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Object Desktop 2009 Official Support Thread

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Object Desktop 2009 Official Support Thread

Post your thoughts, questions, issues with Object Desktop 2009 here.

from Stardock Forums

When Object Desktop 2009 is released, this is where the known issues will be posted.  Please post your findings here as well.  Thank you!

Notes and Known Issues: (all issues are being worked on at this time)

Theme Manager 3.0 (Published at 11am)

  • Aero Midnight theme included as a .suite file for Object Desktop customers.
  • My Desktop / Save My Desktop: Dreams, skins and cursors sometimes do apply when saved as part of a suite.  Please apply through the Applications tab as a workaround at this time.
  • Applications / Cursors: Sometimes cursors take two applies before applying.
  • My Desktop / Create New Theme: The Download URL function is not working at this time.
  • Please update SoundPackager before applying sounds through Theme Manager 3.0.
  • Users will need to open SoundPackager one time to have sound packages show up in Theme Manager 3.0.
  • Fixed - On systems that do not have MyColors installed, an error about the StardockWeather.ocx file not being registered will display when applying weather gadgets.
  • The Aero Midnight skin does not extract and apply 100% of the time on faster hardware.

Deskscapes 2.5 (with XP support published at 1pm)

  • With a Dream file applied dragging and dropping icons from the desktop to a folder does not work at this time.
  • Please visit this web site to review video card requirement details.  In short, AGP Video cards are not supported at this time.  Future driver updates from NVIDIA/ATI will add support later this year.  At that time only AGP 8x will be supported (4x/2x/1x bus speeds are not adequate to support dream functionality at low CPU).
  • The Watercolor Dream may exhibit some distortion on Windows XP.

Bootskin Pro 1.0 (published at 6:30pm)

  • There is a new WinCustomize gallery for Windows Vista bootskins.  Boot skins created for XP will not work with Bootskin Pro.
  • Bootskin Pro allows users to create boot skins for Windows Vista, so boot skins created for XP can be re-generated and uploaded to WinCustomize.
  • Bootskin Pro Create boot skin tab will attempt to read your Object Desktop Ultimate serial from the registry.  If the serial number field is blank, paste in your Object Desktop Ultimate serial number to create a boot skin.
  • There may be an issue with .bootskin file associations on some systems.

WindowBlinds 6.3 (published on 11/18/2008)

  • Windows Vista 64-bit users may need to reboot after install if skins do not apply correctly.
777,784 views 339 replies
Reply #251 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Windows XP Users
Minimum Requirements: Windows XP users must have a card supporting DirectX 9, 128 MB of graphics memory, Pixel Shader 2.0 and 32-bit color.
Windows XP users must be running a PCIe (PCI Express) video card at this time (AGP 8x will be supported in December, see below.) Support for AGP cards should be available in December when updated drivers are released from the video card vendor(s). AGP 4x/2x will not be supported.

*Attention XP Users!
Do not apply a dream on Windows XP if your machine has an AGP graphics card. The drivers currently available at this time are not specifically tuned for optimal results. The video card manufacturers are testing an updated driver that will address this issue and expect to release driver(s) sometime in Decemeber of 2009. Stardock will post a link to the driver on this page once the update(s) are available.
Is this date accurate? This thread would lead one to believe it to be released this December. 2008
Reply #252 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I think thats a mistake.  The last I heard was Dec 2008.

Offworld Trading Company
Reply #253 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I'd be interested in learning what driver issue is causing the problem.  VLC can play desktop video on AGP cards and Milkdrop can play advanced procedural animation (Winamp music driven visualizations) on the desktop as well.  And both have open source code available for programmer exploration.  :)

Is it strictly an issue with High-Definition video via AGP?  Just curious.

Either way, I'm looking forward to testing the new version.  :)

Reply #254 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Excalpius, reply 4
I'd be interested in learning what driver issue is causing the problem.  VLC can play desktop video on AGP cards and Milkdrop can play advanced procedural animation (Winamp music driven visualizations) on the desktop as well. 
End of Excalpius's quote

Neither of them use hardware decoding of video.

Reply #255 from WinCustomize Forums Top

How many of those also work with transparency over them and also blend icons against the live video?

Reply #256 from Stardock Forums Top

Everything works fine here. Love the versatility of the new programs. |-)

Reply #257 from WinCustomize Forums Top

How many of those also work with transparency over them and also blend icons against the live video?
End of quote


The WinAmp milkdrop plugin handles transparency (when it exists) in XP, as tested with the ClearOne Winamp skin and WindowBlinds, and flawlessly with all transparency enabled applications in Vista.  My AGP 8x machine was the one I ran XP32 on when I used to do this.

