In-Game Screensavers for your Desktop!

[9of9]

So, what with the drop-dead gorgeous Human Revolution desktop themes out there, I was thinking recently that it would be pretty awesome to get to use the original in-game computer screensavers... as actual screensavers!

I was a bit surprised that, as far as I can tell, no one had done this already, but it turned out to be quite a challenge - so while I intended to just make this for myself, I figured I'd share it with the rest of the community =)

Updated!

My original screensaver used the game's textures, which are pretty low-res to be used on a large desktop PC, though they can look passable on a laptop or netbook. So here's a much beefier HD version!

The backgrounds are redrawn from scratch and the shimmering effect is now rendered in real-time. There's a lot of shadery goodness going on now, which you should be able to run if you can at all run DX:HR on your PC, but that said, if you don't want to strain your graphics card too much, there's plenty of options to scale it down and, indeed, the original low-resolution version is still embedded.

There's two settings on it - the standard screen and the security hub:





They should work with literally any monitor resolution possible. If that's not the case, let me know and if anyone has any suggestions for improvement.

Caution:

Screensavers are essentially executables and installing/running them from unknown sources is generally a bad idea. Mine won't harm your computer, but you probably shouldn't take my word for it - virus scan it, maybe wait for someone else to say it's okay etc. Even the harmless ones can be nasty and leave lots of gunk on your computer and be annoyingly hard to uninstall (this I'm a little guilty of - you'll get an extra registry entry added under Software/DXHRScreensaver to save your settings).

Extra Caution:

If you use these screensavers, people will probably get an irresistible urge to hack your computer. If you use it around other people, I'd suggest password locking it on awaken. Just saying ^^

To Install:

- First, you need the Microsoft XNA Framework 4.0 Redistributable, which you can get here.

- You can get the screensaver itself here or here.

- Then just right-click the file and click 'Install'. You'll get the screensaver prompt fire up and if you hit settings, you can choose the screensaver style you want.

- To uninstall, just delete the .scr file from wherever you downloaded it to.

(You can also get the first version here or here).

If you are having issues:
I've uploaded a debug version of the screensaver here. If you're willing to help me out and dig a little - download it and run it. If the screensaver crashes, go to C:\Users\<YourUsername>, where it will have created a file called screensaver.log. Send me the contents of the file in a PM and I'll see what I can do. If you're getting random slowdowns after running the screensaver for a while, let this one run and let me know what the particle count and memory usage readouts are like.

The XNA Framework is pretty safe - it's a Microsoft framework for making DirectX games, pretty awesome stuff. Use the screensaver at your own risk.

That's all for now! Comments, criticisms and cheese welcome.

Now to see if I can't stick a hacking minigame onto this...

PS: If anyone wants the source, I can put that up too.

[meev991]

Link doesn't seem to work.

Also, I would be more concerned if someone threw an AUD at my monitor.

[9of9]

Wow, fail. So much for Googling for 'top 5 best file hosting sites' >.>

Added a MediaFire link as well.

[DisaFear]

Haha, thanks!

[9of9]

I've put up a new, HD version - the first post is updated accordingly. Should look fantastic now at any resolution... and a little bit more taxing to your graphics card :P

You can get it from FileDropper:
http://www.filedropper.com/showdownl...xscreensaver_1
Or from MediaFire:
http://www.mediafire.com/?ynurc812dfq4q13

Enjoy!

[Fox89]

Those are fantastic! Well done!

[Tecman]

Okay, this look really good. Thank you!

[Fox89]

Ooh, I've just noticed the computer information it gives you as well! Great touch. I think there might be a slight bug on one of the fields as it says 'getExceptionTrace', in what looks like a failed function call. But the time on there and everything... brilliant.

This must have taken you ages!

[9of9]

Thanks! =D

Actually, I just put a stack trace thing in there to get pseudo-meaningful gibberish to fill the rest of the space up. More embarrassing is that I just noticed that the inner circle of text is written backwards >.<

[PugPug]

Thanks! But what do you mean, "redrawn from scratch?"

