It is currently March 28th, 2024, 9:28 pm

Using Rainmeter as screensaver?

Get help with installing and using Rainmeter.
sire404
Posts: 1
Joined: February 12th, 2017, 8:26 pm

Using Rainmeter as screensaver?

Post by sire404 »

I want my Rainmeter skin to show in only when my screensaver activates, and then hide when the screensaver deactivates.

I've been searching for an hour now for a solution, but can't find an easy one.
1. Is this possible with a Rainmeter setting/config hack?

The reason is that I want a music visualizer appearing on top of my screensaver. But for it to display, it needs the setting Position/Stay topmost, which I do not want when I'm using the computer for obvious reasons.
2. Is there a solution for this use case?

Thanks!


One method I investigated was to create a task scheduler event that runs "Rainmeter.exe !Show" and triggers on screensaver activation. It's quite messy, but there is a specific EventID you can enable in Windows. However, after the screensaver has started, there is no way to make Rainmeter show on top of it, I tried combinations of !Show !ZPos and !Redraw with no luck.

Another unnecessary complex method is to develop a screensaver wrapper that shows and hides Rainmeter and then activates the real screensaver. I've built screensavers before so I'm pretty sure this is possible.
User avatar
balala
Rainmeter Sage
Posts: 16110
Joined: October 11th, 2010, 6:27 pm
Location: Gheorgheni, Romania

Re: Using Rainmeter as screensaver?

Post by balala »

I'm not sure if this way it would be possible (now I'm sure it is!), but I can say I created once a Rainmeter screen saver: https://forum.rainmeter.net/viewtopic.php?p=107115#p107115
Maybe this could be modified to achieve what you need.
Last edited by balala on February 13th, 2017, 7:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
balala
Rainmeter Sage
Posts: 16110
Joined: October 11th, 2010, 6:27 pm
Location: Gheorgheni, Romania

Re: Using Rainmeter as screensaver?

Post by balala »

And here is how can you detect if the screen saver is running. Add the following measures to your visualizer skin:

Code: Select all

[MeasureScreenSaver]
Measure=Registry
RegHKey=HKEY_CURRENT_USER
RegKey=Control Panel\Desktop
RegValue=SCRNSAVE.EXE
RegExpsubstitute=1
Substitute="^.*\\(.*)$":"\1"
UpdateDivider=40

[MeasureProcess]
Measure=Plugin
Plugin=Process
ProcessName=[MeasureScreenSaver]
DynamicVariables=1
UpdateDivider=40
The [MeasureScreenSaver] measure reads the name of the currently set screen saver, from the registry, returning just its name, without the path. The [MeasureProcess] measure checks if the detected process (the screen saver) is running: if it is, this measure returns 1, otherwise it returns -1.
Now you can add an IfCondition to this last measure to set the position of the skin: add the following options to the [MeasureProcess] measure:

Code: Select all

IfCondition=(MeasureProcess=1)
IfTrueAction=[!ZPos "2"]
IfFalseAction=[!ZPos "0"]
The visualizer skin probably has a very low Update value set in its [Rainmeter] section. I used the UpdateDivider options in both measures because there's no need to update so often these measures. Depending on the set Update value, you should have to modify the UpdateDivider values of the measures, to have approximatively one update per second. The UpdateDivider=40 is a value for the case when the Update value of the skin is set to Update=25.
Finally I'm not very sure what would you like to achieve when the screen saver is running, but if I made a mistake, you can modify the IfTrueAction / IfFalseAction options of the [MeasureProcess] measure accordingly.
User avatar
hrrasto
Posts: 1
Joined: February 17th, 2017, 12:57 pm

Re: Using Rainmeter as screensaver?

Post by hrrasto »

Combination of Screen Launcher
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-Enhancements/Screensavers/Screen-Launcher.shtml
ScreenLauncher-Rainmeter.jpg
And Skin properties in meterBackground section:
LeftMouseUpAction=!Quit
MouseOverAction=!Quit
Rainmeter-SkinProperties.jpg
Works as standard Windows ScreenSaver.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
User avatar
balala
Rainmeter Sage
Posts: 16110
Joined: October 11th, 2010, 6:27 pm
Location: Gheorgheni, Romania

Re: Using Rainmeter as screensaver?

Post by balala »

hrrasto wrote:Combination of Screen Launcher
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-Enhancements/Screensavers/Screen-Launcher.shtml
ScreenLauncher-Rainmeter.jpg
And Skin properties in meterBackground section:
LeftMouseUpAction=!Quit
MouseOverAction=!Quit
Rainmeter-SkinProperties.jpg
Works as standard Windows ScreenSaver.
Interesting idea! I have to test Screen Launcher, but it looks awesome, if it can be used to run any Rainmeter skin as screen saver.
However, maybe you can use my Glowing Dots Screensaver (see the link above) as screen saver, even without Screen Launcher.