SoliLuxe FAQ

Known Technical Issues

Q: Sometimes I get an error message when starting SoliLuxe, and my game in progress is gone.
This happens when SoliLuxe is shut down improperly and hasn't had opportunity to write all save data to file.

If you can avoid it, NEVER shut down SoliLuxe by ending the Java session — by shutting down the Java process, killing its Terminal window, or (on the Mac) quitting the "Main" application which runs the SoliLuxe program. ALWAYS use the QUIT button in SoliLuxe itself, or the close button in the SoliLixe main window!

(While developing new solitaire games, program-stopping errors happens once in a while. Usually SoliLuxe cleans up and shuts down by itself in those cases. Just have the "Quick start" option in the Settings tab UNTICKED while developing games, and you should be able to restart without any major troubles or headaches.)

Payment and registration

As of version 2.92 SoliLuxe is no-ads, no-hassle freeware, so this section has been removed for obious reasons!

Security

Q: Is SoliLuxe safe?
There have been many security alerts related to Java in recent times.

In light of all this commotion, some of you may wonder if it's really safe to use SoliLuxe, which is after all a Java program. Luckily, the short answer is: Yes.

The real danger lies in using Java in connection with a web browser. An accidental "mis-surf" can bring you to a web page which is able to activate some harmful Java code that then infects you computer. To avoid this, you should simply disable Java for your web browser, if you have no particular need for it. This is usually done in the browser's internet settings or specific plug-in handler.

When it comes to running stand-alone Java programs from trusted sources, the danger is no greater than with any manually downloaded program, especially if they use their own private runtime like the SoliLuxe Windows version. The Java runtime comes with the program, and no other program is aware that this runtime even exists: They cannot make use of it to infect you computer even if there IS a security hole in that Java version. So if you trust SoliLuxe and the site you downloaded it from, it doesn't put your computer in any more danger than it already was!

If you use a separately installed Java that is "visible" and available to other programs on your system, then once again it is important that you only install and use software from trusted sources. But this is not just a Java issue: Security holes appear and are patched regularly in operating system code and also in other runtime environments and helper programs like Flash, Adobe Reader, Silverlight and Microsoft .NET . The list, unfortunately, goes on. And on...

Installation

Q: What does installing SoliLuxe do to my system? How do I uninstall it?
Absolutely all files that has to do with SoliLuxe are kept in the main SoliLuxe folder. SoliLuxe does not write any settings to the Windows registry, nor does it spread temp and settings files around all over the place. This is the reason it is extremely portable (and also why you should make sure the person playing always has write privileges on the installation folder).

The Windows easy-install version comes with its own uninstaller, which appears in the Start menu. This uninstaller deletes all original installation files (including itself!), but it leaves all altered settings, history and statistics files intact. If you want to delete these files too, just delete the installation folder manually after running the uninstaller.

For the multi-platform version, just delete the installation folder and all traces of SoliLuxe disappear. If you want to do a fresh install but keep your settings and statistics etc., just delete everything but the /settings subfolder, and install a new copy to the same main folder.

Compatibility: Hardware, operating systems and Java versions

Q: On what equipment can I run SoliLuxe, and how?
Since SoliLuxe is a Java application, it theoretically runs anywhere where you can install a full-featured Java SE 8 runtime environment (JRE).

Unfortunately, mobile equipment like phones and tablets running light-weight operating systems like iOS and Android are out of the equation. Android may be Java-based, but not THAT Java-based! And Apple has stated that full Java support on iOS will not happen. Anyway, the main selling points for SoliLuxe are the huge, detailed graphics and voluminous, "encyclopaedic" approach to Solitaire playing — things that don't translate well to small, mobile formats. So we're pretty much stuck on the traditional, larger, full-featured computers.

Q: What are the minimum hardware requirements?
Any computer with a dual-core (or more)  processor can run this game without completely bogging down the system. As regards  performance, the more CPU horse-power you have, and the smaller the window you run SoliLuxe in, the smoother the animations will be: Being a standard Java program, the type of graphics card does not really matter that much!

Q: The game is widescreen, so why are there still black borders on either side of my widescreen display?
If there was only one widescreen standard, it wouldn't be computing as we know (and love/hate) it! There are two main widescreen formats: The older "computer" format which has an aspect ratio of 16:10, and the "TV" format which is 16:9. 

SoliLuxe uses the 16:10 ratio. Most displays nowadays use 16:9 (widescreen TV). Thus, on a 16:9 screen SoliLuxe will not use the left and right edges fully.

Other

Q: Can I program any solitaire I like in SoliLuxe?
No, not by a long shot. There are myriads of oddball rules for solitaire games, and the only ones currently implemented in the SoliLuxe programming language are the ones actually used in the factory-preset games. (This may change in the future if we receive specific user requests, but no promises!) The flip side of the coin is that there are no inaccessible, hard-coded game rules either — all rules used by the factory solitaires can also be used when programming your own solitaires.

Q: What's that stupid text window that opens "behind" SoliLuxe?
Depending on the OS you are running on — and the method used to start SoliLuxe — a "terminal window" may open in the background. This allows SoliLuxe to print various messages about what it is doing that may come in handy in the event of a crash. If SoliLuxe completely stops responding to input, it can be worthwhile to read the last message that has appeared in the console window: It may point to a missing file, or it may report a system error.

This console window has an additional advantage: If SoliLuxe should stop working completely, you can switch (Windows: alt+Tab) to the console and close it, which will shut down SoliLuxe.

On Windows installations where the game is started with a menu or desktop shortcut, you can easily make the console window "go away": Right-click the shortcut and select "Properties". In the "Run:" drop-down list amongst the properties, select "Minimized". This will make the console window start in minimized mode, while the actual game screens will behave normally.

Q: What's SPRAWL?
The About tab in the Options window contains information about something called a "SPRAWL library".

SPRAWL stands for "SPRite And Windowing Logic", and it is our proprietary Java 2D games engine. It manages all graphics, animations, sounds, window scaling and so on. In fact, SoliLuxe began life as nothing more than a testbed for SPRAWL, but turned out so good it's a pity not to share it with the world.

Q: What's OGG Vorbis?
OGG Vorbis is a compressed audio file format much like MP3. Unlike MP3, OGG Vorbis is a free format (not owned by any company).