Sorry to hear you couldn’t get that working, for whatever reason. I don’t think it is with a dual drive setup in general—I do the same myself, C: is for system and E: is for everything else. I have both the beta and version 1 installed to E: and running without error. But who’s to say what else is going on, I’m not much of a Windows expert, so I wouldn’t even be able to speculate.
Have you encountered any other beta programs that offer a different solution than expiration dates? For myself, I’ve only ever seen expiration dates used, to ensure that ancient copies aren’t in the wild, and of course to ensure that once it goes on sale you don’t have a free version (buggier though it may be) that anyone in the world can download instead.
What we do do differently, I’ve noticed, is give people a head’s up on when to check for a new download. Most of the betas I’ve participated in recently do not even hint at the fact that they will expire—they simply do. One day you launch it, it doesn’t work, and gives you a warning box with a link to go online and get a replacement, instead.
Perhaps it is another example where transparency is not the best course of action. :mrgreen:
I suspect its the setup because the main complaint from my version is that it’s not executing (on the D drive) in it’s supposed installed directory (C drive). It had never been installed on the C drive, and nothing had been moved there. This also broke the uninstaller. I had to manually remove everything I could find from the drives and the registry. After about two months of back and forth with a very patient and helpful tech support member, I was able to get it to run for a single session. After that, it would not open again.
No. I have never participated in a beta before because I have never had the need or interest. I understand not wanting there to be ancient or free copies floating around, but in this instance I don’t use the beta to test it. I use it because it is the only version that works for me. I was also under the impression that the beta wouldn’t work without the code I paid for. Is this not the case?
If it were up to me I would not be participating in the beta at all. I was perfectly content with the old version that I had paid for and I have faith that you will release good software when it’s ready. But in the interest of utilizing the product, I am forced to use the beta.
I was given a little iPad mini 5 as a present. And in spite of all my frustrations, complaints, frustrations, and angry posts because version 3 for Windows has not been released yet what’s the first app that I bought?
I love what’s L&L has done with Scrivener for the iPad.
Lunk, Astaff, I’m sorry if I was not clear—but my post was aimed at everyone who is writing posts that attack, however mildly or however much in jest, other posters. If it’s about the person and not the topic, press the Back button.
Understood, and it is unfortunate that playing by beta rules seems to be the only way you can get the software running on your system. But yeah, that’s why it expires, because anyone and everyone can download it an contribute. We’ve essentially been giving people a two year demo. That probably is the other alternative to expiration dates: locking it down to paid users only, but that’s problematic for its own reasons since it means opening sales for it and essentially selling a beta. Some companies do it, there is even an industry around it (particularly in gaming), but it’s always rubbed me the wrong way.
Just so you know - I have the latest 1.9 version installed on a Windows 10 desktop where I have a C:, D: and E: - I have Scrivener insalled on my D: (and always have) and I have all my project files saved to E: (this is a drive I regularly back up). The 1.9.8 version I started with was done with the same setup and no problem too.
I’ve uninstalled it and reinstalled it (Because it crashes on me since I updated to the latest last 2 versions), but it does load up all my projects just fine again and again without issue. Installs and uninstalls just fine a well.
So, I don’t know why you are having the issue you are having, but it’s not unversal.
Okay, see, this is obviously a mistake on my part. Your mistake, however, is not addressing the rest of my post. You picked out one thing, decided to be snarky, instead of choosing to perform any kind of customer service. I merely was pointing out that complaint from customers is not a bad thing, especially when a major release is as tardy as yours is. Please, sweetheart, do not think that you are somehow in the right here. You all have been talking about a release for a long time, while continuously pushing back a deadline that you were able to meet for other platforms. The problem is that you all don’t have the resources to pull off what you claimed you could, and now you’re probably sleep deprived and over-caffeinated, snipping at customers, not moderating your forums, and making general asses of yourselves. So, either address the concerns of myself and others in this forum or get back to work making a product that should have been done months ago. Whatever you choose, put a smile on it, because the way you responded is unacceptable. Have a good evening. Don’t respond to this message because I’m not checking the cesspool again.
Calling a professional member of the L&L team ‘sweetheart’ is condescending and sexist to begin with and your post descends into your own cesspool from there.
Not sure about this thing with Windows and v1x of Scrivener refusing to start up. I too am running both v1x and the beta on several computers, from several generations and different manufacturers of CPU’s, GPU’s and so on. If it was a general Windows problem, I think I would have run into it by now. I just haven’t. So there must be something else going on.
From my knowledge of Windows and from having worked IT Support for some years (a few years back, nowadays, though), my mind sort of wanders towards something being corrupted in registry or addresses on master boot record. Something like that. And what might actually solve it would be to refresh (sadly, these days, usually via a clean install to be sure) of Windows to make sure those issues are ironed out. Which they would probably be.
