[OLD] Aero Glass for Win8.1+

[MrGRiM]

I'd return to rc1 because of using non standard themes and uxstyle causes my system black screen at restart system. BM, plz return bypassing theme signatures back, your way works good - no black screens on any boot/restart. I think many users of Aero Glass uses another themes - they are looks better, and if you return this thing - i will donate one more time ).

You can use UltraUXThemePatcher instead. UxStyle doesn‘t work for me either.

I have to agree MB's theme bypass works better then anything else out there, I am using UXStyle at the moment but it seems buggy and allot of the time it wont let me change theme unless I do a reboot, if I could use BM's signature bypass method I would, it's just a shame he removed all these features from the early builds even though they were working perfectly when using the old LoadAppInit_DLLs which I am still using in the 1.0 version anyway.

[ace2]

bigmuscle, Any news on the black box fix OR will there be an DWMGlass.dll update. Thanks ace2

[ptd163]

I was going testing this is out on a Windows 8.1 VM and it's giving me an error.

Here is the debug log

2014-01-25 10:55:11][0xA20:0xCB0] Installing DWM hook...[2014-01-25 10:55:11][0xA20:0xCB0] Module: C:\AeroGlass\dwmglass.dll[2014-01-25 10:55:11][0xE6C:0xC4C] Donation key not loaded (2)[2014-01-25 10:55:11][0xE6C:0xC4C] Machine ID: HG6J35L5EOQHSL26UUIKL3P55LLLBYISQILOFVVAQLOMUCOQ[2014-01-25 10:55:12][0xE6C:0xC60] DWM incompatibility error 0x481[2014-01-25 10:56:15][0xE6C:0xC60] DWM incompatibility error 0x481[2014-01-25 10:56:16][0xE6C:0xC60] DWM incompatibility error 0x481[2014-01-25 10:56:16][0xE6C:0xC60] DWM incompatibility error 0x481[2014-01-25 10:56:17][0xE6C:0xC60] DWM incompatibility error 0x481[2014-01-25 10:56:17][0xE6C:0xC60] DWM incompatibility error 0x481[2014-01-25 10:56:18][0xE6C:0xC60] DWM incompatibility error 0x481[2014-01-25 10:56:19][0xE6C:0xC60] DWM incompatibility error 0x481[2014-01-25 10:56:20][0xE6C:0xC60] DWM incompatibility error 0x481[2014-01-25 10:56:20][0xE6C:0xC60] DWM incompatibility error 0x481[2014-01-25 10:56:21][0xE6C:0xC60] DWM incompatibility error 0x481[2014-01-25 10:56:22][0xE6C:0xC60] DWM incompatibility error 0x481[2014-01-25 10:56:23][0xE6C:0xC60] DWM incompatibility error 0x481[2014-01-25 10:56:23][0xE6C:0xC60] DWM incompatibility error 0x481[2014-01-25 10:56:25][0xE6C:0xC60] CSettingsManager not found, running in LIMITED MODE!

I was a bit overzealous in clicking the retry button.

[NoelC]

Ptd163, what is your Windows version? Ideally (BigMuscle has asked above) what is the specific version info for dwmcore.dll and udwm.dll in your System32 directory? You can get that info by right-clicking on them (individually) and choosing Properties, then clicking the Details tab.

Good things are coming, folks. Give BigMuscle a little time to organize everything and get another release out.

-Noel

[bigmuscle]

bigmuscle, Any news on the black box fix OR will there be an DWMGlass.dll update. Thanks ace2

It will be here soon.

[Soukyuu]

Can failing to inject into that imagefactory thingy result in weird behavior, specifically UI hangs/not accepting mouse clicks?

I'm still trying to debug my system and so far it looks like it's either aeroglass (which I disabled today) or startisback+, or a combination of those tools.

edit: just saw there is a minidump in the aeroglass folder, uploaded it here.

Edited January 26, 2014 by Soukyuu

[Tusticles]

I'd return to rc1 because of using non standard themes and uxstyle causes my system black screen at restart system. BM, plz return bypassing theme signatures back, your way works good - no black screens on any boot/restart. I think many users of Aero Glass uses another themes - they are looks better, and if you return this thing - i will donate one more time ).

You can use UltraUXThemePatcher instead. UxStyle doesn‘t work for me either.

