To report a problem with 3D Topicscape, please review the list below, the frequently asked questions (FAQs) and the Bug List first. Then please start 3D Topicscape and, in the "Help" menu, select "Send error report. . .". If you cannot start 3D Topicscape, please try re-installing it. If 3D Topicscape still fails to start please let us know via the Contact Us link.
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You may narrow your search with a selection here:
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| 1. |
Issue : |
Broken font
A small number of graphics cards that we have tested will very occasionally display a single letter in a slightly distorted or 'broken' form. Wherever the letter appears in the 3D scene it will be distorted in the same way.
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Solution: |
Restarting 3D Topicscape cures the problem. Our investigations so far have not allowed us to pinpoint the cause but we continue to search for an answer. As this is very rare (once every few weeks in our experience), easily fixed (restart Topicscape) and doesn't prevent Topicscape being used, even when it happens (it's always readable) this is not high on our priorities list. If it happens to you, we would appreciate knowing which graphics adapter you use so that we can approach manufacturers with well-founded statistics.
Do try updating your graphics card's driver of you have not done so recently. Our page at http://www.topicscape.com/graphics should help you to find the source of an updated driver.
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| 3. |
Issue : |
Machine pauses for long period
If we are using Windows 98 on a computer with a large hard disk and many files, and we delete a few hundred files, our experience has been that internal processes slow down all accesses to the directory from which the files were removed. We have also found this to happen when we move many files - but not when we copy them - from one drive to another (D: to C: for example). This seems to be characteristic of Windows 98 and a restart of the computer invariably resolves the slow-down.
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Solution: |
3D Topicscape is affected by this as much as any other software (even a move-drag of a large folder to another drive using Windows Explorer itself). It can happen when you group-delete a topic with many occurrences, or many children with occurrences. It can also appear when you make a new topic by dragging in a large directory and specifying the 'Move' option, but only when the files involved will be transferred from one drive to another.
This does not happen when using Windows XP or Windows 2000
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| 6. |
Issue : |
Cursor trails
If you have 'Cursor trails' switched on so that the movement of your on-screen pointer leaves a trail of pointers behind the main one, you may experience some disturbance to the images in Topicscape. The attached image shows two examples.
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Solution: |
This is a compatibility problem with the 3D software, OpenGL. We recommend not having cursor trails switched on when using 3D Topicscape.
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| 7. |
Issue : |
Another slow-performance cure
Having an out-of-date driver for your graphics adapter can cause 3D Topicscape to run slowly after a period of use.
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Solution: |
You should check the computer and graphics adapter model and download the driver from the vendor's web site.
To find the graphics adapter's name, right-click on the desktop and click Properties from the pop-up menu, then click on the Settings tag and the graphics adapter's name and model should be shown in the 'Display' box.
Then visit the computer manufacturer's site or the graphics adapter maker's site, and if a later driver is available you should be able to find it.
If the graphic adapter maker has no information, it should be possible to find the latest drivers on the chip-set manufacturer's site. For example, NVIDIA is a popular maker of graphics chip sets (http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp), and ATI is another (http://www.ati.com/support/driver.html).
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| 8. |
Issue : |
Yet another slow-performance cure
On some graphics cards, 3D Topicscape will run slowly if you have the graphics color quality set to 16-bit. The best solution that we can find is to restart the computer. The problem will then disappear for a while. This appears to be an occasional problem specific to the NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 graphics adapter, even when using the very latest driver. It cannot be solved inside Topicscape and we believe it is probably a hardware issue. The PC on which we have seen this happen uses a resolution of 1920 x 1200. We do not know if the considerable extra memory required to handle such a resolution is a part of the problem.
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Solution: |
Please try changing it to 32-bit.
To do this, right-click on the desktop, select Properties, then in the Display Properties Panel, click on the Settings tab, and in the Color Quality selector change to 32-bit in the drop-down.
If, with your adapter, speed is not affected, then using 16-bit color may have some very minor affect on appearance.
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| 9. |
Issue : |
Faulty rendering
Very occasionally, on one graphics adapter that we have tested, we have experienced a "rendering" problem.
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Solution: |
What happens is that while Topicscape is running, if you put another window partly in front of the Topicscape window, then the contents of the Topicscape window will occasionally burst through onto the other window. Restarting the computer will fix this. If this happens, please ensure that you have installed the latest graphics driver software for your graphics card.
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| 10. |
Issue : |
Rendering problem:
1. Start 3D Topicscape, in the start-up panel select the 3DT file to be opened.
2. The Scape window frame will appear almost immediately - click a quick launch icon to open IE at a fast-loading web site like Google.
3. IE will appear in front of the TS window. TS will render the scene and place the Scape window in front of the IE window.
4. Click the title bar.
5. The place where the IE window was will appear as white but 3D Topicscape will otherwise be functional. That area will remain white. Make Current, go to Topic Center and flying can be done and the area stll remains white.
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Solution: |
In the short term, this can be overcome by minimizing and restoring the Topicscape window or just resizing it.
The best solution that we can find is to restart the computer. The problem will then disappear for a while.
This appears to be an occasional problem specific to the NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 graphics adapter, even when using the very latest driver. It cannot be solved inside Topicscape and we believe it is probably a hardware issue. The PC on which we have seen this happen uses a resolution of 1920 x 1200. We do not know if the considerable extra memory required to handle such a resolution is a part of the problem.
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| 15. |
Issue : |
glInfo problem
A user reported that when he ran 'glInfo', it said that he had OpenGL 2.0 drivers, but then showed another popup saying that he would have to upgrade to a version greater than 1.2. 3D Topicscape then installed and runs fine for him, he says.
