Windowblinds painting issues.

Tuesday, April 4, 2006 by Alpha Tellurian | Discussion: WindowBlinds

I have noticed, as I am sure most have, that Windowblinds fails to paint the GUI in allot of cases. I was hoping a new version would fix it but, it hasn't. Things like, window frames not painting when a non maximized window is scaled to full screen size. On occassion after a boot or reboot there is no skin applied whatsoever. I haven't worked o a skin in awhile, I'm almost afraid to see all the SkinStudio bugs still present. It's for these reasons I haven't made a skin in a while. Just sick of fighting with bugs. I don't know how many times I have been forced to reboot because these buggy apps failed to function properly. Don't see me buying anymore software for a loooong time. Corporate greed is a shame. And on top of that, these new servers suck. Most of the time the website isn't even accessable. The other times it's slower than hell or just refuses to open other pages once you get to the main. And I PAID to be on it. Great job. This website sucks.

But hey, Galactic Civ is out though...
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Neil Banfield
Reply #1 Tuesday, April 4, 2006 10:42 AM

I am not aware of any problems with WB not painting the GUI.  Could you provide more information such as the skin in use and screenshots of the problems please.

Regarding the new servers, I am not sure if the site has been moved over to them yet.


Alpha Tellurian
Reply #2 Tuesday, April 4, 2006 11:02 AM
I'll put together a package. You got an email I should send them to?

Bichur
Reply #3 Tuesday, April 4, 2006 11:03 AM
Maybe it's because I'm computer illiterate and don't tweak, but I haven't had the non painting or no skin issues.

Corky_O
Reply #4 Tuesday, April 4, 2006 11:08 AM

So far WB5.01 is functioning fine here on XP Pro /SP2 and many prominent company apps from 2002 through 2005:

Office XP

Photoshop 7, Illustrator 10, CorelDRAW 12, Painter IX.5 (with the exception of resizing in conjunction with skins made for WB4.6), Acrobat 7, Bryce 5, Poser 5, etc.

The one exception seems to be ImageReady 7, which is not skinning the titlebar. I have not yet tested this with anything other than StealthOS (compact) - the alpha version.

Neil, I will create a post with some screenshots sometime this week illustrating the Painter IX.5 resize issue, and the ImageReady titlebar issue.


Alpha Tellurian
Reply #5 Tuesday, April 4, 2006 11:09 AM
I will take screenies. I have seen since the update...

1.Windowframes not painting and using the generic windows skin.
2.Start menu displaying trasperancy when there was none, or it was open windows displaying OVER the start menu(not sure which)
3.Shutdown dialog displaying the transparent parts of an image which should be invisible.

These are random events but I will try to "make" it happen and get screenshots. Mostly noticed after a reboot.

Hankers
Reply #6 Tuesday, April 4, 2006 11:19 AM
Normally I would think that contacting [email protected] would be the way to resolve issues with Stardock products. There's no problem posting request for help in the forums either but without the irrelevant extras such as "Corporate greed is a shame. And on top of that, these new servers suck."

Most users here are more than happy to assist in trying to help out other users.

rabidrobot
Reply #7 Tuesday, April 4, 2006 12:03 PM
Have you tried starting half a dozen threads in the forums? That sometimes works.

NightTrainthedark
Reply #8 Tuesday, April 4, 2006 12:09 PM
I have run into problems between using Skinstudio and Windowblinds. Skinstudio (since the latest update) crashes/closes quite often. It will randomly paint things classic. Rebooting or reapplying a few times helps but not always solves the problem. What always fixes the classic problem is...unload windowblinds, open Skinstudio, reapply whatever skin I choose and all works fine. Reapplying using Windowblinds doesn't usually work. Only using Skinstudio to apply fixes it. I hope that makes sense to someone. I haven't had time to investigate (uninstall/reinstall) yet but I saw the post and perhaps part of the problem is using Skinstudio with Windowblinds at the same time. People may not run into the problems unless they are using Skinstudio. When I have the time, I will try to be clearer about the problems. It just seems since the latest updates, I am spending alot of time getting the GUI back to the way it should be when it goes classic. Not complaining, just noting that I have run into similiar problems.

