7.3.1 Release Notes:
New Features:
- 4 Size Preferences for 3D Galaxies. Prefs > Startup...
- Search allows a textual type filter (e.g. "Eur Moon" now finds moons with "Eur" in their name)
- Some application features are now returned as search results (e.g. "Telescope Control")
- Tooltips are back.
- Add Filters to Log entries.
Fixed Bugs / Improvements:
- Updated Pluto/Charon maps.
- Improved performance while drawing 3D galaxies.
- Improved find results "aliases". e.g. "Halley's Comet".
- References to log entries fixed in product manual.
- Simulated "Landing" on stars respects daylight setting.
- Exostars no use correct horizon pano based on class.
- Eclipses render properly with shaders off.
- Windows: Removed Flicker in Find results drawing.
- Windows: Fixed crash on Quit preventing Registration and Home Location saving.
- Windows: Fixed issue with automatic timezones.
- Windows: Fixed issue with repeated resizing window causing graphic anomalies.
- Windows: Scroll bars automatically hide if not needed.
- OSX: Fixed crash on startup on OSX 10.11 and/or some OSX systems with NVidia video cards.
- Many more crashes and fixes.
Hi Keiron
I updated SN 7.3.1
I get an alert (see attachment)
even after a restart of the Mac SN 7.3.1 doesn't start up…the alert shows up again...
Mac OSX10.8.5
Best regards,
Erik
SN 7.3.1 update alert.tiff
HI Erik,
Please delete the current app and then reinstall from your download links. Thanks!
Attempted to perform the 7.3.1 update on my two iMacs. It did the 165M download and then a window appears stating that there was an error. Tried it a second time on first iMac and got the same thing. Tried it once on the other iMac and also got same thing. These are 5K Retina iMacs running OS X 10.10.5. The following lines appear in the system.log file for one of the update attempts.
Sep 11 11:01:50 iMacOne.local Starry Night Pro Plus[4535]: WARNING: The Gestalt selector gestaltSystemVersion is returning 10.9.5 instead of 10.10.5. Use NSProcessInfo's operatingSystemVersion property to get correct system version number.
Sep 11 11:01:50 iMacOne.local Starry Night Pro Plus[4535]: 0 CarbonCore 0x00007fff8158f2b7 ___Gestalt_SystemVersion_block_invoke + 113
Sep 11 11:01:50 iMacOne.local Starry Night Pro Plus[4535]: 1 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8cdcdc13 _dispatch_client_callout + 8
Sep 11 11:01:50 iMacOne.local Starry Night Pro Plus[4535]: 2 libdispatch.dylib 0x00007fff8cdcdb26 dispatch_once_f + 117
Sep 11 11:01:50 iMacOne.local Starry Night Pro Plus[4535]: 3 CarbonCore 0x00007fff81518456 _Gestalt_SystemVersion + 987
Sep 11 11:01:50 iMacOne.local Starry Night Pro Plus[4535]: 4 CarbonCore 0x00007fff815176e3 Gestalt + 144
Sep 11 11:01:50 iMacOne.local Starry Night Pro Plus[4535]: 5 Starry Night Pro Plus 0x0000000103d6f973 _ZN12UEnvironment15InitEnvironmentEv + 51
Sep 11 11:01:50 iMacOne.local Starry Night Pro Plus[4535]: 6 Starry Night Pro Plus 0x0000000103bb9532 main + 4578
Sep 11 11:01:51 iMacOne.local Starry Night Pro Plus[4535]: [HockeySDK] -[BITHockeyManager startManager]/201 INFO: Starting HockeyManager
Sep 11 11:01:51 iMacOne.local Starry Night Pro Plus[4535]: [HockeySDK] -[BITHockeyManager startManager]/206 INFO: Start CrashManager
Sep 11 11:01:51 iMacOne.local Starry Night Pro Plus[4535]: [HockeySDK] -[BITCrashManager startManager]/749 INFO: Start CrashManager startManager
Sep 11 11:01:51 iMacOne.local Starry Night Pro Plus[4535]: [HockeySDK] -[BITCrashManager startManager]/806 INFO: Exception handler successfully initialized.
