Vista Transparency issues

from Stardock Forums


As noted in the screenshot vs the way it should look in the windows blind interface. Transparency isn't working right on my system and I'm not sure why.

I have the latest Window Blinds version & registered.
I have the latest ATI drivers for my Radeon card.

Your computer has a Windows Experience Index base score of 4

Your Windows Graphics Experience score is 5.5

WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 5 (5.50 (build 100 x86 - Vista Edition))

WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC

WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC

(Algemeen PnP-beeldscherm) 1 is attached to RADEON 9800 PRO
(Algemeen PnP-beeldscherm) 2 is attached to RADEON 9800 PRO

Wblind.dll 2007/02/21 16:07:20
Wbsrv.dll 2007/02/21 16:08:05
Wbconfig.exe 2007/02/15 13:35:52
Wbload.exe 2006/03/13 17:54:14
Wbhelp.dll 2004/09/18 16:37:07
windowblinds
6,035 views 10 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
bump
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Which version of Vista do you have?

Also if you apply Aero, does it show transparency correctly?

Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
I have the retail version of Windows Ultimate and yes without windows blinds running the Aero shows transparency correctly. As soon as I switch to a blinds skin it seems to switch the interface to Basic and then applies the skin. The start+tab window thing doesn't work either (it just does nothing). I'm not sure if this is the window blinds or the window fx running.
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
I have the same problem but it seemed to work when switching to a windowblinds skin from window aero but from windows classic to a windowblinds skin it doesnt do perpixle the whole reason i spent 20 bucks was because i couldnt spend 100 on new ram and aero uses 20 to 35 megs of ram more then without it...
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
i can't seem to go back to aero with WB .. it just goes back to windows basic. So it looks like WB is downgrading my system for some reason.
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
ok I restarted WMM, this brought back Aero, then I applied the skin above and it worked correctly. So I agree with Matt .. the problem seems to steam from a non-aero skin to an aero type skin.
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
After feather testing... that is if i can learn to spell... lol anyway It seems that windowblinds when running in vista uses vista's api's or native skining engine like it does on xp.. I have come to this conclusion because manualy stopping dwm.exe seems to kill all transparency on all wb5 perpixle skins.. Thats how it is able to run and not use more memory then windows does to skin windows.. The per pixel has been offloaded to dwm thats why the aero minimizing and maximizing effects and 3dflip work. But windowblinds doesnt 100% enable dwm all the time but most times thats why we will get the per pixel disabled. If this makes any sence tell me because in writing it i got confused lol.. Anyway bottom line..

WIndowblinds uses windows api's to skin windows.. all per pixel effects have been offloaded to dwm thats why they say perpixel will not work on vista computers without dwm compadible cards/drivers. This is inovative however id expect windowblinds perpixel to work without dwm because it works in xp maybe it needs an option to do perpixel without dwm. tho we would loose the extra minimizing and maximizing and 3dflip dwm provides. It is all up to developers but I think that perpixel should be achivable without dwm since dwm when active uses up to 20-30 megs of ram then without it. Its an issue but vista has been out to the public for what a few months month and a half or what and windowblinds has been adopted by an even smaller percentiage of those who actualy have vista. It will be worked out sooner or later.

for now i dont really care because my favorite skin doesnt use perpixel anyway its watercolor xp (whistler's old visual style)

anyone else have anything to add or correct i may have gotten a few things wrong but for the most part i think im right.. i dunno
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top

If you want per pixel on Vista with WB you will need to have the DWM running.

Without the DWM running the entire Vista UI crawls if you have WDDM drivers as the OS uses the cpu for everything (Unlike on XP where hardware acceleration is used)

Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
I have Vista Basic on a PC that is otherwise completely Aero capable (I already subscribe to OD, so I couldn't justify paying the extra $60 only for for Aero, when I love OD/WB and would change the skin anyway). I also have the transparency problem mentioned previously. Does WB support Vista Basic? No differentation has been made in the specs of WB as to Vista version, except for Deskscapes, that I can find. If Basic is suported, how would I get DWM to work on my machine (for transparency)? Wb 5.5, Celeron 3.0Ghz, 1.5GbRam, Nvidia FX 5200 250Mb video card.
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Neil, I am experiencing the same problem on Windows Vista Home Basic. You can easily identify the problem in skins such as Aura. If you switch to this skin, you can notice that the taskbar is a solid color, but it turns transparent if you maximize a window. Or if you switch to Arrow by mike b. The taskbar gets solid. But when you maximize a window, it becomes transparent again.