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[Bug - Needs Path To Reproduction] New > New Asteroid/Comet Crashes On macOS Mojave 10.14 (Is Anyone Else Getting This Crasher?)

This post is to express my great disappointment with the SN8.

I was indeed very surprised to learn that SN8 was available for download only a few days after I had received an invite to "Beta test" the software. Regardless, I bought the software ($140 CDN) to upgrade my SN7 Pro Plus. (I understand that pressure to get the software ready before Christmas may have played a role)

After many frustrating days of seeing my software crash constantly and ruining a couple of evenings of observation, I came to the conclusion that the SN8 had become completely useless to me. I have to go back to SN7 to carry ON with my passtime. (Trying to forget the $140)

What makes the whole ordeal even worst, As per another customer, The WEB site will not let users using Safari to "log in" to ask questions, and is asking to enable cookies to be installed on our computes ( I will not get into the cookies installed on my computers in this post (Would be too long)). Even with us allowing this practice (Cookies) to be achieved by the WEB site, we still cannot log it. (I had to download Firefox to express my gratitude in this newsgroup)

My views have changed greatly in regards to this software after these experiences, and unfortunately I will have to look somewhere else in the future.  I will also be the one having to pay for this mistake. (Purchase)

 

Regards,

Denis

6 comments

  • 0
    Avatar
    Keiron Smith

    Hi Denis, 

    I'm sorry your SN8 experience has been frustrating.  Indeed, we did want to launch before Christmas.  However, we absolutely stand behind our software.  Whatever issue or crashing you are encountering we will fix.  Please just provide a little information.

    1, What OS are you running SN8 on?

    2, Is there any action associated with the crashing; e.g, do X, then Y, the result is Z?

    3. Is there any crash report?  If so, please copy and paste, or attach it here.

    I'm sorry about the cookies issue, it is a PIA.  But, this is in fact not something we have any control over.  We did not build/code the support website.  We are using a powerful service called Zendesk.  There are many features of the support website that make it essential to our success with the community.  Aside from the community forums, we can develop the KB library, and visitors can find anything using the search engine.  Plus, the backend offers tons of deep level features for customization, tagging, assigning tickets, follow up emails, the list goes on and on.  So, that is all just to say, we have to work with what we got.  And, in this case the pros far outweigh the cons with Zendesk.  So, thank you for downloading Firefox in order to participate in the community forums.  

    Thanks!

  • 0
    Avatar
    Denisjltremblay

    Good afternoon Keiron, (Yes I feel better now)

    I am using a profile under my name using the "Save Preset" for my sessions. (File created Denis.snf). The problem(s) don't appear to happen after a specific list of command, but just about any time during a session.

    The crashes have been happening just about anytime without warning. When it crashes, I get a warning window pop up which reads that the problem's probable cause is: Shaders: Turn ON or OFF.

    If I keep them ON...I get more crashes. If I turn them OFF, I will get some parts of the sky map to turn "Black on White" (an option that is common on star maps) in shape of big squares on half the map. Mostly happening if I zoom in and out of the map to have a view of an object(s).

    I will try to notice in the future if this happens after doing something in the file menu that the software doesn't like.

    The software is running on two of my computers at home.

    The problems are presently happening on my:

    iMac (21.5 inch), Running macOS Mojave

    Processor: 2.3 Ghz Intel Core i5, 8GB 2133 Mhz DDR4

    Graphics: Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 1536 MB

    I also have "Starry night" installed on my MacBook Pro (my field computer) running "High Sierra", but I haven't tested it yet fully to see if I am experiencing the same problem.

     

    PS...While I got you cornered, is there a way to transfer all the data entered manually in SN7 under "New comet and New Asteroids" into SN8?

     

  • 0
    Avatar
    Keiron Smith

    Hi Denis, 

    1. Please attach a screenshot of the sky map "Black on White".
    2. Please attach a screenshot of the "New comet and New Asteroids" data.
    3. Please also look for a crash report, and attach that too.  MacOS is very reliable at generating crash reports.

    We will get everything running smoothly.

    Thanks!

  • 0
    Avatar
    Denisjltremblay

    1. I have been playing for the software for the last few days, and the "Black on white" mapping (in only in a few spots on the map) has not happened again. I will advise if this happens again.

    2. "New comet and asteroids data screen shot? I go: file/new/New comets orbiting the sun (or asteroids), and I enter numerous comets and asteroids data manually that are not entered/updated in "starry night" automatically. I get this data from: https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?orb=1;sstr=137P. (JPL small body WEB site)

    So my question is: is there a way to transfer the data from comets and asteroids that we entered manually in SN7 Pro plus into SN8 Pro plus like the other data from the user that was done automatically when installing SN8? Or should I assume that all this data will resume to stay in SN7. Or is there a way to transfer a specific file into SN8 directory (specific location) from SN7?

    3.

    That's all it is giving me...

  • 0
    Avatar
    Keiron Smith

    Hi Denis, 

    On the crash report there is an option to Show Details.  Please open the report and attach it to a reply here.

    Look in:

    (OS X)  /Users/<YourUserName>/Library/Application Support/Simulation Curriculum/Starry Night 8 Prefs/Sky Data/

    Find the:

    • Asteroids.txt file
    • Comets.txt file

    Open the files.  This is where the auto downloaded data goes.

    The number of asteroids and comets in each file is determined by your preferences:

    File -> Preferences -> StartUp -> Max number of objects read in at startup.

    ^^^ You can make a change here to have MORE comets/asteroids read in.

    Also, you can modify these Asteroids.txt/Comets.txt files - but must match EXACT format.  Note, they will be OVERWRITTEN next time you update the data, so keeps this in mind.  It is possible to add EVERY SINGLE KNOWN ASTEROID into Starry Night.

    Read this:

    https://support.simulationcurriculum.com/hc/en-us/articles/231535047-Asteroids-in-Starry-Night

    https://support.simulationcurriculum.com/hc/en-us/articles/231535187-SN7-How-to-add-every-single-known-asteroid-to-the-database-Mac-OSX-

    Note, the KB articles reference SN7, which has a different pathway to the Prefs folder.  Starry Night 8 uses the "Starry Night 8 Prefs".

    I can not, unfortunately, reproduce your crashing issue when using File > New > New comets/asteroids.  But, we should be able to fix it with the crash report.

    Thanks for your patience.

     

     

  • 0
    Avatar
    Keiron Smith

    To answer your other question, you can copy the Asteroids.txt file from:

    Starry Night Prefs/Sky Data 

    ...into:

    Starry Night 8 Prefs/Sky Data

     

     

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