Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Using Win98 themes on XP

This is topic Using Win98 themes on XP in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 08-11-2003, 02:27 AM:

I just got Windows XP for my computer this week. Untill now, I've been using Windows 98 SE with Plus!. I really like some of the themes that came with 98 Plus, but now I am stuck with just "Windows XP" and "Classic Windows." Blah!

I found the files for the themes inside a .cab file on the Windows 98 CD. It's a pain in the butt to manually copy all of the files over to my hard drive and go the the various control panels to select them, but it can be done. For most of the items (sounds, wallpaper, etc...) this is no problem. However, I am having trouble with some of the screen savers. I copied all the screen saver files (.scr) to my C:\Windows\system32 folder so I can select the screen saver from the Desktop Properties. But many of them do not work properly. May I assume that there are other files that go along with the .scr file that perhaps contain images and setting? Really the only two screen savers I am interested in are the ones that go with the "Science" and the "Science Fiction" themes. Anyone know how to manually set these up?

Much thanks in advance. [Smile]

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 08-11-2003, 08:16 AM:

This is just a guess, but the Win98 SE themes stuff is just a regurge of Win95's "Plus!" thingie that certainly includes a lot of 16-bit old-world style code.

WinNT back then and WinXP today both can handle some 16-bit stuff, but doesn't have a high tolerance for it. The old themes may be making some old hardware calls that have security issues as well. This could be another reason why XP is shutting it down. If you like the "Plus" stuff, your best bet is going to be purchasing the version of it made for XP.

Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 08-11-2003, 11:47 PM:

One of the themes that I'm interested in uses a cool 3D screen saver. Surely this was made for Windows 98. XP has it's own 3D screen savers, so wouldn't it be able to handle this one? I have a feeling it's just a matter of copying the right files to the right location(s). I am not going to spend the money on Plus for XP just to get two screen savers. That is, of course, assuming they even include all the old themes, because I know they have plenty of new ones.

BTW, anyone know of a good message board for Windows XP? I would think that would be the best place for me to post such questions (and I will have a lot of them; I've never used XP before last week!) in the future.

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 08-12-2003, 01:17 AM:

You're missing the correct DLL's to make the screen server work. The scr files generally just tell Windows what to do for the screen saver, the DLL files tell it how to do it. There are some screen savers that are totally contained within the scr file, but more complex ones require extra DLL(s).

I know for sure that the science screen saver requires a DLL to run, and on a side note, is the best piece of software to check a system for faulty RAM, even better than many-thousand dollar programs specifically designed to test for faulty RAM. The science screen saver will generally cause a system to crash in under 10 minutes (usually 5) if it has faulty RAM, whereas most RAM / hardware test software can take hours if it finds it at all.

Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 08-12-2003, 02:08 PM:

Wow! What is it about that specific screen saver that causes that to happen?

Do you know what DLL is required and where it is supposed to go? I couldn't find and DLL's in the Plus folder on my Wind98 CD. Is it one of the Win98 DLL's?