Quitch
Reply #9 Tuesday, April 4, 2006 4:12 PM
I have sometimes found that when loading or unloading a skin, WindowsBlinds will not always be entirely successful, leaving you with a half and half taskbar or something. Also the start menu is overdrawn by the borders of any open window.

Alpha Tellurian
Reply #10 Tuesday, April 4, 2006 7:02 PM
Have you tried starting half a dozen threads in the forums? That sometimes works.


Have you ever tried using a website that doesn't respond correctly?

Alpha Tellurian
Reply #11 Tuesday, April 4, 2006 7:12 PM
Thanks Craig, at least one person here has used this software and has somewhat of a clue as to what I am talking about. As an example, I just got back on my PC from a cold boot. When I get to desktop, WB isn't loaded at all. I have a plain classic. I have to reload WB to see the current skin. This has been happening since before the update. Sometimes WB just doesn't load. Taking a screenshot of it won't help, it will just look like I unloaded WB.

As far as the multiple posts are concerned, when creating this post, this website decided to freak out, like it always does, and refuse to advance to the next page. SO DON"T BLAME ME!!! I am not the one that just got nice shiny new servers. You would think having a subscription to this site would get you something other than...

....a subscription to this site. But, as a WC subscriber, I am forced to wait behind the millions of non-subscribers that are taking up my bandwidth. SUBSCRIBERS SHOULD TAKE PRECIDENT OVER NON-SUBSCRIBERS. It's a cold slap in the face to support a company with your money, only to get the same treament as those that don't. My 2cents.

EDIT: If Stardock needs someone to set their servers up properly, I can always drive over and take a look. I am right next door and can do the job ten times over.

Alpha Tellurian
Reply #12 Tuesday, April 4, 2006 7:20 PM
As a side thought, if Stardock needs some "help" with all the stuff they have going on, and in their words they are spreading it thin, I live a state away and will glady relocate if given a job. I have too much free time as it is. I have ample qualifications and have been a PC junkie since about '92. So experience isn't an issue. Either are certifications.

Stardock...hiring???

Hankers
Reply #13 Tuesday, April 4, 2006 7:41 PM
Could you possibly post the System Information from the WindowBlinds Configuration screen. At least that will give a starting point to work from.

Not sure if you are looking to solve your issues with the programs or find employment with Stardock. If the latter, I don't believe they look in the forums for suitable candidates. Perhaps sticking with the troubleshooting issue would be best.

Bichur
Reply #14 Tuesday, April 4, 2006 10:45 PM
Stardock...hiring???


https://www.wincustomize.com/Forums.aspx?ForumID=153&AID=107503#831611

5th paragraph


Daiwa
Reply #15 Tuesday, April 4, 2006 10:51 PM
I have sometimes found that when loading or unloading a skin, WindowsBlinds will not always be entirely successful, leaving you with a half and half taskbar or something.


This happens a lot when I change skins or when I reload a skin after making some edits with SKS. Certain graphic elements will be corrupted or unskinned & reloading the skin fixes things. Main reason I'd really like to have that "Reload current skin" option back in the WB SysTray icon context menu. Seems silly to have removed it, but that's just me.

Alpha Tellurian
Reply #16 Wednesday, April 5, 2006 8:29 AM
Stardock...hiring???


Link

5th paragraph


TX, I'll check into that.

Alpha Tellurian
Reply #17 Wednesday, April 5, 2006 1:36 PM
This is one example of a WB painting issue. Note the taskbar, the black areas should be transparent, displaying the wallpaper. This is one that's less critical IMO, as I only see this particular issue after exiting a game. More than likely just having a problem taking back the GUI from the game (no game in particular, does it with a few). The only solution I have found is to reload the skin.

I have found a few others, will post screenshots when I get them.


Hankers
Reply #18 Wednesday, April 5, 2006 2:14 PM
Still waiting for the System Information from WindowBlinds Configuration. If you can post that here it would help.

Alpha Tellurian
Reply #19 Thursday, April 6, 2006 2:07 AM
If you can post that here it would help.


How would that help? Who are you anyway?


Neil Banfield
Reply #20 Thursday, April 6, 2006 3:54 AM

It lets us see if all the files are correct etc.

Regarding that wallpaper issue, you should find resizing the taskbar would fix the problem as well.


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