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In Reply to: RE: cPlay - the open source high-end audio player using ASIO posted by cics on May 05, 2008 at 13:31:58
Studying Mihaylov and steppe screenshots and implementing steppe's last boot.ini tweak (OMG this sounds good thank you!),
files like shell32.dll are indeed one of the 'core' data sets Windows requires for operation. With the superb sounding /maxmem=256 switch it happened to me that some cue playlists could not be loaded, too many split loads. So either make new cues, OR try to squeeze the last bits of memory :)Friends, it is possible (using a resource editor) to eliminate unneccessary Icon, Bitmap and AVI (!) resources that are embedded in files like shell32.dll and explorer.exe
And this
http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/87943-replacing-shell32dllwas actually my starting signal :) and made me wonder how much RAM savings this could lead to. Being that cMP is a replacement shell with uses the same 'core' dlls as Explorer shell; but DOES NOT use all the desktop, file browsing, printing dialog stuff it also makes sense.
With a bit of trial-and-error I could safely reduce the sizes:
explorer.exe size is now 388 kB, original 1008 kB
shell32.dll size is now 2686 kB, original ~8000 kB
taskmgr now shows explorer.exe eating up ~5800 kB, previous was about 10500 kB RAMFirst I looked how big shell32 and explorer from the Windows XP SP2 Embedded pack are (remember, we have our minlogon.exe from this pack). Of course, the are the same monsters as in our XP (shell is even larger). Then just trying reshacker (Resource Hacker), its funny to see that for example the animations in Your Windows file copy/move/delete dialogs are some AVI(!) files that are played back when you see the dialog... Which of course does never happen when we are in cMP shell, but is nonchalantly eating up RAM which we want for MUSIC.
Second, all system Icons are stored inside in 16, 256 and Hi-colour resolutions. Of course after we switched to 256 colours in Windows you only ever, ever see the 16 colour versions. Remember, even the tiniest things are cumulative. To some this very idea may seem over-the-top. Rough assumption, but shell32.dll seems to be 20% program code and 80% multimedia resource if you open it up.
--SNIP-------------------------
To make thinks clearer now: You DONT GET TO SEE the mentioned '20% program code' at all in ANY of these resource editor applications. Theyre just there for editing resources, there is really no reverse-engineering, decompiling etc involved here. So don't be afraid you could mess up the program code along the way, this is much more deep inside :) (where monkeys can't see a thing)
--SNIP--------------------------After deleting AVI and (many) ICO and bitmap stuff, plus editing the dialogs that use them (which is easy, I could explain in next post if you like ), as stated shell can be made about 25% of original size.
Please dont be afraid of this tools' name, in the right hands its (quite) safe to use (actually uses a Windows API to access embedded resources, not program code from the designer) Looking the web it seems also common for freaks to edit their shells (usually to make it more PRETTY, but we audio nuts care for the opposite)
I also like the connection which seems to exist between Mussels, Shells and Mermaids :) For sound quality I cannot really say if better (or just different) as I have new 'boutique coupling caps in my DAC which are breaking in.
If Youre past steppe 22 (use no explorer) and like the sound I can send you my ATM super-tweaked shell32 for trying out etc. Keep in mind its probably safer to edit your own files, because of language and file version differences. I have SP2 ENU.
respects,
Mario / nagual19
btw, haven't tried if using Win2k dlls (as suggested in link) works and I dont want to make anything instable, the sound is just so fantastic.
Edits: 12/11/11 12/11/11 12/11/11 12/11/11Follow Ups:
Should we delete all lines except for those that say 256 colors? Or something else?
Edits: 12/15/11
I was able to get a limp along version of ADD / REMOVE discs into cmp. Restore Dialogue 1079 (as per Mihaylov...thanks again Serge)and Strings 267 1893 1907. What you get is the ability to work it but when you press add / remove you get a folder tree that omits some of the names but if you click into spaces where the folder names should be you see a little dark shaded area, click on that and you are ok.
