Rainmeter Changelog

What's new in Rainmeter 4.5.18 Build 3727

Jul 31, 2023
  • Changed:
  • Game Mode: Show tray icon if all skins are unloaded.
  • Game Mode: Allow !Quit bang to work from the command line while in Game Mode.
  • Languages: Updated localization strings for Vietnamese, Swedish, Portuguese (Portugal), Estonian, Greek, Hungarian.
  • Inline lua: Increase stack size if needed.
  • Added:
  • Update Check: Added minimum Windows checking when updating, to prevent Rainmeter from downloading a new Rainmeter version that is incompatible with the users system.
  • Changed:
  • Mouse Actions: Fix skin meter MouseLeaveAction being delayed when skin is draggable and global dragging is disabled
  • Fixed:
  • Manage Dialog: Fix dialog global draggable checkbox not updating state when toggling via tray icon.
  • Changed:
  • Default illustro Suite: Update Network.ini. Code change provided by user nek7u.
  • Rainmeter: Fix cursor changing to a hand when a meter has a mouse wheel action. Code change provided by user Joehuu.
  • Rainmeter: Fixed an issue with OnWakeAction on systems that utilize Connected Standby.
  • Added:
  • WiFi Status: Added WiFiInfoType support for Wifi 7 (802.11be).
  • Fixed:
  • Skin Installer: Fixed an issue where 64-bit plugins were installed when a 32-bit version of Rainmeter was installed on 64-bit version of Windows.

New in Rainmeter 4.5.16 Build 3687 (Sep 21, 2022)

  • Rainmeter: Fixed some crashing issues caused by the 4.5.15 release.
  • FixedNowPlaying: Corrected a crash issue and a SetPosition issue.
  • ChangedLanguages: Updated localization strings for Ukrainian and Arabic.
  • ChangedPlugins: Only log the loading and unloading of plugins in Debug mode.

New in Rainmeter 4.5.15 Build 3678 (Sep 20, 2022)

  • WifiStatus: Corrected an issue with a missing .dll Windows file that could cause crashing on Windows Server systems.
  • ChangedMeasures: In debug mode, display a warning log message when the MinValue and MaxValue are the same or if MaxValue is less than MinValue.
  • FixedHistogram / Line meters: Corrected some issues with MinValue/MaxValue being properly applied to the meters.
  • AddedSysInfo: Added "SysInfoType=OS_PRODUCT_NAME". This retrieves "ProductName" from the registry from "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersion". Note that this entry is currently incorrect in all versions of Windows 11, and Rainmeter will correct for this and return the proper value.
  • ChangedPlatform detection: The "Version" value that is used for the About/Version dialog and the log has been changed to show the non-numerical "DisplayVersion" over the "ReleaseId" from the registry. (for instance: 21H2 rather than 2009). Also, added detection of "Windows Server 2022".
  • ChangedLanguages: Updated localization strings for Finnish, Portuguese (Brazil), Italian.

New in Rainmeter 4.5.13 Build 3632 (Mar 24, 2022)

  • Fixed:
  • About dialog / Plugins tab: Fix Unicode issue in the path when gathering plugin information.
  • Rainmeter: Stop Rainmeter from crashing with ALT+Enter "full screen" hotkey.
  • Changed:
  • Installer: Enable "Back" button on standard installation options page.
  • Context menus: Rearranged some skin context menu items for consistency.
  • Settings: Deprecated "HideOnMouseOver" and replaced with "OnHover" in Rainmeter.ini.
  • Languages: Updated localization strings for Serbian and Indonesian.

New in Rainmeter 4.5.12 Build 3616 (Mar 2, 2022)

  • Fixed Custom Plugin functions: Matching leading and trailing quotes (double and single) will now be stripped from each parameter before being sent to the plugin.
  • FixedInline Lua: Corrected a rare parsing issue when using the measure/meter GetOption.
  • AddedLua GetOption: The GetOption function for measure / meter objects will now accept an additional optional boolean parameter called bReplaceMeasures, that when false will not replace any section variables before retrieving that option.
  • ChangedInline Lua: Allow for parameter types true, false, and nil to be case-insensitive in the skin ini file (does not apply to the lua script).
  • AddedInline Lua: Added the parameter type nil.
  • FixedInline Lua: Numeric parameters starting with ( are now run through the Rainmeter math parser before being sent to the lua script.
  • ChangedVS2022: Updated the project to use the latest Visual Studio 2022 for development.
  • AddedMouseActionCursorName: Added various cursor options.
  • RemovedNowPlaying: Removed LyricWikia parsing from Lyrics option.

New in Rainmeter 4.5.11 Build 3607 (Feb 13, 2022)

  • Fixed:
  • Variables: Corrected some anomalies when parsing complex nested variables.
  • Added:
  • Built-in Variables: Added #CURRENTCONFIGZPOS# variable
  • Changed:
  • PLAY: When Rainmeter is exited, immediately stop all .wav file sounds currently being output with the PLAY / PLAYLOOP functionality.
  • Languages: Updated localization strings for Greek and German.

New in Rainmeter 4.5.10 Build 3597 (Feb 1, 2022)

  • Fixed:
  • NowPlaying: Fixed issue where 2 (or more) separate skins using the same player would not update properly when they were using DynamicVariables=1 on the measures.
  • Added:
  • Registry: Added OutputType and OutputDelimiter options to allow retrieving lists of subkeys or value names from a target key. See Alternate Behavior for details.

New in Rainmeter 4.5.9 Build 3592 (Jan 29, 2022)

  • Fixed Rainmeter: Fixes issue with certain builds of Windows 7 where the skin window would disappear when returning from the Windows "Switch user" screen
  • Fixed Context menu: Removed duplicate / redundant separator line in the context menu when no skins are loaded.
  • Added SysInfo: Added SysInfoType of USER_SID to return the security identifier associated with the active user account.
  • Changed Languages: Updated localization strings for Finnish.

New in Rainmeter 4.5.8 Build 3587 (Dec 30, 2021)

  • Fixed Registry: Corrected a problem when the registry returned a string longer than 4096 characters.
  • Fixed Installer: Fixed an issue when the user's locale language was not able to be detected, and Arabic was being selected by default.
  • Fixed Script: Improved error logging when an invalid Lua script is used in a disabled Script measure.
  • Added Skin/Meter: Added BevelColor and BevelColor2 to allow definition of colors when a bevel is set on the skin background or a meter.
  • Changed Languages: Updated localization strings for Swedish.

New in Rainmeter 4.5.7 Build 3581 (Dec 10, 2021)

  • Fixed:
  • WiFiStatus measure: Corrected an error condition when the winlanapi.dll file used by WiFiStatus is not installed in Windows, as with recent Windows Server versions.
  • NowPlaying: Corrected a range-check issue that allowed the volume value for the CAD plugin to all outside of 0-100.
  • Changed:
  • SysInfo measure: Take into account the connection/operational status for finding the "best" interface when specifying the name of the adapter. This will also correct an issue with duplicate interface "names" in Windows.

New in Rainmeter 4.5.6 Build 3573 (Nov 30, 2021)

  • Fixed:
  • SysInfo: Corrected an issue with the NUM_MONITORS value for SysInfoType.
  • Changed:
  • WiFiStatus: WiFiStatus was converted from a plugin to a measure.
  • Languages: Updated localization strings for Serbian (Latin and Cyrillic).
  • Added:
  • WiFiStatus: Added [Quality] values to information returned by WiFiListStyle when WiFiInfoType is set to List.
  • WiFiStatus: Added detection of WPA3-Enterprise and WPA3-Personal authentication methods.
  • WiFiStatus: Added detection of BIP and GCMP encryption methods.
  • WiFiStatus: Added WiFiInfoType of TXRATE to measure the theoretical maximum transmit speed in bits per second of the connection.
  • WiFiStatus: Added WiFiInfoType of RXRATE to measure the theoretical maximum receive speed in bits per second of the connection.

