[AlexKven]

This is very good. I made an account on this site just because of this. But there is one issue: It is incompatible with all wpf apps that use the system frame.

Thank you for working so hard on this! I am glad we don't need to replace dwm.exe to get glass back.

[Tusticles]

inighthawki, on 03 February 2013 - 05:35 PM, said:

Tusticles, on 03 February 2013 - 04:56 PM, said:

Hi guys, just registered to this forum for this new great project. It looks beautiful but the windows are laggy and the fps drop in games. Just updated to latest nvidia beta driver and I have the same issue. Any ideas? Thank you.

Asus G75VW
CPU: Intel i7-3610QM
RAM: 12 GB DDR3
GPU: Nvidia GTX 670M
OS: Windows 8 Pro with Media Center X64

I can't speak with certainty, but I would imagine you'd see the big drop since the windows are all switched to layered windows with 254/255 alpha, which means on top of all of your rendering, you need to do a fullscreen alpha blend composition of the desktop, which can be expensive, especially if the GPU is already taxed. Can you check to see if you get a similar framerate drop with using WinAeroGlass? If not, it could also be related to the memory leak someone posted earlier.

With WinAeroGlass only the Chrome browser is a bit laggy.

[Windows8RTMUser]

Can you lower the usage?

[Windows8RTMUser]

my computer turns off due to overheating (Laptop 2011 Samsung -NP-R440-JU03PH)

[bigmuscle]

Please do not spam with useless posts. Current version is a preview only which is not intended for regular usage.

[Windows8RTMUser]

ok

[Tusticles]

bigmuscle, on 04 February 2013 - 08:12 AM, said:

Please do not spam with useless posts. Current version is a preview only which is not intended for regular usage.

The GPU Load is huge with aero enabled, but not always. Should I read the whole thread, if there is an explanation why is eating so much video resources? The gpu have clock profiles, when aero is enabled the highest clock profile is activated, ****, that profile is used when playing games...

Hmm, the lag occur when I have more than one window opened, with just one window everything is fine.

This post has been edited by Tusticles: 04 February 2013 - 09:19 AM

[bigmuscle]

vjott, on 03 February 2013 - 09:28 PM, said:

KittBlog, on 03 February 2013 - 03:17 PM, said:

It looks very nice and works on my German Windows 8 x64 very well, thanks!

However, there is something with my iTunes: The interface is no more available in this program, so I can't do anything without my media controls on the keyboard.
Can anyone look for a fix? If you need a debug log or anything else, I can attach it.

This has been reported before. Not sure if the creator will fix it but he needs help. Unfortunately I haven't the skills.

ad iTunes: I have already created a topic in their forum https://discussions....tart=0&tstart=0 but no response yet. For the next version, I will at least implement the temporary workaround "if window == iTunes".

[KittBlog]

Better than nothing, thanks!

Greetings from Germany

[skyli]

Hi!

For me, glass doesn't apply to the taskbar, ony the windows. Is it normal in the preview?

And if I start trillian (chat program which has aero glass background in it's theme), dwm crashes. Here is my crash log:

DWMHook: 0x1AAA4DAA: InstallDWMHook
DWMHook: 0x1AAB203A: InstallDWMHook
dwmcore: 0x1C6D93FA: MilConnectionManager_NotifyHostEvent
dwmcore: 0x1C6D917E: MilConnectionManager_NotifyHostEvent
dwmcore: 0x1C6D96EE: MilConnectionManager_NotifyHostEvent
dwmcore: 0x1C6D6CB1: MilConnectionManager_NotifyHostEvent
dwmcore: 0x1C6D64B0: MilConnectionManager_NotifyHostEvent
dwmcore: 0x1C6D60AF: MilConnectionManager_NotifyHostEvent
dwmcore: 0x1C6D6FB7: MilConnectionManager_NotifyHostEvent
dwmcore: 0x1C6DD5C5: MilConnectionManager_NotifyHostEvent
dwmcore: 0x1C6CE586: MilConnectionManager_NotifyHostEvent
dwmcore: 0x1C6CDFF3: MilConnectionManager_NotifyHostEvent
dwmcore: 0x1C6D1E74: MilConnectionManager_NotifyHostEvent
dwmcore: 0x1C6D272C: MilConnectionManager_NotifyHostEvent
dwmcore: 0x1C6C6850: MilCoreClientIsDwm
dwmcore: 0x1C6D3133: MilConnectionManager_NotifyHostEvent
dwmcore: 0x1C6D4B15: MilConnectionManager_NotifyHostEvent
dwmcore: 0x1C6CC310: MilConnectionManager_NotifyHostEvent
dwmcore: 0x1C6C5F4F: ?
dwmcore: 0x1C6C5A5A: ?
dwmcore: 0x1C6C5837: ?
dwmcore: 0x1C6C42F0: ?
dwmcore: 0x1C6C41BD: ?
dwmcore: 0x1C6C2C26: ?
dwmcore: 0x1C6C1F84: ?
dwmcore: 0x1C756B5C: MilCompositionEngine_InitializePartitionManager
KERNEL32: 0x27BF167E: BaseThreadInitThunk
ntdll: 0x29233501: RtlUserThreadStart

I have 2 aero themes for trillian and one is working but only if i start trillian before and dwm after. If I start dwm first, then the window content will not be visible.
Thank you for this app!

