When changing scale percentage in Windows, icons scatter

from Stardock Forums

I use DSR to get a higher resolution in games and, to keep things such as the Steam Overlay the correct size, the scale percentage gets bumped to 150% when using DSR and back down to 100% when not. When this change happens icons move and I can't get them to stop. I've tried everything I can do to get them to stop moving on scaling changes but I just can't.

 

Using snapshots is not a valid solution to this issue as every time I close a game I have to restore them, and it gets very annoying.

fences
24,272 views 24 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,
I have forwarded your questions/problems to the Stardock Support team for their assistance. Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates. We appreciate your feedback and patience.

Thank You,
Basj
Stardock Community Assistant.

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,

Sorry to hear you are having trouble.

Them moving would be natural if their size is changing and they cant fit as they once did.  

That said, this is the section you are going to want to experiment with to possibly minimize the impact:

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Fences - Organize your desktop icons today!
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting sdRohan, reply 2

Hello,

Sorry to hear you are having trouble.

Them moving would be natural if their size is changing and they cant fit as they once did.  

That said, this is the section you are going to want to experiment with to possibly minimize the impact:

Reduced 92%
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Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

End of sdRohan's quote

All three of those options didn't help. I think it's because the resolution itself isn't changing, the scaling is.

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,

Would like to know, you mentioned the icons move when scaling change. Is these icons inside fences or on the desktop?

If its inside a fence it will move since those icons change size according with your scaling. And size the fences don't change. Those icons need to rearrange itself to fits into that fence. But, for me at least, those icons rearrange themselves back when you switch back to your usual scaling.

How is the behavior on your system?

Thank you,

Basj
Stardock Community Assistant.

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting basj, reply 4

Hello,

Would like to know, you mentioned the icons move when scaling change. Is these icons inside fences or on the desktop?

If its inside a fence it will move since those icons change size according with your scaling. And size the fences don't change. Those icons need to rearrange itself to fits into that fence. But, for me at least, those icons rearrange themselves back when you switch back to your usual scaling.

How is the behavior on your system?

Thank you,

Basj
Stardock Community Assistant.
End of basj's quote

They're inside Fences. And yeah, they don't rearrange themselves back to the proper location after changing my scaling back, they just move around inside their Fence to a random location.

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

Please post a video of this. Since on mine it rearrange itself back.

Thank you,

Basj
Stardock Community Assistant.

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting basj, reply 6

Please post a video of this. Since on mine it rearrange itself back.
End of basj's quote


Sure, here you go. 

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top

From looking at your video only "Games" and "Utilities" Fences not restore back as before. What is the setting on "Sort Fence by" on those two Fences?

Thank you,

Basj
Stardock Community Assistant.

Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting basj, reply 8

From looking at your video only "Games" and "Utilities" Fences not restore back as before. What is the setting on "Sort Fence by" on those two Fences?

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Thank you,

Basj
Stardock Community Assistant.

End of basj's quote

None

Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,
I have forwarded your questions/problems to the Stardock Support team for their assistance. Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates. We appreciate your feedback and patience.

Thank You,
Basj
Stardock Community Assistant.

Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting basj, reply 10

Hello,
I have forwarded your questions/problems to the Stardock Support team for their assistance. Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates. We appreciate your feedback and patience.

Thank You,
Basj
Stardock Community Assistant.
End of basj's quote

Hey, any update on this?

Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top

Nothing new at this time ..

Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top

From what I know, there is nothing new at this time.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Reply #15 from Stardock Forums Top

I also found that, if I have the desktop running at 4k with scaling @ 150%, and then I run a game that is at 720p, it will also mess up the icons.

Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top

I have the same issue.
Everything works fine, looks fine, but whenever I open a game with lower resolution, icons on the desctop get messed (even though fences themself stay on their places). It's pretty anoying to place them back every time.

Reply #17 from Stardock Forums Top

For the time being, you can make layout snapshots and restore them every time this happens, annoying, but it works.

Reply #18 from Stardock Forums Top

Super frustrating that this is still occurring over a year later.

Reply #19 from Stardock Forums Top

No new news yet on this one. But, just a suggestion. You can always run lower resolution games on Virtual Machine setup so that they don't mess up your main desktop. I have my system setup with few VMs just to play my old old games.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Reply #20 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,

Sorry to hear you are having trouble.

From your video posted in:

https://forums.stardock.com/500313/get;3780670

That is expected behavior if the size of anything on the desktop changes - Fences will resort to fit them in the boundries of the Fences.

Why would you expect it to function differently?

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Reply #21 from Stardock Forums Top

First, I'd expect it to be able to just remember the position my icons are ordered at a certain resolution/DPI scaling. Second off, I find that even launching certain programs in my native 4k resolution (maybe they starts off at a lower one and then goes to 4k?) still scatters my icons in Fences, and I have to restore from a snapshot multiple times a day due to this.

 

Is there no way to just lock my Fences entirely so nothing can move my icons no matter what?

Reply #22 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting MrEWhite, reply 21

First, I'd expect it to be able to just remember the position my icons are ordered at a certain resolution/DPI scaling. Second off, I find that even launching certain programs in my native 4k resolution (maybe they starts off at a lower one and then goes to 4k?) still scatters my icons in Fences, and I have to restore from a snapshot multiple times a day due to this. 
End of MrEWhite's quote

Icons are not getting 'scattered', they are keeping their order but have to be moved if the size changes to still fit within the boundaries of the Fences that you set. 

Again, this should be expected and I am still puzzled why you would expect it to act differently. 

Quoting MrEWhite, reply 21

Is there no way to just lock my Fences entirely so nothing can move my icons no matter what?
End of MrEWhite's quote

What you seem to be really asking is, 'is there a way for Fences to keep the size of icons \ text constant'?' No, there is not.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Reply #23 from Stardock Forums Top

They obviously aren’t keeping their order, as any time the resolution changes or DPI changes, they move around in the Fence as shown above.

Anyways, I’m curious as to why the “per resolution” Fence layout does absolutely nothing when software changes my resolution, even if I’m not messing with DPI

Reply #24 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting MrEWhite, reply 23

They obviously aren’t keeping their order, as any time the resolution changes or DPI changes, they move around in the Fence as shown above.
End of MrEWhite's quote

If I watched correctly, your icons keep the prior order you had set, they just move to fit with the size change.  For example, if the order was alphabetical, it would still be - you would not have B named icon following a Z after the size change.

Quoting MrEWhite, reply 23

Anyways, I’m curious as to why the “per resolution” Fence layout does absolutely nothing when software changes my resolution, even if I’m not messing with DPI
End of MrEWhite's quote

Fences are not changing, the icons are.

I can replicate what you are seeing without doing what you are.  Simply holding Ctrl and using the mouse wheel on the desktop will resize icons in the same way:

https://cdn.stardock.us/support/uploads/2021-06-18_12-43-37.mp4

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager