bigmuscle

Windows Theme service uses Crypto API for verifying theme signature. If it does not match (any custom theme) then the theme is not loaded by the system. Just a simple trick to always return true from this function

raiden89: yeah I found a small bug in custom themes code, it will fixed in next version.

This is interesting. Did you enable shader optimization? Because there is no other change in blur algorithm except "if(shaderOptimizationEnabled) { ... }", so I don't see any reason why your issues are fixed and new comes. I also tried TGit (if you mean TortoiseGIT) and don't see any glitches even in older versions. About the higher CPU usage...Could that be because of symbols downloading? I think it is possible that it can eat some CPU time until all symbols are downloaded. But then it should return to normal.

It is hard to tell. On some video drivers, DWM creates render target which can be used directly as input to the pixel shader. I would guess that it is connected with D3D feature level, because it does not happen on DX9.x level (e.g. VMWare etc.) As I said many times, this application is currently intended for advanced users only and it does not come with any setup.exe. If you use any, then you can't even know what it really modifies on your system - and advanced users should know what is really modified. Btw, just discovered tomorrow that the folder with DWMGlass.dll must have certain privileges to load this library to DWM correctly. I cannot say exactly now but it seems that folder requires to have read (and maybe even write) access rights for "Users" and "Authenticated users" groups.

AERO GLASS for Win8 RC3 * implemented public symbols downloading from MS symbol servers --> this allows automatic adjusting when DWM version changes --> it is not currently used, it is only to test whether symbols downloading works --> requires internet connection --> currently enabled by default but if it brings some problems or you don't want Aero Glass to connect to MS servers you can disabled it in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\DWM:EnableSymbolServer (DWORD 0x0 to disable, 0x1 to enable) * implemented shader render target optimization --> this works only on some video drivers --> it takes less memory and increase speed of blurring as it avoids copying screen content to the intermediate buffer --> disabled by default --> it can be enabled in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\DWM:OptimizeShaderResource (DWORD 0x0 to disable / 0x1 to enable) * implemented feature to enable using custom Windows themes --> independent from UX DLLs versions --> it has not been tested at all so it is currently only a candidate for future feature * workaround to correctly refresh inactive frame color when colorization settings is changed * some small bug fixes --> THIS IS THE TEST VERSION, THUS IT LIMITS ITS REGULAR USAGE BY DISPLAYING WARNING MESSAGE PERIODICALLY. DO NOT ASK HOW TO REMOVE THIS MESSAGE !!! --> THIS IS THE TESTING VERSION INTENDED FOR ADVANCED USERS ONLY, IF YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THE INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS THEN YOU SHOULD NOT USE THIS SOFTWARE !!! https://developer.berlios.de/project/filelist.php?group_id=13124

Is their definition of "aero glass" simply transparency, or does the screenshot simply not show the blur? The transparency without blur is lame. Certainly better than the default theme, but meh... Why waste time with it. From all posts I found (e.g. WB developer saying that themes transparency must be adjusted to look good without blur), it seems that it supports pure transparency only. But if anyone wants to have solution without messagebox he can switch to it ... for $50. Btw, is there any moderator whom I could ask to start deleting all posts relating to the popup message?

If you mean cracking the binaries like it was already mentioned here some time ago then no, it is not the way because it will make glass to be rendered incorrectly. Also, it is absolutely lie that messagebox appears every 30 minutes - the interval is much higher and it is not always same.

I have no problem with it. If he does not infringe on my binaries (or its memory space), everything is ok. But on the other side, I guess that disabling/enabling is done via restarting DWM process which can force system to log out randomly, so if anyone wants to make his system unstable, he can use it freely.

It will never be removed. I hope this answer stops you from infinite asking the same question over and over.

If you set inactive colortization settings properly then the color will change properly. The color cannot be changed by simple running AGTweaker - you will get only unexpected results in this case, because it does not set all ColorizationXXXInactive values properly.

Yeah I use the same one but I also installed Seven Sidebar http://nes.bplaced.net/sidebar7.html that also comes with the 8 Gadget Pack http://8gadgetpack.bplaced.net/ it's just a gadget that emulates the old Vista Sidebar. I finally found a time to check this and that Seven Sidebar really brings the problem. It is surely the bug which must be fixed because it can appear on other places sooner or later. The problem is that I don't understand at all how the sidebar thing works - there is no blur at all and the area is completely transparent although my utility applies blur on it (the code is called on that area) So I have found the problem and I must say that it is unfixable. That sidebar uses layered window under Win8 (not under Win7) to render transparency and I noticed there is a bug in glass algorithm which causes those glitches on layered windows. Some time ago, I noticed that same bug exists on native blur implementation in Win8 RP and what's worse, I just checked and the same problem appears on Windows 7 too...

