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Perfect Chaos
52 discussion posts
So one of the few things I don't like about DisplayFusion is how it handles customizing wallpapers. Instead of just natively using images in your folder to display as wallpaper like how Windows natively handles it, it pulls from your images, creates a new image to match your screen layout's settings, and then uses that newly created image as the wallpaper. This could be due to limitations of Windows, or perhaps it's to simplify coding. For most purposes, it gets the job done, but I've come across issues with it due to using a laptop that can also fold into a tablet.
Currently, for my wallpaper on my laptop (that has a 4K screen), I made a 16:9 image that's 3840 pixels high as my wallpaper for my laptop. This is so that when I use it in tablet mode and orient the screen vertically, it will "Fill" (what the Fit setting is set to) the screen with the image (without having to expand the image) and crop off the two sides so that it shows just the center of the image. This is handled using Windows, natively. If I have DisplayFusion controlling my wallpaper, even when using just one screen, Display fusion then takes my 6827x3840 image and creates a 3840x2160 copy of the image to use as my wallpaper. (The fact that it does this is the cause for a lot of compatibility issues.) Whenever I enter tablet mode, whatever wallpaper sizing option I choose in DF won't matter, because it seems like DF sets the fit option on Windows' native setting to "Tile" when DF handles wallpapers, and so my 3840x2160 image is now tiled in tablet mode. This won't make a visual difference as long as I have the tablet in landscape orientation, but once I rotate it to portrait orientation, since the image used is no longer 3840 pixels high, I will just see a tile effect of my wallpaper. Also, it won't be centered, but instead defaultly show the left side of the image and only the right side of the image gets cropped.
A simple solution would be to only use Windows' native mode for wallpapers, which is fine if I'm only using my laptop. But I will often have my laptop connected to a 2nd monitor, and I sometimes switch back and forth between horizontal and vertical orientation with that monitor. So with that, I rely on using DF to handle my monitor layout and wallpaper with its monitor/wallpaper profile feature, since multi-monitor wallpaper customization is very limited with Windows' native feature. And since DF overwrites settings on Windows' native settings when it takes over, switching back and forth between DF handling it (when using my monitor) and Windows handling it (when laptop only) is very time consuming. Due to this, I have to constantly have DF manage my wallpapers, regardless.

The way DF currently handles wallpapers won't really cause noticable issues as long as the aspect ratio doesn't change, but when it does change and DF doesn't automatically adjust to that (which is the case for rotating screens in tablet mode), things start to look bad. I understand that the majority of the users don't use a hybrid laptop, but seeing as DF is supposed to be multi-purpose modding tool for Windows, I think it would be great if it can eventually be made to be more compatible with Windows' tablet mode, as well.

One relatively quick fix to this issue right now that I can think of is to have a new mode in DF's wallpaper settings that makes it simply mirror all of Windows' native settings, letting you adjust all of Windows' native settings in DF while still having the "Allow DisplayFusion to manage the Desktop Wallpaper" setting enabled. That way, you can have certain Wallpaper Profiles simply use this mode when you just want to use Windows' native settings.

Excuse my long post, and thank you for all of your hard work in constantly updating the program even after so many years. To this day, I still consider buying DisplayFusion my best investment when it comes to using a computer.
May 6, 2020  • #1
Keith Lammers (BFS)'s profile on WallpaperFusion.com
We do it this way because before Windows 10, there wasn't a way to do it natively, and this was the only way to do it :)

We do have an item on our list to see if we can set the Windows 10 settings natively, but haven't had a chance to work on it. I will add your vote to the open ticket for that!

In the meantime, normally DisplayFusion should automatically adjust the wallpaper to fit the new display settings, so it's strange that it's not doing that in this case. When you switch to tablet mode, if you just open the DisplayFusion wallpaper settings and click apply, does it update the wallpaper to fit?
May 6, 2020  • #2
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Perfect Chaos
52 discussion posts
normally DisplayFusion should automatically adjust the wallpaper to fit the new display settings, so it's strange that it's not doing that in this case
Okay, after spending a lot of time looking through the settings while testing more of this, I realized something critical. I was testing my laptop in tablet mode without it being plugged in (since flipping and turning the laptop with a cable attached is really annoying), but I happened to have the setting to pause wallpaper changes on battery power enabled, which apparently will also prevent DF from auto-correcting stuff during screen resolution/orientation changes.
So at least now the problem is more manageable. But the process that DF has to go through every time the screen is re-orientated to resave a new image and load it up takes anywhere between 5-10 seconds, instead of it instantly working fine like when Windows natively handles it. So having a mode to use Windows' native feature on certain profiles would still be a great addition to DF's list of features.

Thank you for the prompt reply! I look forward to potentially seeing such a thing in the future. :)
May 7, 2020  • #3
Keith Lammers (BFS)'s profile on WallpaperFusion.com
Ah, good catch on the battery setting! We will definitely let you know if we're able to change it to using the native Windows functions in a future update.

Thanks!
May 7, 2020  • #4
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