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More => Old Versions => Media Center 11 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: Robert Taylor on July 23, 2004, 06:33:51 am

Title: G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: Robert Taylor on July 23, 2004, 06:33:51 am

For G-Force lovers out there!

G-Force 2.6.8 has been released, and fixes two important issues for us here:

It now supports cover art when using MC from Media Server
It now recognises MC 11 during install

Ye hah!

Andy, you are a champ!

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: Jaguu on July 23, 2004, 06:41:58 am

What is the difference between the G-Force product and the MC G-Foprce Plugin? Do I need both or just one? Which one?

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: Robert Taylor on July 23, 2004, 07:02:57 am

From what I can gather, the Media Center one is JUST for MC, whereas the others are for the "other crowd of media players" (Windows Media Player, MediaMatch, Winamp et al.)

I just installed it; works a treat! worth paying the $10 for I reckon!

Now my brain can run synchronised with coloured swirly things, me happy!

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: bebop on July 24, 2004, 07:00:32 pm

Got it...love it, thanks Lunch for posting the news and thanks Andy for a great job.   8)

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: Magicland on July 24, 2004, 09:31:14 pm

Great, I was just about to go check if there'd been an updated. Best $10 I ever spent...

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: jolo on July 25, 2004, 12:01:11 am

 :D Magicland,

First, I really enjoy your avatar, the picture is cool, but your brief message is so true !!  Keep spreading the word.

On GForce, I have never used it, but could you tell me briefly why you use it ? Does it simplify the delivery of codecs through all of the products you use ?

Thanks,

Jon

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/23/opinion/23krug.html  (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/23/opinion/23krug.html)

http://www.nhgazette.com/cgi-bin/NHGstore.cgi?user_action=detail&catalogno=NN_Bush_Nazi_2 (http://www.nhgazette.com/cgi-bin/NHGstore.cgi?user_action=detail&catalogno=NN_Bush_Nazi_2)

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: JeffB on July 25, 2004, 12:49:50 am

G-Force is a visualization.  It looks like Milkdrop, but it is better.

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: jolo on July 25, 2004, 01:50:25 am

 ;D I just checked it out and it appears it is NOT for Windows, only MAC.

Is that true ?







http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/23/opinion/23krug.html

http://www.nhgazette.com/cgi-bin/NHGstore.cgi?user_action=detail&catalogno=NN_Bush_Nazi_2

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: JeffB on July 25, 2004, 02:34:28 am

It is for Media Center.

What are you looking at?

 ? ? ?

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: jolo on July 25, 2004, 03:33:19 am

Ah ha.

I was looking at the G-force web site.

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: jolo on July 25, 2004, 03:49:01 am

 :D
Okay,

I just got it !!

I downloaded and installed G-Force Gold for MC.

I cannot believe how this sucker works.

Thanks.  If I only had this in my youthful years when I used to .....................

Jon

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: Robert Taylor on July 25, 2004, 06:14:30 pm

...take acid and sit in darkened rooms listening to wild music and FREAKING OUT

8-)

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: modelmaker on July 25, 2004, 06:29:51 pm

Yeah....... 8)

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: jolo on July 25, 2004, 09:26:00 pm

Hey  modelmaker  and LunchmeatVoom,

You both totally read my mind (what is left of it that is).

My older brother came over and I had to show it to him.  We both thought of how cool it would have been. I have been sover for twenty-three years.  But ..... when I se something that wouold have been entertaining, it brings me back.  

I could see putting on some great music with MC, putting on some headphones, watching G-Force move to the music and totally forgetting where in the universe I was. Not being sure if 10 minutes or hours passed.  

Plus, just the invention of digital music, with remotes as well would have been amazing. I remember when the music would stop on my turntable. Then saying "It's your turn", then hearing back, "No it's your turn man".  I would get up, then have the incredibly hard choice of making the next selections. Sometimes just staring at my albums and doing my best not to scratch them as I put them on the turntable.

Jon

But,   I do find it very calming, meditative.

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: Robert Taylor on July 25, 2004, 10:08:54 pm

This happened a few years back:

I hadn't had it for a few years, when my old trippin mate "J" suggested we try this stuff he got of "some customer who wandered into the service station he worked at".

I had misgivvings after several kinda bad experiences, but thought "ahh well, for old time's sake..."