Also for those of you still using setupapi you can delete about half of its 950kb size by deleting AVI and other stuff within it by resource hacker.
I substituted Nagual19's shell32.dll in my xp sp3 based cMP setup with no problem and clear improvement. Then comes Fishy Secrets 3, so I wanted to use regedit again within the system if possible. So I substituted back the original shell32.dll. Then I found when trying to start regedit I get an error saying there is no associated program for this .exe file and to set it in folder options. The same happened trying to start cmd.exe. So in the substitution and resubstitution that association was lost or cancelled. Anyone know how to restore it with things at this stage?
sorry I cannot remember the name (these days it takes to long to load a page within this thread I have lost my patience).
OH YEAH, PEChecksum. I bet that would make a difference.
I have not used it myself and the link in the post did not work but I am sure you can find it somewhere.
Did anybody ever figure out how to renable add / remove discs from cmp screen?
Here so:
Serge.
http://cmp2-mihaylov.narod.ru/
My cMP2: Windows XP SP2 Ru, Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H, Intel Core i3-530, Corsair CM3X160C9DHX 1GB, system drive - Transcend IDE FLASH MODULE TS2GDOM40V-S, ESI Juli@, full linear PSU, NAS - WD My Book Liv
So I understand Dialogue number 1079 but which String number is it...1079?
It doesnt look like it. Should I try to identify a string table with 13 lines in it? God I would love to learn Russian (my late Mom could understand some russian).
I do not have English file. Therefore identify 13 lines in String under their numbers: 4162, 9092, etc. These are inscriptions in a dialogue window 1079.
Serge.
http://cmp2-mihaylov.narod.ru/
My cMP2: Windows XP SP2 Ru, Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H, Intel Core i3-530, Corsair CM3X160C9DHX 1GB, system drive - Transcend IDE FLASH MODULE TS2GDOM40V-S, ESI Juli@, full linear PSU, NAS - WD My Book Liv
thanks
I have not tried it though.
http://www.droopy.narod.ru/BootIni.htm (in russian)
and here is the best explanation I have found so far:
/KERNEL=/HAL= Enable you to override Ntldr's default filename for the kernel image (Ntoskrnl.exe) and/or the HAL (Hal.dll). These options are useful for alternating between a checked kernel environment and a free (retail) kernel environment or even to manually select a different HAL. If you want to boot a checked environment that consists solely of the checked kernel and HAL, which is typically all that is needed to test drivers, follow these steps on a system installed with the free build:Copy the checked versions of the kernel images from the checked build CD to your \Windows\System32 directory, giving the images different names than the default. For example, if you're on a uniprocessor, copy Ntoskrnl.exe to Ntoschk.exe and Ntkrnlpa.exe to Ntoschkpa.exe. If you're on a multiprocessor, copy Ntkrnlmp.exe to Ntoschk.exe and Ntkrpamp.exe to Ntoschkpa.exe.
The kernel filename must be an 8.3-style short name.
Copy the checked version of the appropriate HAL needed for your system from \I386\Driver.cab on the checked build CD to your \Windows\System32 directory, naming it Halchk.dll. To determine which HAL to copy, open \Windows\Repair\Setup.log and search for Hal.dll; you'll find a line like \WINDOWS\system32\ hal.dll="halacpi.dll","1d8a1". The name immediately to the right of the equals sign is the name of the HAL you should copy. The HAL filename must be an 8.3-style short name.
Make a copy of the default line in the system's Boot.ini file.
In the string description of the boot selection, add something that indicates that the new selection will be for a checked build environment (for example, "Windows XP Professional Checked").
Add the following to the end of the new selection's line: /KERNEL=NTOSCHK.EXE /HAL= HALCHK.DLL
Now when the selection menu appears during the boot process you can select the new entry to boot a checked environment or select the entry you were using to boot the free build.
/HAL= BcdOSLoaderString_HalPath
/KERNEL= BcdOSLoaderString_KernelPath
Serge.
Edits: 12/13/11
I used to get 2 min and 14 sec before a swap. Now after I have done some resource hacking I get a swap as early as 1 min 59 sec. How did I lose 15 sec? I thought shrinking these files from within added memory. Anybody else notice this?
Sounds great but what physically is happening?
Do you mean the size of a chunk into which a song is split? It is dependent on the amount of ram availible, With /maxmemory=216 on my machine a typical song of 4 minutes is split into 3 segments (chunks). Also, the shorter are the timings of the memory, set in bios, the more physical memory cmp needs. At the slow and slack rate of standard cmp optimisation it needs 214 mb, while with most agressive timings - 217.
Serge.
By memory swap I mean music elapsed time at which the 1st memory swap of new data(music) occurs. So in my system I have 256 mb physical memory, I run 44k sample rate, tiny buffer. I use onecpu/maxmem=256/nopae in the boot.ini file. I used to see no memory swaps before 2:14 now they occur at 1:59 (after Resource hacker) which is opposite to what I expected. So my question is very simple why is memory swapping 15 seconds sooner than before?
But if it sounds better, let it be?
Serge
I do agree it sounds better but I'm just curious about what is really happening.
Here is one I took Mario's shell32.dll and eliminated all Dialogue stuff and got 2.595 mb....cant tell a difference yet on sonics. Anybody else?
Edits: 12/12/11
I prefer to remain passive and wait for other people to finish their work, as I continue with memory settings. It's good that we are splitting now our activities. This way we can work on several problems simultaneously. My report You could have read already. Most positive. But I would be even more happy, if we manage to reduce the impact of winmm.dll as well. Did you remove the volsnap driver, btw?
Serge
No will eventually try it though.
...I get what Dialogue is but what again is a string?
*smile* a string (in computer speak) means just a 'character string', so
strings == the TEXT that gets displayed in dialogs or elsewhere
As you know, things like text documents are (even if they may contain many pages) quite a bit smaller than Videos, or Pictures on your harddisk) Thats why I wrote, might be overkill. But we want to squeeze every BIT :)
Thanks for the info...I'm starting to delete these too.
This is quite extraordinary!.
RESOURCE HACKER is simplicity to use but I am concerned about the PEChecksum aspect since I have no experience with working at the commnad line.
Hoping someone will supply a step by step for this? I have minimized many .dll's with the obvious things to delete but am afraid to insert them just to see a blue screen.
Personally, within shell32 I deleted everything since I never see any of that stuff - figure I cannot go wrong, but will have to wait to see.
Makes one wonder just how much further we can go? Just when you think we are reaching the end of the line AND THEN something like this gets posted.
Thanks, again,
I deleted all avi; all icons except the cd s; all dialogues except file open related. Size is 2,431. It works perfectly, and sounds amazing.
I will likely take more out. I have dual boot so its easy to toggle between full xp ans cpm lite.
Which string did you leave for CMP ADD / REMOVE discs? I see Mihaylov's post that says to leave Dialogue # 1079 in but I cant figure out from the russian which string number to leave.
I did all dialogues and all is well with respect to cmp^2 functionality. But thats all I did for now, sonics I'm still evaluating.
Just using Mario's file is a significant sq pop.
is how I perceive it.
As with this continuing evolution beginning with Serge's idea, there is much to be gained by minimizing WINDOWS.
Went back to my non-ACPI version because the ACPI one was doing strange things. I think there must have been a problem with my install disk. Will have to try again.
Adter I got my confidence up withe RESOURCE HACKER I went through every file in system32 that had something to delete and basically deleted everything except "version" and the one's with all of the numbers. I left very few of messages and the strings and will go back and see if I can eliminate them all. I do not think they have anything to do with what happens with a cMP machine in cMP mode with no EXPLORER.
