Possible Fix For Res Fix Screenshot Issues?

frau kaleun · 04-30-11, 11:05 PM

I don't know if this is a well-known "fix" or not, but it was new to me and I know others have had the same problem when using the Res Fix so I figured I'd put it out there. Since switching to Win7 I haven't been able to take screenshots with any success using the Res Fix once it remaps that function to the PrintScreen key. Hit the key and the game just freezes up, sometimes on the first try, or I might get one or two good shots... but eventually it would crash my game. I never seemed to have this problem on XP. I always thought it was some kind of unresolved and unavoidable Res Fix issue, and not an issue with the PrintScreen function itself.

Well, I was trying to look for other ways to get a screen capture and downloaded Fraps, even tho I'd read posts by others here saying that it didn't work for them either. Well, whatever, systems are different, I thought I'd give it a try. But even though I could hit the designated button without crashing my game, and an image file was created, it was always just a black image and not an actual screen capture. So I started googling for info on problems with Fraps and came across this suggestion for fixing the PrintScreen/screenshot issue for fullscreen apps in Win Vista and Win7. It has nothing to do with SH3 or the Res Fix or Fraps but with the Aero themes in both of those OSes.

Apparently if you are using them (and I think they're the default in both) it can bork up the usual PrintScreen function when you are running a game, leading to screen captures turning out as just black images or otherwise giving you major headaches. The suggestion was to temporarily disable Aero while your game/app is running - Windows will revert to a Classic desktop and then back to Aero when the app closes. (Of course you could just turn Aero off completely, but you don't have to.)

What you do is right click on the short cut for your game (or presumably the .exe file itself, I dunno for sure) and click on Properties. Under the Compatibility tab, put a check mark in the box for "Disable desktop composition" and click Apply and then OK to close the Properties box.

Now when you start that game/app, you should get a brief text box from Windows letting you know it's switched to a Classic desktop.

I just tried this in my stock installation and was able to take 6-7 captures in as many seconds without any problem whatsoever, and they all showed up in the folder I mapped them to in the Res Fix d3d9.cfg. I can't remember the last time I was able to do that - uh, yeah, I think it was when I was still running XP and didn't have Aero.

Obviously I haven't tested this extensively or on game installs with a supermod and/or other heavy mod loads that might affect things, but I was having the same issue in several different installs including unmodded vanilla so none of that seemed to matter in the first place. I'm hoping that I can apply the same tweak to my GWX install and have good longterm results.

In the meantime, it's a very painless and easily reversible tweak for other Vista/Win7 Res_Fix users who can't take a PrintScreen capture without it causing problems... if anybody gives it a try and can report consistent success, it might be one more headache that some of us Res_Fix users can be rid of.

Please forgive me if this is already a well-known fix, but I'm just so excited at the mere possibility of getting screenshots again that I had to share!

04-30-11, 11:05 PM	#1
frau kaleun Rear Admiral Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Skyri--oh who are we kidding, I'm probably at Lowe's. Again. Posts: 12,706 Downloads: 168 Uploads: 0	Possible Fix For Res Fix Screenshot Issues? I don't know if this is a well-known "fix" or not, but it was new to me and I know others have had the same problem when using the Res Fix so I figured I'd put it out there. Since switching to Win7 I haven't been able to take screenshots with any success using the Res Fix once it remaps that function to the PrintScreen key. Hit the key and the game just freezes up, sometimes on the first try, or I might get one or two good shots... but eventually it would crash my game. I never seemed to have this problem on XP. I always thought it was some kind of unresolved and unavoidable Res Fix issue, and not an issue with the PrintScreen function itself. Well, I was trying to look for other ways to get a screen capture and downloaded Fraps, even tho I'd read posts by others here saying that it didn't work for them either. Well, whatever, systems are different, I thought I'd give it a try. But even though I could hit the designated button without crashing my game, and an image file was created, it was always just a black image and not an actual screen capture. So I started googling for info on problems with Fraps and came across this suggestion for fixing the PrintScreen/screenshot issue for fullscreen apps in Win Vista and Win7. It has nothing to do with SH3 or the Res Fix or Fraps but with the Aero themes in both of those OSes. Apparently if you are using them (and I think they're the default in both) it can bork up the usual PrintScreen function when you are running a game, leading to screen captures turning out as just black images or otherwise giving you major headaches. The suggestion was to temporarily disable Aero while your game/app is running - Windows will revert to a Classic desktop and then back to Aero when the app closes. (Of course you could just turn Aero off completely, but you don't have to.) What you do is right click on the short cut for your game (or presumably the .exe file itself, I dunno for sure) and click on Properties. Under the Compatibility tab, put a check mark in the box for "Disable desktop composition" and click Apply and then OK to close the Properties box. Now when you start that game/app, you should get a brief text box from Windows letting you know it's switched to a Classic desktop. I just tried this in my stock installation and was able to take 6-7 captures in as many seconds without any problem whatsoever, and they all showed up in the folder I mapped them to in the Res Fix d3d9.cfg. I can't remember the last time I was able to do that - uh, yeah, I think it was when I was still running XP and didn't have Aero. Obviously I haven't tested this extensively or on game installs with a supermod and/or other heavy mod loads that might affect things, but I was having the same issue in several different installs including unmodded vanilla so none of that seemed to matter in the first place. I'm hoping that I can apply the same tweak to my GWX install and have good longterm results. In the meantime, it's a very painless and easily reversible tweak for other Vista/Win7 Res_Fix users who can't take a PrintScreen capture without it causing problems... if anybody gives it a try and can report consistent success, it might be one more headache that some of us Res_Fix users can be rid of. Please forgive me if this is already a well-known fix, but I'm just so excited at the mere possibility of getting screenshots again that I had to share!