windows 8 themes Love Windows 8 RP Theme on RTM

[Ice_Blue]

One of the things that bugged me about RTM is the loss of the depth effect given by the drop shadows on windows. It looks messy when there are a lot of overlapping windows, since it was more of an effort to discern the window edges.

I resorted to yzShadow, but since that is a win32 utility, it only worked for 32-bit programs.

With the RP theme, the drop shadows are back.

They are not as pronounced as on Win 7, which is what I like.

Now that this niggle is gone, I am enjoying Windows 8 more than ever.

My only remaining beef is that I cannot change the colour of the window title.

I like dark backgrounds and borders, but because of this, I have to lighten up the borders so that the window titles become readable.

I installed the RP in a VM and copied over the msstyles and .theme file.

Modified the .theme file to point to the msstyles file (renamed to aeroRP.msstyles), and was all set.

Good thing I remembered to do this, since I believe the RP expires soon. :)

[grayscale]

screenshot?

[Ice_Blue]

screenshot?

I'm trying. My screen res is 1440x900, and Neowin keeps rejecting the image for some reason.

Trying to reduce size now...

[Ice_Blue]

Here it is:

[Jose_49]

I would go back to the RP theme IF those back and forward buttons were smaller. I like the RTM one.

But yes, it looks beautiful

[Ice_Blue]

I would go back to the RP theme IF those back and forward buttons were smaller. I like the RTM one.

But yes, it looks beautiful

Thanks. Personally, I don't mind the size of the buttons.

[LAMj]

For anyone that want to change back, the RP theme has been up on deviantart for sometime now. No patch needed, just save it to your theme folder.

http://pasquiindustry.deviantart.com/art/AeroRP-theme-for-Windows-8-330467841

[Ice_Blue]

For anyone that want to change back, the RP theme has been up on deviantart for sometime now. No patch needed, just save it to your theme folder.

http://pasquiindustr...ows-8-330467841

This page says you need uxtheme patch.

[primexx]

what's that thing that looks like a clock behind the windows, that says "58" in yellow?

[Lirodon]

what's that thing that looks like a clock behind the windows, that says "58" in yellow?

Looks like a clock (given there's also a 58 on the taskbar)

[Marshall Veteran]

what's that thing that looks like a clock behind the windows, that says "58" in yellow?

It's likely a Rainmeter skin.

[Ice_Blue]

what's that thing that looks like a clock behind the windows, that says "58" in yellow?

That's Rainmeter. The clock is from the Elegance 2 skin. It's available on Deviant Art.

[+LightEco Subscriber²]

This page says you need uxtheme patch.

Just download that file, make a copy of your current aero theme file, edit in notepad to point to the AeroRP.msstyles and its works without a patch.

[Chris123NT]

WTF, that msstyle doesn't work here, it's just loading the default RTM aero, and I have uxstyle installed so it's not that.

Edit: NVM, it needs to be in its own folder and it needs an associated MUI file as well.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

WTF, that msstyle doesn't work here, it's just loading the default RTM aero, and I have uxstyle installed so it's not that.

have you installed updates since applying the uxstyle patch? i found that a few updates a little while back broke the patch causing things to not work correctly when changing themes again

i found that uninstalling uxstyle and reinstalling it again fixed my problem just fine (don't just run the installer again as that won't work and will cause your computer to crash next time you restart)

[LUTZIFER]

Just out of curiosity, can that theme or visual style be used in Windows 7?

[Chris123NT]

Just out of curiosity, can that theme or visual style be used in Windows 7?

No it can't be. Hell in the past taking a theme from a beta and using it on RTM wasn't possible, this is proof that the theme format didn't change between RP and RTM, they just removed glass from DWM and changed some PNGs in the msstyle.

[uncledolan]

WTF, that msstyle doesn't work here, it's just loading the default RTM aero, and I have uxstyle installed so it's not that.

Edit: NVM, it needs to be in its own folder and it needs an associated MUI file as well.

