drakenabarion

This refers to the text in title bars, right? Cause I have the file in place, even clicked file properties and unblocked the file (some file types, windows places a blocked staus). But as you can see here, I get no glow. String Name "CustomThemeResource" value = "C:\DWM\my.png" with or without " in the the string content. So far, I get no change. On another note - This glass experience is pretty much flawless. An occasional artefact for a second in the window frame but thats too minor to care about. If that glow will work, I wont need to care about whether or not title bar text will be Black or White.

Newest version is really quite nice! What I would like now (and this is likely stuff I must do myself cause its not really related to DWM) is to recolour the Black Text in Active windows for the Aero.theme to White, or recolour the Black Clock + etc text of the taskbar in AeroLite.theme to white. Now that Aero is basically perfect, I am pretty darn happy Edit: I had no idea that word would be censored. I best say Darn instead - its basically the same thing and I could not imagine it being censored

Ok tested this all day. I understand the reason for the popup every hour. But I would be very interested to see how the boot up works without it. Perhaps still activate, but delay the popup for 3 minutes or something. I have an auto login setup, and it just ocmpletely bypasses the login screen... not that I need to see it (on a black screen the popup appears then the desktop appears - actually that might be even quicker than the usual welcome screen to get to desktop so perhaps its an advantage in disguise ) As far as the glass effect goes, it is very nice. There are no artifacts 90% of the time. Only apps I've seen any artifact is paint.net and 3dmark, but, thats almost nothing really. And does it seem even glassier in this version? I think its looking very nice indeed I think that the border of the windows looks better now. The defined black line is a nice touch. I did not notice it in previous versions, so now its just more obvious. Of course it was always there. Oh, and I know there is some demand for rounded windows. Personally, I like the square windows. See, the Aerolite visual theme in Windows 8 is nice apart from the default colours and lack of transparency. Or perhaps I've grown accustomed to the square windows. Either way, the current setup is how I like it. (I guess I am ok moving away form the Windows 7 theme). And I see that the Win7 Theme previously posted had the square windows too. It looks very nice in the screenshots with the transparency. I still dont trust UXTheme enough to keep it always installed so do people using it every have problems booting these days?

What is the problem? Mine seems to work just fine.

With Multi Monitor, the previous issue in D3D mode no longer occurs - transparency is consistent now. Window's setting for colour intensity controls the transparency nicely too. Some minor and barely visible artefacts occur but they are not screenshotable. Particularly at the edges of windows. It actually looks a bit like the edge glow form Windows 7, but, it sometimes gets cleaned out when selecting a window and then slowly returns after a few seconds. It generally looks good tho even if unintended. https://www.dropbox.com/s/1ffj9827f30mlmf/2013-03-09%2018.01.03.jpg?m

