Disclaimer

Black Dragon is MY Viewer, i decide which feature i want to add and which to remove, i share this Viewer to show the world that user base size is not important, i do rate quality by effort, thought and love put into the project, not some rough estimated numbers. I consider feature requests only if i you can name proper valid reasons i can agree on. It is my (unpaid) time i'm putting into this project, i'm not here to cater to every Joe's desires.

Pre-Download Page

 


PRE-DOWNLOAD WORD OF WARNING, READ!


Before you continue to the download page you should read the following blog pages, they might answer a lot of your questions before they even form.

Automatic Alpha Masking
Movement Controls
Spotlights
User Interface Tour
Complexity
FAQ

You may want to visit the Discord Channel too!

You might want to read the Privacy Policy too if you are into that stuff.

The Viewer requires these Visual C++ Redistributables to be installed:
Visual C++ Redistributable 2013 x64 (MSVCR120.DLL)
You may have to uninstall them first and then reinstall the latest versions from Microsoft if it doesn't work after installing them.

DO NOT download the Viewer anywhere else other than from these links! The Viewer is ONLY available from here and only for Windows.



This software is not provided or supported by Linden Lab, the makers of Second Life.

103 comments:

  1. BD for Mac anytime soon? Now that Mac has powerful M1 and up chips that can process the rendering needed.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, please... we need BD for Mac!!!

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    2. yes , that would be amazing.

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    3. Yeah that would be nice if they make versions for Mac and Linux :))

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    4. BD is working with Linux / Wine out-of-the-box just fine. I suggest the M1 folks contribute by porting it to their beloved hardware themselves, the source is there. I will help if someone buy me an M1.

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    5. as for Mac... blame Apple for junking support for open industry standards like OpenGL or Vulkan and requiring graphics programming to be done around an API that no major device outside of the Apple ecosystem supports natively. the M1/M2 GPU/RAM being where it is also introduces new quirks that need to be accounted for. No small devteam or solo developer will have the resources to fork into Apple easily.

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    6. we need BD ASAP FOR MAC

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. Hello, my viewer usually opens as if it has zoomed in without me doing anything, what can it be?

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    1. I have the exact same problem and nothing seems to fix it.

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    2. Zooming in? Care to show a picture/video of what you mean?

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    3. No, it looks like my viewer is set to a smaller screen than my monitor, I wanted to know how do I set it to a 1920x1080 screen

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    4. You can simply drag the window edges or click the windows maximise button on the window to maximise it to your entire desktop.

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    5. Maybe you have increased the UI size. Set it back to default.

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  4. hello when i download the viewer it shows on my system that a virus was detected: Trojan:Win32/Spursint.F!cl

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    1. false positive, ignore and whitelist it

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    2. how do i whitelist it just tried to download n it said virus/threat on it.

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    3. I do not know, it depends on what program is complaining, you're best bet is googling how to do it with whatever program is detecting it as virus.

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  5. can not update says it has a virus for me as well

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    Replies
    1. Generally NOD32 says there's nothing wrong with the installers Niran publishes, and I tend to trust them to be correct with this

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  6. Hello. I just finished downloading the viewer but when I open it, it says MSVCR120.dll was not found and I just bought myself a new gaming PC costing about $1.6k with a 3070 graphics card and all... So please helppppp!!! Thanks.

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    1. It reads right up there that if you get said error message you need to install VCRedist 2013. Please read the very page you are commenting on next time.

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    2. Lol your gpu doesn't put you at a priority list. Read like we all did. <3

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  7. cant not download sayin its a virus :(

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  8. hey can you Put the Link To VCRedist 2013 so people dont have to go looking for it and dont know what they are looking for because im having the same MSVCR120.ll Problem and i have a 2023 brand new gaming laptop also 3070 graphic or put the old links back up from previous versions please

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    Replies
    1. I will never put up old releases. They also all require msvcr120.dll (all the way back to Nirans Viewer).

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  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  10. hey when I want to start up Black Dragon I get the 0xc00007b error

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  11. says im missing a .dll file , im on windows 11 which one do i download it

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    1. Read above. It tells you where and which to download.

