DeskScapes 10 Beta

Feedback and Suggestions

from Stardock Forums

Not sure if this is the correct place to post feedback and suggestions If not, I can post elsewhere. First of all, I'm very impressed with DeskScapes 10 beta so far! Really slick UI, efficient layout, useful features, dark and light modes—even the typography is nice. The generous selection of local and online libraries (including smooth OneDrive cloud integration) makes DS10 a powerful tool for navigating and managing wallpaper collections. A great product right out the gate (or almost out the gate).

Wishlist/Suggestions:

  1.  Random Backgrounds:
    • Please add "Change every 12 hours" to the "Changing speed" dropdown list. I want to change between a favorite night and day wallpaper, so I added them to the random folder and checked "Sequentially change through the backgrounds". But there's no way to make it change on a 12-hour day/night schedule! (Note: The downside of this solution will be having to wait until sunrise or sunset to manually kick off the 12-hour timer, which will gradually get out of sync with mother nature anyway. Still, a 12 hour timer would be a big leap forward.)
    • An even better option (perhaps further down the road) would be the ability to sync background change with W10 Night Light, so the wallpaper changes whenever night light turns on/off. 
    • Sync to change whenever W10 is switched between dark and light mode might be another way to accomplish the same day/night wallpaper change scenario.
    •  Very minor point: The name "Random Backgrounds" is technically a misnomer once you select the sequential option.
  2. High Resolution Support/Filtering based on Resolution:
    • The only way to determine resolution is by clicking on files one-at-a-time and reading their description.
    • Many online resources have multiple resolutions, but I didn't find any at 4K among the 10-15 I clicked on. 
    • I have a local folder with only 4K wallpapers, but didn't see any online categories/folders designated as 4K.
    • The ability to globally filter wallpapers/videos by resolution would be the ultimate solution.
  3. Animated Wallpapers:
    • I tried one of the featured animated wallpapers, but the result wasn't very impressive on a 4K monitor in terms of sharpness of detail. Motion (fps) was also choppy even at the slowest speed (probably the fault of my anemic Intel HD 620 graphics processor which handles 4K surprisingly well, but only if you don't do anything demanding).
    • Although we have the nice "Download" and "Visit background webpage" buttons, it's frustrating that additional links in the video desctiption (such as YouTube previews) aren't active hyperlinks or even copyable (maybe for security reasons?).

 

In any case, keep up the good work! Looking forward to future versions.

 

Edit: Added comment about Intel HD 620 integrated graphics on my laptop.

deskscapes
71,739 views 15 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,

I have forwarded your request to the Stardock support team for their review and recommendations. Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates. We really do appreciate your feedback, Thanks.

 

Basj

Stardock Community Assistant

Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I keep getting the error that there is no suitable decoder found on several dreams, including a few I purchased from Stardock.

 

I have KLite Mega codec pack installed.

 

Windows 10.

Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting RedneckDude, reply 2

I keep getting the error that there is no suitable decoder found on several dreams, including a few I purchased from Stardock.

 I have KLite Mega codec pack installed.

Windows 10.

Hello,

I have forwarded your problem to Stardock Support team for their assistance. Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates. We appreciate your feedback and patience.

 

Basj

Stardock Community Assistant.

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Edit: something wrong with my PC not DS10 - sorry.  MPG video files don’t play when double clicked - which opens the W10 universal app “Film & TV” giving the same missing codec error.  I’ve tried downloading the MS MPEG2 codec app from the Windows store and uninstalling LAV and reinstalling (latest version).  MPG plays fine in both Window Media Player and graphedt (which show MS DTV codec being used).

So problem is at my end.  If anyone has any ideas let me know !

=============================

Same problem as RedNeckDude.

I keep getting "No suitable decoder found"  "It is probably an AUDIO codec issue" for many older dreams.  I use LAV filters so should have had all the relevant decoders.  It mainly affects older dreams which worked with Deskscapes 8 on Windows 10 1809 (fully patched) such as

Big Rock Waterfall
Catch a Wave
Christmas Cottage
Christmas Fireplace
Clockmaker's Nightmare
Copper Pool
Corel Reef Animation
Crashing Waves
Creek Side
Dingy
Dryscape
Earthlight
Earthlights V2
Enterprise
Exotic Plasma
Forever Frost
Future Earth
Heron
Island
Merry Christmas
Moonscape
Nice Waterfall
Orange Twist
Palms
Rolling Water
Sea at Sunset
Sea Fish
Sphere
Surfs Up
The Earth
The fifth Planet
Tropical Planet
Tropical Paradise
Waterfalls

Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting marchk01, reply 4

Same problem as RedNeckDude.

I keep getting "No suitable decoder found"  "It is probably an AUDIO codec issue" for many older dreams.  I use LAV filters so should have had all the relevant decoders.  It mainly affects older dreams which worked with Deskscapes 8 on Windows 10 1809 (fully patched) such as

Big Rock Waterfall
Catch a Wave
Christmas Cottage
Christmas Fireplace
Clockmaker's Nightmare
Copper Pool
Corel Reef Animation
Crashing Waves
Creek Side
Dingy
Dryscape
Earthlight
Earthlights V2
Enterprise
Exotic Plasma
Forever Frost
Future Earth
Heron
Island
Merry Christmas
Moonscape
Nice Waterfall
Orange Twist
Palms
Rolling Water
Sea at Sunset
Sea Fish
Sphere
Surfs Up
The Earth
The fifth Planet
Tropical Planet
Tropical Paradise
Waterfalls

Make sure your Lav and codecs are up to date 

mine are and I have no issues with those dreams .

