Xara X running on Windows 7 (64-bit)?

[Bosatsu]

Hello, I am having trouble running Xara X (yes, ancient CD version) on Windows 7 64-bit Professional and was wondering if anyone else can see if they have the below problem?

When I try to use Xara X, I notice the time it takes to display hidden layers is somewhat sluggish and not instant like how it normally runs on my slower XP machine. It seems to gradually refresh from the bottom to the top of the artwork, depending on the number of objects on the selected layer. When I use the hand tool to move around the canvas or zoom out, the screen usually turns blank and I am not able to see anything until I restart the program.

I discovered that if I run the program in XP or Vista compatibility mode, Xara X will run fine without any of the above odd behavior. HOWEVER, the problem with using this program in compatibility mode is that whenever I start it up, my custom controlbars do not appear (it just loads up the basic default controlbar and forgets all my previous controlbar configurations). Even if I leave other pre-set controlbars open (ie. gif animation, imagesetting, button pallete, etc...) they will disappear after I exit and re-open Xara X.

This is a bit of a nuisance since it takes me about 5-10 minutes to customize my toolbars each time. I am aware that it's possible to save and load custom toolbars using Xareg XML setting, however I was hoping someone is able to suggest a more permanent fix and somehow force xara to remember and load controlbar settings under compatibility mode.

Notes:

- Xara was installed from CD and run as administrator.

- Custom controlbars aren't remembered. Other settings in the 'Page Options' are remembered however (ie. file list size, units, etc...)

- I also tested a copy of Xtreme 2 and the same issue was observed (doesn't remember custom control bar settings but does remember 'page options').

- If I customize my controlbars and then close xara, then change the compatibility to XP (w/ admin priviledges), and then reopen Xara X, my previous controlbar settings appear. BUT, if I shut down Xara and reopen it again (still under compatibility mode), they are gone for good.

- I have later versions of Xara that work fine under Windows 7, but I still love and use Xara X as it has some important features that are absent in newer versions (plus I like the simplicity of the interface).


P.S> Does anyone know how to get Xara to display only .xar and .bak files by default in the open/save dialog window? I seem to have an issue where it is displaying 'all files'.

[wizard509]

[QUOTE=Bosatsu;506166 Does anyone know how to get Xara to display only .xar and .bak files by default in the open/save dialog window? I seem to have an issue where it is displaying 'all files'.[/QUOTE]

After you have set everything up the way you want it from the file menu select save template give it a name and be sure to check the box on the right that says "use as default template"
The "all files" saves if I understand it correctly so any version can open the file. You can change that to save as .xar files but in that case it will only open with the specific program that created it. All Files(*.*) seems to be the default and you may not be able to change it. Don't know if XarReg can do that or not as I have not re-installed it yet. To get to the .bak files go to open recent and select Backups. They will not be displayed unless you do that. Normally any document you work on and not close will load when you start the program, this is a cool feature and can save you lots of heart ache. Hope this helps a little.

edit: I am using windows 7 64bit with no problems.

[handrawn]

its not clear whether you installed it in XP compatability mode as administrator - running it as administrator, or assigning it privileges after install may not be enough

if you disable the UAC on your computer does the toolbar problem go away - I don't recommend you do that permanently because it is a valuable security feature, but if it does fix the problem then it points to administrator privileges being a possible issue

it might help to have the UAC off when you do the install too

what features does xara X have that the later versions do not? - I can think of one which is bitmaps show in outline view [because it pre-dates their treatment in the UI as rectangle fills] - that sort of thing interests me, I run older versions too

[Bosatsu]

After you have set everything up the way you want it from the file menu select save template give it a name and be sure to check the box on the right that says "use as default template"
The "all files" saves if I understand it correctly so any version can open the file. You can change that to save as .xar files but in that case it will only open with the specific program that created it. All Files(*.*) seems to be the default and you may not be able to change it. Don't know if XarReg can do that or not as I have not re-installed it yet. To get to the .bak files go to open recent and select Backups. They will not be displayed unless you do that. Normally any document you work on and not close will load when you start the program, this is a cool feature and can save you lots of heart ache. Hope this helps a little.

edit: I am using windows 7 64bit with no problems.

wizard509> I went back and tested it my XP machine and actually you're right, the default is all files (*.*). I think I got confused because windows 7 seems to be displaying the files inconsistently (I used to have all my folders on top in a descending order, but now all the files are sometimes scattered or appearing in an ascending order in details view instead of list view even after saving the folder view in windows explorer. Also using a dialog extender does not seem to fix this issue.

its not clear whether you installed it in XP compatability mode as administrator - running it as administrator, or assigning it privileges after install may not be enough

if you disable the UAC on your computer does the toolbar problem go away - I don't recommend you do that permanently because it is a valuable security feature, but if it does fix the problem then it points to administrator privileges being a possible issue

it might help to have the UAC off when you do the install too

what features does xara X have that the later versions do not? - I can think of one which is bitmaps show in outline view [because it pre-dates their treatment in the UI as rectangle fills] - that sort of thing interests me, I run older versions too

handdrawn> UAC was disabled during install and still disabled. I only have 1 account (admin) installed on my system at the moment.

