BBZero 1.18 rc6 by mojmir Released

What transparency percentage do you have there?

Your English is fine

Can you please use a different, more detailed background so I can better see what the issue is here?

Your English is fine
Can you please use a different, more detailed background so I can better see what the issue is here?

OK, so it seems BB's original toolbar and the menus work fine, but there is some peculiar behavior on bbleanbar. Have you tried other plugins to check for transparency, like systembarex or bbinterface?

OK, so it seems BB's original toolbar and the menus work fine, but there is some peculiar behavior on bbleanbar. Have you tried other plugins to check for transparency, like systembarex or bbinterface?

It seems BBZero's native elements have no issues (the original toolbar and the menus). Therefore, there must be a conflict with some third party or modified plugins. I am sure mojmir will get around this sooner or later. Please be patient

Great build, and pretty stable, works great on win 8.1

Thanks for your hard work on this version of blackbox! i will try and contribute in some way on future builds   

Can I dload BBZero 1.18 rc6 as a rar or zip? so I can install stuff myself? I'm going to install on Windows 10, are you guys having a good experience with BBZero on Win 10?

Can I dload BBZero 1.18 rc6 as a rar or zip? so I can install stuff myself? I'm going to install on Windows 10, are you guys having a good experience with BBZero on Win 10?

BBZero is zipped already. What to you mean install stuff yourself? BBZero works very well on Win 10 and when the new build hits the net it will be even better

This version is pretty slick mojmir been awhile since I last used BB4WIN, but overall things have certainly improved on 64 bit plugin support which is great happy to see bbIconBox working for 64bit. Anyway here's a screenshot of how I set mine up the hue changes when you highlight over them and tool tip on hover over. Here's the RC File code for bbIconBox the way I have it setup as well if anyone wants. What's nice with bbIconBox is by centering it that way you can keep your desktop nice and clean which is great I set it up that way for gaming in windowed mode in mind I have a 4K display so actually being able to lower the resolution from 3840x2160 to something like 3840x1440 or even 3840x1080 would make a huge difference in performance and the black bars on top and bottom would make it rather cinematic. I need to tweak my build around more, but I like it thus far at least.

# --------------------------------------------------
# bbIconBox.rc

bbIconBox.id.count: 2
bbIconBox.id.1: Desktop
bbIconBox.id.2: Quick Launch
bbIconBox.id.3: Quick Launch/2

bbIconBox.Desktop.placement: Center
bbIconBox.Desktop.position.x: 1431
bbIconBox.Desktop.position.y: 1030
bbIconBox.Desktop.useSlit: true
bbIconBox.Desktop.alwaysOnTop: false
bbIconBox.Desktop.AutoHide: false
bbIconBox.Desktop.clickRaise: true
bbIconBox.Desktop.snapWindow: true
bbIconBox.Desktop.pluginToggle: true
bbIconBox.Desktop.alpha.enabled: false
bbIconBox.Desktop.alpha.value: 255
bbIconBox.Desktop.orientation: horizontal
bbIconBox.Desktop.path: DESKTOP
bbIconBox.Desktop.title: Desktop
bbIconBox.Desktop.rows: 2
bbIconBox.Desktop.columns: 2
bbIconBox.Desktop.icon.size: 36
bbIconBox.Desktop.icon.saturation: 255
bbIconBox.Desktop.icon.hue: 112
bbIconBox.Desktop.drawTitle: true
bbIconBox.Desktop.drawBorder: true
bbIconBox.Desktop.toolTips: true
bbIconBox.Desktop.style: Toolbar

bbIconBox.Quick+Launch.placement: TopCenter
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch.position.x: 1860
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch.position.y: 0
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch.useSlit: true
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch.alwaysOnTop: false
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch.AutoHide: false
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch.clickRaise: true
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch.snapWindow: true
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch.pluginToggle: true
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch/2.placement: User
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch/2.position.x: 20
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch/2.position.y: 20
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch/2.useSlit: false
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch/2.alwaysOnTop: false
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch/2.autoHide: false
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch/2.clickRaise: true
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch/2.snapWindow: 20
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch/2.pluginToggle: true
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch/2.alpha.enabled: false
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch/2.alpha.value: 192
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch/2.icon.saturation: 80
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch/2.icon.hue: 60
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch/2.icon.size: 16
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch/2.orientation: vertical
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch/2.path: APPDATA\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch/2.title: Quick Launch/2
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch/2.rows: 4
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch/2.columns: 4
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch/2.drawTitle: false
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch/2.drawBorder: true
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch/2.toolTips: true
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch.alpha.enabled: false
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch.alpha.value: 255
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch.orientation: horizontal
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch.path: APPDATA\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch.title: Quick
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch.rows: 2
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch.columns: 2
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch.icon.size: 36
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch.icon.saturation: 255
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch.icon.hue: 112
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch.drawTitle: true
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch.drawBorder: true
bbIconBox.Quick+Launch.toolTips: true

