With the Multiplicity 4 Public Beta 1 release, we are creating this thread so that users can report any observed issues.
Object Desktop members can get the release from within Object Desktop Manager
Individual purchases (as well as Object Desktop Members) can also be obtained from your account page: https://store.stardock.com/myaccount/products
For guest check-out purchase (no account), from this link: http://www.stardock.com/support/productkeyretrieval
Please include the following for anything found:
Exact Windows version \ build (winver.exe)
Detailed steps to recreate the issue seen
Screenshots and videos are very helpful. Videos can be uploaded to a cloud drive service (GoogleDrive, DropBox, OneDrive, YouTube), with a shared link included in your post. Images can be copied and pasted directly into a post.
If there are specific apps that the app does not work (well) with, please note what apps and their exact versions. If any app is not common, a link to a trial version would be appreciated.
Thank you for your interest and any time you put into making Multiplicity 4 a better product.
Sean DrohanStardock Support Manager
With regards to using a private network, this is purely a case of the default firewall rules being set to only allow traffic when on private/work networks. It would be unwise at best for a product to open the firewall for incoming connections to ports when on a public network too by default! as public networks should always be considered untrusted. Obviously you can alter the rules to open them but the product doesn't have a way to do this right now for you. There is some logic in saying we offer a setting to do so however for those who are comfortable with this.
The thing is that (at least with everything I've ever seen on windows) it was always not a concrete indication for having an actual public/private connection. In fact, I vaguely remember running into cases where I needed to make it public for whatever reason. In any case, if it's only a matter of politeness before opening my ports, it would be much better to just ask me for permission and allow me to say that it's OK. That would have been a trivial decision on my part (since I know that I'm on my home LAN anyway), compared with the ~2hrs I spent on figuring out how to change my network setup (see in the other thread: I didn't have a way to change the private/public, and with more windows stuff using hyper-v becoming popular, this will happen more frequently). Another indicative sidenote: it's obviously not the first time I'm fiddling with the windows firewall -- and I did check it yesterday for the ports. But what I didn't think about is to ensure that they apply to both private/public, since I almost never see rules that are added to only one. (Again, when I'm on my home lan, behind my router's firewall, the whole thing becomes mostly a moot point.)
If a connection is lost within 6 seconds you should have control returned to the primary automatically. Multiplicity has always worked like this so I am surprised it didn't do this for you. I will get this checked.
I've probably had enough things broken because I just resolved the network thing, that recreating this is probably hopeless... (Which is IMO yet another argument for getting my permission regardless of a public network
Seamless display does not alter the resolution on the secondary (it has no logic for that), the resolution options on the primary would control the resolution exposed to the primary but the remote end will always use the native resolution. So assuming you mean the laptop itself changed I cannot explain how your laptop changed resolution.
To be more precise, it's not the actual resolution that changed, but the scale factor: it's normally set to (the recommended) 250%, and it somehow changed to a 100%. I didn't look more into it since I got into a "unbreak stuff asap" mode...
You can use the right click menu and pick Disconnect all. This should only be greyed out if there are no open connections. Likewise the submenu for Seamless display should have a tick next to the connection that is active. You can also double click on the connection name in Multiplicity config seamless displays page if it says connected by it.
Actually, something else that change in all of the network mess is that my laptop decided (for unrelated reasons) to change its name -- which I used in Multiplicity. So as I was playing with things, I switched from the name to the IP address. So perhaps there's some bug in keeping track of connections when that's done -- like maybe thinking that the by-name connection is still alive along with the actual IP connection--?
You can also move the mouse on the laptop (using its physical mouse only) and move to the top of the screen and click X in the right corner, or turning off the laptop will stop it. Finally killing Multiplv64.exe on the primary would achieve this (though not an ideal way )
Ah, thanks -- I'll remember that next time I try it... And yes, killing it was me exhausting all other options to release myself...
I suspect given the greyed out disconnect all option that something is interfering with how the tray menu knows that an active seamless display connection is in use. This could potentially be linked to some sort of security software being silly as we use a globalatom for this so perhaps something is preventing access.
I explicitly don't have any kind of extra security stuffs beyond the standard windows defender. Maybe that's also due to the network tweaks and/or the fact that I restarted / unloaded it a few times?
However, 'clicking it' (not sure what that means exactly) is not required. Sound exchange should 'start' the moment the setting are correct. As a test, if you swap what is the sender and receiver (Primary \ Secondary is irrelevant for this), and have the proper credentials, does it just work?
