Win 10 problems with older P2E shows ?

[danmassefrance]

Hello !

Our photoclub (in France) just received a communication from the official in charge of organizing competitions on the national level.

Translating the whole message would be a bit lengthy, so I'll try and make an abstract :

"Intel has integrated a graphic card in its latest processors. But this card is not very performing, and should be bypassed. But not all processors will allow the integrated graphic card to be disconnected : the I7xxxxH type is recommended.

Now, if your exe file has been generated before Window 8 (any exe file) no bypass is possible : the integrated graphic card will be used - and the quality may be poor.

The exe files generated with older versions of P2E will not function properly with Win 10, as P2E is not capable of using the "external" graphic card : the only solution is to convert the file to mp4."

The author says he has encountered the problem. Yet, I tried and played several of my older P2E shows, dating back to 2009 (I don't know which version of P2E I was using then), and they all worked fine on my small Surface computer ( Win10 x64, Atom ™ x 7 – Z8700 @1.60 GHZ processor. RAM 2.00 Go : the smallest model in the Surface line).

Does all that make any sense ? It is a bit disturbing to see such an information being circulated...

Thanks for your comments...

[Lin Evans]

As far as I know, PicturesToExe does not decide which graphics card is used to display any executable code, the computer settings (hardware and firmware) make that decision. If the laptop has an other than onboard graphics device enabled, then PicturesToExe executable files, like any other executable file simply sends the code to the graphics device enabled. Hundreds of users have laptops with selectable video hardware, either Intel onboard chip graphics sharing or external dedicated graphics. Nobody to my knowledge has ever reported that when their laptop was switched from onboard graphics to dedicated graphics that PTE failed to avail itself of the selected card for playback.

My assumption is that the "official in charge of organizing competitions on the national level" is wrong about this..

I think it's best to let Igor comment here....

Best regards,

Lin

[davegee]

Lin, 

He is right.

There are W10 Laptops which refuse to allow certain software to use the dedicated graphics cards rather than the basic built in card.

I think that it might be something related to whether or not the laptop is connected to an external monitor via HDMI.

DG.

[Lin Evans]

If not all laptops using W10 and switchable integrated plus dedicated graphics cards have this problem, it's neither a PTE nor W10 issue but rather a hardware manufacturer's problem. Nearly all Windows based laptops are running W10 - if Dan's computer isn't having this problem and he's running W10 on a dedicated graphics card then the issue when someone else has this problem logically is with the hardware?

Best regards,

Lin

[Igor]

Please give me some time to explore this subject.

If I remember rightly, video drivers in a laptop decide how to run an application - on integrated video card (Intel), or on external video card (NVIDIA/AMD). User can set the option - force run of any applications on external video card.

 

[snapcam]

I don't know if this is the same but I think this is the problem found a couple of years ago when the RPS Group purchased an ASUS laptop but could not use the dedicated card when showing various authors i.e. at a festival. Provided the dedicated card was used at production then fine but if not then the laptop reverted to the lower standard integrated graphics when showing. Apparently the design of the laptop was  the problem

[Tonton Bruno]

I contacted the official wich is in charge of slideshow competitions at the national level for France.The Fédération Française de Photographie is a very large and very mighty federation.

He wrote me this:

Quote

Depuis aout 2015, les portables équipés de wind10 ne permettent plus le choix manuel d'utiliser soit le chipset graphique soit la carte graphique (Nvidia ou autre) du portable. Ceci dans un but d'augmenter l'autonomie du portable.
C'est à l'exe de "dire" au portable ce qu'il veut utiliser et l'utilisateur n'a plus la main sur le choix. Ce "dialogue" n'est possible qu'avec les dernières versions des logiciels de diaporama comme PtE 9 ou wings platinium 5. Sinon l'exe est automatiquement dirigé vers le chipset.

