Milkdrop - Desktop mode unavailable in high contrast theme

[tekeldnb]

I'm using milkdrop in desktop mode as my wallpaper and while the WACUP version runs with high FPS, it won't work in desktop mode with a high contrast Windows theme. The last version of milkdrop to ship with Winamp works fine in desktop mode in a high contrast theme, but it is limited to like 80 FPS, whereas the newer build of milkdrop that comes with WACUP gets me upwards of 250 FPS. The problem is, in the newer WACUP milkdrop build when high contrast theme is active, the desktop mode option is greyed out and says 'desktop mode not available.' So I'm stuck with either low framerate, or no desktop mode between these two milkdrop versions.

Something that might help is if someone can point me in the direction of a repository of milkdrop test builds so I can see if perhaps there is some overlap between the versions where desktop mode works with high contrast turned on, and also has the hardware 80 FPS limitation removed.

To sum up:

Winamp Milkdrop version - desktop mode works in high contrast theme, but FPS is low
WACUP Milkdrop version - high FPS, but desktop mode does not work in high contrast theme

Any help greatly appreciated! It would be awesome to be able to get both of these features working simultaneously!

[dro]

I'm somewhat confused how such a theme would even be getting involved with how WACUP's build of Milkdrop works vs desktop mode unless the theme (is it the built-in OS one or something 3rd party?) is somehow messing up things in a manner I've not yet experienced from testing.

The WACUP build of WACUP checks for a specific window existing & if that's not found then it'll disable the desktop mode (is the only thing I do check) which is why I'm curious about what you're using to get the high contrast theme.

-dro

[tekeldnb]

Hi Dro! Thanks for the quick reply, I really appreciate the work you've done on this project, WACUP is awesome!

So it's just the high contrast theme in Windows 10 that is built-in (which you can turn on and off with SHIFT+ALT+prntscrn - save your theme first though as this can mess up your wallpaper on multiple displays), when I switch it off high contrast and go back to Aero theme the desktop mode re-enables again, then when high contrast is turned back on desktop mode goes back to 'unavailable.'

[dro]

I've just had a look & I could have done with a bright screen warning when first enabling that mode but I was then able to replicate the issue.

Digging into it, the magic window that's meant to be created by the OS in response to something I have to send to the main desktop window wasn't creating it & so it set the menu item to be disabled. I've since found some different message parameters that seem to work with both normal & high contrast modes so I'll need to do a bit more testing but I think that'll do it & will be included in a future build.

-dro

[tekeldnb]

Ah that is fantastic! Thanks so much for looking into this. I'll keep my eyes peeled here for future builds.

BIG UP!