Whether being able to get rid of everything makes much of a difference in file size remains to be seen. More importantly whether that will make any sonic difference at all (after the inital slimming) is doubtful but IT MYST BE DONE!
I figured it would not work but it did. I thought I had already taken too much away.
Who knows if manipulating the other files have the any impact like shell32 since they do not show up on TASK MANAGER (when you could access TASK MANAGER) but there has to be something worthwhile to making all as small as possible.
As we near Serge's goal of a 20mB WINDOWS ...
as this process proceeds, how easy it is to tell the condition of the tape on older recordings.
Not that anyone WANTS to hear these artifacts but they do illustrate how fine the resolution has become with this decoder.
Luckily, the noises are not obtrusive, as in LP playback they are there but do not overwhelm the sound. Surely an indicator of how well behaved this system has become.
Yesss! Just this morning while listening @ 3:00am (insomniac) I noticed this and made a mental note of it.
Rick thanks for reporting this. As You wrote 'I left very few of messages and the strings and will go back and see if I can eliminate them all.'
Yeah, at least for our beloved shell this should directly lead to more and more bits of RAM savings. Because from OS engineering standpoint it makes sense, all GUI related things have to be kept in RAM, so that they can get quickly rendered when the user clicks somewhere on the screen. (and not loaded from some dll on hdd)
With other files that get loaded alongside shell and explorer it's quite the same I think. Except the dlls that are not kept always in RAM (assumption)
Mario, if You haven't deleted the registry entries for known dlls, please, open with notepad cmp/cplay exes and check, first, all the dlls that the 'perfect pair' uses from this list. Try, please, to hack them as brutally, as only You can, and next proceed to the others. Am I asking too much? I know it's not simple, but please, if you have time, do it.
Serge.
BTW, Serge Mihaylov was on a bright way to try hacking hal and kernel and, possibly gdi32 and ntdll.dll. He reports that they are being checked for integrity by windows on start up, however, hall and kernel CAN BE SUBSTITUTED for different ones with an appropriate setting in boot.ini. That's for sure, I have read it. If You are ready, I will re-find the corresponding switches for boot.ini to load different (read hacked) hal and kernel.
Serge.
Edits: 12/13/11
=I will re-find the corresponding switches for boot.ini to load different (read hacked) hal and kernel.=
Serge, what's this?
Serge.
http://cmp2-mihaylov.narod.ru/
My cMP2: Windows XP SP2 Ru, Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H, Intel Core i3-530, Corsair CM3X160C9DHX 1GB, system drive - Transcend IDE FLASH MODULE TS2GDOM40V-S, ESI Juli@, full linear PSU, NAS - WD My Book Liv
In my ramblings along different articles on boot.ini and its possible settings I have come in several places on switches that ALLOW to use a different hal and kernel for debugging? and for different "experiments" I don't remember exactly, but it's something easy, like /hal=yourhackedname.dll and /kernel=something. As it is dangerous, please, give me some time to find these switches. I also think they are at wikipedia, where I got the illbegotten /clklvl.
Serge.
Mario in the spirit of your encouragement to try stuff I'd like a little guidance on the method you used to generate such a great sounding (great is not an understatement) shell32.dll. Do you just delete whole folders of AVI, ICON and DIALOGUE files? Or do you leave some stuff in each folder? I listened intently last night (at my low powerline noise hours) and the sonics of the slimmed down shell32 is nothing short of fantastic. The highs, inter space silence, soundstage (depth and width) is the best I experienced in my system. What a find!
This is a breakthrough!!
Best SQ ever. I went through Shell32.dll fairly quickly. Killed AVI, icons and even tons of dialogues. Went on to look at a few of the other larger dlls in sysem32 and removed dialogues and error message strings.
There is a lot to experiment with here.
Thanks Mario for that you reminded me of such possibility to tweak files ;). Now I tweaked 39 files in system32. The Windows's size is 29.1 MB.
The size of shell32.dll is 2194KB. "Add folders" in cMP settings works fine! To upload english shell32.dll and I will tweak it this feature work.
