Black Screen

[Trevor Newell]

I have the same problem. Whenever I try to run an input file, I get a black screen and DirectRT refuses to run the file. Even one as simple as the one in the attachment doesn't get run. I've edited the semi-colons to commas (with and without quotation marks) in Notepad for several times, but it still doesn't work.
I cannot change the regional functions on the computer since it is administrated by the university.

How do I fix this?

Anneke,

The issue might be caused due to the way your input files are structured. Input files are nothing more than comma-delimited data files. The data within the input file you've attached looks like this:

block,trial,!Condition,bgr,wgr,style,stim,loc,time,*
"1,1,pos,0,0,2,~hi,""0,0,1"",""rt:any"",*"
"1,2,pos,0,0,2,~bye,""0,0,1"",""rt:any"",*"

The contents of the file should look like this:

block,trial,!Condition,bgr,wgr,style,stim,loc,time,*
1,1,pos,0,0,2,~hi,"0,0,1",rt:any,*
1,2,pos,0,0,2,~bye,"0,0,1",rt:any,*

What program are you using to edit these files?

Regards,
Trevor

[Anneke]

Dear Trevor,

thanks for your help. I use Excel to structure the basic input file but this program separates the colums with semi-colons (due to my regional settings, probably). Because of this, I open the csv.file in Notepad and replace all semi-colons with commas.

However, the file you sent me doesn't seem to work either. First, it gave an error similar to "Row 2 requests style 0 which doesn't exist". I created a style 0 in the style editor, ran the input file, but it still doesn't work. Instead, it does seem to give a message like "Auto adjustment in progress. Recommended settings (1280 x 1024 - 60Hz)", but I think this stems from the monitor instead of from the program itself.
In short, it still doesn't run. Could this have anything to do with the fact I'm using DirectRTv2006?

Attached is the 'real' experiment I am working on which also doesn't work. Besides the black screen, I also get errors like "missing LOC value in row 3" and "row 2 requests style 0 which doesn't exist".

[Trevor Newell]

Anneke,

Have you had any trouble running the sample input files that DirectRT comes with?

It seems strange that the input file I sent over still wasn't able to run correctly. The message you received, "Auto adjustment in progress. Recommended settings (1280 x 1024 - 60Hz)" almost seems like your computer doesn't want to change its settings when DirectRT tries to run.

If you can't get the samples to run, we will have to do a bit more troubleshooting to see what's happening. I don't believe the issue is arising due to DirectRTv2006.

Regards,
Trevor

[Anneke]

Trevor,

I ran a sample (http://support.empirisoft.com/showthread.php?t=1310) and it worked fine! Must be something in my file which is messing things up then.. I suppose it could (or should) be something with the commas and quotes in my input file, then, but if so I'm completely overlooking it.

Anneke

[Trevor Newell]

Anneke,

It's good to hear you were able to get an input file to work!

Perhaps try denoting the differences between your input files, and another input file (that does indeed work on your system) using a text editor, Microsoft Excel, Google Docs : http://www.docs.google.com , or another method.

Regards,
Trevor