I don't understand the new Blender 2.55 at ALL

When I went in to blender user preferences I changed a setting then said save as default then every time I reopen Blender the user preference pops up. When I go and exit it out it leaves a black spot where it was before and won’t let me touch Blender after that. Another problem I had was I don’t know how to add plugins or addons. One other thing the VSE won’t play back .mts or mpeg4 very common video formats it’s just black. I need someone to explain or give me links to tutorials. I have become quite accustomed to Blender 2.49b and these changes only seem to make Blender more complicated not easier.:eek:

Please any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Don’t use Save as Default in the User Prefs window - otherwise that window will be open when you open Blender. Make your preferences, change the window type back to what you want (eg 3D view) and use Ctrl - U to save the prefs. I also had problems trying to use the User Prefs from the File Menu. Don’t do that, just change a regular window to user prefs as suggested. Can’t help with video formats I’m afraid.

I’ve always saved my default settings in the user pref window and I’ve never had it come up when I open blender or a new file

Try Blendercookie.com and blenderguru.com as well as a few others, since it appears that you are having a slew of issues. Add-ons go into the 2.55/scripts/addons directory and will be in the preferences automatically when you start up Blender. Not sure about the video since I have been loading them and they have worked fine so far. About the menu staying up and you can’t touch Blender, perhaps you have a bad build, or it is a video driver issue. Find a newer build first and try the driver later. That’s the best I have right now.

I think I will try loading 2.55 again maybe I do have a bad build thanks for the incite!!! =)

The version is now 2.56.

Blender 2.5x is undoubtedly still “beta-ware,” and you should definitely keep up with the interim releases as soon as they come out. However, for myself I have left 2.4x well behind me and I do not miss it.