Serge.
http://cmp2-mihaylov.narod.ru/
My cMP2: Windows XP SP2 Ru, Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H, Intel Core i3-530, Corsair CM3X160C9DHX 1GB, system drive - Transcend IDE FLASH MODULE TS2GDOM40V-S, ESI Juli@, full linear PSU, NAS - WD My Book Liv
Dear Serge(s) and co-workers!
It really makes happy that this tweak gets so well received here. I now think about it as a natural progress of the 'Art of Windows tweaking'. The improvement this shell32 reduction seems to make is in the good tradition of minlogon, because these very files are used by Windows all the time and are not 'peripheral' components like many files we have deleted in the meantime. This was also what made me look inside shell32 from SP2 Embedded Pack to see if any smaller, but it wasn't.A few ideas:
I want to get somewhere the Win2k SP0 shell32, open it up and analyze how it's smaller than XP version. Because MS always has to think about compatibility when developing new versions. And this brings some structure in tweaking. Remember I have posted a link where some nice tweakers talk about using W2k versions of these files. But I dont make to want a frankenstein Windows (at least YET)Now Serge (Mihaylov), did you just delete Icons, Bitmaps and AVIs or also Dialogs? I had already the feeling, that we can make shell even smaller by deleting almost all dialogs (except the ones that get called from cMP plattform, namely via the add-remove library buttons. Of course, that many if not all Windows files could be opened with resource editors and made smaller (Your are at 29 and counting? :))
Another idea, if You open up the section -Accelerators- These are used to define Windows Shortcut keys (We all know the Windows key Strg+C Strg+V etc). It could very well be that Windows is constantly polling (our deleted) keyboard drivers, if any of these keys are pressed - another disturbance in shell! Possible!
I want to look into this further. To all Friends asking for my current version of shell32, I will of course send it. But You are encouraged to try yourself, that way we may discover more than a single person could. It is really quite easy. I am amazed at the speed Mihaylov is at... which lets me wish I had more time for this -
Mario
Edits: 12/12/11
=did you just delete Icons, Bitmaps and AVIs or also Dialogs? I had already the feeling, that we can make shell even smaller by deleting almost all dialogs (except the ones that get called from cMP plattform, namely via the add-remove library buttons.=
Mario, your feeling did not trick you ;).
Serge.
http://cmp2-mihaylov.narod.ru/
My cMP2: Windows XP SP2 Ru, Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H, Intel Core i3-530, Corsair CM3X160C9DHX 1GB, system drive - Transcend IDE FLASH MODULE TS2GDOM40V-S, ESI Juli@, full linear PSU, NAS - WD My Book Liv
Wow that's fantastic. Is it possible to make some of these files available to us even at the risk again of maybe not working in our XP?
These are russian files (with russian language) and they are not suitable for English xp. Upload the English shell32.dll and I will tweak it.
Serge.
http://cmp2-mihaylov.narod.ru/
My cMP2: Windows XP SP2 Ru, Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H, Intel Core i3-530, Corsair CM3X160C9DHX 1GB, system drive - Transcend IDE FLASH MODULE TS2GDOM40V-S, ESI Juli@, full linear PSU, NAS - WD My Book Liv
tweak winmm.dll in such a way that it will only work with wave audio just remove midi and the rest of the crap inside?
Also, do you need an already tweaked or intact english shell32 file? I can send you both through e-mail. Can You, please, post the list of 39 files to tweak? Did You work with reshack or resource tuner?
Serge.
Hi Serge!
I work with Restorator.
I need the intact english shell32 file.
The list of 39 files to tweak will be later perhaps (these are largest files from system32).
Serge.
http://cmp2-mihaylov.narod.ru/
My cMP2: Windows XP SP2 Ru, Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H, Intel Core i3-530, Corsair CM3X160C9DHX 1GB, system drive - Transcend IDE FLASH MODULE TS2GDOM40V-S, ESI Juli@, full linear PSU, NAS - WD My Book Liv
Don't try to hack following files:
hal.dll
ntoskrnl.exe
user32.dll
win32k.sys
because apparently the system checks their integrity.
