• Intro
• Fixing it myself
• Download
• Instructions
• Source Code : dll
• Source Code : exe
• Finding the call "GlobalMemoryStatus"
• A really "cool" fix
• A more generic fix
• User Comments

A while ago I bought a tablet for the kids (at a local ALDI store).  Although I bought it at the ALDI, it was actually WACOM volito.  Like with most pieces of hardware, you get a bunch of CD-ROM's with the product.  Because I thought it would be kind of nice that the kids could learn to draw a bit, I tried to install the "Corel Painter Classic" that came with the tablet.

That's where the journey started... After installing this free piece of software I could not get it to run, because the software complained about the following

Initialization Error

Not enough free memory to run Painter.

You have to know I was trying to run this on a computer with 2GB of internal memory and 2GB of page file configured, so I knew this had to be a software bug.

The first thing you try to do is look for updates.  Of course this software had no updates, even worse, it was not supported anymore by Corel and WACOM didn't seem to be much help either.

Still, knowing that I couldn't be the only one with this problem, I decided to google my way down until I found a solution!  The only things I found were...

• This is a known problem because your pagefile is to large.  Decrease your pagefile to 500Mb, restart your system and then it will run. (Duh ... !!)

• Upgrade to a newer release for only (a price 6 times higher than the price of the tablet) (More frustrating duh !!)

• The higher end models ship with another program that does work (what ?!)

So soon I came to the conclusion that I WACOM didn't bother doing anything about it and Corel was not helping either (how difficult could such a fix be?).

Therefore I decided I would be ...

It didn't take too long to figure out that the only way the application could report "not enough memory" would be by a logic error in their code.  Of course there is nothing I can do to fix the logic error, but one of the workarounds was to limit the pagefile size to 500Mb.

After some more searching I found the problem was not related with the actual pagefile size (see: Corel Website), but with the pagefile to RAM ratio (should be less than 3).  I think the developers were trying to prevent people running this software on hardware that was not designed for it.

Anyway, instead of worrying about the ratio (and whatever possible bugs would happen when the memory * 3 would overflow their variables), I decided to go the hard and easy way ... why not let the application think that I only have 500Mb of pagefile.

Once I figured that out, the rest was easy

1. Find out which call they use to determine the pagefile size

2. Intercept that call

3. Change the return value

If you have ever done DLL call interception then this is a piece of cake ... and by using some tracing utilities I was able to find the call I needed to intercept (GlobalMemoryStatus in kernel32.dll)... more about that below

Therefore I wrote the couple of lines needed to for my interception API (I used MadCodeHook's API instead of messing with the assembler myself), and also wrote a small program that would launch the PClassic.exe (the main program) with the DLL injected into it.

And 1 hour later ... Painter Classic was running !

Below you can download the executable and the dll, and I also wrote a bit of information on the installation.... And because some of you really want to see the source code so you can build it yourself, I also added that at the bottom of the page.  The code assumes you use __stdcall calling conventions.
 

Warning: A more recent fix has been made available ... check the main page under development projects

Click here to download a zip file that contains 2 files.

If this works for you and you find it worthwhile, feel free to donate something for it using Paypal or your credit card. Just to give you an idea, most people donate between 5 and 10 USD, 4 and 8 Euro or 700 and 1400 Yen.

Euro

US Dollars

Yen

First download the zip file and unpack it.  The zip file contains 2 files : intercept.dll and NewPClassic.exe.

Both files should be copied to your Painter installation directory.  This is usually C:\Program Files\Corel\Painter Classic.  You can now launch the program by double clicking NewPClassic.exe

After you did that, you probably want to modify the shortcut used to start Painter Classic and let it point to NewPClassic.exe

That should be it.

// ***************************************************************
// Intercept.dll version: 1.0 · date: 2005-02-18
// Author: Geert De Peuter
// Email: dev at depeuter. (org)
// -------------------------------------------------------------
// this dll intercepts GlobalMemoryStatus in kernel32.dll
// ***************************************************************

#include <windows.h>
#include "madCHook.h"

// ***************************************************************

void ( *ori_GlobalMemoryStatus ) (LPMEMORYSTATUS lpBuffer);

// ***************************************************************

static void catch_GlobalMemoryStatus(LPMEMORYSTATUS lpBuffer)
{
    // Call the original GlobalMemoryStatus
    ori_GlobalMemoryStatus(lpBuffer);

    // Adjust the reported values for the pagefile
    if (lpBuffer -> dwTotalPageFile > 500000000)
    lpBuffer -> dwTotalPageFile = 500000000;
    if (lpBuffer -> dwAvailPageFile > 500000000)
    lpBuffer -> dwAvailPageFile = 500000000;
}

// ***************************************************************

BOOL WINAPI DllMain(HANDLE hModule, DWORD fdwReason, LPVOID lpReserved)
{
    if (fdwReason == DLL_PROCESS_ATTACH) {
    // InitializeMadCHook is needed only if you're using 
    // the static madCHook.lib
    InitializeMadCHook();

    HookAPI("kernel32.dll", "GlobalMemoryStatus", 
            catch_GlobalMemoryStatus, 
            (PVOID*) &ori_GlobalMemoryStatus);

    } else if (fdwReason == DLL_PROCESS_DETACH) {
        // FinalizeMadCHook is needed only if you're using 
        // the static madCHook.lib
        FinalizeMadCHook();
    }

    return true;
}

// ***************************************************************
// NewPClassic.exe version: 1.0 · date: 2005-02-18
// Author: Geert De Peuter
// Email: dev at depeuter. (org)
// -------------------------------------------------------------
// this program starts PClassic while injecting the intercept.dll
// ***************************************************************

#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include "madCHook.h"

DWORD main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    DWORD rc = 0;
    STARTUPINFO si;
    PROCESS_INFORMATION pi;

    // Initialize si and pi
    ZeroMemory( &si, sizeof(si) );
    si.cb = sizeof(si);
    ZeroMemory( &pi, sizeof(pi) );

    // Start the child process. 
    if( !CreateProcessEx( NULL, // No module name (use command line). 
                        "PClassic.exe", // Command line. 
                        NULL, // Process handle not inheritable. 
                        NULL, // Thread handle not inheritable. 
                        FALSE, // Set handle inheritance to FALSE. 
                        0, // No creation flags. 
                        NULL, // Use parent's environment block. 
                        NULL, // Use parent's starting directory. 
                        &si, // Pointer to STARTUPINFO structure.
                        &pi // Pointer to PROCESS_INFORMATION structure.
                        ,"intercept.dll"
                        ))
    {
        printf( "Unable to start the process 'PClassic.exe'\n"
            " Did you copy this file in the Painter Classic installation"
            " directory?\n"
            " Did you copy the file 'intercept.dll' to the Painter "
            " Classic installation directory?\n\n"
            " This should be the only reason why this is not working :\n"
            , GetLastError());

        printf( "\n\nPress Enter >>>");

        fflush(stdout);
        getc(stdin);
        return(2);
    }

    // Wait until child process exits.
    //WaitForSingleObject( pi.hProcess, INFINITE );

    // Get the exit code of the process
    //GetExitCodeProcess(pi.hProcess, &rc); 

    // Close process and thread handles. 
    CloseHandle( pi.hProcess );
    CloseHandle( pi.hThread );

    // Return the exit code of the child process
    return(rc);
}

There are plenty of API spying utilities available on the web (google for APISpy32 for example).  However, if you feel comfortable with debuggers, you can install the debugging tools for windows (download from MS website).

After installing this, do the following ...

1. Start the debugger

2. File -> Open Executable

3. Point to PClassic.exe

4. You will see the executable is loaded and you see a list of dll's (modules)

5. At the command prompt (bottom of the screen of the debugger), type the following

• !logexts.logi  (this will load a logger dll into the executable)

• !logexts.loge e * (this will enable logging for all calls)

• !logexts.logo (this will display the logger options - remember the output directory - you will need it later)

6. Type "g" or F5 or Debug -> go

7. The executable will start running

8. Find the window that displays the error message from Painter Classic and press the OK button (you may have to minimize all windows to find it)

9. You should now have a PClassic.lgv file in the output directory (as mentioned in item 5)

Now start logviewer.exe (you will find it in the directory where you installed the debug utilities) and open the lgv file.

In the logviewer, select view -> show first level calls only ... and you will see the last "meaningful" call (before showing the messagebox) is GlobalMemoryStatus.

One of the things I've always found fascinating was patching binary files.  So I did one for CPainter.exe. 

The fix mentioned above will work for all versions of Painter because it just intercepts each call the program makes for memory statistics and fakes the return values.  This fix will actually modify the binary and change the behaviour so the binary will not show the "not enough memory" Messagebox, but simply continues, thinking all is well.

So, if you don't want to take any risks, then download the fix above.  If you are not afraid to try something "new", you can use the following procedure to fix the problem

The following explanation is done for ASI32_12.dll version 12.1 (see file properties in explorer). The byte sequence to modify for version 12.2 can be found lower on the page.

1. Make a copy of ASI32_12.dll (can be found in the Corel Painter subdirectory) just in case this doesn't work for you.

2. Open "ASI32_12.dll" in a hex editor (ultraedit for example ...)

3. Look for the following byte sequence : "c7 45 fc 00 00 00 00 8b 55 fc 2b 15 a8 29 10 10 89 55"

4. Verify that this sequence only happens once in the whole file

If you were not able to find the sequence at all or you found it multiple times, then see if one of the codes lower in this paragraph will work for you.  Probably you have a different version of the dll than used in this explanation.

