@winstep thank you very much for detailed explanation!



No, just icons in general, like on attached screenshots. You see "Open dialog" windows on both screenshots, one when run from any other 64bit program, other when run from nexus. I guess it happens because I use Windhawk redirect mod, so it doesn't actually modifies dll/res files, but redirects them on registry level I think. Need to test how Nexus shows those icons when res/dll files are actually replaced.



Earlier one, can't test with the current version unfortuantley, as I don't own ARM device currently to test it.

Yes. If Windhawk is a 64 bit app, it cannot attach itself to 32 bit applications nor the 32 bit part of the Windows system. I guess that is what is happening there.

Love it when the pieces of a plan all smoothly fit together in the end, in a way much better than anticipated.

So, I added *64* new Windows 11 style icons to the

C:\Users\Public\Documents\WinStep\Icons\Samples\

folder (which contains most of the icons used for the internal commands) and removed the icons that are not used anywhere by the application (the latter will only affect new installations).

Previously the folder had 151 icons, now it has 148. Despite all the new Windows 11 icons being 256x256 (unlike most of the old icons that are 128x128), the size of the folder has remained basically the same, i.e. it only went up from 2.39 MB to 2.96 MB.

So, that is the first plus.

Most of the icons thus have a Windows 11 version (ending in *_11.png) and a non-Windows 11 version (same filename, but without the *_11.png termination).

The application will automatically use one set of icons or the other based on the new 'Use Windows 11 style icons' setting located in the More dialog of the General tab in Preferences.

Until now when you added an internal command (IC) the application would automatically fill the Icon Path field with the associated icon in the Samples folder. If for any reason the icon path field was left blank, the IC would then display the application icon.

So at first I thought that I would have to automatically change the icon path of every IC item in docks, etc, every time I switched the style of the icons, but then it occurred to me that I did not actually have to fill the icon path whenever the user added an IC, I could simply leave it blank and the application would retrieve the proper icon based on the IC type (and not having to specify icon paths would also mean smaller backup files, another plus)

This would allow me to use either style of icons "on the fly". At first I assumed that for this "on the fly" selection to work, the icon paths would have to be blank, which would mean irreversibly changing user data when the new version was run for the first time, something I did not want to do because there is always the chance the user is trying out the new version but ends up going back to a previous version (which would then display the generic application icon for all the ICs since old versions do not know how to retrieve icons for ICs "on the fly").

Turns out the solution is quite simple, and does not require touching user data: when retrieving an icon for the IC, if the icon path points to the older style icon BUT the new Windows 11 icon style is selected, then the application internally replaces the icon with the new style but without actually changing that item's icon path.

This means users can go back to an older version of the application without problems and that restoring old backups does not suddenly show old style icons despite the new icon style being selected (and so on).

Also, ICs can still have their icons customizable by the user, and in that case the IC will always show the user's icon regardless of the current icon style.

So, in the end it could not be better!

Ah, this "Windows 11 style" setting is not only going to affect ICs, it is also going to affect things like the icons used for Grid Stacks, some of the iconic modules, etc...

Windhawk is a 32 bit app, hence I'm surprised why this happens.

Might be using a 64 bit DLL?

Possibly, that would explain why it works the way it works.

While messing around with the external icons (i.e. icons not embedded into the executable itself) for the internal commands I think I may have finally understood a mystery that has been bothering me for quite some time now.

From time to time I would get a report in the Winstep Uninstall Survey of icons in the dock turning into question marks. Unfortunately none of the users who complained about this issue left an email address I could use to contact them later.

This was driving me crazy as I could not see what might be possibly causing this. Now I think I know:

If a user deleted his Samples folder thinking it was unnecessary, all the internal command items in their docks would turn into question marks. Since icons are cached in memory this might not happen immediately, only once the application was restarted or the user went into Prefs to change a theme or a setting. Given the delay he might not associate the icons turning into question marks to him deleting the Samples folder, thinking instead it was a bug in the application.

From now on if they do that they will get the general application icon instead of a question mark. Perhaps I should make a specific IC icon, embed it into the executable and use that instead if the Samples folder has been deleted.

Something like the two examples below to represent an Internal Command (IC). Someone let me know which of the two examples they like better, the idea being using the same metalic material used for the Winstep, NextSTART, WorkShelf and Nexus logos (also keep in mind you would only see those if you delete the Samples folder lol). My vote goes for the brushed metal since it's more "visible" at smaller icon sizes.

