Support

If you have any problems or queries concerning any of the Xero plugins, please check through the FAQ below. If your problem isn't covered here, please contact us by email and we'll do our best to help.

Vista issues

Older versions of the plugins are known to give problems on machines running Windows Vista. Typically, the host application will freeze or crash as soon as you attempt to use the plugin; plugins from many other suppliers will exhibit the same behaviour. The problem can be avoided, however:

[1] Ensure that you have the very latest versions of the plugins - if in doubt, go to the downloads page and get the latest versions from there!

[2] Try disabling DEP (Data Execution Prevention) for your host graphics application. DEP was introduced in Windows XP but was disabled by default and so didn't usually cause problems. In Vista it's enabled by default, and so usually does cause problems. You can disable DEP by the following procedure:

  1. Click Start
  2. Click All Programs
  3. Click Accessories
  4. Right Click on Command Prompt
  5. Left click on Run as Administrator
  6. Click the Allow button if it asks you for permission
  7. Type or copy and paste this into the command prompt window:
     
    bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOff
  8. Hit enter and you should see the confirmation: Operation Completed Successfully
  9. Reboot and DEP should be off.

You can find out more about DEP in Microsoft's knowledge base, here:
 
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875352

Installing the Xero plugins

1. Download the file

There are four sets of freeware plugins; each set consists of a single download file containing nine plugins and some supporting files. In addition, there are several single freeware plugins (eg Caravaggio, Make-a-Flake, etc), and also commercial products such as Quasar, which each occupy a single file. The download files are compressed using the popular "zip" format. If you already know what a zip file is and how to handle it, you can safely skip to step [3] below.

2. Unzip the file

After you have downloaded the file and saved it on your PC's hard disk, you need to "un-zip" it. This process extracts the contents of the file and produces a set of files, one for each plugin in the set, and also any "readme" files. If your machine runs Windows-XP® then the unzipping process is easy: simply double-click the file you downloaded, and a new window will open showing the contents. You can then drag-and-drop the files onto your desktop, into a temporary folder, or even directly into your host program's "plugins" directory. You may also be able to do this if your machine runs Windows-Me®; users of other Windows versions will need to use a special "zip handling" program. If you don't have one of these already, don't panic - there are many such programs freely available for download on the web, both freeware and shareware. My personal favourite is TugZip, which is free at the time of writing; the rest of the world's favourite is WinZip, which is shareware (fully-functional demo available).

Having obtained a suitable program, follow the instructions supplied with it to install it. You can then double-click the Xero download file, and your zip program will open it up and display a window showing the file's contents. You can then drag-and-drop the contents of the file onto your desktop or into a folder as described above.

3. Install the plugins into your graphics host program

The simplest way to install the plugins is to copy them into your host program's "Plugins" folder. The exact location of this folder will vary from program to program, and possibly from machine to machine. However, if you open a window and navigate to the folder in which you installed the program, the correct folder for the plugins will usually be obvious from its name. In Paint Shop Pro® 8, for example, the folder's default location is C:\Program Files\Jasc Software Inc\Paint Shop Pro 8\PlugIns. If you are unsure of the correct location, please refer to the documentation that came with the program for guidance.

Many modern graphics programs also allow you to keep plugins in a separate folder away from the programs own folders. This is easily the best approach - it means that when you update your main program you don't lose your precious collection of plugins. In Paint Shop Pro, you can navigate through the menus like this: [File]->[Preferences]->[File locations] to get a file location dialog. There, you can nominate a list of folders that PSP should scan for plugins. If your host program offers this facility, it's well worth using.

4. Invoking the plugins

Restart your host application and open an image. The new plugins should be available somewhere in the application's menus, and will be classified under "xero" for the freeware offerings, or "Xero Graphics" for the commercial products. The exact position in the menus will vary according to which program you're using; in Paint Shop Pro 8, for example, they will be at [Effects]->[Plugins]->[xero]. If in doubt, please refer to your application's manual.

Un-installing the Xero plugins

For the freeware plugins, no information is written to your PC's registry or the system directories. To uninstall the plugins, simply delete the files from the folder into which you installed them. The commercial offerings may use the registry, in which case please refer to the uninstallation instructions supplied with the product.

Problems

The following is a list of some of the problems commonly encountered by users.

1. The download file is corrupt

The files at the server end are just fine, I promise! However, on very rare occasions we hear from users who find that the file they downloaded are reported as corrupt by a zip handling program. Here's what to do:

  • If you are using a download manager or accelerator of any kind (eg Download Accelerator Plus, FlashGet, GetRight, or any one of a million others), disable it. Better yet, get rid of it completely - these things rarely achieve anything useful, and are notorious for corrupting files in transit.
  • Try the download again. Remember that most of the files have two servers from which you can download, so if one didn't work, try the other!
  • If you really can't get a clean copy of the file, then please email us using the link on the contact page, specifying which file or files you're having problems with. We will happily send the files by email.

2. I installed the plugins, but they didn't appear in the menu

Was your host application running when you installed the plugins? If so, you should close and restart it. Most applications scan for plugins only when you first launch them, so if you copy new plugins into the plugins folder they won't be picked up until the next time you start the application.

3. I restarted the application, but the plugins still don't appear in the menu

Many host applications impose a limit on the number of plugins that they are able to handle at one time. If you install too many simultaneously then, typically, some plugins will simply fail to appear in the menu. There isn't usually any kind of warning message, and it isn't always possible to find out what the limit is. The only guidance we can give is that if plugins myseriously fail to appear in the menu, you should check how many are currently in the plugins folder and remove any that you don't use. You can either move them out to another directory, or delete them.

Sophisticated users may prefer to manage their plugin collections by changing the filename extensions to prevent the host application loading them. The normal extension for a plugin is .8bf - if you change this to (eg) .8xx then the plugin will be ignored, but you can reactivate it at a later date by changing the extension back again. If you work with a lot of plugins, and this approach to managing your collection appeals to you, then you should take a look at the excellent Plugin Commander available from The Plugin Site. A freeware lite version is available.

Compatibility

The Xero plugins will work with any graphic host application that supports the Adobe Plugin API. This includes most of the "big name" packages such as Paint Shop Pro, PhotoImpact, Fireworks, and of course, Adobe's own Photoshop. If in doubt, please consult the application's documentation.

Licensing

All of the Xero freeware plugins may be distributed freely and used as you see fit. Any work you produce using these plugins belongs entirely to you.