[bigmuscle]

pengipete, on 27 February 2013 - 05:39 PM, said:

Nope - tried every variation I can and still no colour for inactive borders in D3D. I'm probably doing something really silly and obviously wrong but I can't spot it - DOH!

Can anyone else confirm that they got inactive borders coloured under D3D?

What did you do exactly? Do you have any custom theme installed? I have not found any usable way to identify each window (including its current state), so inactive windows are identified by its colour which seems to be hardcoded to RGB 235,235,235. This colour is replaced with that one which you specify in HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM:ColorizationColorInactive as e.g. 0xffff0000 (for red colour) It should work even in Direct2D mode. However remember, that in Direct3D mode, this colour is modified by ColorizationColorBalanceInactive settings.

[pengipete]

No custom themes or patches - no patches or hacks of any sort anywhere on the 'puter.

I get the inactive colouring when UseDirect2DRendering is set to 1 (works perfectly and looks good) - but they remain grey when UD2DR is set to 0. (In case it's relevent - I have to set DFL at 9100 to get it working - and I'm using this on a laptop with integrated Intel 4500HD graphics - Direct X 11 - DxDiag Version: 6.02.9200.16384)

I'm thinking I've completely misunderstood something so can you perhaps show a screen grab of your DWM registry entries for both .user and currentuser - so I can compare or duplicate them?

[bigmuscle]

It is probably because, in D3D mode, you need to set also ColorizationColorBalanceInactive and other settings (as Blur/Balance and AfterGlow/Balance). If you don't set color balance, it uses default value of 12%, thus resulting used color will be ColorizationColorInactive * 0.12. Plus when GlassTransparency > 0 then it will be overlaid by the color ARGB (GlassTransparency, 235, 235, 235).

Maybe I could state that I know that current setting options are not optimal. GlassTransparency shouldn't be available in D3D mode at all. All current default values comes from Win8 Release Preview which uses a bit different texture for drawing window border - Win8 RTM draws only a thin line, the rest is fully transparent (alpha is zero), Win8 RP draws a thin line plus a bit of a color with alpha of 14 for actives and 77 for inactives (if I remember the values correctly).

This post has been edited by bigmuscle: 28 February 2013 - 09:40 AM

[pengipete]

So what's the right/best thing for us to do if we want to help test this?

[drakenabarion]

pengipete, on 27 February 2013 - 07:31 PM, said:

drakenabarion, on 27 February 2013 - 06:27 PM, said:

Oh after reading more about the 90% colour intensity issue, I tried setting the D3D on and setting the colour intensity to about 90%. It has part of the window border not only non transparent.

Is that partial effect only there immediately after running the app - i.e. already open windows are transparent where they were overlapped by another window but opaque on the rest of the border - and does the entire border become properly transparent after you drag another window over it or minimise then re-open it - and if you open a new window, is that correctly transparent?

If so, it's always done that for me and the author is aware of it. I'm guessing it's just a simple thing to sort once the author gets the main functions sorted - probably just needs a forced redraw of the screen or windows (plus, of course, if it's eventually run at start-up, that shouldn't even be a problem)

No, its all new windows for me. Even if I close all windows and open a new one that has no window behind it. The Opaque section is also like a percentage of the window and resizes as the window is resized. But I am sure with all the feedback, I'm sure it wont be long befoer things are tweaked.

[bigmuscle]

pengipete: I must admit that I have not figure out the best settings yet. Normally, it is true that BlurBalance + ColorBalance + AfterGlowBalance = 100. But as I recognized in Win8 RP, this is not valid for inactive borders where it is > 100 which is weird.

drakenabarion: does it happen for all windows or just when the window is near the screen edge? What is your screen resolution? Do you have one or more displays?

[drakenabarion]

bigmuscle, on 28 February 2013 - 12:44 PM, said:

pengipete: I must admit that I have not figure out the best settings yet. Normally, it is true that BlurBalance + ColorBalance + AfterGlowBalance = 100. But as I recognized in Win8 RP, this is not valid for inactive borders where it is > 100 which is weird.

drakenabarion: does it happen for all windows or just when the window is near the screen edge? What is your screen resolution? Do you have one or more displays?

I have 2 x 1920x1080 displays.

I think I was wrong about the opaque part being a percent of the window. It varies in size depending on the size of the window. With the command prompt, if I move the window left or right on either screen, the amount of opaque is none on the right hand side of the screen and the more I move the window to the left from about 40% of the screen the opaque part moved across the window from left to right of the window. However, with a windows explorer window more than twice the size of the command prompt window, the opaque section is much larger. I think I will probably need to capture that on a video somehow, because its difficult to explain. Or maybe just a series of screenshots. (Give me a few minutes )

Edit: Here is a Dropbox link to some screenshots. It shows Regedit and the last two screenshots show when it moves from one monitor to the other..
https://www.dropbox....25ce/pxOSvbWVvG

This post has been edited by drakenabarion: 28 February 2013 - 01:23 PM

[bigmuscle]

I think that multiple displays can be the cause. Is it somehow possible that you test it with one monitor only?

[drakenabarion]

bigmuscle, on 28 February 2013 - 01:51 PM, said:

I think that multiple displays can be the cause. Is it somehow possible that you test it with one monitor only?

I will try it out in a little bit. This second I am about to begin my monthly internal dusting. Spray cans ready!

(I'll edit this post once I got to try it out in a bit).

Edit: Yes, works fine on a single display. Transparency is linked to colour intensity in that case.

WindowsOS, on 28 February 2013 - 02:54 PM, said:

bigmuscle, on 28 February 2013 - 01:51 PM, said:

I think that multiple displays can be the cause. Is it somehow possible that you test it with one monitor only?

