Behind Glass as a wallpaper (via Wallpaper Engine)

[Iormangund]

I made a wallpaper with behindglass and thought I would share how I did it as it's not something that could be uploaded to workshop.

Just create a new wallpaper in workshop and save it, 'open in explorer' then delete everything except 'project.json'. Open it and put this there instead:

{
	"description" : "",
	"file" : "C:/Steam/steamapps/common/BehindGlass/BehindGlass.exe",
	"title" : "BehindGlass",
	"type" : "Application",
}

Changing it to your Steam folder location obviously. You can add image preview etc also but that's basically it.

With all that in mind, is it possible to have BehindGlass default to 2D mode when it loads? For instance via a command line option or a menu option.
The 2D button ends up under the taskbar when used as a wallpaper so is a bit of a pain everytime it loads.

Edit:
Issue has been resolved, just make sure to tick the wallpaper checkbox.

Originally posted by BitBros Games:

Please check the latest update -- there is a "Start in wallpaper mode" setting, hopefully finally working...

Edit 2:
You can skip the step of creating a new wallpaper and instead just go to the wallpaper project folder below if the other method doesn't work.

 
C:\Steam\steamapps\common\wallpaper_engine\projects\myprojects 

Create the folder "BehindGlass" then a new txt file named 'project.json'. In paste the following into the project.json file (careful not to end up with project.json.txt).

{
	"file" : "C:/Steam/steamapps/common/BehindGlass/BehindGlass.exe",
	"general" : 
	{
		"properties" : 
		{
			"schemecolor" : 
			{
				"order" : 0,
				"text" : "ui_browse_properties_scheme_color",
				"type" : "color",
				"value" : "0.70196 0.65882 0.60784"
			}
		}
	},
	"type" : "Application",
	"title" : "BehindGlass"
}

I found it sometimes didn't work without the schemecolor.

Before you run it in wallpaper engine, open it through steam and make sure 'Run in background' and 'Start in Wallpaper mode' are selected.
After that it should load whatever the last tank you used in wallpaper mode when run through wallpaper engine.

If it wasn't for the fact it needs your specific behindglass installation location I would upload it to Wallpaper engine workshop.

At the moment the only feature which doesn't work when run as a wallpaper is the workshop, so you are limited to the default tanks or your own creation.

[BitBros Games]

Good to know this is working in general. We will surely be able to something to solve this issue in some way... Have you identified any other things that would need to be changed for this use case?

[Iormangund]

To be honest I haven't messed around with it too much. The defaulting to 3D view and taskbar hiding menu options is the only thing. Pretty sure wallpaper engine can use command line arguments so that might be the easiest solution.

Everything else has been running fine, it even pauses correctly following the wallpaper engine 'other application fullscreen' etc. Of course the run in background option needs to be checked.

Wallpaper engine workshop items include the executable for application wallpapers so you can't make a public one including BehindGlass so users will always have to make their own one pointing to the installation.

In theory you could have a .bat file or something that pulls the steam and/or BehindGlass install dir from the registry and then runs the executable.

Edit: Scratch that, wrote a batch file to check and run it from the steam dir but turns out wallpaper engine won't run bat files. Could use an exe wrapper for the bat file but after all that it's gonna seem very virusy. There's probably a better way to do it all anyways.

[BitBros Games]

Okay, thanks for the investigations! What I take from this: We will offer a command line argument for running Behind Glass as a Wallpaper. If the command is used: we will force 2D mode on startup, and always have Behind Glass running in background (ignoring the setting in the Settings menu). This will be available with the next update (not scheduled yet).

[Iormangund]

Originally posted by BitBros Games:

Okay, thanks for the investigations! What I take from this: We will offer a command line argument for running Behind Glass as a Wallpaper. If the command is used: we will force 2D mode on startup, and always have Behind Glass running in background (ignoring the setting in the Settings menu). This will be available with the next update (not scheduled yet).

That would be brilliant. It might not be a bad idea to include resolution setting via command line argument also at some stage, would allow more flexibility in the programs use outside the intended scope.

Thank you for being so responsive!

[BitBros Games]

Resolution will be a bit more tricky, as this depends on the specific user device. Will keep it in mind though.

[BitBros Games]

We have just rolled out the update, containing the command line option: WallpaperCompatible. Feel free to try it out.

[Iormangund]

Thank you for adding the feature however unfortunately I gave it a try and it didn't seem to have any effect.

I tried doing it via a shortcut, steam launch options and through wallpaper engine. In all instances the game loaded into 3D mode and behaved the same as without the option. Now Windows 11 doesn't let you move the taskbar it means 2D mode is completely inaccessible as a wallpaper.

I also noticed that the upper HUD now always appears when opening, even if it is set not to appear in options.

[BitBros Games]

Aargh... You are right. It seems we activate the 2D mode but do not apply it. Running in background seems to be working. The upper seems to be a general issues on restarting. Sorry, but it seems you need to wait for the next update to get this fixed (and we hopefully do some proper testing this time...).

[Iormangund]

Originally posted by BitBros Games:

Aargh... You are right. It seems we activate the 2D mode but do not apply it. Running in background seems to be working. The upper seems to be a general issues on restarting. Sorry, but it seems you need to wait for the next update to get this fixed (and we hopefully do some proper testing this time...).

Everything else seems to be working great, thank you. Look forward to the next update

[BitBros Games]

The new update is now available. Please try again (if we were successful this time...).

[Iormangund]

Originally posted by BitBros Games:

The new update is now available. Please try again (if we were successful this time...).

Thank you for the update.
Unfortunately Steam is preventing command line arguments working correctly, a 'security' feature means that it's seemingly impossible to run BehindGlass successfully with an argument through another application.
Running BehindGlass directly through steam with the argument set in steam UI allows it to open in 2D mode. That's it. Still no way to get it to work with external apps such as WallpaperEngine.
Thanks Steam for your 'security feature' :/

Edit: So basically what you have done seems to work technically, but Steam has made it impossible to do it with command line options.

[BitBros Games]

So, this was a try that didn't work out... Does it generally runs as wallpaper nevertheless, apart from the problem of the 2D mode being inaccessible?

[Iormangund]

Originally posted by BitBros Games:

So, this was a try that didn't work out... Does it generally runs as wallpaper nevertheless, apart from the problem of the 2D mode being inaccessible?

Yes, it does technically run great as a wallpaper.
Just the lack of 2D and hiding the lower menu bar (win11 covers the hide arrow as well as the 2D radial).

Of course the workaround is hiding the taskbar or, pre win11, moving the taskbar. Once menu bar is hidden and it's in 2D mode it's fantastic as a wallpaper (especially on a big projector screen )

[BitBros Games]

So, would either making the game remember the last 2D/3D mode setting on restart, or having a setting making it start in 2D as default fix this problem?

Is the menu really an issue, as it is auto-hiding after a few seconds? Or would you expect to be able to open the menu again and make changes when running it as Wallpaper?

[Iormangund]

Originally posted by BitBros Games:

So, would either making the game remember the last 2D/3D mode setting on restart, or having a setting making it start in 2D as default fix this problem?

Is the menu really an issue, as it is auto-hiding after a few seconds? Or would you expect to be able to open the menu again and make changes when running it as Wallpaper?

Yes, allowing either remembering last 2D/3D settings or changing the default start mode would totally fix any wallpaper/background type use (afaik).

You are right about the menu, forgot it auto hides when I posted that. I don't think access is needed when running as a wallpaper/background.