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D3DTaskBar

Started by circlesoft Feb 7, 2006 at 3:25 PM 33 replies 9.4k views

Original Post

Feb 7, 2006 at 3:25 PM

Whenever I go to play some game (usually CS, being the 1337haxor that I am) I always forget to enable the Release D3D runtimes. I only realize this about 15 minutes later, after I have endured tons of glitches and many unnecessary, grueling deaths. So I made up this little app that will sit in the taskbar and allow you to easily change what runtime you are using, without going into the Control Panel. I guess should mention that as soon as I switch back to Release, I begin owning again immediately, of course [wink]. But I guess that is besides the point, right? You can download it right here. Here it is in action:

All it does is edit the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Direct3D/LoadDebugRuntime

A value of 1 indicates that the debug runtime should be used, while a value of 0 indicates that the release runtime should be used. You may or may not have security issues with the registry. If so, just launch regedit, navigate to that branch, and edit the permissions of the Direct3D folder. Easy enough, right? [wink] If you have any problems you can't figure out, just send me an email.

sirob

Feb 7, 2006 at 3:33 PM

Cool beans, this is very nice.

I had the exact same problems with Battlefield 2. Took me almost a day to figure the first time.

dave

Feb 7, 2006 at 3:34 PM

I reinstalled counterstrike once because of this.

Dave

don

Feb 7, 2006 at 3:43 PM

Good idea.

I've always wondered why Visual Studio doesn't have an option to set that reg value automatically when you run your app under the debugger, then restore it when the app exits. That way you could leave it to 'retail' on your system and still debug your app using the debug runtime and not have to worry about silly things like running games under the debug runtime outside of the debugger.

dave

Feb 7, 2006 at 3:45 PM

I have found the change to take a couple of seconds. It would be annoying to wait forthis everytime you want to debug it.

Dave

Pipo DeClown

Feb 7, 2006 at 3:46 PM

GOOOOOO..- circlesoft!!!

This is niiiiiice~! [wink]

don

Feb 7, 2006 at 3:55 PM

A couple of seconds to change a registry value????

LOL, you might want to check that machine of yours, Dave. On my machine it's instantaneous. Maybe you have some anti-spyware or anti-virus thing tracking every registry update?

poss74

Feb 7, 2006 at 3:57 PM

Rate++ for you!

dave

Feb 7, 2006 at 4:04 PM

Quote:
Original post by don
A couple of seconds to change a registry value????

LOL, you might want to check that machine of yours, Dave. On my machine it's instantaneous. Maybe you have some anti-spyware or anti-virus thing tracking every registry update?

My windows is anti me at the moment, grinding to a halt here...

Dave

circlesoft

Feb 7, 2006 at 4:52 PM

Quote:
Original post by Dave
My windows is anti me at the moment, grinding to a halt here...

Oh yea, that would be due to the massive amounts of spyware I just installed on your computer...errr [lol]
Drillian gave a suggestion in #graphicschat to change the color of the icon based on the runtime (ie release blue, debug red). So maybe that will be in v3.1.

dave

Feb 7, 2006 at 4:53 PM

Quote:
Original post by circlesoft
Quote:
Original post by Dave
My windows is anti me at the moment, grinding to a halt here...

Oh yea, that would be due to the massive amounts of spyware I just installed on your computer...errr [lol]
Drillian gave a suggestion in #graphicschat to change the color of the icon based on the runtime (ie release blue, debug red). So maybe that will be in v3.1.

Wouldn't surprise me Circlsoft you 17337 haxxorss nube you :D!

Dave

jollyjeffers

Feb 8, 2006 at 7:52 AM

I like it. If only I got the chance to play games regularly these days it might actually be a neat time-saver! [headshake]

Now, can you add the debug level (the 4-stage slider thing) to appear as a sub-level? That would seriously rock - I'd find that very useful [grin]

Jack

circlesoft

Feb 8, 2006 at 11:53 AM

Quote:
Original post by jollyjeffers
Now, can you add the debug level (the 4-stage slider thing) to appear as a sub-level? That would seriously rock - I'd find that very useful [grin]

*cough* I don't think that slider does anything, really. It doesn't change any of the values in that registry key at all.

Pipo DeClown

Feb 8, 2006 at 12:00 PM

Quote:
Original post by jollyjeffers
I like it. If only I got the chance to play games regularly these days it might actually be a neat time-saver! [headshake]

Now, can you add the debug level (the 4-stage slider thing) to appear as a sub-level? That would seriously rock - I'd find that very useful [grin]

Jack

That settings is stored in C:\Windows\win.ini like this:
[Direct3D] debug=4

Checked with WinPooch! Hehe..

jollyjeffers

Feb 8, 2006 at 12:00 PM

Quote:
Original post by circlesoft
Quote:
Original post by jollyjeffers
Now, can you add the debug level (the 4-stage slider thing) to appear as a sub-level? That would seriously rock - I'd find that very useful [grin]

*cough* I don't think that slider does anything, really. It doesn't change any of the values in that registry key at all.

Hehe, I've never really dug into that stuff much. But it must change something somewhere! [smile]

Jack

circlesoft

Feb 8, 2006 at 12:09 PM

Quote:
Original post by Pipo DeClown
That settings is stored in C:\Windows\win.ini like this:
[Direct3D] debug=4

Hm, what is the point in that!? Everything else is stored in the registry...

So yea, that would be cool to put in. Along with the changed icon thingy.

jollyjeffers

Feb 8, 2006 at 12:23 PM

Quote:
Original post by circlesoft
Quote:
Original post by Pipo DeClown
That settings is stored in C:\Windows\win.ini like this:
[Direct3D] debug=4

Hm, what is the point in that!? Everything else is stored in the registry...

Go figure... maybe it was for nostalgia or something? [lol]

Cheers,
Jack

circlesoft

Feb 8, 2006 at 12:25 PM

Quote:
Original post by jollyjeffers
Quote:
Original post by circlesoft
Hm, what is the point in that!? Everything else is stored in the registry...
Go figure... maybe it was for nostalgia or something? [lol]

[lol] Tiger.x is nostalgia...
Using ini files (while using registry for everything else) is well...shady

Pipo DeClown

Feb 8, 2006 at 3:24 PM

I hope Dustin won't mind

, but I had some spare time and created a non-taskbar version of this tool. D3DDebugConf.

.NET 2.0 required

Features
+ Dialog version of the D3DTaskbar.
+ Added DebugOutputLevel control.
Misses
- Tray-menu (double-click activates the Dialog)
- Nice icons.

Screenshot

Download
D3DDebugConf 1.0

I've decided to stop the development because I've considered this just as an exercise with C#.NET. I will probably not add the tray-menu. [wink]

jollyjeffers

Feb 8, 2006 at 4:20 PM

Nice one Pipo [grin]

Jack

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