Logo by Trifox - Contribute your own Logo!

END OF AN ERA, FRACTALFORUMS.COM IS CONTINUED ON FRACTALFORUMS.ORG

it was a great time but no longer maintainable by c.Kleinhuis contact him for any data retrieval,
thanks and see you perhaps in 10 years again

this forum will stay online for reference
News: Check out the originating "3d Mandelbulb" thread here
 
*
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register. April 18, 2024, 11:40:56 PM


Login with username, password and session length


The All New FractalForums is now in Public Beta Testing! Visit FractalForums.org and check it out!


Pages: 1 [2]   Go Down
  Print  
Share this topic on DiggShare this topic on FacebookShare this topic on GoogleShare this topic on RedditShare this topic on StumbleUponShare this topic on Twitter
Author Topic: [GDS|Entropy] Fractal Explorer formula archives, ongoing  (Read 35789 times)
Description: Links to 7z archives of *.frs files and images.
0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.
mclarekin
Fractal Senior
******
Posts: 1739



« Reply #15 on: April 05, 2017, 06:51:30 AM »

@sabine and gerson

I have emailed them, good luck and let me know if it all works.
Logged
Sabine
Fractal Fertilizer
*****
Posts: 373



WWW
« Reply #16 on: April 05, 2017, 04:34:16 PM »

Thank a lot, @mclarekinthanks sign Now I've got terrain working thanks to your files!  shocked

The compiler (which seems 16-bits so probably would never run under win7 (@gds-entropy, here your VM-part is needed!)) misses its files and I have had a rummage on the net and found that .dcu's are Delphi-related and downloadable from weird places :} (seems delphi version 7 is needed), but the make.pif (treated by windows as an executable) is a custom file and crucial for formula-compiling, and this one is missing...  cry

Logged

sabine62.deviantart.com
gds-entropy
Alien
***
Posts: 29


« Reply #17 on: April 08, 2017, 02:58:30 AM »

Sorry for the delay, I have had some rather unpleasant things go down...

This archive contains the compiler, app, fractal landscapes plugin, example files, FE compiler tutorial and db, and so forth.

File size: 3.2mb

http://gds-entropy.com/FileDrop/Fractal Explorer.7z

Ian
Logged
gds-entropy
Alien
***
Posts: 29


« Reply #18 on: April 08, 2017, 03:22:05 AM »

Thanks a lot, Ian, you are making me a very happy person! And yes, the VM bit too, please smiley
And take your time smiley

Ok, for the VM stuff I can do a few different things, initially the easiest is to point you to links which explain what to do and where to get the stuff you need, for your OS. Windows only.
Microsoft makes this bit called "XP Mode", along with "Virtual PC", and you will need both of those.

I am sorry non-Windows users, but I cannot legally make a VirtualBox/VMWare image of XP SP3, and it wouldn't work anyway for this from what I can tell because of the subsystem that it will not have [and VPC does] which FE Compiler needs because of that blastedly infernal PIF file. If someone out there knows what happened to the FE authors after all that crap went down in Ukraine, and can hook me up with them, then I can get a source license and rebuild the stupid little demon-spawned file to point to correct x64 resources, or just rewrite that bit. But so far as I know, no one who had the opportunity to buy a source license ever did, or they never chose to tell anyone at least.

If push comes to shove and folks cannot sort out the two sets of instructions I link to, I may be able to find enough time to whip up a Word doc walkthrough, but you see my response time is not anything that could be called with any amount of reasonable creative license either "fast" or "responsive".

They are intended for Windows 7 Professional or better, but *will* work under 8+...it is just rather more annoying to set it up, and you need to enable Hyper-V [so your hardware needs to support this].

Virtual PC:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=3702

XP Mode:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8002

TechNet Documentation, for Windows 7 use:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee681737(v=ws.10).aspx

Documentation for Win8-10 use:
http://www.download3k.com/articles/How-to-add-an-XP-Mode-Virtual-Machine-to-Windows-10-or-8-using-Hyper-V-00770

I cannot offer tech support for this stuff, and if you mess things up and your computer runs off and starts murdering folks, it isn't on me.  evil
You are entirely on your own with support and liability, I'm afraid.

