Here's my experience after extensively testing the two alternatives with my particular set of old 32-bit Photoshop plugins: Issues with AlphaPlugins LaunchBox v.2.0 (enumerates as "32Bit Bridge"):
Virtual Painter 3 (does not work; Virtual Painter 5, however, which enumerates as "VP5", seems to work after doing the Retry button that appears, but not 3)
Nik (demo filters)
Corel Knockout 2 (does not work)
Impressionist (missing from menu entirely)
- More traditional interface, though slower, than Mediachance's "Plugin Bridge" to load.
- Installation is less clean than that of Mediachances's "Plugin Bridge".
- As part of installation, it is necessary to 1) manually create an AlphaPluginsApp.ini file where the plugin is installed (e.g., in "C:\Program Files\Image-Editing Plug-Ins"), and add one line of text, which is "C:\Program Files\AlphaPlugins\AlphaPluginsLaunchBox.exe" inside it; and 2) to modify the security permissions of another .ini file by the SAME NAME in "C:\Program Files\AlphaPlugins" so that regular Users have the Write permission.
Issues with Mediachance's Plugin Bridge 1.0.3:
Ditherbox (does not work; Photoshop and Corel PHOTO-PAINT likely have better alternatives, so probably no big deal)
Corel Knockout 2 (does not work, and actually crashes / freezes the current instance of Plugin Bridge)
- Installer does NOT account for Corel PHOTO-PAINT, and so does NOT copy "32to64.8bf" to its plug-in folder, but I can specify my main 64-bit plug-ins folder. (NOTE: May want to search for the plugin file and delete it from 64-bit applicatoins where 32-bit plugins would not be used.)
- Remembers last-used 32-bit Plugin
- Does not always cleanly close down when a plugin fails to run.
- CAN remove non-functional plugins from the presented list, which CANNOT be done with AlphaPlugins LaunchBox.
Overall Winner (due to better compatibility with old plugins like Impressionist, and ability to remove plugins from the enumerated list): Mediachance's Plugin Bridge