Sep 11 11:01:51 iMacOne.local Starry Night Pro Plus[4535]: [HockeySDK] -[BITCrashManager invokeProcessing]/689 INFO: Start CrashManager processing
Sep 11 11:01:51 iMacOne.local Starry Night Pro Plus[4535]: [HockeySDK] -[BITHockeyManager startManager]/215 INFO: Start FeedbackManager
Sep 11 11:02:04 iMacOne.local Starry Night Pro Plus[4535]: SNOpenGLView
Sep 11 11:02:05 iMacOne.local Starry Night Pro Plus[4535]: [HockeySDK] -[BITCrashManager invokeDelayedProcessing]/828 INFO: Start delayed CrashManager processing
Sep 11 11:02:05 iMacOne.local Starry Night Pro Plus[4535]: Sparkle: ===== Starry Night Pro Plus 7 =====
Sep 11 11:02:52 iMacOne kernel[0]: process Starry Night Pro[4535] caught causing excessive wakeups. Observed wakeups rate (per sec): 724; Maximum permitted wakeups rate (per sec): 150; Observation period: 300 seconds; Task lifetime number of wakeups: 45039
Sep 11 11:02:53 iMacOne.local spindump[1100]: Saved wakeups_resource.diag report for Starry Night Pro Plus version 7.3.0 (533) to /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Starry Night Pro Plus_2015-09-11-110253_iMacOne.wakeups_resource.diag
Sep 11 11:08:59 iMacOne.local Starry Night Pro Plus[4535]: Sparkle: Error: An error occurred while downloading the update. Please try again later. unsupported URL
Sep 11 11:09:50 iMacOne.local Starry Night Pro Plus[4535]: Sparkle: ===== Starry Night Pro Plus 7 =====
Sep 11 11:10:05 iMacOne.local Starry Night Pro Plus[4535]: Layout still needs update after calling -[NSScrollView layout]. NSScrollView or one of its superclasses may have overridden -layout without calling super. Or, something may have dirtied layout in the middle of updating it. Both are programming errors in Cocoa Autolayout. The former is pretty likely to arise if some pre-Cocoa Autolayout class had a method called layout, but it should be fixed.
Sep 11 11:10:05 iMacOne.local Starry Night Pro Plus[4535]: open on /Users/harriew/Library/Application Support/Simulation Curriculum/Starry Night Prefs/Pro Plus/Prefs.txt.bak: File exists
I am not a big fan of the technique you folks use for your updates, especially when you need to update more than one computer. Much prefer downloading the dmg file once and then use it on both machines, especially as huge as these Starry Night Pro Plus updates are getting.
From reading the blurb on wha the update does it would be nice to get it to work.
This will not install for me. I never finishes extracting -- it just goes on and on and on, despite a number of tries. I'm running Mac OS X 10.8.5, SNP7.3.0.533
stillextracting.png
Hi Jim,
Did the update ever finish? It can take a long time to update the app on OSX because in some instances it is required to re-download the entire app in order to update. If the update never completed or you quit before it completed you can move the current app to the trash, and download a new installer from your download links.
I resent your email that includes download links.
Please let me know when you're up and running.
Thanks for your patience.
Keiron,
I deleted the current app and then reinstalled from my download links.
SN7.3.1 works fine now on my Mac 10.8.5
I have one little problem.
The slider on the left panel doesn't work.
This means I can't go down to the end of the page with the slider.
I can not move the slider up or downwards.
Happily highlighting the text does the work. (See attachment)
The right panel/slider is Ok
Best regards,
Erik
Slider left.tiff
Hi Erik,
I don't see this problem w/ the slider. Please submit a ticket request for assistance, and I'll see what we can do to fix it for you.
https://support.simulationcurriculum.com/anonymous_requests/new
Thanks!
I previously posted about all of my attempts at installing Starry Night Pro Plus 7.3.1 failing, telling me that there was an error downloading the update after the initial 165 MB download has completed. I see you tell others to delete the app and download the update. That sounds great; but, I have searched and searched for a download location and have never found a download link for Starry Night Pro Plus 7.3.1. The only way I can begin the update is through the app itself. So, that leaves in in one heck of a pickle. I need the app to start the update but the update fails so I cannot delete the app first.
Hi Harrie,
Please use the following link to retrieve your previous download links: http://www.starrynight.com/retrieve/
Let me know if this works for you. Thanks!
Keiron -
I finally got 7.3.1 installed. You were right -- I found a 4.38 GB SNP7 file in the trash. What is confusing it that the update shows as "Downloading update" (with a progress bar) first, which is a 165 MB file, and then moves on to "Extracting update" (also with a progress bar). This makes you think the update is a 165 MB patch and that it extracts the patch from the downloaded file -- which shouldn't take very long. Nowhere does it give you any sense that "Extracting update" means it still has to download the entire 4+ GB program all over again. It's easy to think the "Extracting update" stage has gotten hung up. It might help if there was a third alert box saying something like "Installing update -- please be patient, this may take some time."
Thanks for the help.
- Jim
DownloadingSNP5Update731.png
Absolutely agree with you Jim! We will implement something like that when possible.
Great to know you are updated. Apologies for the difficulties. Thanks for your patience!