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

Very nice redo of Deskscapes!

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

Hi Azdude.  Thanks for letting me know it works for you.  Something broken with my MPG playback (details in amended post above)

Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting marchk01, reply 7

Hi Azdude.  Thanks for letting me know it works for you.  Something broken with my MPG playback (details in amended post above)

Go to your settings in DS10 and change to one of the Direct Show settings try the last one first , I changed to that one ...

Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting marchk01, reply 7

Hi Azdude.  Thanks for letting me know it works for you.  Something broken with my MPG playback (details in amended post above)

Neil told me to choose one of the Direct Draw options, and that fixed the no suitable decoder found issue.

 

EDIT     Well shit, I guess I should have read to the end before replying....oops.

Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top

Yeah !  Thanks Azdude and Redneckdude.  That fixed it.

Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top

Just installed the Beta and first impressions are great. It fixed my Black screen issue with 3 monitors I was experiencing with Deskscape 8. That is a big plus.

However the new version appears to suffer from the same bug as Fences when booting from cold start up and it randomly gets confused which monitor is which.
My centre monitor is my Primary, with numbering left to right 1,2,3. 1 and 2 are Display Port and 3 is HDMI. 
When booting from cold both Fences and now DeskScapes get the order of the monitors confused and display the backgrounds and fences on the incorrect monitors (but not always when it comes to Fences, sometimes it gets it correct).

A warm re-boot and correct placement of everything is achieved. This is a hassle, however seemingly the only way ( as far as Fences is concerned at least) to correct this.
Maybe a solution for DeskScapes can be found to place the correct background on the correct monitor at cold boot-up.

Cheers

Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting TinkerNZ, reply 11

Just installed the Beta and first impressions are great. It fixed my Black screen issue with 3 monitors I was experiencing with Deskscape 8. That is a big plus.

However the new version appears to suffer from the same bug as Fences when booting from cold start up and it randomly gets confused which monitor is which.
My centre monitor is my Primary, with numbering left to right 1,2,3. 1 and 2 are Display Port and 3 is HDMI. 
When booting from cold both Fences and now DeskScapes get the order of the monitors confused and display the backgrounds and fences on the incorrect monitors (but not always when it comes to Fences, sometimes it gets it correct).

A warm re-boot and correct placement of everything is achieved. This is a hassle, however seemingly the only way ( as far as Fences is concerned at least) to correct this.
Maybe a solution for DeskScapes can be found to place the correct background on the correct monitor at cold boot-up.

Cheers

Hello,

I have forwarded your report to the Stardock support team for their review and recommendations.

Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates.

It is the weekend now so patience .

We really do appreciate your feedback, thanks.

AzDude
Stardock Community Assistant

Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top

Hi,

I’m just crazy about Dreams and I’m enjoying the new look of DeskScapes.  I do have something to add to the wish list.  It’s something I wanted changed in the older version, too.  It concerns the windows that show the folder paths.  I would like them to be resizable and show the complete path (no dots).  I have my dreams further down the directory structure under the My Documents folder to be sure they get backed up when I add more.  They are also categorized into folders by subject to make it easier to find.  The problem is that the folder structure can’t be seen in the small windows.  I think this should be a very simple change.  Thanks for considering!

Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting AzDude, reply 12


Quoting TinkerNZ,
reply 11

Just installed the Beta and first impressions are great. It fixed my Black screen issue with 3 monitors I was experiencing with Deskscape 8. That is a big plus.

However the new version appears to suffer from the same bug as Fences when booting from cold start up and it randomly gets confused which monitor is which.
My centre monitor is my Primary, with numbering left to right 1,2,3. 1 and 2 are Display Port and 3 is HDMI. 
When booting from cold both Fences and now DeskScapes get the order of the monitors confused and display the backgrounds and fences on the incorrect monitors (but not always when it comes to Fences, sometimes it gets it correct).

A warm re-boot and correct placement of everything is achieved. This is a hassle, however seemingly the only way ( as far as Fences is concerned at least) to correct this.
Maybe a solution for DeskScapes can be found to place the correct background on the correct monitor at cold boot-up.

Cheers



Hello,

I have forwarded your report to the Stardock support team for their review and recommendations.

Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates.

It is the weekend now so patience .

We really do appreciate your feedback, thanks.

AzDude
Stardock Community Assistant

 

Thank you AzDude,

As additional info I have noticed which may be of value to pass on. When DeskScapes gets it wrong at start up (cold boot) it does so precisely the same way as Fences. So what ever drives the error that causes this behaviour may in fact be Windows based and not in Deskscapes or Fences (surprise surprise) >:(  

TinkerNZ

Reply #15 from Stardock Forums Top

Feature Question: Does/will DeskScapes 10 have a command line interface? I was using an app named John's Background Switcher which has a CLI to allow external calls to it's wallpaper switching capabilities (e.g. from Windows task scheduler).