5. Replace the sequence with "c7 45 fc 00 00 00 20 8b 55 fc 2b 15 a8 29 10 10 89 55"  (note that only one character has changed) - This change tell PClassic.exe that you have 512Mb of memory available on the machine instead of dying with not enough memory...

6. Save the new ASI32_12.dll

7. Start PClassic.exe

If you have the ASI32_12.dll (version 12.2), you can try the following
Find: BC 0D 10 8B 44 24 10 85 C0 75 16 8B 4C 24 0C F7 C1 00 00 00 80 75 06 3B 4C 24 08 7C 1C 33
Replace: BC 0D 10 8B 44 24 10 85 C0 90 90 8B 4C 24 0C F7 C1 00 00 00 80 90 90 3B 4C 24 08 EB 1C 33

Just for the curious, you could run both fixes together, but there is no reason to.  If you intercept the call to the GlobalMemoryStatus function, the "2" change you made will never be ran.

If you are experiencing a similar problem with Poser or other versions of Painter Classic (like the Japanese version or Painter 5), you might want to look at a generic fix I created for this problem.

You will find more info about this fix here.

 

Fill in the captcha and the blanks below to add a comment. The only mandatory field is the "comments". Thanks!
-- Geert De Peuter

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Comments:

It appears that MadCodeHook is reported as a virus by some scanners. Google MadCodeHook for more. I did the one byte change and it worked for me. THANKS!!!! I use Painter Classic once a year to do our holiday card. Love the image hose for sparkles. Thanks for putting the time in to get us all a fix.

downloaded file and was infected by 2 trojan horse back door agents

Thanks man That was awesome, it fixed my poser 4 memory problem

I thank you so much... i missed this programm... i'm so sad :(

But now i can used painter classic again... it makes me so happy...

thanks thanks thanks

And... it's really very easy :)))

when i edit my already saved file in corel draw 11, after some time a message shown on screen. (not enough memory to save this data)..
what will I do?

I r-clicked on pclassic and 'run in win95 compatibility' in Vista, then file/new, it
worked but locked up when I tried to load a nozzle library, your fix fixed that
problem, thanks. Also fixed Fractal Painter 5.

I posted earlier about right clicking properties on the PClassic.exe, and \'run in
win95 mode\' then \'file/new\' .This will run Painter and also Fractal Painter 5, but the
program will lock up if you try to load a nozzle library. Your generic fix worked for
both these programs, thanks!

Hello! I had this same problem others have mentioned with anti-virus programs suddenly finding the program to be a "backdoor trojan." I've been using your fix since I upgraded to XP, and haven't had any problems until now! I also used the direct hex-editing solution, which seemed a little scary but it worked fine, thanks once again!

This is a strange thing to happen to multiple people though, so I figured I better mention it.

hello, I\'ve downloaded the fix, it works but 2 antivirus programs (Norton and another) have found Trojan in it. I\'ve tried with the dll but can\'t find the string. (dll version 12.1)
couldn\'t you please make a version without the trojan?

Thank you for the fix. Only one problem, Your download had a Trojan Horse Back Door agent WRV in it so I dumped it and used your other suggestion of changing the ASI32_12.dll code and this fixed the problem.
Thanks

I downloaded both files intercept.dll and NewPClassic and copied them inside the same folder containing my Painter 5.exe file but it doesn't work. When I click NewPClassic I get a black screen. What should I do then?

After using your fix I was able to open PClassic, but when I tried to save a sketch the software closed with no warning and my work was lost.

Thank you for your time.

Holy crap thank you so much! You are GREAT^2

Thanks very much, came across the problem when I upgraded memory. Now fixed I am very grateful

I just wanted to let you know I am eternally grateful to you for this! I use several other art programs, but Painter Classic is always what I use for my lines, and I was lost without it when I switched to my Vista machine.
It works now, because of you! :D Pat yourself on the back, you saved an artist!

Geert, you created miraculous fix for Corel! Great thanks.

Yes the plug-in does work for PainterClassic 4.2 which I bought with a WACOM CT tablet in 1999 or so. This software problem is the only way the corporate world makes money from the "little people". Yes there are programmers who knowingly fraud the public. Thanks for the independent thinkers who come to 'save the day'. Many thanks.

Nice work and a brilliant fix!!! The only thing I had to do was rename the application included in the zip file to New_PAINTER5.exe to get it to work for Painter 5.

Geert, ge-wel-dig !
Works like a charme on ArtDabbler. And as a reward, ... yes, you deserve that donation. You're welcome

Plons

Thanks a million, I've been without this for a long time. Only found out Coz explora 7 messes up hewlit packard soft ware and the way the fix worked made me seach for a painter five fix. Thanks again!

Ralph

I want to download painter classic
plz send me the setup .......
Thank You!!!

Thanks! I had the same bug with my old Wacom on XP with 2 GB. Worked great with this patch! I could paint again :)

It didn't work for me. Although I copied it into my Painter installation folder, it still didn't run.