BBZero is zipped already. What to you mean install stuff yourself? BBZero works very well on Win 10 and when the new build hits the net it will be even better

What I meant was the RAR contains an executable. In the old days you unpacked a zip file and it contained blackbox.exe plus plugins, RC files, backgrounds and stuff if I remember correctly. Or is this executable a selfextractable?

Awesome to hear BBZero works very well on Win 10.

As far as I could see the executable merely extracts the files to a default location or one you choose it doesn't actually install anything or at least nothing shows up with CCleaner to uninstall. I've been experimenting a bit with utilizing auto hide on SystemBarEX and bbIconBox a little and creating some layout tweaks. I really wish there were a plugin that works exactly bbSlit except for executable programs so you toss in Steam in it for example and it would launch games into it which you could then use all the placement options on namely "center screen", but oh well maybe in the future! Anyway I decided to kinda demonstration how might look in practice I tossed in a SystemBarEX inscription for it as well  BB4WIN 31!73 CINEMATICS Here's a idea of how it looks in practice with how I have it setup or can configure it to be at least. I think it would be great for gaming in windowed mode because you could reduce your resolution for performance reason or just aesthetics if you want a cinematic resolution ratio look and unlike with Microsoft Windows default explorer shell with BB4WIN you don't have to worry about distracting icons it just looks like clean black bars which is great. The top shows how I have bbIconBox and SystemBarEx setup atm and the bottom shows them hidden demonstrating the black bar effect it's very clean looking to me.

As far as I could see the executable merely extracts the files to a default location or one you choose it doesn't actually install anything or at least nothing shows up with CCleaner to uninstall.

Thanks, BBMechanic.

I trimmed down my BBZero 1.18 rc6 by mojmir a bit and modified it a bit to personal taste anyways thought I'd share it including how I've got bbIconBox setup you can modify the taskbar to auto hide too quite easily hence the name inscription on SystemBarEx when on work space desktop and it's why desktop and slit are both centered! Here's some screen shots to give you a idea btw! The top two screen shots show the two work spaces. The second from bottom screen shot shows Taskbar on hover over when set to hidden! The third from bottom shows it while hidden during gaming! The very bottom shows how it looks during gaming if you open it in work space "programs" and then switch to work space "desktop" which you can do by start which that part is broken atm, or click on any empty space on desktop and using mouse wheel. It's a bit buggy atm it seems I've had BBZero crash a bit. Just adjust the windowed/windowed boarderless game resolution resolution how you see fit! or movie or whatever else you might want to use centered. I didn't tweak the in game resolution yet, but it could just show two black bars top and bottom or left and right or as I showed centered. This is all pretty nice for 4K users on display that can't do 60Hz custom resolution below 4K outside of 1080p as it's a work around to that issue or problem! I think overall it's effective and can look great in fact it gives me another idea in fact especially as this version of BB4WIN will close other versions when it launches. I'm thinking I could trim it down further of anything undesired for gaming and make a custom menu to easily switch and launch between both versions of BB4WIN intermittently. By doing that it should minimize CPU/GPU requirements a touch further and reduce memory a bit. I could omit SystemBarEX entirely or have a plugin you can toggle off depending on if you want the inscription or not. You can also auto hide SystemBarEx so you could have only the game/program/movie running showing. I added a hidden bbIconBox recycle bin to the left center and is set to hidden it's not really needed, but someone might want it and the Taskbar is hidden center top. I also tweaked the actual black box menu's to have transparency from the screenshot as well though the bbIconBox do not since it didn't look good.