And don't forget that the theme image layout must match the layout of the currently used theme ;-)

I will try to fix this later and get rid of AppInit_DLLs thing completely. My plan is (together with making it win8.1 completely) to remove Direct3D hooking completely and call my code directly from DWM. This brings some problems (e.g. I will need to build vertex buffer from geometry data on my own or correctly apply clip regions etc.) so it will take some time and it is not the highest priority now.

Yeah I use the same one but I also installed Seven Sidebar http://nes.bplaced.net/sidebar7.html that also comes with the 8 Gadget Pack http://8gadgetpack.bplaced.net/ it's just a gadget that emulates the old Vista Sidebar. I finally found a time to check this and that Seven Sidebar really brings the problem. It is surely the bug which must be fixed because it can appear on other places soon or later. The problem is that I don't understand at all how the sidebar thing works - there is no blur at all and the area is completely transparent although my utility applies blur on it (the code is called on that area)

thx, I just want to analyze all debuglogs to see whether there is not any hidden problem and to check that new buffer optimization resizes the buffers correctly. NoelC: yeah, I saw that but I'm just not decided yet. My favorite is Win8 Consumer Preview theme but this theme may look "Seven-ish" (with more chrome effect) for someone. I'm also playing with the idea just to modify default Win8 theme - only add more shadow, glow effect and tweak frame transparency to make it look better. I am just stuck with some things (I have not found a way to add glow effect to shell windows... If I use RP theme as the base (which has glow), then it is not possible to have rectangular selection on desktop icons etc.) Currently I am busy with making the custom themes thing functional. This could be totally last thing for final release... I also want to add one more important optimization, but this would apply to some graphic cards only, so it will be added as registry settings only (disabled by default) so it can stay untested now and does not block the release.

So provide your c:\windows\system32\dwmcore.dll

You have old version installed.

Because titlebars are maintained by DWM, taskbar is not - it is component of Windows Explorer. DWM (via my DLL) only renders the blur effect behind those controls which has been marked to be blurred (without any knowledge what the control really is or where it belongs to). If something disables blur on taskbar, it will have no blur.

raiden89 : there is only one reason for this. You have some application which periodically disables blur on taskbar.

Yes, I have tried it and I must admit that I don't like it. It has a bit weird frame edges which looks like the shadow is a bit offset resulting in a small gap. ORelio looks better but it looks much "Sevenish" to me and the window frames style does not match the taskbar style. Also the thing that caption glow effect for shell windows is stored in different image resource makes me think about a bit different approach - to hook uxtheme functions to allow using unsigned msstyle themes and provide complete theme.

So let's prepare for final version. But I would need a little bit of help to finish 1.0 and prepare all stuff for user-friendly release: a) if you are using RC2 version then upload your debug.log after few hours of running. I would be glad if this running time includes common operations, computer restarts, etc. b) it would be good if we can collect screenshots from Aero Glass usage to be displayed on the website (@ berlios currently). The screenshots should be clean as much as possible, smart and should not contain any personal information or advertisement (it should not even include desktop shortcuts of cracked software etc.). I will then select some of them and put them on the website. c) I'm searching for someone experienced who would be able to create official theme for the Aero Glass utilization. This theme should be elegant, clean and it should be made only as a modification of the original Win8 theme resource. (so only PNG compatible with default Win8 Aero theme) It mustn't be the complete msstyle theme. I would suggest to base the look on Win8 Consumer/Release Preview (square look with shadows, bordered frame buttons, caption glow etc.) It must look good with Aero Glass effect - possibly regardless the selected frame color. Thank you!

I tried installing windows sidebar into Win8 (from this link http://winaero.com/download.php?view.40) and I don't see any problem.

I have no plans for GUI just because there is nothing to be put in the GUI.

AERO GLASS for Win8 RC2 * optimized buffer size * send integer screen size to vertex shader (this should reduce occasional flickering) * improved D3D error handling This version does not bring anything important now. It just contains several internal optimizations which I need to test before final release to decide whether to include them now or postpone them for some later 1.x release.

I think this is beyond the scope of this application and I admit that I don't know how to achieve this. If I kill DWM, it is restarted immediately. If I force it not to be restarted (or frozen immediately after startup), the screen won't be drawn at all. This is low priority feature so if it happens, it will take long time...