think(box)

OK, I didn't look far enough! Check this out - every audio format you mentioned can be converted to a modern format! Start from this link: At FMJ-Software homepage click on 'Awave studio v8.8' and then 'Formats list' It has free trial that is no-doubt limited in some undesirable way, but if you want to buy it's costly (US$99.95). You may find this very useful!

Rayosx, Igor and others, this shareware converter does OGG (not MOD, XM or STM) CONVERSION: Awave audio v8.3 info page Bottom line with sound files is that you can re-digitize them to WAV and then any other format as long as you have an old computer or device that can play them. Connect sound to your audio line input and record it!

Greetings and welcome Nick! Registration difficulty is very unusual. Have you sent email to Wnsoft support? They monitor this forum and they respond quickly to email. Support should be able to help you out. In your email tell them what version of Windows you have, Win98, WinME, WinXP, Win2K etc. Here is their address: support@wnsoft.com I can suggest only one other thing to try in the interim. Carefully handle the registration key .txt file that was emailed to you - keep a safe copy of it on a diskette or CD in case you have system problems. Next, uninstall PicturesToExe, restart your system, and then install PicturesToExe and give it the registration key. Beyond that Wnsoft support has to help you. This should be solved quickly. Hang in there and good luck

Aside from everyday free file sharing on the Internet, you can try before you buy music at Tower Records: Click for Tower Records music site They have every track sound samples from most of the CDs they sell. I have saved a lot of otherwise speculative buying by using Tower's site. I am sure there are many others too. At Tower or any other Internet seller they know that once you find that just-right CD you will likely go elsewhere if their price is not competitive. Many large stores that sell music will let you listen to any CD they sell on headphones linked to in-store music computers. Internet sellers are easy because you can use many and varied searches, very rapidly. I haven't yet found in-store music terminals to be as good. The biggest challenge is figuring out good search parameters. Be creative and spend a little time exploring. I will defer to other forum members to help with Internet free music searches specifically for background music --- and that you haven't already identified. If you know exactly what title and artist you want it's easy.

Small world!

Nice show OGL - thank you! That is a diverse set of photos and a nice view of a Russian Summer. It seemed for a moment like the photos were too diverse - but then I thought, and Summer isn't? I like the opening with special music and especially the classy 3-D background and text. And thank you once again Bill for hosting!

Sorry no one had a good hunch. Checking all files was the obvious. Did you find by eliminating files from show one by one until the error was gone? A bad icon file is quite unusual. Congrat's on the fix!

Thanks again Granot! The controls are both ready for anyone who wants to include them in shows. Here are the utility test results: VolumeSync.exe for Synchronized shows Use with "Showtime.txt" timing file and "Autorun.inf" (samples provided with download) Showtime.txt: Line 1, yourshow.exe --- Line 2, time in milliseconds to start fade --- Line 3, fade time in milliseconds Sample show name "Phitsanulok.exe" in provided file - Is this a special place in Thailand, Granot??? Time entered in milliseconds example: 34.5 seconds is entered as 34500 Autorun.inf - Edit to fix a .exe name error: Both lines should correctly call the utility "VolumeSync.exe" The corrected Autorun.inf file is reused for each new show without edit (Showtime.txt has showfile.exe name) For CD-based shows: CD files are Autorun.inf, Showtime.txt, VolumeSync.exe and (YourShow).exe To run show without using Autorun: Folder files are Showtime.txt, VolumeSync.exe and (YourShow).exe Without Autorun.inf, to start show just double-click "VolumeSync.exe", not your show.exe file! The Volume Slider control starts located in top-left of screen Click the red dot for help - there are some typos in the utility name VolumeSlider.exe for UNsynchronized shows No fadeout provision ("Showtime.txt" timing file not used) No Autorun.inf provision (Autorun.inf sample provided with download is not yet working to start control and show) Call from show by action "Run application or open file" from button/hyperlink/picture Or start from .BAT file listing VolumeSlider.exe on 1st line and (yourshow.exe) on 2nd line; or use another method Button clicks work in your unsync show, but left-right arrow navigation does not (work in progess) If you exit Volume Slider by clicking "X" you regain left-right arrow navigation in show The Volume Slider control starts located in top-left of screen Click the red dot for help - there are some typos in the utility name under VolumeSync help section Both controls work great with shows - please give them a try - and please support Granot's work!

I haven't put white borders on pic's before - maybe now I will. Do I have to enlarge the canvas by two times the border width, centered, to keep from losing image content? Thanks!