In Vista, for example, I am using Winamp/Milkdrop on the desktop right now on my third monitor (adapter 2) at the same time that DeskScapes is playing Photo Dream on my monitors 1 and 2 (adapter 1).  I've tweaked the visualization to run on Pixel Shader 3 at 1680x1050, with all internal settings maximized, playing at 30 fps and reacting to the music playing in WinAmp, of course.  Here is a screenshot.



As far as Icons go, XP wouldn't antialias/blend the edges over the milkdrop background.

In Vista the icons flash on monitor 3 when "show desktop icons" is turned on in the visualization plugin, but I'm not sure if that is an issue with my unique setup (which also has Fences running, though I've hidden the icons in the screenshot).  They don't affect my monitor 1 & 2 (adapter 1) icons, etc.  Windows, gadgets, programs, etc. all behave as expected.

I haven't run XP in a while, but I do remember that VLC desktop wallpaper worked under XP.  I'm pretty sure WindowBlinds transparency did work with it as well. 

In Vista, VLC will turn off Aero acceleration in Vista to play in the background.  However, I have been able to play multiple instances of HD video simultaneously on this machine.  Though, if it's all software accelerated (as noted above) that might make sense.

I will try and boot into XP again later today and see if I can give you guys better answers on that front.

 

 

Reply #258 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I think thats a mistake. The last I heard was Dec 2008.
End of quote

I hope you are right.>_>

Reply #259 from Stardock Forums Top

Have I ever led you down teh wrong path?

Reply #260 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Have I ever led you down teh wrong path?
End of quote

It's a bit hard to tell sometimes.... Zubish can get quite confusing at times. :X O:)

Reply #261 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Have I ever led you down teh wrong path?
End of quote

Well, er....., ummm..    I guess not....lol.  Thanx!

Reply #262 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting Excalpius, reply 8

How many of those also work with transparency over them and also blend icons against the live video?

The WinAmp milkdrop plugin handles transparency (when it exists) in XP, as tested with the ClearOne Winamp skin and WindowBlinds, and flawlessly with all transparency enabled applications in Vista.  My AGP 8x machine was the one I ran XP32 on when I used to do this.


In Vista, for example, I am using Winamp/Milkdrop on the desktop right now on my third monitor (adapter 2) at the same time that DeskScapes is playing Photo Dream on my monitors 1 and 2 (adapter 1).  I've tweaked the visualization to run on Pixel Shader 3 at 1680x1050, with all internal settings maximized, playing at 30 fps and reacting to the music playing in WinAmp, of course.  Here is a screenshot.



Reduced 20%

Original 3000 x 682

As far as Icons go, XP wouldn't antialias/blend the edges over the milkdrop background.

In Vista the icons flash on monitor 3 when "show desktop icons" is turned on in the visualization plugin, but I'm not sure if that is an issue with my unique setup (which also has Fences running, though I've hidden the icons in the screenshot).  They don't affect my monitor 1 & 2 (adapter 1) icons, etc.  Windows, gadgets, programs, etc. all behave as expected.

I haven't run XP in a while, but I do remember that VLC desktop wallpaper worked under XP.  I'm pretty sure WindowBlinds transparency did work with it as well. 

In Vista, VLC will turn off Aero acceleration in Vista to play in the background.  However, I have been able to play multiple instances of HD video simultaneously on this machine.  Though, if it's all software accelerated (as noted above) that might make sense.

I will try and boot into XP again later today and see if I can give you guys better answers on that front.
 
End of Excalpius's quote

Vista is very different to XP when it comes to this kind of thing as it has the DWM so what happens on Vista isn't going to help here.

On XP video on the desktop is typically either an overlay (which tend to work on monitor 1 only) and will show black where transparency overlaps them, or they use the region mode on the desktop icons in which case the icons do not blend against it and this looks especially bad with the more modern 32 bit icons with alpha channels.

 

Reply #264 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting BeLGaRaTh67, reply 14
So any news as to when Bootskin will work for those who dont live in usa
End of BeLGaRaTh67's quote

It is thanksgiving in the US this week so I would say it would be next week at the earliest.

Reply #265 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting mickeko, reply 18

Quoting Zargon0225, reply 17
Can everyone please do us a favor and post what version of Windows Vista is running that has Bootskin fail to apply?

Absolutely!

Windows Vista Home Premium x64 (swedish)

 
End of mickeko's quote

I too am having this issue - bootskin fails to apply...

Windows Vista Ultimate X64

Reply #266 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I have some weirdness going on with the Theme Manager.Upon launch it only shows my MyColors themes and no suites from the old TM.If I go to my files and load a .suite or download a new one,TM then shows all my suites but no MyColors themes except for Quest.When I close TM and reopen it,it's back to MyColors again. I would like to have them all show when opening the program,Any suggestions?

EDIT:This issue has been tracked down to user error. :blush:

Reply #267 from Stardock Forums Top

About needing a driver update, it's kind of bad news for me. With the system I have anyway, I use an All In Wonder 9600xt and I'm stuck with the past for a driver if I want decent tv. Cat 5.10 or 5.11 with matching wdm using analog sound before they changed everything to be inter-dependent with a digital sound only/tv on demand only drivers. Just thought I'd throw that out there.. unless the driver update could be a patch applied where in I could still use the previous driver?

Reply #268 from Stardock Forums Top

Ran into a problem when trying to set up a new suite with TM3. When adding an IP (Download URL) I get this message:

"There has been an error loading the 'skins' icon package
Please re-install the package and try again."

Then TM spits a dummy and crashes, with this errormessage:

Problem Event Name:    APPCRASH
  Application Name:    ThemeMgr.exe
  Application Version:    3.0.0.0
  Application Timestamp:    492522c8
  Fault Module Name:    msvcrt.dll
  Fault Module Version:    7.0.6001.18000
  Fault Module Timestamp:    4791a727
  Exception Code:    c0000005
  Exception Offset:    00024e25
  OS Version:    6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:    1030
  Additional Information 1:    fd00
  Additional Information 2:    ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
  Additional Information 3:    fd00
  Additional Information 4:    ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160

IP version: latest from Impulse
OS: Vista Ultimate (32bit)

Reply #269 from Stardock Forums Top

Theme manager bug report:

XP

Creating a suite.

Screensaver section.  Download URL.  No search.

IconPackager."there has been an error loading the 'download' icon Package.  Please reinstall the package and try again"  I doi not have teh IP installed at all.  I get that message after applying any subsequent component.

Bootskin search not finding content (searched for Birthday)

DreamScapes search not finding content (searched for Birthday)

SoundPackager search not finding content (searched for Birthday)

Include RightClick

Include Rainlender

Include Xion

 

Requests:

Multiple DesktopX Objects (like the widget section). 

Multiple docks (vertical, h0rizontal, zoomer, dock icons). 

Multiple everything an the option to apply noe or the other of a given skin (like logons).

 

 

 

Reply #270 from Stardock Forums Top

I went to apply the suite I just created (https://www.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?skinid=610&libid=22)

I was unable to apply until I turned on the advanced config (perhaps because I didn't have all apps installed??)  Then, when I was able to the advanced config had an odd couple of entries:

Name? Author? Size?

 

Also, right clicking on the suite and choosing Theme Info opens a window with no content.

Lastly . . the DX widgets weren't loaded

Reply #271 from Stardock Forums Top

Theme Manager Question.

Is there a way to edit a suite using the GUI??

Reply #272 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting Zubaz, reply 21
I went to apply the suite I just created (https://www.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?skinid=610&libid=22)

I was unable to apply until I turned on the advanced config (perhaps because I didn't have all apps installed??)  Then, when I was able to the advanced config had an odd couple of entries:



Name? Author? Size?

 

Also, right clicking on the suite and choosing Theme Info opens a window with no content.

Lastly . . the DX widgets weren't loaded
End of Zubaz's quote

I got exactly the same thing with the birthday suite, things are definitely FUBAR with the last app releases. I cannot even apply the Winter Wonderland suite anymore as it complains that I need to activate it in MyColours, when it isnt even a MyColours suite.

Congrats to the testers of the recent apps, did you transfer over from Sony?

Reply #273 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Congrats to the testers of the recent apps, did you transfer over from Sony?
End of quote
Not helping at all and attitude may just hinder. :'(

Reply #274 from Stardock Forums Top

I just went to the Explore tab in the latest Impulse beta and selected the Free programs. There lies LogonStudio Vista. I hit the "Add to account" button and it asked for my e-mail address. Then I hit the "Register" button. The response was a screen informing me that "The product you are requesting is not available for free registration." Something seems amiss. Magus
End of quote

We will look into this today.

 

Reply #275 from Stardock Forums Top

DX9 is installed, and I have a number of codecs installed using that Decoder Checkup Utility. My perfered codec is the Intervideo Video Decoder. After selecting that and restarting my PC, still nothing.

Is there anything else I can try? Thank you for the help!
End of quote

La Forge,

Please try selecting the Microsoft MPEG Decoder instead of your Intervideo.