Serge.
http://cmp2-mihaylov.narod.ru/
My cMP2: Windows XP SP2 Ru, Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H, Intel Core i3-530, Corsair CM3X160C9DHX 1GB, system drive - Transcend IDE FLASH MODULE TS2GDOM40V-S, ESI Juli@, full linear PSU, NAS - WD My Book Liv
Hi Mihaylov,
Somehow, I was able to remove all the Bitmaps inside ntoskrnl.exe. I also removed all Menus from user32.dll, others couldn't be removed. They were working on 2 computers respectively.
You may wish to use other hacking software to achieve the results.
Hi Jack!
OK. I will try again.
Serge.
http://cmp2-mihaylov.narod.ru/
My cMP2: Windows XP SP2 Ru, Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H, Intel Core i3-530, Corsair CM3X160C9DHX 1GB, system drive - Transcend IDE FLASH MODULE TS2GDOM40V-S, ESI Juli@, full linear PSU, NAS - WD My Book Liv
Works!
Serge.
http://cmp2-mihaylov.narod.ru/
My cMP2: Windows XP SP2 Ru, Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H, Intel Core i3-530, Corsair CM3X160C9DHX 1GB, system drive - Transcend IDE FLASH MODULE TS2GDOM40V-S, ESI Juli@, full linear PSU, NAS - WD My Book Liv
What software do you use which displays multiple dlls?
Jack, look here:
http://www.AudioAsylum.com/forums/pcaudio/messages/10/100161.html
Serge.
http://cmp2-mihaylov.narod.ru/
My cMP2: Windows XP SP2 Ru, Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H, Intel Core i3-530, Corsair CM3X160C9DHX 1GB, system drive - Transcend IDE FLASH MODULE TS2GDOM40V-S, ESI Juli@, full linear PSU, NAS - WD My Book Liv
using alternate switch in boot.ini, but the tweaked hal and/or kernel should go under different names. If interested, I can possibly re-find these switches.
Serge.
Edits: 12/12/11
Unless you have all of your library loaded you cant add to it from the cmp screen. At least I cant. Shoot this is a biggy for me.
Add folder button in cmp? But what if you simply copy the folder with wavs and cue into, say, general RIP folder on another windows, then reattach your hdd to a cmp. Will upon loading cmp rescan and add new item to the library?
If Yes, I don't think it matters to me, as I have 3 general folders RIP, POP, CLASSIC. Inside these folders I have subfolders, like DEEP PURPLE and inside it: 1970 In Rock, 1971 Fireball, 1972 Machine Head. Inside each I keep my corresponding wavs by tracks and a cue. I often keep a subfolder Covers or Sleeves here as well.
Serge.
Another workaround for me is to go back to the 8mb shell, load all my 3 discs, reload the 2mb shell and wala I'm into all my music. But it would be nice to be able to remove / add discs from the cmp screen.
...but I got there. Yes it is a nice big sq pop ... very nice. I agree with Steppe.
Thank you so much Mario.
Oh, YESSS!!! She is. We had a good listen for 45 minutes, and I can say that the sonic change is most outstanding and is getting better, Better, BETTER!. The highiest mids are so clean now that it affects the lowest counterpart. It became very multilayered, textured, rich and polytonal. The overall change is for the best. The stage is high, very deep, in fact it's abyssal. the vocalist now stands 3,5 - 4 meters from the frontline of speakers. But the best things are happening in the background. It is rapidly becoming the arena of many musical and sonic events. Happily, there is no sonic hole between the front and the "backest" back now. The sound is getting lighter, meaning less dark. More sounds of the singers' throat and lips, when he (it is she in my case) is trying to help herself in a complex place.
