DreamScene Issues

Overslop

Overslop

Overslop

Soldato
Joined
22 Oct 2005
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Thailand
I have several issues with DreamScene...

Sometimes it will crash unexpectedly (though usually after playing a game), forcing me to go into my Personalise options and rechoose the video.

Sometimes it will cause Bioshock to fill only a small square of the screen, like it's in Windowed mode but actually isn't. On my previous build with a nVidia card, the game would run fine but after quitting Windows itself would sometimes be forced into that same square. Not sure if any other games do this, certainly never happened with any others I've owned and tried on this OS.

I've also noticed that running DreamScene can negatively effect game performance on my new card. It's quite dramatic so I'm wondering if Crossfire is being disabled by DreamScene and it's causing once core to work on each.


So with all these problems, I obviously choose not to use it. But with it being the only feature of Ultimate worth mentioning, I would ideally like to have it working. I certainly like it a lot but it's not worth having it to cripple my PC. Any ideas?
 
I said that I already use a background wallpaper but this is not ideal.

Clearly I'm looking for a potential solution, not someone advising me to do something I've already stated I'm doing...
 
oh ok...try adding more ram then :p


j.k

ive read the same problem with dreamscene a few times...also its crashy on my comp.
i thought it may have just needed more memory since i have only 2gb but u have 4 so im not sure what its problem is.
 
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Its a known limitation of Dreamscene + Vista Ultimate.

Anything which uses a certain amount of your PC's resource causes Dreamscene to pause as its not designed to run at the same time as games or some resource heavy Java apps which is why it pauses, stutters or bugs up the display modes as Vista tries to keep both running at once even though its programmed to unload the desktop to give games more resource!!

For gaming you should always pause the Dreamscene before running the game anyway otherwise Vista struggles to manage the 2 processes.

For Java apps most of the time it will run fine but some badly coded ones cause it to fall over.

Been using it for almost 2 years and found it to be rock solid stable on both ATI & Nvidia cards as long as you pause it whenever gaming 99% of the time its been perfect for me on Ultimate. On Home Premium its quite buggy and not even worth using at all. This is because of restrictions to force you to use Vista Ultimate (Dreamscenes is free on this) or otherwise buy the full Home Premium Dreamscenes product unless you use the Home Premium trial edition which only has 3 dreams. or you can try and hack the HP trial edition by replacing system files (not recommended as Home Premium becomes unstable real fast in almost everything!!).

Not sure if MS Deskscapes has the exact same issues but assume it would as the core problem is the same and Vista will try to allocate all resources to the game regardless of how much hardware you have Vista will throw it all at the game and unload background processes like dreams to give maximum power to it.
 
Dreamscene is unstable and does not work very well. Pointless too. Vista Ultimate is pointless also for the average home user, the only thing it offers me over HP, is being able to join domains.
 
AWPC said:
Its a known limitation of Dreamscene + Vista Ultimate.

Anything which uses a certain amount of your PC's resource causes Dreamscene to pause as its not designed to run at the same time as games or some resource heavy Java apps which is why it pauses, stutters or bugs up the display modes as Vista tries to keep both running at once even though its programmed to unload the desktop to give games more resource!!

For gaming you should always pause the Dreamscene before running the game anyway otherwise Vista struggles to manage the 2 processes.

For Java apps most of the time it will run fine but some badly coded ones cause it to fall over.

Been using it for almost 2 years and found it to be rock solid stable on both ATI & Nvidia cards as long as you pause it whenever gaming 99% of the time its been perfect for me on Ultimate. On Home Premium its quite buggy and not even worth using at all. This is because of restrictions to force you to use Vista Ultimate (Dreamscenes is free on this) or otherwise buy the full Home Premium Dreamscenes product unless you use the Home Premium trial edition which only has 3 dreams. or you can try and hack the HP trial edition by replacing system files (not recommended as Home Premium becomes unstable real fast in almost everything!!).