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    2. but its not working

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    3. Make sure its properly installed then. Go to Features and Programs, uninstall the VCRedist 2013 x64 and VCRedist 2015/17/19/22 x64 and restart your PC, reinstall the latest version from the Microsoft website and then restart your PC again.

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  12. 0xc00007b error - no matter what i do i cannot seem to fix this

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    1. You are missing one of the VCRedists as described above.

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    2. I have all VCs

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    3. for me still dont works

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  13. and I reinstaled them

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    1. Did you manualy uninstall beforehand? Did you restart your PC? It must work afterwards unless you are doing something wrong.

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    2. Did all thet

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    3. and reinstaled black dragon and it done nothing

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    4. and I done thet 5 times

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    5. VCRedists, not BD. Reinstalling BD doesn't do anything, nothing is wrong with your BD install.

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    6. VC dosent work

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    7. What do you mean it doesnt work. Uninstall VcRedist 2013 64bit and then reinstall it from with the latest 2013 64bit from the website

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    8. did black dragon still dont work

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    9. nothing I do works for black dragon and I use a softwere to see wich dll are curupted it seys all are

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    10. A software to see what dll's are corrupted? That doesn't sound legit.
      The software wouldn't even be able to tell if they were corrupt or not.

      I'd recommend redownloading the latest release, make sure your browser, antivirus or defender do not block/delete the file, install the latest version and then try again. If you installed all VCRedists correctly it should run, if it doesn't and still gives you an error on startup it means that the VCRedists are not properly installed (or at the very least cannot be found in their correct windows folders where they should by default go)

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  14. BLACK DRAGON FOR MAC USER PLEASE!!!!!!!!

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  15. Just wanna say massive thank you for this viewer. Works flawlessly and it feels more fluid to create in second life now. Heartiest thank you.

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  16. Hi, It came up for me as detecting virus in both download areas!!

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  17. Can't seem to save images using the camera feature. If I try to save to disk, I get an error saying the image can't be found. If I try to overwrite an older file, it just fails.

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    Replies
    1. Make sure you have permission to write into the selected save folder, also make sure the Viewer has permission to do so and is not blocked by Defender or other Antivirus apps.

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  18. hey everytime i open bd it gets stuck at precaching 77%

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    Replies
    1. Stuck or crashing? That sounds like your Depth of Field settings need to be reset (turn off Depth of Field or set them back to default)

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  19. whenever i download the one vers of black dragon it keeps loading up the 4.1.1 vers of it. ive done this like 5 times and cant seen to update to the newest one, plz fill me in on some info on how to fix this issue

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    Replies
    1. Make sure you download and actually start the downloaded installer, install the Viewer into the SAME folder you have 4.1.1 installed. I'm pretty sure you are probably installing it into a different folder (Program Files and Program Files 86x). You can check where 4.1.1 is installed by right-click "Properties" on the Desktop icon you've got, it will show you the path/target, go delete that (and the Desktop icon so the installer creates a new one) or install into THAT folder.

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  20. Hi, I installed the viewer and it shows only the installed folders but not the viewer itself. What am I doing wrong?

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    1. Not sure what you mean by that, have you tried starting the Viewer? It should create a shortcut on your desktop after installing.

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  21. why when i install it, try to open.. but dont show the login screen?

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    Replies
    1. The reason for that is most likely explained above on this very page.

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  22. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  23. the latest update keeps crashing for me on startup

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  24. For some reason it's still crashing at 'Initializing texture cache' after uninstalling both redistributables through programs, restarting, then reinstalling and restarting, just keeps crashing / not opening, any suggestions? I've never had an issue like this installing any previous versions of BD.

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    Replies
    1. Starting at 5.0.0 you need a clean reinstall. Any leftover files from previous versions will crash the Viewer.
      Redists don't matter, what needs to be removed is the Viewer, all of its files and its cache at the very minimum, you may have to kill your settings too.

