Follow-up update 1.0.981
The wallpapers should not occasionally be covering the icons anymore with this version on PCs that had this issue.
Hey all,
A new update for Wallpaper Engine has been released that adds folders to the browser, easier handling of local files, an alternative video player (for 4k on Windows 7), more UI skins, auto muting when other applications play audio and a number of bug fixes. Also, I plan to remove some legacy code in the next patch: if you haven't directly opened Wallpaper Engine since a few (~6) months, please make sure to open it with this patch and change the wallpaper once. Otherwise you might lose settings in the next patch - not in this one yet, this one is still backwards compatible with the old settings system as before!
Folders
The browser has been extended with folders and multi-selection. You can now draw a selection rectangle to select multiple files, CTRL + click or CTRL + A. The unsubscribe and playlist buttons will also take multiple selected files into account, so you can quickly set up playlist or unsubscribe many wallpapers.
Local Files
You can now import multiple local files at once by using drag & drop and moving them into the browser. They will also show their actual thumbnails now instead of a generic default image, if Windows is able to generate a thumbnail from them.
Auto Mute
Video wallpapers (excluding webm for now) can automatically be muted if any other application is playing audio. They will smoothly mute and automatically unmute after a couple of seconds when no audio is being detected. A new playback option has been added to control this:
New Video Framework (DirectShow with LAV filters)
Windows 7 can now play HEVC and 4k videos if you install the LAV video decoders, the links to them and instructions are here. You can control whether you want to use LAV or the native Media Foundation on all Windows versions with a new setting:
New Skins
The dark skin is now available by default and doesn't require unlocking anymore. To make up for that, I added a bunch of new skins that are unlocked by completing the achievement. So if you unlocked it before, you can immediately access these new ones:
Skeletal Animations for Models
Sorry! I still didn't complete these. I got stuck after some weeks getting the importer I'm currently using to work consistently, but I decided to take a step back and first implement the official importer for FBX files instead of trying to make the current one work. At least this will also allow me to support the most recent FBX versions.
Achievements
I removed the "crash" achievement because some people had trouble unlocking it and merged it with the "pest" one. I also reduced its count to make it easier to obtain. To make up for removing that, I added a few new ones:
If you already downloaded/favorited enough wallpapers to unlock these, you should immediately get them as soon as Steam checks your stats - i.e. download and use one more wallpaper.
Safe Start
Should Wallpaper Engine crash due to the currently selected wallpapers, it will not load them when started the next time and give you the option to try reloading them or change them first:
Unfortunately, Microsoft has broken the HEVC video module on Windows 10 during the Fall Update which makes the application crash without error if you had an HEVC video selected before and start it through Steam. To fix this, you have to open the offending file in the Movies & TVs app, then Windows seems to fix whatever broke during the Fall Update, more instructions here.
Streaming Wallpapers in OBS etc
I added a small trick last minute so that you can record wallpapers in OBS and similar, right click a wallpaper and choose 'play in window'.
Next Update
For the next patch I will at least integrate the official FBX importer and see how much I can continue with skeletal animations. There have also been a number of monetized submissions that I have never gotten around to accept yet. Regarding application submissions, please make sure that they work well together with the pausing system in Wallpaper Engine (i.e. no global Windows hooks or anything that could stall explorer), this patch improves support for Unity and especially version 2017.2, so perhaps the existing issues have been resolved already.
Full changelog
Additions
- Added option to track hours when starting through Steam by adding '-steamtrackhours' start parameter.
- Added new DirectShow LAV video rendering framework as alternative to Media Foundation.
- Added folders to browser.
- Added multi-select to browser (CTRL+click, CTRL+A, selection rectangle).
- Added support for DEL key to remove wallpapers.
- Added video auto mute when other programs play audio (only MF and DirectShow videos).
- Added video volume fade when pausing or muting (only MF and DirectShow videos).
- Added reload button to Steam Workshop server error message.
- Added native thumbnail generation for local files.
- Added safe mode that starts the program without wallpapers should it have crashed before.
- Added d3dcompiler_43.dll to initial system module validation.
- Added bitness check to system module validation to show proper paths on 32-bit systems.
- Added warning when high-contrast mode is enabled while WE is running.
- Added a number of new extra skins for the achievement and made dark skin always available.
- Added play in window option for streamers.
Fixes
- Fixed auto start state not always reflecting actual setting in Windows.
- Fixed web wallpapers restarting while editing text in the editor and causing focus loss.
- Fixed in-memory video loader crashing with WMV files.
- Fixed random 'desktop not available' error when opening the Windows file dialog (maybe).
- Fixed shake render glitch on Intel GPUs.
- Fixed Windows 7 compatibility mode sometimes breaking down when fullscreen games disable Aero or remove the icon windows.
- Fixed application wallpapers not working right with Unity 2017.2.
- Fixed wallpapers in playlist sometimes repeating too soon (hopefully).
- Fixed black borders on GIFs that are translucent at their boundaries.
- Fixed bloom settings not applying in 2D scenes with Dx11.
- Fixed fullscreen image layers being rendered incorrectly after screen size changed.
Misc
- Updated Sheep wallpaper to Unity 2017.2.
- Improved VRAM usage on wallpapers that have many large image layers with effects and can take advantage of sharing intermediate buffers.
Trouble Updating?
Verification issue
STEAM: Content file locked / Disk write error / Content encrypted
Trouble with Windows 10 Fall Update?
Windows 10 Fall Update Issues
As always, there is no virus in this program. If your AV shows a warning, please report it to the AV developer as a false positive to help me remove them.