I tried iStripper a month ago. I didn't like it. I returned to VG.
​Now I find an annoying pop-up whenever I turn VG on, pushing me to the iStripper download site.
So I succumb to iStripper.
​Annoying features:
1. The time it takes to load all my fullscreens.
2. The doubling of disk space - all the fullscreen cache files.
​3. The CPU hit on fullscreen is greater than it was - now 3 girls is the limit, before I got 8 girls.
​4. I cannot see how to disable all cards, then load a playlist so I just get the girls I want.
​5. Why has the playlist format changed? ***** nuisance!

The whole interface is very ***** to me. And SLOW!!!!

i also dont like it it looks like it works while it sucks in every way !

I'm missing the filters (update,d not loaded, resoultion etc.) in the collection ... no way to manage the cards anymore.

There's a Filter tab on the left side of the My Collection screen. Is that what you are missing?

The doubling of disk space is not because of Full Screen Cache files. If you open up the Playlist folder in the VG Data folder and look at the size of the Cache files for each scene, the cache files are incredibly small compared to the size of model clips saved in the overall VG folder. The cache files simply allow the scenes to be loaded and displayed MUCH quicker in the Full Screen GUI section of the user interface. You could delete ALL the cache files in a VG installation that contained HUNDREDS of scene cache files, and they would all amount to saving the space of less than ONE long(er) 3K model card clip.

I totally agree the inability to use a saved "list" of model cards for Full Screen is a major problem in iStripper though. It's more than just annoying. It's going to be enogh to make me quick using iStripper or purchasing any more credits to buy cards in the future when v1.2.0.84 is no longer supported if I can't do that anymore.

EDIT to above: I meant to say "open up the SCENES folder to see the size of the scene cache files...not the Playlists folder.

Now it seems that I am Forbidden from posting.

So I will try piecemeal ...

​Yes, the cache files are not very big. On average 100Kb. The scene files are 10Kb or less.
​But 100Kb multiplied by 550 scenes is 55MB. But if I'm honest, it is just the number and location of the cache files that I find mildly annoying; they 'mess up' my clean directory which in the past only contained .scn files, all of which I habitually tweeked.

On the other hand, the inability to 'deactivate all cards' then, via a playlist, activate the cards I want, is more than annoying. It is a disgraceful removal of a facility that I use all the time. For instance, my 'Bikers' fullscreen requires that 3 cards with motorbike accessories be activated, an no other card with accessories be activated. This I can do easily with the old VGHD playlist load facility, but not any more (with ease, at any rate).

Then, am I alone in finding the CPU hit *****? I have quite a powerful PC, and it is not sparse of memory either, and VG fullscreens such as those excellent creations of TheEmu, contain up to 12 or 15 independent (not clone) clips. With VG I can get up to 8 or 10 of those fullscreens to work smoothly, but iStripper doesn't cope well with 3-girl scenes.

​Then, the playlists. The VG playlists were simple text files. Because of the # delimiter, one could easily see which cards were in them by including the model name and card title on the same line. They were easily editable. The .vpl files are not simple text. They contain NUL and SOH characters. There is a null between each character of the card name, and there is no way to comment in model name or card name.

So I find iStripper destroys my ability to use VG in the way I have grown accustomed to, without affording any new feature that I feel could be used to achieve the same result instead. I am extremely disappointed.
​Combined with the removal of early-buy-discount pricing, Totem must lose out on the changes they have introduced this year, and their reputation (which was good) has nose-dived.

And here is a forum quirk I was unaware of ...
​If one types the hash character inside single quotes, the server tells you that you are forbidden from making the post. That is why the above 4 or 5 postings were made piecemeal.