Yes, "clicking it" = "right-clicking the audio tray icon". I did have the proper credentials + IP entered -- but it sounds likely that all of this was a byproduct of me fighting with the network issues...
Since my previous post seemingly got skipped, I did some digging myself.
Turns out that by swapping out MultiPLV64.exe with a copy of MultiPLV.exe on the secondary machine, the blank screen issue on Multiplicity 4 Beta 1's KVM mode can be worked around. This seems to be an issue only on older CPUs (i.e. models without AVX2, like the Intel i7-3770k).
I reproduced the behaviour by setting up a clean Windows 10 VM with Multiplicity 4 configured as a secondary machine. If the VM is running on a host with a modern CPU, everything works as expected and the image is transmitted properly from the VM when using KVM mode on the primary machine. Once you move the VM to a host with an older CPU, you will end up with a black screen until you shut down Multiplicity and swap the executables.
I suppose users on older hardware will have to remain on Multiplicity 3?
No one and nothing is 'skipped'. Its just after a release, there lots going on.
Yes, older hardware could experience KVM rendering issues with older hardware.
There should have been a check for that, where it would fall back to the 32-bit version. We will look into this straight away and post something about it in a future release.
That was a lot of work on your part and we appreciate the find and time, tsukasa198.
Sean DrohanStardock Product Lifecycle Manager
Edit: I tried activating yet again and for some reason, it worked this time.
I installed Multiplicity as a secondary on a Windows 10 machine (Windows 10 Home 22H2 Build 19045.5011) and it won't let me activate it saying that it's currently active on another computer (the primary one). When I checked activations for Multiplicity it said I've used 1 out of 1. How am I supposed to use this on multiple computers then? I had Multiplicity 3 on this Windows 10 machine (it had been the primary), but I uninstalled it (and rebooted) before installing v4.
In other words, with v3, I only needed 1 license to install on multiple computers and I assumed it was the same for v4. Is this not the case?
You only need to activate a primary computer. Secondary computers are normally not activated and in fact should not prompt for activation unless you enable the setting to kvm in from a secondary into another secondary.
Its very likely that, during the MP4 installation, you accidentally clicked that you wanted it to be a Primary. If you kill the activation window,, MP4 should ask you if you instead want to make it a Secondary - do so.
I just ran into the same issue again: switch to secondary laptop and reboot (and didn't switch back in time). Control is lost for the main machine leaving me with a reboot as the only thing I can do.
Unloading multiplicity on the secondary laptop once it rebooted, or disconnecting its network didn't do anything. But there was some communication going on since the audio streaming did play through the primary. So maybe the problem is not due to not detecting the disconnect but something crashing?
I'd be happy to hear anything else that could be used if I run into this state again...
(One thing that I'll do now is start a WSL ssh server as an admin, so I can at least ssh from the secondary to the primary and kill the multi*.exe process -- I hope that this will work when it gets stuck again.)
Hello there,I got my copy of Multiplicity 3 on Steam. Saw this beta today and installed on my two main PC's. But when I try to flip my primary pc to primary, it says "Unable to activate this computer".I then tested it on my secondary, same thing.
I don't think Multiplicity 4 is on Steam yet. And Multiplicity 4 will not work on Multiplicity 3 license.
Thank you,
Basj,Stardock Community Assistant
Might be a good thing to put somewhere on the page that says "Multiplicity 4 Beta" and then right below it "Try it Free".This is not a good introduction for a new product. Super frustrating.
We do say that it is not yet available on Steam
https://forums.stardock.com/530769/multiplicity-4-upgrade-faq#:~:text=Will%20there%20be%20Steam%20versions%20of%20Multiplicity%204%3F
... and nowhere on Steam is Multiplicity 4 advertised.
As for trying Multiplicity 4, that is still possible for you.
Within the Steam client, Uninstall Multiplicity 3 on each of your PCs that have it
Reboot as directed.
Use the 'try it free' option on our site to get the MP4 installer.
Post-installation, you would use the 'Trial' option.
