Revolutions Pack 9.7

[jds]

Another problem with RP 9.7.2 ...

If I'm running Opera 11 (with the help of KernelEx, of course) and I press Ctrl-Alt-Del, then simply cancel, Opera will be non-responsive, so I'm forced to close it. (I haven't yet tested other KernelEx-assisted applications for the same issue.)

BTW, so far I haven't noticed any improvement in stability on the machines where I've installed RP. If anything, stability seems slightly worse (eg. I've observed failure to fully shutdown W98SE, and failure of Symantec Antivirus 9 to load at startup).

Joe.

[Drugwash]

Subject matter: Icon creation for RP

HI all, haven't been here in awhile. I love RP, however, some of the icons don't look or work well when switched to 8 bpp icons (256-color), especially the ones for Vista. It's all scratchy and pixelly because of the color translation. I would like to know how to create 8-bpp optimized icons and then put them into a DLL, such as one required for RP. The first part I pretty much know how to do, the latter (DLLs), I don't know how. Well unless someone here has already developed 8 bpp icons that look better than the ones packed stock in RP? Or maybe there's something I'm overlooking?

I require this because a couple of my old videocard and monitor combinations can only run in 256-color at the higher resolutions, such as 1280x1024 (and the lcd monitors' native resolution is the same). Thanks.

To add/replace icons in a library, you may either edit an existing library using Resource Hacker (replacing icons manually one by one or using a ResHacker script) or building the library from scratch through a Visual Source, MinGW or similar project - for the programming inclined people.

On another note, I've been experiencing a reproduceable problem: if the K-Meleon browser is running, trying to switch the RP theme through Display Properties >Appearance will just freeze the system. Closing the browser (forcibly, through Task Manager) will immediately resume the operation, completing it succesfully.

Related to my previous issues involving K-Meleon and its crash of the video driver (or whatever that was), it may be too early to be sure, but it may have been the fault of Logitech MouseWare (since I'm using an old Logitech mouse) - the browser hasn't crashed yet, after uninstalling Logitech MouseWare (I think, version was 9.79.1, latest I could find some time ago). Fingers crossed! Unfortunately it didn't help much; the browser did "live" a little longer, but eventually crashed the video again. I give up!

Edited January 11, 2012 by Drugwash

[M()zart]

About icons - maybe the ICL plugin to TotalCommander will be useful. Pack icons to icl file with it and rename it to dll.

[Tihiy]

Thanks for your kindness, Gelosea!

IIRC i tried to contact you when i found your beautiful theme and wanted to include it, but got no reply so i cheated, but i didn't modify your graphic and held copyright. Sorry!

[CharlesF]

Another problem with RP 9.7.2 ...

If I'm running Opera 11 (with the help of KernelEx, of course) and I press Ctrl-Alt-Del, then simply cancel, Opera will be non-responsive, so I'm forced to close it.

Joe,

I have tried this but don't find any glitch with Opera and several tabs opened

(tested with Opera version 11.60 & version 11.01).

Did you try to simply uninstall RP, to be sure that it is the culprit?

[CharlesF]

FWIW, I have corrected the french translation of the RP8.DLL from Revolutions Pack 9.7.2

The only change is the french translation, nothing else was modified.

No use to change RPConfig and RPSetup translations (from glocK_94 I think), they are perfect!

RP8.DLL corrigée.rar

All installation information is included, en français s'il vous plaît.

HTH

Charles .

[jds]

Another problem with RP 9.7.2 ...

If I'm running Opera 11 (with the help of KernelEx, of course) and I press Ctrl-Alt-Del, then simply cancel, Opera will be non-responsive, so I'm forced to close it.

Joe,

I have tried this but don't find any glitch with Opera and several tabs opened

(tested with Opera version 11.60 & version 11.01).

Did you try to simply uninstall RP, to be sure that it is the culprit?

Charles,

Perhaps low system resources could be partly responsible for what I have observed with Opera 11 when I apply Ctrl-Alt-Del with RP installed. However, I hadn't observed this effect prior to RP.

Since subjectively, albeit with limited testing, I have not observed improved stability with RP, I have now uninstalled it and instead, am using FreeRAM XP Pro 1.52 (despite its name, it runs on W9X and is freeware) to warn me when system resources are low, allowing me to take appropriate action before things become unstable. (BTW, I have disabled its main feature, to automatically free RAM when it's running low, until I gain some confidence this doesn't produce any side-effects.)

Unfortunately however, uninstalling RP does not restore the original taskbar behaviour. Any ideas how to get this back to normal? (I would have persisted longer with RP if not for this unwanted behaviour.)