It was the most powerful stuff either of us had ever tried, and we spent a full 4-5 hours watching a cactus in a pot dancing to The Beatles - Sgt Pepper album (among others). I remember at one pount, J and I were laughing so much, I became alarmed that he was going to die from laughter; his face seemed to puff up as his laughing became out of control, and he was going all red. We'd settle down for a few minutes, and his face seemed to "deflate", and go back to it's normal sickly pallor, and then something would start us up laughing again, and the whole cycle would start again.

At one point, I went to take a pee in the front toilet. As I was standing there, the wallpaper which had some geometric design on it, was making barely audible fizzing and popping noises. Over this, I could hear this roaring sort of noise building up behind me.  I turned around, and this huge animalistic motorcycle was leaping at me from a poster which was taped to the back of the toilet door. It appeared to be coming right out of the wall at me.

Quite suddenly, everything went bad and scary as hell. I suddenly realised that it being a weeknight, I became preoccupied with the fact that I had to be at work the next day (warped time sense - seemed like it was only 5 minutes until I had to be at work, when in fact it was more like 8 hours). Some "wierd" friends of his had dropped around and I was having a hard time telling if they were saying "wierd" stuff to me, or if I was mis-interpreting what they were saying (BIG communication gulf), and to top it off, one of his wierd friends seemed to be coming on to me (I'm not gay - not that there's anything wrong with that), and it flipped me out so bad, I went to a dark room at the back of his place, and "hid" under a blanket for about 3 hours.

Every time I went to the loo, the roaring motorcycle/animal/creature thingy would be waiting behind me, snarling, and making teeth gnashing noises, and always would leap out at me from the wall poster, no matter how quickly I turned around, or how ready I thought I was.

It wasn't until my brother arrived the next morning on his way to work with a packet of Serepax like some angel from above that I started to straighten out. Needless to say, I called in sick (with all the associated paranoid thoughts such as "I'm sure they'll be able to tell I'm pulling a sickie"), and I wasn't properly straightened out until the next morning after that.

It was hugely draining, what with all the endless pointless discussions about differing points of view and so forth, which seem to have huge meaning at the time, but upon reflection are utterly trivial.

I haven't done it again since then...

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: jolo on July 25, 2004, 10:30:50 pm

Great story and it does put things in perspective. I stopped all the crap I was doing because either I sobered up or I died.

But, my favorite lyrics about the feelings when the fun stopped and I went over the line are by Jackson Browne from "The Prestender" albun.  Here is a piece of the lyrics from the song "Bright Baby Blues" which are very meangingful to me.

It's so hard to come by
That feeling of peace
This friend of mine said
"Close your eyes, and try a few of these"
I thought I was flying like a bird
So far above my sorrow
But when I looked down
I was standing on my knees
Now I need someone to help me
Someone to help me please

[/b][/color][/size]

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: jleerigby on July 26, 2004, 07:23:55 am

I never tried G-force but it does sound excellant.  Does it support scrolling lyrics?

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: Robert Taylor on July 26, 2004, 08:51:29 am

I don't believe so...maybe ask Andy on the G-Force forums if it's possible...

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: jleerigby on July 26, 2004, 10:06:12 am

I think I'll try G-force before paying for the gold version.  Do you think this will give me a fair enough reflection of how good it is or would I need to see Gold to appreciate it fully?  there doesn't seem to be a trial period for the gold version.

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: lee269 on July 26, 2004, 12:10:18 pm

Im not well versed in visualisation technology, but a look at the free version was plenty enough for me to get my wallet out. Its amazing how often the changes in the flow of the images seem to match changes in the music - I can never tell if its intentional or just my perception.

Actually, although the gold version has cover art and a few more snazzy effects, for me it isnt an enormous improvement (although I havent played about with its settings much - I just watch the pretty pictures). The free version does so much and had me staring glassy-eyed at the screen just as much. But the writer certainly deserves his money for his generosity with the free version and his skills.

I say give it a whirl, and if you dont like it you wont like the gold version. But you'll like it.

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: jleerigby on July 26, 2004, 12:29:27 pm

I do like it.  

But it's so darn complicated to change the settings.  You have to spend ages reading up on techy stuff and trying it out and then some things just don't change :(

I'm trying to figure out how to specify what track text appears and the size of the text.  Changing TSze does not alter the size of the text and I cannot find any other config files that might do it.  Very frustrating  :(

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: bebop on July 26, 2004, 03:19:58 pm

I recommend it wholeheartedly!  and yup, it's mesmerising!!!  Will be shelling out my $ for gold, just because I love it so much!! ;D

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: jleerigby on July 26, 2004, 05:35:54 pm

Bloody hell.  I'm blown away!  Why would I want scrolling lyrics?  Or cover art?  I just spent an hour memorized by this thing.  I don't even need the gold version because I'm so hooked.  I just want to send him money.  No software EVER made me feel like that.  Jesus!  This is bloody amazing.

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: LonWar on July 26, 2004, 06:44:51 pm

It would be really cool if you could use this with the trackinfo plugins...

I wonder if he's working on this...

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: modelmaker on July 26, 2004, 07:06:16 pm

mmmmmm.....yeah...cooool.... 8)

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: Robert Taylor on July 26, 2004, 07:21:28 pm

For sure it's fairly difficult to modify settings/create your own visualisations, but you certainly don't need to do this to enjoy the stuff.

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: IanG on July 27, 2004, 09:06:00 am

Quote from: JLee on July 26, 2004, 12:29:27 pm

But it's so ** complicated to change the settings.  You have to spend ages reading up on techy stuff and trying it out and then some things just don't change :(

I think there are still bugs in the latest version - I can't get it to accept all the config changes either.

Ian G.

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: Jaguu on July 27, 2004, 09:23:25 am

I have sent email to support@soundspectrum.com because I could not make the startup.txt (preferences) work. Settings for full screen do not work in Gold, while they used to work in the Trial version!

Configuration seems to be a big step backwards!

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: jleerigby on July 27, 2004, 12:20:06 pm

I just upgraded to gold and I'm getting frustrated trying to get the cover art right.  Most of the time I get a black window with no cover art showing even though there is cover art stored as folder.jpg and it shows in MC.  

I'm also trying to work out how to make the cover art stay at a fixed size of my choice (fairly small) and float around the screen.

If anyone can help with these two issues I'd be grateful.

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: cattani on July 27, 2004, 05:46:11 pm

Works good in MC 11.
G-force visualizations is a MAGIC thing.

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: jleerigby on July 28, 2004, 03:51:22 pm

I've concluded that there is definately a bug in g-force gold with cover art display.  It's very hit and miss - mostly miss.  All my cover art is folder.jpg in the artist\album folder on a network drive.  MC shows the artwork and so does netremote and white cap but g-force does not.  G-force does show it if I run it on the machine where the files reside.

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: jleerigby on August 02, 2004, 02:09:38 am

With Andy's help I sort of got to the bottom of the cover art problem.  It was not because the files were on a network drive.  The reason the cover art displayed OK on one machine was because QuickTime was installed.  When I installed QuickTime on the other machine all was OK.  G-Force and Whitecap will both use QuickTime to render images if it is installed, if not they will use the built in image rendering.  If you are having any issues running either visualisation plugin I recommend installing QuickTime.  I used the standalone installer and installed all components except QuickTime authoring.

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: Jasmine303 on August 02, 2004, 12:38:03 pm

this is such a good site ..loads of activity and help!
Its going to take a bit of time to digest the faqs etc

i came to this site via ipodlounge.com ;D

Is G-Force Gold a plug in for MC10? and can someone tell me
if this progrma will run well on a slow pc? I have an Athlon 700 with 256 ram

is there plans for this program to be available for the Apple Mac?


 8)

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: LonWar on August 02, 2004, 01:21:31 pm

The plugin works with MC, but the creator has his own website...

http://soundspectrum.com/

You can download a trial and see how it runs with your PC...

Title: Re:G-Force Gold 2.6.8 now out!
Post by: Magicland on August 03, 2004, 12:20:57 am

One of the great things about G-Force is that Andy (the author) is a great guy who really cares about his customers (a lot like the Media Center folks). If you've got a problem, he's very responsive (time permitting, of course, he is only one person). Custom configuration and effects aren't the easiest thing to do, but it comes with so many effects that it's hardly a problem. I like the cover art feature of the Gold version, because when a song comes on and I've no idea who it is, or what song it is, I can simply hit a key on my remote to display the info (I remapped the "T" key in G-Force to an otherwise unused number key on my remote). Impresses the heck out of my friends, as well. Heck, its $10, that's what, 20 White Castle hamburgers? Okay, split a $20 and get both...