<COMMENT FROM GEERT> This is the oldest fix in a couple of generations of fixes. Goto the main page and select the most recent fix instead.

There are really nice people on internet and it's very appreciable for those like me, who are unfamiliar with softwares particularly when u get no help from the selling companies. Many thanks for your help. Bravo

Hey!

Ur fix hasn't worked 4 me. How come?
I've Painter Classic Version 5.0 (1997) Mayb this version's 2 old?
I copied the files into the directory but it shows me, when I start the "NewPClassic" File, that I might havent copied it right...
I dont know where the problem lies.

HELP?

(Otherwise I gonna buy another programm....)

the fix work wonderfull in the metacreation infini-d 4,5
thanks thanks thanks!!!!!

Vielen Dank, das Skript hat mir viel Zeit gespart. Der Support von Corel gibt ja OEM-Nutzern keine Antwort.

This was an AWESOME fix! Thank you so much for putting this up online...I have missed this program a lot!

Cheers,
Rachel

Muchas gracias!

I bought my new machine with 2 gb ram , I needed to use the painter 5.5 but the joke is it that showed me the famous message "Not enough memory... " the solution with this fix
it was total!!! brilliant!!!

(Sorry for my poor English)

Muchas gracias, (thanks a lot)

Many thanks - really grateful that you took the time to help others. I am amazed the way the internet can work in such a positive way. Painter is a great creative program, but mine came with a Wacom tablet, and Corel's response was that the discounted price did not include consumer support. Really surprising they could not have helped the way you did! Thanks again!

Usually i look for freeware solutions, but your tool is great! I decided that your ideas may be honorate with a donation. I did it 10 minutes ago. Is not very much, but i want to encourage young people to think and to do intelligent things. Thank you. Painter Classic is well working now. Great Job!

Do you happen to know what I could do if my painter classic suddenly stopped detecting pressure differentiation in my tablet? The tablet still detects the pressure changes, just not the painter classic program. I'd greatly appreciate any help.

Worked fine - nice to see my old favourite pop up again after so many years! However, another strange problem. The cursor is displaced to the right of where the drawing actually takes place! Very Strange.



Thanks. though - half way there

oh thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!! i was ready to start crying when i couldn't get painter classic to work. you are my hero, i cannot stress enough how much i appreicate your help! :)

Hey, great fix - used it for Painter Cassic that came with my Walcom Tab - I have a dislike for companies that abandon customers and like so many others, I won't buy any new software from Corel, or new tablets from Walcom - my next stop is Pay Pal - thanks again worked slick on Painter Classic version 1.0.1

What a great contribution...thank you very much!

Am I the only person who this didn't work for? I am very frustrated as I've been without the programme for 3 months now. Clicking on NewPClassic.exe just gave me the same message about there being not enough memory. What is even more frustrating, I can only install the programme in French or German! Arrrrgh! Please help. jizzfoshizz@hotmail.com

Hey, that was great. Got it working with no trouble. Will make a donation for sure. Thanks

THANK you very much!!!!!!
SAved the day!!

First of all thank you, while I did not have the Classic version of Painter, I did have Painter 5.5 which exhibited the same memory error on my new Dell XPS 2 GIG laptop. I thought I would give your dll a try anyway and it came up with a error that said could not find PClassic.exe upon which I renamed my Painter.EXE to PClassic.exe and got a little further - then it said couldn't run Painter.rsr - so I renamed that as well and BINGO my Painter5.5 is back in business for the 21st century. Thanks again for helping to find an excellent solution! Might work for other versions?

Dear Sir,

Thank you so much for restoring Corel Painter Classic to my computer. I have placed a shortcut of the Patch on my Desktop together with (a copy-paste) the Painter Classic icon, to enable me to go straight into the program direct from the desktop. I would like to show my appreciation in the form of a cheque to the value of £20. Please send me your address (home or business) and the cheque will be posted in all haste.

Once again, a very big THANK YOU. Hey, I can now use my Wacom tablet again. YIPEEEEE!



Gratefully Yours, Dave Farrar.

Thank you very much for your work in figuring out the source of this problem and making your fix available for others to download!

Thank you so very much for figuring out this problem. I don't know enough about programing to actually re-write coding. So Finding this made my day. Thanks again! I really wish I had some money to donate to you, but sadly I do not.

Power of The Net (and smart people you can find there)!
Thank you so much!

My children have been using Painter Classic for many years and were greatly disappointed when this program failed to work on a new system with Win XP. I googled up the error and found such a simple solution on your page, How can I ever thank you! [I am scared of online payments but if there is any other way to repay for your kind effort, pl do let me know.] PS I have also read Wacom's comment on this page and if the company cares for its customers they should publish your page-link on their support page and pay you for your enormous contribution. There must be hundreds of thousands old customers of Wacom using Painter Classic and Wacom should not just leave them out to dry. Frankly, I stopped buying Wacom products after this unhappy experience. If they buy this solution from you and offer it to their old customers via their support page, customers like me are very likely to return to their fold. Well done Geert!