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  25. hi, please go easy on me im not great at installs.. had BD on my laptop a year or so ago, installed it fine, ive tried to install on new gaming desktop and although the download completes nothing happens when i open it? like literally nothing any help would be appriciated as im an SL photographer and i looove BD tysm

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    1. Something might be blocking it? Windows Defender maybe?, You might want to try the alternative if the installer doesn't work. Check the alternative download it should bring you to the google drive folder, you can download the WinRar package there instead of the installer and simply unpack the Viewer into a folder of your choosing.

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  26. anyone know how i can solved that problem with textures? all avatars are grey, and nothing is loading, why? anyone help plis

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  27. The viewer opens and closes before reaching login screen..

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    Replies
    1. Have you done a full manual clean uninstall and reinstall?

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    2. I also have the same problem. This is after manual clean install.

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  28. Hello Niran. You did a great job with BD, and I love to use it. I would like to mention a few things that I noticed.

    1. Poses that are exported with Pose Creator can't be uploaded to SL. I would love to do that in BD, but so far it is not working for me.

    2. If you load one of the previous poses but stop that one and want to start another, you need to relog to start again, or it will move your body to the previous pose when you click that bone, but sliders will be on zero.

    3. It would be great to be able to continue working on some saved poses or animations.

    4. I am not sure if this is related to BD, but I found that previously adjusted and saved furniture poses in BD are not permanently saved. I need to check if this happens in FS too.

    Other than that, it would be nice to have a rebake texture option and an AO holder where we can place our poses.

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    1. 1. Poses created can already be saved and uploaded, they need to be uploaded with Black Dragon however (other Viewers seem to be incapable of uploading them), make sure you are using the Pose Creator, not the Poser, also make sure you are using the latest version. There were several versions that corrupted them.

      2. A reset is planned.

      3. Reimporting saved animations/poses is already possible, that's what the import feature is for.

      4. That's not something BD has any control over. It's a well known issue with SL in general. Crashing or otherwise making a non graceful exit will result in changes (especially avatar ones) not being saved. Rezzed items occasionally have this issue too although as far as i remember that's just random server issues.

      5. Rebake/Reload was once a feature, it got broken and i haven't reimplemented it since then, it is planned though.

      6. A clientside AO is akin to FS is not planned. LL needs to give us access to the serverside AO functions that LSL can so we can build an efficient and fast AO that doesn't need some sort of communication relay (bridge) and doesn't rely on ping, until then i won't be implementing a clientside AO.

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    2. I am not sure if this is the right place to put questions or suggestions. I couldn't find any tutorials or videos talking about Pose Creator and making animation in BD. All are about photo settings or live Poser.

      I am using two versions, 4.3.2 and 5.1.0. I prefer 4.3.2 because of the few very important Tone Exposure and Shoulder Strength settings that I couldn't find in version 5.1.0. I hope those settings will be integrated into the new version.

      I created some static poses with Pose Creator in both versions and imported them with Black Dragon. Everything works well until I stop the animation. After stopping the animation, the body is deformed, and I need to reset the skeleton and animations, but sometimes that is not working, and I need to relog. What I do is put one keyframe on each bone. Some of them I adjust, and others I just lock with a keyframe. To Pelvis, I also add position. It looks like one of the four spine bones is making the body deformed after stopping the animation. 

      A suggestion would be to automatically put the first keyframe on each bone when you start animating your avatar, so it can lock the body. I would need to do it manually anyway to prevent unused bones from moving.

      The other question is about making more complex animations. How do I set the duration for each keyframe, and is it possible to make a timeline to set the keyframe at the desired position in time? What I got with two frames and setting them to last longer is that one frame takes all the time, and then the other frame cuts in shortly.  

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  29. I haven't played SL for some time, so my viewer was uninstalled, today when I decided to return I installed it according to the instructions above and even so there has been an error :( when I open the program in the login area at the same time it closes... I remember that This happened in the past when I installed the avx version

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    Replies
    1. You need to manually clean uninstall and reinstall the Viewer. 5.x is not backwards compatible, any leftovers will crash the Viewer.

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  30. Hello Niran

    1. Do you know why the body stays deformed after stopping the animation made in BD? I explained the process in my previous post, but I guess that you didn't see it.

    2. I can't find Tone Exposure and those settings in the newer version. Is that still available in BD?

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  31. No more light reflections on water ? I can't see it in this version.