Can't help directly but what about Uxstyle -it's an executable that allows you to use msstyles without actually patching any system files. The author of that appears to hang out at http://forums.mydigi...experimental%29 so it might even be worth having a chat with him to see if he'd be willing to let you implement whatever method he's used. Oh, I've used UXThemer, and it does mod dll files, but can allow custom themes to load. UXStyler mods system files but has an easy to use UI. However, the patch is not perfect and clashes with many Windows 8 updates. And can clash with Windows 8 if uninstalled too. (On boot there is no displayed graphics if there is a clash. None at all, but monitors might phase in and out of sleep). However, if you could fix that problem, then, UXThemes add things like Text glow, and textures very easily! So wait - You are saying that UXStyle will clash with Windows 8 because it modifies system files, and when it does, the system will be unbootable? Some Windows 8 updates can cause problems. Not every update, of course. What is also stranger than that is, unpatching the system for uninstall of the UX Patch can cause the exact same problems. Last time I used any variation of UXTheme (a few weeks before finding this DWM mod), 3 days in a row an update came that broke the system, which is when I decided it was not worth the effort, even if I hate the base Windows 8 borders. (Thank goodness for this mod!!! I love how it looks) Edit: So yes, UXStyle can cause a system to become unbootable. System restore points are very important So, then what the heck is the point of UxStyle? I thought that the point was that it doesn't modify system files. I have been using this on my windows 8 laptop. So it breaks Windows when I uninstall this? What happens if I boot up and I get a black screen? Is my computer done? I would recommend creating a backup usb disk or DVD, if your computer did not come with one. But I had no problem getting to recovery an unclean way (by powering off during boot - it reboots next time to a recovery mode). Not everyone gets the problem when uninstalling a UX Patch. I am just one of those unlucky people who gets it every time I trued to uninstall. Yes happened to me on several occasions. I wish that it would just default to system themes like it used to in XP, but, no - I guess MS want us to feel pain when moding our installations xD. (Oh that theme looks great - I will try it if there is ever a stable (for me) UX Patch! ) Yeah, text glow effect is just a part of aero theme resource. The problem is when I simply copy the glow glyph from RP to RTM (and enable new image in my utility), the glow appears but it seems that it ignores its alpha channel. Although image contains alpha channel and shaders and blend states are same as in RP. Will be more work than I thought Well, I trust whatever solution you come to will be the best possible. And I guess it will be rewarding to crack that nut Oh, not sure if its important but 3DMark 2013 has an unusual effect on its title bar. Its like its covering several copies of its own frame. (hint of transparency and colour bleeding - but its just one application so maybe not that important). However, this is not showing up in screenshots.

Can't help directly but what about Uxstyle -it's an executable that allows you to use msstyles without actually patching any system files. The author of that appears to hang out at http://forums.mydigi...experimental%29 so it might even be worth having a chat with him to see if he'd be willing to let you implement whatever method he's used. Oh, I've used UXThemer, and it does mod dll files, but can allow custom themes to load. UXStyler mods system files but has an easy to use UI. However, the patch is not perfect and clashes with many Windows 8 updates. And can clash with Windows 8 if uninstalled too. (On boot there is no displayed graphics if there is a clash. None at all, but monitors might phase in and out of sleep). However, if you could fix that problem, then, UXThemes add things like Text glow, and textures very easily! So wait - You are saying that UXStyle will clash with Windows 8 because it modifies system files, and when it does, the system will be unbootable? Some Windows 8 updates can cause problems. Not every update, of course. What is also stranger than that is, unpatching the system for uninstall of the UX Patch can cause the exact same problems. Last time I used any variation of UXTheme (a few weeks before finding this DWM mod), 3 days in a row an update came that broke the system, which is when I decided it was not worth the effort, even if I hate the base Windows 8 borders. (Thank goodness for this mod!!! I love how it looks) Edit: So yes, UXStyle can cause a system to become unbootable. System restore points are very important

Can't help directly but what about Uxstyle -it's an executable that allows you to use msstyles without actually patching any system files. The author of that appears to hang out at http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/37000-UxStyle-updated-for-windows-8-%28experimental%29 so it might even be worth having a chat with him to see if he'd be willing to let you implement whatever method he's used. Oh, I've used UXThemer, and it does mod dll files, but can allow custom themes to load. UXStyler mods system files but has an easy to use UI. However, the patch is not perfect and clashes with many Windows 8 updates. And can clash with Windows 8 if uninstalled too. (On boot there is no displayed graphics if there is a clash. None at all, but monitors might phase in and out of sleep). However, if you could fix that problem, then, UXThemes add things like Text glow, and textures very easily!

Oh another thing I am noticing on my nVidia card. I get the best results with the 0.4v and the private hook dll when I use D2D mode. While in D2D mode with transparent window frames, my GPU correctly clocks down to the lower speeds like it did in Windows 7. DWM in Windows 8 keeps the GPU running at full clock speeds. It was never an issue in terms of idle temps but as a strange side effect to the DWM Loader, I get maybe 7 or 8c cooler temps. Ok its not directly related to this software as such but it can be a nice "feature" if it still happens in the final builds. Edit: Just to clarify, I get better GPU activity using DWMLoader than I get with it off. Windows 8, by default, does not correctly clock down my GPU like it would in Windows 7. However, with DWMLoader, it works as it did in Windows 7.

