Legacy AlienFX Tools and Applications

Gotta be something to do with UAC or Win7 x64 maybe .... atleast you will have an auto update from now
I will keep on pushing updates every now & then... so stay tuned

 

Hi Guys,

Just got me a M15x and I'm looking around for nice alienware apps etc..

Findvikas : quick question : whats the speed like on updating the colours in alien FX? command control console is very slow. Is that to do with the hardware rather than software?

I just wonder because I'd love to see a winamp plug in or similar that modified the fx lights. I think the lightpipe especially is something that would be great to modify quickly in tune with audio....

(please excuse noob question if this has been asked before)

Win.

 

per my understanding its the AlienFX Bios which made it react slow. Hardware itself can react fact but if you send data too frequent the BIOS just disable the AlienFX until reboot. I have a skeleton plugin for winamp, infact I got source code from the developer of Winamp plugin for Dell XPS and was able to put a small test plugin from that for m15x but it react toooooo slow and not worth it.

We need to send a reset command to alienfx before the colors change, a reset command will turn off the lights then take the new color which make it slow. Could not find a direct method/command to change the colors yet

 

findvikas,

I have an XPS 730x that uses AlienFX editor. Yesterday, I deleted the program in hopes to get rid of the lighting effects every time I turn on the PC. However, the program is gone but the lights are still on permanently. I can't seem to find a way to reinstall or acquire the AlienFX editor so after searching the web, I found this forum. I tried TurnOffLights program but after extracting, etc., the program doesn't seem to work. I have a vista 64.

Thanks in advance.

 

Hi findvikas
First of all, really nice work its excellent
Second i`ve got some problems with the TurnOffLights tool of yours.
Everytime i start it, vista (64) cries about the API Tester, that it doesnt work smoothly and kills the whole process. Maybe you could help

Thanks

 

That was quite old application and I stopped maintaining long back, that application assumed that you have command center installed and may be new version of command center made some changes and it became incompatible.

Solution? Yeah.. I recompiled that application, removed all dependencies and link has been updated. Please download it again and do let me know if that works any better.

 

Try it again... I have updated the program. Download it again and try it. You may also want to try AuroraLightsFX and see if that works any better.

I do not own XPS so cannot test them myself before committing whether they will work or not.

 

Just a thought . . . since AuroraLightsFX doesn't store the color values in BIOS, is there perhaps any chance that maybe you could make the app auto apply the last color that was used on startup? That would sorta circumvent the problem and only give you the BIOS colors while booting.

 

Its already there... "load on startup" option load the app on logon and apply the last saved colors.

 

man you are freakin fast
if have downloaded the new one and it turns off the lights but right after it turns them off it causes an error again and kills the process again
thanks for the fast reply

 

Screenshot? I did not compiled this application on m15x so could not test it as I am out of town. what error is that?

 

You're right. I must have been using an old version cause the one I just downloaded is quite a bit different. Neat!

I've talked about the possibility of adding profiles in the past, any chance that might get implemented?

 

Yes it will, when? no ETA

 

well the error doesnt really show up cause vista blocks it right after it occured screened it anyway with the errorcode from the pc management
http://www.pic-upload.de/view-1984833/Unbenannt.jpg.html

 

let it create the memory dump files after crash and PM me the dump files, you may find the path in event logs

 

I love your AuroraLightsFX program but the one feature I miss is the morphing ability. I have mine set to turn red on battery power and morph red to green while charging. Is there any chance of these ability in the future?

 

I'm sire it's been said, but thanks findvikas for all your work on this!

 

This mod is really great thank you for writing it

 

Hi Findvikas, great work on this app.
I have a strange problem though...the right hand side of my keyboard lights up really bright while the left half is very, very dull...almost not lit at all.
It's an m17x with a fresh install of the Win7 RC... the keyboard was fine before so i know it's not a hardware problem.
Anyway ideas would be greatly appreciated

 

Hey All,

I have window7 installed here on my M15x, and have removed command center and now just use aurora lights. However, about 3 minutes after setting up the different lighting areas on the laptop, the keyboard lights die. If I Hit "Random Colours" from the tray icon, the colours kick back into life on the keyboard, but again only for a few minutes before turning off again. I have not set the "wall paper" option, although turning off does seem to co incide with the win7 wallpaper changing.

NB: I know its not a hardware fault as when I dual boot into vista, everything works just fine. (see this link on how to dual boot vista & Win7) :-
http://blogs.technet.com/ieitpro/ar...al-boot-boot-from-vhd-is-the-best-method.aspx

NBB: IM me for a alienware type win7 theme.

 

Hope you are on latest build? Are you... can you please install it from http://vikasverma.com/AuroraLightsFX I have published a new build, it should have been updated automatically though.

 

Hey.. thanks for kind words. I really doubt that is a software issue... your few LED's might have died or dying... It sounds like a hardware issue.

 

p.s. Looks like it is actually the light pipe *and* the keyboard that turn off..

Anyone else had the same issue?

 

Are you saying that this happen *only* when you change the wallpaper?
Try this..

1) set all zone to same color - lets keep my fav Green.
2) Minimize the application to systray
3) Change the wallpaper and see what happens

I had fixed 2 bugs in today's build and would not be surprised of any regression

 

Hi! Yes - I think you are correct about the background switch:

Thanks for the quick response. Here is the low down:
1) I have "automatic colors" *Unchecked*.
2) I have desktop background set to change every 10 seconds
3) most of the desktop backgrounds are the same picture, but every 10 - 20 frames of being the same picture it switches to a new picture.

