Rainmeter 4.4

The following are the changes for the 4.4 beta version of Rainmeter. You can safely install the new 4.4 beta version right over top of your existing Rainmeter 4.3.1 or earlier installation, and nothing you have done will be lost or changed. There is never any need to uninstall earlier versions of Rainmeter to use the newest version.

Changes in Rainmeter Beta 4.4

Additional details on important changes during the beta cycle can be found at Change Announcements.

July 27, 2021 - Revision 3508

  • FixedInstaller: Fixed a problem with the installer detecting and using the correct value for /AUTOSTARTUP when it is not specified on the commmand line.

July 27, 2021 - Revision 3507

July 22, 2021 - Revision 3506

  • FixedInline: Corrected an issue with inline calls to Lua or plugins when a MeterStyle is used.

July 21, 2021 - Revision 3504

  • ChangedInstaller: Changed the silent installer so it can be run without Administrator privileges. A UAC confirmation prompt will be opened. To run entirely "silently", open the command window "As Administrator". Rainmeter will now restart after the installation is complete. See Silent Install for details.
  • ChangedLanguages: Updated localization strings for Spanish (Modern).

July 18, 2021 - Revision 3502

  • AddedInstaller: Added the ability to do a "Silent Install" of Rainmeter from the command line. See Silent Install for details.
  • ChangedLanguages: Updated localization strings for Hungarian and Portuguese (Brazil).

July 3, 2021 - Revision 3500

  • Fixed#CURRENTSECTION# variable: Additional correction to how #CURRENTSECTION# is parsed.
  • ChangedLanguages: Updated localization strings for Arabic, French, Chinese (Traditional) and Romanian.

June 29, 2021 - Revision 3493

  • FixedBangs: Corrected issues with parsing bangs defined as a variable.
  • FixedSettings: Fixed a bug where doing a Refresh All would duplicate the list of languages in the Settings dialog.

June 26, 2021 - Revision 3488

  • FixedBangs: Corrected an issue where a !Delay bang defined in a variable to be used within an action could cause any trailing bangs to execute before the delay.
  • ChangedLanguages: Updated localization strings for Ukranian, Korean, German, Danish, Chinese (Simplified) and Slovak.

June 20, 2021 - Revision 3473

  • ChangedSettings: Automated the process of restarting Rainmeter when the value of the checkbox "Use hardware acceleration" is changed.
  • ChangedLanguages: Added localization strings for the new Game Mode dialogs, the Rainmeter Safe Start dialogs, the Use Hardware Acceleration checkbox and one missing string from About/Skins. Updated Hebrew, Russian, Korean, Japanese and Italian.

May 24, 2021 - Revision 3452

  • FixedInputText plugin: Corrected an issue where the negative sign was not allowed when both InputNumber and DefaultValue options were set.
  • Fixed#CURRENTSECTION# variable: Improved the resolution of the #CURRENTSECTION# built-in variable when used in either Lua or Plugin inline section variables.
  • FixedShape meter: Fixed a bug with the Combine functionality when a shape is combined with a previously combined shape.

April 17, 2021 - Revision 3447

  • ChangedWiFiStatus plugin: Added 802.11ad and 802.11ax to supported PHY values.
  • FixedManage dialog: Corrected the Help buttons to direct to the appropriate Beta or Final version of the manual based on the version of Rainmeter being used.

April 10, 2021 - Revision 3445

  • ChangedGame mode: Major changes to the Game mode functionality. Details can be found at Game mode

March 13, 2021 - Revision 3438

  • ChangedAbout / Version: Minor cosmetic change to placement of information in the dialog.
  • FixedSkin Packager: Disable "Variables files" field if "Merge skins" is selected. They are mutually exclusive.
  • FixedSysInfo plugin: Corrected the detection of Windows Server 2019. This was also corrected in the About / Version dialog.
  • FixedInlineSetting: Fixed a clipping issue with the Shadow InlineSetting.
  • FixedInlineSetting: Corrected an issue with InlineSetting when the None value was used.

February 11, 2021 - Revision 3433

  • AddedRegistry measure: Added support for value type REG_BINARY for registry keys.
  • FixedBangs: Corrected improperly parsed bangs when a leading extra space was used following a !Delay bang.
  • FixedPing plugin: Fixed incorrect Round Trip Time (RTT) values for IPv6 destinations on systems without IPv6 support.
  • ChangedLanguages: Updated Portuguese (Portugal).

December 28, 2020 - Revision 3412

  • FixedInstaller: Corrected a problem that was appearing with recent Windows 10 Insider versions that caused the Rainmeter installer to incorrectly detect space available on the installation drive and refuse to install.

November 14, 2020 - Revision 3410

  • FixedImage meter: Fixed a long standing bug where dynamically changing an image from a valid file to a non-existent file would not reset the detected size of the meter. Also added an error in the log when this happens.

October 30, 2020 - Revision 3408

  • FixedProcess measure: Made some internal improvements to the Process measure to eliminate a background thread and improve efficiency.
  • FixedFileView plugin: Corrected an issue where embedded icons in .url internet shortcuts were not being detected properly.
  • FixedString meter: Fixed a bug where an Inline Setting of Shadow was not being handled correctly if the meter was in a Container.

August 25, 2020 - Revision 3404

  • FixedWebParser measure: Fixed a long-standing bug where numeric values of child measures were not reset to zero between updates, which could cause a value to stay when the remote resource changed from having a value to not having a value.