I will try it out in a little bit. This second I am about to begin my monthly internal dusting. Spray cans ready! (I'll edit this post once I got to try it out in a bit). Edit: Yes, works fine on a single display. Transparency is linked to colour intensity in that case. Direct3D mode does work on single monitor only. Well, in many ways, Transparency works in multi monitor. Just not correctly. (Oh you gotta love edit posts for chronology maintenance. This might look like time travel )

I have 2 x 1920x1080 displays. I think I was wrong about the opaque part being a percent of the window. It varies in size depending on the size of the window. With the command prompt, if I move the window left or right on either screen, the amount of opaque is none on the right hand side of the screen and the more I move the window to the left from about 40% of the screen the opaque part moved across the window from left to right of the window. However, with a windows explorer window more than twice the size of the command prompt window, the opaque section is much larger. I think I will probably need to capture that on a video somehow, because its difficult to explain. Or maybe just a series of screenshots. (Give me a few minutes ) Edit: Here is a Dropbox link to some screenshots. It shows Regedit and the last two screenshots show when it moves from one monitor to the other.. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9kms3l9ehz425ce/pxOSvbWVvG

Is that partial effect only there immediately after running the app - i.e. already open windows are transparent where they were overlapped by another window but opaque on the rest of the border - and does the entire border become properly transparent after you drag another window over it or minimise then re-open it - and if you open a new window, is that correctly transparent? If so, it's always done that for me and the author is aware of it. I'm guessing it's just a simple thing to sort once the author gets the main functions sorted - probably just needs a forced redraw of the screen or windows (plus, of course, if it's eventually run at start-up, that shouldn't even be a problem) No, its all new windows for me. Even if I close all windows and open a new one that has no window behind it. The Opaque section is also like a percentage of the window and resizes as the window is resized. But I am sure with all the feedback, I'm sure it wont be long befoer things are tweaked.

Oh after reading more about the 90% colour intensity issue, I tried setting the D3D on and setting the colour intensity to about 90%. It has part of the window border not only non transparent. But I can see that D3D mode indeed works at some level. I guess needs a bit of tweaking but yes works partly. Edit: Maybe I should mention that I have an EVGA branded nVidia GTX 570. It could be relevant. Its a fully DX11 device.

I got the new test upload working with the following Registry settings. For them to work well, it needs "UseDirect2DRendering" = 1. However, if one needs to drop back to the 0.3 version, they need to set that to 0 instead. Seems to work fine right now. There is some Trailing if you move an active window over an inactive window. I cant screenshot that however (doesnt show up).

Like most people here, I am having the lack of transparency in the newest version. But I had a go playing around with some of the files. I get transparency back if I use the DWMHook.dll from the previous version, but, I suppose that just means I'm not really using the new version since the function of DWMLoader.exe is just to load DWMHook.dll into memory. (Well there may be some differences since I am using the new DWMHook.pdb but I am doubting that d2d1.pdb or d3d11.pdb are being used).

How do you get Windows Explorer to look so transparent? I mean I wouldnt personally like as much transparency in the normal Explorer window. I'd prefer the toolbar to look like my Office 2010 screenshot (I posted previously on here). However, for things like Personalisation, that level of transparent background is quite effective. Hmmm, I guess thats off topic tho. Back on topic! I have been using Preview 3 for nearly a week now, and, in the past few days, I have had absolutely no issues. This includes playing games for 10+ sessions and leaving on overnight. I have not restarted in several days. I look forward to any updated that might include the retained DWM code. I mean, while that code is there, it could be used as a temporary measure (if it helped - Maybe it doesnt help), while work on an independent implementation was done. I would bet, since using Windows as far back as 1990, MS tended not to remove some pieces of code left over from previous builds. My guess is that keeping certain piece stops breaking of undocumented dependencies. e.g, there were the same GUI bugs in Windows 95 all the way until the GUI was remade for XP. I know that is just speculation, but, since DWM hasnt really changed that much, I just bet there is a reason they would never admit for keeping the old code. Well, it could be laziness I guess. Laziness could also explain the Windows 95 onwards GUI bugs too. Oh but this is all idle speculation on my behalf. I havent programmed anything since college... so I guess I haven't programmed anything in nearly 8 years xD.