My advice, is that if you do not understand what you are reading, it is best to ask in some appropriate forum [MS or one of the ones in the Stack Overflow network] and/or hit up YouTube [the cesspool that it is].

Ian
Logged
blob
Strange Attractor
***
Posts: 272



« Reply #19 on: April 08, 2017, 01:56:03 PM »

In older windows versions PIF files are shortcuts to 16bit executables or batch files (.bat). In the case of FE, make.pif is obviously a shortcut to make.bat. In addition to specify the same properties as a shortcut (.lnk) does, they also let the user specify how much memory the virtual machine their target will be running in will get. Newer windows versions, at least 64bit ones, don't understand pif files as they don't have 16bit virtual machines anymore.

The compiler is a 32bit program however so it does run in a 64bit environment. What I may suggest is to create a shortcut to make.bat and replace all instances of make.pif by make.lnk in the FE executable with an hex editor and try if you can get it to work like that. If it doesn't, at least you now know what a pif file is.  tongue stuck out

Also, when the compilation fails because of the pif problem, you could then try to execute the bat file separately.

Apparently the compilation process goes as follows: a dpr file is generated in the user temp folder, then FE invokes make.pif to execute make.bat which specifies the compiler executable followed by the full path to the dpr. Simply Drag & dropping the generated dpr onto the dcc32.exe compiler should possibly work too.
Logged
Sabine
Fractal Fertilizer
*****
Posts: 373



WWW
« Reply #20 on: April 09, 2017, 04:12:14 PM »

Thanks a lot, @Ian, for the software and your elaborate comment on VM and XPmode.  thank you post swing
I have downloaded your version and runs like a charm!
The VM-bit I am looking into, not so sure yet if I want to go through all the hustle (I'm so lazy! grin), because I just remembered that I have an old laptop somewhere with XP installed! That should do the trick if it's the 32-bit version...wink But if not, my computer should be ok to run VM and XP mode.


@blob Thanks a lot for your comment, so cool to meet someone who still knows what a .pif is;) I haven't worked with one (or seen one for that) in a very very long time...  wink Had also noticed the contents of make.bat, the thing is to grab the .dpr before FE wipes it again (at close of compiler error-message :}) Will have a closer look at what you suggest but running the make.bat/dropping the .dpr on dcc32.exe does not seem to work, at least, I get errors and nothing formula-like appears within FE.


Oh well, seems a challenge;)
Logged

sabine62.deviantart.com
gds-entropy
Alien
***
Posts: 29


« Reply #21 on: April 12, 2017, 11:02:08 PM »

In older windows versions PIF files are shortcuts to 16bit executables or batch files (.bat). In the case of FE, make.pif is obviously a shortcut to make.bat. In addition to specify the same properties as a shortcut (.lnk) does, they also let the user specify how much memory the virtual machine their target will be running in will get. Newer windows versions, at least 64bit ones, don't understand pif files as they don't have 16bit virtual machines anymore.

The compiler is a 32bit program however so it does run in a 64bit environment. What I may suggest is to create a shortcut to make.bat and replace all instances of make.pif by make.lnk in the FE executable with an hex editor and try if you can get it to work like that. If it doesn't, at least you now know what a pif file is.  tongue stuck out

Also, when the compilation fails because of the pif problem, you could then try to execute the bat file separately.

Apparently the compilation process goes as follows: a dpr file is generated in the user temp folder, then FE invokes make.pif to execute make.bat which specifies the compiler executable followed by the full path to the dpr. Simply Drag & dropping the generated dpr onto the dcc32.exe compiler should possibly work too.

