Apcd/ Windows 11 issues.

[leftybob]

I am wondering if anyone else is noticing the DraStic reduction in new courses being posted by our course designers?
From all of the posts that I have read over the last 6 months or so, it seems like they are having big time/ frustrating issues because of Windows 11.
Sage Vanni said he was cutting back on what he was doing and Glenn Braden tells me that it's way too frustrating, so he has stopped designing courses all together!

I am neither a course designer nor a computer expert, but I certainly do enjoy playing these courses on Links.
It would be a shame if we Lost these guys completely or even partially.
Assume others might be having the same issues?
Is there anyone out there who is either a computer" expert" or who knows a lot about the functioning of the apcd?

Just throwing out these questions: is there a way to tweak/change the apcd to work better with Windows 11 or is there a way to do a " work around?" Windows 11 so that it doesn't slow up the process.
Just wondering? And hoping?

[Colin Jones]

In relation to releases, its not easy to properly analyse any trends over the past 10 years. Sage's incredible output, developer outliers like John Brooks (of whom all designs should be disregarded as genuine releases) and some designers releasing back-catalogues, make it difficult to crunch the numbers.

But we can safely say that (aside from a bump in 2023-24), less courses are being designed overall. What is a no-brainer is that the number of designers has shrunk severely. Without Sage and Ian (to a lesser extent), we'd be lucky to have a new release every 2 months. And that trend has been underway a long time before we got Windows 11 updates. Go back 10 years and have a look at the diversity of people designing at that time............its quite amazing (remember, even then in 2014, Links was considered outdated).

Would be sad to lose Glenn and I know Sage is struggling. But the inescapable fact is that APCD design has been on life support for some time. Linkster generated some renewed interest for some of us (I'd argue that's the reason for the bump in the past 18-24 months) but that won't be enough.

The key is to encourage more people to use the APCD and release some courses. Otherwise, once Sage and Ian throw in the towel (and they will eventually regardless of Windows issues), you'll be getting almost nothin' new.

From my point of view, the Linkscorner community is not what it once was. I have some stories about beta testing, which I'll refrain from telling now, but there's no doubt that there's a sense of entitlement here (to quality new releases). I needed to dismiss them as the mutterings of a few grumpy old men, just to stay sane (and polite!). But a cursory review of feedback to new courses - not talking about me/my very few releases here guys - shows us one very clear thing: very few users who download a new course even have the courtesy to acknowledge the release.

So, I ask myself, even if you fix W11, why would any new designer even bother to learn the APCD?

[Ian Wells]

Colin,
Very well said. I agree with you 100%.
The lack of feedback does irk me somewhat, but without knowing how many times the courses are downloaded it's difficult to get too upset. (Perhaps there are only 2 or 3 downloads? )
Irrespective of members playing the courses that I build, I will continue to build courses so long as I am able.

Ian

[sagevanni]

Very good synopsis Colin.....

I am still working on courses but at a much slower rate. My main reason is I had a object library built up over 4 years of work and lost it in a comp crash and never rebuilt it to any extent.
It's a shame thing like libraries can't be shared in a simple way. What I mean is why can't you send me your library and I use it right out of the box so to speak. I have to import all objects......why won't it just work if I copy/paste it in my folder?
Stuff like that.
So I'm still here.........................

Sage...........

[Adelade]

You can transfer object libraries but you must both share the "Object" folder and the object.lib file. You can also transfer planting set files, but if I recall correctly, the individual object properties might be stored somewhere else so you might have to set those anew for each object (like size and bounce/density properties) unless you transfer the whole APCD folder or identify which file holds that info.

But yeah, if you already have a half-built library and want to add stuff from another, I dont think there is any easy way for that. There is a library merge utility but it was made to merge the 2001 APCD version library with the 2003 one, so I dont know if it would work for custom libraries.

[sagevanni]

I don't really know about file sharing and all that. It seems to me in the new age of instant everything it would be a no brainer to just drop the folder and files in the APCD directory of choice and "BAM" it all works, but it does not with APCD. It's because APCD is 20+ years old and does not follow the new way things work.......oh well..................

I try to come up with work arounds the best I can................

Sage....

[morvio100]

I am wondering if anyone else is noticing the DraStic reduction in new courses being posted by our course designers?
From all of the posts that I have read over the last 6 months or so, it seems like they are having big time/ frustrating issues because of Windows 11.
Sage Vanni said he was cutting back on what he was doing and Glenn Braden tells me that it's way too frustrating, so he has stopped designing courses all together!

I am neither a course designer nor a computer expert, but I certainly do enjoy playing these courses on Links.
It would be a shame if we Lost these guys completely or even partially.
Assume others might be having the same issues?
Is there anyone out there who is either a computer" expert" or who knows a lot about the functioning of the apcd?

Just throwing out these questions: is there a way to tweak/change the apcd to work better with Windows 11 or is there a way to do a " work around?" Windows 11 so that it doesn't slow up the process.
Just wondering? And hoping?

To do away with these Windows 11 issues... is very very simple create a DUAL boot scenario ... solved have all your Links stuff on Windows 10 ... and use win 11 for all other stuff .. very simple imo

[sagevanni]

That is one solution but a real pain in the ass for workflow................having to reboot for one app or the other is annoying.
Also, setting up a dual boot from windows 11 is almost a bigger pain in the ass and not for anyone without a lot of computer working knowledge.

Sage..........

[morvio100]

I didnt know win 11 .. was such a pain for such things/// I am dreading having to upgrade to winn 11 this year... as officially ms stop support from october... f..k ms... but im going to clone my exisiting drive with win 10 anayways

[dwg]

I cannot speak for the APCD. I did install it and try to use it back in the day, but it is not the mostly friendly bit of software out there.

As for installing and playing Links I have installed and used it on both Windows 10 and Windows 11 and really at that level it is pretty much the same. The nuisance as usual is how Microsoft changes where things are and how you access them etc.