I recently reinstalled Painter Classic after upgrading to a significantly beefier machine (2gb RAM) and was annoyed to see an "out of memory" error. I googled it and I found a board with your post saying you fixed it, which led me here! Thanks a bunch!

Thanks for this utility. I am from Wacom support and we know the problem since some years (though not all our staff is aware of it). PainterClassic was developed by MetaCreations at the time of Window95/98 and 2 GB memory was very uncommon at that time. The program is now owned by Corel and was licensed by Wacom for some products. Of course we have no permission to change it and can only supply it as is. According to Corels FAQ there is an official patch for Painter6. As solution for the OEM bundle version they have offered to license the newer programs PainterEssentials1/2/3 and we agreed, also because of MacOSX compatibility. We do not include PainterClassic anymore and use PE3 instead.
The solution we suggested so far to our customers is to reduce the Windows virtual memory settings, so that physical RAM plus virtual RAM does not exceed 2 GB. This works also for Poser3, but obviously your solution is much better. - I guess it is ok to tell our customers about it ?

BS

I dont know who you are but I wanted to let you know that I appreciate the fix for Painter Classic. I recently purchased a new HP computer with all the bells and whistles and recieved the annoying not enough memory warning. I am an artist so I needed my Painter Classic. I typed in the memory message in my google search and located your forum. The fix was made in a matter of minutes and I have you to thank. You mentioned that I could make a contribution to you by credit card through paypal, tell me how to do that. Thanks, Billy

Thank you sooo much! This is the easiest fix I have ever seen. You rock.

people like you make the world go round! God bless you! seriously this patch saved my life! i sure will donate...... Bless you and make/write more programmes

WOW! After ripping my hair out (not much of that left nowadays!), you finally solved my problem with Art Dabbler, it now works perfectly. Thank you so much.

Hey,



Just wanted to say thanks for a great program. .... so thanks.

Thsi was very helpful.



James

I tied your download patch and i have a folder called release in painter classic, i tried clicking on the NewPClassic.exe but i get a black boxed message saying unable to start the process pclassic.exe basically i don't get what it all means. i'm not that clever with computer stuff and don't understand what i'm doing, can you help me?

Thank you very much your work. I tried to solve the problem for two days without succes, and you solve it. I would like to send you some donation, however as I have no bank card can I send it by a traditional way? Please write me the address and how much is normal!

Thanks SO much. I've recently been asked to help with some graphics stuff, and after almost 2 days hunting about the house trying to find my old Painter CD that came with my Wacom, I was very frustrated to find it didn't work.
As someone who's dabbled in the Win API and DLLs, I really appreciate both your work-around, and your explaination.
If the venture that started all this turns into something worthwhile, I'll remember to come back with a Paypal donation.

Thanks, Geert - the generic fix worked great!

Hi,
It looks like your fix should help me, but I'm having a very similar problem to Leta's: I copied your files to C:Program FilesPainter 5.0 (I've got Fractal Painter rather than Corel), and am getting the error message that I haven't put the file in the installation directory. The directory it's in is the same one that contains the Painter program itself - what am I doing wrong here?

I'm eager to start using Painter and would be more than happy to make a donation for your patches if I can figure out how to use the properly!
Thanks in advance for any help....

COMMENT FROM GEERT>I would suggest to download the generic fix, since this is a problem with Fractal painter. Make sure to follow the suggestions for installation on that page. You can find the link to the generic metacreations fix on the main page of http://dev.depeuter.org

Thanks so much for posting this workaround!

I particularly appreciated your exploration, and binary patch - and now my little girl and I can keep drawing on my "big computer"!

As for Wacom - this is twice now they've orphaned me - first with an ADB tablet which they never bothered to create a driver patch for so that it would work with a serial converter, and again with Painter Classic.

Had exactly the same problem as you, downloaded your fix, worked perfectly on both my toys. Many many thanks...Ian

Thanks for creating this program. I used it to get the PC Plus coverdisk copy of Poser 3 running on my brother's new computer and I think I'll be needing it for mine as well.

Is their way around having to download the patch? I dont have my computer online but use webtv for internet access which won't download. I have Painter 5.5 and recently installed 1 gig of ram. Outside of physically removing the board, is their another way? Thanx in advance Dave

Thank you SOOO much. Painter Classic worked fine on my old PC, but when I got my new one (with 1 GB RAM instead of 512 MB) it gave me the error--your fix was so easy and worked perfectly, so i replaced the shortcut on my desktop with the new .exe and changed the icon to the old jar of brushes, and now it's like the problem was never there. I went from frustrated to elated in just the time it took to download, unzip, and copy those files. Thanks again!

Thank you so much! I love my painter classic, and now I can use it!

