Beginner question about using runtime
Hi everyone,
I'm sure this is an obvious question to most, but it's new to me. Unfortunately the search on these forums is not working for me, so sorry if this has been asked a lot before.
I'm making a patch and I want to give it to someone to use on their computer. They don't have max. I've heard that anyone can download max/msp runtime for free and run patches (just not edit them). Is this right? Is there anything else they would need to download to be able to run my patch on their computer? I'm working on a mac and I'd like my friend to be able to run it on a PC, in case that makes a difference.
Also, what's the extent of what they can do in the patch with runtime? Can they use presentation mode? Is it just that they can't unlock the patcher?
Thanks very much for any help with this! Have a great day.
Your best bet would be to create a collective (with the .mxf extension) which includes all the important files rather than assuming they are already on your friend's machine. Remember to use objects that are both mac and windows friendly: be careful with external and jitter objects in particular. You can use the patcher inspector from the view menu to set the patch to open in presentation mode.
lh
Hi Luke,
Thanks for the response.
Would my friend then use max/msp runtime to use the patch? Or does the collective thing bypass the need for that? (Sorry to be so clueless about this.. I've only done stuff on my own computer before.)
Luckily it's a real simple patch and I'm not using any jitters or externals, but that's a good reminder about objects that can be used in both.
Thanks for the info.
There's an extensive portion in help about this. Type sharing patches in the search field of the help browser.
Thanks for the info, jvkr. I hadn't seen that. Sounds like exactly what I need.
When I don't use externals, my preferred method is to have the main patch and any necessary file stored all together at the same level in a folder. I zip the folder, send it, and the user just opens the main patch with Max Runtime.
Definitely use the .mxf method if you have multiple patches that are intended to run together (not subpatches, but additional patch files, including those that [bpatcher] uses). If you only have a single .maxpat, other users can open that with the Runtime, and the file size is much smaller, so there's a tradeoff. These patches and the .mxf files will run on either platform---it's when you create an Application that the result is restricted to the platform you used.
Try out the Runtime to see the differences when you open your patch. The options are restricted, as you know, but there are some other small differences which you might want to be aware of---like how there's no icons at the bottom of your patch windows, or a DSP Status window included in the menus. (You can add this and other example patches into your patches if you need them.)
For the incompatible objects: jit.dx.grab is Windows-only. There likely are others, and I know that several objects have certain messages which are platform-specific. A list of these would be handy to have somewhere.
Also, you can allow your end users to toggle in and out of Presentation Mode with the message "presentation 1" or "presentation 0" to [thispatcher], if you want them to have this option.
Happy patching!