I've recently upgraded from Inquisit 3 to Inquisit 4.  When running some of my experiments that worked fine with INquisit 3, i am getting error messages.  I have not found a resource for helping my understand  the messages.  So, i'm posting them on the forum....

Direct2D Error: 0xffffffff8899000c

A presentation error has occurred that may be recoverable. The caller needs to re-create the render target then attempt to render the frame again.

Line 565, File win\Direct2DGraphics.cpp

Direct2D Error: 0xffffffff88982f0d

Unknown error 0x-2003292403lX

Line 412, File win\Direct2DGraphics.cpp

Those messages come from your system's DirectX environment (which Inquisit as well as other applications use to render stuff to screen etc.) -- Inquisit just passes them along. All in all they suggest that something is preventing Inquisit from gaining control over rendering, or more precisely, that some other process is stealing control from Inquisit. What that may be, I do not know. I would (a) re-start the system, (b) update graphics drivers and DirectX and (c) shutdown any unnecessary background processes and applications which may interfere with / hook into the display system (e.g Skype).

There's a slim, theoretical chance that something in your old scripts (subtle error or the like) is to blame, but I cannot speak to that without an actual example.

You can find a list of Direct2D error codes at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd370979%28v=vs.85%29.aspx.

thanks for your quick reply, Dave.  I've ruled out the graphics driver because i have updated graphics drivers on both computers i've run the code on, the two machines have different video cards, and I get the same error messages on both computers for the same lines of code.  I'll look into updating DirectX next and then report back.  thanks again for the great support.

Hmm, can you share a bit of runnable example code that triggers the issue on your system(s)? If it's something in those scripts, I should be able to reproduce this on other machines, too. Any additional details are also appreciated (OS version, etc.).

Hi DAve.

Well, I've ruled out updates to DirectX and tried my best to turn off all other processes that might be competing for screen time so to speak.  So i'm attaching my code that was developed in Inquisit 3 and still runs fine on computers loaded with that version.  I'm having troubles with the upload file feature in that I can't seem to upload more than one file and i can't upload a zipped folder either.  so, for the time being, I've only uploaded the code. Can I email a zipped folder to you that includes the stimuli?  I'm using Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit on one computer on which i get the DirectX error messages and Windows 7 Enterprise 32 bit on the other computer on which I get the same messages.   thanks

FYI.. half the time the experiment runs and I get the directX error messages, about 1/4 of the time the program just crashes and Inquisit shuts down.  the problems seem to occur when files from a list of items (either GIF or wav files) are selected for either video elements or soound elements. 

#1: Could you please put all the files in a ZIP or RAR archive, upload that somewhere (e.g Dropbox) and post the download link. Email is not a particularly good way to share many / big files.

#2: Another angle to investigate are codec issues (missing / broken) given that the errors seem to be tied to particular files. FWIW, does the script run in Inquisit 3 *on the same machine*?

yes, the code runs fine with Inquisit 3 on the same computers. 

Also, if it is indeed about those files: What happens if you take one or two or them a write a simplistic script (not the full thing) to display them?

I don't think it is the indiviual GIF or WAV files that cause the problem, because I deleted those individual files on the line of code noted in the error message.  When I then reran the code, the same error messages appeared and referenced the same line of code, which now had a different GIF or WAV file. I've uploaded the folder with all files zipped to xfiles, but xfiles requies me to enter an email address to send the link to anyone outside of our university.  Do you mind sharing that?

You can simply use support<at>millisecond.com

yes, of course.  thanks.  on it now.

I wasn't suggesting it's any individual file. Assuming the files are encoded identically, the above is exactly what is to be expected. I'm trying to narrow down the problem, hence I would like to know what happens when displaying a few of those files in a minimalistic script.

you should recieve the link any second now..     I just ordered a departmental license for Inquisit 4, but need to verify that all our users Inquisit 3 code will still work.  So, thank you very much for helping me trouble shoot this.

Nothing so far, not in spam either. Anyhow, in case the system cc'd you, can you post the link here? Alternatively just attach one of the WAV and one of the GIF files to this thread.

i sent a link to a shared dropbox folder too, in case that works easier

I resent the email through xfiles and also tried sharing a fold with you via dropbox.   Here is the link to xfiles.  https://xfiles.uth.tmc.edu/xythoswfs/webui/_xy-6002524_1-t_IXwAoLyx

Thanks. Meanwhile both links trailed in via email too (just now, in fact). I'll give this a closer look ASAP, but might take a while.

no worries.  Me and a colleague have been struggling with this for a couple days. Plus, i get that it IS the weekend ;>)

cheers

Alright, according to my tests the issue occurs if (and only if) two or more animated GIFs are displayed at the same time (crashing the graphics driver really badly). Weird. Please feel free to test that for yourself. Note that:

- Displaying any individual GIF works fine.

- Displaying two or more video files (e.g. AVI, MPG) at the same time works fine.

The only obvious / immediate workarounds I can think of are:

- Converting the GIFs to some other video format.

- "Merge" the respective two GIF animations displayed into a single one (so you only need to display a single GIF).

Thank you for you help, Dave.  We can definately work around the problem now that you figured it out!  This experiment is now error free (even in version 4) !!