Yean I knew about pifs but would prefer to not have to mess with a hex editor, no fun, that. I would much rather find the original devs and buy a source license. Not that I would complain if someone else out there manages to make it work as you mentioned.  angel

I have tried contacting other working e-mail addresses at the Ukrainian facility those folks worked, but no luck so far with any replies. For all I know, they're dead and buried now.

I have also thought perhaps I can track them down academically, as there are papers written by them, and maybe someone they worked with knows how to get in touch with them. No luck so far.

I really want the source, FE is a fine program. It seems a shame to let it slowly die. I tried using UF but it is more in your face than just slapping in a formula and hitting run. I nearly bought a FE source license back in 2004, man am I kicking myself now.  fiery

Ian
Logged
gds-entropy
Alien
***
Posts: 29


« Reply #22 on: April 12, 2017, 11:09:27 PM »

Thanks a lot, @Ian, for the software and your elaborate comment on VM and XPmode.  thank you post swing
I have downloaded your version and runs like a charm!
The VM-bit I am looking into, not so sure yet if I want to go through all the hustle (I'm so lazy! grin), because I just remembered that I have an old laptop somewhere with XP installed! That should do the trick if it's the 32-bit version...wink But if not, my computer should be ok to run VM and XP mode.


@blob Thanks a lot for your comment, so cool to meet someone who still knows what a .pif is;) I haven't worked with one (or seen one for that) in a very very long time...  wink Had also noticed the contents of make.bat, the thing is to grab the .dpr before FE wipes it again (at close of compiler error-message :}) Will have a closer look at what you suggest but running the make.bat/dropping the .dpr on dcc32.exe does not seem to work, at least, I get errors and nothing formula-like appears within FE.


Oh well, seems a challenge;)

In windows 7 the VM stuff is pretty simple, you just install one bit then the other, and copy the FE folder into the VM, and you are good.
I have an old xp machine too, but the program seems to have some memory allocation issues that make it unable to save images if the runtime is much over 24h, or is large, or both.

Beware too, that I have had files just vanish outright when the program fails through closing with no message, exception, anything. The *.frs files just....disappear. And no digital forensics software I tried at the time [2005] was able to find even a trace. WTF right? Gone like they never were.

So, just beware this can happen, for reasons I never discovered. Maybe some really nasty bug with memory/file stream disposal and the stream being open for write? I don't know.
I have not had it happen recently, nor have I ever seen that behavior with any other program.

Ian
Logged
Sabine
Fractal Fertilizer
*****
Posts: 373



WWW
« Reply #23 on: April 15, 2017, 10:48:27 PM »

Can't look into this further at the moment, will have to wait a week or two, but thank you for the additional tips and warning, Ian! I will take them to heart
Logged

sabine62.deviantart.com
Gerson
Forums Freshman
**
Posts: 18


« Reply #24 on: July 10, 2017, 07:08:57 PM »

I tried to run it under winXP with Virtualbox and compiler didnt work. If someone can get the solution let me know.
Logged
Pages: 1 [2]   Go Down
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Related Topics
Subject Started by Replies Views Last post
Fractal Explorer ... Images Showcase (Rate My Fractal) GFWorld 12 4886 Last post November 16, 2006, 03:30:05 AM
by 011art
Fractal Explorer ... Images Showcase (Rate My Fractal) GFWorld 4 3227 Last post June 22, 2008, 06:36:38 PM
by GFWorld
Fractal Explorer - fast fractal generator for Android Smartphones / Mobile Devices Black 6 23170 Last post November 29, 2010, 10:18:20 AM
by Cyclops
Fractals, entropy and probabilities. (new) Theories & Research TheRedshiftRider 7 621 Last post April 08, 2014, 05:58:34 PM
by youhn
2013 - 2016 3Dickulus Fragment Archives Parameter Files 3dickulus 0 3561 Last post December 17, 2016, 09:30:04 PM
by 3dickulus

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines

Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS! Dilber MC Theme by HarzeM
Page created in 0.177 seconds with 25 queries. (Pretty URLs adds 0.006s, 2q)