WB 6.3 and xpstuff.xp file - taskbar, start menu not skinned

WB 6.3 works properly with Firefox 3

from Stardock Forums

after upgrading to WB 6.3, the taskbar and start menu are not skinned in the skin I use, but skinned in the skins that come with WB 6.3.  My skin's uis file refers to xpstuff.xp as the source for the taskbar and start menu skins but not to any other .xp file and not to an .xps file.

PS.  WB 6.3 now works properly with Firefox 3 including the latest nightly build.

 

8,681 views 14 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

What skin is having the problem?

Also which OS are you on?

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

it's an old skin called infernal machine that I wrote.  It worked fine up until 6.2  I tried uninstalling, downloading WB 6.2, reinstalling, and then upgrading using stardock central but it still doesn't display the taskbar and start menu and the toolbar buttons are also not skinned.  The only items skinned are the window frames, menu elements, and scroll bars. 

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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

The OS is WinXP Pro with Service Pack 3 and all updates.

Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top

nazcalito since this is a skin that you made check and see if something may have gotten changed or corrupted.  If you have a back up of the skin compare or uninstall the one you are using and load the back up and see if it works. 

What version of WindowBlinds was he skin written for?  Wonder if there were upgrades going into 6.2 that could be the problem?

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

I'll bet if I uninstalled WB and reinstalled version 6.2 there would be no problem.  I think the change is between 6.2 and 6.3.

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

I uninstalled and reinstalled the skin and it started drawing the magic purple color in the transparent zones.  I deleted the .wb4 files and reloaded the skin and the magic purple was gone, but the partial skinning problem remains.  WB 6.3 also does the same thing with a modified version of that skin I was working on.  are there deprecated commands that were done away with in 6.3?  I've had Window Blinds since version 4 or maybe even 3, before WinXP came out.

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

after uninstalling and reinstalling WB to try to solve the problem, I am now getting a message saying "Maximum activations reached" when trying to reinstall.

Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Please contact [email protected] they will be able to assist you with resetting your activations.

Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top

nazcalito,

You should be all set, reset your activation count.

 

Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top

I'm back to 6.0 reinstalled.  I haven't updated WB via stardock bewcause I'm afraid the same problem will happen.  I tried directly installing 6.0 after uninstalling but I got the same problems that I had with that skin.  During one of the uninstalls and reinstalls I found that none of the skin files had .uis files!  (Luckily I had backed them up.)  Nice to see you're still with Stardock, Neil.  I remember you from version 4 days.

Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I'm having major problems with the new build (similar to above but with all skins). I just want to go back to previous version. Unfortunately, I have don't have a backup. What can I do?

 

Thanks,

Dave

Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top

I tried uninstalling and installing 6.2 again and that time none of the skins were skinning the task bar and start menu.  This is what the trial versions of WB do isn't it?  Sounds like something is not right with the upgrade process and it turns off skinning of the task bar and start menu.

 

 

Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top

I have kept at it with no luck.  The skin displays correctly in the viewer window (with sample taskbar and start panel) but when I select it, the start panel and taskbar are unskinned. The standard skins included with 6.3 work correctly. 6.0 works. The problem arose in the upgrade from 6.0 to 6.2.

I have tried an upgrade install from 6.0 and an uninstall and reinstall of 6.3 with no luck. 

If I change the uis file to point to one of the  xpstuff.xp files from a skin that otherwise works, the taskbar and start panel are still unskinned, so there is something wrong with the main uis file.   I want to solve this problem because 6.0 did not work with Firefox 3 and 6.3 does.

The skin I want to load has not been updated to include the alternate per pixel window frames.

So why don't I just use the skins that come with 6.3?  I could (I use diamond on my laptop) but the font sizes that come with most of the skins posted are almost always microscopic on my monitor.  The skins seem to all be designed for 1024x768 screen resolution.  I have tried altering font sizes in the uis file for the new skins, but I guess I don't understand all of the changes in the language because I get awful results.

 

 

Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top

I wish someone would tell me what changed between WB 6.0 and the later versions so I could fix the skin where the taskbar / start menu doesn't skin.

Do I have to update the skin to put in the per pixel window frame information, or are the newer versions still backward compatible?

It must be something with the .uis file, because pointing the uis to another skin's taskbar and start menu doesn't work.

Any gurus here?