Help Menu in 11.1i upgrade

[sb4]

I have the Orangutan 10.5 disk which I installed, then applied the 2004 11.1i upgrade to.

 

When I launch the 10.5 version, the help menu works fine.

 

With the 11.i1 version (2005), everything seems to work fine except the Help menu -- it gives the error:

 

"Failed to launch Help"

 

I'm hoping it is some simple file missing from some place during the install.

 

Does anyone familiar with old versions have an idea what could be amiss? My work around is to install and run both versions, just to access the help menu, which is awkward and space-busting.

 

Is there some way to view the help without the program? That could be another workaround.

 

Regards,

 

-SB

[itsjustme]

Download "masterchm.zip" from the Hash FTP and unzip it to the A:M folder.

 

Hope that helps.

[sb4]

Download "masterchm.zip" from the Hash FTP and unzip it to the A:M folder.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Thanks! I don't know how long it would have taken to discover that.

 

Are there archived versions of the Help manual to best match it to our particular version of A:M?

 

Regards,

 

-SB

[robcat2075]

Are there archived versions of the Help manual to best match it to our particular version of A:M?

 

I don't think so.

 

If you were to copy the one from your v10.5 to your v11 folder that would probably be the most relevant. But most of the changes in later versions would be the addition of features rather than changes to existing features.

 

One significant feature change I can think of since v11 is that displacement mapping no longer requires a dense mesh to work. It works on any mesh now.

[sb4]

Are there archived versions of the Help manual to best match it to our particular version of A:M?

 

I don't think so.

 

If you were to copy the one from your v10.5 to your v11 folder that would probably be the most relevant. But most of the changes in later versions would be the addition of features rather than changes to existing features.

 

One significant feature change I can think of since v11 is that displacement mapping no longer requires a dense mesh to work. It works on any mesh now.

I hit a snag with using the latest Help file. I downloaded that "current" master.chm referenced above and copied it to my Hash Inc/V11.1 folder.

 

Now although my A:M Version 11 does load a Help screen, it is not anything like the V10.5 help system (see attached image comparing the V10.5 master.chm with the current master.chm).

 

With the current master.chm file, there is no "User Interface and Environment" menu to drill down into -- instead, the menu items seem to be links basically to a "TAOAM.pdf" file, a "techref.pdf" file, and a link to the "ftp://ftp.hash.com/pub/docs/" site.

 

Should the latest Master.chm file do that, only provide links to downloads? It doesn't seem to be working as expected.

 

-SB

[robcat2075]

I dimly recall there is a problem with making new .CHM files

 

Martin told me it's a proprietary format and the company that creates these CompiledHelpManuals went out of business. Sounds crazy to me but that's what I recall him telling me.

 

However, it occurs to me that you already have the the proper CHM file on your Orangutan CD. Look in the Documentation folder and copy the master.chm file to your AM v11.1 folder. That should work. i should have thought of that sooner.

[sb4]

I dimly recall there is a problem with making new .CHM files

 

Martin told me it's a proprietary format and the company that creates these CompiledHelpManuals went out of business. Sounds crazy to me but that's what I recall him telling me.

 

However, it occurs to me that you already have the the proper CHM file on your Orangutan CD. Look in the Documentation folder and copy the master.chm file to your AM v11.1 folder. That should work. i should have thought of that sooner.

Thanks, that's what I'll do.

 

I was hoping to have one that included any new features in 11.1i, whatever they might be. But I'm sure the10.5 sure will do the job for now.

 

-SB

[robcat2075]

I probably should retract my story on the CHM. I see that Microsoft now offers a tool to create them.

 

So I'm not sure what the reason is that the current CHM is just links to the tech ref.

[sb4]

I probably should retract my story on the CHM. I see that Microsoft now offers a tool to create them.

 

So I'm not sure what the reason is that the current CHM is just links to the tech ref.

I verified that the current CHM has the same behavior with A:M 2004 V10.5 (Orangutan CD), so it is not the 11.1i upgrade that is the problem.

 

Maybe the version I downloaded is not the best one. Can anyone confirm the current Master.chm works as expected and what link they used to download?

 

Regards,

 

-SB

[robcat2075]

When I run V11.1i, with the CHM from the orangutan CD installed in its program folder, and do Help>Help Topics i get a window with this is in it:

 

 

The little purple books are expandable by double-clicking on them and have expandable sub topics. Isn't this what you want?

[sb4]

When I run V11.1i, with the CHM from the orangutan CD installed in its program folder, and do Help>Help Topics i get a window with this is in it:

 

 

The little purple books are expandable by double-clicking on them and have expandable sub topics. Isn't this what you want?

Yes, that's what I get with the original 10.5 CHM too -- and I'm OK with that.

 

Just wanted to check if you also have trouble using the more recent CHM (downloaded) with your V11.1i. If so, then I know it's not my installation that is the problem. I don't know if there is a V11-specific CHM anyway.

 

Thanks for looking into it

 

-SB