Known Issues

Uh oh! Are you experiencing an issue with Mindshow?

Check out this list of known issues to see if we have a fix for you! If the bug/issue you are experiencing is not featured in this list, please contact us via email at support@mindshow.com

Calibration

After launching Mindshow, users are brought to a calibration sequence in which one of our puppets asks the user to raise their arms. It looks like this:

If you are using an external microphone, Mindshow may crash after the calibration sequence. We are currently working on a fix for this issue. The current workaround is to unplug your USB microphone/device and ensure your Vive microphone is set as the default Recording device in Windows. Because this issue can occur on a variety of unique setups, if you are encountering it please contact us at support@mindshow.com. Your help would be appreciated as we engineer a general solution.

Exporting

By choosing our Camera Tool and clicking the trigger, users can record the scene they've created in a 2D format. When the user finishes their recording session, a 2D video will be exported to the "My Documents" folder, where they can watch their scene in all it's glory.

Unfortunately, there are still a few issues related to exporting:

Export Does Not Finish: This issue has a separate, dedicated Knowledge Base article describing the most common cause of this issue, which is antivirus software (link found here: https://support.mindshow.com/hc/en-us/articles/115006133787-Mindshow-hangs-during-video-export). 

The following antivirus solutions do not appear to interfere with our export:

• Bitdefender
• Windows Defender

The following antivirus solutions DO interfere with our export:

• Avast Free Antivirus
• AVG
• McAfee LifeSave (Free Trial)
• Norton Security Deluxe

We currently don't have an exact fix for this issue, but as a work around, consider disabling your antivirus while running Mindshow, or whitelisting Mindshow, if you want to export a scene.

Exported File only contains Audio, Not Video:  We have had a few users describe a situation in which when they attempt to view their exported video in the My Documents folder, the video only contains the audio from the scene that they recorded, not the video. We have only seen this issue a few times, but anecdotally, we have seen that opening the video file with an alternative media player besides Windows Media Player (such as VLC) can sometimes solve the issue.

Export Audio Inconsistency: Occasionally, users will report that during playback of an exported video, the audio will be inconsistent with the actual recording. This can mean multiple things:

• Audio plays at double-time in a high pitched frequency
• Parts of audio will be missing in the beginning, middle, or end
• Audio will not be synced properly with the puppet's mouth

Unfortunately we have not been able to reliably reproduce many issues regarding these export audio inconsistencies. If you are experiencing them, please contact us at support@mindshow.com, we could use your help diagnosing and fixing them. 

Gray Screen Export: On some lower spec machines, users may experience a persisting gray screen directly after exporting a video. Although the desktop will show Mindshow functioning properly, Steam VR will say that the headset has lost tracking, and the headset will continue to have a gray screen until Steam VR is shut down and restarted.

Characters Turn Gray/Bronze/Black during Export: Some users with AMD graphics cards have reported that during video export, puppets in the scene will occasionally turn gray, bronze, or black in color. 

When the scene has finished exporting characters will remain gray, bronze, or black.  This will be present in both regular gameplay and in the exported file. We are working to resolve this issue and could use your help to do so. If you are experiencing this issue, please contact us at support@mindshow.com.

Performance and Compatibility

We've worked hard to ensure that Mindshow runs well on range of Vive-compatible PC configurations. However, we are not able to test Mindshow on every possible combination of compatible hardware, and it is possible that some users may encounter performance issues or have some difficulty getting Mindshow to work as intended.

If this happens to you, please let us know! Contact us at support@mindshow.com and we'd like to work with you in order to resolve the issues Mindshow may be having on your system.

Our current minimum system requirements and recommended system requirements are as follows:

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

MINIMUM:
OS: Windows 10
Processor: Intel i5-4590 / AMD FX 8350, or equivalent
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GTX970 / AMD R9 290
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 2 GB available space

RECOMMENDED:
OS: Windows 10
Processor: Intel i5-4590 / AMD FX 8350, or equivalent
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 1060
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 4 GB available space

Please note that some features (i.e. automatically uploading videos to YouTube) require an account with a third party service, and agreement with that third party service's Terms of Service.

Connectivity

For the best experience, we recommend using Mindshow with an active internet connection, in order to easily upload your videos or share them. We are aware of some limited issues caused by running Mindshow without an active internet connection, or with Steam in offline mode. We are working fixes for these issues, but please contact us at support@mindshow.com.