Not to steal any thunder here, but I have been helping debug the fadeout volume control version with Granot and it works great! It takes advantage of the fact that synchronized shows run for a relatively fixed clock time. You enter the show run time that P2E tells you into an init file for Granot's new utility (still in debug) along with a fadeout time desired, and it all happens the way you want. The show ends with audio fadeout and without special music that has built-in fading. In addition, you get a volume control at top left of screen. We know that Andrew had asked for last slide fadeout in context of unsynchronized shows. As long as the show is of short to modest length and is designed for low machine stress (hence low timing variability) the new fading scheme will work fine on unsync'ed shows too. We are presently ironing out the last few details regarding best user-friendliness and all-user-levels usability.

One thought for Igor to consider when telling user about performance issues found when show "Create" is done (my previous reply 2 posts ago): When PTE tells show developer their show may fail due to performance demands, they may be stumped as to what do they do next. If PTE doesn't help them on the spot we will continue to get lots of requests in the forum for what to do. PTE should tell the show developer so they can get the job done fast! To that end they need a short list that PTE will give them if they do something like click a "?" question mark next to the "May fail" status indicated. The short "How to fix, general suggestions" list can include: Make pictures no larger than 800x600 or 1024x768 Move slide transitions further apart where they are spaced very closely Set up show to play from hard drive instead of CD Suggest to show viewer to reduce screen area and restart show if there are problems Etc. - Forum can list more *short* and *one-line* fix suggestions

I don't know of any way to do this under the constraints given. A native feature would be best, as in PTE fadeout support (not yet implemented). Without native support, if Igor gives us one requested feature, "take action when this slide plays" you could use a custom fade-down utility prior to exit. Neither option exists today.

"The Jigsaw" is technically very impressive. What tool generated the puzzle effects? This show is a nice little bit of entertainment. Thanks again Barry! I just noticed that this topic was not posted in the "Presentations" forum. It should be, but everyone will find it just the same.

I just viewed Black Country. Wow! That is a stunning work. My favorite is the images on a stone wall. Adding the sound effects was a nice touch. And I would like to thank you for the 1024x768 hi-res images displayed full screen. The pictures have very nice, high-def detail and are displayed very well on a PC screen. Thank you Barry!

This has been requested previously and is under consideration by Igor. Your only option at this time is to manually move groups in a script or text edit of the .PTE file, and then restart PTE on edited file. This is made more difficult by the fact that slide numbering must be modified to once again be in numerical order after you have manually shuffled them. PTE will fail if slides are not numerically ordered in the .PTE file. If you have MS Office 97 or newer, you might want to try Al Robinson's PTE Adjustor Model to automate moving groups and more: Click here for Al Robinson's Excel 97 Based PTE Adjustor Model I will defer to Al to answer any questions about his PTE Adjustor. There are forum notes you can check as well.

Since you may not have a slow computer to test shows before giving to customer, I have suggested to Igor to add "required machine performance" indication for show developer while making show. It looks like this could take the guesswork out for this topic thread too. Check out my recent forum entry on this topic, describing proposed indicators: Click to see proposed performance info indication by PTE to show developer

Mark, here are some more ideas after Granot's reply to let all users know about keyboard controls: This is an issue with any P2E show as well, for which Igor has already provided a solution. We just have to use a startup screen at minimum, and optionally add "Help" button that is customized for volume slider control. Here are some steps, options and notes: In PTE Project Options Main tab check "Show startup window" & click "Customize Startup Window" Check the boxes "Show <Help> button" and "Show <Exit> button" as required for these two options: Option: Create & use image that includes stylized help text/font for P2E show & vol slider; add in "Show image" Option: Customize P2E's help window. In PTE Project Menu, click "Customize Help Message" Note: If person viewing clicks "Help" in Startup screen, your image is blanked to background during view If you use your own startup image, you can choose fonts as image content (no missing fonts problem) If you also include P2E help button you can give more verbose help for those so inclined (many ignore it) Whether synchronized or not, the P2E startup screen works and gives chance to provide helpful info One thing to tell the viewer is to click on the red dot on volume slider at top-left for help with control You need two forms of help image or P2E help screen - synchronized and unsynchronized For synchronized show help just tell about vol control and how to exit both For unsynchronized show also include P2E keyboard controls help

I have tested Granot's Volume Slider V1.3 and have posted a review: Click here for V1.3 product review located in another topic My donation has been submitted Granot - thank you!