New in Rainmeter 4.5.5 Build 3565 (Nov 17, 2021)

  • Fixed NowPlaying: Corrected some issues with WinAmp and AIMPmedia players.
  • Changed Dialogs: When a Rainmeter dialog is moved to a second monitor, the Taskbar icon will follow to the correct monitor.
  • Changed Languages: Updated localization strings for Czech.
  • Added String meter: Added TrailingSpaces option. When set to 1, any Text option enclosed in "quotes" will display leading and trailing spaces.

New in Rainmeter 4.5.4 Build 3550 (Oct 4, 2021)

  • Fixed:
  • Auto Install: Corrected an issue with Auto Install with Windows 7.
  • Changed:
  • Auto Install: Improved error logging when there are problems with Auto Install.
  • Manage: Disable Active Skins pull-down when no configs/skins are loaded.

New in Rainmeter 4.5.3 Build 3546 (Sep 24, 2021)

  • FixedMeasures: Corrected potential errors in IfCondition and Formula when the name of a measure started with characters other than the ASCII alphanumeric a-z/A-Z/0-9. Measures names can now safely start with or contain any printable letter, number or non-math punctuation or symbol from the ASCII / Extended ASCII character set, and any Unicode "letter/word" character from any language.
  • ChangedNet measures: Changed the default value for the Interface option from "0" to "Best".
  • ChangedLanguages: Updated localization strings for Indonesian, Polish and Vietnamese.

New in Rainmeter 4.5.2 Build 3541 (Sep 12, 2021)

  • Fixed:
  • Section variables: Fixed an issue with the EscapeRegExp and EncodeUrl section variable measure parameters.

New in Rainmeter 4.5.1 Build 3538 (Sep 12, 2021)

  • Fixed:
  • ToolTip: Fixed a mouse detection issue with ToolTip inside a Container meter.
  • Fixed:
  • SysInfo: Fixed an inconsistency with how an empty string value is returned for SysInfoType=IP_ADDRESS.
  • Changed:
  • SysInfo: Corrected About/Version and SysInfo to properly see the right version on Windows 11.
  • Changed:
  • SysInfo: SysInfo is now a "measure" instead of a "plugin".
  • Added:
  • SysInfo: Added several new SysInfoType values:
  • ADAPTER_ALIAS
  • ADAPTER_GUID
  • ADAPTER_STATE
  • ADAPTER_STATUS
  • ADAPTER_TRANSMIT_SPEED
  • ADAPTER_RECEIVE_SPEED
  • GATEWAY_ADDRESS_V4
  • GATEWAY_ADDRESS_V6
  • INTERNET_CONNECTIVITY_V4
  • INTERNET_CONNECTIVITY_V6
  • LAN_CONNECTIVITY_V4
  • LAN_CONNECTIVITY_V6
  • MAC_ADDRESS

New in Rainmeter 4.5.0 Build 3518 (Aug 27, 2021)

  • Rainmeter: Added Auto Update to keep the version of Rainmeter current. See Auto Update documentation for details.
  • Added: Languages: Added localization strings for Norwegian.
  • Added: Languages: Added localization strings for Thai.
  • Changed: Languages: Updated localization strings for Turkish.

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3506 Beta (Jul 22, 2021)

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

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3504 Beta (Jul 21, 2021)

  • Installer:
  • 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.
  • Languages:
  • Updated localization strings for Spanish (Modern).

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3502 Beta (Jul 19, 2021)

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

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3500 Beta (Jul 3, 2021)

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

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3493 Beta (Jun 29, 2021)

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

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3488 Beta (Jun 27, 2021)

  • Fixed:
  • Bangs: 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.
  • Changed:
  • Languages: Updated localization strings for Ukranian, Korean, German, Danish, Chinese (Simplified) and Slovak.

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3473 Beta (Jun 21, 2021)

  • Changed:
  • Settings: Automated the process of restarting Rainmeter when the value of the checkbox "Use hardware acceleration" is changed.
  • Languages: 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.

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3452 Beta (May 24, 2021)

  • InputText 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.

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3447 Beta (Apr 18, 2021)

  • Changed: WiFiStatus plugin: Added 802.11ad and 802.11ax to supported PHY values.
  • Fixed: Manage 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.

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3438 Beta (Mar 13, 2021)

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

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3433 Beta (Feb 12, 2021)

  • Added:
  • Registry Measure: Added support for value type REG_BINARY for registry keys.
  • Fixed:
  • Bangs: 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.
  • Changed:
  • Languages: Updated Portuguese (Portugal).

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3412 Beta (Dec 28, 2020)

  • Fixed:
  • Installer: 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.

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3410 Beta (Nov 14, 2020)

  • Image 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.

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3408 Beta (Oct 31, 2020)

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

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3404 Beta (Aug 26, 2020)

  • Fixed
  • WebParser: 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.

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3403 Beta (Aug 24, 2020)

  • Process: 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.

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3401 Beta (Aug 20, 2020)

  • EncodeURL:
  • Changed the :EncodeURL section variable parameter to always encode any character not in the "unreserved" set allowed by URL's.
  • WebParser:
  • Changed the URL option to automatically percent-encode any characters after the URI, hostname, and any path, that are not in the "unreserved" or "reserved" set allowed by URL's.

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3399 Beta (Jul 28, 2020)

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

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3382 Beta (Jun 24, 2020)

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

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3380 Beta (Jun 24, 2020)

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

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3360 Beta (Jun 24, 2020)

  • 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.

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3360 Beta (Jun 11, 2020)

  • Added:
  • Rainmeter You can now hold down CTRL while starting Rainmeter to load in Safe Start mode.
  • WebParser 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.

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3354 Beta (Jun 8, 2020)

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

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3353 Beta (Jun 8, 2020)

  • AddedPing plugin: Added support for IPv6 addresses

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3350 Beta (May 13, 2020)

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

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3349 Beta (Apr 24, 2020)

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

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3348 Beta (Apr 17, 2020)

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

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3346 Beta (Apr 10, 2020)

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

New in Rainmeter 4.4.0 Build 3327 Beta (Nov 6, 2019)

  • Rainmeter: Added Game mode:
  • This will allow you to minimize (really eliminate) all CPU and GPU 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".
  • Container: 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.
  • About/Version: Corrected an incorrect determination of the locale language in some cases.

New in Rainmeter 4.3.1 Build 3321 (Sep 22, 2019)

  • Fixed:
  • SkinInstaller Fixed the Load Layout combo box in SkinInstaller.
  • Container: Fixed a Container issue with relative positioning.
  • WebParser: Fixed a WebParser issue when nested variables were used with a URL option.
  • Inline Lua: Corrected an issue when the Lua GetOption() function was used Inline in a Text option that had

New in Rainmeter 4.3 Build 3296 RC 2 (Mar 7, 2019)

  • Fixed:
  • Line meter: Corrected an incorrect offset which was making it appear that the first value in the progression was being skipped.

New in Rainmeter 4.3 Build 3295 RC (Mar 6, 2019)

  • About dialog: Corrected an inconsistency with how Measure and Variable values are "displayed " in the About/Skins dialog, and what is "copied" to the Windows clipboard when you use CTRL-C or right-click to copy string values. All string values will display up to 259 characters in the dialog window, being truncated and appended with "..." if longer. The full length of the value will always be copied to the clipboard.