Joe.

Edited January 28, 2012 by jds

[CharlesF]

Unfortunately however, uninstalling RP does not restore the original taskbar behaviour.

Any ideas how to get this back to normal? (I would have persisted longer with RP if not for this unwanted behaviour.)

What do you mean with 'the original taskbar behaviour' ?

Could you elaborate, plz?

[Drugwash]

@ jds: Please check the version of your Common Controls (COMCTL32.DLL); if it doesn't read as the screenshot below, please update it manually (in DOS mode) and check if the unwanted behavior persists.

Programming info:

The Rebar control is implemented starting with v4.70 of comctl32.dll. It uses different REBARBANDINFO structure sizes according to IE version (since MS implemented CommonControls updates in IE only - hence stripping IE from Windows is a BAD idea).

The problem is probably caused by the control not recognizing the RBBS_USECHEVRON style flag in the REBARBANDINFO structure, since this particular flag has been introduced in v5.80 of comctl32.dll.

[LoneCrusader]

Unfortunately however, uninstalling RP does not restore the original taskbar behaviour.

Any ideas how to get this back to normal? (I would have persisted longer with RP if not for this unwanted behaviour.)

What do you mean with 'the original taskbar behaviour' ?

Could you elaborate, plz?

I installed RP9 on a test VM so I could take these screenshots.

Here is the default Taskbar:

Here is the RP9 Taskbar:

HOWEVER when I Uninstalled RP9 on the test VM, the Taskbar reverted back to the original state, so I am baffled at jds's problem.

I prefer the original Taskbar look, but apparently there's no way to have it with RP9 installed.

I did verify the version of COMCTL32.DLL as suggested by Drugwash, mine matches his.

Edited January 29, 2012 by LoneCrusader

[Drugwash]

Open RegEdit and check this registry key and set it to 0xFFFFFFFF hex (-1 decimal) if it's 0 (zero).

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\TaskbarSizeMove

Also monitor this key's value when (un)checking Lock The Taskbar menu item in Taskbar's context menu (right-click in Taskbar empty space). This item only appears when RP is installed.

@ LoneCrusader: what you point to in the first screenshot are the Chevrons I mentioned above (RBBS_USECHEVRON style). They should appear when taskbar is unlocked, with a comctl32.dll version of at least 5.80.

Edited January 29, 2012 by Drugwash

[LoneCrusader]

...(un)checking Lock The Taskbar menu item in Taskbar's context menu (right-click in Taskbar empty space). This item only appears when RP is installed.

@ LoneCrusader: what you point to in the first screenshot are the Chevrons I mentioned above (RBBS_USECHEVRON style). They should appear when taskbar is unlocked, with a comctl32.dll version of at least 5.80.

This does indeed make (most of) the Chevrons reappear, however they are now like the ones in Windows XP Classic View rather than the original 98 style. This is much better than no Chevrons at all though. I can't believe I didn't discover that option when I tried it before...

Thanks Drugwash

[jds]

@CahrlesF : I have two vertical lines to the left of the quick-launch toolbar. One acts as a divider, the other as a handle that lets me move the quick-launch icon toolbar around. However, on the right, there is only a vertical divider line, so I cannot move the boundary between the quick-launch toolbar and the taskbar proper.

@Drugwash : The COMCTL32.DLL version information is exactly as you've shown (apart from the colour).

@LoneCrusader : I got to this point by trying the suggested work-around of disabling and enabling various toolbars prior to giving up and uninstalling RP. That may or may not be relevant.

@Drugwash : That registry key was +1, and still existing without RP. I've set it to -1, which has had no effect so far, but I'll experiment some more tomorrow.

Update : I've now had a chance to play around with this following the registry change, and there seems no change in behaviour (I'm still missing the extra chevron between the quick-launch toolbar and the taskbar proper).

Joe.

Edited January 31, 2012 by jds

[Tihiy]

Here are last RP9 source codes:

http://tihiy.net/files/rp9source.rar

Maybe someone will find use of this stuff i gave a piece of life to.

[Drugwash]

I may be asking too much but... could you provide some basic docs as to which is what and the stage the project is in? Admittedly, I know nothing about Pascal/Delphi and also don't have any such IDE installed, but I also see some C sources for a RP10 that I never heard of before. So please, a few pointers (so to speak ) would be more than welcome.

Although most (or rather all) of us out here would rather have you back, working on this masterpiece. Coz this piece of your life is also part of our lives, and has been for a few good years. Revolutions Pack is synonymous with Tihiy.

(fixed a couple of typos)

Edited March 23, 2012 by Drugwash