 Névtelen.png (218.8K)
Number of downloads: 33

This post has been edited by skyli: 04 February 2013 - 10:04 AM

[Tihiy]

Trying to work this around via black list won't succeed, too many programs can fail when their state is externally modified. It would be better to trick DWM into thinking windows are layered while they aren't. I didn't find a way yet, but there should be.

[KittBlog]

I have no problem with the tweak and Trillian...

[skyli]

KittBlog, on 04 February 2013 - 10:03 AM, said:

I have no problem with the tweak and Trillian...

Try APB skin or Avion Pro 5.2

[bigmuscle]

Tihiy, on 04 February 2013 - 09:51 AM, said:

Trying to work this around via black list won't succeed, too many programs can fail when their state is externally modified. It would be better to trick DWM into thinking windows are layered while they aren't. I didn't find a way yet, but there should be.

I know it fixes only the application added to black list but better than nothing until proper solution is found.

[bigmuscle]

AERO GLASS for Win8 PREVIEW 3

Since I am busy with studying DWM and trying to introduce some more interesting stuff which will take a longer time implement (if it is possible :-) ) but I don't want to let you wait too long, here is another preview. Do not expect too much from this version. Just a few fixed bugs (and new bugs added :-) )

What's new:
* removed dependency on C:\DWM folder
* loop for layered windows chained into DWM main window's timer
* set lower interval for setting layered windows
* fixed crash for application which do not like WS_EX_LAYERED to be set too early (e.g. Windows Paint)
* fixed a few memory leaks
* added temporary workaround for iTunes (it will be removed in the future!!!)
* added some new EXPERIMENTAL registry settings:

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM (no user-specific settings now!)
DisableDebugLog (DWORD) = when set to 1, it disables logging to file. NOT RECOMMENDED!!!

ForceBoundingRectangleRedraw (DWORD) = when set to 1, layered windows technique will be disabled completely. Instead of it, it tries to repaint whole bounding rectangle of the window texture (with respect to clipping area). This settings is for users who don't like layered windows but I don't recommend to use it at all, because it has not been tested much, you won't see totally obscured objects in transparent area and it brings a lot of redraw glitches (so do not complain about them)!!!

http://leteckaposta.cz/985544913

[Tusticles]

bigmuscle, on 04 February 2013 - 04:59 PM, said:

AERO GLASS for Win8 PREVIEW 3

Since I am busy with studying DWM and trying to introduce some more interesting stuff which will take a longer time implement (if it is possible :-) ) but I don't want to let you wait too long, here is another preview. Do not expect too much from this version. Just a few fixed bugs (and new bugs added :-) )

What's new:
* removed dependency on C:\DWM folder
* loop for layered windows chained into DWM main window's timer
* set lower interval for setting layered windows
* fixed crash for application which do not like WS_EX_LAYERED to be set too early (e.g. Windows Paint)
* fixed a few memory leaks
* added temporary workaround for iTunes (it will be removed in the future!!!)
* added some new EXPERIMENTAL registry settings:

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM (no user-specific settings now!)
DisableDebugLog (DWORD) = when set to 1, it disables logging to file. NOT RECOMMENDED!!!

ForceBoundingRectangleRedraw (DWORD) = when set to 1, layered windows technique will be disabled completely. Instead of it, it tries to repaint whole bounding rectangle of the window texture (with respect to clipping area). This settings is for users who don't like layered windows but I don't recommend to use it at all, because it has not been tested much, you won't see totally obscured objects in transparent area and it brings a lot of redraw glitches (so do not complain about them)!!!

http://leteckaposta.cz/985544913

When launched the loader everything was fine but after a few seconds the windows started to lag

This post has been edited by Tusticles: 04 February 2013 - 05:11 PM

[bigmuscle]

And just a small thing for users who like coding in C++ and Direct2D/Direct3D and would like to play with a little code.
At the beginning of this project I was trying to implement transparency and blur effect via wndproc hooking and implementing my own WM_NCPAINT handler. It was working correctly but it was slow. There were many lags on window move and resize. I was using the following code to reach the transparency effect. The problem if this code is that is written using GDI library so it is slow and does not render any layered windows nor Direct3D content in transparent areas. Maybe it would be worth to reimplement it using Direct2D/Direct3D (maybe user32.dll: DwmGetDxSharedSurface could be used to get actual window content) and then try using in the project to achieve transparency without layered windows.