August 24, 2020 - Revision 3403

  • ChangedProcess measure: Changed the Process functionality from a plugin to an internal measure. This also corrects an issue with "timing" when instances of Process was used in multiple skins.
  • FixedInlineSetting: Corrected an issue where a dynamic change to the offsets or blur of InlineSetting=Shadow was not being applied.

August 19, 2020 - Revision 3401

  • ChangedEncodeURL: Changed the :EncodeURL section variable parameter to always encode any character not in the "unreserved" set allowed by URL's.
  • ChangedWebParser: Changed the URL option to automatically percent-encode any characters after the protocol://host/path/ portion of the URL that are not in the "unreserved" or "reserved" set allowed by URL's.

August 1, 2020 - Revision 3400

  • AddedWebParser: Added a new DecodeCodePoints option to WebParser child measures, to decode Unicode code point values in the source like \u00A7, which would be §. Codes from \u0000 to \uFFFF are supported.

July 28, 2020 - Revision 3399

  • ChangedNowPlaying: Changed the download of lyrics to use the UTF-8 codepage to support Unicode.

July 11, 2020 - Revision 3398

  • FixedRainmeter: Corrected a bug, introduced in r3373, that could cause a fatal memory leak over time.

July 3, 2020 - Revision 3397

  • AddedSysInfo plugin: Added new LAST_SLEEP_TIME and LAST_WAKE_TIME measurements to the SysInfoType option.
  • FixedSkin Packager: Corrected an issue with the Variables files functionality of the Skin Packager when an empty value was used for a variable.

June 24, 2020 - Revision 3382

  • FixedSkins: Fixed a rendering issue when loading skins on Windows 7.

June 24, 2020 - Revision 3380

  • ChangedBangs: Changed the !SetWindowPosition and !SetAnchor bangs to support (formulas) in the values.

June 23, 2020 - Revision 3373

  • AddedBangs: Added a new !SetWindowPosition bang to allow for dynamically setting the WindowX and WindowY position, and optionally AnchorX and AnchorY anchor settings for a skin window.
  • AddedBangs: Added a new !SetAnchor bang to allow for dynamically setting the AnchorX and AnchorY anchor settings for a skin window.

June 11, 2020 - Revision 3360

  • AddedRainmeter: You can now hold down CTRL while starting Rainmeter to load in Safe Start mode.
  • AddedWebParser: Added a Flags option to parent WebParser measures to enable setting some flags that change the behavior of WebParser when connecting to a remote resource. Details at Flags documentation.
  • ChangedFileview Plugin: Made some internal changes that should improve performance.

June 8, 2020 - Revision 3354

  • AddedAbout / Skins: You can now right-click and copy the name of a measure from the dialog.

June 8, 2020 - Revision 3353

  • AddedPing plugin: Added support for IPv6 addresses.

May 13, 2020 - Revision 3350

  • FixedInputText plugin: Fixed an issue with FocusDismiss=0 when the text box was active and the skin was unloaded.

April 23, 2020 - Revision 3349

  • FixedSkin Group: Fixed a bug that broke how "deselecting" worked with groups of skins selected on the screen.

April 17, 2020 - Revision 3348

  • FixedOnFocusAction: Fixed a bug where LeftMouseDownAction was not properly recognizing that focus was given to the skin.

April 10, 2020 - Revision 3346

  • FixedString: Corrected an issue with StringAlign when a string is dynamically updated.
  • FixedRainmeter: Fixed a longstanding bug where the inital values of the skin position variables #CURRENTCONFIGX# and #CURRENTCONGIFY# could be incorrect.

November 19, 2019 - Revision 3338

  • ChangedBangs: Added Span to the list of available Position parameter values for the !SetWallpaper bang. This is only supported with Windows 10, and will cause the wallpaper to be spanned across multiple monitors.
  • FixedBangs: Corrected an issue with the !EditSkin bang that would not support config names of one-character.

November 18, 2019 - Revision 3335

  • ChangedBangs: Changed !EditSkin so it will now allow the "config" parameter alone, which will edit the skin .ini file currently running in the defined config folder. Change provided by user Yamajac.

November 16, 2019 - Revision 3333

  • AddedDefault Settings: Added the ability to set default / starting values for the skin position and other options defined in the [ConfigName] sections in Rainmeter.ini. See Default Settings in the documentation for details.
  • FixedGame mode: Corrected an issue when a skin was loaded just prior to Game mode being turned on.

November 7, 2019 - Revision 3330

  • FixedAbout/Version: Additional correction to the determination of the locale language.

November 5, 2019 - Revision 3327

  • AddedGame mode: Added Game mode. This will allow you to minimize (really eliminate) all CPU, GPU, Disk and Network usage by Rainmeter while you are for instance playing a full-screen game.

    Game mode does the following:
    - Unloads all skins and dialogs
    - Prevents activating any skins and dialogs
    - Pauses any tray icon animations

    Game mode is toggled from the Rainmeter notification area icon right-click context menu.

    When Game mode is toggled on, the Rainmeter notification area context menu will be reduced to "Game mode", which will be checked, and "Exit".

    When Game mode is toggled back off, all previously running skins will be loaded.

    If Rainmeter is restarted, Game mode will be inactive. This is not in any way persistent.

    By design, this is a function that is entirely controlled by the "user" of Rainmeter, and cannot be activated with any bang or command by a skin "author".
  • FixedContainer: Fixed an issue with using the "R" relative positioning modifier on the first content meter. The first content meter in a container is required to be relative to the container itself. So for example, the first content meter in a container with X/Y=2R is invalid and will assume X/Y=2r instead.
  • FixedAbout/Version: Corrected an incorrect determination of the locale language in some cases.