in. Then I tried changing the card size BACK to Automatic. The deal restarted again. I found that any resizing attempt restarted the deal, no matter how often I reloaded the save. Lastly, I exited Quadruple Yukon, but not PGS as a whole, then reloaded it; from there, I was able to resize the cards all I wanted without the deal restarting.
I tried a few other games, all of which were the first time I loaded them up. I found - no matter what I did with the window, other windows, the help file, or saving/loading - resizing the cards always reset the deal. Any game I'd loaded up before - or even those I'd never loaded up, but then immediately exited and re-entered before moving any cards - kept the state of the deal intact on a resize.
There's a clear workaround for this bug, but it's a bug nonetheless. And frankly, I feel a whole lot better knowing I didn't imagine it the first time. Hopefully you can find what's causing it and quash it. Until then, I'll make it a point to always, the first time I load up any solitaire I haven't played before, immediately exit and re-enter.
- ZM |
Adam R. Wood (Zotmeister)
Junior Solitaire Player
Username: Zotmeister
Post Number: 6
Registered: 9-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - 2:02 am: | |
Hi, Markus. I never touched the Snapshot button for any of my experimentation, so I'm sure it's unrelated to this issue. Thanks for the heads-up, though - I'll seek out that thread and see if I can help.
- ZM |
Richard Mechen (Richardscotland)
Master Solitaire Player
Username: Richardscotland
Post Number: 3798
Registered: 9-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - 3:52 am: | |
I've experienced the same things with Snapshots and also resizing cards. Both can be a nuisance, but once you are aware of the issues you can avoid them fairly easily.
If Thomas is ever to do any work on them perhaps a third issue could be resolved simultaneously.
Sometimes a PGS game will open up in a small window. This is always because whoever has used the PC last has shrunk the window for some other purpose. On opening PGS you immediately switch back to the full size window but the cards will remain cramped up in what had been the size of the smaller window. You can then choose Options and alter the size of the cards, but all it does is keep them the same size but spread them out in the larger window. You then have to go into Options and change the card size again. This time it will do as you ask. Not a serious problem; just a bit of a nuisance. |
Thomas Warfield (Support)
Moderator
Username: Support
Post Number: 1327
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - 9:36 am: | |
I just did some testing and I'm completely unable to duplicate any problem with resizing the cards.
There was such a bug a few years ago that was fixed.
You mentioned that you previously had an old version installed and the problem is only occurring the first time you play a game. I'm wondering if perhaps you have saved games saved in an old version and the first time you play a game you are loading games saved in an old version and this is when the problem happens. Then after you play and the game gets saved in the new version, the problem isn't happening.
If so, if you delete any .pgs files in the data folder dated from before you updated the version, you might not see the problem anymore.
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Richard Mechen (Richardscotland)
Master Solitaire Player
Username: Richardscotland
Post Number: 3803
Registered: 9-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - 10:09 am: | |
Hi Thomas,It's a long time since I've used Snapshots. My experiences using it are pretty dated. (I much prefer saving games anyway). I've mucked about with Snapshots just now and I can't get it to misbehave. It's working fine for me in Version 12.2.
The other thing with the windows happens periodically. I showed Liz how to remedy it two days ago. Perhaps she is the cause of it because I couldn't get it to occur just now.. I'll take a screenshot and save the file the next time I see it. It's no big deal anyway. I thought that someone else might find the remedy helpful. |
Adam R. Wood (Zotmeister)
Junior Solitaire Player
Username: Zotmeister
Post Number: 9
Registered: 9-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - 12:45 pm: | |
Hi, Thomas. Sorry to disappoint you, but the computer I installed it on this time wasn't the same one I played on before; it had no previous version of PGS, and there are no .pgs files in the data folder for any game I haven't played with the current version. I'm still duplicating the issue with 100% reliability with every solitaire I newly open. I have access to a few other machines PGS has never been on - I can test further with more fresh installs.
- ZM |
Adam R. Wood (Zotmeister)
Junior Solitaire Player
Username: Zotmeister
Post Number: 10
Registered: 9-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - 1:32 pm: | |
Thomas: I just installed PGS fresh onto a different PC, different from the first one in most every manner - processor, graphics card, laptop/desktop, OS (7 vice XP), and so on. I opened the data folder location (...AppData\Roaming) to confirm there was nothing GoodSol-related sitting in there, and kept that folder open as I launched PGS for the first time on this machine. I moved into the \GoodSol\Pretty Good Solitaire folder once it was created. (I also installed all the card sets before running the game, although I never changed card sets in this testing.)
I created my player, registered the program, then promptly loaded up Antares. I moved a card, then resized the cards; the card I moved jumped back. I exited Antares, loaded it again, moved the same card, then resized the cards; this time the card stayed where I moved it. So far, everything was exactly as I reported it earlier. I then exited Antares again.
Inspired by your suggestion, I then deleted the .pgs file for Antares, and loaded Antares again. I got a different deal this time. I moved a card, then resized the cards; the moved card stayed moved. So much for that idea.
And then I had a brainstorm: After exiting Antares again, I created a new player via the Options menu, switched to that new player, and then loaded Antares for that new player. I moved a card, then resized the cards; the card I moved jumped back. The bug remanifested for the new player. So the problem isn't the first time a solitaire is loaded; the problem is the first time a player loads a solitaire. Try creating a new player, switching to that player, and then try reproducing the bug. If that doesn't make the bug happen for you, then I'll try to make a video of me installing PGS on a third computer and doing the same thing, and put it on YouTube, because I swear I'm not making any of this up.
It would seem .pgs files have nothing to do with this; rather, it would be initial data in the .dat files for each player (I'm guessing whatever function rebuilds the layout after resizing the cards looks in there when it isn't ready to be looked at). Obviously, this is as far as I can help you, since those .dat files are a black box (and rightly so) - good luck.
- ZM |
Thomas Warfield (Support)
Moderator
Username: Support
Post Number: 1330
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - 5:12 pm: | |
OK, after setting up a new player I was able to duplicate the problem. It is indeed something that would only happen the first time you run a game (or some other circumstances). I was able to find the problem and fix it for version 12.3.
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Adam R. Wood (Zotmeister)
Solitaire Player
Username: Zotmeister
Post Number: 11
Registered: 9-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, January 30, 2010 - 7:21 pm: | |
Excellent! Glad I could help. - ZM |
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