void OffscreenBuffer::update()
{
	// since there is no easy way to access DWM Direct3D surface, we must render windows using GDI
	// problem is that it does not render any Direct3D content (including DWM window border or layered windows)
	bmpRT->BeginDraw();
	HDC hDC;
	gdiBitmapTarget->GetDC(D2D1_DC_INITIALIZE_MODE_COPY, &hDC);

	auto winRegion = CreateRectRgn(wi.rcWindow.left - RADIUS, wi.rcWindow.top - RADIUS, wi.rcWindow.right + RADIUS, wi.rcWindow.bottom + RADIUS);
	auto clientRegion = CreateRectRgn(wi.rcWindow.left + wi.cxWindowBorders + RADIUS, wi.rcWindow.top + wi.cyWindowBorders + RADIUS, wi.rcWindow.right - wi.cxWindowBorders - RADIUS, wi.rcWindow.bottom - wi.cxWindowBorders - RADIUS);

	HRGN borderRegion = CreateRectRgn(0,0,0,0);
	CombineRgn(borderRegion, winRegion, clientRegion, RGN_DIFF);

	// iterate over all windows (starting with the current window) and render their content into off-screen bitmap
	// only windows obsured by our window border are rendered
	HWND next = hWnd;
	while(next =  GetNextWindow(next, GW_HWNDNEXT))
	{
		if(IsWindowVisible(next) &&
			!((GetWindowLong(next, GWL_EXSTYLE) & WS_EX_LAYERED) == WS_EX_LAYERED))	// ignore layered windows for now
		{
			RECT wndRect = { 0 };
			GetWindowRect(next, &wndRect);

			if(RectInRegion(borderRegion, &wndRect))	// does window lie beneath our border?
			{
				HDC winDC = ::GetWindowDC(next);

				// avoid drawing area which lies outside of the border
				SelectClipRgn(winDC, borderRegion);
				SelectClipRgn(hDC, borderRegion);

				// blit the clipped region
				BitBlt(hDC, wndRect.left, wndRect.top, wndRect.right - wndRect.left, wndRect.bottom - wndRect.top, winDC, 0, 0, SRCCOPY);

				SelectClipRgn(winDC, NULL);
				ReleaseDC(next, winDC);

				// substract region of this window not to blit windows which are obscured by it
				HRGN wndRgn = CreateRectRgnIndirect(&wndRect);
				int currRgn = CombineRgn(borderRegion, borderRegion, wndRgn, RGN_DIFF);
				DeleteObject(wndRgn);	

				// if we end up with empty region (i.e. all discovered windows already take whole border area), 
				// it makes no sense to continue, because all other windows wouldn't be visible at all
				if(currRgn == NULLREGION)
					break;
			}
		}
	}

	SelectClipRgn(hDC, NULL);
	DeleteObject(winRegion);
	DeleteObject(clientRegion);
	DeleteObject(borderRegion);	

	RECT rc = { max(0, wi.rcWindow.left), max(0, wi.rcWindow.top), min(wi.rcWindow.right, 1920), min(wi.rcWindow.bottom, 1080) };
	gdiBitmapTarget->ReleaseDC(&rc);
	bmpRT->EndDraw();
}

Just in case, anyone want to play...

[Tusticles]

bigmuscle, I found the problem, my gpu have clock profiles, in desktop the low clock profile is running and the windows are laggy.

Quote

Performance Level 0 (P12)
Memory Clock 135MHz
Shader Clock 101MHz

Quote

Performance Level 1 (P8)
Memory Clock 324MHz
Shader Clock 147MHz

Quote

Performance Level 2 (P1)
Memory Clock 1500MHz
Shader Clock 730MHz

Quote

Performance Level 3 (P0)
Memory Clock 1500MHz
Shader Clock 1240MHz

I have lag only with P12 and P8 profiles.

--edit--

Fixed the issue by forcing a fixed clock, I chose P1 but these clocks in idle... idk.

This post has been edited by Tusticles: 04 February 2013 - 06:08 PM

[vjott]

Do you mean that we can no longer customise blur or opacity with the registry settings?

This post has been edited by vjott: 04 February 2013 - 06:59 PM

[ORelio]

Good news, this preview is even more stable than the previous one

On my computer, with ForceBoundingRectangleRedraw activated, some windows have a white title bar.
(Or an aero basic title bar, not skinned at all by DWM.)
So, after testing I disabled this setting ^^

I updated the customization GUI to fit the new preview :



Each GUI version should be used only with the correct preview.
This one is for preview 3, do not use it with preview 2.

Download link : AGTweaker-1.0.2.zip
Get the Sources : AGTweaker-1.0.2-Sources.zip
Sources are released under the CCDL license. (why ?)