And Granot does it again! Now available, V1.3 has the following changes and improvements: Volume jumps to 50% when VolumeSlider.exe loads or exits, for consistency and for leaving sound unmuted. For SYNCHRONIZED (or not) shows there is now a second utility version, VolumeSliderSync.exe. Both .EXEs are included when you download VolumeSlider utility, #20. The "Sync" version does this: Looks for file Show.txt where you started VolumeSliderSync.exe utility. Show.txt simply has the name of your synchronized or unsynchronized showfile. Use for any show where you want volume control automatically started with show. Autorun.inf (included with download) is coded to run VolumeSliderSync.exe utility. When VolumeSliderSync.exe starts, it runs Show.txt listed showfile for you, hence sync show has the control. For new shows and CDs you simply update Show.txt, not Autorun.inf The show audio volume control is now ready for widespread use. Nice work Granot! Download Granot's utility #20, Volume Slider

One other thing I should have mentioned - to the extent that audio is overextending machine performance requirements, Igor has nearly completed an important improvement for next release that will help: Igor's note about better sound function and timing Images will still be able to push a machine too far.

OK, that sets the context more completely. The magic is in what the show creator makes. Screen savers are simply special purpose .EXEs by another name. They don't work any better, and can still have performance issues. Along the lines of setting further context: I am guessing by your description that you synchronize your shows to music. But if you do, and you adhere to minimum computer performance limitations show design suggestions, it should play the same on any computer. When a show developer is over-aggressive with show design w.r.t. computer performance requirements, the show music usually "skips" on too-slow machines. It is really "go/no-go" and nothing in between for synchronized shows. With careful design they can always be a "go". What were the playback differences vs. your show "Synchronize slideshow to music duration" timeline on this example?: The only way to stay clear of on-the-spot generated show, machine horsepower issues is to make your shows into some form of movie, like VCD, SVCD, DVD etc., or even conversion to VHS as from another one of your posts. Igor says he is working on this capability for future Wnsoft products. Competing products have video disc capability but are sorely lacking in show design capability, for which PTE is best. Neither .EXEs nor video discs solve everything. The .EXE option may really be the most universal. By the way, I love your beautiful photography - thank you for the link from your earlier post!: Dustydesert's photography

Richard, you've used a creative technique by having an empty, customized slide, "play music" list as a way to stop music. I'm not sure if Igor would call this a bug, but the PTE functionality does appear to have changed. I have a simple solution if you would like to make new PTE version shows that work same as before, in that the show does not exit by surprise: Make a 10-second .MP3 "quiet" music track that has no sound and play this as actual "music" in last slide instead of telling PTE to play music and listing nothing. Does this solve the problem found?

A few of the obvious and the not so obvious: A screen saver is selected in Windows to activate when keyboard is idle for some number of minutes. Windows can run the "screen saver" for a while and minutes later shut monitor off to truly save screen. Screen savers have file type .SCR and are program files to Windows, and are checked by anti-virus software. If you use music keep it in one .MP3 for no skips and recognize that music may catch people by surprise. Screen savers exit and return to Windows when mouse is moved or keyboard key is pressed. Screen savers consume system resources and slow down long background tasks. Consider "no repeat". Screen savers can be promotional (ugh - we get so much of this).

Gwhite and all, please check out Granot's Volume Slider utility now at: Bill's test results and review of Granot's Volume Slider V1.2 Gwhite, I think this is sufficiently slick and simple enough that even not-well-versed computer users can figure it out when they watch a show. Perhaps we should use the .BAT file, no button press needed, approach to loading the control whether SYNCHRONIZED or NOT SYNCHRONIZED for widest user audience skill level and appeal. Please check it out!

Granot you are truly a genious and a good friend to us all! I have just downloaded and tested V1.2 and here are findings: 1. M (mute), R (restore) and V (goto 50%) hot keys work fine, even if I've clicked buttons in a show! 2. The graphic reduction to Vol Mute during mute, with mouse-over recall is slick! 3. We will of course all still keep one eye on volume slider :-) even though it now starts top-left of screen! 4. Size of slider is now small enough to stay on screen with pictures 5. Anyone with special mouse setting to automatically position cursor over default click action will notice capture by Volume Slider. This is OK during show, but I can't leave the volume slider active always as I would like to do because, for example, the system won't let me type this forum reply since mouse focus keeps jumping back to volume slider. Are you trying to tell me something Granot??? :-) 6. One inconsistency found: When slider is started from show, volume jumps to 50% (I like that!) but when you exit it jumps to 70%. Could you make the volume slider exit volume be 50% to match initial value? Thanks so much for this great job Granot. I know you are giving this away for free, but please tell me how to make a donation to your shareware fund - this is an every show feature! By the way, for synchronized shows in which clickable buttons are disabled by P2E, users can still use Volume Slider by starting it prior to show through a .BAT file call to VolumeSlider.exe first and showfile.exe second, from Autorun.inf, or by one of many other methods.