Jewel

Hi,

I downloaded and put the two files into my installation direction (the one that contains Painter61). It's under MetaCreations--so could it be a different version than what you have? Anyway, when I try to start it, it asks if I've copied the files into the installation directory. What do you mean by installation directory? The one that the Painter61.exe is located in?

Any help would be appreciated.

COMMENT FROM GEERT> I would suggest to download the generic metacreations fix instead. Make sure to follow the suggestions for installation on that page. You can find the generic metacreations fix pagre by following the link on http://dev.depeuter.org

hi , I have had painter classic for years , I am on windows xp , the only way I could get classic to work was to turn off my paging file , which of course windows did not like , I have just found your site and I decide to try the patch , it works , I can now use painter classic with my paging file on , thank you so much , you have made an old girl very happy ... hugs Angel

Hi found your fix, explains why I could never get painter to run on a machine with 2Gb ram!

tried your fix, it loads but then the menus do weird things, like they flash when you move them, doing weird things like disappearing

OK I have 3 monitors with a screen stretched across the 3 making a 3580x1024 screen size... don't suppose you have a fix for this problem

I have used painter since 1994 ver 1 with the tin of paint, then it disappeared and funnily I to got a mini wacom with the Painbter classic s/w - didn't work so that was it - now I have just dug out of my hardware scrap pile my original 12x12 Wacom UD tablet - dated from 1998 after a lot of working out it now works fine on a XP machine! so thought I would get the Painter s/w working

It works fine on a single creen machine with 1GB of ram + 1GB paging file, but on the 2GB + 4GB paging file + 3 screen setup its a problem

oh the video cards are Matrox Paranias ok Only 64mb but in there day 4 years ago they was top spec

interested if you have got any good ideas

have fun

Clive

I had the same problem with Painter 5 and Painter 3D. Being bold enough, I was going to patch the dll, but had neither version listed. I could not find either hex string in the dll. So I tried the "generic" fix and it works for both programs, but I was not satisfied to settle for a patch. I wanted to know the cause!!! So I started reducing the size of my page file, and with 1 gig of RAM installed the maximum useable page file size ended up at 768 meg. I don't have 2 gig of RAM to test this, but it would follow that a 1500 meg page file should work if you have that much RAM. It would appear to be a matter of keeping a ratio below 1.5 to 1 for the programs to function. For those that do not know -- a page file is hard drive space used by the OS as though it were RAM. You can find it under: system properties/advanced/performance settings/advanced/virtual memory.

If for some reason you need a large page file, then the best solution I have seen is the "generic" work-around. Very nice solution Geert!!

I just got a new computer and was installing my not so new wacom tablet (Intuos1) driver (which prompted me to see what was on the included CD). I was excited to see that Corel Painter Classic was included, because I'd been wanting to try a version of painter for some time (Painter IX was too costly to get). Your fix worked like a charm, and I have already gotten a lot of enjoyment out of Corel Painter Classic. It really does behave almost like real paint. (Trying to replicate something like this in Photoshop just doesn't come close).

Thanks for sharing your fix -- I figured there had to be one somewhere on the web!

AWESOME! Worked like a charm! Many Thanks!

The first time I tried the patch I was a little impatient and I closed the program before it started up completely. After that I was unable to start the program until I uninstalled the program and then reinstalled it. There may have been other issues involed including my attempts to try and run it in compatibility modes and what not... Anyways. I recommend that this patch be installed on a fresh install of Painter Classic and if it takes a while to start up the first time, WAIT for it to finish! It took my laptop (1.2 GHz) 2 minutes to start the program but now that it is up I can save and load just fine! I even am able to open files that are saved in Corel Painter IX! I am so happy! I bought this program at a thrift store for $2 and I am thinking I will replace Painter IX because I do not use it so much. I will likely eBay my Painter IX. Geert, you are a hero!

Hi again and thanks again for your work.

I tried your fix and Painter worked immediately. Painter Classic is now running but I'm not able to open the old RIF files created in the past. Then Corel customer care told me that Painter Classic is not working with WIN XP, so I can't install it... If I want to work with Corel on my WIN XP I have to buy PAINTER IX !!! But...I've always used it with WIN XP when I had 512MB of ram... Do you know something about this? Is Painter Classic creating conflicts with WIN XP? If yes...why I was able to run it with XP?

<COMMENT FROM GEERT>What Gio was referring to was that he was unable to open files by double clicking them. Indeed, this is something that was not handled properly. However, now it works, and it even works better than Painter can do by itself. Reason is that Painter doesn't handle the arguments properly and will refuse to open files when dragged on top of it or when a file association is made. So if you use the New_PClassic.exe, it should all work now (I updated the zip file). Just set your file associations to open the RIF files with the New_PClassic.exe and all should work. Thanks to Gio for pointing this out.

Thanks a million, son heartbroken when I couldn't get it working. Found your site straightaway and worked instantly.

Just when I was about to despair, a Google search brought me here, and solved the problem. My old tablet is useful again, much thanks to you!

