I have to agree some people get very odd results on some systems.. I have a single core 3.2 GHz but I make up for it with a GeForce 8800Gt... when I put that in, it was just like having a dual core.  My computer can run just about anything, the most awesome windowblinds skins, when I had XP I had the Effects in Window FX running, transparent this, transparent that, no slowdown at all.  Since upgrading to vista, the dreams run beautifully, no skipping with animations, everythings runs smooth...

just out of curisiosity what graphics card do yo have Weatherbound?

Ge-Force Go 6150. 2years ago the sale guy said this was a good card.

I souled of done my homework.

Know i know i just need to ask Yrag

I will give descape a try again.

I never had any skipping with the dreams. Its just crashes. Lol

If you do not like the amount of CPU that the dreams use that you have tried, create your own. It's not hard and most dream makers will be more than happy to assist if asked nicely. Once you have all of the tools you need and learn how to loop video proficiently, the following will help in getting low CPU usage.

Here are a few tips to keep dreams down to around 15 to 20 %.
 
1) Use MPEG 2 video over WMV whenever possible. The downside to this is larger file size.
2) Use the lowest frames per second that you can and still have fluid movement.
3) Resolution does not change the CPU usage that much, so stay as close to the original size as possible to keep the clarity high. I use a ratio of 16:10 and a resolution that my encoder will handle, normally 1792x1120, 1600x1000, or 1280x800.
4) Try to encode with as little compression as you can and a low bit rate. On bit rate, 15k - 18k is what I shoot for. On 30 fps video you will need to use around 15k - 16k, on 25fps you can bump it up some to 17k - 19k. Remember, the highest bit rate will give the best end result for video quality.

Lastly, most members of the WinCustomize community will go out of thier way to assist as long as you don't act like you have a chip on your shoulder.
Good Luck.

(Note:I edited the cpu usage amounts...just goes to show I've got to proof read before posting.)

CarGuy1

I would love to try one of you dreams that does not use to much CPU.

Can you give me a name of one so i can see how it reacts to my computer.

Yrag

I have not got the blue BSoD yet. Lol

I did notice that when using the Casper Dream and i unplugged my notebook that a window pops up and says deskscape has paused. But in fact it did not pause. Dream worked good though. I then went under setting in deskscape and un check the option that says to  warn me when computer is running on battery. As soon as i did that my graphics got scrambled and Screen went black. Then gave me a warning about graphics card had problems.

I then check that same thing under settings and dream worked again. Strange stuff 

I run a nVidia 6150SE and some dreams do run a bit on the high side(25-35% cpu) but no more than a typical WMV or DVD uses,and I have never had any freezes or stutters with the version of DeskScapes that I use. I don't consider that anywhere near an overload of my processor(AMD64)

Well I've got an Intel E6750 (2.6 GHz duel core @1333MHz) and an 8800 nVidia card with 4GB of Memory.. everything is up-to-date (Drivers, BIOS, Dreamscapes, etc.)

Ok,

I have done some testing with my computer.

Every time I unchecked automatically pause when running on battery. My graphics card or display goes black. I check it and boom its up and running again.

This could be linked to even though I have  checked automatically pause when running on battery. And I unplug my computer. I tells me the dream has paused but screen did not pause.

Anyone else having same problem?

Yrag,  Still no BSoD. Thanks for the help with that.

when I pause it seems to take a while to actually pause... lol... seems to go through an entire cycle first... use something with a real short cycle... see if that helps with the not pausing issue... also... I've noticed that when I tell it run for pefromace, as opposed to appearnce, I don't see any dithering or anything... but on the really intense dreams, they do run better.... may be worth a try to lower the quality and see how it works out for you...

the one that I am running is called rolling waters... it seems to use very little cpu, and has very short cycles...

while personal attacks are never warranted, one cannot be all that surprised by his attitude, he could have been more polite yes, but when your confronted with silly comments like the first one it's human nature to attack back.

I agree... the only downside is that Trolls never go away... they always come back....