When the background actually changes to a new picture, the keyboard and lightpipe goes blank. ( so it doesn't actually go blank every 10 seconds)

If I set the background to actually change every 10 seconds with a framed anim, then the keyboard and lightpipe *do* go dark every 10 seconds.

Even if the background only changes a tiny amount (i.e. its an animation where only the center of the screen changes slightly), it still goes dark every 10 seconds

If I select and unselect the "Automatic Colors" it resets everything to black - If I then reset the colours I want, the keyboard and lightpipe still go off on next wallpaper change.

Worakrounds:
1)Hitting "apply" again in aurora lights fixes it until the next background change
2)selecting "Exit" from aurora lights tray icon after initially setting the colours also stops it from getting disabled.

Hope this helps! I am using latest install obtained from here: http://www.vikasverma.com/AuroraLightsFX/

Regards,
Win

 

Awright... I have updated it and pushed new build on the website. It should automatically download the build on next start of application and you should see a build version on the Window Title (0.1.0.4)

Let's hope this works for you & everyone!

 

Yup.

looks like 0.1.0.4 does the business.

Thanks.

Win

 

hi, i just ordered the new m17x and i am curious to know if we should all expect this app to work smoothly on the new system or are we going to have some new versions popping out?

vikas - out of curiosity where do you work for Microsoft? I do a lot of business with them and travel all around the world to many of their offices (especially in China/APAC)

 

I am curious what protocol they have used to build the new m17x's AlienFX. If they are using Dell's hardware then this program wont work.. but if they are using AW's hardware then it will work just fine

I am based out of India.

 

I run vista 64 and when i started up your application, the left 3/4 of my keyboard lights turned off. I cant get them back on for the life of me. Only the numbpad zone lights up.

Even in Command Center, it doesnt display the keyboard as being active.

 

I don't have his program but it probably hasn't actually permanently broke anything. Did you try stopping his program, rebooting, and then adjusting the lights?

If his app is still there after a reboot you can see if it put itself in the startup group. You can look for it using "msconfig". I generally run it from a command prompt window (it's a windows program though). It makes startup stuff easy to see and delete.

 

Thats sad.. sorry about that. Tell me what machine you are on? m15x,m17x or m17 I guess its m17...

 

Thanks for trusting me
out of context maybe but you should stop using that life old msconfig and switch to "AutoRuns" from sysinternals/Microsoft

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

 

and dont worry if my application broke it then I will pay you for it if I cant fix it

 

No problem. I just wanted to assure the poor guy that it would be REALLY unlikely that it actually broke anything. I am a programmer too but I haven't messed with anything from Alienware.

AutoRuns you say? cool.
The user having the problem would probably want to look with something that is already on his machine first though - unless AutoRuns is really user-friendly. Is it?

So what should he do? Will what I told him actually work or should he do something else? Can he uninstall it from the control panel or something?

 

Yeh, I got an uninstaller too. The application will be installed in the Add/Remove and you can uninstall from there if you wish to. I am not saving the color settings to System BIOS hence they are not persistent. A simple system reboot should revert back to the last color settings that you saved using Command Center.

It's fine, as I said earlier I would be able to fix it if I know more about what system it is and after few tests. Sometimes Command Center does not detect the keyboard on m15x but he said that 3/4 of his keyboard is not lighting up then I would assume that its m17 as I remember they had the different color zones in keyboard itself.

Can you or anyone who got m17 send me a Alienware Theme file from their Command Center folder? It should have Zone defination and I should be able to find if there is anything that I am missing.

 

Very simple - yet very powerful, see screenshot


There is also an option to hide anything which is part of Windows/Microsoft so that you do not disable/delete anything by mistake.

 

he is running a m17x 1 gen.... I suggested the program

 

never heard of that prob on m17x, I like your picture can you send me theme file for m17x

 

me or him?....

 

It was you Moo.

@bkral, I guess I found your problem.. may be. Have you chosen Desktop as option in the program? If I use Desktop then I can reproduce the problem that you told me.

Could not test Command Center as I do not have it installed on my machine. Make sure you are choosing Laptop as an option and reset the color again

 

at the moment i do not have my M17x but as soon as I do I will get with you to help test the M17x to get this great program working

 

Im waiting for somebody to possibly get the patch for the m17x lighted keyboard. but that file is in myHive... which since this is a 2nd laptop... I cant access...

"m17x_lighted_keyboard.zip" is the patch from myHive I need... because I remember at one point having to patch the m17x_RIPLEY_Model.exe. And by reading that I guess I must have installed the one that doesnt have the lighting registry entries. :\

 

Here is the replica of the My Hive...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=342331

 

I might be wrong but those are only m15x drivers

 

yeah. if i use that. when i open Command Center... it says the model of laptop doesnt match the theme so settings cant be applied.

And i dont see a setting anywhere to change from "desktop" to "laptop".

 

you may want to PM findvikas then and see if he can assist you better.
he has been one of our "inventors" for several programs and stuff.
he should be able to guide you through what you need.

 

You are right actually, I missed that part.

Open the attached ZIP file and apply the patch according to your model (
Ripley or Skullcap)

From an old thread of mine...

 

yeah. i tried that last night. some of the registry entries you mention weren't actually in my registry.

is the f17ripley registry entry for the first gen m17x?

 

yes (10 chars)