New in Rainmeter 4.3 Build 3294 Beta (Feb 22, 2019)

  • Added: Section Variables: Added new [SomeMeter:XW] and [SomeMeter:YH] section variables to allow you to make a meter relative to the end of another meter without requiring X=([SomeMeter:X] + [SomeMeter:W]) as a formula.
  • Changed: Localization: Updated the Swedish language.
  • Fixed: AudioLevel plugin: Fixed an incompatibility with the Nahimic audio driver.
  • Fixed: NowPlaying: Corrected an old issue with the Lyrics PlayerType option.

New in Rainmeter 4.3 Build 3288 Beta (Feb 15, 2019)

  • Fixed:
  • Container: Corrected an issue with meter X and Y relativity ("r" and "R") where it was possible to make a container meter relative to its own content, which would crash Rainmeter. See Container documentation for a clarification of the simple rules for the functionality.

New in Rainmeter 4.3 Build 3277 Beta (Jan 19, 2019)

  • AccurateText: When AccurateText=1 and the size of a meter was used in a dynamic way in a formula, any fractional amount of size was being rounded down, or truncated. This has been changed so fractional amounts are rounded up to the nearest whole pixel.
  • FixedImageCrop: Corrected a bug that prevented ImageCrop from displaying properly in some cases.
  • FixedImageRotate: Corrected a bug that prevented ImageRotate from displaying properly in some cases.
  • FixedUseExifOrientation: Corrected a bug that prevented UseExifOrientation from displaying properly in some cases.

New in Rainmeter 4.3 Build 3273 Beta (Jan 4, 2019)

  • Fixed:
  • Shape meter: Corrected an issue where shapes that were rotated and then combined were not being rotated properly.

New in Rainmeter 4.3 Build 3271 Beta (Dec 20, 2018)

  • Fixed:
  • Container: Fixed a bug in r3270 that broke the Container meter functionality.

New in Rainmeter 4.3 Build 3266 Beta (Dec 3, 2018)

  • Container: Added a new Container option to all meter types. This will allow you to place the contents of a meter inside another meter, acting as both a "container" and a "mask". See the documentation for important details and a .rmskin with several examples.

New in Rainmeter 4.3 Build 3260 Beta (Oct 16, 2018)

  • AddedLine meter: Added a new TransformStroke option, which determines how the line (stroke) width is treated when TransformationMatrix is used on the meter.

New in Rainmeter 4.3 Build 3258 Beta (Oct 15, 2018)

  • Fixed:
  • Line meter: Additional fixes for the offset of a line meter.

New in Rainmeter 4.3 Build 3255 Beta (Oct 9, 2018)

  • Fixed:
  • Line meter: Corrected an issue where the offset of the line could be off by a few pixels.
  • Changed:
  • Localization: Updated the Bulgarian and Czech languages.

New in Rainmeter 4.3 Build 3253 Beta (Sep 28, 2018)

  • Fixed:
  • Manage dialog: Corrected an issue where information in the dialog was not properly updated when a layout is loaded.
  • Changed:
  • Rainmeter: Using the notification area tray icon will properly restore minimized Manage, About and New skin dialogs.

New in Rainmeter 4.3 Build 3250 Beta (Sep 26, 2018)

  • Direct2D and Hardware Acceleration: Rainmeter 4.3 has changed entirely from using an older GDI+ graphics engine in Windows to the more modern and capable Direct2D (known as D2D for short). Not only does D2D offer additional capabilities we will be taking advantage of in the near future, but it also allows us to optionally support hardware acceleration. (known as HWA for short) This means that some of the processing, and the memory used, can be offloaded from the CPU to the GPU, and things will be rendered or "draw" significantly faster.
  • As of the early 4.3 betas, hardware acceleration defaults to "off". This to help us to identify general issues that might come up with the conversion from GDI+ to D2D, and isolate any problems that are strictly related to hardware acceleration. Hardware acceleration can be turned "on" in the Settings dialog, and we recommend it. Future updates will change the default to "on" in Rainmeter.
  • Hardware acceleration and Intel HD integrated graphics: There is a known issue with certain Intel HD integrated graphics chips, often seen on laptop computers, and hardware acceleration. This is due to a bug in the drivers for these chips from Intel, and the problem can generally be solved by updating your system to the most recent version of the graphics drivers from Intel.
  • Reporting problems with Direct2D: For this beta, we would be very interested in anything you see that is "different" for you when using Rainmeter 4.3. Things that looked different in Rainmeter 4.2. The goal here is to first ensure that we fully protect backwards compatibility with existing skins in the change from GDI+ to D2D. Any skin you run in Rainmeter 4.2 should look and work exactly the same in Rainmeter 4.3. Please report these issue in this forum area: Rainmeter 4.3 Beta.

New in Rainmeter 4.2.0 Build r3110 RC2 (Jul 3, 2018)

  • Usage Monitor plugin: Additional error trapping and logging.

New in Rainmeter 4.1.0 Build 2989 / 4.2.0 Build r3108 RC1 (Jul 2, 2018)

  • Usage Monitor: Added some error trapping and logging to address rare cases where the perfomon data is not correctly returned for one update cycle, which could crash Rainmeter.
  • ChangedRainmeter: Added some error trapping and logging to address rare cases where the initial check for Rainmeter version updates when the computer is first started could crash Rainmeter if the computer's network configuration was not yet complete.

New in Rainmeter 4.2.0 Build r3104 Beta (Jun 24, 2018)

  • UsageMonitor plugin: Corrected a bug caused in r3101.

New in Rainmeter 4.2.0 Build r3101 Beta (Jun 23, 2018)

  • Fixed:
  • UsageMonitor plugin:
  • Fixed an issue where the plugin would fail when Windows is using the French language, due to a conflict bug in the counters stored in perfmon for this language. This should also address any other languages that may have a similar problem in the future.

New in Rainmeter 4.2.0 Beta r3064 (May 13, 2018)

  • Added:
  • Bangs: Added several new bangs to allow "disabling" and "enabling" mouse actions on meters or the skin background. Documentation at Mouse Action state bangs.
  • Changed:
  • About dialog: Changed the About / Version dialog to add the version number for Windows 10 (e.g. 1709, 1803) and the language and language code number currently being used in both Rainmeter and Windows. (e.g. English (1033)) Changed the references to the various paths and the Rainmeter.ini file to be clickable links.
  • UsageMonitor: Added Index=-1 to return the "average" of the instances of a counter, instead of the "sum total". The string value returned when this is used is now Average instead of Total.
  • UsageMonitor: Improved logging when Percent=1 is incorrectly used.
  • Fixed:
  • Mouse scroll actions: Fixed a bug where the detection of mouse scrolling would not be reset between two skins when the skins were "touching".
  • UsageMonitor: Corrected an issue where the string value returned by the measure would continue to update when Disabled or Paused was used on the measure.
  • UsageMonitor: Corrected an issue where a collision with the update of the plugin at the same time as the update of perfmon could cause incorrect values, or the string value not matching the number value.
  • UsageMonitor: Corrected a problem where floating point number imprecision could result in a percentage being higher than 100%.

New in Rainmeter 4.2.0 Beta r3048 (May 2, 2018)

  • Changed:
  • UsageMonitor: Blacklist and Whitelist have been changed to use the | (pipe) character as the separator, instead of , (comma).
  • ChangedUsageMonitor: Forced Alias=GPU and all measures where Percent=1 is used to set a MaxValue of 100 on the measure.
  • ChangedUsageMonitor: A problem with a particular counter in a category no longer will cause the entire category to fail to be read.
  • ChangedUsageMonitor: If Percent=1 is incorrectly used with an counter that has no _Total instance, the actual value will be returned instead of zero.
  • Fixed:
  • UsageMonitor: Corrected a possible crash with measures that had PID translation automatically turned on such as Alias=GPU.
  • FixedUsageMonitor: Corrected an issue with PIDToName when used with languages other than English.

New in Rainmeter 4.2.0 Beta r3043 (Apr 27, 2018)

  • AddedUsageMonitor: Added new UsageMonitor plugin to interact with the Windows Performance Monitor. This plugin will deprecate the existing AdvancedCPU and PerfMon plugins, and should be used in place of them going forward.

New in Rainmeter 4.2.0 Beta r3040 (Apr 19, 2018)

  • Languages: Updated the Malay, Chinese Simplified, and Japanese localizations.
  • ChangedRainmeter: Prevent a skin from updating as it is in the process of closing, which could potentially crash.
  • FixedSkin Installer: Corrected a design flaw where the skin installer could extract the wrong plugin .dll file(s) from a .rmskin when evaluating the version of a plugin.
  • FixedVariables: Corrected a bug when *escaping* nested variables.

New in Rainmeter 4.2.0 Beta r3018 (Dec 21, 2017)

  • CHANGED:
  • Rainmeter: The @VaultPlugins folder will now be automatically created if it does not exist when Rainmeter starts.
  • Rainmeter: The @VaultPlugins folder will no longer be scanned and treated as a normal skins folder in the config list in Manage.
  • Languages: Updated the Spanish Modern localizations.
  • FIXED:
  • AudioLevel Plugin: Corrected a bug that was not properly calculating a "device timeout" value.

New in Rainmeter 4.2.0 Beta r3011 (Dec 14, 2017)

  • Rainmeter: Added support for @Vault folder. See @Vault Folder for details.

New in Rainmeter 4.2.0 Beta r3004 (Dec 12, 2017)

  • AddedSysInfo: Added a new USER_LOGONTIME SysInfoType value to the SysInfo plugin. This is a timestamp number (number of seconds since January 1, 1601) reflecting the date and time the current user account logged onto Windows. Use with a Time measure to get a formatted string of the date/time, or subtract from the current time and use with an Uptime measure to get a formatted string of the elapsed time.
  • FixedNowPlaying: Improved CPU usage when using the latest versions of the iTunes player.

New in Rainmeter 4.2.0 Beta r3001 (Nov 20, 2017)

  • Changed:
  • Languages: Updated the Cyrillic Serbian, Latin Serbian, and Ukrainian localizations.
  • Fixed:
  • NowPlaying: Corrected some issues when using the latest versions of the iTunes player.
  • Rainmeter: Fixed an issue where an undefined variable used as a bang sequence in an action would create an endless loop and crash Rainmeter.
  • Lua scripting: Corrected an issue where an error in an external library loaded with dofile() could return the wrong file and line number in the error log.

New in Rainmeter 4.1.0 Build 2983 RC 3 (Nov 6, 2017)

  • FixedNowPlaying: Corrected an issue caused by recent versions of Apple iTunes. Fixed tested on versions 12.6 and 12.7.1 of iTunes.

New in Rainmeter 4.1.0 Build 2982 RC 2 (Nov 4, 2017)

  • ChangedTooltips: Tooltips on a skin or meter are not displayed when a context menu is open.
  • ChangedLanguages: The Settings panel of the Mangage dialog will now indicate if the local language being used in Rainmeter is incomplete or out of date. Click on the link to be taken to a page with instructions on how to help with your language.
  • ChangedLanguages: Updates to various localization translations. All help in getting these finalized before we release Rainmeter 4.1 is appreciated! See How to help localize Rainmeter for details.
  • FixedRainmeter: Corrected an issue caused by the new Fall Creators Update (1709) of Windows 10 which resulted in some improper skin redrawing when part of a skin was dragged above the top of the screen.
  • FixedActions: Corrected an issue caused in an earlier beta that created an error log message when a null action [] was used to capture a mouse click without doing anything.

New in Rainmeter 4.1.0 Build 2947 RC 1 (Oct 19, 2017)

  • Languages: Updates to various localization translations.

New in Rainmeter 4.1.0 Build 2944 Beta (Oct 13, 2017)

  • Changed Shape meter: Changed the order in which transforms are applied to the geometry when drawn. This corrects a potential issue when TransformationMatrix is used with a Shape meter.
  • Changed Manage dialog: When a skin is selected in the Skins list, the Enter key will toggle loading and unloading the skin.
  • Changed About dialog: Added a 'Range: Copy to clipboard' right-click context menu to the Skins panel. This will copy the MinValue - MaxValue range, using the raw numbers rather than the scaled and rounded numbers in the dialog.
  • Changed About dialog: Added a 'Copy to clipboard' right-click context menu to the Log panel.
  • Changed About dialog: Added several plugins that have been converted to measures to the Plugins tab to reduce confusion with missing .dll files.
  • Changed About dialog: Adjusted the column width on the Plugins tab to automatically fit the longest plugin name, and widened the overall size of the About dialog a bit.
  • Fixed RegExpSubstitute: Fixed a bug where an empty capture would skip following replacements and where an empty capture could create an endless loop.
  • Fixed Manage Dialog: Fixed an issue where when a skin is selected in the Skins list, double clicking on any navigation arrow would toggle the active state of the skin.

New in Rainmeter 4.1.0 Build 2922 Beta (Oct 5, 2017)

  • Fixed Rainmeter: Corrected a bug introduced in the r2876 beta version that caused a parsing issue when a measure value contained embedded quotes and was used in a bang as a section variable.
  • Fixed Lua scripting: Corrected a potential memory leak issue when GetOption was used in Lua to retrieve a meter option based on a MeterStyle.
  • Fixed Shape meter: Corrected a potential crash of Rainmeter if the Combine shape type was used without valid parameters.

New in Rainmeter 4.1.0 Build 2876 Beta (Sep 20, 2017)

  • Fixed Rainmeter: Corrected several issues with the new nested variables syntax.

New in Rainmeter 4.1.0 Build 2873 Beta (Sep 11, 2017)

  • Added Variables: Added Character Reference Variables to allow plain-text coding of Unicode characters and symbols, as well as icons from specialized fonts like FontAwesome. See Character Reference Variables for details.
  • Changed About Dialog: Major improvements to the Skins panel. Now shows both the "number" and "string" value of measures, and indicates when a measure is either disabled, paused, or both. See Skins Tab for details.
  • Changed PCRE: Added UCP support to the regular expression library, to enable X P p in expressions.
  • Changed Plugin API: Made some updates and corrections to the Rainmeter Plugin API. Plugin authors should re-base or download the current Rainmeter Plugin SDK.
  • Fixed NowPlaying: Corrected a long-standing problem with NowPlaying not reacting properly to changes in the state of "shuffle" and "repeat" in iTunes.

New in Rainmeter 4.1.0 Build 2858 Beta (Aug 25, 2017)

  • Fixed Lua Scripting: Corrected an issue where in some cases retrieving a variable with Inline Lua could crash Rainmeter.
  • Fixed Rainmeter: Corrected an issue where "escaped" nested variables were not being parsed correctly. The syntax for escaping a nested variable is [#*VarName*] and [&*MeasureName*]

New in Rainmeter 4.1.0 Build 2851 Beta (Aug 25, 2017)

  • Added Lua Scripting: Added inline Lua section variables, to support an inline return of a value from Lua with a function() call or by retrieving a variable. See Inline Lua for details.
  • Added Rainmeter: Added an alternative nesting variables syntax, to enable nesting variables, section variables, and mouse variables inside each other. See Nesting Variables for details.
  • Added Net measures: Added a new UseBits option to return the value of NetIn / NetOut / NetTotal measures in bits rather than the default bytes.
  • Changed AudioLevel: Increased the size of the buffer for DeviceList from 512 to 4096.
  • Changed Languages: Updated the ChineseTraditional language.
  • Fixed NowPlaying: Corrected an issue where Spotify was not always updating the State to Playing.