Not having tried iStripper, yet due to intermitant net access and a disk crash, I was not aware of the way in which the scenes folder now gets polluted with cache files. To my way of thinking a directory of SOURCES, such as the .scn files, used by a program should not be polluted in this way when running the program. In the "good old days" programmers would commonly put such things in a separate directory, perferably one somewhere else in the file system but if not then at least in a subdirectory so that they did not get in the way when doing other things and things could easily be cleaned up simply by deleteing the whole directory. It should always be possible to put sources in a read only directory or on a read only device without having any impact on the way in which they are used.

@DrDoom9
Have you tested the effect on CPU usage of the "allow streaming of clips" in iStripper's settings?
When I am using your very enjoyable scene, Garage with 1 Car (moving) and 5 models (the swing disabled) with the "allow streaming" checked, my CPU usage is 60% average but with clip streaming unchecked the usage for that scene drops down to an average of 50%.
And thanks again for that scene and the Living Room scene too.

@TheEmu
​I couldn't have put it better myself. I was a programmer once. I thought hard about where I put read-only files, temporary files, user-specific files etc. I never mixed them up.

​@nurebau32
​Many many thanks for the "allow streaming" tip.
​At the moment I'm back with VG 1.2.0.84, but I will have to return (for the 3rd time) to iStripper soon, and
​I will certainly look into this. There are still other things about iStripper I cannot live with (ability to activate/deactivate multiple cards; playlists), but if you have hit on why my CPU is so stressed I really am most grateful!

You're right about the hash sign inside of double quotes... I got:
Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /php/ajaxProcess_forumPostAdd.php on this server.Apache/2.2.15 (CentOS) Server at www.virtuagirl.com Port 80

DrDoom9 make very valid points for why iStripper does not Measur up for us Advanced Users.

I don't think any of the Totem Team, Use VG or iStripper in a similar Manner, so it is not something
that they, them self, would have ever seen as issues.

For the New, or Casual user, iStripper is ( in my Opinion ) a move Forward.

It makes the common things about VG easy for the 1st time user.

But For the more Advance User, the Scene users, Scene Creators, Custom Skin Makers,
Playlist Users, 3rd party products....

It's mostly Taken away, made more Difficult, or even made Impossible for us to Use.

FullSceeen Scen View itself is Broken.
I've Had to Archive Almost ALL of my 1300 plus Scenes, just so it didn't bog down or crash.
I'm down to about 20 -30 scenes at a time...

And with out a TREE type listing, Finding the Scene I want...

maybe an Advance users Bug / Features thread is What we Need to Start and Keep updated.
and to try and keep it Clean of off topic digressions..

I have no Doubt, that if Totem is Made aware of the Issues, and Why they are Important.
Totem will address and Fix them.

An issue, that Totem thinks only One Member is having, might not get the same Attention, that Many Members are Having..

So it is Importnat to Bring them Front and Center,

Well said. Most who know me by now know that I will ALWAYS back-up and support Totem's actions/decisions IF I believe they are good for the community and the future of VG :)

Beast, I agree that we need another 'Sticky' thread for advanced users to argue our cases. Maybe only visible to Platinum and above? From there, we can always filter and help newer members with their issues elsewhere :)

@WA @HSS.
Not sure about confining the proposed advanced users thread to peeps who have more than 100 cards. If we get a genius member from the Shadertoy or GLSL Sandbox crowd come to visit us one day, its likely he /she will not qualify to join discussions . The way things were in VGHD they did not even have access to clip manager until 100 cards. It may be better to use such a thread to beef up the existing FS Tutorial thread into an iStripper compatible version to at least make things more succinct for users without losing the history. :-/

I think that a lot of the negative vibes are coming from the end-of-June absolute deadline and the new pop-up nag window. So I have a suggestion... I think that Totem should create a version of the old software called 1.0.2.84b which is identical to 1.0.2.84 except that it extends the cut off date by one full year. Maybe it also has a kinder, gentler nag screen. This would take the pressure off the team to address all remaining issues in just a few weeks.

And those of you who don't like the new software would also need to work during that year to constructively criticize the aspects of the software that you think still need some work ans accept the fact that the old user interface's days are numbered. You can't expect it to survive forever.