I have to agree MB's theme bypass works better then anything else out there, I am using UXStyle at the moment but it seems buggy and allot of the time it wont let me change theme unless I do a reboot, if I could use BM's signature bypass method I would, it's just a shame he removed all these features from the early builds even though they were working perfectly when using the old LoadAppInit_DLLs which I am still using in the 1.0 version anyway.

Reboot? Just restart UnsignedThemes service and try to apply the theme.

[gontie]

The new version with the installer works like a charm

Thanks BIgmuscle.

Is there any chance that you will be able to found a solution for the Taskbar blur effect without an external software ?

With the update 1 of Windows 8.1, we will be able to play WIndows 8 application from the desktop, with aero this will really the best os from my personal opinion

[bigmuscle]

Can failing to inject into that imagefactory thingy result in weird behavior, specifically UI hangs/not accepting mouse clicks?

No, it can't. WIC hook is actually one line only to ensure that alpha channel on windows captions will be used. It has no other task thus hook failure just makes the captions non-transparent (that's why black rectangle will be seen).

edit: just saw there is a minidump in the aeroglass folder, uploaded it here.

Thanks, I will check it.

[bigmuscle]

After some Windows update it will cause a black screen at boot when update change files, that patcher patches.

Actually, any update which breaks something on which the hooking depends will result in hook failure and black screen on startup.

My solution just hooked LoadLibraryExW function in every process and redirected to my DLL anytime it wanted to load some of the theme service's library. Because LoadLibraryExW is called very often, it degraded performance of every process a lot.

[CKyHC]

After some Windows update it will cause a black screen at boot when update change files, that patcher patches.

Actually, any update which breaks something on which the hooking depends will result in hook failure and black screen on startup.

My solution just hooked LoadLibraryExW function in every process and redirected to my DLL anytime it wanted to load some of the theme service's library. Because LoadLibraryExW is called very often, it degraded performance of every process a lot.

I don't noticed perfomance drop when i enable bypass theme signature in rc1. Still suing it because standart/rp/atlases looks ugly.

Another quastion: How to make atlas from custom theme? Simple saving STREAM 986 (or equal) not work because elements of atlas not match standart Windows 8.1 theme. Who can helps to make atlas from e.g. this theme: http://xxinightxx.deviantart.com/art/Aero-8-1-Windows-8-1-413881040

[goldi]

Nope, it is not. Blur behind taskbar has nothing to do with DWM. It's Explorer's task to enable it.

That may well be, but is not the same when i make taskbar Blur with other App. Giv not the same Blur as in your DWM and give not reflection. I miss it very...

[NoelC]

CKyHC, you won't get much in the way of rounded corners with just a theme atlas, but the theme atlas I dolled-up doesn't look too bad in daily use and gives an almost rounded corner appearance. My buttons look flatter and some don't like the dark minimize and restore buttons, but I think they step out of the way nicely and give the taskbar a nice clean look when used with a dark background.

http://Noel.ProDigitalSoftware.com/ForumPosts/themeatlas.png

I also use some registry tweaks to make the chrome around Windows smaller overall. Note the SetWindowMetrics.reg file in this .zip file, which I normally supply with my Windows 8 book:

http://www.ProDigitalSoftware.com/files/W8ToWork/CompanionTools.zip

-Noel

Edited January 26, 2014 by NoelC

[NoelC]

By the way, ClassicShell 4.0.4 is released. The author adjusted the "Disable taskbar transparency" setting for Win 8.1 so as to provide a better experience with Aero Glass for Win 8.1 (the Taskbar is less colorized and more transparent). I've been testing it and it does work.

-Noel

[Monkii]

This is working very nicely for me - thanks for a great bit of SW. Just a couple of small things to ask:

1. Can anyone who has reflections working properly help me? Whatever I do, it just doesn't seem to work. Here's what I have done to date:

• Put the donation.key into C:/AeroGlass (symbols and custom theme atlas working fine)
• Put a known good reflection file in C:/AeroGlass
• Set CustomThemeReflection string to point to this file in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\DWM
• Set ColorizationGlassReflectionIntensity to 100 in the same location

Nothing doing. Any idea what I've missed?

2. BM, in another thread during development, you mentioned maybe working up a utility to put the glow back into ribbon windows (task manager is in the same boat, I think) -- just wanted to add another yes vote once things are a bit quieter.