canadrian Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 Hey there guys, I'm at a bit of a loss with this one. I'm running Kalyway 10.5.1 update to 10.5.2, and all of a sudden my background windows (i.e. not whatever windows are in the foreground) have started turning transparent. Now I know this isn't normal OS X behaviour, so I'm thinking it's some 3rd-party app or tweak. I wouldn't mind - it looks kinda cool, especially with Wallsaver activated - except it makes it kinda hard to tell which windows are on top of others, and more importantly, I can't work on other things in my main display while VLC is playing video on the other (or for that matter, even another window in the same display). If I do that, suddenly VLC is translucent, I can see my desktop through it, and it looks like {censored}. Googling hasn't turned up much - just people complaining about OS X's translucent menu bar. Any ideas what might be causing this, and how I can turn it off? I don't even know where to start! Thanks in advance, Canadrian Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/118880-omgwtfbbq-translucent-windows/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
canadrian Posted August 3, 2008 Author Share Posted August 3, 2008 No one? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/118880-omgwtfbbq-translucent-windows/#findComment-843122 Share on other sites More sharing options...
sg Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 copy/paste whatever is in about this mac -> more info -> graphics. my guess is you have no hardware acceleration/drivers loaded. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/118880-omgwtfbbq-translucent-windows/#findComment-844253 Share on other sites More sharing options...
canadrian Posted August 4, 2008 Author Share Posted August 4, 2008 Definitely have hardware graphics acceleration. Here's the info: GeForce 7900 GS: Chipset Model: GeForce 7900 GS Type: Display Bus: PCIe PCIe Lane Width: x16 VRAM (Total): 256 MB Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de) Device ID: 0x0292 Revision ID: 0x00a1 ROM Revision: NVinject 0.1.5 Displays: AL1716: Resolution: 1280 x 1024 @ 75 Hz Depth: 32-bit Color Core Image: Hardware Accelerated Main Display: Yes Mirror: Off Online: Yes Quartz Extreme: Supported Rotation: Supported Display: Resolution: 1024 x 768 @ 85 Hz Depth: 32-bit Color Core Image: Hardware Accelerated Mirror: Off Online: Yes Quartz Extreme: Supported Rotation: Supported It's really weird, this only started about a week ago, and I've been running this machine for months. I'm clueless as to why this has started now... Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/118880-omgwtfbbq-translucent-windows/#findComment-844299 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzie's Soliloquy Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 Send a screenshot? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/118880-omgwtfbbq-translucent-windows/#findComment-844309 Share on other sites More sharing options...
canadrian Posted August 4, 2008 Author Share Posted August 4, 2008 Haha I was in the midst of setting up a screenshot. Oddly it's not consistent across apps either. Check out the screenshot of the Finder, Mail, and Firefox: Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/118880-omgwtfbbq-translucent-windows/#findComment-844317 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzie's Soliloquy Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 That looks remarkably like OS X is trying to do Exposé but without moving the windows, or finishing it off. Weird... An awesome effect but it must be annoying. Have you tried re-installing your graphics drivers? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/118880-omgwtfbbq-translucent-windows/#findComment-844320 Share on other sites More sharing options...
canadrian Posted August 4, 2008 Author Share Posted August 4, 2008 No... I originally just used the Nvidia drivers that came on my Kalyway install disc. I'm not even sure how I would go about reinstalling them. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/118880-omgwtfbbq-translucent-windows/#findComment-844324 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzie's Soliloquy Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 Google NVInject or NVInstaller if you're not too confident in your Kext installing Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/118880-omgwtfbbq-translucent-windows/#findComment-844326 Share on other sites More sharing options...
canadrian Posted August 4, 2008 Author Share Posted August 4, 2008 Can do. Figure a reinstall of the drivers would fix it? Any idea why this behaviour would have begun manifesting all of a sudden? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/118880-omgwtfbbq-translucent-windows/#findComment-844338 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzie's Soliloquy Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 I think it may, not for definite, but trying it can't do any harm so long as you pick the right ones. No idea as to why it started acting like that however, but did you install any updates or apps just before it? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/118880-omgwtfbbq-translucent-windows/#findComment-844340 Share on other sites More sharing options...
canadrian Posted August 4, 2008 Author Share Posted August 4, 2008 Don't think I did. Left town for the weekend and came back and it was doing this. About the only updates I would have installed would be Quicktime or iLife updates. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/118880-omgwtfbbq-translucent-windows/#findComment-844348 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzie's Soliloquy Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 Could be quicktime... Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/118880-omgwtfbbq-translucent-windows/#findComment-844358 Share on other sites More sharing options...
canadrian Posted August 11, 2008 Author Share Posted August 11, 2008 Ah, guess what: I was transferring some preference files to a second computer but I didn't want to copy ALL of them, so I sorted my preferences folder by date modified. Mysteriously, at the top of the list was one for something called "setalphavalue". A quick Google, and I found a piece of freeware that you install in your Input Managers folder and it it tells background windows of Cocoa apps to turn translucent. Lo and behold, there is was in my Input Managers folder. I have no idea how it got there, or why it started working all of a sudden, but when I removed it that solved the issue! Well, that's that sorted out. Thanks for trying to help out, everyone! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/118880-omgwtfbbq-translucent-windows/#findComment-852985 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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