Xara support told me that Xara X should work fine under windows 7, but as I mentioned, without compatibility mode my files do not load or run smoothly. With compatibility mode running, everything is fine BUT I lose my custom control bar configurations. I'm still waiting back from them regarding a possible remedy.


Can someone here who has a copy of Xara X or Xtreme , test to see if they have the same issues running it (under Windows 7 64-bit) in normal and XP compatibility mode? (you will have to close and reopen Xara several times in compatibility mode to see if your custom toolbars appear or not).



As for features, there are a bunch, but off the top of my head:

- The ability to view bitmaps in outline view as you mentioned
- Outlines are NOT anti aliased in 'skeleton view'
- The ability to change a bitmap's outline and fill colour by left/right clicking on the pallette bar
- Support for synthesized bold/italic fonts
- The arrangment of the right click menu (a lot of important functions such as clone, duplicate, convert to editable shapes were removed in future versions)
- easier to access feather bar
- double clicking an object with the selector tool does NOT automatically switch the tool to something else
- creating circles at an angle rather than from the centre
- layout of the layer gallery (much easier to move shapes from one layer to another plus easier hide/unhide & editable/uneditable layer option)
- Pasting multi-layered objects to a single layer instead of separate layers (not sure if there is an option to change this in later versions?)
- Ungrouping groups does not modify the transparent nature of individual objects (this might be a bug in version 7)


Plus, I'm very used to the simple UI interface (less busy layout, basic icons and un-fancy pallette bar). I have a long list of feature requests/tweaks I've been planning to post for years, but I still favour this version as it was Xara in it's purest vector form before turning into a hybrid photo editor (which isn't neccessarily a bad thing btw.) Personally I think it would be awesome if Xara released a 'lite' throwback version that focused back on the vector illustration aspect geared towards those that only want to draw. Anyways, hopefully I'll have some time to post my feature request list + examples in the 'Dear Xara' forums shortly...

[handrawn]

I have xara xtreme [ie ver 2 2006] running under win7 64bit [but home not professional] - it was installed as normal [not compatibility mode] but with UAC off, and then run first time as administrator when entering the serial number

I have arrange bar and custom bars

it works fine and has done for 2 years or more, I have not seen any of the symptoms you describe [except that button palette does not, nor is intended to, persist but all the other bar settings do

[handrawn]

one further thing - if you have installed it one mode, and then uninstalled it and re-installed it under a different mode on the same OS build, that might well throw up issues...

[Bosatsu]

I have xara xtreme [ie ver 2 2006] running under win7 64bit [but home not professional] - it was installed as normal [not compatibility mode] but with UAC off, and then run first time as administrator when entering the serial number

I have arrange bar and custom bars

it works fine and has done for 2 years or more, I have not seen any of the symptoms you describe [except that button palette does not, nor is intended to, persist but all the other bar settings do

one further thing - if you have installed it one mode, and then uninstalled it and re-installed it under a different mode on the same OS build, that might well throw up issues...

handrawn> thanks for checking. Can you tell me if your customized control bars appear if you set xtreme to run in XP compatibility mode? (you made need to save a copy of your current tool bar settings using Xareg, in case the control bar configuration gets forgotten). And you may need to restart the Xtreme twice.

btw, my version was installed normal with UAC off. I am pretty sure it was run first time as administrator too when I entered the serial since (again as I only have a single account on my PC.)

[handrawn]

ok - but you will need to bear with me, I am on win 8 computer at the moment

[handrawn]

running xtreme in win XP [SP3] mode the bars reset on second restart on the win 764bit computer

running it in normal mode again the bars stay put ...

[Bosatsu]

running xtreme in win XP [SP3] mode the bars reset on second restart on the win 764bit computer

running it in normal mode again the bars stay put ...

handrawn> thanks for confirming! That's the exact issue I have. I hope xara is able to provide some sort fix in the registry to correct this since I am not able to use normal mode.
Btw, how large in dimension and filesize are your vector files? Are they complicated with the use of a lot of objects and transparencies? If they are small and don't use a lot of shapes then perhaps that might explain why you are not experiencing the sluggish refresh and blanked out canvas on your screen under normal mode?