To Keiron Smith, thank you for sending the registration page containing the link to access the DMG file for Starry Night Pro Plus 7.3.1. The installation, using the DMG ,went smoothly.
To me, an Apple computer user since the days of the App;e //e, I do not understand the logic behind your method of doing updates. To me, it complicates the update rather than making it easier. Anyone who has used a Mac for any time is used to the downloading of the DMG file and doing the updates using that. You're technique of first downloading a 165 MB app which in turn downloads the 2.5 GB, or larger, DMG file doing everything behind the scenes seems more complicated both for you and the end user.
Another option is to give registered users access to the update DMG when they log in to their account with you. Thereby allowing them do download the DMG file. There are a lot of folks who do not have the luxury of a super high speed internet connection, like me. Your current method, if I cannot get to the DMG file itself, forces me to do the download 2 times in order to update both of my Macs. The one I use every day, and the second that is there purely as a backup, should it be needed. I do have what my ISP calls a 12 Mbit DSL connection to the internet; however, a more true number would be more like 9.5 to 10 Mbit connection so these 2.5 Gigabyte downloads for each Mac are a slow process.
I love Starry Night, having started with the Enthusiast version, and slowly working up to the Pro Plus version. Just wish the updates could be sped up.
If you are going to stick with your current method then I agree with Jimcook310 that you should be more informative with what is going to happen and what is happening during the upgrade process. Especially for those of us who have slower connection speeds.
Thanks for the assistance in getting my Starry Night Pro Plus updated.
Thanks for all the great feedback, Harrie and Jim! As Keiron has so well pointed out, we are constantly striving to improve the experience and smooth out the kinks. I just wanted to chime in with a few more pointers and our plans regarding the hiccups.
Starry Night Pro and Plus are large apps and when incremental updates are in question we actually do our best to make the download minimal and the update process as safe as possible (ie. in case it fails it shouldn't take the whole app down with it).
By far the most common reason for large app update downloads and occasional failure (although not the one that you have encountered) has been due to modifications to the Sky Data folder in the Application itself. Due to Apple's signing requirements and the nature of optimized incremental updates that we use, we have to make sure that the application that is installed in the /Applications folder is not modified. In the past it was common for users to place data files into the Sky Data folder in the application directly but now this can only be done through ~/Library/Application Support/Simulation Curriculum/Starry Night Prefs/Sky Data. It should never be done to .app Application folder.
Even though the above situation is likely not what happened here, it is by far the most common reason why our updater is sometimes forced to download the full application (the entire zipped 2.5Gb!) when the Sky Data folder in /Applications/Starry Night Pro Plus 7.app has been altered.
In all other instances Starry Night updater will only download the incremental data (160Mb or even 1Mb in some cases).
Once the incremental data is downloaded the updater verifies and then duplicates the entire application (all 4Gb) and applies the update to that. Both verification and duplication processes are demanding of the hard drive and take roughly as long. In some cases verification may take longer than duplication. This happens so that the application can be updated cleanly and so that in case of any interruptions the original app is unharmed. However, it also means that your system (and hard drive) does a lot of extra work. This is the "extraction" phase of the update process and the reason that it can be fairly quick on some systems and fairly slow on others. As is the case with anything computationally intensive - CPU and storage (hard drive or SSD) speeds can greatly affect the duration of the process.
If at any point the updater downloads the entire 2.5Gb package this is only because the Sky Data has been modified locally. In all other cases only a small download will take place. However, the "extraction" stage can take a long time regardless of the size of the download.
Finally, Harrie, the problem that you initially experienced may have had to do with a real bug that we briefly experienced with the update system. The last part of the error you posted is the key: "unsupported URL". Your alert has prompted us to replicate the problem and correct it. This has been fixed pretty soon after you posted the original message. It sounds like perhaps you haven't tried updating after that.
We are constantly testing the update system ourselves and trying it with different OSs and different configurations. The length of the update process due to verification and duplication is almost always the reason for the delays during update. Our long term goal in order to speed this up is actually in streaming more of the data that is currently packaged in the app. The smaller the Application itself is on your hard drive the quicker it can be installed and updated and less space it will occupy on your hard drive or SSD.
I hope that this answers a few of the burning questions. Thanks for giving us such great feedback! For now we will try and make the update messaging a little more informative as you have discussed with Keiron.
Marko, your thorough explanation was most appreciated. I did happen to notice that you had to have made some kind of fix on your end as the install on my first iMac did perform as it should after another days wait. I then received your e-mail and decided to download the DMG file for use on the other IMac, my backup iMac. As I stated, I have a folder named MyInstalls and in it I keep the DMG files that would be needed to restore my non-Apple Store software in case of some sort of severe problem on my end. It beats having to download everything once again when you live with internet speeds that are not the best.
