PSP7: pane of layer palette gone missing

Anyone still using PSP7? -- I still love it, so I am :)

But just today half the layer palette disappeared for some unknown reason. If anyone has experience of this and how to get it back, be really glad to hear!

I think it may be connected with a system resources problem... I had a heck of a lot of stuff open at once, and also been working in PSP for some time, which could have just tipped it 'over the edge' and mucked this up somehow, though it didn't get as far as crashing. Occasionally there are little glitches like this when it's 'tired'. When saving an image for instance.

If I use a certain letter while naming the file (like an 'o'), which coincidentally is a shortcut key for toggling one of the toolbars/palettes on or off, then instead of the 'o' going into the filename field in the Save dialog box, it will start toggling one of the toolbars on or off -- in the case of an 'o' it would be the Tool Options palette. That's a cue to know I've pushed it, and to shut down PSP and other progs to recover resources.

But once I've done that, it's usually fine when I open PSP again, and works as it should. This time, as an extra side-effect which has never happened before, it seems to have made half the layer palette disappear, and it hasn't come back... didn't even notice it had gone till I reopened PSP.

The palette's divided into two panes:
--the right half has the Layer Opacity, Blend Mode and Lock Transparency;
--while the left has the layer type (raster/vector), Layer Name and the Layer Visibility button.
There's a divider between the two halves.

It's the left half which is no longer visible... so there is no way of changing layers by clicking on the one I want to work in (clicking in the right half doesn't do it). Anyway, without being able to see layer names it's impossible to know where I am!

There is one reference to it in the help topic which says:
The Layer palette contains two panes. Drag the divider to change the relative size of them.

Yea, well I'd do that if I could see the divider but it's also out of view so there's nothing to grab hold of. Every time I try, all it does is grab the outer frame of the box to reduce or enlarge the size of the overall palette frame... just like dragging the edges of a non-maximized window. This doesn't bring the middle divider or the left-hand pane into view. Right-clicking the title bar or anywhere else in the half still showing only brings up the toolbar dialog box to choose which toolbars to show or hide.

Any ideas? Many thanks.

Welcome to the forum. I have PSP 8, and under the File menu there is "Workspace", which allows the creation of new workspaces or returning to the default workspace, possibly PSP 7 has this feature?
Saludos,
Bob.

Hi Cottager,

Welcome to Talkgraphics.

The problem you describe sounds like a registry entry for the Layer Palette has been set to zero for the Left Pane.

The attached .zip file contains a .reg file that will put the default values back into the registry for you.

Close PSP7.

Download the .zip then extract the .reg file to a folder on your hard drive.

Use Windows Explorer to go to the folder the .reg file was placed.

Double click the .reg file and you will be asked if you are sure you want to add the information in the file to the registry.

Answer yes and the registry will be updated.

Start PSP7 and the Layer Palette should have both panes again.

YAY!!!! It's back!

Bill, you're a marvel -- thank you SO much :D

I did a bit of a workaround, as the first line of your .reg file wasn't quite the same for my XP ('REGEDIT4' instead of 'Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00'), which I spotted having exported/backed up the existing key before changing it and comparing; so edited it in Notepad and it worked fine. Comparing the two it's clear there was at least one difference, in the first "Locked" value which on mine ended in 0 instead of 1.

It must have been the last 'tired' incident which did it. Shutting down evidently didn't happen soon enough or make it reset itself.

I don't know why I have such a problem with system resources, but it happens quite a lot in certain scenarios. Like when making web pages. PSP7 will be open while fiddling with images (several at a time), plus the plain text editor, various pages open in the browser at the same time while testing offline, Windows Explorer, and there could be one or two other applications running as well... that sort of thing, but nothing which seems out of the ordinary to me.

It doesn't really take too long in this sort of situation for a resources problem to crop up. It may not be PSP7 which starts throwing a wobbly, but something else. When testing pages offline for instance, there'll be a lot of page refreshing going on as changes are made (and constant resaving in the editor of the .html file for the same reason); or if I'm checking internal links I'll always open in a new window through the right-click context menu (because that's what I like doing online, when I'm surfing, so it's a habit). Maybe this sort of behaviour uses up lots of resources. Suddenly it might start refusing to open a new window from the context menu, though the link will still work with a normal left-click. Sometimes things start displaying in a larger plain font, like prompt messages or filenames in Explorer. They're sure signs the system's got bogged down and I need to close open applications and let it recover before carrying on.

