Visual Effects (Finaly works)

[smc1979]

Ok first off I did quit a bit of searching through this forum and found a lot about visual effects. NONE of which worked LOL.

So I took it myself to find out why and make it work cause I wanted to be able to set those during setup also.

Turns out that everyone was trying to change reg keys in HKLM and HKCU.

Turns out its not in any of those and it is spead around in about 5 different places ALL under HKU!!

Hah! what a pain in the butt! problem is the main key that it is under is different for every computer. So simply putting a reg file up wont work.

I then decide to write a program that would find the correct key and set the settings for you. You can even choose what setting you want and run the program with the /silent switch or just run it normaly and then reboot.

I have tested it and it works.

So for once and for all the visual effects probelm is now fixed.

msg me if any bugs are found.

setting at over 550 lines of code. mainly reg crap.

Any ways enjoy!!

Sorry for not more details, but after testing this took me over 8 hours to find the right keys and make the program.

BUT!!! I for one dont like to use programs I dont have code to, so if you have any questions about the program and how it works just leave a post and I will answer :-)

Edit:

Current program version is 1.0.3

The program supports /silent command and can be ran at any time.

But of course when using this in a automated setup of xp you would like to have the

visual effects set for all user accounts that are created.

Heres how to do that with this program.

Now put the settings.ini and SetVisualEffects.exe in the folder $OEM$\$$\System32

on your setup cd. This will copy the files to the system32 dir of windows (which is

where we want them to be and stay)

now in the folder $OEM$ you may or should have the cmdlines.txt file. You will need

to put setstartup.reg in the $OEM$ folder with cmdlines.txt.

Now edit cmdlines.txt and add this to the second line (or any where as long as it is

done before any accounts are created) "REGEDIT /S setstartup.reg" (make sure to have

the " to.

Now you are all set.

Everytime you create a new account the program will run only once and set the visual effects.

Thanks to andrewpayne

Here are a little better to understand the instructions

As a step by step resume for others trying this method -

1. Download smc1979's file from his first post in this topic

2. Run the executable SetVisualEffects.exe and then select the options you want.

3. This will then save your settings in 'settings.ini'

4. Copy the settings.ini and SetVisualEffects.exe into your $OEM$\$$\SYSTEM32 folder on your XPCD (thus automating the copy to your windows\system32 folder)

5. Copy the setstartup.reg to the $OEM$ folder (alongside cmdlines.txt).

6. Edit cmdlines.txt and add "REGEDIT /S setstartup.reg" to the second line (before any accounts are created)

et viola! Visual Effects that finally works!

VisualEffectsChangerXP.zip

[Zilevoli]

... be ran from a batch file and set these keys for based on the command you give it ...

Am I wrong or does that mean there are switches I can apply within a batch file?

[smc1979]

only one! /silent

You can open the program before you put it on the cd and set the setting by simply checking the ones you want. the setting are saved in the settings.ini.

So when it is ran with the /silent switch it will read those settings.

So this program also have a GUI interface :-)

[Zilevoli]

Ah there we go thats what I was looking for. You should provide a read me with your program :wink:

Cheers by the way ... the GUI works fine, gonna test the /silent right now.

[smc1979]

Let me know if it works for you :-D

[MCT]

nice lil proggie man! surprised your the first 1 thats thought of something like this (or atleast first 1 thats made a program 4 it) well done!

[Arablover]

Quick question..........

What exactly does 'use common tasks in folders' actually mean?

Cheers.

Jeremy

[prathapml]

common tasks in folders

That's the bluish sidebar you see - to the left of any explorer window. It only shows up when the tree-view with folders/etc. is closed - that one.

[Arablover]

It did not work!

Everything was selected EXCEPT 'smoothing of screen fonts'.

Here are the contents of the settings file.

[effects]

1=0

2=0

3=0

4=0

5=0

6=0

7=0

8=1

9=0

10=0

11=1

12=0

13=0

14=0

15=0

16=0

Any ideas why?

[Adiel]

thanks , i'm gonna try those visual effects

[smc1979]

Did you try to set the visual effects using the /silent command or through the GUI?

[Rhino]

What am I doing wrong with this /silent command ... it just opens the program:

"E:\Appz\Visual Effects Changer XP v1.0.0\SetVisualEffects.exe" "/silent"

Thx

[Arablover]

Via the /silent command.

ECHO Installing Visual effects...

ECHO Please wait...

start /wait %systemdrive%\install\SetVisualEffects.exe /silent

Cheers.

Jeremy

[digitalfrost]

I spent hours trying to figure out why my registry settings weren't applied correctly during XP setup.

It would be nice if the program would open no window when using /silent switch. Anyway thanks alot .

[smc1979]

I am fixing that now, the next version will be 1.0.1 and will be up in about an hour. when ran with the silent command it will now hide the window.

Also I found a small bug and I have that fixed.

Give me a few mins. and the new version will be up