Technically it was a very easy thing to do - just remove old dll from another windows installation, put the tweaked one inside and return my esata hdd to cmp.
the Mermaid seems so satisfied with the change that she asks her permission to bestow upon You the title of The Father Of Pearl, if You will accept it.
Serge.
It inspires, inspires me.
As I read Your message I cant help but smile and also being fairly proud... I really like Your descriptions of sound qualities.
Of course being The Father Of Pearl is... well... thanks :) Btw this encouragement is what I need ATM in my life, I have to get a job soon. My last one was not good and left me almost burned out. I believe if one is happy inside it will automatically lead to the right People and events.
Spread Your wings and get ready! It won't take long, if you feel really inclined to find a new occupation/job. I felt I was "growing a layer of fat" on my brain, it's the closest to a russian saying, and found myself a job immediately. Take a rest for some time and when you feel, you're ready, start searching, and it will find you.
Serge.
I d/led the reshackers and I follow your posts but still feel somewhat gunshy in attempting any of this. Maybe I just need to study it a little more. Also resetting checksums discussion is a bit confusing to me. I think you understate your level of computer acumen. But I will try to catch up.
Theo, thanks for posting. It may seem a bit much at first yes. Please read
http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/tutorials/31112-tutorial-all-about-resource-hacker-brief-tutorial.html
if you like and have some time. After removing resources using your reshacker, U just open up a command prompt, go to the directory where you have both PEChecksum.exe and your newly tweaked DLL, and run the command
PEChecksum -c shell32.dll
This is it. Btw I have just found out this step MAY not be necessary as the checksum is only verified if you have WFP enabled (we all have disabled Windows File Protection already by implementing minlogon)
If you just happen to have Windows XP SP2 English-US (United States) You could use the files I have sent. ^^
try it and report in an hour.
Serge.
Thank you too for all your hard work! Take time because I also had some learning curve to do this stuff just a few days ago.Eventually U will stumble upon a Dialog named 'Windows Default CD Writing Wizard' in shell32-Dialogs:
http://computertruths.blogspot.com/2007/06/interesting-hacks-using-resource-hacker.html
(interesting read)I do think - for the sake of making our shell cleaner - these dialogs (-> 1125 to 1138) could be terminated w/out ill effects. U get the ideas... We have deleted the CDR burning components a long time ago, and I just think these Dialogs could therefore never ever show up anywhere, because there is no possibility these dialogs get 'called' from any program routine anymore.
Edits: 12/11/11
You said '...To some this very idea may seem over-the-top. Rough assumption, but shell32.dll seems to be 20% program code and 80% multimedia resource if you open it up. After deleting AVI and (many) ICO and bitmap stuff, plus editing the dialogs that use them (which is easy, I could explain in next post if you like ), as stated shell can be made about 25% of original size...'
It would be great if you posted exactly how you size reduced shell32.dll. Also did you do from a host computer? Does Reshacker work that way? Any further deails would be appreciated. Here is an idea: give one simple example of something you did successfully to free up memory.
a charm on any computer. I have just downloaded the prog, unpacked and loaded dufferent dlls and exes from several hdds. The reshacker eats them eyes closed. It doesn't seem to care. But How and What to remove, this is what scares me. I would tweak this way many big files that remain. And, certainly cmp-cplay (not much there, in fact) just to get rid if possible of the oles and winspool.drv
Serge
1. This shows shell32.dll remaining resources in reshack:
http://i43.tinypic.com/2cqi2xu.pngSerge, yes just copy your existing explorer and shell32 files from cMP to another computer for modify, then copy back. Please also make some backups of these files. If you compare my screenshot with yours You can figure out what can be deleted. But TESTED this only with deleted explorer.exe (I use multi-boot for this stuff). This screen shows maximum for now. I did not want to go further.