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  32. for some reason black dragon crashes anytime i capture images in 12k, also pictures not as sharp when i save to my gaming laptop, any idea as to why?

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  33. For some reason I can't find the option to make a new folder? Has it been relocated or am I missing something?

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    1. Never mind I was able to find it. Also, do you have any plans on letting us protect folders? I tend to accidently move things and ultimately lose them in another folder so I'd love to see that feature incorporated!

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  34. Body stays deformed after Black Dragon made poses. It is a pity that such a good tool is useless. Is there a way to fix that?

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    1. What do you mean stays deformed? Stopping the animation and exiting out of the creator should revert any and all changes to the original, there is also right-click reset skeleton.

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    2. Poses are made and exported in and with Black Dragon. All bones are selected during creating process and a keyframe was added to each to lock them, otherwise they would freely move. Once the pose is done and played inworld it looks good, but after stop, it looks like some spine bone is deformed and I need to reset skeleton and animations, but the other problem is that reset is making change only for you, others still see you deformed. I did them in several versions of BD and the result was the same.

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    3. This is nothing specific to BD, this is simply how bones work. Bones, unless animated will simply stay in whatever position/rotation/scale they were previously in. Normally all basic bones are animated by base LL animations or your every day AO so they always move. ALL additional bones from Bento (such as the extra spines, wings, legs etc) they all will stay rotated/deformed if you ever animate them. This is how animations always worked and is the reason undeformers existed (although they are really bad and really just deform you again in an attempt to put bones back into their default position/rotation). This is why we got Reset Skeleton in the first place. Sadly Reset Skeleton is indeed local but LL possibly wants to make it serverside, apart from that others will see you fine if they did not witness you being deformed and if you leave their network sync range you will receive a new "copy" of someone's avatar meaning you will look normal again, back then these were boxes that would teleport you far up (aka visual cache clearers), you can obviously do the same via teleporting up or away or simply going far enough away from someone.

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    4. Thanks for such a detailed reply. Yes. the only way for now to deal with it is to reset and tp somewhere else. I wonder why normal AO poses that I use are working fine without deforming the body. After I change or stop them the body returns to normal AO pose. Is it related to pose extension (format) or I should not edit some spine bones? What I usually do is locking them all with a keyframe, except sectors that are not for human body, like tail sector.

      Delete
  35. i try to update black dragon , it wont let me and i cant download it

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    1. It wont let me isn't exactly discriptive, did you try a different browser? Did you try the alternative links?

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  36. anyone else having issues with water? newest update and my water cant seem to reflect or be sheer see through is there a fix coming never had a problem with the old

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    Replies
    1. Make sure Reflection Probes, Screen Space Reflections and Transparent Water are enabled. Also make sure the waterlight preset you are using actually has a texture for the water waves.

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  37. Using Parallels to run the program on Mac via Windows 11, no previously downloaded versions of Black Dragon. Keeps crashing at "Initializing texture cache." Is there any possible fixes for this issue?

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  38. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  39. Hi! so i am trying to download black dragon to my windows PC but everytime i click " Proceed to download the viewer here" a new window pops up saying " DEPLOY IN PROGRESS, please try again in a few minutes or Please contact your GitLab administrator if this problem persists." so please help me its been saying this for 4 days now

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    Replies
    1. Use the alternative download, gitlab is dead. Everyone switched to github now.

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    2. thank you so much!

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    3. now my last question is do i download all 3 files or just the recent file?

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  40. I have tried the download from google drive and the primary link and for some reason the install doesn't work. It asks for permission to be ran when I click it, but then it just vanishes. Other .exe files work fine. I'm not getting any notifications or warnings about my antivirus or anything stopping it either.
    Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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    Replies
    1. No idea honestly, downloaded and tried to make sure. Maybe try the alternative rar file and extract it yourself to the install folder

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  41. I'm having the same issue. It installs but then the program just doesn't run and closes. Super weird; never had an issue after years until now.

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    1. if it doesnt start up its broken most likely from leftovers of an older version, do a full manual clean reinstall, delete everyhing, make sure you do it manually the uninstaller is not enough

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