And part 2 debug.log.pt2.txt

I had some bugs today and yesterday. A few times after restarting the computer, launching DWMLoader.exe would just end up with a black screen. Also, once when I was Alt+Tabbing out of Dragon Age Origins, I had the same blank screen. (These is before I started using Aero Glass Properties). Hope this helps! debug.log.pt1.txt

Good Look draken! like the Charcoal border, what Opacity and Blur do you have it set on? I set the Windows colour to almost complete black (I use AeroLite and have Active window text set to white in the .theme file). Then I have Blur at 20 and Opacity at 106. I also notice a nice feature which I haven't seen mentioned. I use two monitors, and when I have the ctrl+alt+del menu open, or while shutting down, the secondary monitor has a very pretty fullscreen blur! It really looks great! I cant screenshot it because none of my screen tools work on those screens.

Hi again, Ok I am no fan of Office 2013, so I still use 2010. I tried 2010 alongside this mod today for the first time. and I must say, I love the result. It looks different to the Windows 7 appearance, right? (Its been a few months since I used on W7, I dont remember it looking this nice in Windows 7).

Well, UXTheme weren't able to provide transparency but they improved the UI by having additional texture and quality on the windows rather than the default flatness. I guess, combined with WinAeroGlass.exe ( ) which has been around the internet the past few weeks. I guess that they could work to get some transparency. I have not tried it but that version of WinAeroGlass removes the colour part of the window borders leaving only the outlines, but, unlike previous version of the program, it does so without the flickering problem. I guess combined with a UXTheme, it would leave whatever texture the theme has enabled giving a sense of transparency, but I bet it would not look very good.However, UXTheme patches have conflicts with updates potentially making the system unbootable. That got overly inconvenient very quickly. I have been a few months without them because they became more work than they were worth. And this is why I am so happy about the DWM Glass Effect - no conflicts of the nature that could cause boot problems. And the blur looks amazing. Edit: Sorry, lots of typos.

Hi all, Like so many, I just registered to say thanks for this! I know that its just a preview release but I don't care if I have to have an extra window for the command prompt open at all times and I dont care if I have to activate on every boot (which happens to be only once every few weeks anyway). You have brought back one of the features I have most missed. I had some temporary solutions via UXTheme which made Windows 8 more pleasant but they come with a very large set of problems (namely, if some system files are not the original and there is an update that modifies them, booting becomes impossible). I am so very glad that there is a non modifying transparency enabler! Not just for the visual aspect. It was mentioned in this thread before how difficult it can be to discern multiple windows stacked on top of each other if they are the same flat white colour. Also, on the lines of the white colour, I have a light sensitive eye condition and I am sure many would have noticed how Windows 8 causes eye strain due to its exceptionally white coloured palette. (Yes I know I can use one of the black with white text high contrast modes but it affects the visuals of every aspect of Windows 8... Well, seeing as this thread is about bringing back transparency, I'm sure I dont need to justify the many reasons I find it easier on the eyes ) So, just to say it out loud: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU !!!!! Edit: Oh and I forgot to mention - It goes to show that whatever changes MS did just before W8 release, they were not about style or appearance. The default W8 theme looks just beautiful in transparency. I mean the texturing due to things behind the titlebars really compliment the simplistic approach. Solid colours do not fit the style, but the transparency really completes the theme. Unfortunately, Office 2013 is not affected by the modification. I bet that would look nice with some transparency!