NOT AGAIN!!!!!

[John F Dye]

I don't even know why I am bothering to write this except to save some others of you from my experience. Once again I had a crash/lockup this time while saving a file. Guess what. The file I had been working on for several weeks is now 1K in size and I get a read error when I load it. So I go to be back up that was created on the 16th and redo four days of work. Or I go dust off Corel Draw 8 (God!)and try to convert what I have to something I can work with in Corel (GOD!!)
Incidently I had removed all the bevels from the drawing. I did continue to use shadows so maybe that was it. I don't know. At any rate I would caution all of you about using XaraX for complex drawings. May be I will check to see if there is a patch in a couple of days when I have cooled down.
Maybe I'll just go get drunk.

John

[John F Dye]

I don't even know why I am bothering to write this except to save some others of you from my experience. Once again I had a crash/lockup this time while saving a file. Guess what. The file I had been working on for several weeks is now 1K in size and I get a read error when I load it. So I go to be back up that was created on the 16th and redo four days of work. Or I go dust off Corel Draw 8 (God!)and try to convert what I have to something I can work with in Corel (GOD!!)
Incidently I had removed all the bevels from the drawing. I did continue to use shadows so maybe that was it. I don't know. At any rate I would caution all of you about using XaraX for complex drawings. May be I will check to see if there is a patch in a couple of days when I have cooled down.
Maybe I'll just go get drunk.

John

[mike engles]

Hello

I know that it is not much help at the moment, but you can ask XaraX to make backup files.
This renames the last saved file.bak, as it saves a update file.

You can do this in the registry.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Xara\XaraX\Version3.0\O ptions\Filters and makebackupfiles=1.

At least you will be able to open the previous saved file.

MAKE A BACKUP OF YOUR REGISTRY FIRST.

Also were you using fractal transparencies at very
large dpi? That can still cause XaraX to crash.

Mike Engles

[John F Dye]

Hi Mike,
Thanks for the reply. I am not much of a computer expert so have not played with the Registry (Scared). The funny thing is that I had been saving regularly to a zip disk up until recently when I had a problem related to running out of space on the disk, so had only been doing it when I needed to transport the files from, home to Batleship Cove where I print them out for display.
My low tech. solution is to save regularly to another directory, switching back and fourth sor of.
Anyway now that I have taken the dog for a walk in the woods and have poured myself a beer. I thought it might be helpful to describe what happened and my inexpert opinion about the cause.
This is a large drawing physicaly and complex in that it is supose to be a photo realistic representation of a WWII destroyer. It is drawn at 1/8"to 1ft. and has a lot of detail that is not really visable when zoomed back to see the whole image. The reason is that, once complete parts will be used in numorous illustrations throughout the ship to give visitors an idea of both where they are and what they are currently looking at ("No that is an antenna not a rocket launcher"). I know I am pushing the envelope but have not had problems on maybe 20 other similar drawings (My be not quiet as complex) In addition I often have photos of details of the ship imported into the drawing for reference as I put in all the fussy details. (In some way this is more like model making than art...so be it.)
What happened was that maybe half an hour be fore the end of the world, I haad made a shadow of a specific shape by creating a solid in dark grey below a narrow rectangle (it was too narrow to us the shadow tool) I gave it a linear transparence and used the feather slide in the pick tool bar to soften the edge. (I suspect that this is where the bug is but it is just a feeling I have.)
I was doing some unrelated things like making simple rails. (A 1.4 pixel line in dark grey with a .25 Pixel line on top with round end and a three step blend between them)(did you know you can blend lines?).
Suddenly the drawing seemed to freeze. I have a feeling the image was frozen but the Drawing was not because if I draged an object the handles would move but not the image. I though oh oh and without thinking I hit save. The program locked up.
I waited maybe 5 minutes and kept looking at the drive indicator hoping it was woeking (it was not) Finally I Hit Cntl/Alt/Del and got the message XaraX was not responding and ended the task. End of game.
Frome the time I made that feathered shadow the program seemed to slow down. I know it is an old feature, but it is not one I have used much so that is the one new eliment in this situation.
Hope this helps
John

[amoore]

Mike

Thanks for posting the instructions for getting backup files. That's a feature I've wanted for a long time. Works just fine. In Win98SE, your path is correct, but you need to look for MakeBakFile, rather than makebackupfile.

John

I don't fool around with the registry either, but I think you'll find Mike's instructions sufficiently clear (with the correction noted above). When you find the line in the registry, rightclick and select Modify. Then change the 0 to 1 and exit.

If you're making a backup of an existing file, you'll need to make some change in your image before saving in order to generate the bak file.

You may also want to consider making more frequent backups of the problematic file. When I'm working with something that may be touchy or just large, I start saving multiple generations as I work. That way I usually have several fairly close versions at the end of each session, so I can't lose too much if something goes wrong.

Allison

[John F Dye]

Hi Allison,
I will try to set up the registry once I calm down. Likew I said I had been making back ups on a Zip but had had a real mess when the zip ran out of space. You get the same sort of problem except that a message appears saying "you are out of space", "OK?" and when you click OK the message reapears, and so on adn so an. Who thinks up these messages anyway "Your computer will self destruct now, OKAY???" Any way your point of better safe that sorry is well taken.
I have become sorrier and smarter.
John

[NAVITEC]

John,

About your crash - did you check out your Windows/temp folder to see if there was a copy of your file with a .tmp extension - if so try renaming it .xar then try and open it.

I've experienced this occurring in CX2 and I have managed to retrieve crashed files this way.

[Trekart]

I know just how gut wrenching it is to loose your work, worst off through no fault of your own due to Xara crashing while saving.

This hardy ever happened to me using Xara 1.5 or 2.0, but with XaraX it happens with an annoying frequency.

how many others I wonder have had the program simply quit without any warning or error. Just click save and "poof" XaraX is gone - and so is the file you were saving to!!

So my advice is do as I do, and NEVER save to the same file twice. I ALWAYS choose "save as" and incrementally save my work, ie, I'll start a new drawing as filename1.xar, and continue to save to filename2.xar, filename3.xar etc.

I then always have available all the previous work I have saved should Xara go belly-up when saving.

Oh, and another tip I've learned the hard way using XaraX - Save your work every few minutes.

Stu.

[John F Dye]

It was there!!!!!!
In windows Temp with the file name and .bak extension!
Oh man am I grateful to you!!! So I don't have to take up mowing lawns after all.
John

[John F Dye]

Hi Stewart,
Good advice, I have in the past dones as you say but one gets sloppy when there aren't problems. Anyway I am now a devout believer in redundant files especially whenm so much time and effot is involved. As far as your point that this is more previlant in XaraX, I have to agree. It just never happened to me with Corel Xara 2 or 1.5. I think It has to do with the added complexity of XaraX No matter how careful the folks at Xara are there is always and increased likelyhood poof problems with added complexity ask NASA.
I just wish Xara would come out with a patch so they can begin to address the problems. the sooner the better as I am sure more problems will continue to be found. This has to be an iterative process as the program gets more complex.
But I got my file back. So I can feel charatable about the problems for now.
John