WindowBlinds 5 Beta 1 Released

Notes

Published on October 4, 2005 By Frogboy In Object Desktop

WindowBlinds 5 beta 1 (4.90) has been released on Object Desktop (it's only available if you have Object Desktop presently).

UPDATE: 4.9A now up -- support for older nVidia cards added!

Release Notes:
------------

This build is the first beta for the upcoming WindowBlinds 5. There are going to be some rough edges as it gets out in wider distribution, so please be as detailed as possible with any feedback.

Requirements:
Windows XP. Does not support Windows 2000 or Windows XP 64-bit (64-bit version will come later though).

The Big One - Per-pixel borders on XP

-Per-pixel (alpha-blended) titlebars and borders. It's been an internal struggle over the last year or more as to whether we would be able to implement these on Windows XP with reasonable performance. We have, _if_ you have a relatively modern video card and good drivers for it.

What does that mean? Your video card needs to have hardware support for alphablending and a driver with SHADEBLENDCAPS support implemented and functional. ATI Radeon's 9000+ or later should be fine, NVIDIA GeForce 6000+ or later should be fine, and even chips that you wouldn't expect like the integrated Intel 82852/82855 GM/GME run fine with it.

Some boards are not going to work with this release, though we hope to be able to work with the driver vendors to find a workaround. GeForce 4600/5200 and related seem to be a common trigger for that (like they are losing the alpha channel for the images). The top/bottom borders with per-pixel skins seem oversaturated, but the left/right borders are working (and you can click "through" the top border).

Yes, you can put shadows on your borders and make them part of the skin. See the Arrow sample that is included. The shadows are part of the skin.

Other new features:

By Per-Pixel, we mean elements that have full alpha blending support (anti-alias themselves to whatever graphical elements are around it).

-No wbload.exe process. The binary is still there for installing skins.
-Per-pixel menus
-Per-pixel taskbar
-Per-pixel progress bar overlay
-Per-pixel "Please wait" dialog
-New wbconfig previews
-New skincast features (not in this build)
-Lots of optimizations under the hood.

When reporting problems, please check the Troubleshooting section of WBConfig. Select the text with the left-mouse button and press Ctrl-C to copy the text. Please include that when reporting any visual-bugs along with a screenshot (cropped if appropriate for size).

There is an updated SkinStudio beta available to Object Desktop customers with support for creating per-pixel skins. You must still include the non-pp images for systems that don't support the new frames, so the skins should still work with WB 4.x.

Note: To change skins you have to load WBConfig now. There's no system tray icon yet. You can change skins from display properties (msstyles now show up side by side with WindowBlinds skins btw) or you can put a short-cut to WindowBlinds config somewhere handy like on the Quick Launch or use Keyboard LaunchPad to assign a hot-key to bring it up.

Enjoy!

Support: https://forums.stardock.com/?forumid=167

Comments (Page 4)

fishdonuts

on Oct 08, 2005

Hmm. Works fine on my FX5200 Ultra.

However: Checkboxes. The text next to all the checkboxes in the User Overrides part of WindowBlinds 5 Settings is black, on a black background. (Using the "5imple Alpha" skin.) I haven't checked other apps for that problem yet.

iPseudoNym

on Oct 08, 2005

One minor issue I am seeing with some skins (GT3 for instance) now is that in the Stardock Central window also in the main window of Spybbot - Search & Destroy, BOINC Manager (for Seti@Home), Windows Sound Recorder (like I ever use it lol), Volume Controls, 3d Studio Max 6, Photoshop/Imageready CS2, Macromedia Studio 8 Programs the title bar graphics and or horizontal scroll bar images are being rendered a second time behind the file menu when the window is resized. I haven't noticed this in any other program window at this point.

Looks like 4.90c[b].003 solved this for me the only place i see anything like this happening now is the Windows Task Manager and other tabbed dialog windows, not behind the file menu now rather in borders of the tabbed areas (Applications, Processes, Performance, etc.)

again both on go6800 and fx5700le

as the window is resized you can see the titlebar graphics moving around in the outlined area

WindowBlinds 5 BETA Troubleshooting Report:

STATUS : WB+ SRV+ HLP+ UI+

WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC.

WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC

Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.

You have one monitor in total.

(Default Monitor) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce Go 6800
'NVIDIA GeForce Go 6800' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAY2', but is not attached to the desktop.
'NetMeeting driver' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV1', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver.
'RDPDD Chained DD' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV2', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver.

Neil Banfield

on Oct 08, 2005

Your tab issue appears to be a bug in the skin itself. The skin failed to define sizing margins on the tabs.border section and this is why this problem happens.

Find the [tabs.border] section in the GT3 UIS files and change it to

[Tabs.Border]
Image=GT3\GT3_tabs_border_75.bmp
LeftWidth =3
RightWidth = 3
TopHeight =3
BottomHeight=3

iPseudoNym

on Oct 08, 2005

Find the [tabs.border] section in the GT3 UIS files and change it to ...

Tried this but it did not solve the problem ... I see that these values are also set under the [Tabs] area of the uis file. I've not created a WB skin before so I'm unfamiliar with all this but figured what the heck and tried altering the values under the [Tabs] section as well but still no joy.

Interestingly enough I uninstalled/reinstalled the GT3 skin and no longer have this issue with it.

mikixs

on Oct 08, 2005

????????????????????????

