iTUNES update then problems

[itspaulbanks]

I updated iTUNES on my PC. Now G Force doesn't work. I unistalled and reinstalled G Force but it still wont work.

iTunes visulizer works and G Force works in Media Player, but not iTunes.

When I select G Force in iTUNES and click on show visulizer, the screen goes blank. Occassionally, I get a glimpse of the G Force logo and copyright information before the screen returns for black.

Does anyone have any ideas please?

[Orbstah]

try the control+f key combination when at the black screen to get back to a non fullscreen mode. The black screen is an itunes problem with full screen

[andy55]

I updated iTUNES on my PC. Now G Force doesn't work. I unistalled and reinstalled G Force but it still wont work.

iTunes visualizer works and G Force works in Media Player, but not iTunes.

When I select G Force in iTUNES and click on show visualizer , the screen goes blank. Occasionally, I get a glimpse of the G Force logo and copyright information before the screen returns for black.

Does anyone have any ideas please?

Apple broke a bunch of stuff in iTunes 7 for Windows, namely display-device-native fullscreen modes. The fullscreen switch was failing because G-Force was set to ask iTunes to go fullscreen in a res that didn't exactly match your display device res. Again, this is something that was fine in iTunes 6 but is broken in iTunes 7. I've also seen other (hobbyist) iTunes vis developers report this problem with their OpenGL vis as well. My best guess is that Apple now uses DirectX for their album cover art browse thing, and DirectX never plays nice with OpenGL. I was really hoping that Apple would address this in iTunes 7.0.2, but that didn't happen; they seem to be caring less and less about visualizers. This is also evidenced in how difficult it is to switch visuals and fullscreen mode in iTunes 7 (vs. iTunes 6) and the fact the visualizer toggle button was removed from the bottom of the iTunes window.

The workaround is to start G-Force in windowed mode (toggle fullscreen mode by selecting the "Preferences" menu, selecting the "Advanced" tab, and look for the checkbox at the bottom). When G-Force starts, use the toolbar or press M until you see the resolution of your display device -- *then* try you can switch to fullscreen.

Andy

[itspaulbanks]

Thanks for the responses to my post that iTUNES 7.2 has stopped full screen G Force from working.

I followed your advice and can get a small screen working.

iTUNES are shooting themselves in the foot, as will simply use another player.

[UKman]

Firts time here, came looking for answers why my vis no longer goes full screen, now I know!! I agree Apple are shooting themselves in the foot with what they are doing. I have chosen their player and download and pay for their music legally, yet they will not allow me to play the vis of my choice, legally paid for. May be its because they cannot keep plugging Apple in other visuals every 10 seconds!! If they dont fix it soon Ill be looking for another player and supplier. Maybe we all should send a mass email to I Tunes.

[Orbstah]

I agree with you about apple, but unfortunately i have an extensive amount of purchased music, and i know i can get round the license stuff easily but why should i have to, apart from the vis thing i prefer itunes for everything and its dead easy for my ipod aswell. It just really suxxs that apple cant make sure something is fixed before they release it.... I use both wmp and winamp and i also use xmplay aswell, infact more this than winamp, now that winamp is an ad farm for aol's movie devision, but i just cant see past itunes, and my other half is not very computer literate but she knows how to use itunes. So its a rock and a hard place, still here's hoping itunes 7.1 is a kick in the right place.

Is the fullscreen thing a windows only problem? or are we having the same probs on mac's too ?

[juxtiphi]

I agree with you about apple, but unfortunately i have an extensive amount of purchased music, and i know i can get round the license stuff easily but why should i have to, apart from the vis thing i prefer itunes for everything and its dead easy for my ipod aswell. It just really suxxs that apple cant make sure something is fixed before they release it.... I use both wmp and winamp and i also use xmplay aswell, infact more this than winamp, now that winamp is an ad farm for aol's movie devision, but i just cant see past itunes, and my other half is not very computer literate but she knows how to use itunes. So its a rock and a hard place, still here's hoping itunes 7.1 is a kick in the right place.

Is the fullscreen thing a windows only problem? or are we having the same probs on mac's too ?

Apple probably wants to devise their own vis progs so they will have native plugins to sell you.

I dont know why anyone would want to use Itunes anyway , its just a link to an online store that plays your mp3s, same as quicktime which is chock full of adds.

Im getting tired of every new prog linking people to some online store. As far as winamp being an add farm... I dont see it, why? because when you install a plugin called FlacFrontend (a free lossless codec), it also removes all the aol garbage that comes with winamp so it never tries to sell me anything which is how I like it. some of winamps skins come with links ,, I dont bother with those as I dont need them to push me to buy something.

[andy55]

Thanks for the responses to my post that iTUNES 7.2 has stopped full screen G Force from working.

I followed your advice and can get a small screen working.

iTUNES are shooting themselves in the foot, as will simply use another player.

To everyone here, there's a way you can actually help with this...

If you have an ADC account at Apple (it's free), please file a new bug report ("radar") -- https://bugreport.apple.com/

Apple tends to prioritize issues based on how how many people report them.

Bugs/issues still present in iTunes 7.0.2 for Windows:

- Any 3rd party vis that attempts to switch to fullscreen in a resolution not equal to the current device resolution will result in a black screen (reference Problem ID 4736804). Note that G-Force 3.5.7 hardwires the fullscreen res in an attempt to work around this, so this problem is only easily reproducible using G-Force 3.5.6.

- A vis running in fullscreen mode that attempts to exit fullscren via the iTunes visual API (e.g., in G-Force, pressing RETURN causes G-Force to call iTunes' internal switch fullscreen function) will always fail. The call will fail and the vis will continue to run fullscreen (reference Problem ID 4792969).

An important thing to include in your filing is that each issue was not present in iTunes 6.

Again, if as many people here as possible file two reports for the above, there's a lot higher chance this stuff will get fixed.

Andy

[andy55]

I updated iTUNES on my PC. Now G Force doesn't work. I unistalled and reinstalled G Force but it still wont work.

iTunes visulizer works and G Force works in Media Player, but not iTunes.

When I select G Force in iTUNES and click on show visulizer, the screen goes blank. Occassionally, I get a glimpse of the G Force logo and copyright information before the screen returns for black.

Does anyone have any ideas please?

The new version of G-Force (3.5.7) inserts a limited workaround for iTunes 7's brokeness (see the 3.5.7 version history).

Again, I encourage you to file a Apple bug report ("radar") for the items I list above in this thread.

[cellness]

- Any 3rd party vis that attempts to switch to fullscreen in a resolution not equal to the current device resolution will result in a black screen (reference Problem ID 4736804). Note that G-Force 3.5.7 hardwires the fullscreen res in an attempt to work around this, so this problem is only easily reproducible using G-Force 3.5.6.

Is it just me, or does this workaround also affect the Mac version of G-Force? I upgraded from 3.5.5 to 3.5.7 and I can't get my fullscreen resolution to stay at 640x480. It always uses the resolution my screen is normally set to. I've tested this on two Macs. I went back to 3.5.5 and it works as expected.

Thanks!
Marcel

[nirmalya]

Cellness, you can have a look at my previous post to know about my experience with the Mac version:

http://forums.soundspectrum.com/viewtopic.php?t=1587