Still, thanks to you PSP's sorted out and I really appreciate the help :)

Also grateful thanks to Bob for answering the call. I'm familiar with saving workspaces (yes, PSP7 does have this), and I do have a saved file, though I hadn't thought of using it before you brought it up; but not sure if it would have addressed this problem or not. Hadn't got around to trying before Bill chipped in.

I have no experience at all of the latest PSP versions. Mine's the anniversary edition of PSP7, but I did buy PSP8 and PSP9 when they came out. Installed them both briefly, and kept them there for a little while to try them out, but although there were more bells and whistles I didn't get on with them too well, and ended up uninstalling both. Maybe it would have been different if I'd come to either 8 or 9 as a new user. For what I do, PSP7 has all I need and more, and I'm so used to it. What I'm dreading is moving up to Vista or later when the time comes, as it looks from some of the threads here it doesn't all work in Vista?

Corel took Jasc over after PSP9, and I couldn't help feeling it could be the 'beginning of the end' for PSP. Maybe I was wrong, I wouldn't know, but it seemed the emphasis would be different in the hands of a much larger concern, as it so often is, and the whole ethos of what PSP began as (and what Jasc set out to do with it) would be lost.

I bought PSP X which came out shortly afterwards, just to 'have' really, but it's never been installed. From what I gather the program's now much more focused on photographic editing and enhancing, rather than what it set out as and was so good at -- creating graphics. Is that right? I think maybe it began going this way even before Corel took over. From what I hear it doesn't now include many of the features which are still familiar to a 'dinosaur' like me! Much more biased towards the editing and effects, rather than creating graphics from scratch -- would that be accurate?

PSP really was groundbreaking, bringing graphics creation and editing to the masses at reasonable cost when it first came out and in the early years. There had only really been Photoshop up till then: very costly and pretty much confined to the professional. Suddenly, because of Jasc, anyone could have a go at creating stuff for themselves without it costing a fortune. I didn't get 'into' it at the very beginning, but it was still very much in its heyday when I did (with PSP6).

Back then you literally couldn't move on the web without falling over PSP tutorial sites, PSP tips and tricks, PSP groups, PSP enthusiasts, not to mention endless sites for downloading even more endless tubes, graphics, masks, patterns, gradients, patterns, presets, backgrounds, tiles, web sets, brushes, animations etc -- all freebies made with PSP. Again maybe I'm wrong, as I don't look around for that sort of thing as I used to a few years ago, but my impression is it's nothing like that now? It might be hard for some of today's users (who came to PSP more recently) to imagine what it was like then -- I don't just mean what was available to download, but what a huge craze it was and the enthusiasm and buzz PSP created. It only intensified when plugins like Blade Pro came out, and suddenly everyone was into filters as well, spawning another few million sites with freebie presets and so on.

I've still got thousands of such files on my hard drive! -- even whole pages saved from sites which bit the dust years ago. It wasn't all good stuff, it has to be said, and there was plenty of rubbish around, but there was masses of real quality. Tubes in particular were a real innovation -- nothing like them had ever been available before PSP. I think they're still included?

Oh dear, what a ramble! Sorry... hope you'll forgive the lengthy trip down memory lane! I'll shut up now and get back in my box...

Very many thanks once more for curing my problem so quickly -- very glad I found you here :)

I'm very glad that worked for you Cottager. I had installed PSP 7 on an old Win98 PC today. The .reg was created on the Win98 PC, that is why it was Regedit 4.

I remember PSP being a shareware program years ago. I downloaded and played a bit with it but did not have the time to devote to learning it.

Years later I download the trial version 5, followed by 6. I finally had some time to learn and bought version 7 and was sent a complimentary copy of the Anniversary edition. I upgraded to version 8 and was sent the patch to update to 8.1 and that is where I stopped upgrading. I was debating about getting version 9 when Corel bought Jasc.

Shortly after I bought PSP version 7 I discovered Xara X. Vector drawing was more intuitive to me and I've used Xara X constantly and have upgraded with every new release.

