so i used xpize on win2k

[supadodger]

the little window that shows while 2k is logging in is changed, im just curious what file that is?

[XPero]

the little window that shows while 2k is logging in is changed, im just curious what file that is?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

XPize in Windows 2000 Worked? the file youre looking for is msgina.dll

[some_guy]

thats freaking amazing...

can you post a screenshot? and some proof that it is on win2k? plz?

[Martijn]

You shouldn't forget that Windows XP is based on Windows 2000

[lylo]

Well I've always wanted to install Win2K on my machine for its rock solid stability, but at the same time, I'd like to be able to customise it like I can with WinXP but I know thats not really possible without memory hogging 3rd party apps.

Anyway, I booted up VMWare with a fresh Win2k + SP4 install and tried out XPize on it. Apart from a couple of installation errors (such as uxtheme.dll incompatabilities since Win2K doesn't have such a file. Or some others I'm not sure on the reasons for them.) the install went fine and completed. The first surprise (since I am admittedly a XPize noobie!) was this when it restarted hehe. See for yourselves

Yes, that IS Windows 2000 heh.

For that 3rd image, I manually enabled the MCE background that XPize usually whacks on by default (for some reason it didnt come up), but when I did so, Win2k asked me to enable Active Desktop since its required for that desktop picture

So yeah, XPize kinda works on 2K, as you can see theres a lil corruption on some of the replaced images but obviously it wasnt meant for 2K heh. Could this mean though that such a package could be optimised for 2000 to give it a nicer look?

Edited September 13, 2005 by lylo

[klasa]

it could be, xpero should add a 256 color version of his icons

[supadodger]

well, he gave you proof.

good stuff

[WildBill]

*drool*

XPize for W2k? Please? Pretty please?

[WildBill]

I just tried installing XPIze 4.0 on a W2kProSP4 that I had on a spare hard drive, and I don't get the weird black borders around the icons (though I also don't get any XP icons, either). I installed it after patching so 256-color icons can show up in the taskbar, if that means anything. My logon screen was similarly patched to read XP Pro, and the time zone settings map looks nice. So far I haven't seen any strange visual artifacts, but I'll put it through its paces to see what's what.

EDIT: Ah, yeah, there the artifacts are. XPero, do the bitmaps you use contain alpha information (that is, do they use alpha blending)? Win2k should have no trouble displaying 32-bpp bitmaps (and it can technically perform alpha-blending, just as XP can), but it might not be calling AlphaBlend() to display them, which would preclude using bitmaps that relied on alpha-blending. Win2k can handle high-color icons, but it might require a version of XPize where the alphas were only 0 or 255. It's possible that Win2k simply calls something like MaskBlt() to display icons, which requires a monochrome mask (that is, alpha = 0 or 255 but nothing else).

EDIT #2: I found the spec on the .ICO format and wrote a program that can read all the icons in a file and display them. Looking at the icons in the XPize folder, it looks like that's exactly the case, where the icon is performing alpha-blending (technically, the AND-bitmap in the .ICO file extends over areas where the alpha value in the XOR-bitmap is less than 255). Tomorrow I'll see if I can write a program that will recursively go through all of the .ICO files in the XPize folder and "fix" them for W2k. My gut tells me that, when alpha is 128 or higher, to add enough white background so I can make the alpha 255, and drop all pixels where the alpha is 127 or less. I'll know if it works sometime tomorrow night. I haven't even tried the XPize settings program to see if I can get it to reload the icons once I've changed them, but I assume that that's what it's for.

Edited November 8, 2005 by WildBill

[WildBill]

My program is done now, and it fixes the .ICO files with excellent results. It basically drops pixels where the alpha is less than 128 and for 128 <= alpha <= 255 it adds enough white background so it can make the alpha 255. You can either open one icon at a time or an entire folder, and if you open a folder it loads all .ICO files it finds in that folder or any subfolders. Every loaded .ICO file goes into a list and if you click on an entry all icons in the file show up below (and you can mouse over each one to see the RGBA values). To fix all the icons at once, you would do the following:

- Select File...Open folder to open the folder

- Select Edit..Select all to highlight all the icons in the list

- Select Edit...Stencil to fix the icons in memory

- Select File...Save all to overwrite the original files

There are toolbar buttons and hotkeys so that it's easy to use. The only caveat is that the dialog for selecting a folder can't see hidden folders, so you have to temporarily unhide the WINNT/XPize folder, or (what I did) copy the XPize folder, fix the copy, and then copy back to the original.

The only problem I'm having now is getting XPize to reload the icons into the files it changed. Is there an easy way to do this?

Once i draw a nice icon for the program and clean up the GUI a little I can email it to someone, if anyone has way to host it somewhere...

[Ðrзω™]

i can host it for you if needed

[WildBill]

kewl. I just need a way to force XPize to reload all of the .ICO files so I can verify that it works (and other Win2k users like me will need something similar). Then I can button up the app and email it to you. One thing I found is that many of the .BMP files also use alpha-blending, and so I'll have to expand the program to process those as well.

[WildBill]

Nevermind about forcing a full reload...I figured out a way by using XPize's registry settings (if the setting for a file evaluates to a number, I just increment it). I added an option Tools...Force XPize reload to the program's main menu, which you would do after replacing the files. Then just run the XPize reloader, reboot, and rebuild your icon cache in TweakUI. The program is basically finished now, and the results are great so far. So, the total number of steps is:

- Either make WINNT/XPize unhidden or copy its contents to another folder (making a backup might be a good idea, too)

- Run IconViewer.exe (my program)

- Click File...Open folder (or press Ctrl-F), and open the XPize\FileTypeIcons folder

- Click File...Open folder again and this time open the XPize\Resouces folder (they will be added to the list)

- Select Edit...Select all (or press Ctrl-A)

- Select Edit...Stencil (or click the scissors button)

- Click File...Save all

- Click Tools...Force XPize Reload

- Close IconViewer

- If you ran IconViewer against a copy of the XPize files, copy them back

- Run the XPize Reloader and reboot when asked

- When back in Windows, go into Control Panel...TweakUI, go to Repair, and click Repair Now to rebuild the icon cache.

Done!

Tested on Windows 2000 SP4 with today's patches. The program fixes alpha-blended 32-bit .BMPs in addition to .ICO files.

So where can I send my program? B)

Edited November 9, 2005 by WildBill

[WildBill]

i can host it for you if needed

Check your email

Here's a small teaser:

Edited November 9, 2005 by WildBill

[OrcoXP]

You'd think they would replace the flag on the start menu