2. And this shows the tedious work to do with the DIALOGS (at last, if you remove most Icons)
before
http://i44.tinypic.com/zmia9x.pngafter
http://i41.tinypic.com/21l4a5k.pngYou see a rendering of each dialog and a script window showing the used Bitmap, Icon or AVI resources (they have IDs pointing to). You point-and-click the Icon or 'sysanimate32' (AVI) control and hit delete. If you try, it seems more difficult than it really is. Remember deleting even strings (I know, make a facepalm!) as I did is not necessary at all. And MAYBE most of these dialogs could be terminated completely but I did not dare. Being only text there isnt much to be gained, most is graphical stuff.
3. FINALLY you have to run a tool called PEChecksum.exe to rewrite some checksum that has been modified.
http://www.materialordner.de/kyE5JHblwgs4QO43lmdwOrXCKb4vZPH.html
click on "Downloaden von pechecksum.zip" password please use my nickThen open command prompt, go to folder where your files reside and type
PEChecksum.exe -c shell32.dll4. COPY back to cMP and done! To those interested I could send you my shell32.dll that you can directly open and compare. Would need too many screenshots but I did my best!
Please also see attached link (post #40 is important) and happy reading.
Mario
Edits: 12/11/11 12/11/11 12/11/11
Yes you are on the right way, give me some time I will prepare a post to show how and what I have removed w/ success :)
can cmp.exe and cplay.exe be tweaked in the same way - what I mean is to remove certain parts of the script that use ole32 or oledlg and ESPECIALLY winspool.drv?
Serge.
Good question.. IMO this would only be possible with either decompiling the exe or analyzing cics' source code (don't find a source). AND having a much deeper understanding on how dlls like OLE are used in Windows 'global hierarchy'. Btw I am also no programmer but have experience in IT servicedesk using our BELOVED Win XP :)I really believe cics has coded already in a way, that the fewest possible dlls etc are getting used.. and We can only do our best to streamline all these components to suit it 'best'. This is what iE minlogon is also about for long times now.
What you can do using resource hacker is replace GUI related things in cMP and cPlay. Respectfully tweaked B39 SSE4 executable is shown above, I put in oldschool icons and black and gray (I dont want cics take this modification as disgrace. but Respect for his great player!) Also, cics has used much simpler (IMO prettier) icons in old builds. When I get a hold of these, I extract its icons and 'paste' it on the B39.
Keeping the spirit and only dare to mod icons keeping the same size and colours :)
Edits: 12/11/11 12/11/11 12/11/11 12/11/11
I would be disinclined to monkey with cics programs generally, but I would love to know how to reduce the font size so perhaps whole titles would show. Better yet in my case would be if someone else did so and posted the resultant programs.
I know this may initially seem like monkeying around (please get the pun with my shown Nilsson playlist and track title!)
o.O
But the answer is No. Because One can only replace resources that are designed to be just that, resources for the GUI. They get loaded along with program code when one starts a program. The font rendering of track titles in cPlay is 'hard-coded' and hidden in program code (so cics design choice), and can never be changed with tools like reshack. They are not accessible. Better that way, I happen to think too :)
Too bad.
No deregation intended. Monkeys are a higher order of animal than fish. Mermaids are harder to classify, of course. Still I wouldn't want all of us to go ape over reducing system/file size for its own sake.
Hello! This is what I was dreaming about - to remove the shell32.dll
-At the end of this post - http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/pcaudio/messages/9/97960.html I was expressing anger at not being able to.
Now You have found the way to practically neutralize it. really, working like a group we can move ever further! Please tell me, if the tool you are posting about is simple enough for the likes of me. Can I download it, copy my file from cmp machine to the working one, tweak it and replace? does the prog have some kind of user interface? Can you, if possible post some pics with explanations? I feel kinda scared...
Also can you try to tweak (if there is anything tweakable? WINMM.DLL?
Serge.
What is SP2 ENU is it english uk? I would be happy to try, if I may get Your version. I have original us version of vl windows. Hope my mermaid will eat the shell with pleasure...
Edits: 12/11/11
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