Is there a chance to get a working DeskScapes ?

What are your system specs?

What version of Vista?

How fresh is your Windows install?

Why did you load a codec pack?

What is your video card & drivers?

What is your Windows Experience score?

Installing any third party codec packs is not recommended and may well be the cause of your problems.

Your experience is not typical and we are not aware of any problems like you are describing with Deskscapes so we need additional information.

If you select Vintage dream or Winter snow does it crash?

Nvidia 8800?  May be Nvidia's buggy drivers:  https://forums.stardock.com/373211

CarGuy1:
1) What are your system specs?
    Athlon 4400+ X2 64bits, 4 gig RAM
2) What version of Vista?
    Vista Home Premium.. running Aero... 1280x768
3) How fresh is your Windows install?
    A year
4) Why did you load a codec pack?
    To enjoy multimedia, movies, divx, mov, subtitles and all.
     This is not a problem, i always use codecs since age.
5) What is your video card & drivers?
    ATI Radeon 2100, Latest ATI Drivers.
    Monitor Samsung 22"
6) What is your Windows Experience score?
    4.2

Neil Banfield:
1) Installing any third party codec packs is not recommended and may well be the cause of your problems.
    This is not a problem, i always use codecs since age.
    These are not bizarre codecs, they are industries standard codecs.
2) If you select Vintage dream or Winter snow does it crash?
    No. Either of the two are working very fine   
    
    Examples of some that crash...
    Aqua, Azalia, Kauai, Misty Pond, Rolling Waters, The Rocks, Tropical Paradise, etc... (from CarGuy1)
    They were ALL working fine in the past.

    Example of some that work fine...
    Along the cove, Catch a wave,  Rocky Surf, Surf Up.

ansury:
Nvidia 8800?
No.. it's an ATI Radeon.

I am sorry to say the codec pack is probably the cause of this issue.  Windows Vista Home Premium already has suitable MPEG2 and WMV decoders and I suspect all the dreams you are having problems with are probably MPEG2 dreams and the ones which work are either dynamic (the two I suggested), or WMV based.

From experience we have found the Microsoft MPEG2 decoder to be reliable and in an ideal world you should not replace it with a less compatible one.  This is especially a problem when it comes to looping videos smoothly as some codecs simply do not handle this well and can crash, leak, or stutter.

Unlike Deskscapes 2, Deskscapes 3 previews the video in a 32 bit process (vs not showing a preview at all in v2).  This uses the 32 bit video decoders.  When the dream is played on a 64 bit system the 64 bit video decoder is used and I wouldn't be surprised if your codec pack did not install replacement 64 bit codecs and so it uses the Microsoft one.  This would explain why v2 worked ok for you as the 32 bit replacement codecs were not used.

Does the codec pack allow you to disable the installation of a new MPEG2 decoder and just install the other codecs?

The only other thing I can suggest is using a tool to alter codec priorities and putting the Microsoft one back to top of the list for MPEG2 files.

Note that if the issue is limited to the 32 bit decoder you should be able to play the dream by double clicking on the .dream file of your choice from explorer.

Hello Neil,

Thank you for your reply.

Yes, you were right!
The problem was with the MPEG-2 decoder.
But... not exactly as you said.

The default system installed DVD MPEG-2 decoder was (and is)  Cyberlink v6.0.2.2806
That's make Deskscape to crash.

I have uninstalled my K-Lite codecs package and re-installed it (full 6.0.4 package).
but this time, i choose "fddshow" as default MPEG-2 decoder.
With this choice, all is fine and Deskscape is fully workin without any problems.

Thank you
Now, i can enjoy all these nice water and nature Dreams.

Have a great day