TC goes crazy after enabling / disabling ClearType

[Bluestar]

Steps to reproduce:

First of all, you have to have a patched uxtheme.dll and an external (3rd party) theme, which isn't correctly installed (so its not placed in $windir$\resources\themes\themename) (for example, you just double-click on an unzipped .msstyles file then press Apply & OK in the Display Properties dialog window that appears). After these steps, close that Display Properties window.

1. If Total Commander isn't running, start it.
2. Right click on Windows desktop, select "Properties" item from the popup menu.
3. Click on "Appearance" tab.
4. Click on "Effects" button.
5. Tick the "Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts" item if its unchecked, and select ClearType (if its already selected, untick the smoothing at all).
6. OK, Apply, OK.
7. Click on Total Commander's window, some of its controls goes crazy immediately.

I think the problem could be solved by sending a Refresh command to TC's main window / at least some of the control elements... but its just a guess.
I did a test of some other applications by checking their reactions on changing smooth method, but only TC has a problem described above.

Screenshot: click here

Additional info:
* SW: Total Commander 7.50 public beta 4
* OS: Microsoft Windows XP SP3 Professional (Hun)
* This problem can be found in earlier versions of Total Commander too (for example in the latest stable build, 7.04a)
* If I uncheck the Configuration / Layout / "Windows XP theme background (menu+all bars)" in TC, the main menu doesn't crash after doing the steps above.
* If I uncheck the Flat user interface and Flat icons too on the same place, almost everything is fine (except the new sort controller below the current directory path [sry, I don't know the exact name of this element ]).

[MVV]

I can't reproduce on Windows XP SP2 with TC7.5pb3 and TC7.5pb4 and TC7.04a. TC doesn't go crazy while turning smoothing on and off. Just fonts change.
Both flat interface and windows XP theme background are turned on.

[fenix_productions]

WinXP SP3: cannot confirm.

I must say that I've played with ClearType a lot recently (due to graphic card break down) and no problems with TC occured.

[Bluestar]

Umm, it is more than interesting... I'm going to do a test on both of my older desktop PC soon. May it be the video card? (now I have an integrated Intel GMA 4500MHD in my notebook, I can reproduce the problem anytime with it)

edit:
PC#01 (TC7.04a, nVidia GeForce 6200): can't reproduce
PC#02 (TC7.04a, nVidia GeForce 2 MX400): reproducible
Notebook (TC7.50pb4,integrated Intel GMA4500MHD): reproducible

Video about the bug is available here.

Windows XP SP3 Prof. (Hun) is installed on all of the PC.

[MVV]

Maybe it's Windows or graphics drivers bug. Or system/driver incompatibility.

[Bluestar]

Maybe it's Windows [...] bug

You're probably true, I found out whats going on with TC!!

PC#02 and my notebook has the same Windows XP theme (VistaXP v2.0 by KoL) applied, however, please check this screenshot!

Explanation:
When I've double clicked on VistaXP.msstyles to install it on my OS, first time I was able to see its name in the "Display Properties/Appearance" dialog window (where it should've been on the included screenshot above too), but after I've pressed Apply and OK button (closed that window), then opened the "Display Properties/Appearance" window again, Windows is just unable to show which theme is in use atm (as you can see on the screenshot). --> If I change the font smoothing the same time when I apply the new theme (when the theme's name is still correct), the problem doesn't happens! So I guess its related to this Windows theme handling bug (maybe I should try another uxtheme.dll?).
(So in case you're using one of the two internal XP theme [Classic or Windows XP] the bug isn't reproducible at all.)
sorry for my english

[ghisler(Author)]

Thanks for your analysis of the problem! Where can I find this theme? I would like to test it myself. Maybe there is a workaround.

[Bluestar]

Thanks for your reply! You can download the theme from this direct link (i've checked the file by compare tool, it is absolutely the same as I have).
My uxtheme.dll's version is 6.00.2900.5512 (xpsp.080413-2105) [patched with UXTender 1.3].

edit: I solved the problem by correctly 'installing' the theme, not just double-clicking on .msstyles (paying no attention where it is atm) and applying it (--> i've unpacked the theme's files to $windir$\Resources\Themes\"FileNameWithout.msstyle-extension", so in my case the actual theme can be found now in the next directory: $windir$\Resources\Themes\VistaXP\VistaXP.msstyles (Fonts, Shell, and Wallpapers dirs of the theme are also unpacked here) - that way the 3rd party theme can now be found in XP theme's dropdown list correctly, and the bug doesn't appears when I change the font smoothing style.

Anyway its still interesting why does the problem reacts only some of the Total Commander's elements (it affects only the flat ones, so the latest stable version where this bug can't be found is v6.56 Final)

[ghisler(Author)]

Thanks, I got the theme - but I cannot reproduce the problem! I did as you said: Unpacked the theme to some non-system directory and double clicked the .msstyles file. This activated the theme.

When I re-opened the properties of the desktop to change the font smoothing settings, the theme was changed to some other theme in the list. After changing the font smoothing and clicking OK, the theme didn't change and TC looked OK as usual...

[Bluestar]

That's strange.

the theme was changed to some other theme in the list.

So far so good, but does that changed theme had any name, or was it just an untitled entry (just like in my case)? The problem only presents if the selected "Windows and buttons" dropdown-list item is unnamed.

[ghisler(Author)]

No, the name of some other theme was shown! First it was a custom theme which I had installed previously. When I removed that, the dialog showed the "Windows classic" theme as selected - but even when I clicked "Apply" then, the theme remained VistaXP...