I hope we all can work together here.

Agree with @Wintergreen, however remember that @Rex mentioned that the expiry end of June is hard written into the VGHD player's existing code and likewise I suspect with the nag box.
People respond angrily as though Totem Team is totally responsible for this. It may well have been a time constraint ***** upon the Team by financiers or other stakeholders. We don't know.

Fair points, buddy :)
On the flipside, an advanced user thread might be intentionally directed at users who already know their way around the software and are able to suggest logical or even aesthetical improvements... A new genius member is probably a little rare...

We've all seen some, how should I put it? Less than intelligent remarks here. (YES! I'm guilty too).

I agree with WA's suggestion that it should be kept on topic and without the silly comments that sometimes affect other threads, more often than not by new members :)

I mosty miss the ability to delete disable scenes, unless I'm missing something.

@freewheeler

On the card display there is a trashcan labelled "Delete this card". Right click for the delete menu. You can delete disabled clips as one of the items on the menu.

@Dr.Doom,
With my rig on iStripper I am having no problem running your DrD = Studio V1..scn fully populated with 9 different model cards. I do have stuttering and early exit of fullscreen only when I run more than 3 cards of the same model co-incidently.
Like @Theemu says for v84, running large numbers of same card clones in a fullscreen scene is never a problem for me in iSt either.

Does iStripper support skins like VGHD was? Im thinking upgrade or not upgrade...

I wonder if the cut-off date is due to an impending clip format change which means new shows won't play with the old client. This has already happened in the past. I like the concept but if it causes the issue where you can't playback new content, which would you rather have? The old style client or the new shows?

We’ve been working with the community for month trying to accommodate the needs of new and advanced users. With .84 expiring soon and now more and more users are switching to iStripper, there is still a bit of time to list and fix the most annoying remaining things for advanced users.

Let’s work together again to produce a shortlist.

1) Fullscreens have been designed with 10 to 50 scenes in mind. We never thought users would have 1300 scenes at all. When the calculation time was reported to be too long, we added cache files. Now we’re getting ***** for cache file size, I don’t see other solutions that a check box in advanced settings to forbid any display of preview in Fullscreens. Folders will come back, but not before the end of june. If you see other ways to fix the fullscreen issues, let’s talk about it.

2) Playing the girls you want. DrDoom9 says « I cannot see how to disable all cards, then load a playlist so I just get the girls I want ». Can you please be more specific? If you go to My Collection, hit Ctrl+A to select all cards, then the check mark in the top of page (where action on multiple cards appear when you select more than one) to disable all cards. Then load your playlist, check random and loop and make sure the On/Off button is green. Let me know what I am missing here.

3) Using a playlist for Fullscreen. FalconAF, can you explain why you find this impossible in iStripper? On Stage tab will pickup random clips from your collection if Next is empty, but if you load a list of cards and clip in there, they will be used by either the desktop or the fullscreen. Let me know what I am missing here.

4) Missing functions. We’re working on a tutorial for new users and another one for advanced users to explain how to use the software as we see advanced users thinking functionalities are missing when they just got moved. I see a lot of advanced users missing the filters tab on the left or not knowing new actions appear in the title bar when you select more than one card at once.

5) CPU no change where made to the rendering engine at all so I don’t understand why you see any difference. Do other users see a CPU usage increase? Is it solved by the allow streaming of clips checkbox? Let me know what I am missing here.

6) Early-buy-discount pricing. We thought lowering all card prices from 30 to 25 credits and removing the 20% discount was an improvement. Did you guys prefer the discount for 7 days?

7) Pop-up nag window. iStripper as a better notification system, but .84 has nothing else to offer but this window. We have no other way to communicate with the users of .84 but this. If you have other ideas on how to make them aware of iStripper now and tell them soon about the expiration of .84, I’m all ears.

8) Skins will come back, they are scheduled for version .130 to be released within 2 months.

Am I missing other things?