I noticed a bug if you try to right click on SytemBarEx when it says Windows Shell Experience Host it'll cause BB4WIN to crash just wanted to point that out. This is also how I revised menu transparency for anyone wondering already. One thing I dislike with bbIconBox right now is it can't do vertical lettering for the title that's something that would make it a little better the other more glaring aspect is can't make it show the icon names by default under the icons like in windows desktop and windows start menu's that would be a nice thing to add as a toggle option then we could make all kinds of custom menu folders with it that are easy to browse and organize. It's got some room for area's of improvement is what I'm getting at. I adjusted my game windowed boarderless resolution for 3840x1080 look how good this look both w/ or w/o auto hide toggle setting on SytemBarEx very clean. I'd like to see SystemBarEx have a shift+wheel command to toggle on or off the auto hide command in the future that would be high on my recommendation list after experimenting with this sort of thing a bit. I like auto hide I just don't want it all the time. I'm very pleased with these results I have to say it was all basically just a idea I had for windows desktop that I quickly realized BB4WIN could quite easily actually do perfectly already. So I've been tweaking the configurations of bbZero_1.18.0-rc6_mojmir around a fair bit to create a kind of stripped down minimum game/movie focused twist on it essentially it's got a few quirks with it atm though the start button itself doesn't work though the windows keys seem to be working I guess I can live with that issue...anyways this is the latest version of what I've come up with I reduced the work space down to just one since I really don't think I'd use more anyway. It still has the Recycle Bin on the left hidden and the Taskbar top hidden along with the bottom SystemBarEx hidden...the menu has changed a bit for convenience I even added a few minor things I routinely use mspaint, calc, and defrag...anyway try it out if you like and see if you like it for movies and games. I think I'll add Install/Uninstall in the bbQuit submenu later it seems like the logical spot for it that way you can install/uninstall or quit out of BB4WIN all in one menu spot and all easy and quick to find. I wonder if a bat file could be used to install/uninstall it automatically quickly so you don't need to fiddle with it manually then a menu could be setup to just point to that inside the BB4WIN install folder and users could easily use it as a way to seamless to just switch between when gaming and use windows normal explore shell for standard use potentially. Right now bbIconBox just doesn't quite hit home yet w/o text under the icons like a regular windows desktop it's nice, but having to hover over and guess folders and images is a nuisance aspect of it .

I made a couple minor adjustments settings to the menu and fixed the erratic behavior with the SystemBarEx auto hide by changing the style of it slightly so it behaves more like it should now.

I've adjusted the menu a little further I think the layout is a bit better and I've added more stuff that is readily and easily accessible to be more overall functional. Also got the SystemBarEX start button working properly again. Also wondering could we make a regular menu like this work like a bit like bbIconBox some how? where it can auto/hide and pop up like SystemBarEx to it's set placement reason being you actually read what the icon's are and it could still autohide and looks quite clean. Doesn't matter to much, but I'm curious. I had another idea related to menu's as well could we make a submenu automatically open along with the regular start menu together a bit more like windows 10 menu works. Like could we a make a menu called favorites place shortcuts in it and have the menu auto open alongside our regular bb4win start menu simultaneously to create a more multilayered start menu? The perfect option for that would be using the default folder location that windows 8/10 start menu's pinned to start menu saves to w/e that happens to be path location wise.

Underneath the section

[begin] (BlackBox)
[run] (Run)

in the main menu rc I've added in the following code for command prompt and powershell add in a bit more quick convince to it!

[separator]
[exec] (Command Prompt) {%windir%\system32\cmd.exe}
[exec] (Powershell) {%SystemRoot%\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe}
[separator]

Here's another screenshot windowed mode boarderless 4K display 4096x1484 resolution (2.76:1) aspect ratio aka (Ultra Panavision 70)

I've added a few menu rc's and extension to some quick [path] shortcuts for convenience and ease of use plus modified a few around the main thing I did that I like a lot is changed it so Ctrl+left or right click on desktop changes between next/prev Workspace which as a bonus doesn't need plugin and keeps the mouse wheel up/down free for some other command like volume up/down though I don't have that extension tweaked atm, but might change that after or have it minimize/maximize as either of those two things seem logical to me. I still haven't figured out how to display a actual folder path and it's contents within a menu automatically w/o having to use the submenu rollover. I'd like to have the rc's for Desktop/Taskbar and DeskBar do those things for example. I'd like do that with bbInterface as well, but haven't figured out how to do quite what I'm looking for at the moment. It's still a nice improvement towards what I was looking to accomplish in a few different area's at least.

I noticed with SystemBarEx the framing box outline space for tasks behaves erratically with the auto hide feature and will cause it to auto hide sometimes as you pass over it with your mouse cursor it's pretty noticeable what's happening when moving the mouse cursor slowly across that box outline line on the top or bottom though doesn't do it when moving from the outline line moving between tasks left and right. It's a bit of minor nuisance it's a nice taskbar overall, but if your using auto hide you might be better off with one of the other options. I'm gonna have to look into how they look and feel for BBZero. Apparently the issues stems from the bbstyle's and there corresponding settings itself which is both good and bad I guess. It does seem to impact a lot of style's though is what I've noticed.