Mach4 build 4.2.0.3481 has been released.

You can download it from PMDX or directly from here:

http://www.machsupport.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Mach4Hobby_Installer-4.2.0.3481.exe

An updated Change Log is available here:

http://www.machsupport.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Change%20log%203481.pdf

Cheers,
Steve Stallings
www.PMDX.com

Steve do you get an entry in the plugins folder about null and core dll not loaded not sure about the exact message as I am in the house and WS is out side

Thanks for taking the time to post this info
Stuart

I get the same error message (: Handle in NULL! Failed to load core at 'G:\VS-Project2008\Mach4-3485-lava\Plugins\Mach4Core.dll'.) in v3485. Seems it is related to M4 itself.

At PMDX we have not had the issues that you mentioned.

Can you guys provide more detail?

Does the message appear in the box at the bottom of the Mach4 screen or in
a pop-up window?

The reference to G: drive is unusual. Are you actually running Mach4 from G: drive?

Does this happen on start up or after trying to run a job?

Do you have custom screens or macros?

What OS are you running?

Whose plugin and hardware are you running?

If it starts up and throws the error later, can you provide a packaged profile for
someone to look over?

Hello Steve,

to answer your questions:

- Mach4 SDK v3485 (that's why it isn't located in C:\Mach4 folder)
- Windows 7 x64
- The problem happens on start-up without any other actions performed.
- The message is created as log file in plugins folder in file coreinit.log. It seems the whole logging mechanism is new, at least I haven't seen it since 2013.
- Error message, partly in German language:
(1) Das angegebene Modul wurde nicht gefunden.

: Handle in NULL! Failed to load core at 'G:\VS-Project2008\test-3485\Plugins\Mach4Core.dll'.

- Screenset is blank.set (an empty screen), but also tried it with my custom screen set before. It does not matter.
- Only files located in plugins folder is simulation plugin. It is enabled and the active output device. But it is also does not depend on whether there's a plugin or not, error remains the same.
- No wizards and/or custom macros in profile.
- Profile: fresh created profile.
- Modules folder is empty (just to make sure it's not smth related to it).

The reason for the error is obvious: Mach4Core.dll is located in main folder, not in plugins subfolder. I think smurph has to take over.

Btw: Copying Mach4Core.Dll to the plugins sub-folder removes the log entry. But it leads to a strange empty entry in plugin configuration UI.

Working in a development environment can bring up lots of issues, especially if you
have things in directories other than the ones expected.

Is Mach4GUI.exe being launched from a desktop icon, or is something in the
development environment launching it. If the latter, perhaps an environment
variable is incorrectly indicating where Mach4GUI was launched from.

Make sure that no desktop shortcuts are setting the working directory to the plugins directory.  This is a symptom of the Mach installation directory not being the current working directory upon startup.

Steve

Mach4Gui.exe is started by double-clicking (using a Norton Commander clone app), so the working directory should be the main Mach4 directory. There are no path environment definitions for M4 set.

I reduced M4 to minimum runnable version (stripped documentation, SDK, debug DLLs and various other things) and will send you a PM with the link to it.

After some discussion with Mach4 staff: The error shown is expected to happen in some cases and will probably be removed in future versions. It does not affect Mach4 functionality.