New in Rainmeter 4.1.0 Build 2838 Beta (Jul 30, 2017)

  • Changed:
  • Lua Scripting: Due to recent changes made in how each Lua script maintains its own distinct state in the Rainmeter environment, we have been able to add the debug, setfenv, getfenv and coroutine functionality back into the Lua package.
  • Fixed:
  • Skin Installer: Fixed an issue where in some cases .rmskin names or path names in the .rmskin or on the installing computer could cause the installation to fail with Unicode characters. This was due to a problem in an ancient ZIP library being used, and has been updated.

New in Rainmeter 4.1.0 Build 2824 Beta (Jul 10, 2017)

  • Added Rainmeter: Drag Groups can now be created by selecting skins while holding CTRL-ALT, and dragging one skin, or nudging with the arrow keys will move all selected skins. See Multiple Skins for details.
  • Fixed Formulas: Corrected a missing BitwiseXOR formula operator.

New in Rainmeter 4.1.0 Build 2822 Beta (Jul 3, 2017)

  • Fixed Languages: Corrected an encoding problem with the Russian language.

New in Rainmeter 4.1.0 Build 2821 Beta (Jun 29, 2017)

  • Added Bangs: New !EditSkin bang. Opens the current or a specified skin .ini file in the text editor defined in ConfigEditor in the Rainmeter settings, or associated with .ini files in Windows. The default will be Windows Notepad.exe.
  • Added Built-in variables: New #CONFIGEDITOR# variable. The path and executable for the text editor defined in ConfigEditor in Rainmeter settings, or the text editor associated with .ini files in Windows. The default will be Windows Notepad.exe.
  • Changed Rainmeter: When dragging skins, temporarily enable the 'Show window contents while dragging' system option if disabled in Windows, to allow skins to draw during dragging and use the snapping feature.

New in Rainmeter 4.1.0 Build 2815 Beta (Jun 24, 2017)

  • Changed NowPlaying: For Spotify, the artist and song text is obtained from the Windows titlebar of the Spotify application. Spotify used to prefix the text with "Spotify - ", but they don't anymore. The change to NowPlaying for Spotify fixes that. For iTunes, the change allows the album art to be retrieved for streaming songs as well as of local only songs.
  • Changed Languages: Updated Dutch, Russian and Swedish translations.
  • Fixed Shape meter: Corrected a bug introduced in a previous beta that broke some features of the stroke style, like StrokeLineJoin.

New in Rainmeter 4.1.0 Build 2807 Beta (Jun 7, 2017)

  • Fixed Shape meter: Corrected a bug introduced in r2806 that caused transform modifiers on Path shapes to be invalid.

New in Rainmeter 4.1.0 Build 2806 Beta (Jun 2, 2017)

  • Added Bangs: Added new !FadeDuration and !FadeDurationGroup bangs to set the FadeDuration in milliseconds when activating/deactivating a skin, using the fade-in / fade-out effects on mouse over, or when the fade bangs are used.
  • Changed NowPlaying: Changed the measure values for Progress and SetPosition to use floating point numbers instead of integers for increased accuracy.
  • Fixed Shape meter: Corrected a possible crash or unexpected behavior when Combined shapes were defined before their component shapes in the meter. The order of the options in the meter are now of no consequence, as it is with all other meter and measure options.

New in Rainmeter 4.1.0 Build 2793 Beta (May 10, 2017)

  • Added Formulas: Added new Deg math function to convert radians to degrees.
  • Fixed Shape meter: Fix invalid radial gradient on combined shapes.
  • Fixed Installer: Fixed Rainmeter installer to support Windows Server 2008 R2, which is functionally analogous to Windows 7.

New in Rainmeter 4.1.0 Build 2787 Beta (Apr 23, 2017)

  • Added String meter: Added new FontWeight option. This will effectively deprecate StringStyle.
  • Added Shape meter: Added Path1 alternative of the Path shape. It will use a different form of the SVG fill-rule when the shape is filled with a color or gradient. This determines what parts of a shape with intersecting segments are "inside" the shape and what are "outside", for purposes of filling the shape with the defined color or gradient. See Path1 shape for details.
  • Added CoreTemp plugin: The author of both the CoreTemp application and Rainmeter plugin, Arthur Liberman, added CPU core-specific values to the data available in the plugin. See CoreTemp plugin for details.
  • Changed Bitmap meter: Changed the allowable measure value when BitmapExtend=1 from a C-language int data type (2,147,483,647 maximum) to int64 (9,223,372,036,854,775,807 maximum).
  • Fixed Bangs: Fixed an issue when the config parameter of a bang contained a leading or trailing slash.
  • Fixed InputText plugin: Fixed a possible Rainmeter crash if an input box is open and the skin is deactivated.
  • Fixed Shape meter: Fixed a possible Rainmeter crash if the starting point of a Path shape was invalid.
  • Fixed Bitmap meter: Fixed an issue where BitmapExtend=1 would not increase the meters width and/or height, which would cause the meter to ignore DynamicWindowSize and draw outside its bounds and possibly truncate outside the skin window.
  • Fixed Bitmap meter: Fixed an issue where the Padding height values on the meter would be ignored in some situations.
  • Fixed InlineSetting: Corrected an issue where Rainmeter could crash in some cases when an initial empty string was received by a meter using InlineSetting.
  • Fixed Shape meter: Fixed an issue where certain gradients would not display correctly if there were multiple gradients in a shape meter.

New in Rainmeter 4.0.0 Build 2746 (Jan 2, 2017)

  • Changed Localization: Added new strings for various languages to support New Skin dialog.

New in Rainmeter 4.0.0 Build 2731 RC1 (Dec 19, 2016)

  • Added New Skin dialog:
  • This new dialog is opened with the Create new skin button in Manage, or by using the context menus on existing folders. This will allow you to add new root-level folders and skin file, or add folders or files to skins.

New in Rainmeter 4.0.0 Build 2722 Beta (Dec 5, 2016)

  • Added negative and fractional number support to InputNumber option in the InputText plugin.

New in Rainmeter 4.0.0 Build 2720 Beta (Nov 27, 2016)

  • Added some features to InputText plugin.
  • Add new "Create new skin" button to Manage.

New in Rainmeter 4.0.0 Build 2708 Beta (Nov 21, 2016)

  • Adds Path to Shape meter.
  • Makes Pixels Device Independent.
  • Moves anchor for Scale and Skew to center.

New in Rainmeter 4.0.0 Build 2690 Beta (Nov 14, 2016)

  • Added Shape meter: Added new Ellipse, Line, Arc and Curve shapes to the Shape meter.
  • Fixed String meter: Fixed a problem parsing the * (skip) parameter in the CharacterSpacing feature of InlineSetting.
  • Fixed Rainmeter: Corrected an issue parsing options that use the pipe | character as a separator, if they also contained a formula that used the || Logical OR operator.

New in Rainmeter 4.0.0 Build 2678 Beta (Nov 7, 2016)

  • Added Shape meter: Draws shapes using Vector graphics. Rectangle and Combine shapes, as well as all Attribute and Transform modifiers implemented in this first beta. See the documentation at: Shape Meter, and other details and examples at Change Announcements.
  • Changed String meter: Changed the number of degrees of angle in InlineSetting Gradients to allow fractional numbers. (e.g. 45.5).
  • Fixed About dialog: Corrected an issue where tabs were not being correctly displayed in the Log and Skins panels.
  • Fixed RunCommand plugin: Corrected a rare issue when the command is run by OnCloseAction, where Rainmeter would unexpectedly terminate and the command not execute.
  • Changed Language: Updated the Polish language.

New in Rainmeter 4.0.0 Build 2627 Beta (Sep 12, 2016)

  • Fixed Lua scripting: Corrected an issue in r2620 that could cause Lua to crash Rainmeter in rare cases.

New in Rainmeter 4.0.0 Build 2620 Beta (Sep 5, 2016)

  • Fixed Illustro skins: Changed the remote site used to get the user's WAN IP address in the Network.ini skin.
  • Changed Lua scripting: Corrected an issue where anything defined in the Initialize() function of a Lua script was treated as "global" across all skins using Lua, which could cause "bleeding" of defined variables between skins, or between script measures in a single skin. Each Lua measure will now run in an entirely separate local context.
  • Changed Lua scripting: The above change to the context of each Lua measure in a skin has allowed for the use of the Lua dofile function in your scripts. Some changes were made to the standard Lua dofile functionality to support Unicode characters in a file path, and to improve error logging.

New in Rainmeter 4.0.0 Build 2618 Beta (Jul 14, 2016)

  • Fixed String meter: Corrected an issue where the position of an inline Gradient could be incorrect when an inline Shadow was also used on the meter.

New in Rainmeter 4.0.0 Build 2617 Beta (Jul 13, 2016)

  • Added String meter: Added Shadow InlineSetting type to String meter Inline options. This will allow you to add a drop shadow to all or part of a string.

New in Rainmeter 4.0.0 Build 2613 Beta (Jun 2, 2016)

  • Fixed String meter: Corrected an issue where ClipString=1 was not working correctly if W (width) was defined without defining H (height).
  • Added WebParser: Added UserAgent option to allow setting a custom User Agent String on a WebParser parent measure.
  • Added WebParser: Added Header1, Header2, Header3... option to allow setting custom HTTP Header Fields on a WebParser parent measure.

New in Rainmeter 3.3.2 Build 2609 (May 16, 2016)

  • Fixed: Corrected an issue where the installer could fail with an Error 127 on Windows Vista.

New in Rainmeter 4.0.0 Build 2607 Beta (Mar 23, 2016)

  • Fixed Corrected a rare issue where skins might be loaded with only partial opacity when Windows is first started.
  • Changed The Rainmeter notification area icon is forced to be visible any time there are no skins loaded in Rainmeter. This will temporarily override any setting for "Show notification area icon" in Manage. This change is to eliminate the possibility that a user could turn off the tray icon and then unload all skins, thus no longer having any way to interact with Rainmeter.
  • Changed Language: Updates to Russian language.

New in Rainmeter 3.3.1 Build 2602 (Mar 19, 2016)

  • Fixed: Corrected an issue with the Insider Preview builds of Windows 10 that would not display the Rainmeter Notification Area / System Tray icon.

New in Rainmeter 4.0.0 Build 2601 Beta (Mar 18, 2016)

  • Fixed: Corrected an issue with the Insider Preview builds of Windows 10 that would not display the Rainmeter Notification Area / System Tray icon.
  • Fixed: String case: Corrected an issue with non-English characters in the string case functionality of both StringCase and InlineSetting=Case in String meters.

New in Rainmeter 4.0.0 Build 2599 Beta (Mar 18, 2016)

  • String case to one of Lower, Upper, Proper, or Sentence for all or part of the displayed text.
  • Changed Language: Updates to Chinese Traditional language.

New in Rainmeter 4.0.0 Build 2593 Beta (Mar 14, 2016)

  • Added SysInfo: Added DOMAINWORKGROUP SysInfoType value to the SysInfo plugin. This will return either the "domain" or "workgroup" set for the system.
  • Added WebParser: Added LogSubstringErrors parent measure option.

New in Rainmeter 4.0.0 Build 2589 Beta (Mar 8, 2016)

  • Added Bangs: Added AutoSelectScreen and AutoSelectScreenGroup bangs.

New in Rainmeter 4.0.0 Build 2587 Beta (Mar 8, 2016)

  • Removed Rainmeter: Removed support for Windows XP and Windows Vista.
  • Removed VirtualDesktops: The VirtualDesktops plugin has been removed from the distribution of Rainmeter. Details can be found at Change Announcements.
  • Added SysInfo: added a new ADAPTER_TYPE SysInfoType option for the SysInfo plugin. This will return the adapter type (Ethernet or Wireless) as both string and number values. Details can be found at Change Announcements.
  • Changed InlineSetting: Changed the default value for InlinePattern(N) to .* (the entire string) when the option is left off or set to "". This will allow you to set an InlineSetting on the entire string value without needing to define any matching InlinePattern. Details can be found at Change Announcements.
  • Fixed GradientColor: Corrected a bug that would not properly adjust a GradientColor InlineSetting when the width or height of the meter was changed but the string value was not.

New in Rainmeter 3.3.0 Build 2494 RC 2 (Dec 28, 2015)

  • Fixed Localization: Fixed an issue with the Russian langauge.

New in Rainmeter 3.3.0 Build 2464 Beta (Sep 27, 2015)

  • Changed SysInfo plugin: Added support for Windows 10 to SysInfoType=OS_VERSION.
  • Fixed Quote plugin: Corrected an issue where some Unicode characters in a text file read by the plugin could be mistaken for an end-of-file control character and truncate the returned string.

New in Rainmeter 3.3.0 Build 2461 Beta (Aug 17, 2015)

  • Added Skins: Added new SkinWidth and SkinHeight option to the [Rainmeter] section of a skin. This will constrain the skin to the dimensions defined, either the width, the height, or both. Any meter or part of a meter positioned outside the defined boundaries will be truncated. DynamicWindowSize will be ignored for the defined dimension(s), and meters that would normally display even "outside" the skin will be truncated by the "fixed" skin dimensions.
  • Fixed IfActions: Corrected an issue with IfMatch where doing a match on a measure that has returned no string value could crash Rainmeter.
  • Fixed Skin Installer: Corrected an issue with the comparison of plugin versions when multiple plugins were included in the .rmskin.
  • Fixed String meter: Corrected an issue with InlineSetting=GradientColor where the gradient did not properly react to relative positioning dynamically changing the meter position.

New in Rainmeter 3.3.0 Build 2457 Beta (Aug 12, 2015)

  • Fixed WebParser: Fixed a bug introduced in r2455 that caused grandparent > parent > child measures to fail RegExp.
  • Fixed String meter: Additional corrections to the Inline Options settings. Fixed an issue when Unicode characters were embedded in the string.

New in Rainmeter 3.3.0 Build 2438 Beta (Aug 7, 2015)

  • Changed Skin Installer: The Skin Installer application, used to install .rmskin files in Rainmeter, has been modified so it will by default not replace a newer version of an included 3rd-party plugin with an older version. This is based on the "File version" information in the compiled .dll file(s), and is to protect users from having an old plugin in a .rmskin replace a newer version.
  • It is very important that all 3rd-party plugin authors keep up-to-date with version information in their plugin releases. Going forward, if an author releases a new version of their plugin, but doesn't change the version number information in the .dll, it will not be installed by Rainmeter if the end-user already has the older version of the plugin.
  • Fixed String meter: Corrected an issue with the Inline Options GradientColor setting, that was causing incorrect percentage placement of the gradient in some cases.
  • Fixed Image meter: Corrected an issue where removing a MaskImageName with !SetOption was not possible.

New in Rainmeter 3.3.0 Build 2423 Beta (Jul 31, 2015)

  • Added String meter: Added new Inline Options features to the String meter. This will allow "inline" formatting of part or all of a string, and adds several new formatting options including a color gradient.
  • Added SysInfo plugin: Added SysInfoType=PAGESIZE to the SysInfo plugin.
  • Fixed Plugin API: Corrected a bug, introduced in r2416, which caused some threaded plugins to fail when sending a FinishAction to Rainmeter.

New in Rainmeter 3.3.0 Build 2416 Beta (Jun 1, 2015)

  • Fixed RegExpSubstitute: Corrected a bug, introduced in r2414, where comparisons with an empty string could fail.
  • Fixed Plugin API: Corrected a long-standing issue where a plugin could crash or hang Rainmeter if Refresh All or Unload Skin was done while the plugin was executing commands to the main Rainmeter process.

New in Rainmeter 3.3.0 Build 2414 Beta (May 25, 2015)

  • Fixed RegExpSubstitute: Fixed a problem where a (capture) that returned an empty string would cause Rainmeter to hang or crash. Care should still be taken when using * (zero or more) quantifiers or (?(?= (If/Then Lookaround) constructs in RegExpSubstitute, as any (capture) returning an empty string will cause the Substitute to fail.
  • Fixed Net measures: Improved the detection of "Best" and "named" Interface options on Windows XP.

New in Rainmeter 3.3.0 Build 2412 Beta (Apr 30, 2015)

  • Fixed Net measures: Corrected a bug when using Interface with a number, introduced in r2410. It is important that this new version be used in place of r2410.

New in Rainmeter 3.3.0 Build 2410 Beta (Apr 30, 2015)

  • Changed Net measures: Changed the values accepted for the Interface option to accept new values of "Best", which will automatically use the active network interface, or a string value of the name of the desired Network Interface Controller (NIC).
  • Changed SysInfo plugin: Changed the values accepted for the SysInfoData option with network related SysInfoType options to accept new values of "Best", which will automatically use the active network interface, or a string value of the name of the desired Network Interface Controller (NIC).
  • Changed About / Log: Changed the Time column in the About / Log panel to use the current time in Hours, Minutes, Seconds and Milliseconds rather than elapsed time since Rainmeter was started.

New in Rainmeter 3.3.0 Build 2402 Beta (Apr 6, 2015)

  • Added Loop: Added new Loop measure. This will create a looping counter between two numbers. The loop will start at StartValue, end at EndValue, increment by Increment, and will loop LoopCount (or endless) times. Details and examples can be found at Change Announcements.
  • Added NowPlaying: Added a value of Genre to the PlayerType option. This option value is currently supported with the AIMP, CAD, iTunes, WMP and WinAmp PlayerName values.

New in Rainmeter 3.2.1 Build 2386 (Mar 24, 2015)

  • Fixed QuotePlugin: Fixed a bug with the random number generation that could potentially crash Rainmeter.

New in Rainmeter 3.2.0 Build 2384 (Mar 23, 2015)

  • AudioLevel plugin:
  • Added a new AudioLevel plugin. This will allow for real-time VU-Meter and Spectrum Analyzer visualizations of sound output.
  • See AudioLevel plugin for full documentation and example skins.
  • Mask Image functionality:
  • Added the ability to mask an image inside the shape and size of another.
  • See Image - Mask Image for documentation, and Change Announcements for a full description and examples.
  • Formatted date / time options:
  • Added several new options to allow using a formatted date / time string in the TimeStamp option of a Time measure. This can for instance allow the measure to parse and use a date / time string which might come from an RSS feed or other WebParser measure.
  • Time Measure: TimeStampFormat to define a "mask" for the date / time string.
  • Time Measure: TimeStampLocale to define the input "language / locale" that the formatted date / time string is in.
  • Time Measure: FormatLocaleto define the output "language / locale" that the formatted date / time string will use.
  • Uptime Measure: SecondsValue to format some number of seconds as days/hours/minutes/seconds as desired.
  • Section Variables: :Timestamp to return the Window timestamp value of a Time measure.
  • Time Zones and Daylight Saving Time:
  • Added several new option values to the TimeStamp option of the Time measure, to return dates and times for the start and end of Daylight Saving Time.
  • Added several new option values to the SysInfoType option of the SysInfo plugin, to return Time Zone and Daylight Saving Time offset information.
  • Error actions for WebParser:
  • Added some new error actions to the WebParser plugin, to allow skins to take some action when several categories of error conditions happen.
  • OnConnectErrorAction to allow taking an action when a site or file resource cannot be connected to.
  • OnRegExpErrorAction to allow taking an action when parsing a site or file resource with RegExp (regular expression) fails.
  • OnDownloadErrorAction to WebParser measures to allow taking an action when a remote file defined by Download=1 fails to download or can't be saved locally.
  • Reset command, used with the !CommandMeasure bang, to reset all values in the WebParser parent and related child measures to their initial empty values.
  • Other enhancements and fixes in Rainmeter 3.2:
  • Added Favorites functionality to the Rainmeter and Skins context menus. Also added support for making a skin a "Favorite" in the Manage dialog. More details at Change Announcements.
  • Added a new DefaultUpdateDivider option to the [Rainmeter] section of skins.
  • Added Atan2 - Atan2(y, x) math function to formulas.
  • Added Min(x, y), Max(x, y) and Clamp(x, low, high) math functions to formulas.
  • Added the value ~100 to both Manage and the skin context menus to support setting the transparency of a skin to an opacity of 1, which is invisible but will still react to the mouse. This can be used in conjunction with the fade in / fade out / on hover capabilities.
  • Added a new PathToFile value for the FileView plugin Type child measure option. This will return just the path the file, including a trailing "\".
  • Added support for the 802.11ac protocol to the WifiStatus plugin.
  • Moved the Open folder and Disable dragging options to the top of the Skins context menu for easier access.
  • Fixed: A running Time measure will now automatically update for a change in Daylight Savings Time without requiring a skin refresh.
  • Fixed: Corrected an issue where the #SCREENAREAWIDTH# / #SCREENAREAHEIGHT# built-in variables would not initially detect the monitor the skin was loaded on until a refresh.
  • Fixed: Corrected an issue where the list of Layouts in Manage / Layouts could be off by one if the @Backup Layout was missing.
  • Fixed: Corrected a Power plugin STATUS issue when the battery level is higher than "low", but not currently charging.

New in Rainmeter 3.2.0 Rev 2380 Beta (Mar 9, 2015)

  • Fixed AudioLevel: Fixed a long-standing bug where stopping music or other sounds or exiting an application playing music or other sounds could cause the plugin just keep the last values it received. This resulted in a freezing of meter displays and on some systems a buzzing sound being produced for some number of milliseconds.

New in Rainmeter 3.2.0 Rev 2379 Beta (Mar 4, 2015)

  • Fixed Rainmeter: Fixed a bug introduced in r2378 that would crash Rainmeter if a malformed option, with a trailing comma, i.e. FontColor=255,255,255, was used.