What are your system specs? Which version of XP, how much RAM, CPU speed?

Do you have a large image for your desktop wallpaper? Wallpapers take up system RAM, forcing a lot of disc writes that would otherwise be done in RAM.

Are a lot of programs start when XP starts? Those take up resources that could be freed up until actually needed for the application. Apple Quicktime is a resouce hungry application that does not need to be started at system boot time.

Remove any application shortcuts from the Startup folder that you do not need to start immedately.

Delete any HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run keys for programs that you do not want to start at boot time.

That will free up resources.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Soquili

Delete any HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run keys for programs that you do not want to start at boot time.

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The usual warnings apply when editing the registry. Please make a backup before you start editing the registry.

A better way to stop certain uneccessary programs loading at startup is to use the MSCONFIG utility (Start>>Run>> type MSCONFIG)*
For help with using MSCONFIG have a look here
Also there are several trusted cleanup programs that can help out such as MSCONFIG Cleanup and CCLEANER

At the end of the day, although anything suggested at TG is done so in good faith (and has usually been tested by the person suggesting it), it remains that you do so at your own risk.

*MSCONFIG is not available in Windows 2000

Hey guys, joined to thank you for having this discussion and leaving the file. I had the exact same problem with PSP7 and Googled to find an answer which lead me here. Knowing nothing about registry keys (and having been warned against messing with them incessantly) it took me a bit longer as I had to go to microsoft and learn how to back up and export the keys, etc. Which was quite simple. Then I compared and I also had the 'Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00' language so I edited it in wordpad and then resaved it as a reg file. Double clicked answered yes and my double pane was back! You guys are life savers. I just hope that all made sense, but the important part is that it worked.

Thanks!

Hi xx_Anakin_xx,

Welcome to Talkgraphics.

I'm glad that fixed your problem. :)

Hi Anakin

Well, I never guessed my Layer Palette problem would be anyone else's! -- so glad it came in handy, and in the nick of time for you too :)
How do you think yours came about?

Soquili/Bill and Sledger:
Thanks for all the tips and suggestions about system resources. Are you sure you're OK with me posting here about it? -- as it's not really anything to do with PSP.

I'd need to get back to you with more details about what loads at startup etc, as a bit short on time right now, but here are just the basic system details for now:

XP Pro v2002 Service Pack 3
Intel Core 2 CPU
6300 @ 1.86GHz
1.87 GHz, 2.00 GB of RAM

And yes, I do have a wallpaper and the present one is about 250 kb.

I also have a tuning/cleanup utility which is run fairly regularly (Ashampoo WinOptimizer 5), and have already got rid of quite a few things from startup -- not sure if Quicktime was one of them and would need to check and post again about all this, provided no one has an objection to going so off-topic.

Hi Cottager,

You seem to have a very good system with lots of memory.

A 250 kb image as wallpaper isn't bad. I've known people to use a 250 Mb image as wallpaper on a machine with 256 Mb RAM :eek:

You could start a new thread in the Off-Topic Chat forum when you get back to us with more information about your system.

Steve (sledger) and I view all the forums here at Talkgraphics as frequently as our day jobs allow. Moderators here at Talkgraphics are volunteers that like to help others.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Soquili

I've known people to use a 250 Mb image as wallpaper on a machine with 256 Mb RAM :eek:

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What???? Certainly deserves the :eek: LOL

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Soquili

You seem to have a very good system with lots of memory.

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That's what I hoped you'd think. Hmmm, makes the resources thing hard to understand, then. Anyway, thanks and I'll post more on the other board when I can.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Soquili

Steve (sledger) and I view all the forums here at Talkgraphics as frequently as our day jobs allow. Moderators here at Talkgraphics are volunteers that like to help others.

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And don't we all appreciate it... a big vote of thanks.

This and other Questions are answered on Porters Campratty
http://www.campratty.com/1faq/faqpag...ml#anchor20191

Sadly many of PS P's leading light went over to the other side after corel took over PSP and did nothing with it. They where also big friends of the Jasc development team and programmers Who would also pop in to news groups to answer queries.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Soquili

Hi Cottager,

Welcome to Talkgraphics.

The problem you describe sounds like a registry entry for the Layer Palette has been set to zero for the Left Pane.

