After some error-reports I thought it is time to re-check LS. So I re-installed LS using Omar "by the book" with almost no manual intervention. Exceptions see below.

I uninstalled LS (with controlpanel/software, incl. themes and settings), manually deleted from the registry every reference to "LiteStep" and "LOSI", rebooted, installed Omar, rebooted, tried some random software, all OK.

Then I stopped LS (ctrl-alt-f1) and ran the updater, only update.bat, _NO_ manual changes of any kind, rebooted a few times, started a few programms, all OK.

Then I installed almost 20 themes, mostly from ls-universe and NLM downloaded about 110 module-dlls in different versions.

Most themes work without problems. In a few cases modules did not work. See below on how I resolved that.

My new LS seems stable now. I will see in the next few days if it stays that way.

What this experiment is about: LS does have instabilities in the core. But in most cases (and I did quite a few re-installs) it is stable, meaning that the core crashes no more than once a week and has to be restarted manually. No problem.

The trick that always works for me is to do the "by the book"-install and not to intervene manually. If I mess it up I start over at the beginning. This approach saves lots of stress as long as the remaining few and very basic technical issues and the many and huge communication-issues with a new distribution keep their hold-position in the queue.




Here the problems and solutions:

---------------------------
C:\LiteStep\modules\ckhotspots-2.3.3\ckMouseHook.dll
---------------------------
Error: Could not find initModuleEx().

Please confirm that the dll is a Litestep module,
and check with the author for updates.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

resolved: removed ckhotspots-2.3.3 from theme.rc





---------------------------
Missing from downloadsite: rainlendar 0.22
resolved: changed version-number in theme.rc to 0.22.1
---------------------------


---------------------------
rainmeter-0.12 would not load.
resolved: I did not care and took it out of theme.rc
---------------------------




---------------------------
c:\litestep\modules\xtray-2.0.1.dll
---------------------------
Error: Exception during module initialization.

Please contact the module writer.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
resolved: logoff + logon once



---------------------------
c:\litestep\modules\xtray-2.0.1.dll
---------------------------
Error: Exception during module initialization.

Please contact the module writer.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

resolved: logoff + logon once


---------------------------
C:\LiteStep\modules\lslua-0.5\lua51.dll
---------------------------
Error: Could not find initModuleEx().

Please confirm that the dll is a Litestep module,
and check with the author for updates.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
No idea what that is about.
resolved: I stopped using this theme



Plus a few theme-errors. I ignored those and use a different theme instead.

What is this thread about? Those are pretty crappy "solutions"

-> Error: Could not find initModuleEx().

means that you selected the wrong dll ( and that the themer didnt load it right). Delete the module's lines in NetLoadModule.ini (or just delete the file) and load the correct dll next time it loads.
Also change your theme to use
*Netloadmodule lslua-0.5 load lslua.dll
( NOT *Netloadmodule lslua-0.5 ).
Same goes for ckhotspot and similar modules.

Yes! And it works. Every time and without question.

I LOVE CRAPPY !!!!

Yeah, but... removing a module from a theme isn't a solution, it's a workaround at best. What if ckhotspots-2.3.3, for example, is an integral part of the theme mechanics? Then you'll have a theme that's broken -- usage wise -- anyway. There's a big difference between "runs" and "works".

I can remove xpopup and xlabel right? I hate popup windows and who needs a label, I got a sharpie for that.

I've started getting a wazup initialisation error infrequently now...

Also NetLoadModuleOnLoad doesn't call (for me) if all of the modules aren't already installed. For example, first time you run the theme you download modules. The init function doesn't call. Recycle, and bang, it works fine...

My point exactly :)

If you don't know exactly what a module does in a theme, it's really not a good idea just removing it. That's like opening up a computer that won't boot and ripping random parts out until it starts again.

I got several desktops, some nice themes, a menu, all my software works, no crashes, everything was setup in 10 minutes as described above, and no worries.

But obviously what I just described is _not_ a working LiteStep. Could someone please explain what I missed?

What you had described is either a poorly written and untested theme and a cheap workaround for the problem. All of the things you described were very valid error messages but said nothing about problems with the core of LiteStep. While disabling some random module that you don't understand may get the error message to go away it did not solve the problem with the theme.

True.

And for several desktops, some nice themes, a menu, all software working, no crashes, having everything setup in 10 minutes, and no worries that is relevant because .... ?

Your thread title is stable LiteStep, and this thread has nothing to do with making the core stable. It has everything to do with giving people ideas for workarounds when there themes make LiteStep unstable.

OK, right.

Please tell me in what way my LiteStep is unstable. It does not crash and it does not malfunction in any other way I noticed.

Oh, and "Stable LiteStep" means a LiteStep-installation that can actually be used. Mine can. Sorry about the bad title. Please rename the thread to "LiteStep that can actually be used".

Sounds more like module issues, not core issues.

jc999, the correct fix was already mentioned in this thread. Some errors you are having are because some module archives contain multiple .dll files. Read the Netloadmodule documentation on how to deal with that issue. It comes about from a poorly written theme. It has nothing to do with the LS core, or installer setup.

BTW, when we say "core" we refer to the Litestep build from http://www.lsdev.org. "core" does not mean (as you seem to use it now and then) the installer distribution.

"Plus a few theme-errors." - Everything you listed was a theme error, except perhaps the one related to "xtray-2.0.1.dll" which leads me to... I think the most frusterating part of your original post was this:

error text:
Please contact the module writer.

your reponse:
resolved: logoff + logon once

So, while I really appreciate the immediate and beneficial effort you're adding to LiteStep with the LS Updater, and work on LOSI, can I suggest an added grain of modesty to any statements of "solutions" or "best methods"?

Of course this brings us back to the issue that perhaps some of the errors were not communicated cleary to the user (you), and could be improved. But, it is still always good to ask around what a particular error means, before stating a final solution.

Keep up the good effort working through these issues. It'll become simpler as you realize the particulars of what causes these issues. Many of which could be solved for new users by having a "controlled and tested" theme repository/attribute. That is not the case of the themes on this site.

...which will be added as soon as we find a PHP programmer that is willing to do actual coding, instead of just hoping on for a free ride.