Index: trunk/psModules/src/extras/pmVisual.c
===================================================================
--- trunk/psModules/src/extras/pmVisual.c	(revision 30623)
+++ trunk/psModules/src/extras/pmVisual.c	(revision 31153)
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-/** The following are a collection of core procedures to aid the creation of visaual diagnostics
+/** The following are a collection of core procedures to aid the creation of visual diagnostics
  *  @author Chris Beaumont, IfA
  *  @date January 23, 2008
@@ -80,9 +80,10 @@
 
 bool pmVisualInitWindow (int *kapid, char *name) {
+
     if (*kapid == -1) {
         *kapid = KapaOpenNamedSocket("kapa", name);
         if (*kapid == -1) {
-            fprintf (stderr, "Failure to open kapa.\n");
-            isVisual = false;
+            fprintf (stderr, "Failure to open kapa; visual mode disabled.\n");
+	    pmVisualSetVisual(false);
             return false;
         }
@@ -255,4 +256,10 @@
     }
 
+    if (increasing) {
+	fprintf (stderr, "plotting points scaled from %f to %f\n", zmin, zmax);
+    } else {
+	fprintf (stderr, "plotting points scaled from %f to %f\n", zmax, zmin);
+    }
+
     float range = zmax - zmin;
     if (range == 0.0) {
Index: trunk/psModules/src/extras/pmVisualUtils.c
===================================================================
--- trunk/psModules/src/extras/pmVisualUtils.c	(revision 30623)
+++ trunk/psModules/src/extras/pmVisualUtils.c	(revision 31153)
@@ -16,4 +16,5 @@
 #include <pslib.h>
 
+#include <pmVisual.h>
 #include <pmVisualUtils.h>
 
@@ -89,4 +90,7 @@
     }
 
+    // turn on overall visualization
+    pmVisualSetVisual(true);
+
     // If the component name has no leading dot, then supply it.
     if (comp[0] != '.') {
@@ -145,6 +149,10 @@
     PS_ASSERT_STRING_NON_EMPTY(func, false);
 
-   // return true if level is set to be shown
+    // if visualization is turned off, just skip
+    if (!pmVisualIsVisual()) return false;
+
+    // return true if level is set to be shown
     FACILITY(facility, func, name);
+
     bool valid = level <= getLevel(facility);