Not sure if MS Deskscapes has the exact same issues but assume it would as the core problem is the same and Vista will try to allocate all resources to the game regardless of how much hardware you have Vista will throw it all at the game and unload background processes like dreams to give maximum power to it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that info. :)

Is there someway DreamScene can be made to automatically pause when another 3D application is launched? That would be an awful lot better...
 
Snakedoctor said:
Dreamscene is unstable and does not work very well. Pointless too. Vista Ultimate is pointless also for the average home user, the only thing it offers me over HP, is being able to join domains.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't call DreamScene pointless if it works well. Sure, it's only a cosmetic enhancement, but you want everything looking as good as it can be and too your taste. For me, a well made DreamScene video is substantially more attractive to the eye than a static background.

Am interested to know what you mean about domains. :)
 
Overslop said:
more attractive to the eye than a static background.

Am interested to know what you mean about domains. :)
Click to expand...

Ultimate and Business has a feature to be able to join a 'domain'. This allows settings to be configured on a server vie group policy to do different things accross a network. For example, locking right click, logging in via a central server, installing applications remotly via batch script/group policy e.t.c.

EDIT: Dreamscene does not make your pc better, only cosmetic. Even then there is no real need to have it. Just a gimmic really.
 
Snakedoctor said:
Dreamscene is unstable and does not work very well. Pointless too. Vista Ultimate is pointless also for the average home user, the only thing it offers me over HP, is being able to join domains.
Click to expand...

Your post is pointless as he did not ask for your view & asked on how to fix the issue & not whether you think it is good or not.
 
optitech-uk said:
Ultimate and Business has a feature to be able to join a 'domain'. This allows settings to be configured on a server vie group policy to do different things accross a network. For example, locking right click, logging in via a central server, installing applications remotly via batch script/group policy e.t.c.

EDIT: Dreamscene does not make your pc better, only cosmetic. Even then there is no real need to have it. Just a gimmic really.
Click to expand...

And some people like even the gimmicks or there would not be any ;)
 
Overslop said:
Thanks for that info. :)

Is there someway DreamScene can be made to automatically pause when another 3D application is launched? That would be an awful lot better...
Click to expand...
Yeah write a better version yourself or ask the programmers to change it;) Is it really that hard to right click the desktop and pause it from the menu which is installed by default??

For everyone who loves it like me check out this new dreamscene. Definately one of the best methinks:D

http://www.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?skinid=1650&libid=50

http://www.guichamps.com/skin/102
 
AWPC said:
Yeah write a better version yourself or ask the programmers to change it;) Is it really that hard to right click the desktop and pause it from the menu which is installed by default??

For everyone who loves it like me check out this new dreamscene. Definately one of the best methinks:D

http://www.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?skinid=1650&libid=50

http://www.guichamps.com/skin/102
Click to expand...

Yes - it's a really complicated task! :o

The point is that it's a nuisance and shouldn't be that way. If there was a patch for it to enable automatic on/off that would undoubtedly be an improvement.

Most of all it would mean that without the need to pause/unpause it then there would never be any system crashes due to the bugginess of DreamScene.
 
Overslop said:
Yes - it's a really complicated task! :o

The point is that it's a nuisance and shouldn't be that way. If there was a patch for it to enable automatic on/off that would undoubtedly be an improvement.

Most of all it would mean that without the need to pause/unpause it then there would never be any system crashes due to the bugginess of DreamScene.
Click to expand...
Sorry I should add that a lot of the buginess appears to be caused by Stardocks intentional DRM on the freeware Dreamscene downloads!! The version I use which seems 100% stable for me anyway is: 1.0.2.105

You need to download all 3 versions of the Dreamscenes trial from somewhere else as Stardock only host the newer one which has DRM to stop it running on Home Premium with more than the 3 provided dreams (they want you to purchase the full version for Home Premium which allows more than 3 dreams). I could not get the newest Stardock trial hosted download to run more than the 3 included dreams on either Ultimate or Home Premium so suspect they may have made the whole product something they want you to buy unless you stick to the 3 included dreams.

But if you have one of the older unrestricted trials it seems to be unlimited useage on Ultimate:D
 
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