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Solution: |
This has been fixed. Please download the latest glinfo.
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| 16. |
Issue : |
Garbage collection delays?
One user has reported that every few minutes while using Topicscape - specifically, while navigating or flying in the 'Scape - the system freezes for a few seconds.
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Solution: |
None yet - investigation is in progress. We think that this may be Java reorganizing its memory (garbage collection) but it is not a normal occurrence on our PCs, and we are investigating whether configuration changes are needed.
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| 17. |
Issue : |
Saving MHT files with a single drag in 3D Topicscape
Opera browser issues
You can drag a favicon in a browser's address box to a Topicscape window to make an MHT file. This generally uses the same logic as Internet Explorer (Save As | save as type Web Archive, single file (*.mht)) but saves four or five keystrokes or mouse clicks. This works with Internet Explorer, Firefox, Mozilla and Netscape. It does not work with Opera.
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Solution: |
None. Our research shows that Opera handles favicon (or equivalent) drag and drop internally, so other programs cannot retrieve the data necessary to complete the task.
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| 18. |
Issue : |
Saving MHT files with a single drag in 3D Topicscape
Web site issues
Some sites do not allow Internet Explorer to make an MHT file from their pages. They show a message "The Web page could not be saved to the selected location."
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Solution: |
When 3D Topicscape is trying to make an MHT file and you see this message, just click OK, and 3D Topicscape will switch to an alternative method that will still be able to save most of the web page in the MHT file. Some web pages add protective methods that embed instructions in the MHT file to prevent you from viewing it for more than a second or so. 3D Topicscape will not overcome this.
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| 19. |
Issue : |
Dragging occurrences to the desktop on Windows 98
At present, dragging occurrences to the desktop does not work on Windows 98.
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Solution: |
Drag to a Windows Explorer window that is pointing at the desktop folder (usually C:\Windows\Desktop) instead of the desktop itself.
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| 20. |
Issue : |
Dragging occurrences to Windows Explorer
Dragging occurrences to Windows Explorer results in a copy operation, not a move. This is a design feature. One of the important uses of 3D Topicscape is to hold reference information, which is assumed to be valuable to the user. You must therefore make a deliberate act of deletion to remove it from a Topicscape (Cut, Delete or transfer via Topicscape Box).
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Solution: |
Use a right-click and Cut and then Paste outside or, after dragging, go back to 3D Topicscape to delete the occurrences that were dragged.
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| 23. |
Issue : |
Slow file deletion
Adwatch (part of Ad-aware) watches what 3D Topicscape is doing when deleting files. In doing so, our monitoring (who watches the watchers, huh?) showed that it can take almost as much processor power as Topicscape itself. Please be aware that 3D Topicscape may run a good deal more slowly as a result. During a major deletion in Topicscape, we have seen a case where the CPU time allocated to Topicscape leapt from 52% (without Adwatch) to more than 95% (with Adwatch). During both of those deletions, our anti-virus software (Norton) was taking up less that 0.1% of the CPU and our personal firewall (ZoneAlarm Pro) less than 2%.
File (or occurrence) deletion in Topicscape is not as fast as in Windows because of the need to update tables, keyword indexes as well as deleting the actual file, but the above problem can make it even slower.
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Solution: |
Leave Ad-aware running to see that it does not report Topicscape as spyware, but during a deletion in Topicscape that involves many occurrences with files attached, turn it off temporarily.
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| 26. |
Issue : |
Periodical pauses
Topicscape periodically pauses for a second or so, then carries on. This affect the entire computer, not just Topicscape, but so far we do have concrete evidence of any other program that causes the same effect on that computer. We only have a report of this happening on one specific Dell notebook model - the Inspiron 9300.
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Solution: |
None yet. After very extensive testing undertaken by the Beta User who experiences this, we are working on the hypothesis that this may be a case of the CPU overheating and automatically stopping until its temperature has dropped to a safe level. Topicscape, with its thousands of 3D objects and continuously-rendered 3D text is very CPU intensive. On our Dell test notebooks (Inspiron 8500 and 8100) we have detected a sharp ramp up in CPU temperature when the user is flying in Topicscape but this does not cause pauses. The temperature instrumentation on the Inspiron 9300 (unlike the 8500) does not allow us to monitor the CPU temperature. We are continuing to work on this.
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| 27. |
Issue : |
Intel graphics chip sets (graphics adapters)
A few users have reported some problems with Intel 3D graphics adapters. Some Intel chip sets report a level of OpenGL that appears to be good enough to run Topicscape, but they cause crashes in places where other graphics adapters operate correctly.
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Solution: |
If you experience problems with Intel graphics chipsets, first please ensure that your graphics adapter supports the 3D graphics operations that Topicscape uses. Our test program, glVersion, at http://www.topicscape.com/download3.php will give you the OpenGl level that your computer supports. It must be "1.2 with s3tc extensions" or above. If this shows that the graphics adapter should be OK, please then ensure that you have the latest driver. Our page at http://www.topicscape.com/graphics/ may help you to find the latest driver. Alternatively, you may try the web site of the manufacturer of your computer.
If neither of these operations identify the source of the problem, them we regret that we do not yet have a solution. We are working with one of our Beta Users to attempt to identify the exact point of the problem so that we can send a demonstration program to Intel, when we hope that this can be resolved. (We have already succeeded in getting nVidia to update one of their drivers that had an OpenGL problem).
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