This upcoming milestone represents a massive architectural overhaul of our desktop customization engine. We have completely rewritten core subsystems to cut idle resource usage, eliminate window layering conflicts, and introduce direct community integration.
In-App Marketplace: Browse, search, filter, and install community presets, taskbars, floating widgets, and live wallpapers with a single click.
Integrated Publisher: Package and upload .dlpreset, .dlbar, and .dlwidget bundles directly to the Steam Workshop with automatic metadata generation and tag indexing.
Isolated Headless VM: Live composite previews for complex presets without polluting active workspace memory.
Multi-Aspect Ratio Framing: Preview layouts dynamically on responsive frames covering 16:9, 16:10, 21:9 ultrawide, and 32:9 super ultrawide monitors.
Golden Ratio Focal Cropping: Intelligent 30% vertical anchor cropping ensuring wallpaper subjects and character faces remain perfectly framed on ultra-wide screens.
Shared Chromium Profile: Floating widgets and docks share a centralized WebView2 runtime pool, eliminating duplicate GPU and renderer processes.
Aggressive Memory Trimming: Reduces idle background RAM consumption by up to ~400 MB with strict V8 heap caps and automated idle working-set trimming.
Instant Teardown Engine: Automated snapshot and GIF generation with a 500 ms clean teardown pipeline.
Isolated Multi-Edge Z-Order Chains: Independent Win32 SetOwner hierarchy per screen edge eliminates window racing and prevents top taskbars from triggering bottom auto-hide docks.
Zero-Latency Hover Peek: Tighter hit-testing loops and Aero-Peek live DWM thumbnail previews with zero hover delay.
Core & Architecture:
Added shared WebView2-Dock runtime profile pool across floating layers.
Implemented Private Working Set metric matching Windows Task Manager.
Added LaunchGuard package validator to sanitize community scripts and paths.
Implemented WatchdogProcess lightweight crash recovery daemon to guarantee native shell taskbar restoration.
Display & Windowing:
Fixed dual-gap multi-panel freeze loops via isolated GWLP_HWNDPARENT chains.
Added responsive monitor bezel simulator (16:9 through 32:9).
Added top-weighted focal cropping (video-align-y: -0.35) for ultrawide video playback.
Zero-latency aero-peek hover thumbnail synchronization.
Workshop & Preset Tooling:
Native Steamworks.NET Workshop sync, subscription manager, and one-click unbundler.
Headless sandbox VM (VirtualDesktopVM) with 500 ms idle memory disposal and forced garbage collection.
Asynchronous background preset PNG snapshot and animated GIF exporter.
Semantic layout comparator (AreTaskbarLayoutsEquivalent) with DPI shift tolerance to eliminate false unsaved change prompts.
Customization & Typography:
Added CustomFontStore with virtual host injection for TTF and OTF files directly inside the visual canvas editor.
The update will roll out automatically on Steam once the build is published tomorrow. Stay tuned!