Vistapack 2.5

The new version has arrived!!

Description:
The Vistapack is made to transform your old and boring Windows 2000 rig in a modern looking and feeling OS.

Safety:
It takes the files from the host, backs it up, modifies a sample and puts the modified file back in the system.
This ensures that you are using the latest files so no need for alerts like "Now I am using an old file, what if its updated by m$? Then i will be open for attack..."

Nope, no need to worry. You keep the updated file.

The pack uses ResHacker to change icons, bitmaps and some dialogs, to make it look like the new Windows Vista!

Its rather safe in my opinion, but of course there are some risks when you modify system files.

This is at your own risk!!!

But no need to worry, there are few bugs that cause your pc not to boot or something.
Personally i did not had that happening here.
Of course, when you don't like it, you can uninstall the pack like any other software.

Send me the bugs you find or some remarks, just let me know.

greets damian666

Changelog:

What's New in Vistapack 2.5 - 2000 version
=====================================================
Fixed the uninstall bug, so for who have still installed
the old version, install this over it, and you
can remove it again if you want.

Added French language support, thanx to Theutlass

Changed around some stuff, icons bmp's...

New side images in the classic startmenu.

New screensaver, thanx to marxo

Upgraded to the latest Autoit version.

Other little things...
=====================================================

What's New in Vistapack 2.5 - XP version
=====================================================

a lot of internal changes, mainly to achieve SP3
compliance.

new logonui, with credits to Kontini and the users
that voted in the poll.

New side images in the classic startmenu.

Support for French language, thanx to Theutlass

New theme, with a lot of thanx to Vishal Guptha
Which not only made a killer theme, but also let me
use it http://www.askvg.com/

all "old" images done now...

New screensaver, made from the one marxo made me

Patcher and tools updated to latest Autoit Version.

Other little things...
=====================================================

Please note that there are now two seperate installers, 1 for 2000 and one for XP.

Vistapack 2000 2.5

Vistapack XP 2.5

Vistapack 2000 - Skydrive mirror

Vistapack XP- Skydrive mirror

Screenshots:

Windows XP





Windows 2000

Have fun guys, and to the testers...

THANK YOU!!!

Damian666

Thanks
I am looking forward to test it
Download, download, this is the best software that gives you the Vista-look on Windows XP

especcialy because the users have a say in it huh?

i am very open to suggestions, so long its not about extra software to add

i hate resource hogs

damian666

Thanks damian for keeping the friday promise! I was waiting for it and now I am off to new installation cd!
;-)

your welcome man
it was something i could hardly get together, but hee...

here it is

Damian666

strange when i try to download this it stops at 5 mg the link doesn't work well ??

Try to download again. It worked for me.

i try a lot of times the same result the download goes at 20 % and stops

What about right-click the download link and save as?

ok, just wait man...
i will update the one on skydrive and then give link

be right back.

Damian666

ok, for those that have trouble downloading from my host, try the Skydrive mirror in the
first post.

Damian666

I have been testing Vistapackxp there is one thing I have noticed after opening start a few rimes i need to do a refresh to desktop is like start sometimes refuses to refresh on close. is that normal or only my computer?
second thing I was thinking when open ecplorer i see a large arrow at both ends od slider bars is that notmal? is so what do i change to make the arrows smaller. other than that this is very impresive

I would like to slipstream Vistapack-xp to install disk so it loads on install ?

tell me 1 thing...
do you use true transparency? if so... then you found the source of taht refresh problem

and large arrows? maybe a screenshot?

damian666

I would like to slipstream Vistapack-xp to install disk so it loads on install ?

yes, use the cd patch option

So, what can we do to make this product even better?
There are still time for improvements

well, first of all, i am thinking about removing true transparency...
XP has his own theme engine so, its really overkill IMHO.

and there are a lot of dialogs that can be much better designed.
Some more languages would be great

you have any idaes?

Damian666


btw, did you see the aboutbox of windows? better now?

Excellent work damian666, appreciate all your efforts :

I got some suggestions for improvements:

• I think that we could try to find a better "vista theme" that could replace the existing one, and remove the true transparency as well (taking advantage to better performance). With a "new" vista theme that shows the icons next to "my computer, my documents" and so on (I think XP users are going to like it), and a better location to the "User account picture". Because, when i click that picture (start menu), the user account page on control panel doesn't show up.

(Something like the start menu of Royale Noir Remixed below - It shows Vista-icons in the start menu.)

• And the next part could be making the dialogs better.

• When i have learned how to use the Restorator or the Reshacker, to translate the text to my own language, norwegian support would be added

• And yes, i loved the new "about windows" - box you have made You fixed the "light-blue-line" (between the logo and the text below), to a much better and darker line in blue color.