It’s not a fun thing to have to reinstall Windows, and then reinstalling apps and all of that. But to honest here… any Windows install that is older than one year will be increasingly slowed down and prone to those kinds of problems. The Windows install will simply deteriorate over time, and will end up giving you grief of many different kinds (including things like these) regardless. So that is the Windows tech person tip, I guess. Though I have no idea (haven’t looked into it and am not at all affiliated with L&L obviously) how exactly Scrivener plays with Windows, its registry and such in more detail.
A clean Windows reinstall might (should) solve the problem with Scrivener not booting, but as too often, without knowing more about the problem, I cannot give a solid promise, though.
Regarding the request for a “none-ending” beta build. I understand perfectly why there is an expiration date tagged onto each build. And that is just simply fair, though I see Catty’s problem here as well. Most, if not all, software will have expiry added to each beta, and most apps just simply either won’t start unless you update or buy the release product eventually, or there will be a link or something to be able to upgrade to the latest version.
What L&L could actually do, though, without losing control of the need to add an expiration date, would be to add a second “tier” or “fork” to the beta system. Something like:
Beta Avenue 1: Current beta update rate, every 15-30 days or so.
Beta Avenue 2: Update rate slowed down, so that updates can be done every 30-45 days, 30-60 days, or perhaps - prompt an update every other update update cycle on Avenue 1.
Just a thought. But I have no idea how the app is written to begin with, and if that would take a lot of time off the hands of the devs that would probably be better used for making sure the hot release of v3 can be made as soon as possible.
That was actually the whole point of his post. Giving back the kind of treatment he felt he received.
You’re absolutely correct with this. The user should download a good registry cleaner and try to clean up the WIndows registry and try again.
Barring that, if you are running Windows 10 you can do a file/system refresh before you finally resort to having to do a reinstall of te OS.
That being said, a reinstall of the OS is a good idea to do on a Windows PC on a semi-regular basis. Every other year isn’t an unreasonable schedule for it.
I actually re-install my Windows desktop PC once a year and hence, I rarely have any trouble with software. Of course, I also install Hyper-V and run a Windows VM for anything I’m not sure about installig on my main pc too (and that’s saved my machine a few times).
I installed Scrivener on my roommates PC last night as a test, her PC is setup the same way with a C:, D: and E: drive and it worked flawlessly. I do believe this is more of a localized PC problem than any issue with Windows 10 or Scrivener of the 1.9.x series.
I believe they’ve increased expiration rate down quite a bit recently, since it’s getting closer to finished. Back when it started, the release schedule was more like your Avenue 2, and expirations were almost quarterly I think.
But by that same token, it’s probably a bit late in the game to be retooling the beta program. Food for thought the next time we need to do an extended public beta though.
Mm… Registry cleaners. Can be quite handsome little helpers, can’t they? However, I do feel a slight aversion towards actually recommending anyone to use something as powerful as those critters, as in the wrong hands and without knowledge of how the OS and the app itself works, they can often do more harm than good, and end up a user in a whole hurricane of problems. :mrgreen:
I guess I’m just a bit more careful with asking people to use those things and generally prefer a good “clean up everything (including ears, toes and navel) and start over from scratch” as a more suitable recommendation. But that’s just me. And my being lazy and not wanting to get involved with doing the extra cleanup duties if things get messed up.
In any case, sorry Catty, for not having arrived at a better solution for you. I hope it turns out well in the end, after all.
It was just a wild idea I had. I totally realize things are getting a bit too close for any of that, but as you say, it might be worth an extra thought in a few years, when we’re all in the midst of the wait for “episode 4” of this tale.
I can’t say I hesitte to recommend them anymore, programs like CCleaner back up the changes they make to the registry so if you need to, a boot to safe mode and re-import resolves any issues that were caused. I’ve recommended this one alone hundreds of times for people and never had a bad report back.
That being said, before one does any cleaning or reinstall of their system they should always make a verified back up of their data to prevent data loss. Unexpeted things can happen - components fail, software is too corrupt to be fixed, bugs, etc.
and you are the only one responsible for your own data.
Lastly, you can always take it to some computer store for them to do it for you if you are worried about the complexity of it.
Now personally, I think a whole start-over from scratch is a lot more complex and invasive and more work, but sometimes it is the only solution to solve a problem with Windows.
But follow one of my suggestions or not, it’s worth absolutely everything you paid me to get it lol
Well… I’ve had mixed experiences with this solution. If you have enough knowledge to solve the problem yourself, that’s almost always the best answer. If you don’t, always take a backup before you hand your device over to someone else.
Food for thought the next time we need to do an extended public beta though.
:mrgreen:
