still experiencing windows 10 screensaver issues

[SHUT IT DOWN]

it's been a battle nailing down the cause of this between devices themselves and programs causing issues. i have tried everything recommended and have a GUI program to check wake devices vs running the cli commands, so i have been keeping a close eye on it.

this happens most often when playing a game on STEAM only. after playing certain games, the screensaver will not work until closing WPE. i have confirmed this a few times recently, but it doesn't happen that often so it's just taken a bit to see what's happening consistently.

windows is not reporting a device being used when this happens and i have audio off and all the other suggested fixes for WPE and for screensaver use in general with media. i can also confirm this happens with a single wallpaper in the playlist. i even used one of the bundled wallpapers.

my screensaver is set to go black after one minute and it will work for days on end until this happens. i just got done playing a game and my screensaver wouldn't work, so i exited steam as a test. still wasn't working, so i opened steam again but closed WPE. screensaver then worked after one minute.

what exactly is preventing the screensaver in this scenario if audio is off? i thought maybe it was a scene/video thing, but i tested both types and can see them working when things are good. no wake devices are shown so i'm at a loss.

[Tim]

Have you also tried using the powercfg commands at the bottom of the following help guide:

https://help.wallpaperengine.io/en/general/brokensleep.html

The next time your screensavers don't work, you can also use the powercfg /requests command to see which process is currently blocking your screensavers from becoming active. You may want to run the same request override command that we recommend on the help page for any other processes that could be causing this.

[Biohazard]

The OP has applied those commands before, yeah.

Can you however follow Tim's other suggestion and try powercfg /requests right after the issue occurs again? Also, can you please share another log: https://help.wallpaperengine.io/en/debug/scantool.html so we are up to date with your situation right now?

The fundamental issue is that programs cannot tell Windows to "ignore" them so it's pretty difficult to figure out. It also doesn't seem to be a general issue, however you said it may be related to running Wallpaper Engine together with a specific game?

Does it happen at all if you restart the computer and *don't* start Steam or play games or does the screen saver work then, with Wallpaper Engine only? It sounds like somehow it's a combination of programs that have to run before the issue occurs?

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yes, it does indeed seem to be a weird combo of programs that cause it to enter this state. i am not sure how steam itself handles screensaver, but some games will actually allow the screensaver to start while playing the game. i actually like this because i can walk away with OLEDs and not worry. MOST games do not allow the screensaver to start though, and when a game is running i don't see any devices being reported by powercfg. so i'm not sure why some allow it, some dont'. it seems like when a game doesn't allow the screensaver, sometimes it keeps that state when closing the game, but why would closing WPE fix it?

also, i'm still trying to figure out if this is specifically tied to the steam controller API. i use a DS4 sometimes and outside of games i can get the screen to sleep because i have the controller ignored, but once a game starts, the steam controller API seems to do something that prevents the screensaver. i've had this happen after playing FPS games at my desk though, so i don't think it's 100% the cause.

games that allow screensaver while playing never seem to have the issue.

to answer your last question, if i start the PC, regardless of steam/wpe running, the screensaver will work indefinitely. i tested this extensively and have all devices wake disabled besides my main mouse and keyboard. it wasn't until i'd game a bit and walk away and come back to see no screen saver i started looking at steam/wpe again.

i'll grab the logs again next time this happens and i'll also see if the game it happens with next can reproduce it consistently. i already know one game that allows the screensaver to run WHILE playing on steam to test against as well, duke nuke 3d 20th anniversary world tour. i've never had this issue after playing that and just finished 2 episodes so i played a bit.

[Biohazard]

I just got a notification from this thread: https://steamcommunity.com/app/431960/discussions/2/1697176044372316372/?tscn=1594901125#c3969311271660080395

and it sounds similar to your issue.

Wallpaper Engine doesn't use any Windows controller APIs or Steam input, so I'm not sure why Steam or Windows would attach the controller to Wallpaper Engine.

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i'm not sure if it's attaching to wallpaper engine, i don't think so. they might be two separate issues.

i get the WPE issue when i don't have a controller plugged in just playing m/kb at my desk. but yes, a plugged in controller will prevent sleep.

[SHUT IT DOWN]

sent an email with the log after this happened again. noticed my screensaver wasn't starting, dumped the log, then closed WPE. screensaver began to work as normal.

[Biohazard]

Thanks. I think the playlist is still something that would be worth looking at, right now it is very difficult to judge otherwise. Could you choose a scene type wallpaper that doesn't have a visualizer (so it doesn't record audio) and see if the issue ever occurs with this after restarting the PC (to make sure everything is running from a clean slate)? Or is this exactly what you tried before? Unless the PC gets restarted it may not be the same though.

You can save the playlist first so that it's easy to load it later again and you don't lose it.

Also there is a running program that I cannot find much information about: scrnsaver.exe. This isn't a Windows program though, at least it doesn't exist on my system, is that maybe a custom screensaver and it's actually running?

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scrnsaver.exe is just my AHK script for starting the screensaver manually. It just calls the internal windows scrnsave.scr shortcut, though.

i did try using a single wallpaper, it was a default bundled one that was just a scene and no audio visualizer. still happened eventually. why do you think the playlist specifically is playing a part in this?

[Biohazard]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Guy Ramsay Fieri:

why do you think the playlist specifically is playing a part in this?

The idea is that Windows will activate the screensaver when you are not using the computer. However programs like Wallpaper Engine cannot actively tell Windows anything about that, we can't tell Windows to "ignore" anything Wallpaper Engine is doing, the only things that can be done are all the steps from the FAQ that you already tried.

The playlist will load new files and open/close the wallpaper windows, since that's what it's supposed to do. There are too many variables here for us to be sure since the wallpapers have different types, different audio output or audio recording.

Oprindeligt skrevet af Guy Ramsay Fieri:

i did try using a single wallpaper, it was a default bundled one that was just a scene and no audio visualizer

Something is just extremely odd then. It should definitely work with a scene wallpaper that doesn't even have audio - no special steps are necessary for this in Windows because there's no audio being played.

If we can figure out why your computer has this issue, then maybe we can find a solution. But at this point we are out of specific ideas, there is definitely nothing that should prevent the screensaver from starting inside Wallpaper Engine when you only have a scene wallpaper without audio playing.

We would have to look for the issue elsewhere to see if there is some kind of conflict or something latching onto Wallpaper Engine. Perhaps you could try removing some other software that is running, not sure if it's enough to do that after the issue already occurred or if that's already too late. It is also extremely odd that Windows does not report anything preventing the screensaver from starting, either that's a Windows bug or something else is causing this.

[SHUT IT DOWN]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Biohazard:

Oprindeligt skrevet af Guy Ramsay Fieri:

why do you think the playlist specifically is playing a part in this?

The idea is that Windows will activate the screensaver when you are not using the computer. However programs like Wallpaper Engine cannot actively tell Windows anything about that, we can't tell Windows to "ignore" anything Wallpaper Engine is doing, the only things that can be done are all the steps from the FAQ that you already tried.

The playlist will load new files and open/close the wallpaper windows, since that's what it's supposed to do. There are too many variables here for us to be sure since the wallpapers have different types, different audio output or audio recording.

i have audio off in the settings though, and windows doesn't report an audio device being used in powercfg. wouldn't powercfg report an audio device being used?

[Biohazard]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Guy Ramsay Fieri:

i have audio off in the settings though, and windows doesn't report an audio device being used in powercfg. wouldn't powercfg report an audio device being used?

Yeah, I saw that, the settings all look good. With a single scene wallpaper (no playlist) that doesn't have audio, it wouldn't even matter, because there is never any question if there is an active audio stream.

And yes, that powercfg command should report active audio devices preventing the screensaver and even all other reasons which would prevent the screensaver. Yet it seems on your computer the screensaver doesn't start although nothing is being reported. That's not how it's supposed to work, it seems there is something really unusual happening.