You saved my life! When I fill my credit card you'll receive what my poor illustrator work can give, but I owe you so much!
I base my drawing style on Painter Classic, since 2001, and even if I used the new Painter 9 and such, this software has unique brushes and output styles. I had this problem for a month, and then a friend od mine find your page. You're my angel!!!!! Thank you so much!
ana

thank you very much.
i have paint 9...but i like classic.
have nice day

Thank you so much for the fix! ROCK ON!

Hi Geert,
I installed the fix here at work but the cursor appears to be off by a couple inches...any fix for that yet? It works at home...weird...I will have to see if I can see what is different and fix the problem.
Thanks again,
Dan

<COMMENT FROM GEERT> After emailing with Dan, we found out the problem was caused by a Wacom driver. After downgrading his driver to 4.77 the problem went away. Again I would like to say that the fix on this website only addresses the memory problem so it won't cause any other issues that were there before.

This is the coolest thing EVER!!!! All of my googles on this issue only referenced the pagefile fix (which is total bull****). Some people would find a binary patch to be a better fix, but I find your work not only elegant but original; plus, I didn't know that DLL calls could be intercepted. That's way cool man!

Thanks for the fix,

OMG! It works!! I renamed a few of my executables to PCLASSIC (where in Painter 5 they are named PAINTER5) and your fix works!
THANK YOU!!!! You have spared me a ton of hassle removing memory, building a new machine for Painter and various other problems. I am gonna donate to you...you earned it!

Thanks again...so good to use my favorite digital painting tool again (Photoshop isn't bad but Painter 5 is great at certain things..unmatched by anything else). =)
Dan

<COMMENT FROM GEERT> Thanks for the donation ! This is truly appreciated!

Help!
I really want to get Painter 5 working but I am having the same problem as the others. Painter 5 won't run because it gives the old, 'Not enough free memory to run Painter' problem.

Is there a way to make your fix work for Painter 5? Painter 6 sucks coz they ruined the scratchboard tool, and 7 and up suck hard because they totally ruined the watercolor tool. So, I need to use Painter 5 desperately...
Thanks!
Dan Burke

<COMMENT FROM GEERT> Check out the generic metacreations fix. This should be exactly what you need !

Hello, I tried using your generic fix, but not succesfully... I installed my Metacreations Painter 6.0, and tried/failed, then I upgraded to Painter 6.1 and it won't work again... I have P4 on XP system. Difference between your and mine is that I have asi32_13.dll not asi32_12.dll and it doesn't contain sequence of numbers that you provided. How to make it work?

Hey Geert,

thanks a lot for the famous work you_ve done! After switching to a new computer the painter start failed continuously - before I googled your site. I'll always keep you painted in my memory ;-) ...

Best greetings from good old Cologne, Germany!

Kai

Thanx,Amigo...I'm also running a huge ass machine and when it didn't start, I had a good laugh.Appreciate the help...and really appreciate the fact that you made it Artist Friendly...Rock On....
Brad in San Diego

ThanksThanksThanksThanks!!

Brilliant -- works like a charm!! Thanks.

You are a hero!! I had the same problems on a P IV 2,4/ 1GB Kingston Ram/ Win 2000 and with the patch it started painter 61 without any problems now. That´s amazing!

The only way I could get Painter Classic and Detailer to match the curser and the drawing was to set them both to Win98 in the compatability mode setings tab. I still don't have any pressure ability, but at least I know where the ink is going to land. I've got both running on a real Win98 PC and they work great.

<COMMENT FROM GEERT> Try reinstalling the tablet drivers. This problem is not related to the fix, but a tablet driver issue in most of the cases.

sg again.
I'm also having a cursor/output problem. Brush strokes are about 2-3cm down and to the right from the cursor. Whaddayagonnado?
I'd love a suggestion from someone. Thanks.

Thank you!!
I was nervous about downloading your exe files so I found ultraedit and changed the .dll file as you suggested. I'm not terribly computer savy so I've never tried anything like that. I felt very adventurous. How does paypal work? I can't send more than a few euros but I'd love to contribute for all the your efforts. Thanks!

My problem is that when I try to use my tablet, what shows up on the screen is off by a couple of inches from the curser and at full pressure. If I switch to Win98 compatibility mode the alignment is fine, but the pressure stays at minimum. When I go to the "brush tracking" settings I see the pressure changes. I have the same problem with Detailer but Expression works fine. System: XP Home, MetaCreations Painter Classic 1.0, Fractal Design Detailer 1.0.2, Fractal Design Expression 1.0.0, CalComp Drawingslate II 6x9.

As a computer artists who uses painter classic as her main tool, I thank you immesurably!!! Just upgraded to 1g of memory and my program wouldn't work. Almost cried! You are a life saver! Thanks again!

