Turn Vista Home Premium Into Ultimate - (Part 2) DreamScene
In this installment we are going to look at installing the Vista Ultimate toy DreamScene. Tired of the static pictures as your desktop? DreamScene allows you to incorporate video as the desktop image. This is a default feature of Vista Ultimate, however, with some simple hack files we can achieve the same on Home Premium as well.
**IMPORTANT** Make sure you have Vista Service Pack 1 installed for this patch to work successfully!
The first thing we need to do is download the 20 MB patch file (works for Vista 32 and 64bit) which you can download from the WinMatrix Forum. Just click the image below to download the winrar file.
Installation is extremely easy. Just extract the compressed file and open the extracted folder.
With the file extracted simply run the Install.bat file.
Answer the series of text messages that show up in the Command Prompt.
Once installation is complete you will need to restart your PC. The location of DreamScene Video is C:\Windows\Web\Windows DreamScene This patch comes with one default video. You can also download tons of them all over the web. I found some very cool DreamScene videos at dreamscenevideo.net. The following are the steps involved in turning DreamScene on as your desktop.
Right click an open area on the desktop and choose Properties \ Desktop Background and from here click the drop down box and select Windows DreamScene Content. Then just double click the DreamScene video you want to display.
Installing the patch and downloading a few video's is essentially all there is to it. You can watch the video below where I demonstrate what DreamScene looks like. I also launched a few applications while running DreamScene. Hopefully this helps someone out!
Disclaimer: Many of our articles require making changes to your system. While we fully test and stand by our advice, there is still the potential for problems when making any configuration changes. Please be careful.
is this a systen resource hog??
cause with Vista the last thing i need is more bloatware……….
also can it be used as an "active desktop" replacement?
@ 7SeVeN7:
This will certainly add more demand on your system than a static image. I tested this on a dual core AMD system with 4GB of RAM and the CPU usage went up 8%. Also, keep in mind this only works with Aero enabled … so depending upon your set up … You can always try it out and uninstall it if you don't like the system performance.
Hey there, i installed it and it's slowing my system down a fair bit. You mentioned that i can uninstall dreamscene… Could you show me how?
Thanks.
@ Observalibera:
Just Delete C:\Windows\Web\Windows DreamScene and also go into the System 32 folder and delete the dreamscene.dll file.
So do the different versions of Vista just install Vista Ultimate and then disable features through registry tweaks or what? This is such a simple fix and it looks like it's the official Windows DreamScene dialog. I had 64 bit Vista Ultimate for a little while but some of my more useful apps weren't compatible, and silly me, I lost my install disc, so I went back to Home Premium 32 bit and this was one of the very few features I ACTUALLY missed. Nice tutorial man, how do you find this stuff?
This doesn't count as being illegal does it, considering you pay for these extras when you buy ultimate?
I can get this to work for video files, but I can't make it use .dream files, any idea why?
Note that this will NOT allow you to install Deskscapes, and install .dream files.
But the new/upcoming (not sure if it is out yet) Deskscapes 2.0 will allow you to install on non-Ultimate versions.
Yeah, Dreamscene is pitiful without dynamic dreams.
i can't get the patch to open
You don't need winrar because WinZip now supports .rar files
@ Davin:
Thanks for that info. I haven't used Winzip for years and I was not sure if it would open .rar or not.
i've opened it with 7zip but it doesn't show up in the desktop back ground drop down
"this file cant be used as a background picture" what do i need to do?
@ OzSpitt
Remember you need to have Vista SP 1 installed also. Otherwise you may encounter problems.
Also, make sure you downloaded the correct patch from Razorblade:
http://depositfiles.com/en/files/5773402
The only other thing I can think of is your not using Windows Home Premium. If all else fails either send me a private email or ask all of our wonderful members in the forum!
I got the following error:
The video file format is not supported, or there was an error decoding this video file.
@ Davin:
From what I have researched the only supported DreamScene formats are:
MPG 1 , 2 and WMV
When I first emulated this on my system I tried an AVI and also got a similar error. There are plenty of media converters you can use but keep in mind they may not work.
If anyone else has had success with other video file extensions please let us know!
Installed with directions and restarted but no option to choose. 1st, right clicking doesn't give me a choice for Properties. I can choose Personalize and then Desktop Background. But after that I only get options for Picture Location. The drop down gives choices for wallpapers and pictures but nothing for DreamScene. I even Browsed to the folder with the scenes but they could not be chosen. There is a option (but grayed out) when I right click on the desktop above Personalize for "Play DreamScene" but as I said it cant be chosen. I do have UltraMon running, would that matter? I am current on all updates and service packs. thx
i'm in the same boat as Sean
Same problem as Sean and ADOX are having. Vista SP1 is installed. Help!