appsplash problems in max5
hi
i am trying to change the splash screen in a standalone app. i have followed the instructions in the tutorail:
1. Create your splash screen using the Windows “.bmp” format.
2. Using the Collective Editor add a line to your Collective Script with the followingsyntax:appsplash filename
Hint: you can use the “Include File” button to choose the .ICO file and then change the “include” command to “appsplash”.
(i think the .ICO should be .BPM though!)
but when i change the "include" command i get a message that the file needs to be a .PNG not .BMP. so i recreate to image file as a .PNG and try again only now every time i try i get a "max 5 has encountered a problem and needs to close down" windows dialog box.
please help
o' and thanks for the help with the standalones on XP pc's issue the "Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package (x86)" works just fine.
thanks
lee
This isn't an answer to your question, I'm afraid, but I just wanted to add that I'm having trouble with appsplash in Max5 on Mac as well. If I do exactly what I did in 4.6 it will create a standalone that does not have a splash screen at all. Maybe there are bugs with appsplash in general?
Max 5 doesn't currently support splash screens for standalones. You may have noticed that Max itself doesn't have a splash screen anymore either.
Perhaps this needs to be documented or undocumented somewhere...
Rob
there seems to be a lot of functionality missing from max 5 which is very frustrating.
I don't really miss the appsplash functionality. I'd rather have the apps start faster (as Max 5 does).
I'm working on a heavy patche which involves with matrixset, ... Using a macbook pro 2.4 Ghz, the patche in Max5 takes time to load (around 17 sec) and also 20 sec for the standalone version.
I'm wondering if there's a way to have a splash screen image even in Max5, as I'd like the user to know that "the standalone is a heavy one, depending on the hardware, it will takes time to load, ...".
Off course I will put this information in the readme file, but you know, sometimes user doesn't read the information and complains about something that is really documented ...
Thanks for your help
Rob Sussman above states that Max5 standalones no longer support splash screens. I can see why you would want one in your case, but 17 seconds is a pretty long time. If I had to do what you are describing, I would have a patcher that opened with the "Please be patient" note. Then I would either have the user manually open the heavy patch (open to thispatcher), or I would have it automatically begin once the light patch opens.
Thanks Jnote
I already tried the opening of a sub-patcher with information. But even if I make this patcher opening before everythink else, it only opens when everything is loaded : first of all in the loadbang process and before the loading of the presets but only when the standalone (or the patch) is loaded.
Nevertheless it's not a real problem as it will be documented on an other way, as I said.
Don't start opening your main patch until you have opened your splash. There are a few ways to do this. Does something like this work for you?
try using a delay on the loadbangs for the main patcher, and have the main patcher in a subpatch, and the splash in a subpatch below that, the splash > thispatcher- message to open the window should be banged upon load, and the main patcher should have like a 1000ms or more delay. Ive even seen people have progress bars that are a slider that shows how many of the loadbangs have finished.
Just to get a feedback on that subject.
Ben, Ben, Axiom, thanks for your help. It works but it's getting difficult when I want to make a standalone.
I've found an other way that work in a standalone. It's in the patch below. You create a sub-patche with only a comment (in which you put your text, no loadbang, no customizing of the color of the text , nothing, and your subptache will appear before anything. In my sub-patche I had an inlet to close it when tha main patch is loaded. If you change a color in an object of the subpatch or create a loadbang or anything else it will appear at the same time as the main patch. So change nothing if you want it appears first.
Not really sexy but helpfull sometimes.
I'd like to make a feature request to include the option for a Splash Screen in the [standalone] object. Yes, MaxMSP launches pretty quickly, but sometimes the really large standalones take longer and it would be nice to reassure the user that the program is actually launching. Thanks for considering it.
I'm interested as you about this feature. Any answers ?
I second the feature request