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Downloading/Installing
- What can I do when I am told the download file is corrupt?
- If your download process is not completing, there may be something wrong with your internet connection. If you are using any firewalls, please ensure that they are configured to allow executable downloads and/or please temporarily disable your firewall in order to download SoftSkies. If you are using any download accelerators, please ensure that they are turned off and/or are temporarily disabled. If you still continue to experience problems, please try using an alternate browser (we recommend Firefox as a trusted and free alternative).
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- What if my security software complains about SoftSkies?
- SoftSkies's installer needs to connect to the internet in order to verify the authenticity of your license. Sometimes security programs mistake this for a threat. Most security companies decide whether or not a program is malicious based on the developer's reputation. We are a small company and we rely on word-of-mouth for our reputation. Please go to your security provider's support website and report to them that their software is giving you what is called a "false positive." In the meantime, disable your security software prior to re-downloading SoftSkies. Make sure to re-activate your security after the installation is completed. Please contact SoundSpectrum support if you have any questions about this.
Please also know that SoundSpectrum has been a small American business for over two decades and we take security and customer privacy very seriously.
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- Why am I getting a weird filename when I download SoftSkies?
- Web browsers sometimes rename files upon download or downloads do not complete. Try downloading again or try a different browser to download SoftSkies. We recommend Firefox or Explorer for Windows users and Firefox or Safari for macOS users).
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- Why do I get an NSIS error when I try to install?
- If you are getting an "NSIS Error" message upon install, then your download file was somehow corrupted during the download process and/or there is a conflict with your firewall. If you are using any firewalls, please ensure that they are configured to allow executable downloads and/or please temporarily disable your firewall in order to download SoftSkies. If you are using any download accelerators, please ensure that they are turned off and/or are temporarily disabled. If you continue to experience problems, please visit Why do I get NSIS Error page to learn more.
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- When I Install SoftSkies, Windows says Windows Media Player is in use?
- Windows Media Player (WMP) may be in "taskbar" mode which can create problems during SoftSkies installation (the SoftSkies installer displays an error message, but problems can arise if you opt to ignore this warning). Since the WMP Taskbar runs in the background whether or not you are using WMP, try:
- Restart your computer.
- With all applications closed, right-click on the middle of your Windows Task Bar (also known as the "Start Bar").
- From the right-click menu, select the "Toolbars" menu and ensure that there is NO checkmark next to Windows Media Player.
- Re-install SoftSkies.
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General
- Visualizations in Windows Media Player stop reacting after the first song?
- Sadly, Windows Media Player has a bug where visualizations stop reacting to audio after the first song, described here. In that post, you will also find a link to this issue reported within Microsoft's bug tracker. If you want this issue fixed, please upvote this issue there so that it gets higher visibility within Microsoft.
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- What is wrong with SoftSkies screen saver on macOS?
- Unfortunately, third-party "legacy" screen savers have had major problems for years on macOS and is well documented. As of Sonoma 14.6.1, Apple has not fixed the painful issue where the screen saver continues to run invisibly after the screen exits, burning CPU indefinitely.
Unless Apple chooses to fix this, SoftSkies screen saver is generally unusable (or any third-party screen saver). If you want this fixed, please consider filing a bug report. Perhaps emphasize how long this issue has persisted, that it occurs across all third-party screen savers, that the macOS internal legacyScreenSaver consumes CPU even after the screen saver exits, and that the only solution is to terminate it using Activity Monitor.
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- Why can't I exit full-screen mode in the Standalone application?
- To enter and exit full-screen mode, please use the keystroke "Shift Enter" or "Shift Return".
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- Why isn't my media player listing SoftSkies as a visual plugin?
- Each media player detects visual plugins differently, so the best general guidance is to ensure that you're using the latest version of your media player and that you followed the installation instructions carefully. Beyond that, restart your computer, uninstall SoftSkies, and run the installer again.
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- Why doesn't SoftSkies respond to my keystrokes or mouse clicks?
- Some media players don't pass keystrokes or mouse clicks to visual plugins, leaving you unable to use SoftSkies's hot-key commands. For example, Windows Media Player does not give 3rd party applications such as SoftSkies dedicated keystroke support (you'll find that WMP passes keystrokes to SoftSkies only some of the time in full screen mode, but unfortunately not always). You are encouraged to contact the creators of media players that don't have full keyboard and mouse support for visual plugins and request that they add it.
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- Why isn't the album cover art in my media player showing up in SoftSkies?
- Support for album cover art is available only in SoftSkies Gold and SoftSkies Platinum. Further, only iTunes, J. River MEDIA CENTER, jetAudio, Musicmatch pass album cover art to visual plugins (making it impossible for SoftSkies to display album cover art in any other media players). If you use foobar2000, make a tag named "APIC" and set it to the pathname of the album cover art image file.
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- Why do my changes in the preferences file have no effect?
- The preferences file is read when SoftSkies starts and is overwritten when SoftSkies exits, so any changes made to it while SoftSkies is running will be lost. Some media players internally do not close SoftSkies even when it is not visible (so exit the media player before you edit the preferences file). Another reason that preference file edits are often not successful is that the wrong file was edited. You can ensure that you're not editing a preferences file from an older version of SoftSkies by checking its modification date before you edit it. See the above FAQ item for more information.
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- Why does SoftSkies momentarily pause when it loads a config or sprite?
- Unexpected disk access can result in an unsightly visual stutter or pause (which is what can occur if you manually load a sprite or config that hasn't been recently already read from disk). When the OS fetches a requested file, the requesting application (SoftSkies in this case) is halted (or "blocked") because it cannot proceed until it has the file. Hence, if the file is large (such as a large image or video file), this stutter can be very noticeable. SoftSkies uses a cache look-ahead to prevent this (causing the file to be asynchronously read-in about a second before its needed), leaving only manual user actions able to cause I/O stutters.
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- Why isn't the SoftSkies Standalone or the V-Bar responding to sound?
- SoftSkies is probably not listening to the audio source that you want. Right-click (or control-click) on the SoftSkies or V-Bar window to select audio input sources. If you're listening to the correct audio source but do not see any visual activity, the source may not be powerful enough. Increase the visual responsiveness and preamp scales to see if a signal is there (see the SoftSkies Standalone section for more on this). Finally, if you're not seeing an appropriate sound source, see the entry on enabling it, below.
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- How do I enable other audio sources for Standalone or V-Bar?
- If using Windows, navigate to:
Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Sound > Manage audio devices
- Select the "Recording" tab.
- Right-click on the background of the device list and choose "Show Disabled Devices".
- Right-click on "Stereo Mix", "What u hear", or a similarly named audio channel and select "Enable".
- Apply and save these changes.
- Launch your SoundSpectrum visualizer in Standalone or V-Bar mode and select this audio channel.
If using macOS, there is a free system extension you may download called Soundflower that allows applications to pass audio to other applications. With Soundflower installed and configured correctly, you can get the SoftSkies Standalone or V-Bar apps to respond to any audio source on your Mac.
Please note that we are not associated or affiliated with Soundflower or its developers, so we cannot provide you with support on its use.
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- Why isn't the visual response from SoftSkies in sync with the audio that I am hearing?
- Your audio player is probably buffering audio such that by the time it gets to the speakers it was already displayed in SoftSkies a while ago. Try experimenting with smaller buffer sizes in your audio player to decrease this time delay. Also, running SoftSkies in a large window can cause a high enough system load that the audio player enters an abnormal state of playback, so try reducing the SoftSkies's frame size to correct the problem.
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