The attached .zip file contains a .reg file that will put the default values back into the registry for you.

Close PSP7.

Download the .zip then extract the .reg file to a folder on your hard drive.

Use Windows Explorer to go to the folder the .reg file was placed.

Double click the .reg file and you will be asked if you are sure you want to add the information in the file to the registry.

Answer yes and the registry will be updated.

Start PSP7 and the Layer Palette should have both panes again.

---

Thank You!!!!!!!!!!! You just became my PSP7 Hero!!!!!!!!!!!! I have used PSP7 back when it first came out. I bought PSP8 and it still sits in the box. I won’t upgrade. I have become pretty skilled at 7, and I don’t wish to screw with my GUI. I have had this problem many times. Even an “uninstall”, registry cleaning, and then reinstall does not fix this problem and it left me miserable. Thank you so much. I will be sure to note you when I put it up on my site for useful tools.

You are welcome S3-GTE.

I know this thread is getting rather old but I am a newbie here.

PSP7 is the DeFacto standard in the Train Simulator modeling world. It does everything we need to do and has not been complicated by the addition of many features that we don't use. In addition, many of us upgraded to PSP8 but discovered that it would not do some of the necessary Alpha channel tasks that we had been doing in 7.

Bill

Hello Bill,

Welcome to Talkgraphics.

There are several members that have said they prefer using version 7.

I recently installed version 7 again on another PC here at home. I have two versions to work with now. The differences between version 7 and version 8 are interesting to say the least. :)

Let's hear it for PSP6 :(

When 7 came out I upgraded and then dumped it quickly. Too buggy, crashed a lot and I didn't like the UI changes.
Stayed with version 6 right up until X2 (but 6 is still on my Vista Ult PC as it loads in a flash and does 99% of what I need from a raster editor - it's at the top of my bitmap editor list for Xtreme too ;))

Carry on... :)

I think we should have a dedicated PSP Revivalists thread! :D

sledger, I still have the CD for PSP6 (in fact PSP5 too!), though must admit I haven't used either since getting PSP7.
PSP4 anyone ? :)

Interesting that PSP6 works for you on Vista, as I think I've picked up from a few other threads that certain functions of PSP7 do not... this is one reason why I chose XP when upgrading from Win98 less than 2 years ago, even though Vista was already well out and being pushed at that time. PSP7 isn't the only older program I still use, and I'm really dreading the day when I need to upgrade again in the future (which I guess realistically ought to be in the next couple of years or so, when we'll be well past Vista even).

I registered just to say thank you. My layer palette is now back to normal. Re-installing didn't help at all. You saved the day! :)

Dean

I found this thread from Google and it has been a lifesaver. I used the .reg file and it worked perfectly. Thank you, thank you, for making my PSP7 usable again!

Glad I could be of service Conscientia.

I just wanted to say thanks for helping me out today with this problem, too :-)

Glad we could help. :)

Okay, I know this thread is old, and had to do with part of someones layer palette missing...but it was the closest one I could find to my issue - my tool palette is MIA.

I bumped the side of a TV remote as I moved my mouse across the mouse pad. At the same time, this caused me to hit either a button on the left side of my mouse, or the left mouse button. That button on the side is used to "go back" in web browsers. About the same time as the big crash (lol), I saw out of the corner of my eye my tool palette disappeared. Because there are times when I will accidentally hit some key combo that changes how different palettes react, I tried to recreate what had happened when the tool palette disappeared, but with no luck. When I couldn't find it or get it back by toggling the the tool palette icon in the standard tool bar, I closed PSP - I was sure this would fix the problem, but it didn't.

When I reopend PSP, I tried toggling the tool palette icon from the standard tool bar again, but still this didn't work. I then went to View>>Toolbars. In this box, I checked to make sure there was a checkmark by the tool palette - which there was because the tool palette icon in the standard tool bar was still depressed. I took the checkmark out, then put it back in. Still, no tool palette.

I closed PSP again, and rebooted the computer. Reopened PSP...but the tool palette was still missing.

Anyone have any ideas? I'm guessing this has never happened (????????) 'cause when I googled "Paint Shop Pro 7 tool palette disappeared," a link to this forum, this thread, was the only search result that appeared even remotely related.

Thanks