[Cel]

This is absolutely gorgeous, thank you so much for this HD screensaver!

[Val Frost]

Woah, this is amazing! Great work!! Any chance this could be on Mac as well?

[MrFoxter]

Hi-res textures are not working for me. When the box is ticked and I try to test the screensaver, the screen will go black for a moment and then return to desktop. Any ideas?

[Fox89]

Originally Posted by 9of9

Thanks! =D

Actually, I just put a stack trace thing in there to get pseudo-meaningful gibberish to fill the rest of the space up. More embarrassing is that I just noticed that the inner circle of text is written backwards >.<

Oh yeah it does say stackTrace. I was just going from memory. And don't worry about the backwards text thing, I didn't even notice it until you said it. The important one is the outer circle; it all has the same information on!

Extra Caution:

If you use these screensavers, people will probably get an irresistible urge to hack your computer.

Scarlett Johansson must have this screensaver...

[9of9]

Originally Posted by PugPug

Thanks! But what do you mean, "redrawn from scratch?"

I took the game's original textures and drew the same design in Photoshop at a much higher resolution. The textures for the desktops in the game are 256x512, whereas these ones are now 2048x2048 - so they look crisp on pretty much any monitor (the width is scalable because the pixels are just clamped at the sides).

Originally Posted by MrFoxter

Hi-res textures are not working for me. When the box is ticked and I try to test the screensaver, the screen will go black for a moment and then return to desktop. Any ideas?

At a guess, your graphics card doesn't support 2048x2048 textures. I'll package in a 1024x1024 variant next time.

[3nails4you]

Is there any way to get just the image files of these? I would love them as a wallpaper as opposed to a screensaver. Awesome job!

[9of9]

Originally Posted by 3nails4you

Is there any way to get just the image files of these? I would love them as a wallpaper as opposed to a screensaver. Awesome job!

Sure, these are the backgrounds: Orange Screen and Blue Screen.

Resize them any way you like. If you want wallpaper with the shimmery stuff on top as well though, it might be easier just to run the screensaver and capture it with Fraps, then set that as the wallpaper.

[3nails4you]

Well, I don't know why or what I've set up wrong on my computer, but the screensaver isn't working for me. Would anyone with a 1680x1050 resolution be willing to do that for me? If not, don't worry, these non-shimmery ones are still awesome, and I'll be using them as my wallpapers for a bit. Thanks again for doing this!

[9of9]

Originally Posted by 3nails4you

Well, I don't know why or what I've set up wrong on my computer, but the screensaver isn't working for me. Would anyone with a 1680x1050 resolution be willing to do that for me? If not, don't worry, these non-shimmery ones are still awesome, and I'll be using them as my wallpapers for a bit. Thanks again for doing this!

Here ya go: Orange and Blue.

[Daedatheus]

THIS IS SO GOOD.

I come back to my computer now, and search the nooks & crannies of my room for a pocket secretary before sitting down.

Then I wonder why I can't hack in.

Love it, thanks for your great work... Like I've said before, DX fans are hardcore.

[Zyreal]

Looks amazing...was a bit saddened to see it doesn't work on Multiple Monitors. Is it easy to enable that?

[MrFoxter]

Originally Posted by 9of9

At a guess, your graphics card doesn't support 2048x2048 textures. I'll package in a 1024x1024 variant next time.

Well, I have GeForce GT 220M. How can I get the texture limit?

[Bulk]

These are awesome thanks so much for doing them, I wanted them since I saw them in game.

[MaxMeier]

Looks really great, if you can add Multiple-Monitor Support, it would be perfect

[PhilDogTheMan]

This turns my i7 into a Pentium 1 sometimes after it has been running. For some reason during this being displayed it decides that all processes can only run at 25% increments on the CPU. I hope to god you haven't infected my computer with something.