[Mark]

For quite a while I have been getting this error message in my log files.

ERROR| DwmGetCompositionTimingInfo() failed: HRESULT: 0x80263001 ({Desktop composition is disabled}
The operation could not be completed because desktop composition is disabled).

I read what it is used for, not totally understanding it, but I'm wondering why eduke and mapster are checking for it. What is to be gained in either program if I enable it again?

[Danukem]

What version of Windows are you using?

I have no idea what is going on there, but when I googled "Desktop Composition" it appeared to be a setting in older versions of Windows.

[Mark]

Win7 64bit. IIRC I turned it off years ago when I went to a website that suggested services that could safely be disabled to streamline performance or remove unwanted features.

[Danukem]

Windows 7 isn't supported anymore so I think you are SOL if you continue to use it.

[oasiz]

You don't want to turn off the desktop composition, it's the HW accelerated desktop you got since Vista.
DWM = Aero / etc..

There is unfortunately a lot of misinformation going around but enabling GPU acceleration on the desktop is a good thing and speeds up your day to day operations.
Many see "added affects" == slower but that's not the case.
Instead it enables the tasking operations to be done by a device that's purpose fit to do those things, drawing/scaling/etc..
Why you get eye-candy is because it's practically free for a GPU to do vs. a CPU.

Of course if you're rocking an intel extreme GPU that has some "prices starting from" DX stack then yes, it will be slow.
Anything since 2010s, no questions asked.

[Mark]

Thanks for the answer. What about my other question. Is there anything to gain in mapster and eduke by enabling it again? I've had it disabled since almost day one of my OS install. I refreshed my memory about why I have it turned off. It gets turned off anyway when I chose classic mode for my GUI, which I insist on using, plus I never have enabled any of the fancy themes or graphical animations that windows provides. It also freed up more ram.

[oasiz]

No, it affects your window manager and not the game/content like that.
Since win8 it's been on by default and it's likely that some applications may expect it.
It should still not be mandatory.

[Mark]

Thanks. I'll continue to ignore the log error. I was curious after running thru some fixes for a project and seeing that again.

[Paul B]

oasiz, on 06 June 2023 - 11:05 AM, said:

You don't want to turn off the desktop composition, it's the HW accelerated desktop you got since Vista.
DWM = Aero / etc..

There is unfortunately a lot of misinformation going around but enabling GPU acceleration on the desktop is a good thing and speeds up your day to day operations.
Many see "added affects" == slower but that's not the case.
Instead it enables the tasking operations to be done by a device that's purpose fit to do those things, drawing/scaling/etc..
Why you get eye-candy is because it's practically free for a GPU to do vs. a CPU.

Of course if you're rocking an intel extreme GPU that has some "prices starting from" DX stack then yes, it will be slow.
Anything since 2010s, no questions asked.

This is true if you have the hardware to run it. I suspect his hardware to be as old as his OS.

[Mark]

Yep. Except for the video card the hardware is slightly older than Win 7, 2008. The comp had Vista on it and I upgraded to Win 7 around 2014-2015. I certainly don't ride the cutting edge.