I am testing the trial version of A7 but I am delaying the purchase until I'm sure that the media_play code will work on my HP dual-core laptop running vista.
Presently, the code only displays still image files.

Movie files (avi, mpgs) just lock the code. It completes the compiler and runs normal until media_play tries to execute. Unfortunately, I'll need to see that this function works properly before I make the purchse.

Fair enough. But I can probably not help you here.

A7 has no own function for playing movies, it merely uses the DirectX movie player. If your PC has no CODEC installed for your movie, the screen stays black. If you are unsure if a certain movie format is supported on your PC, just call the engine from the command line or with a shortcut, with the movie file as sole argument:

acknex.exe mymovie.wmv

WMV and MPG codecs are installed on all PCs by default, so .mpg and .wmv ist normally safe to play. AVI, DIVX, Quicktime etc. must normally be installed separately. It can also happen that some software that you've installed has overwritten the default WMV and MPG codecs - that could mean that no movie plays. In that case, re-install Vista for fixing the CODEC.

Thanks for the response,

All my movie files (mpg, avi, wmv) play normally on my computer using windows media player or other software I've installed (editors). They just wont play when called in c-lite.

I still think something is blocking c-lite from accessing the libraries while the routine is being executed. Vista has a DEP (Data Execution Prevention) area which I've turned off while running c-lite, but that didn't help.

I've used 3dGS in the past (A4) and I REALLY want this to work. Thats why I'm being so persistant. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Have you tried calling the engine with the movie directly, as suggested above? Just for excluding a problem with your script.

Sorry for the time delay...

Yes I have. at the command prompt under the proper directory, I typed > acknex.exe
The engine initiated and the screen (window)stayed black.
Making sure the movie was in the same directory as the acknex.exe file, I typed> acknex.exe mymovie.mpg
I get the same results. The engine initiates, the window STAYS blank...nothing else.

I am now working with the full commercial version of A7. Thanks for the quick responses

If it's a normal mpg file, you could contact the support. When they can't reproduce the problem on one of our test machines, they could create a special diagnostics version for you to find out what's missing on your PC.

ok, i'll e-mail them. thanks