[SOLVED] Program launches but wallpapers won't show

[Vipershark]

Running Windows 7 x64.

Up until today, I've been running Wallpaper Engine on a 3-screen wide setup and it has been working well for me.
Today, I got two new monitors of a larger screen resolution, which I replaced two of my older monitors with.
My setup is currently one 1920x1200 monitor and two 2560x1440 monitors.

Wallpaper Engine worked perfectly until I started using these monitors, and now it won't work at all... even if I unplug the two new monitors and just use the one old one.

What happens is that the program launches properly and I am able to choose a wallpaper, but the wallpaper never actually shows up.
If I try loading a local video file as a wallpaper, it will start playing sound (but no video) for about 0.5 to 1 second before cutting out. I'm assuming that the same thing is happening with wallpapers as well where they show up for about a second but I simply can't see them.
No black screen or anything; there are no visual changes and my wallpaper stays as the system wallpaper.

In addition, I've noticed a strange issue where while Wallpaper Engine is open, the Aero Peek (hover mouse over taskbar icon to show open windows above taskbar) is really glitchy and does not work and will continue to stay this way until wallpaper64.exe is closed.

I've tried putting settings back to default with no luck and even uninstalling and reinstalling the program, neither worked. Rebooted the computer several times with no luck, though oddly one time the video files played the audio without cutting off, though I still got no video output.

My logs don't seem to have any particular lines that look like errors aside from "Unable to acquire mutex, does it exist already? Error code: 183" which I still got when the program was working as it should so I don't think that's the problem.

There is also one instance of "NVAPI init: Error" but I use an ATI card.

Any idea what's up?
Thanks.

[Biohazard]

Even with the 1080p monitor it doesn't work anymore although it used to work with that one (plus two others)? Did the program install a pending update? The last one was over a month ago though.

Which setting is being used for the 'monitor identification' option? I presume it should be 'device path', since you reset the settings.

[Vipershark]

Yes, I'm still getting the same issues even with only the one 1080 screen plugged in even though it worked perfectly before.
I currently have just the one screen plugged in as I type this and nothing is happening, not even audio from the local video files (though that happened with the other monitors plugged in as well).

I did get an update when I reinstalled the program but I don't know if that's relevant.
There was a small popup that said something along the lines of "failed to prepare desktop" but I didn't see what the rest of it said.

Monitor identification is set to GDI, it was Device Path before I reset the settings.

Taskbar buttons don't work at all until I manually kill wallpaper64.exe.

edit- I don't know if it's relevant or intended behavior, I but I feel like the program used to launch straight away just by clicking the icon once, but ever since these errors started it seems to open minimized and I have to click it again to get the window to open.

edit 2- I get these lines in the log when I load local videos, though I don't know if they're relevant:
2017-08-22T12:32:41Z: VIDEOWALLPAPER WM_DESTROY
2017-08-22T12:32:41Z: VIDEOWALLPAPER WM_NCDESTROY
2017-08-22T12:32:41Z: VIDEOWALLPAPER WM_DESTROY

[Biohazard]

When reinstalling you will always see the update window for the initial setup, but it's basically the same as before.

The error 'failed to prepare desktop' would probably mean that there is something wrong with the hardware acceleration on the desktop, which would be related to the Aero issues you mentioned.

Originally posted by Vipershark:

edit 2- I get these lines in the log when I load local videos, though I don't know if they're relevant:
2017-08-22T12:32:41Z: VIDEOWALLPAPER WM_DESTROY
2017-08-22T12:32:41Z: VIDEOWALLPAPER WM_NCDESTROY
2017-08-22T12:32:41Z: VIDEOWALLPAPER WM_DESTROY

This would align with your other observations too, it seems that the desktop is reverting back instantly and the wallpaper window is just closed from outside the program.


Can you manually switch the Aero themes on and off? If you have the translucency enabled, does that all show up and work as expected? Can you try enabling all of these: https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1908-visual-effects-settings-change.html

[Vipershark]

I turned Aero off, when I launched WE it turned Aero back on.
Now the program won't start at all.

https://i.imgur.com/nPR4No0.png

[Biohazard]

I think that means the config.json file ( C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\wallpaper_engine\config.json ) has an error. Does it stop doing that if you delete it?

[Vipershark]

I'm not sure. I uninstalled and reinstalled the program between posting that and your response, sorry.
The program now launches again and I'm getting audio from local video files but no video.
Fortunately, the audio is not cutting out this time.
Taskbar buttons are also working for now.

Still no video output.

2017-08-22T13:03:29Z: Video GPU decoding on.
2017-08-22T13:03:32Z: Created child process: bin/ui32.exe
2017-08-22T13:03:47Z: VIDEOWALLPAPER WM_DESTROY
2017-08-22T13:03:47Z: VIDEOWALLPAPER WM_NCDESTROY
2017-08-22T13:03:47Z: VIDEOWALLPAPER WM_DESTROY

[Biohazard]

It still looks like the video window is being killed by something. Have you checked the visual effect settings I linked before ( https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1908-visual-effects-settings-change.html )? Turning everything on might help just for testing purposes.

Is perhaps anything else installed that modifies the desktop? I guess it would be a concidence to happen at the same time as changing the monitors though.



Just as a heads up, if you reinstall it, always launch through Steam or use installer.exe once, otherwise it will start with old .exe files.

[Vipershark]

It turns out that the problem was the program AveDesk - I forgot I set it up to run as well when I put the new monitors in.

I turned that off and it is working as it should.

I'm sorry for leading you on such a wild goose chase!
Thank you for your help.

[Biohazard]

Ah, okay. Although it's a program for widgets, I guess it must be doing something to the desktop window. Maybe you can use rainmeter instead? (It should work fine with WE, it just sits on top of the desktop.)

(Also you might want to use the 'device path' option again with multiple monitors attached to avoid Windows from swapping wallpapers.)