Direct3D mode does work on single monitor only.

Well, in many ways, Transparency works in multi monitor. Just not correctly.

(Oh you gotta love edit posts for chronology maintenance. This might look like time travel )

This post has been edited by drakenabarion: 28 February 2013 - 03:18 PM

[WindowsOS]

bigmuscle, on 28 February 2013 - 01:51 PM, said:

I think that multiple displays can be the cause. Is it somehow possible that you test it with one monitor only?

Direct3D mode does work on single monitor only.

[pengipete]

Bigmuscle...

I hope you don't think that I meant any criticism. Reading my last post back, it might come across that way.

What I meant was that I am more than happy to change or configure my laptop to help you get this working the way you want - I have plenty of free time and I'm genuinely blown away by how much time and effort you are putting into this. If I can help by mucking about with a few registry values, you only have to ask - the worst that can possibly happen is that I reinstall Windows on this laptop and that just doesn't bother me.

[ISOHaven]

GTX 650 Ti - once I changed reg to 9100 or 9200 or 9300 it worked fine with your changed files.

I notice NO slow downs. It works flawlessly. I also have dual monitors. Minimizing windows, no problems. Everything is super fast with it on and off.

Thanks for all your work! I look forward to a finished product.

[drakenabarion]

Oh another thing I am noticing on my nVidia card. I get the best results with the 0.4v and the private hook dll when I use D2D mode.

While in D2D mode with transparent window frames, my GPU correctly clocks down to the lower speeds like it did in Windows 7. DWM in Windows 8 keeps the GPU running at full clock speeds. It was never an issue in terms of idle temps but as a strange side effect to the DWM Loader, I get maybe 7 or 8c cooler temps.

Ok its not directly related to this software as such but it can be a nice "feature" if it still happens in the final builds.

Edit: Just to clarify, I get better GPU activity using DWMLoader than I get with it off. Windows 8, by default, does not correctly clock down my GPU like it would in Windows 7. However, with DWMLoader, it works as it did in Windows 7.

This post has been edited by drakenabarion: 01 March 2013 - 09:43 AM

[HydroHusky]

I need some help. I don't know how you all got v0.4 to work. When I load it up its opaque, SO I go to the regestry editor to look for the registries. I didint find them there. So I made them and set the values like in the picture drakenabarion posted. Still I get no results, as of now I deleted what I entered in the registry editor.

[Tusticles]

inighthawki, on 27 February 2013 - 08:48 PM, said:

Tusticles, on 27 February 2013 - 08:25 AM, said:

bigmuscle, on 27 February 2013 - 07:17 AM, said:

kyolic, on 27 February 2013 - 04:34 AM, said:

Yes it works but there is considerable amount of lag when minimizing windows.

In 0.4 or in that private build?

In all versions dude, all versions have lag, I don't care if you fix it or not, but just give me an explanation. I told you, to fix the lag I have to make the GPU gaming profile fixed, but who want 50+C GPU temp in idle/desktop mode... This tells me that your pretty app is hunger for GPU resources, I understand, debug version, alpha, etc. but I still want some answers. Thank you.

Sounds more like your drivers aren't properly adjusting power states for the workload. Even if his implementation required 10x the resources and workload of MS's it should not produce a noticeable effect with a GTX 670 - it should be more than powerful enough to run dozens of fullscreen sheets of solid glass on top of each other without a hiccup. The problem is very likely on your end (drivers or profiles you made) since very few others seem to have the issue on what I would imagine to be less powerful hardware, unless everyone in this thread has a GTX680. I had no problem running his glass implementation from 0.3 on my 6950 and it showed almost no GPU utilization and near idle temperatures. And your GTX 670 should be faster than my 6950.

I have the latest drivers, clean installation, no GPU custom profiles as I already said, the lag occur only with the low profiles, idle/dekstop... Forcing a higher profile will fix the problem but I don't like the idea of running a high profile in idle/desktop... I have no idea why I want so much the Aero but after a few weeks of using Win8 I couldn't find anything special so I'm thinking about going back to Win7, idk.

This post has been edited by Tusticles: 01 March 2013 - 08:02 AM

[Windows8RTMUser]

0.3 works just fine 0.4 just freezes my computer (after registry edits)

[DosProbie]

With all these updates I think it would help everyone if you could add your updated versions to the console.
When I launch DWMLoader.exe it reads Win8 v0.3 not v0.4
and then to dwm.exe to - THIS IS PREVIEW VERSION ONLY!!! v.04
Thanks,

This post has been edited by DosProbie: 01 March 2013 - 06:12 PM

[Windows8RTMUser]

I just noticed in Vista & 7 the back & forward buttons and some other stuff are transparent

[pengipete]

HydroHusky, on 28 February 2013 - 11:54 PM, said:

I need some help. I don't know how you all got v0.4 to work. When I load it up its opaque, SO I go to the regestry editor to look for the registries. I didint find them there. So I made them and set the values like in the picture drakenabarion posted. Still I get no results, as of now I deleted what I entered in the registry editor.

Did you check the colour intensity setting in the Windows' "Personalisation" settings? If that's set to maximum, you get solid borders - it needs to be lowered a bit for transparency to start showing up. Set the slider to about halfway and then play around with it until you get the right balance of colour and transparency.

[Reddax]

Doesn't work on my Windows 8 64bit system, tried running it in administrative mode but still no luck, the window pops up saying Close this window to exit aero glass effect. Yet there is no Aero glass effect. Will attach screenshot.

Attached File(s)

•  1.jpg (466.68K)
  Number of downloads: 33

This post has been edited by Reddax: 02 March 2013 - 05:49 AM