Hey all,

A new patch for Wallpaper Engine has been released that makes discovering wallpapers in the Workshop easier and adds a few rudimentary features to the scene editor.

The wallpaper browse window received a new tab, Discover, which allows browsing the Workshop based on genres, keywords and creators.



You receive a balanced mix of all genres from the Workshop, making it easier to get an idea about what kind of wallpapers are available and helping you to find new and popular ones.



Make sure to vote on lists you really like or dislike. By doing that, more similar lists will be shown to you that belong into the same genre. For example, if you vote for game related wallpapers, you will receive more game specific lists.



You can also favorite lists to find them again more easily:



Or create a custom list by searching for a keyword through Steam:





Wallpapers in all lists will now scale along with the window and screen size better and a new download icon on the Workshop tabs indicates which wallpapers you already downloaded. The new Discover view is still based on Steam's Workshop at its core meaning wrongly tagged submissions may show up in the lists. As before, the built-in report tool can be used to flag them so they can be sorted properly by us.

The scene editor will now show a selection box for the selected object, which is especially useful for translucent images and particles.



Three buttons have been added to the top as well to quickly toggle the visibility for the new selection box, the grid and performance stats.



There is also a new tutorial about scene performance optimization that describes how expensive effects (like Shine) can be limited effectively to a small portion of the wallpaper.

CEF has been updated to the version cef_binary_3.3396.1777.g636f29b (Chromium 67.0.3396.79). To reduce some persistent CEF/Chromium stability issues, I have also implemented some additional work arounds. The web wallpaper will now only close after the wallpaper file has either been loaded or timed out to prevent an issue on shutdown. Quickly switching between web wallpapers should now apply the properties better and keep the wallpaper working as expected. Finally, the UI will now ignore mouse/keyboard input until the page has been loaded to a degree which should avoid some start up crashes (safe for a very rare one coming from the Steam overlay).

Full changelog

• Added new Workshop Discovery view.
  
• Added responsive layout for wallpaper lists.
  
• Added selection box in editor for images and particles.
  
• Added tool bar buttons for grid/selection/stats.
  
• Added proper default x ray sprite.
  
• Added last file modified time to local files so they can be sorted.
  
• Added downloaded icon to wallpapers in Workshop/Discovery browser.
  
• Made all windows save and restore their position.
  
• Added a small diagnostics tool (bin/diagnostics64.exe) to help detect other programs breaking Wallpaper Engine.

• Changed editor to use safe LZ4 decompress to avoid crashes from corrupted texture files due to hard drive failures.
  
• Fixed composition layer UV scaling.
  
• Possibly fixed a crash on playlist advance with multiple playlists running at the same time.
  
• Fixed adding multiple wallpapers to a playlist with the + button.
  
• Fixed boost copy crash on file read/write error when setting up a web/app project.
  
• Fixed custom URLs not being persisted in history.

• Added more unsolicited hook DLLs to the crash detector.
  
• Hid compose layer framebuffer texture sampler in editor.
  
• Refactored genre tags to use new exclusion system.
  
• Disabled monetization option unless a start parameter was specified.
  
• Updated Steam SDK.
  
• Changed web wallpapers to wait for loading to end before shutting down.
  
• Updated FontAwesome to version 5.
  
• Updated CEF to cef_binary_3.3396.1777.g636f29b.

DirectX/DXGI crash 8007000e - NVIDIA update driver
Malwarebytes 3.4.4 system crash
Verification issue while updating
STEAM: Content file locked / Disk write error / Content encrypted

Hey all,

a new patch for Wallpaper Engine has been released that fixes a few general things and improves some image effects.

The native video player has a fallback now that will attempt to load the video a second time without audio when necessary. This mainly helps with Geforce Experience's overlay, because when it enables itself, it will latently cause the audio device to error out in Windows for a moment. Now the video should just restart (though muted) when this happens instead of fully stopping and showing the Windows error 8889000f or C00D36FA. This is not the only cause for those error codes, but recently it has been reported the most.

The opacity mask for the shake (eye blink) effect has been improved and won't distort anymore and the god rays effect has a better noise option now with a smoother animation. A new 'shine' effect has been added as well that works similar to the god rays effect, it adds a glow shape to bright parts of the image instead of just adding a ray:



CEF has been updated as well to version 3.3359.1772, still using the major Chromium version 66 as before. Google has disabled all 'autoplay' elements, but I have added the respective command line to undo that.

Full changelog

• Added soft audio device error behavior (restart video, but muted, avoids errors C00D36FA and 8889000f in most cases).
  
• Added alpha write to blend effect.
  
• Added new 'shine' effect.

• Fixed a video loading crash if audio output was disabled and video file contains unreadable/corrupted streams.
  
• Fixed web access filter not applying access rights anymore.
  
• Fixed shake blink opacity mask getting distorted and not properly scaling.
  
• Fixed browser settings not always saving when certain options are changed.

• Updated CEF to version 3.3359.1772.
  
• Changed NVAPI to only update application paths on launch, not always revert to Intel GPU on NV Optimus.
  
• Removed crash handler from web wallpaper process when it starts shutting down.
  
• Added MSI Gaming App DLL detection to crash handler (it can crash DirectX).

DirectX/DXGI crash 8007000e - NVIDIA driver 397.31
Malwarebytes 3.4.4 system crash
Verification issue while updating
STEAM: Content file locked / Disk write error / Content encrypted


Hey all,

A new patch has been released that adds a 'clone' mode for multi-monitor systems, general convenience functions to the editor and fixes a few issues.

You can now use the clone mode either by choosing the 'clone single wallpaper' layout to display a copy of the wallpaper on every monitor



or creating a custom clone group with specific monitors by right clicking a monitor.



A basic feature I have held off with for now because it's challenging to accomplish if all types of wallpapers should be supported. This solution uses Windows' thumbnail system, which is the same used by the Windows Explorer when you hover over icons on the task bar and a small preview pops up, showing the live contents of any particular window.



This means the Windows Explorer makes a fast and hardware accelerated copy of the final wallpaper image in real time. So the clones cost far less than running independent wallpapers on each screen, unless some basic conditions are not met by the computer (like not mixing unconnected graphics cards). The disadvantage is that I'm limited to what this system offers, for example, it does not allow mirroring cloned wallpapers.

The editor got support for undo/redo across renderables, effects and materials. You can use the buttons in the editor menu or CTRL+Z/Y for this.



There are also a few more features now to make editing more conventient, you can hide single effects/renderables using the new 'eye' button:



A new context menu for renderables allows you to duplicate/center/manipulate them with some preset functions:



I have also added a new tutorial to accomplish a simple eye blinking effect in the editor without having to prepare anything complex through external tools here.

The configuration of Wallpaper Engine has a backup system now that should prevent it from getting lost due to the program or computer crashing just at the time it is writing to the configuration file (i.e. power outage or Steam updating issues).

Before leaving Early Access I will attempt to further improve the wallpaper browsing experience with some alternative solutions. There has been an 'approved' list all this time already, where you could find some correctly tagged and well made wallpapers more easily, but of course many nice ones just slip through since this list has to be updated by hand.

So I will try adding a categorical browser that also allows browsing specific authors, custom themes or Steam collections. While it would still be necessary to add authors and collections there, at least the wallpapers associated with either will automatically be added afterwards.

Full changelog

• Added single clone mode across all monitors.
  
• Added user clone groups over splits and monitors.
  
• Added support for 64-bit apps as wallpapers.
  
• Added opacity mask to shake effect for proper eye blinking (Tutorial).
  
• Added effect naming.
  
• Added renderable and effect visiblity button in tree view.
  
• Added undo/redo system for renderables/effects/materials.
  
• Added texture reset button to material texture options.
  
• Added support for Microsoft's new OneDrive file system changes to fix external images from OneDrive not loading.
  
• Added visibility system to hide (not delete - because that will confuse Steam's update system) stock wallpapers via 'remove' button.
  
• Added enter as a hotkey to most modal dialogs.
  
• Added various editing buttons to context menu for renderables.
  
• Added 'backup' folder in wallpaper_engine/projects/backup that allows for easier Steam backups.
  
• Added warning about uploading images without any animation because Wallpaper Engine is not meant for that and will render them poorly.
  
• Added config backup system and removed support for deprecated config format from a year ago.

• Fixed description being truncated by Steam query in editor.
  
• Fixed editor gizmos 'snapping' a little while using them due to asynchronous change events.
  
• Fixed large context menus (i.e. dozens of custom folders) going offscreen.
  
• Fixed GDI bitmap leak in tray context menu.
  
• Fixed browse window not timely closing due to folder clean up behavior when shut down from the outside.
  
• Fixed sound library crashing if scene wallpapers with sounds are running on multiple monitors.

• Added two step process to library loading to accommodate Windows 7 without updates.
  
• Disabled safe start when updater has to terminate running processes.
  
• Changed image layer effects to use point filter if base texture uses point filter too.

* Verification issue while updating
* STEAM: Content file locked / Disk write error / Content encrypted

Hello all,

this update fixes a few issues and makes some minor improvements to the recent features that were added, none of the big next tasks are included yet. If you have Windows 7, some of the fixes require the update KB2533623 from 2011 to be installed in order to really work - but you most likely have it installed already.

Changelog

• Fixed grey wallpapers due to external DLLs overwriting the DLL directory (requires the Windows 7 update mentioned before).
  
• Fixed applied wallpaper not reloading if 'apply wallpaper' is continuously used in the editor.
  
• Fixed model textures failing to be referenced by the model correctly if they contain three or more slashes.
  
• Fixed new wallpaper drag & drop creation in editor failing when extension is written upper case.
  
• Reduced updater restart issues by allowing more time for a gentle shutdown to complete.

• Renamed 'video audio output' to 'audio output' and made it affect scene type wallpapers with audio too.
  
• Disabled scene audio post processing for analog recording devices.
  
• Tweaked scene audio post processing to be less erratic and separated frequencies more.
  
• Made audio options for pulse effect easier to set up and added audio response to shake effect.
  
• Added bounds and direction to shake effect, this may be useful to create some kind of eye blink animation now, if the source image allows for it this way.

* Verification issue while updating
* STEAM: Content file locked / Disk write error / Content encrypted

Hello all,

this update fixes a few issues and makes some minor improvements to the recent features that were added, none of the big next tasks are included yet. If you have Windows 7, some of the fixes require the update KB2533623 from 2011 to be installed in order to really work - but you most likely have it installed already.

Changelog

• Fixed grey wallpapers due to external DLLs overwriting the DLL directory (requires the Windows 7 update mentioned before).
  
• Fixed applied wallpaper not reloading if 'apply wallpaper' is continuously used in the editor.
  
• Fixed model textures failing to be referenced by the model correctly if they contain three or more slashes.
  
• Fixed new wallpaper drag & drop creation in editor failing when extension is written upper case.
  
• Reduced updater restart issues by allowing more time for a gentle shutdown to complete.

• Renamed 'video audio output' to 'audio output' and made it affect scene type wallpapers with audio too.
  
• Disabled scene audio post processing for analog recording devices.
  
• Tweaked scene audio post processing to be less erratic and separated frequencies more.
  
• Made audio options for pulse effect easier to set up and added audio response to shake effect.
  
• Added bounds and direction to shake effect, this may be useful to create some kind of eye blink animation now, if the source image allows for it this way.

* Verification issue while updating
* STEAM: Content file locked / Disk write error / Content encrypted
* NVIDIA stutter on video load (since 26.02.18)
* Malwarebytes system freeze/browser crash

TL;DR
Scene audio playback + responsive effects, easier wallpaper creation, mute button in tray menu, easier particle editing, CEF updated, new wallpapers in store, report options adjusted to be more efficient

Hey all,

a new patch for Wallpaper Engine has been released that adds a number of new features. Creating wallpapers has become easier now, scenes have support for audio playback + audio responsiveness and a mute button has been added to the tray menu among other things.

Looping music and random sounds can now be added to scenes. There are buttons in the usual places to add sounds, but you can also drag a supported file (mp3, ogg, wav, flac) into the wallpaper.



I implemented SFML2 and mpg123 to accomplish this, it was possible thanks to the mp3 patents being revoked last year. And to accomodate for the license of mpg123, the code for this is open source and can be separately compiled: https://github.com/Biohazard90/wallpaper-engine-media-extensions

Several particle behaviors now have options to react to audio. That means for example particles could emit according to the sound level or apply different forces.

Random particle video example: https://streamable.com/9tvvs



The pulse image effect has also received an audio response option. This allows you to make the image pulse based on the same audio properties.

Particles have now received a second layer of controls that is easier to adjust, so there is now a way to change basic things without having to use the fullfledged particle editor.



The CEF version used by Wallpaper Engine has been updated to 3.3325.1750. I have tested dozens of web wallpapers and did not notice any errors myself, if you find anything, please let me know. It is inevitable that something might be affected, but Valve made it possible for me to fix existing uploads from other users now, that's a better option than ceasing to update the browser engine.

Two more wallpapers have been accepted to the store front:



There are tons of other great submissions, but so many of the uploads are copyright violations. I would like to accept more, specifically scene and web type wallpapers where I can see that no copyright is being violated or there is a way for me to ensure that.

The tray menu now has a mute button, which works for native videos and scene wallpapers. Sadly web and application wallpapers are not handled right now, much like the audio detector does not handle them yet.



The Workshop page now has a 'my favorites' and 'voted up' query. This will allow you to remember/track wallpapers you like without actually subscribing to them all. So for example, if you are having trouble with Steam's downloading, you could track wallpapers here and only subscribe to the ones you are actually using at the time.



The filter menu has also been changed to allow for selection of multiple resolutions/types etc.



And finally, the 'installed' tab now has pagination with 500 wallpapers per page. So if you have thousands of wallpapers, the performance of the menu should be better now, since not all wallpapers will be listed at once anymore.

I have made adjustments to the report system based on what kind of reports I've been getting. The 'content rating' category has been renamed to 'nudity/violence' and the 'offensive' category has been removed. This was to accomodate for the following big issues:

• Most reports in the default 'genre' category were random with comments like 'doesn't download'. I know, Steam's download system can be buggy, but this is only fixable by Valve, I cannot do anything with these kinds of reports and they were cluttering up the genre category.
  
• Many reported nudity content as 'offensive'. If these reports are split between two different categories, it makes it more difficult to process for me. The 'offensive' category is just too generic, most of the reports in there didn't belong there at all. So now I made the nudity report category easier to find and actual offensive wallpapers should be reported through the 'other' category - they are usually very easy to discern from the preview or title.

You can now create a new wallpaper by taking your base background file and Wallpaper Engine will figure out the rest. For 2D scenes, the image will also automatically be imported and a proper scheme color set. Web wallpapers now just have to select the base .html file, it can have any name, instead of a folder with an index.html. The wallpaper type selection was replaced with a single button, it's now automatic:



It's about time I remove the Early Access flag and I think some time (weeks?) after the next big Windows 10 update would be convenient, to ensure everything still works well on there. What I still want to implement for this beforehand:

• Mirror layout for multi-monitor (this is difficult to implement for all types of wallpapers and many have different expectations to how this works. I will have to experiment and release the best solution I can realize.)
  
• Workshop 'explore' tab (maybe): I want to use my own server alongside Steam's systems to pick users and collections and show their wallpapers in a thematic fashion.

There is still no visible progress on better support for models. The current Adobe FBX SDK is incompatible with Wallpaper Engine and I can't uproot the entire program to accomodate for this. To my knowledge they are working on a compatible version (VS2017) but there is no ETA on it. If any of you have an idea or experience with a good model importer I should check out, please let me know. For now I won't give any ETAs on this anymore until I really know for sure that I've found a basic working importer.

Full changelog

• Added new editor welcome dialog for easier wallpaper creation.
  
• Added optional system wallpaper fade killer to remove fade when logging in or from the slideshow.
  
• Added native image compression to reduce size on disk for large PNGs and JPEGs (does not affect memory use or performance since these compressions cannot be handled by graphics hardware anyway).
  
• Added pagination to installed tab for 500 wallpapers per page.
  
• Added sound playback to scenes with support for mp3, wav, ogg, flac.
  
• Added DirectX support detection to installer and a warning if requirements aren't met. (NOT a new requirement!!!! It's only a message.)
  
• Added scene particle instance controls for easier editing of basic properties.
  
• Added 'my favorites' and 'upvoted' Workshop queries.
  
• Added mute button to tray menu.
  
• Added more 'filtered' labels to make it more obvious that filters are active and not all wallpapers are shown.
  
• Added audio processing options to pulse image effect.
  
• Added audio processing options to several particle elements (emitters, initializers, operators).
  
• Added basic audio smoothing and normalization to scene audio processor.
  
• Updated CEF to version cef_binary_3.3325.1750.gaabe4c4_windows32_minimal.

• Fixed unreliable Media Foundation init/shutdown by only performing it on application shutdown now.
  
• Fixed crash in audio detector when it is reset.
  
• Fixed effect list overflowing visually.
  
• Fixed service running without environment block, causing web links to fail.
  
• Fixed maximized/fullscreen muting.
  
• Fixed mip map generation pixel artifacts.
  
• Fixed particle simulation crash due to missing alignment of a variable.
  
• Fixed Workshop pagination breaking when Steam returns bad data.

• Changed worker to clear desktop layer when 'stop' is used instead of leaving an undefined image behind (it was black or random for some).
  
• Replaced filter drop downs with checkboxes, so now it can be filtered by combination of any options.
  
• Made texture compiler apply color bleeding to deal with Photoshop's inconvenient png export of fully translucent pixels - reduced weird outlines in PNGs.
  
• Made Steam ticket request a refresh from Valve's servers if it was invalid during reports.
  
• Changed download icons to read 'Steam download', trying to make it even more obvious that Steam is responsible for how this works. Also added a question mark with a link to a guide on how to deal with Steam's download problems.
  
• Replaced default report category to 'other' and removed 'offensive' to try reduce all of the wrong reports.

* Verification issue while updating
* STEAM: Content file locked / Disk write error / Content encrypted
* NVIDIA stutter on video load (since 26.02.18)
* Malwarebytes system freeze/browser crash

TL;DR
Scene audio playback + responsive effects, easier wallpaper creation, mute button in tray menu, easier particle editing, CEF updated, new wallpapers in store, report options adjusted to be more efficient

Hey all,

a new patch for Wallpaper Engine has been released that adds a number of new features. Creating wallpapers has become easier now, scenes have support for audio playback + audio responsiveness and a mute button has been added to the tray menu among other things.

Looping music and random sounds can now be added to scenes. There are buttons in the usual places to add sounds, but you can also drag a supported file (mp3, ogg, wav, flac) into the wallpaper.



I implemented SFML2 and mpg123 to accomplish this, it was possible thanks to the mp3 patents being revoked last year. And to accomodate for the license of mpg123, the code for this is open source and can be separately compiled: https://github.com/Biohazard90/wallpaper-engine-media-extensions

Several particle behaviors now have options to react to audio. That means for example particles could emit according to the sound level or apply different forces.

Random particle video example: https://streamable.com/9tvvs



The pulse image effect has also received an audio response option. This allows you to make the image pulse based on the same audio properties.

Particles have now received a second layer of controls that is easier to adjust, so there is now a way to change basic things without having to use the fullfledged particle editor.



The CEF version used by Wallpaper Engine has been updated to 3.3325.1750. I have tested dozens of web wallpapers and did not notice any errors myself, if you find anything, please let me know. It is inevitable that something might be affected, but Valve made it possible for me to fix existing uploads from other users now, that's a better option than ceasing to update the browser engine.

Two more wallpapers have been accepted to the store front:



There are tons of other great submissions, but so many of the uploads are copyright violations. I would like to accept more, specifically scene and web type wallpapers where I can see that no copyright is being violated or there is a way for me to ensure that.

The tray menu now has a mute button, which works for native videos and scene wallpapers. Sadly web and application wallpapers are not handled right now, much like the audio detector does not handle them yet.



The Workshop page now has a 'my favorites' and 'voted up' query. This will allow you to remember/track wallpapers you like without actually subscribing to them all. So for example, if you are having trouble with Steam's downloading, you could track wallpapers here and only subscribe to the ones you are actually using at the time.



The filter menu has also been changed to allow for selection of multiple resolutions/types etc.



And finally, the 'installed' tab now has pagination with 500 wallpapers per page. So if you have thousands of wallpapers, the performance of the menu should be better now, since not all wallpapers will be listed at once anymore.

I have made adjustments to the report system based on what kind of reports I've been getting. The 'content rating' category has been renamed to 'nudity/violence' and the 'offensive' category has been removed. This was to accomodate for the following big issues:

• Most reports in the default 'genre' category were random with comments like 'doesn't download'. I know, Steam's download system can be buggy, but this is only fixable by Valve, I cannot do anything with these kinds of reports and they were cluttering up the genre category.
  
• Many reported nudity content as 'offensive'. If these reports are split between two different categories, it makes it more difficult to process for me. The 'offensive' category is just too generic, most of the reports in there didn't belong there at all. So now I made the nudity report category easier to find and actual offensive wallpapers should be reported through the 'other' category - they are usually very easy to discern from the preview or title.

You can now create a new wallpaper by taking your base background file and Wallpaper Engine will figure out the rest. For 2D scenes, the image will also automatically be imported and a proper scheme color set. Web wallpapers now just have to select the base .html file, it can have any name, instead of a folder with an index.html. The wallpaper type selection was replaced with a single button, it's now automatic:



It's about time I remove the Early Access flag and I think some time (weeks?) after the next big Windows 10 update would be convenient, to ensure everything still works well on there. What I still want to implement for this beforehand:

• Mirror layout for multi-monitor (this is difficult to implement for all types of wallpapers and many have different expectations to how this works. I will have to experiment and release the best solution I can realize.)
  
• Workshop 'explore' tab (maybe): I want to use my own server alongside Steam's systems to pick users and collections and show their wallpapers in a thematic fashion.

There is still no visible progress on better support for models. The current Adobe FBX SDK is incompatible with Wallpaper Engine and I can't uproot the entire program to accomodate for this. To my knowledge they are working on a compatible version (VS2017) but there is no ETA on it. If any of you have an idea or experience with a good model importer I should check out, please let me know. For now I won't give any ETAs on this anymore until I really know for sure that I've found a basic working importer.

Full changelog

• Added new editor welcome dialog for easier wallpaper creation.
  
• Added optional system wallpaper fade killer to remove fade when logging in or from the slideshow.
  
• Added native image compression to reduce size on disk for large PNGs and JPEGs (does not affect memory use or performance since these compressions cannot be handled by graphics hardware anyway).
  
• Added pagination to installed tab for 500 wallpapers per page.
  
• Added sound playback to scenes with support for mp3, wav, ogg, flac.
  
• Added DirectX support detection to installer and a warning if requirements aren't met. (NOT a new requirement!!!! It's only a message.)
  
• Added scene particle instance controls for easier editing of basic properties.
  
• Added 'my favorites' and 'upvoted' Workshop queries.
  
• Added mute button to tray menu.
  
• Added more 'filtered' labels to make it more obvious that filters are active and not all wallpapers are shown.
  
• Added audio processing options to pulse image effect.
  
• Added audio processing options to several particle elements (emitters, initializers, operators).
  
• Added basic audio smoothing and normalization to scene audio processor.
  
• Updated CEF to version cef_binary_3.3325.1750.gaabe4c4_windows32_minimal.

• Fixed unreliable Media Foundation init/shutdown by only performing it on application shutdown now.
  
• Fixed crash in audio detector when it is reset.
  
• Fixed effect list overflowing visually.
  
• Fixed service running without environment block, causing web links to fail.
  
• Fixed maximized/fullscreen muting.
  
• Fixed mip map generation pixel artifacts.
  
• Fixed particle simulation crash due to missing alignment of a variable.
  
• Fixed Workshop pagination breaking when Steam returns bad data.

• Changed worker to clear desktop layer when 'stop' is used instead of leaving an undefined image behind (it was black or random for some).
  
• Replaced filter drop downs with checkboxes, so now it can be filtered by combination of any options.
  
• Made texture compiler apply color bleeding to deal with Photoshop's inconvenient png export of fully translucent pixels - reduced weird outlines in PNGs.
  
• Made Steam ticket request a refresh from Valve's servers if it was invalid during reports.
  
• Changed download icons to read 'Steam download', trying to make it even more obvious that Steam is responsible for how this works. Also added a question mark with a link to a guide on how to deal with Steam's download problems.
  
• Replaced default report category to 'other' and removed 'offensive' to try reduce all of the wrong reports.

Verification issue
STEAM: Content file locked / Disk write error / Content encrypted

By now I received ~100 reports but also a number of 'Steam ticket' errors. I have tried to fix this, but if this is still no good, I'll need to get in touch with Valve about it first.


Hey all,

This update will attempt to reduce the difficulty of browsing the Steam Workshop to find something you like. There is only one Workshop where everyone shares their creations, but with this many uploads, it becomes increasingly difficult to moderate using Steam's built-in tools and environment. Therefore I have built a new custom system to report and moderate the Workshop and a new filter system to handle suggestive content.

Everybody can now easily report items for the wrong genre, wrong content rating, violation of the rules and more. These reports can be more easily accepted from my end, allowing me to fix the genre or maturity rating directly. And if this brings any improvements, I can also create a bot to automate the system. This is where you can find the report buttons:



These are the new report categories with specialized options:



The rating system will make it possible to tag suggestive uploads to ignore them. By default they are not shown in the browser unless you enable the option. Of course all existing suggestive uploads need to be reported first in retrospect and properly tagged. I have derived the ratings by looking at other products on Steam. It goes without saying that I have no interest in setting a precedent by being more lenient than other community hubs or more restrictive than it is necessary.



Tagging something as 'Mature' although it is actually harmless won't get you into trouble, but tagging something obscene as 'Everyone' will have consequences. Please respect that there are different audiences, some who do want to see these things and some who do not. There is also a new genre tag for 'Sports' and a few new genres that are meant to further help filtering suggestive uploads that have been submitted already, including 'Girls', 'Guys'.

The entire window can be turned transparent now:



You can directly load playlists or add wallpapers by drag & drop (although still only each wallpaper once for now):

When creating new wallpapers, they will automatically show up in the browser without re-opening the window. The editor also has an 'apply wallpaper' button now which will open/control the browser and select the wallpaper from the editor:



I created a rough roadmap for pending features here for anyone who is interested. If this new report system and filtering brings improvements to the current situation, I can hopefully focus more on the app itself again.

There was also a problem with the shake effect having black screen flashes on Intel GPUs, due to improper driver optimizations by Intel. The shader now avoids running into this, but it needs to be re-imported into wallpapers. Simply adding the effect somewhere and removing it again will import the new files automatically and fix all existing shake effects in the wallpaper.


Full changelog

• Added in-app report system.
  
• Added content rating filter system.
  
• Added tags: Sports, Girls, Guys.
  
• Made playlist menu always show up so you can load and add more easily, added drag & drop.
  
• Added apply wallpaper button to browser.
  
• Made browser dynamically detect newly created wallpapers and show them without restart.
  
• Added opacity setting to browser.
  
• Added Steam cleanup that deletes empty folders when the browser is opened, after Steam connected and only if there are no active downloads.
  
• Added filter count to browser if any filter is active to make it more obvious that a filter is active.

• Disabled safe start when auto starting since Windows just doesn't shut the program down gently on some PCs which I should have expected because Windows.
  
• Fixed shake shader causing black flashes on Intel GPU because of bad Intel Math driver optimizations. (Wallpapers need to be updated with the shader though. Open it in the editor, add the shake effect somewhere, remove it again, publish.)
  
• Fixed scene properties loading after scheme color is read.
  
• Fixed editor stream window sometimes failing to allocate memory because the program renders too fast.
  
• Fixed maximized playback option being reverted.
  
• Potentially fixed wallpapers not closing/reloading properly when fullscreen 'stop' is used.

• Changed video pause fade to be shorter if the volume is higher. You can disable fade with 'video audio output' for now.

Verification issue
STEAM: Content file locked / Disk write error / Content encrypted

By now I received ~100 reports but also a number of 'Steam ticket' errors. I have tried to fix this, but if this is still no good, I'll need to get in touch with Valve about it first.


Hey all,

This update will attempt to reduce the difficulty of browsing the Steam Workshop to find something you like. There is only one Workshop where everyone shares their creations, but with this many uploads, it becomes increasingly difficult to moderate using Steam's built-in tools and environment. Therefore I have built a new custom system to report and moderate the Workshop and a new filter system to handle suggestive content.

Everybody can now easily report items for the wrong genre, wrong content rating, violation of the rules and more. These reports can be more easily accepted from my end, allowing me to fix the genre or maturity rating directly. And if this brings any improvements, I can also create a bot to automate the system. This is where you can find the report buttons:



These are the new report categories with specialized options:



The rating system will make it possible to tag suggestive uploads to ignore them. By default they are not shown in the browser unless you enable the option. Of course all existing suggestive uploads need to be reported first in retrospect and properly tagged. I have derived the ratings by looking at other products on Steam. It goes without saying that I have no interest in setting a precedent by being more lenient than other community hubs or more restrictive than it is necessary.



Tagging something as 'Mature' although it is actually harmless won't get you into trouble, but tagging something obscene as 'Everyone' will have consequences. Please respect that there are different audiences, some who do want to see these things and some who do not. There is also a new genre tag for 'Sports' and a few new genres that are meant to further help filtering suggestive uploads that have been submitted already, including 'Girls', 'Guys'.

The entire window can be turned transparent now:



You can directly load playlists or add wallpapers by drag & drop (although still only each wallpaper once for now):

When creating new wallpapers, they will automatically show up in the browser without re-opening the window. The editor also has an 'apply wallpaper' button now which will open/control the browser and select the wallpaper from the editor:



I created a rough roadmap for pending features here for anyone who is interested. If this new report system and filtering brings improvements to the current situation, I can hopefully focus more on the app itself again.

There was also a problem with the shake effect having black screen flashes on Intel GPUs, due to improper driver optimizations by Intel. The shader now avoids running into this, but it needs to be re-imported into wallpapers. Simply adding the effect somewhere and removing it again will import the new files automatically and fix all existing shake effects in the wallpaper.


Full changelog

• Added in-app report system.
  
• Added content rating filter system.
  
• Added tags: Sports, Girls, Guys.
  
• Made playlist menu always show up so you can load and add more easily, added drag & drop.
  
• Added apply wallpaper button to browser.
  
• Made browser dynamically detect newly created wallpapers and show them without restart.
  
• Added opacity setting to browser.
  
• Added Steam cleanup that deletes empty folders when the browser is opened, after Steam connected and only if there are no active downloads.
  
• Added filter count to browser if any filter is active to make it more obvious that a filter is active.

• Disabled safe start when auto starting since Windows just doesn't shut the program down gently on some PCs which I should have expected because Windows.
  
• Fixed shake shader causing black flashes on Intel GPU because of bad Intel Math driver optimizations. (Wallpapers need to be updated with the shader though. Open it in the editor, add the shake effect somewhere, remove it again, publish.)
  
• Fixed scene properties loading after scheme color is read.
  
• Fixed editor stream window sometimes failing to allocate memory because the program renders too fast.
  
• Fixed maximized playback option being reverted.
  
• Potentially fixed wallpapers not closing/reloading properly when fullscreen 'stop' is used.

• Changed video pause fade to be shorter if the volume is higher. You can disable fade with 'video audio output' for now.

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!

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.



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.

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:



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:



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:



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.

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.

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.

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'.

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

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

Verification issue
STEAM: Content file locked / Disk write error / Content encrypted
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.