Having been a programmer on IBM Mainframes for 34 years before retiring and now days tinkering with writing software for my Macs and friends, I can appreciate the work needed on your part to get Starry Night to run on the huge variety of systems we users use. Then on top of that the OSes are constantly changing to boot. In my days, on the IBM mainframes, I only had to worry about that one OS, thankfully.
Once again, thanks for the help from you folks at Simulation Curriculum. I have been using Starry Night for some time now and love it. Sure helps me know what I am looking at in the skies here in Tennessee.
Thank you Marco -- in my case, this explains a lot. I've been modifying the contents in the Sky Data folder for, well, perhaps a decade or so (going back to at least SN5), everything from swapping out the satellites.txt file with lists I prefer, to swapping satellite images, to adding custom panoramas, and a few other things. I've even kept an alias of the Sky Data folder handy so I wouldn't have to go the long route to access it. It is undoubtedly why I ran into the problem I did trying to update SNPP7 to v7.3.1. I had just swapped out the satellites.txt file for Celestrak's visual.txt, as I've done for years.
This now obviously raises the question of, well, just how do you make large-scale modifications to the satellites.txt file in SN7, so what I'd like to do is move this question over to another perhaps more appropriate page, since I found someone else ran into a similar problem last year and their question was never answered. I'll see you (and perhaps Keiron) over here:
https://support.simulationcurriculum.com/entries/34650010-How-to-add-satellites-in-Pro-Plus-7
Thank you!
- Jim
Harrie, glad to hear that shedding the light on the whole update process helps! The OSs indeed change yearly now so we are constantly testing with new OSs while making sure that compatibility with the old ones doesn't break. Thankfully, the update process is designed in such a way that it is fairly robust in this regard. There are lots of things to keep track of and we're glad to explain it to anyone who is patient enough to listen :) That being said, you and Jim have been extremely patient! Thanks again!
Jim, I am happy to say that you can still make Sky Data modifications, albeit in a separate folder and not in /Application/Starry Night Pro Plus 7.app. Our lead developer, Dave, laid everything out in this article: https://support.simulationcurriculum.com/entries/30817874-Importing-SN6-data-to-SN7-Or-How-I-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-Sky-Data-overrides-
You can think of the custom Sky Data content as "overrides" rather than "modifications". Feel free to reach out if you encounter any issues with the process.
Clear skies!
Thanks, Marco! I left some additional comments over on
https://support.simulationcurriculum.com/entries/34650010
7.3.1 installed ok but is not working with either 10.11GM or 10.11.1. Graphic glitches are making it unusable. Day sky is black, stars are pixelated blocks. Magnifying results is white area with pixelated stars. MacBook Pro 13.3 2010 with nVidia 320 card. Worked fine under 10.10.4 with 7.3.0. -R
Screen Shot 2015-09-27 at 12.21.06 PM.png
Screen Shot 2015-09-27 at 12.21.23 PM.png
7.3.1 installed ok but is not working with either 10.11GM or 10.11.1. Graphic glitches are making it unusable. Day sky is black, stars are pixelated blocks. Magnifying results is white area with pixelated stars. MacBook Pro 13.3 2010 with nVidia 320 card. Worked fine under 10.10.4 with 7.3.0. -R
Hi.
I'm experiencing a problem with the last Starry Night Version 7.3.1. I had to update because it was crashing all the time in OS X El Capitan GM and now it works again but..., the stars appears as square dots. Any idea why it's this happening now with this update? Thank you. Antonio
Captura de pantalla 2015-10-01 a las 2.47.34.png
It's resolved in version 7.3.2. It worked for me with Nvidia Quadro 4000.
Please help I have Starry Night Pro Plus on Windows 10 3D Galaxies are not working. Using latest Nvidia drivers. I can't even check the box in view in Deep Space, I click on it and nothing happens?
Hello Rusty,
Please submit a ticket request so we can better assist you here:
https://support.simulationcurriculum.com/anonymous_requests/new
Please include your version number and also some screenshot if you can - they will be helpful.
Best,
Sophie
I attempted to get the latest update for Starry Night Pro Plus for Windows 10 and it started to download and then stopped. I repeated this three times and always get the same result. I can run the program fine without the update but would really like to keep it updated. Can you give me a link to download the update.
Hello Yvon,
Please uninstall Pro Plus from your computer and reinstall from a newly download installer. If you do not have your registration and download details email anymore, please see if you can retrieve it here:
http://www.starrynight.com/retrieve/
If you have additional questions, please submit a ticket request so we can better assist you here:
https://support.simulationcurriculum.com/anonymous_requests/new
Best,
Sophie