It should be available to download as a trial. The Try it free button should take you here : https://www.stardock.com/products/multiplicity/download-trial
This should download the build, though be careful you don't have any ad blockers which might interfere with it.
edit- fixed on my end. Looks like the pc should be restarted when scale is changed for kvm to work properly
This is what I did, I uninstalled Multiplicity 3 on both computers. Then I downloaded from https://www.stardock.com/products/multiplicity/download-trial.Installed on both PC's. I'll try again with your instructions. My response was based on basj's reply.
Hello,
I attempted to use the "seamless display" feature. When I attempt make a connection to the secondary computer nothing appears to happen. I do see the following two errors in the Windows event viewer on the secondary computer every time I attempt to start a seamless display session.
First Error--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Faulting application name: MPRDISP64.EXE, version: 4.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x66febd97
Faulting module name: MPRDISP64.EXE, version: 4.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x66febd97
Exception code: 0xc000001d
Fault offset: 0x0000000000016f3e
Faulting process id: 0x518
Faulting application start time: 0x01db1baf55cdf74a
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Stardock\Multiplicity\MPRDISP64.EXE
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Stardock\Multiplicity\MPRDISP64.EXE
Report Id: 7236a593-4c64-41cb-96d2-a858fc08c237
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:
This error above is always accompanied with this next error:----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Windows cannot access the file for one of the following reasons: there is a problem with the network connection, the disk that the file is stored on, or the storage drivers installed on this computer; or the disk is missing. Windows closed the program Multiplicity remote display because of this error.
Program: Multiplicity remote display
File:
The error value is listed in the Additional Data section.
User Action
1. Open the file again. This situation might be a temporary problem that corrects itself when the program runs again.
2. If the file still cannot be accessed and
- It is on the network, your network administrator should verify that there is not a problem with the network and that the server can be contacted.
- It is on a removable disk, for example, a floppy disk or CD-ROM, verify that the disk is fully inserted into the computer.
3. Check and repair the file system by running CHKDSK. To run CHKDSK, click Start, click Run, type CMD, and then click OK. At the command prompt, type CHKDSK /F, and then press ENTER.
4. If the problem persists, restore the file from a backup copy.
5. Determine whether other files on the same disk can be opened. If not, the disk might be damaged. If it is a hard disk, contact your administrator or computer hardware vendor for further assistance.
Additional Data
Error value: 00000000
Disk type: 0
Is this error being seen when connecting to a Secondary with an older CPU, one that does not support AVX2?
You can use this link to find out if that processor supports AVX2:
https://www.avx2checker.com/
Yep! You nailed it. Nice work. The secondary computer is an Intel Core i7 4960X CPU circa 2013. Guess it's time for an upgrade. Thanks for the info.
The next build should fallback to the 32 bit version if your computer lacks newer instruction set support so it will run though slower.
that probably explains it then. was just going to start digging on resolving it this AM. I'm still using a fx9590 on my old secondary and will be for some time as I just replaced my driveway and it cost 1 arm and both legs.
look forward to that future release
thanks to @tsukasa198 as well.
Hi All,
I recently purchased the upgrade to Multiplicity 4 KVM Pro. Installed on my Primary PC over the top of Multiplicity 3.60. All good so far. I then installed on my Windows 10 Secondary machine, and again, after configuration, everything seemed good and I could KVM to that secondary.
Then came the issues. I installed Multiplicity 4 on my Windows 7 x64 system. This machine is important in my network as it has an old SVHS Video Capture card that only has working drivers for Windows 7. To my horror Windows 7 is no longer supported by Multiplicity. You get a warning during installation, but the install can continue, and Multiplicity 4 seems to be functional on the Windows 7 Secondary system. The troubles start when attempting to enable Audio transfer to the Primary system, and Multiplicity complains that it cannot find the named Primary system. But ignoring the Audio problem, the Primary system cannot KVM to the Windows 7 Secondary, saying that the secondary is not the same version, even though they are both version 4.
After a lot of trial and error, I had to give up. I uninstalled Multiplicity 4 KVM Pro from each machine and went back to version 3.60 which works perfectly on all my systems.
What a shame that you have dropped support for Windows 7, although I do understand that it is very much 'Legacy' software. What might be nice would be if it was possible for a version 4 Primary to be able to connect to a version 3.60 Secondary, so that support for older hardware/systems could be retained.
I paid my money and took my chance, but this time I lost.
All,
Multiplicity 4 Beta 2 was released today. For details, please see:
https://forums.stardock.com/531508/multiplicity-4-public-beta-2-feedback-thread
As always, thank you for your time, feedback, and support.
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