Aero Glass for Win8 RC4

[bigmuscle]

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.

[salamander0608]

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

My dwmcore.dll is version 6.2.9200.16384

[NoelC]

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 tried the various effects being more subtle, and it just felt like it wanted something more. I did start with the Windows 8 data, and dolled-up the buttons a good bit with subtle effects. Feel free to use it, or if you suggest things I can change, specifically, I'll be happy to do so.

If you get the full theme stuff to work, then you'll be able to get a glow to show behind the title on File Explorer windows, right? I think that will be important for it to seem like a full and complete product.

-Noel

[adacom]

sort of related to aero - more a theme thing maybe - is it possible to have a border on the aero area - on some backgrounds it can be difficult to see the edge

1st pic is as is - 2nd is 1px border added in photoshop

[odysseyofnoises]

Does this work in x86 yet? As of now I have had no success in running this. There are no instructions.

[MagicAndre1981]

it works for 32Bit. Download the DWMHook093-32.7z

[NoelC]

sort of related to aero - more a theme thing maybe - is it possible to have a border on the aero area - on some backgrounds it can be difficult to see the edge

1st pic is as is - 2nd is 1px border added in photoshop

You just need to have BigMuscle's software load an alternate theme resource file such as the one I provided a link for and that we've been talking about on the last few pages.

See this post for instructions: http://www.msfn.org/...ost__p__1040820

-Noel

Edited May 30, 2013 by NoelC

[adacom]

sort of related to aero - more a theme thing maybe - is it possible to have a border on the aero area - on some backgrounds it can be difficult to see the edge

1st pic is as is - 2nd is 1px border added in photoshop

You just need to have BigMuscle's software load an alternate theme resource file such as the one I provided a link for and that we've been talking about on the last few pages.

See this post for instructions: http://www.msfn.org/...ost__p__1040820

-Noel

thanks - i have not had much luck with those - have tried - are they specifically for win aero theme - i am using a custom theme - snowy V3 - not sure what its based on - but with that piece of info will look and try and get it working - its all a learning process

[WindowsOS]

So far, So good.

debug.log.zip

Edited May 30, 2013 by WindowsOS

[NoelC]

thanks - i have not had much luck with those - have tried - are they specifically for win aero theme - i am using a custom theme - snowy V3 - not sure what its based on - but with that piece of info will look and try and get it working - its all a learning process

I don't know how the load of the custom resources by DWMGlass.dll interacts with custom themes... I have no custom theme software installed in my system, just BigMuscle's program.

Seems to me I've read somewhere in this thread that others are getting all the parts to work together. You might want to take the time to read the whole thread (yeah, that's daunting, but informative).

-Noel

[bigmuscle]

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

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)

[adacom]

thanks - i have not had much luck with those - have tried - are they specifically for win aero theme - i am using a custom theme - snowy V3 - not sure what its based on - but with that piece of info will look and try and get it working - its all a learning process

I don't know how the load of the custom resources by DWMGlass.dll interacts with custom themes... I have no custom theme software installed in my system, just BigMuscle's program.

Seems to me I've read somewhere in this thread that others are getting all the parts to work together. You might want to take the time to read the whole thread (yeah, that's daunting, but informative).

-Noel

thanks - i have followed the thread from post 1 - will not say i have read every post and there are a few i certainly did not understand - but have now looked at what you suggest and have got it working with the png's that are here - they all seem to be variants of the same base - the one in Snowy is different so that would explain why i cannot get that to show anything different [i think] - it has some nice graphics and text colours that [at the moment] i do not want to lose but am slowly learning how to modify a theme so with a bit of time may get to where i want to be

[NoelC]

thanks - i have followed the thread from post 1 - will not say i have read every post and there are a few i certainly did not understand - but have now looked at what you suggest and have got it working with the png's that are here - they all seem to be variants of the same base - the one in Snowy is different so that would explain why i cannot get that to show anything different [i think] - it has some nice graphics and text colours that [at the moment] i do not want to lose but am slowly learning how to modify a theme so with a bit of time may get to where i want to be

You're welcome.

Not sure how you're choosing to edit the PNG file - there are a variety of ways, but if you want to get into the nuts and bolts with e.g., Photoshop, here's where the resources you'll be interested in are (sorry for the epileptic seizure flash treatment):

-Noel

Edited May 30, 2013 by NoelC

[bigmuscle]

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

[bigmuscle]

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

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...