Corky_O

on Oct 08, 2005

So far so good with StealthOS.

WindowBlinds 5 BETA Troubleshooting Report:

STATUS : WB+ SRV+ HLP+ UI+

WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC.

WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC

Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.

You have one monitor in total.

(Plug and Play Monitor) 1 is attached to RADEON X700 Series
'RADEON X700 Series Secondary ' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAY2', but is not attached to the desktop.
'NetMeeting driver' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV1', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver.
'RDPDD Chained DD' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV2', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver.

Nicely done, Stardock.

Corky_O

on Oct 08, 2005

I forgot to mention that the Min, Max/Restore, and Close buttons for the windows both Poser 5 and Painter IX now work (they did not work in Version 4.60.x).

Very exciting.

Neil Banfield

on Oct 08, 2005

With all skins?

Corky_O

on Oct 08, 2005

With all skins?

Neil, if you are referring to my comment on Poser 5 and Painter IX, the answer is yes - the Minimize, Maximize/Restore, and Close buttons on the top right corner of the application window in both of those applications failed to respond to any clicking (left or right) using any of the 30 - 40 popular skins I have installed and running on WindowBlinds version 4.4.x and up.

I was still able to use the taskbar button's right-click menu to perform all the functions, but I chose to exclude instead.

One other thing I noticed with Painter IX skinned by version 4.4 - 4.6, was that the tool "property bar" (just below the standard menu bar) would load with a space between the property bar and the menu bar - which does not occur with the default windows themes service. This also appears to be fixed in the 4.90.x beta version.

The new 4.90.x beta works as expected with those applications - no delays in responding to the use of those control buttons.

Note - when I reported this to Tech Support and requested any advice, I received a response indicating that some applications use a different drawing method in the titlebar, and this might be the cause.

Thanks.

irishman055

on Oct 08, 2005

I have 2 problemes: 1. the tray icon is gone (minor) 2. Can't erease skins I don't want (not so minor).

Corky_O

on Oct 09, 2005

Good on Dell laptop running the Stealth WB as well.

WindowBlinds 5 BETA Troubleshooting Report:

STATUS : WB+ SRV+ HLP+ UI+

WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC.

WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC

Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.

You have one monitor in total.

(Default Monitor) 1 is attached to ATI MOBILITY RADEON X300
'ATI MOBILITY RADEON X300 ' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAY2', but is not attached to the desktop.
'NetMeeting driver' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV1', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver.
'RDPDD Chained DD' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV2', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver.

BTW - the non-transparent taskbar is actually a nice feature for the use of ObjectDock Plus tabbed drawer docks - it might look strange if you can see the icons and dock through the taskbar all the time.

Quackdoc

on Oct 13, 2005

I downloaded the beta version of WindowsBlind 5 and my task bar just froze,in effect my computer just stooped functioning.
I had to do a system restore to correct the problem.
You would think that one did not need to upgrade hardware(that is about a year old) every time a newer version of your software is put out on the market. But it seems that at Stardock, you don't bother to take that into consideration, not to mention a system crash, as mine nearly did. Why do I have to be forced to upgrade my VGA card & motherboard to allow the new version to function?
I have been a long time fan of Object Desktop, but in future I will have to consider other easier options. :

Neil Banfield

on Oct 13, 2005

I should point out that the software is BETA. This means it might not work, it might crash, hang, it could even cause you to have to reinstall. Now its unlikely the reinstall issue would happen, but crashes etc are normal for Beta releases.

I doubt your problem is anything to do with your VGA card or motherboard. Most likely explorer hung on skin apply and you just need to kill it using taskmanager & restart it. If it still happens then we would want to know what explorer addins you have etc.

Bernie D

on Oct 13, 2005

I've down loaded the new WB5 at least 4 times trying to get it working properly on my system. My problems are 1) On the Task Bar there is a spot next to the Hide / Show button that is not skinned there is a blank spot that is either white or gray that is a quater inch wide and just as tall as the Task Bar that just won't go away. This situation effects every skin with WB5. 2) In the Window Blinds Configuration Window the bottom scroll bar only goes in one direction when viewing skins. The actual WB5 program works great on the computer except I can deal with the unskinned portion on my Task Bar, it destroys all the thrill that I have for the upgrade. I had to do a system restore and return to 4.5. I did this after working 2 hours trying to fix this Task Bar Bug. I am going to wait until I hear about all bugs fixed before I try WB5 again.

djefi§

on Oct 13, 2005

This current version of WB 5 beta is still not perfectly compatible with my
PC. The problems are:

Norton Internet Security Parental Control does not load correctly. After
several attempts, the status bar which shows that Parental Control is
loading freezes and the dialog box doesn't disappear.

When you roll over the icons in the status bar/tool tray, the pop up text is
hidden behind the bar.

I have activated the option "hide status bar/tool tray automatically". When
the bar/tray disappears it doesn't hide smoothly. Especially with the new WB
5 skins.

I found these problems after spending only an hour using WB 5. I couldn't
use the program extensively because I couldn't remove the Parental Control
dialogue box from the middle of the screen. Being "on top", the dialogue box
also prevented me from using the other applications on my computer.

This has forced me to go back to using the old version of WB, at least until
these problems with version 5 have been solved.

The new version of WB is fantastic, so it's a real pity that I can't use it.
I'll wait until it works properly.

Thanks,

Maurizio.

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