I may not be able to make any more QS fakes.

[redjak6t4]

Oh dear! This is an unexpected and unwelcome development.

Today I ran a Windows update on my laptop. Nothing unusual about that. They happen from time to time. But this one seemed like a major overhaul, taking a long time - longer than usual. But I wasn't at all worried. Once I restarted the machine everything seemed to be ok until I went to my PhotoSuite program, which I rely upon to create QS fakes.

Every attempt to get it running failed. I tried running it as an Administrator, same result. I've scanned it with McAfee and its clean. There seems to be nothing I can do to get it working. I'm no tech wizard, so all I can conclude is that this new Windows update is incompatible with it. The two programs just can't seem to work together.

My options are very limited. Perhaps the only viable one is for me to 'clean' the whole laptop up, get it looked at by a proper technician and explain to them that I want to get PhotoSuite working again. But I will have to be VERY careful about this.

Those of you who, like me, keep your quicksand fetish secret will know what's at stake here. All of the quicksand-related images I've got stored on the laptop will have to transferred to a data stick or some other form of storage. As will any bondage images, mummification pics, tentacles and anything else that doesn't look kosher. The whole lot will have to be moved. Then I'll have to carefully search through every last nook and cranny for anything suspect and I'll also have to do a ultra-fine clean up of my browsing history, leaving no stone unturned.

Only then, when I'm totally satisfied that the laptop can be seen by others, will I hand it over. I'll also have to create some kind of believable and innocent-sounding cover story for why I want this particular program (MGI PhotoSuite 4) to work again. 'Why not go with PhotoShop?', they'll probably ask. Well, I do have it, but much prefer PhotoSuite over it. Simpler and easier to use. And with features that PhotoShop lacks.

Even then, there's no guarantee that this glitch can be fixed. If that is the outcome I'm going to have to bite the bullet and retrain myself to use PhotoShop or something similar. That's not something I'm really looking forward to and would rather avoid.

I'm sorry folks, but it looks like Redjak won't be sinking any more damsels in quicksand for the foreseeable future.

Thanks,

Redjak.

[MadMax359]

this is terrible news! you're among the best, and i can only hope you're able to find a viable solution

[Boggy Man]

Have you tried to update PhotoSuite to the latest version?

[redjak6t4]

Update:

Good suggestion Boggyman! As it turns out there seems to be a feature in PhotoSuite that helps along the lines you've suggested. The Compatibility Trouble-shooter function can be adjusted to cater for it being used with other programs and systems. So that's given me the option of trying a workaround of the compatibility problem re Windows. So far, so good.

I can now open PhotoSuite, upload images to it to work on, use almost all the Tools and save my finished images too. There remains some doubt about the Interactive Warp tool, which seems to be behaving strangely. Last night I tried experimenting with switching the Preview function off and back on again, to remove the glitch. That seemed to work.

So, fingers crossed, I could be up and running again. The emphasis here is on could. Things haven't returned to what they were before I ran that Windows update, but I'm cautiously optimistic about the future. Obviously I won't be posting anything here for a little while.

Thanks for the concern and kind words.

Redjak.

[mudxdresser]

I assume you are using Windows 10 or 11. I would suggest first uninstalling the most recent update that appeared to cause the problem and then checking to see if that restores full function. If full function is restored then you can be reasonably sure that a specific update is causing the problem. If that is the case, though it is rather tedious to do so, you may wish to read up on how to permanently disable that specific update...

[redjak6t4]

Thanks for the suggestion mudxdresser.

It may not have to come to that... thankfully.

I've now been able to restore about 90% of the functions and tools of PhotoSuite 4. There's still some issues to sort out. For instance, if the size of a file that I'm working on in that program is too big then it seems that I can't use the Interactive Warp tool. I tried a much smaller-sized file and it worked fine.

If there's now some sort of 'ceiling' of file size then I'll need to find out what it is. I've already thought of a workaround for this problem. The catch is that these workarounds will slow down the process of creating QS fakes. Extra steps have to be introduced to counteract the instabilities introduced by that Windows update.

Well, I suppose have to take longer to make fakes is better than not being able to make them at all.

Thanks,

Redjak.

[MadMax359]

i for one will gladly wait for your quality, even as the quantity decreases!

[Mudbogz]

I use GIMP... It's a free program and I've used it to make fakes and other things.

[redjak6t4]

I'll be checking out GIMP soon mudbogz.

If it will help me out I'll use it.

Thanks for the suggestion.


Redjak.

[Mudbogz]

GIMP allows you to do layered files such as .psd or save as any number of different formats (i.e. jpg, png...)