Object Desktop 2009 Official Support Thread

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

Published on November 18, 2008 By Zargon In Object Desktop

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.

Comments (Page 18)

256

Neil Banfield

on Nov 26, 2008

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

257

skyzyk

on Nov 26, 2008

Everything works fine here. Love the versatility of the new programs.

258

Excalpius

on Nov 26, 2008

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.

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.

259

PuterDudeJim

on Nov 26, 2008

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

I hope you are right.

260

ZubaZ

on Nov 26, 2008

Have I ever led you down teh wrong path?

261

starkers

on Nov 26, 2008

Have I ever led you down teh wrong path?

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

262

PuterDudeJim

on Nov 27, 2008

Have I ever led you down teh wrong path?

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

263

Neil Banfield

on Nov 27, 2008

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.

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.

264

BeLGaRaTh67

on Nov 27, 2008

So any news as to when Bootskin will work for those who dont live in usa

265

Neil Banfield

on Nov 27, 2008

BeLGaRaTh67

reply 14

So any news as to when Bootskin will work for those who dont live in usa

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

266

bartofborg

on Nov 27, 2008

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)

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

Windows Vista Ultimate X64

267

Wizard1956

on Nov 28, 2008

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.

268

gtrz

on Nov 28, 2008

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?

269

Snowman

on Nov 30, 2008

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)

270

ZubaZ

on Nov 30, 2008

Theme manager bug report:

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).

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