Final Draft Bug
Derek Hornby
Is anyone else having trouble with Final Draft inserting typos into their
scripts? It will be fine for several pages and then suddenly go haywire
for about a page. Please e-mail me at lau...@eclipse.net.
H Margulies
I can honestly say I've never had a single untoward buggy experience
using Final Draft. I've had to modify one or two of the elements that
were not (to my knowledge) standard column widths. But I've never had a
crash or unexpected weird incident that wasn't my fault.
Sometimes a program can become subtly corrupted. Try deinstalling your
Key Disk-- reinstall your FD program-- and then reinstall the key disk.
Also, check your hard drive for errors with a Norton Utility Disk Doctor
or something like it. Preference files can become corrupted.
What version of Final Draft, system and computer are you using?
HM
David Willis
In article <4oa35j$7...@mtinsc01-mgt.ops.worldnet.att.net>, Derek Hornby
<DER...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
You should get hte update to version 4.0. The program is buggy and the
tech support people are rude and annoying but it is the only screenwriting
software for the Mac. Apparently the employees would rather take seminars
on "How to Be a Jerk to Customers" rather than concentrate on developing
bug-free software.
Yes, even 4.0 has annoying bugs, but none are fatal. You will discover
workarounds. For example, when the cursor gets weird or text disappears,
simple go "page up" then "page down" and it will be okay.
Good luck.
--
Cheers,
David Willis
Michael E Bradley
> [Final Draft 4.0] is buggy and the
> tech support people are rude and annoying but it is the only screenwriting
> software for the Mac. Apparently the employees would rather take seminars
> on "How to Be a Jerk to Customers" rather than concentrate on developing
> bug-free software.
>
> Yes, even 4.0 has annoying bugs, but none are fatal. You will discover
> workarounds. For example, when the cursor gets weird or text disappears,
> simple go "page up" then "page down" and it will be okay.
> David Willis
I haven't yet played with Final Draft 4.0, and the BCS folks who monitor
this newsgroup can correct me if I'm wrong, but it's my understanding that
Final Draft 4.0 is a straight port of their recently released Windows
version of FD, rather than a true update or re-write of the existing FD
3.x 'Macintosh' code. This might explain the bugginess some people are now
finding in a product which had been pretty much rock solid. I personally
find no compelling reason to "move up" from 3.
Michael E Bradley
Berkeley California
David Willis
In article <bradley-3105...@ppp029-sf1.sirius.com>,
bra...@sirius.com (Michael E Bradley) wrote:
>>Final Draft 4.0 is a straight port of their recently released Windows
>>version of FD, rather than a true update or re-write of the existing FD
>>3.x 'Macintosh' code. This might explain the bugginess some people are now
>>finding in a product which had been pretty much rock solid. I personally
>>find no compelling reason to "move up" from 3.
>>
>>Michael E Bradley
>>Berkeley California
Hmmm. I was having problems with the 3.x version with crashes, which 4.0
fixed. 4.0 doesn't crash on me, it merely has the disappearing text
problem and the jumping cursor, among others.
Your mileage may vary.
--
Cheers,
David Willis
D. Aubrey Moren
My name is Aubrey, and I do tech support for Final Draft. I would
like to apologise to anyone who feels that we have been rude to them
on the phone. I personally have nerver in my life been rude to anyone
I have talked to on the phone who has called for tech support. If
anyone calls us for tech support and feels that that they have been
treated rudely, feel free to stop the call and ask for me. Secondly,
the Windows version of Final Draft has not yet been released, although
it should be sometime this week, if things go as planned. Which leads
me to my third point, that 4.0 Mac could not have been ported over
from the PC. Final Draft is most definitely totally new code. And
this is the reason for some of the bugs that appeared in the early
versions of the program. Unfortunately, computer programming is not
an exact science, and some bugs that we did not find were released.
However, we have been working very hard (actually, that credit goes to
Steve, our programmer) at correcting these bugs. We are currently at
version 4.0.6 and plan to have 4.0.7 ready late today or early
tomorrow. This update will fix all known bugs in the program and is
free to anyone who wants it. It is available on our website, listed
below, or if you give us a call, we will mail it to you on disk, at no
charge. If anyone has any questions or comments, feel free to give me
a call or an e-mail, and I would be more than happy to answer your
questions.
Aubrey
On Fri, 31 May 1996 17:08:08 -0800, bra...@sirius.com (Michael E
Bradley) wrote:
>
>> [Final Draft 4.0] is buggy and the
>> tech support people are rude and annoying but it is the only screenwriting
>> software for the Mac. Apparently the employees would rather take seminars
>> on "How to Be a Jerk to Customers" rather than concentrate on developing
>> bug-free software.
>>
>> Yes, even 4.0 has annoying bugs, but none are fatal. You will discover
>> workarounds. For example, when the cursor gets weird or text disappears,
>> simple go "page up" then "page down" and it will be okay.
>
>> David Willis
>
>I haven't yet played with Final Draft 4.0, and the BCS folks who monitor
>this newsgroup can correct me if I'm wrong, but it's my understanding that
>Final Draft 4.0 is a straight port of their recently released Windows
>version of FD, rather than a true update or re-write of the existing FD
>3.x 'Macintosh' code. This might explain the bugginess some people are now
>finding in a product which had been pretty much rock solid. I personally
>find no compelling reason to "move up" from 3.
>
>Michael E Bradley
>Berkeley California
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
D. Aubrey Moren
B.C. Software, Inc. (formerly MacToolkit)
mo...@bcsoftware.com
Visit us on the Web!
http://www.bcsoftware.com/bchome
==========================================================================
B.C. Software, Inc. 11965 Venice Blvd., Suite 405, Los Angeles, CA 90066
Tech: 310-636-4711 Orders: 800-231-4055 Fax: 310-636-4688
Final Draft * Three By Five * Professional Scheduler * Production Budgeter
==========================================================================
Purchase our products on the net from Cyberian Outpost!
http://www.cybout.com/
D. Aubrey Moren
Once again, get the update from our website, or give us a call, and
we'll send you one.
Aubrey
On 2 Jun 1996 19:19:57 GMT, fave...@aol.com (David Willis) wrote:
>In article <bradley-3105...@ppp029-sf1.sirius.com>,
>bra...@sirius.com (Michael E Bradley) wrote:
>
>
> >>Final Draft 4.0 is a straight port of their recently released Windows
> >>version of FD, rather than a true update or re-write of the existing FD
> >>3.x 'Macintosh' code. This might explain the bugginess some people are now
> >>finding in a product which had been pretty much rock solid. I personally
> >>find no compelling reason to "move up" from 3.
> >>
> >>Michael E Bradley
> >>Berkeley California
>
>
>Hmmm. I was having problems with the 3.x version with crashes, which 4.0
>fixed. 4.0 doesn't crash on me, it merely has the disappearing text
>problem and the jumping cursor, among others.
>
>Your mileage may vary.
>
>--
>
>
>Cheers,
>
>
>
>David Willis
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael E Bradley
In article <31b322b0...@news.primenet.com>, mo...@bcsoftware.com (D.
Aubrey Moren) wrote:
> Secondly,
> the Windows version of Final Draft has not yet been released, although
> it should be sometime this week, if things go as planned. Which leads
> me to my third point, that 4.0 Mac could not have been ported over
> from the PC. Final Draft is most definitely totally new code.
I'm the guy who originally posted that I had been told (by a Final Draft
retailer, by the way) Final Draft 4.0 was ported from the new Windows
version. Although I'm surprised 4.0 is a total rewrite of the existing Mac
code (really, from the ground up?), I'll take you at your word on it and I
stand corrected.
David Willis
>>My name is Aubrey, and I do tech support for Final Draft. I would
>>like to apologise to anyone who feels that we have been rude to them
>>on the phone. I personally have nerver in my life been rude to anyone
>>I have talked to on the phone who has called for tech support. If
>>anyone calls us for tech support and feels that that they have been
>>treated rudely, feel free to stop the call and ask for me.
Aubrey, it was not you who was rude to me. I posted the name of the guy
who was, but it does not bear repeating anymore. I made my point and have
nothing personal against the guy, merely that I didn't like it.
It's nice of you to apologize, but there is no need.
I have gotten a phone call and email from BC Software this week, and
apparently they *do* read this forum after all. They were quite nice and
did whatever they could to fix my problem (a printing problem), which I
actually discovered tonight is a system software problem, not a Final
Draft flaw. I have remedied it.
The difference this time was that when I called up and explained the
printing weirdness, they asked me to fax an example of the error and then
they called me back right away. They helped me instead of saying "Hey -
no one's perfect, you know!" This was nice. I hope I never have to call
tech support again, but if I do, I won't mind at all.
I have upgraded to 4.0.7 which I downloaded from their web site and so far
things are working fine. Of course, I had already finished my major
re-write, so I'll have to wait till the next writing session to see if
everything's groovy with Final Draft. All I notice now is: faster
printing, and spooling actually works.
Boy, it sure is nice when a software company actually responds and shows
concern.
And I hope my previous complaining wasn't too vitriolic. If it was, then
_I_ apologize.
--
Cheers,
David Willis