Well. Alpha-blended icons in taskbar, window captions and Alt-Tab dialog is not supported now because they're drawn at deeper system level.
note: you can workaround this now by using WindowBlinds, TClock3 and other skinning programs.
I think i can patch at that level as well, however, i need to know which user32.dll version is *latest* now and where can I download it now.
Edit: oh noes calls go to teh kernal

Version 1.2 with following improvements attached to first post:
- Shell icon cache is now rebuilt after installation
- Rocketdock images issue fixed

This post has been edited by Tihiy: Feb 19 2007, 04:11 PM

Well, after reinstalling my nvidia drivers the patch is PARTIALY working.

Here is a screenshot (patch version is 1.1):






Sorry about the dark background. I forgot to change it.

This post has been edited by Dave.Net: Feb 19 2007, 04:45 PM

Well, rebuild icon cache (or install 1.2 which will do this automatically)

Thanks Tihiy!!! It worked.

Besides taskbar, titlebars and alt-tab dialog there's a bug when you bring up the properties dialog for any shortcut. The arrow overlay appears as a black square.

I'm testing this out on a VM. I placed the dll file in the win\sys32 folder and typed in regsvr32 rpl2k.dll and I get an error window. I'm using a slim version of 2k with an IE6 core and dx9c slipstreamed.
DllRegisterServer in rpl2k.dll failed. Return code was 0xffffffff

Are there file dependencies for this DLL? Do I need to use a full blown installation of 2k to run this?

It doesn't look like a proper testing scenario. But what do I know?

This means rpl2k.dll was already registered from this or another directory.
Try to unregister before registering. If it won't help, manually clean AppInit_DLLs.

Tihiy RP for 2000 is great idea.
Since I were bought new computer in my PC isn't 98SE.
Now I can use nLite to build new W2K0.
Thanks a lot for your work!
U are the best!!!!!!!!!

I hope there will be the same skining engine like in 98SE...

These are the 4 bugs i've found so far. I should say bugs #1-#3 don't happen all the time and they are not exclusive to any particular program. Bug #4, on the other hand, does happen all the time.

Bugs #1-#3:




Bug #4:



This post has been edited by Dave.Net: Feb 20 2007, 11:06 AM

Bugs #1,2: known, random, weird, trying to fix.
#3: not explored & not known how to fix: Windows XP also doesn't display all 32-bit .ico files, only some of them.
#4: this bug happens because when 32-bit & non-32 bit image is composited, it is impossible to distinguish what result is. Render may be either with weird arrow or weird arrow and no image at all. Don't know what to do either.
Other than that, i'll try to fix #1-#2, and also add 32-bit icons in taskbar at least.

So...you mean the shortcut overlay issue could be avoided by using a 32-bit arrow. Great.

Thanks.

I don't know if it's coincidence or not, but my system became very unstable after installing RPL2K.DLL. I'd get an error message that explorer.exe has caused problems, and the shell restarted after I clicked OK. This happened opening random folders (just viewing them), very often. I deinstalled RPL2K.DLL about 7 hours ago and so far I didn't experience any crash. I haven't witnessed a shell restart for over two years on my computer (reinstalled a few times, of course, in those two years) so I'd exclude "bad system maintenance", but you never know, hehe...

If it would help, I can install RPL2K.DLL again and provide you with some logs. I usually use Inspector IIXII but if you prefer something else let me know...

Believe or not, this bug is known. However, i though it to be extremely rare.
That's how reputation is lost, eh
Wait please for 1.5 where i'll fix it. I just need to find time for that.

Version 1.5 attached to the first post
- Fixed Explorer crash which can occur while image-lists are being refreshed
- Added 32-bit icon support into taskbar (Note: not every application will support it. Opera and applications compiled on Borland compilers may not show 32-bit icons on taskbar)

Thanks for the update.

Awesome work! Thanks.

Great! Thaks Tihiy

Tihiy, the shell icons work fine. But what about explorer toolbar icons? I have the 32-bit toolbar bitmaps from Vista (Browseui.dll - bitmap#265, 266, 276, 277) but they're oversized ie. 384x24 instead of 320x20 and 1128x24 instead of 940x20. If I apply them directly the white areas become transparent (which must mean that the toolbar supports 32-bit bitmaps), but the icons are all misaligned because of the size discrepancy. If I resize the bitmaps, the icons are aligned properly but the white areas show up around the icons.

Since both original and resized images are 32-bit bitmaps I fail to see why they behave differently.

Do you have any idea why this happens and/or any workarounds? Since your screenshot doesn't show toolbar icons I don't know if you have modified your toolbar or intend to. I'm using RPL2K 1.2 BTW.

Are you sure they're both 32-bit? Check them for transparency with some tool which is able to show it.

I'm certainly looking for a way to provide 32-bit icons with 24x24 size into Explorer toolbar.
It is easily possible by patching files, but i want to find a way to do it on the fly.

I use GIMP. It says "Display Type: RGB Color", "Visual class: True Color", and "Visual depth: 32" for both images. And if I move the cursor to the white background, it shows "Red: 255", "Blue: 255", "Green: 255" and "Alpha: 255" in both images. Or is GIMP incapable of detecting the alpha value in bitmaps?
I don't know much about graphics editing, so if you're "looking for a way to provide 32-bit icons with 24x24 size into Explorer toolbar", I'll just wait for you to implement it; since it's obviously going to be better than anything I can cook up.
If you can point out any place where I might have got it wrong, I'll try again. If it's easily possible to use 24x24 icons by patching files, can you please tell me how? I'll settle for the manual method till you figure out how to automate the process.