I like the first icon better.

Definitely seconded!

2nd one for me also.

So, this is still pretty much work in progress and there are a TON more icons affected by this, but this should give you guys an idea of the before (mostly Windows 7 style) and after (icons a bit more flat and much less photo-realistic but without going to the extreme of UWP App icons, which I think are so simple most are pretty ugly).

So, toggle a setting and the icons automatically change from one style to the other. This affects ICs, modules and even stuff like the image used by default for Grid Stacks (talking about it, what do you guys think of the new Grid Stack icon? )

Some logos/application icons are on queue for a revamped image too... Not saying everything will happen in this release as this is a lot of work, some of it will happen gradually...

Anyway, comments please...

NextSTART icon/logo is also about to change. Haven't decided which new version to use yet, though, if the lighter or something darker, so feel free to express your opinions too:

Overall, the new 'Win 11 Style' icons are no improvement really. There also is no impression of an overall cohesive theme to the icons. On the plus side, the clock icon is a fair improvement, but could be even better without that horrible antique LED matrix font and the without the tiny days of the week. Net icons definite improvement, though Ram - as there rarely are any drastic swings in usage - I always thought would be better served by a bar indicator rather than a rarely changing oscilloscope-style display.

The Moon is better in the Win 7 style, the new one has rather harsh contrast and is unpleasant on the eye. Don't really know what to make of the new Gridstack icon, it doesn't really give any hint what it's for. But the old one is definitely worse in that it looks like it's meant to be for some kind of package or archive app.

Anyway, just my 2 quid's worth, trying to be constructive.

Sorry Jorge, but both of the new versions of the logo strike me as ugly as sin! You simply can't beat the original - just like the Winstep logo, you can't improve on it. Stick with it would be my advice. Look at strong brands - most have never changed their logo, or only to a very minor degree. E.G., IBM, McDonalds, Intel, Ubuntu, Fedora, Red Hat, Microsoft,KFC (aka "Kan't Find the bloody Chicken!" ), to name just a tiny few. A strong brand image is always useful.

Ahaha, I knew I could count on you for a non-sugar coated opinion. Thank you for that.

So, true for not being an overall cohesive theme for the icons. Although included in the images, some of those have not been changed at all e.g. Wanda, the moon phases, battery module and the calendar.

From those the battery module could benefit the most from a new "Windows 11" look, but the moon must remain photorealistic because the same image is used for the much larger "Moon Calendar (and like all the others, the user can still customize it himself if he so wishes). The Flip Calendar is already pretty much "Windows 11" style as it is already facing you head on, and being pretty simple already not many changes could be made there.

Anyway, I struggle because I want something "in between" the true Windows 11 look and the old style, as I intensely dislike the UWP style of icons (I mean, have a look below, how ugly are most of those?!). Icons in Windows 11's own Shell32.dll actually STILL look pretty nice (just a "flatter" front-facing version of the old Windows 7 icons) and still retain a good amount of detail - but you will rarely see those in the Windows UI.

The Grid Style icon doesn't really fit in the flatter look (it was actually inspired on some MacOSx icons for stacks in the MacOSX dock) but, as you said, it's probably better than the old one, at least in terms of visual representation.

As for the RAM meter being bar or histogram, that is actually something you can select in the settings dialog of all the meter modules.

Finally, the NextSTART icon, I never really liked the "melted" original look... and the new images actually look better at smaller icon sizes.

Anyway, Rome as not build in a day, and in pretty much the same way I do not have to make all the changes "right now", especially because I want the new version released ASAP. Getting into this icon changing business was already pretty risky for that goal.

The most important thing is that the default look of the free version of Nexus is different from the old Windows 7 style as much as possible, since that is what is downloaded the most (by far!) and is Winstep's "calling card".

Something that I should have cleared up already, I am not a graphics designer so most of the new icons were made by ChatGPT and/or CoPilot under my "artistic direction" (lol) and based on the old icons, with a few tweaks in Photoshop here and there. It would have been impossible to generate these many new icons in such a short time otherwise.

Ah, and the Analog clock is actually getting a "dark mode" version. Still working on it so no images yet. The clock will be pretty much the only module that will actually have four different available "styles" by default (digital with calendar a la NeXT style, digital with time only, Analog white, Analog black).