Maxsurf Suite

• Error 1721. When installing on Windows Server 2003
• I have a network installation. When I update my software from 12.09 to version 13, do I also need to update the server?
• System requirements for maxsurf software
• Windows Vista
• Is Automation available for all versions of Maxsurf and Hydromax?
• Rendered views not printing
• Zoom, Pan, Shrink commands stop working
• "Autoexec.nt 16 bit installer" error message during installation, what do I do?
• The dynamic link library gdiplus.dll could not be found in the specified path C:\Program...
• Do you support 64-bit Windows?
• During installation I get a message that the dongle drivers are in use or protected?
• Maxsurf on MacOS or OSX
• I have not updated Maxsurf for a while, do I need to install all the patches or just the last one?

Currently there is a problem when installing on Windows Server 2003 machines.  You may get an "Error 131. There is a problem with this Windows Inst...." message towards the end of the installation process.  To get around this problem you must install the InstallShield update manager.  Then install Maxsurf again.

[top]

Yes. With the release of version 13, dongle
drivers and license manager software have been updated in order to support our
software on Windows Vista. This means that - even if you are not using Vista -
you have to run the installer on the server also. See Installation Guide for more information.

[top]

Maxsurf is a highly efficient program and does not require state of the art computers to run smoothly. Basically any computer that can run Windows XP can run Maxsurf.

However, for some of the computationally intensive analyses calculations such as Seakeeping analyses, Hullspeed free wave surface calculations and some (batch) Hydromax analyses it is recommended to have at least 512 Mb RAM and a PIII 1.5 Ghz computer.

For plate development calculations in Workshop it is recommended to have at least 1 Gb RAM.

Installing all of the Maxsurf applications and documents requires a maximum of 200 Mb of disk space.

Note that - as with any design program - the use of a large (17" or more) monitor is recommended and this may require a mid-range video card that supports Open GL 1.2 ( recommended - not required). This information can be found by from Sys Info from the Help | About Maxsurf in any of the Maxsurf application.

[top]

Formation Design Systems fully supports Windows Vista, including both 32-bit and 64-bit versions from Maxsurf version 13 onwards, and Multiframe version 10 onwards.

[top]

Automation (COM) is only available in the Pro versions of Maxsurf and Hydromax. After installing Maxsurf Pro or Hydromax Pro the respective automation library should show up in your list of available automation libraries. See the Maxsurf Automation manual for more information.

Automation is also available in Hullspeed and Seakeeper as well as the demonstration versions of the applications mentioned above.

[top]

In rare circumstances the rendered perspective view fails to print.  Normally this issue relates to the printer driver not handling the large amount of data transferred when printing.  Try changing the size of the paper to a smaller size in your printer settings.  Alternatively you can export the view to a bitmap image using the File|Export|Export Bitmap Image... 

[top]

On very rare occasions the Zoom, Shrink and Pan commands stop working for the view windows (Perspective, Plan, etc).  Restoring the default settings by holding down the shift key when starting the application will rectify this.

[top]

In some cases you may get an error message that is something like:
"C:\Windows\System32\Autoexec.nt The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications."

This is not a problem with our installers, but a file corruption on your machine - your autoexec.nt or config.nt has become corrupted and is preventing any 16-bit applications from running on your system. Unfortunately the self-extracting portion of our installer is a 16-bit application.

The simplest way to fix it is to copy the file from a working machine, or follow the instructions given in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base Article:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;324767

Please note that this file corruption will effect all applications you are trying to install that use a 16 bit installer and it is thus worth fixing. Hopefully the above will fix the problem, but should you continue to encounter problems please don't hesitate to contact our technical support.

[top]

This missing dll error may occur for users who are using Windows 2000.  This dll is required for docking and customisable toolbars.  Most systems will already have the dll, however if this is not the case you can download it by clicking here.

Copy gdiplus.dll to C:\Program Files\Maxsurf and restart the application.

[top]

Yes, as of Maxsurf version 13, and Multiframe version 10, our software will now install and run correctly on 64-bit versions of Windows, including Windows XP 64-bit and Windows Vista 64-bit.

Versions of our software prior to those listed above do not support 64-bit Windows.

[top]

Background 

This can happen when you do a network installation on a machine that:

• has previously had Maxsurf installed
• acts as the license server (has the license manager application running)
• also acts as a client machine (you want to use this PC to run Maxsurf)

What is happening is that the license manager is using the dongle driver and therefor the installer cannot overwrite it.

Solution

Follow the following steps: 

1. Stop the license manager (see below)
2. Install the software
3. Re-start the license manager
   

Extra info

1) When your license manager has been installed as a service, you can stop it from the Windows Administrative Tools | Services (from your start menu). In the list of services you will find the Hasp Loader. Change the status to stop (right click menu).

2) If your license manager has been installed as an application, you will see an icon in your system tray like this:

Right click on that icon and select stop.

[top]

Update:

Formation Design Systems no longer develops or supports software running under the Macintosh OS or OS X. However, with Apple's announcement of Macintosh computers based on Intel processors, it is now possible to run the latest Windows versions of Formation Design Systems software natively on a Macintosh.

While it has always been possible to use Virtual PC to run Windows programs on a Mac, this is generally relatively slow and can have occasional compatibility problems. It is in fact not officially supported by us as we are unable to test this configuration sufficiently well.

The new Intel-based Macs allow you to use a tool called BootCamp to install and run Windows on your Mac, alongside your Macintosh OS. While it doesn't provide the live switching between the two that VirtualPC does, (it requires a reboot to switch) it does give you very fast Windows performance on the same machine you use from day to day. More details on BootCamp can be found on Apple's web site.

A third party also has a product named Parallels that offers a similar switching between OSX and Windows but without re-booting. Info on that can be found at www.parallels.com. We have not had an opportunity to test Parallel's compatibility with our software.

Given the very low cost of high performance Windows machines, and the increasing additional functionality of the Windows versions of our software, we recommend adding a Windows machine to your network and gradually moving over to it.

If you would like to cross-grade your Mac versions to Windows, please contact us for a quotation.

If you would like to see what new developments have been happening with the Windows versions of Maxsurf, take a look at our latest newsletters.

[top]

Our patches include the fixes and enhancements from the previous patch as well, so you can simply install the latest patch to update your software.

Please note though that you do need to have the same major version installed for the patches to work.

ie. if you have version 13 installed you can install any patches for version 13 that might be available, (i.e. 13.01, 13.02, etc), but you will not be able to install a patch for version 14.

[top]