Pointer issue

My problem is about the mouse pointer.
I have deleted Pointer prefs and GUI prefs after trying several times to put the original red pointer on the prefs.
I am a bit frustrated along this cause I only see a white tiny pointer that comes surely with an Amiga OS 4 GUI theme.I have installed various themes too.

As the problem could be insustantial is big because there seems to be impossible to change the type of pointer to one of my taste.

If someone could help me I would be grateful really.

@MamePPCA1

Tell us what you have tried which didn't work. I don't think the pointer is changed by the themes I have seen.

This works for me:
- open the prefs window
- launch Pointer
- back to workbench, open the Presets drawer in Prefs
- open the Pointers drawer, and "Show/All files"
- drag and drop HiRes-Colored.pre into the Pointer editor
- save
- dance for joy
- remember to set clock ahead 1 hour

Maybe you can skip that last step. ;)


Scott Woodall

@swoodall

I have made all the tricks you give me and nothing changes.



Still with a silly unbeatiful pointer!!!

@MamePPCA1

You might have a png pointer overriding your system prefs.

Open this drawer:
SYS:Prefs/Env-Archive/Sys

Next check for these files:
def_busypointer
def_pointer

If either of these files exist, delete them, and you should have the mouse pointer you desire.

@MamePPCA1

Quote:

maybe you are using the new 32bit pointers?
check your envarc:sys drawer for a def_pointer.info and def_busypointer.info file. delete them and reboot. then check again if your pointer prefs work.
of course the 32bit ones are much nicer

byebye...

@MichaelMerkel&all

Problem solved!

Deleted the files and now I am using a real mouse pointer
that is a mouse white and red coloured original of OS4.

Thanks I am happy now!

@PEB

Oops, I completely forgot that those pointer defs files override the pointer prefs setting.

Seems like a good opportunity (ahem) to prevent this mistake in the future if the prefs app would TELL you when you use/save that there was a global pointer def in use which would override any changes you made there. Kind of a tease, isn't it? Maybe rename it "PointerPrefsButNotThePNGOnesJustTheOldBitmappedOnesKThx". Same sort of tease with IconEdit (don't try it on a PNG icon, or you'll have to wash your retinas with bleach to remove the afterimage of ugly). Great to have the PNG options, but a shame they didn't get prefs/control integrated better (yet?).

Would adding some simple PNG truecolor gfx edit capabilities into OS4 be enough to integrate it into these prefs? How are the pointer and iconedit bitmap editors written, using some shared system code, or are they both custom fully coded in these functions? Or at least make the prefs able to load and display the PNG types and be able to launch your own configurable app to edit if you have one (ImageFX, etc).

Glad he got his plain ol' pointer back.

Scott Woodall

Hi all, sorry for dragging up an old thread, but... I have the opposite problem. I want to use a 32-bit pointer but even though def_pointer.info and def_busypointer.info are in envarc:sys/, the system still uses the default red pointer (or whatever I've saved in Pointer prefs). Is there some env variable that needs to be set to tell it to use the PNG icons instead?

@Daedalus

It may be your graphics card, see the extract from the docs below.

"Intuition Release 4 supports truecolor mouse pointers up to 64x64 pixels.
This only works on graphic boards with a truecolor hardware sprite (such
as the Radeon series) or in software sprite mode on hicolor or truecolor
display modes."


Bill.

@BillE

Hmmm... Yeah, I saw that looking through the docs, but I don't know how to enable software sprite mode (or if it even needs to be enabled), and I've a Radeon 9200SE which should be up to the job... It's not a major issue, but it does bug me :)

@Daedalus

Some PNG icons need a patch to work - yet some don't but don't ask me why or what the difference is.

Maybe the 32 bit pointers need this patch too ?

Do you have a file png.iconmodule in libs:IconModules ?

If not try finding the patch on OS4 depot and that may fix the problem with your pointers.


BTW. Avoid using SOFTSPRITE in your monitor tooltypes, it can cause graphic glitches in some software.


Bill.

@BillE

I installed the PNG icons patch there recently to use MasonIcons, and it worked for that, but I've no idea if there's an IconModule entry for it. I'll check it out when I go home. Thanks for the pointers!

Ah, yay :) Turns out I was using PowerIcons and not the IconModule system at all. All sorted now, thanks guys for the help!!

@BillE

Quote:

In order to use PNG icons in WB you need to use either png.iconmodule or PowerIcons (powericons doesn't support the AROS-style dualimage png icons).

Probably you are confusing with the OS4 32-bit icons which are not in PNG format (!) but use an extension to AmigaOS's own icon format that allows to store 32-bit (with alpha channel) graphics within the icon.