Google translation (looks OK)

Since August 2015, laptops equipped with windows 10 no longer allow the manual choice to use either the graphics chipset or the graphics card (Nvidia or other) of the notebook. This in order to increase the autonomy of the laptop.
It is up to exe to "tell" the laptop what he wants to use and the user no longer has the hand on the choice. This "dialog" is only possible with the latest versions of slide show software such as PtE 9 or wings platinium 5. Otherwise the exe is automatically directed to the chipset.

Please Igor, could you confirm that you did something special under PTE 9 to handle this problem ?

Do you think that exe files generated with PTE 8 and previous versions will encounter problems on some laptops ?

[Igor]

Bruno,

Thanks for that message.

As I know, laptops with Windows 10 should allow to switch between integrated and external video card. Probably user should install NVIDIA or AMD drivers downloaded from their official websites.

Also we're working on this issue right now. We hope to include to the code of PTE 9 the permanent solution to automatically run EXE files on powerful external video card in laptops. It should work with Windows 10 and 7, 8. 

[Tonton Bruno]

Thank you Igor. This is clear.

You will find here after an other extract from the french document.

It is about DirectX.

I don't think we have to follow this process, and I would like to know your position.

Quote

DirectX: file that allows fast data transmission to the graphics card.
The current version of Windows currently delivered is Windows 10.
It comes with the direct X version 12, but since Windows 8 the direct X delivered does not resume the operation of the previous versions.
To ensure that all software used in previous versions can work under Windows 8 and 10 it is necessary to install all versions of DirectX from 9C,10, and 11 in addition to version 12.
For doing this, download them from the site of Microsoft. Follow the Instructions.
After each installation, stop the PC and then turn it back on to ensure that the
New files.

I read on a french forum that PTE exe files use DirectX9 or upper, but I never read that we must reinstall old versions if we are in DirectX12.

[jt49]

Two remarks:

1. I have a notebook (bought in 2014) running the latest Windows 10, and it allows me to choose the graphic system (Intel or Nvidia) when running an exe-presentation.
2. From my experience with shows prepared with a well-known AV-tool from Austria, I know that at least since Windows 7 the DirectX coming with the operating system does not include all legacy components. The easiest way to solve problems of missing DLLs is to download "dxwebsetup.exe" from Microsoft and runt it once. It will add to the system all legacy components.

[Tonton Bruno]

Thank you jt49.

I presume the document broadcasted by the French Federation is mainly concerning Wings Platinum and was written in order to help people who organise public meetings and competitions..

This is why I want to clarify all these questions, in order to help the federation propagate an honest and easy solution.

[Igor]

I confirm that laptops with AMD video card under Windows 10 does not allow to choose fast external video card for all applications, including PicturesToExe's slideshows. It's shame situation for AMD and Microsoft.

We can do it only for NVIDIA video card (any Windows), or for AMD video cards under Windows 7/8.

As I know, Microsoft plan to update Windows 10 soon with a new special "Game mode" for better performance. If this mode will solve this issue, we'll activate it for PTE and presentations.

[Tonton Bruno]

Thank you Igor.
I am now in touch with 3 officials from the French Federation.
These persons organise meetings and competions very often.
They need to launch different projects commming for PTE, Proshow, Wings... and they want to do it professionnaly, without any error message or Windows alert.

I isolated 3 major concerns.
1) Exe detected as a false positive by an antivirus software.
2) Exe file blocked by W8 or W10 because it is not certified.
3) Fluidity regression on a laptop under W10 because the graphic card is no longer activated

May be all these 3 problems will be solutioned if you deliver a player for PTE presentations.

https://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?/topic/19688-player-of-pte-presentations/

[Igor]

Bruno,

Thanks, I understand. Several comments:

No. 2 is not actual since PicturesToExe 8.0 can create certified EXE files (Safe EXE for Internet).

Yes, we consider the idea to create the player for PTE presentations. A release date of PTE player is not related with release date of v9.0, because it's would be a separate software product. We're working on this idea now.

I think that PTE player may also solve issues with NVIDIA/AMD cards in laptops.