Thank you so much for creating this patch. I like Painter Classic very much and didn't much look forward to using another programme. Now I don't have to worry about this! Thanks again!

many thanks for the fix, i thought i was going to have to get another program just because I upgraded my comp. Your hard work and ingenious is greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much, fixed a problem instantly ,Painter is really a CLASSIC now.

Many Thanks Geert! I too bought a tablet at ALDI and thought I wouldn't be able to use Painter 5. Works like a deam now!
<COMMENT FROM GEERT> Malc, thank you very much !! It's been a pleasure...

Wow, your "cool" fix really is awesome! And here I thought I would never be able to use Painter again. Thanks so much!

eeuwige dankbaarheid is voortaan de uwe, voorwaar!
Net wanneer ik dacht dat'k m'n painter in de vuilbak kon kieperen, kwam ik deze fix tegen : 't werkt nu allemaal perfect...

cheers!

Painter Classic problem is fixed with your two files (thankyou) Sadley
thats as far as it goes, I open a picture to work on ok. but if I so much
as touch it with any of the tools, it promptly stops with a M.S message
that this program needs to close, & to send of an error report ect.
I need your help if possible, hope you can

Rog J

thank you so much for the fix,like a lot of people i cant believe ive got my old favourite paint package back again,its the basis for all my work,its funny how an upgrade of ram can cause so many problems,your a godsend,thanks again,
ill be giving a contribution asap,cheers ian

thanks so much for the fix!
and thank god for google, too. :)
-leonid

Thank you for you fix fantastic

Painter Classic (included with my Wacom Graphire) wouldn't run on my new WinXP PC.
Your fix has done exactly what it promised - thankyou for making it available.
I had contacted Wacom who advised that "PainterClassic shows this error, when your total memory (physical RAM plus virtual memory)
exceeds a limit of 2 GB. The only solution is to lower the setting for virtual memory."
I've sent them your link.
Thanks again, Barrie.

Many thanks for taking the time to do this. As a Painter instructor, this is not an uncommon complaint for me to hear from students. The members of the yahoo groups art-digital@yahoogroups.com and painter-novitiate@yahoogroups.com are grateful!

Christine

I have been using Painter4 and 5 and after geting my Wacon Introus2 18X12 tablet last year I been using Painter Classic as well.
I been having no problems but I do get a memory error some times but didd have a crash but all is working .

I'm still running 98 SE i just don't like to change OS if i don't need to and I just not happy with XP. I download the new Painter IX and was shocked to find out it will not boot with 98 as Painter 8 had(I have the trial cd it worked fine till it ran out) The error you are showing here is near the same but its the ASI32_14.dll errors out and i get a message the saids that a device attached to my system is not work. the first error refs to the "shell32.dll and a SHGetfolderpatha"

Maybe your fix could be changed to work with the error I'm getting?

its been someime sence I done hex editing(like 18 years). If yu could help I really would be thankfull.


great work on this patch for PC it a great programas well.

CC

http://thecyberconsultant.blogspot.com/
http://www.picturejungle.com/store/brandlist.asp?media=&ID=1511

Answer from Geert: This problem is not directly related to Painter IX, but it's a problem from Windows 98 in general. The detail is that SHGetFolderPathA is not exported in shell32.dll on Windows 98, but it does exists in shfolder.dll. A fix for this would definitely be possible (Patching the IAT of the dll that calls SHGetFolderPathA), but since I don't plan to install Windows 98, you will have to drop me an email so you can test some code.

You are too cool! Thanks!

Mont

Thank you very much for this it worked brilliantly!!

MY HERO! Thank you for taking the time to create and post this for all of us.

Wow! Thanks, I really missed my painter :)

Thank you. Painter is an old favourite of mine - I thought I'd lost it

Thank you so much Good Job

Thanks for the patch! I really prefer the flexibility of Painter Classic over Xara, Pixarra, and Art Studio (plus was free with my Wacom tablet).

Regards,
Charles

Thanks a lot !!!
I'm really impressed with people that can do these kind of things!
Despite newer versions of Painter, and other image-related-applications, I always return to PainterClassic.
Thanks again.
Fredrik Ramberg

Thank you so much for posting this. I haven't been able to use Painter Classic for almost two years -ever since I got a new computer- and was pretty upset that I wasn't able to do art with the program anymore, especially since the newer versions have been "improved" by screwing up the watercolour tool and it's handling of the wet canvas, and therefore weren't an alternative to me.

Painter Classic is my favourite art program, after Photoshop. So again, thanks a lot! This is a huge relief (and lots of anticipated fun!).

Much thanks for the fix, it worked like a charm and I appreciate your willingness to take the time to help out.

-rasdasa

Thanks for creating those 2 files to fix the Painter Classic problem. I just upgraded to a Windows XP computer and the Painter Classic wouldn't run until I discovered your work. Thanks again!

Hail to the net! Thank you for the utility. I've only problems with the corel program on my athlon xp with 1gb. on my secondary computer duron 800 with 640MB of ram no problem at all...