THe same thing is happening to me on Windows 8 Pro on my laptop whereas it had worked (still works) fine on my Windows 8 Enterprise on the desktop. Can you please detail the step with instructions as to what you meant by "NVM, it needs to be in its own folder and it needs an associated MUI file as well."

:D

[Livin in a box]

Yeah, that Windows RP theme isn't working for me. Installed UXStyle but still won't work. I'm on Windows 8 Pro x64.

[Jose_49]

Just out of curiosity, can that theme or visual style be used in Windows 7?

Let's say that someone made an adaptation:

http://www.winmatrix.com/forums/index.php?/topic/34616-windows-8-themes-from-all-builds-for-windows-7/

[uncledolan]

Yeah, that Windows RP theme isn't working for me. Installed UXStyle but still won't work. I'm on Windows 8 Pro x64.

:cry:

[uncledolan]

Yeah, that Windows RP theme isn't working for me. Installed UXStyle but still won't work. I'm on Windows 8 Pro x64.

Ah, figured it out. Do it the following way to make it work :

1. Open the AeroRP.theme file with Notepad (!!make sure you run notepad with administrative priviliges!!) and find the following line in the file :

; Windows - IDS_THEME_DISPLAYNAME_AERO[/CODE]

and add the following line directly below it :

[CODE]DisplayName=AeroRP[/CODE]

2. Save the file and exit and then copy it to [b]%windir%\Resources\Themes[/b]

3. Create a folder named [b]AeroRP[/b] in the [b]Themes[/b] folder mentioned in step 2 above.

4. Inside the [b]AeroRP[/b] folder, paste the [b]AeroRP.msstyles [/b]file.

5. From the [b]aero[/b] folder in [b]Themes[/b], copy the three folders, namely [b]en-us[/b], [b]Shell[/b] and [b]VSCache[/b] and paste it in the [b]AeroRP[/b] folder created in step 4.

6. Open the [b]en-us[/b] folder in the [b]AeroRP[/b] folder that you just copied and make a copy of the aero.mssyles.mui and rename the new copy to AeroRP.msstyles.mui

7. Try applying the AeroRP theme now by double-clicking the [b]AeroRP.theme[/b] file in the Themes folder. It should work now. It worked for me!

[Livin in a box]

Ah, figured it out. Do it the following way to make it work :

1. Open the AeroRP.theme file with Notepad (!!make sure you run notepad with administrative priviliges!!) and find the following line in the file :

; Windows - IDS_THEME_DISPLAYNAME_AERO[/CODE]

and add the following line directly below it :

[CODE]DisplayName=AeroRP[/CODE]

2. Save the file and exit and then copy it to [b]%windir%\Resources\Themes[/b]

3. Create a folder named [b]AeroRP[/b] in the [b]Themes[/b] folder mentioned in step 2 above.

4. Inside the [b]AeroRP[/b] folder, paste the [b]AeroRP.msstyles [/b]file.

5. From the [b]aero[/b] folder in [b]Themes[/b], copy the three folders, namely [b]en-us[/b], [b]Shell[/b] and [b]VSCache[/b] and paste it in the [b]AeroRP[/b] folder created in step 4.

6. Open the [b]en-us[/b] folder in the [b]AeroRP[/b] folder that you just copied and make a copy of the aero.mssyles.mui and rename the new copy to AeroRP.msstyles.mui

7. Try applying the AeroRP theme now by double-clicking the [b]AeroRP.theme[/b] file in the Themes folder. It should work now. It worked for me!

Oooh, thanks, that worked perfectly! Thanks a lot! :D

[Skrell]

Yeah, that Windows RP theme isn't working for me. Installed UXStyle but still won't work. I'm on Windows 8 Pro x64.

I'm having the exact same problem altho i'm using home edition 64 bit! I'm going to try Neowinian's solution when i get home tonite!!!

[DJGM]

This step is a stumbling block.

5. From the aero folder in Themes, copy the three folders, namely en-us, Shell

and VSCache and paste it in the AeroRP folder created in step 4.

Windows throws up File Access Denied errors when trying to copy certain files in those folders.

Because Windows is being an awkward little **** (as usual) that method doesn't work.