1375: MM appearance almost unusable over Remote Desktop

[m_bojangles]

Build 1375 on Windows XP SP3, Pentium D (dual core circa 2005). Registered the Beta as Gold.

I am running this build on my headless server. I am connecting to the server and controlling MM4.1375 via my Windows 7 Pro laptop using Windows' built-in Remote Desktop Connection.

Most of the screens refresh correctly over the remote desktop connection, several of them do not. This problem is consistent and 100% repeatable... the screens that do not refresh correctly over the connection are always the same screens even after killing the connection and starting a new connection. The screens that do appear correctly always appear correctly.

There are three options screens that have this problem are "Playback Rules", "Library" and "Skins". Here is an example:



Here are other screens that also exhibit the same problem. This is making MM very difficult to use over a Remote Desktop Connection:

File Properties --> Basic (other tabs within File Properties are fine)
AutoPlaylist criteria screen - whether adding a New AutoPlaylist or editing an existing AutoPlaylist. Seems to only affect using the Advanced tab. Basic tab seems fine.
Rating: Anywhere the rating stars are displayed in the default skin, it looks strange. Example screenshot:



Shall I keep adding to this post as I find more or create new posts for other screens?

Thanks.

[jmcc]

I've just checked those options out on a Windows 2008r2 server using Remote Desktop client 6.1.7601 (RDP 7.1) on Win 7 Pro and I don't see any strange artifacts on my setup. Which Performance options do you have set on the "Experience" tab of the client? Could it be a problem with the XP SP3 Remote Desktop host? If you connect the other way round do you still see a problem (i.e. XP as the RDP client and MM4 on the Win7 machine)? Does it fail with all the different skins?

Just a few thoughts.

[m_bojangles]

Thanks for those ideas. On the Experience tab on the Win 7 client, I have the connection speed set to WAN and all seven checkboxes are checked. I'm not sure what some of those do, so I will try playing with those settings. Do you have any suggestions for those?

As for connecting the other way around, that would be quite a headache for me. Perhaps I can try it if the above idea doesn't work. It's worth noting, however, that I use RDP from this same laptop to the Win XP SP3 server constantly for all kinds of programs and I've never had this kind of issue with other programs.

[m_bojangles]

Oh... I tried changing skins first. The problem is there with the Vitreous and Gilded skins. The mucky screens problem goes away when using the Pulse skin (which I don't like... oh well). The ratings still look strange. I have MM set to be fully skinnable. And, again, worth noting that even when switching between the two "problem" skins, the screens that have problems are consistent and repeatable.

I also tried turning skins off (telling MM to just use the Windows theme) and this gave me the most functional, as well as pleasing, look with only the ratings still having a black background behind the stars (but in a different way... 4.5 stars is now clearly 4.5 stars and cannot be confused with 5 stars as can happen in my screenshot).

I will stick with this for now, but would encourage further investigation by the dev team if they are really striving for a polished finish before release.

[jmcc]

I've got all the options ticked in "Experience" as well, so it's obviously not that. The only other display related thing is "color depth" on the display tab; you could try changing this to see whether it has any effect, but I must admit I think it's some incompatibility related to MM4 and the XP SP3 remote host program.

[nduke]

I've actually had these kinds of artifacts through RDP on the 3.x versions too and now on 4.x also. The place where I tend to encounter them is when looking at a track's properties. When switching tabs previous tabs linger.

I really should experiment a little with the experience settings and with different skins on MM. I have previously come across combinations that work better together. Always had good intentions to figure it out instead of just living with it!

Has anyone tried non-skinned MM to see if that makes a difference? Guess that should be my next experiment!

[m_bojangles]

nduke:

I also tried turning skins off (telling MM to just use the Windows theme) and this gave me the most functional, as well as pleasing, look with only the ratings still having a black background behind the stars (but in a different way... 4.5 stars is now clearly 4.5 stars and cannot be confused with 5 stars as can happen in my screenshot).

I do not get any artifacts when non-skinned. The ratings still have yellow starts on black background, but the difference between a full star and half-star is clearly visible. So this is working well.

[Lowlander]

I wonder if the following is related: http://www.ventismedia.com/mantis/view.php?id=1201

[ZvezdanD]

This is old issue, existing since MM2: RDP/Terminal Services dialog box issue.

[markstuartwalker]

I too have a headless Windows 7 desktop accessed by RDP.

I've never experienced this sort of problem at all. My RDP clients are a mixture of Win7, XP, Mac Cord and Ubuntu.

[ZvezdanD]

MM 4.0.0.1368, Windows XP Pro SP2, Remote Desktop Connection (Terminal Services Client 6.1) for Windows XP.

Vitreous has problem with Playback Rules, Library and Skin tabs in the Options dialog box, as well as File (Track) Properties and some scripts:












Glided has problem with same tabs and dialog boxes, except scripts:








The last tab of the Burn wizard has also the same issue, maybe even some another dialog box that I haven't tried. It seems that Pulse and 4-Delletronic eee skins have not issues with Remote Desktop at all.

[markstuartwalker]

Does this behaviour appear using different RDP clients? Windows 7 has RDP 7.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/d ... 2938a95683

[ZvezdanD]

I have the same problem with XP client, as well as with Vista; m_bojangles had the same problem with Win 7. I think it is very unlikely that the problem is because of Remote Desktop server/client and not with MM because:
- I am using RD for years with hundreds of programs and never had such problem, except with MM;
- there is problem only with skinned version of the program;
- there is problem only with some skins;
- there is problem only with some sheets/dialog boxes;
- some of dialog boxes with some skins displays normally, but with another skin has issues.