Window

Minimize - Minimizes the currently running hooked program to the taskbar.

Restore - Restores a minimized hooked program back to a window.

Close - Closes the currently running hooked program.

Process

Pause - Tries to pause the program by lowering each thread priority to the minimum.

Resume - Restores thread priorities.

Kill - Kills the last process activated from the DxWnd interface. Very useful for getting rid of games that have gone crazy because of DxWnd and refuse to terminate themselves. (Shortcut key: Ctrl+Pause/Break)

Desktop > Taskbar

Hide - Hides the desktop taskbar while running a hooked application.

Show - Shows the desktop taskbar while running a hooked application.

Desktop > Color Depth

On recent platforms, low desktop color depths still work but are no longer supported. This menu lets you ask the system to set the current color depth to 8, 16, 24 or 32 bits per pixel. Some color/resolution combinations may not be supported.

Recover > Screen mode

Restores the video mode that DxWnd detected at startup. This is useful for recovering from game crashes or other conditions that can change the desktop resolution or color depth.

Recover > System colors

Recovers system colors: some (typically old) programs may try to set the system colors (i.e., colors for window titles, borders, background panels and so forth) to custom values by using the SetSysColor call. In case this action is not disabled by the LOCKSYSCOLORS flag or recovered at game termination, this menu command brings the system colors back to the values left when DxWnd was last started.

Recover > Gamma ramp

Recovers gamma ramp: some programs may alter the screen gamma ramp by using the GDI SetdeviceGammaRamp or D3D SetGammaRamp calls. In case this action is not disabled by the DISABLEGAMMARAMP flag, this menu command brings the gamma ramp curve back to the values left when DxWnd was last started.

Gamma control

See Gamma control.

Clear Compatibility flags

DxWnd sometimes works better if the operating system isn't attempting to run a game in any compatibility mode. This command deactivates all the compatibility modes by erasing the relevant registry keys.

Run "blacker"

The "Hide desktop background" flag creates a black window owned by the target program. This method sometimes fails when the new black window interferes with the other siblings. "blacker.exe" is an alternative method based on a separate process that creates black windows independent from the target program. It is more reliable, but requires to be manually turned on and off.

Export files > Associate

Associates the .dxw file extension to the DxWnd /L: command, so that double clicking on a .dxw file will import that file in the current configuration. Beware: This activity requires an update of the system registry, so some AV programs can identify this operation as viral code. In addition, the effect of this command is persistent until cleared with the "Disassociate export files" command.

Export files > Disassociate

Disassociates the .dxw file extension and clears the effect of the former associate command.

Import from log ...

It may happen that you get an interesting "dxwnd.log" file and you can't get the corresponding program configuration. This command analyzes the log file and adds to DxWnd a program configuration where all the flags are set accordingly to what was registered in the log file.

Note: The command works by reading the third line of the log file where all the flag values are dumped.

Identify monitors

This command shows the monitor identification number of each monitor for a little while in a multi-monitor configuration. The number is in bold black font and white background centered on each screen to ensure an optimal visibility.