• I have an idea. I found a program called Vista Icon Pack v3, which is an installer. You can download it from here. That's the program that gave me the REAL Vista logon screen showing Windows XP below, pretty customized for Windows XP. And the screensaver too. Maybe you can get those two things from that package (and maybe improve it) and get it into this package? And maybe you find something more interesting resources as well

(Screenshot below)

• When you are installing Windows XP, the "time and date"-icon, the "time zone"-icon and the "network configuration" icon still has the original XP-look.
• (Eventually the System properties too)

Only suggestions

Hi, first of all great work so far, keep it up please!

Second two things I noticed:
1.) at the login and logoff screens where it says "saving you personal settings.." bla bla bla around the big "windows orb" in the upper left corner there is a difference in the shades of black near the bottom right of the orb. It just doesnt look right.
2.) I remember reading this before as a suggestion from some one else, but the little icon in the upper right corner of a explorer window should either be left alone (just keep the windows flag) or chaged to something isn't black. The black totally clashes with everything else. Other than those two things everything looks good so far.

EDIT: 3.) When the Standby, Logoff, Restart thingy comes up when you go to turn off your computer the orange/brown standby button doesn't change with a mouseover like the other two buttons do.

@ prebenandre, did you look at the new screensaver? still not good?

and that theme thingy... i will see what i can do maybe...

those icons are something we have to find then, will fix that for sure.

logon is a kind of a personal thing, i dont like it, because ALL transformation packs use it...
i like it to be different, but i can always open up a poll to see what everybody thinks about it

downloaded that pack, but all the icons i allready have but i will take the logon to check it out

@godan, i wont leave the flag man, its very XP-like and would clash even more then the orb thingy.
but your welcome to make me one vistalike

Damian666

Polls added, please vote guys.

Damian666

did you look at the new screensaver? still not good?

I think it is good, and much better than the previous screensaver! The question is if the Vista Icon Pack 3 screensaver is better.

and that theme thingy... i will see what i can do maybe...

Maybe we find something we could use here


those icons are something we have to find then, will fix that for sure.

Some of these icons could be found in the control panel. And some other icons can be discovered that we can use

logon is a kind of a personal thing, i dont like it, because ALL transformation packs use it...
i like it to be different, but i can always open up a poll to see what everybody thinks about it

Great

downloaded that pack, but all the icons i allready have but i will take the logon to check it out

Check the screensaver too, if you want :- D

@godan, i wont leave the flag man, its very XP-like and would clash even more then the orb thingy.
but your welcome to make me one vistalike

Well.. This is what I think about this:

1. The cursor in "windows explorer" has a dark background, and the others use some kind of grey or white. Is it able to change to that and still use the "cursor"?

2. There is a "weird black connection" from the vista orb and to the rest of the black background that you can see in the logon screen.

Take a look at the screenshots.

ok, i checked the logon, but i really hate it man
there are much better look-a-likes out there...

screensaver is cool

i have to investigate about the "cursor" in explorer...

talk to you later.

Damian666

I believe those are in syssetup.dll


The orb itself isn't the problem it's the black background of it that sticks out like a sore thumb.

Hi damian, I must say this is a great pack, been using it since 2.0
And it keeps improving! I like the new bootscreen and logoff... But I think a more Vista-Like logon would be better (I voted to the poll )
There is only one thing I don't like very much, and it's the shortcut arrow. IMO, it's too big, in particular when using 48px icons.
So I edited the original one (shell32\30.ico), moving the 32px arrow to the 48px icon setting, and making the 32px arrow a little smaller.
This is how it looks with 48px icons.

I think it's better like this.
For TrueTransparency, I see no point in removing it, as it is included as an extra in the pack and users can choose whether to use it or not.
Obviously, they're only suggestions.

And another thing, if you like, I can translate the main Vistapack window in italian, al well as other resources in the pack.
Edited icon attached.

I believe those are in syssetup.dll

Could be, but i do patch that file so...

The orb itself isn't the problem it's the black background of it that sticks out like a sore thumb.
yeah i know man... as i said, i will try something

@smiley, thanx for the icon. i will use that man , I too find it absurdly big...

yes, i know its a option, but what if users dont like it? then i dont have to include it anymore.
saves space and trouble

thanx guys

Damian666

Damian, you are the best (And I want you to be the best) creator of everyone out there that makes this kind of "Vista transformation pack" for older OS.
Vistapack is the best software that do this job (In my opinion). It is so full of resources, so complete, but yet not 100% finished.

I want Vistapack to be the king and the winner of all kind of transformations packs that make the older OS (Windows 2000/XP), look like Windows Vista.

And together, we will make it even better!

First of all, we need to find all the resources that we are going to use for the next version of Vistapack. And then you will have to implement it, and then release the new version.


So, here i found a suggestion for implementation:

"All-In-One website" which contains most of the Vista resources for Windows XP: Get the Vista look on XP

(Maybe there is something we can use from there..)

Hey Damien Great pack Just gets better True transperency seems to be a resource hog for me with most skins only one or two skins are more lighter on the cpu usage.

Excellent, damian.

Now if there's something that keeps this pack from perfection it's RP.

well, i am glad that you think i am the best... myself dont see it taht way, but i am getting there

and about "finding" the resources... , its better to do it ourselfs man.
but if we cant do it other ways... we will have to use some others stuff.

And then we will have to implement it, and then release the new version.

we? lol... just let it be me ok?":p i dont think you will get my patcher, no offence btw
but yes, i can use your and everybody's help on making it the king of packs

as far as i know, i am the only one that makes one for 2000 btw

that website, seen, been there done that
no good man but thanx anyway.

@dave.net i know man, trust me i know...
we have a other app in the making, taht enables 32bit on 2000, but its just not ready for the
worldwide release...

its a WPC project, so i cant say much about it ATM... just stay tuned man

Damian666

ok, how's this then?

Damian666

Better than the black one
But maybe it was too white.

Is it possible to change the color like the other one is, which is next to the white "background"?
Like the attached picture is?

It's possible, but color you are asking will be changed with theme, so white is the best for now.

Cheers

Oh, okey ;)

But what about thinking using the vista orb flag?

Like this ?

Doesn't it look like Vista?

yeah right... can you make that move?
i cant man...

deal with it

and mara is totally right.

that color is chabged by the applied theme so...

Damian666

Why not?

Give it a try and let us look how it is, then?

and it wont look nice man...
to much different colors then.

trust me, let us keep it this way...

Damian666

Okey then.

Tell me, is this also a bad one?

This is the same as the original Windows XP but with updated colors.

damian,


Just installed your latest version on my system and is seems that I'm having some very annoying problems:

- Logoff text is restored on reboot
- Your refresher is not working correctly. It totally mess up my icons in quick launch. All my icons become randomly replaced with some icons from desktop. It's not permanent replace, but I need to open properties of every icon and then to click change icon and OK. I don't replace icons, it's just necessary to click on OK button.
- My computer icon reverted to XP icon. Can I do something to patch it again?
- This one is strange, but as soon as your program patches IE7, automatic updates activate and want to install latest cumulative update for IE7. I don't know what you could do about this, except to create some exclude list on which users can add files (this also started to happens with your previous version and since last month IE7 cumulative update)

Hope you can do something about this problems. In mean time, how can I deactivate your refresher?

Cheers

****... i thought it was just my PC that was acting up...
i have that too with the IE7 stuff... **** m$

and for the iconstuff, just execute the refresher again man that will fix it.
its in the tools folder in the vistapack programfolder.
i made it new, so we could expect somebugs


go to the extra tab, and there in the force reloader, fill in explorer.exe, and press force
done

Damian666

ok, i think i have it, but i am not sure man...

take the new refresher, and place it in the tools folder, replacing the old one

and let me know what it does now man.

Damian666

new refresher

dont forget to unrar ofcourse

OK, new refresher is much better. Everything is fine now. If it only does not change order of icons it would be great.

I tried what you suggested for My Computer icon but problem is the same. Any other suggestion?

Cheers

If it only does not change order of icons it would be great.

dont get your hopes up man

well... check explorer manually if the icons are changed...
and let me know that

Damian666

Great work Damian!
Just a question, maybe silly... It seem that winmine is not patched!!

OK, I got it. I just run reloader again, rebooted and explorer.exe got patched. Only thing that is problem now is this IE7 thing, and only solution I see is some exclude list which I already mentioned. BTW, great work with new pack.

Oh, almost forgot this. I already mentioned that logoff text is returned on reboot, but I noticed that even the text is removed patcher shows option "Remove logoff text" as active. So it does not detect that text got back.

Cheers

well, as far as i see... i have to figure out what file is making WU do that, and take it out the pack...
thats all i can do for now.

i hope i can build a exclude list in the patcher, but maybe i just have to start again...
and build a new patcher from the ground up, new things learned, and new things found in Autoit so

i will think about it man.

and the logoff text is certainly a thing that can be improved, want to see?
you as fellow AI scripter? maybe we can figure it out together

Damian666

OK, I can try to help. Maybe you can send me part of code that handle removing that text so I can take a look and see if I can improve it.

Cheers

ok, thats cool.
if you do, please comment it ok?

i wil send you in a PM

Damian666

OK, waiting for PM.

Cheers

Another suggestion, I saw that the icon in the upper corner of Windows Media Player 11 was still the default one.
So I searched in wmploc.dll to find and replace that icon.
I found many of WMP11's default icons in BMP format, I replaced them all to be sure.
And this is the result...

I replaced original BMPs with ResourceHacker, as I don't know how to add them in the pack...
I attached a ZIP file with the Bitmaps to replace: 101.bmp, 2178.bmp, 4012.bmp and 4013.bmp in wmploc.dll.
I hope you like it

PS I saw a long list of very old bitmaps in wmploc.dll (even some WMP8 resources!), and I don't even know if they're still used...