New in Rainmeter 3.2.0 Rev 2378 Beta (Mar 3, 2015)

  • Added WebParser: Added new OnConnectErrorAction to WebParser parent measures to allow taking an action when a site or file resource cannot be connected to.
  • Added WebParser: Added new OnRegExpErrorAction to WebParser parent measures to allow taking an action when parsing a site or file resource with RegExp (regular expression) fails.
  • Changed WebParser: Changed FinishAction to not be executed when parsing a site or file resource with RegExp (regular expression) fails AND an OnRegExpErrorAction is defined on the measure.
  • Added WebParser: Added a new Reset command, used with the !CommandMeasure bang, to reset all values in the WebParser parent and related child measures to their initial empty values.
  • Fixed Math: Corrected a problem when a comma-separated, multi-argument math function was used in a formula in a comma-separated, multi-argument option. For instance using Clamp(x,low,high) in the arguments for FontColor=rrr,ggg,bbb,aaa.
  • Fixed Skin Installer: Changed the Skin Packager to only allow inclusion of a valid 400x60 .bmp file as a custom header in a .rmskin. Improperly sized custom images were causing visual problems in the Skin Installer user interface.

New in Rainmeter 3.2.0 Rev 2373 Beta (Feb 23, 2015)

  • Changed Time: Added a Local value to the FormatLocale option, e.g. FormatLocale=Local. This will cause the output format of the measure to automatically use the date / time "locale" language and format set in Windows for the machine the skin is running on, rather than defaulting to a standard platform-agnostic "English" representation.
  • Fixed Time: Accounted for some minor bugs in Microsoft's implementation of the code to read and parse the TimeStampFormat option.

New in Rainmeter 3.2.0 Rev 2371 Beta (Feb 19, 2015)

  • Changed Time: Changed the TimeStamp option to allow a formatted date / time string as input.
  • Added Time: Added new TimeStampFormat and TimeStampLocale options to support the changes to TimeStamp above.
  • Added Time: Added new FormatLocale option to support formatting a Time measure in any defined language / locale.
  • Added UpTime: Added a new SecondsValue option to allow formatting any defined number of seconds into "days, hours, minutes, seconds" as desired. This will override the default behavior of the UpTime measure.
  • Added Section Variables: Added a new :Timestamp section variable measure modifier. This will return the Windows timestamp value of the named Time measure, and overcomes a limitation with getting and using this number when a Time measure has a Format option.
  • All of the above additions and changes are related to new functionality for getting and using date / time information in skins. As well as support for Language / Locale values in Time measures.

New in Rainmeter 3.2.0 Rev 2360 Beta (Feb 10, 2015)

  • Added Time: Added several TimeStamp options to obtain Daylight Savings Time information for the local computer.
  • Added SysInfo plugin: Added several SysInfoType option values to obtain Time Zone and Daylight Savings Time information for the local computer.

New in Rainmeter 3.2.0 Rev 2357 Beta (Feb 2, 2015)

  • Added Formulas: Added Atan2 - Atan2(y, x) math function. Returns the radians of arc tangent between points Y and X in the Cartesian plane. The sign of the elements determines the quadrant.
  • Code for addition
  • Added FileView: Added a new PathToFile value for the Type child measure option. This will return just the path the file, including a trailing "\".

New in Rainmeter 3.2.0 Rev 2355 Beta (Jan 27, 2015)

  • Fixed Context Menu: Corrected some functionality bugs introduced in r2353 with the display and sorting of items on the context menus.

New in Rainmeter 3.2.0 Rev 2353 Beta (Jan 26, 2015)

  • Added Context Menu: Added Favorites functionality to the Rainmeter and Skins context menus. Also added support for making a skin a "Favorite" in the Manage dialog. More details at Change Announcements.
  • Added WifiStatus: Added support for the 802.11ac protocol.
  • Changed Context Menu: Moved "Open folder" and "Disable dragging" options to the top of the Skins context menu for easier access.
  • Fixed Regular Expressions: Fixed a recursion bug in the PCRE regular expression library that could cause a crash of Rainmeter in rare cases.
  • Changed Time: A running time measure will now automatically update for a change in Daylight Savings Time without requiring a skin refresh.

New in Rainmeter 3.2.0 Rev 2326 Beta (Sep 18, 2014)

  • Fixed Corrected a bug introduced in r2325 that would cause external applications like AutoIt to be unable to identify and send messages to the Rainmeter window handle.

New in Rainmeter 3.2.0 Rev 2325 Beta (Sep 17, 2014)

  • Added Skins: Added a new DefaultUpdateDivider option to the [Rainmeter] section of skins.

New in Rainmeter 3.2.0 Rev 2318 Beta (Sep 11, 2014)

  • Fixed AudioLevel plugin: Added error trapping when the AudioLevel plugin is used on the unsupported Windows XP operating system.

New in Rainmeter 3.2.0 Rev 2317 Beta (Sep 11, 2014)

  • Added Plugins: Added new AudioLevel plugin by author dgrace to the Rainmeter build. This will allow for real-time VU-Meter and Spectrum Analyzer visualizations of sound output. See AudioLevel plugin for full documentation and example skins.
  • Fixed AudioLevel plugin: Fixed an issue with the Format child measure option that was not returning a Unicode string value.

New in Rainmeter 3.2.0 Rev 2313 Beta (Sep 11, 2014)

  • Added Formulas: Added new Min(x, y), Max(x, y) and Clamp(x, low, high) functions to formulas.
  • Min(x, y) - Minimum of x and y.
  • Max(x, y) - Maximum of x and y.
  • Clamp(x, low, high) - Restricts value x to low and high limits.
  • Code for additions submitted by user dcgrace.
  • Fixed Formulas: Corrected an error when a negative number was used in combination with the Random function.

New in Rainmeter 3.2.0 Rev 2311 Beta (Aug 27, 2014)

  • Changed Image: Due to possible conflicts, removed support for ImagePath from MaskImageName functionality. MaskImagePath should be used to define a shared location for mask images, or simply use a full or relative path as part of MaskImageName. ImagePath should only be used to define a location for an Image meter's primary image.

New in Rainmeter 3.2.0 Rev 2308 Beta (Aug 27, 2014)

  • Added Image: New Mask Image functionality added. See Image - Mask Image for documentation, and Change Announcements for more details
  • Changed Rainmeter: Updated Metadata and removed AppVersion from default illustro skins
  • Changed About: Prevent invalid plugins from showing up on Plugins tab in Manage

New in Rainmeter 3.2.0 Rev 2302 Beta (Jul 16, 2014)

  • Fixed Rainmeter: Corrected an issue where the #SCREENAREAWIDTH# / #SCREENAREAHEIGHT# built-in variables would not initially detect the monitor the skin was loaded on until a refresh
  • Fixed Layouts: Corrected an issue where the list of Layouts in Manage / Layouts could be off by one if the @Backup Layout was missing
  • Fixed Power plugin: Corrected a STATUS issue when the battery level is higher than "low", but not currently charging
  • Changed Language: Updates to Russian language

New in Rainmeter 3.1.0 Rev 2290 (May 26, 2014)

  • Fixed WebParser: Corrected a measure name case sensitivity issue
  • Fixed NowPlaying: Corrected a measure name case sensitivity issue

New in Rainmeter 3.1.0 Rev 2286 Beta (Apr 7, 2014)

  • Added NowPlaying: User Ivan Yu added Taglib files for MP4 support.

New in Rainmeter 3.1.0 Rev 2282 Beta (Feb 24, 2014)

  • Added SysInfo: Added new IDLE_TIME SysInfoType option. This will return the number of seconds since the last user input (mouse or keyboard) to the operating system.

New in Rainmeter 3.1.0 Rev 2280 Beta (Feb 17, 2014)

  • Changed Added the Windows version and bit architecture to the About / Version dialog.
  • Fixed Corrected that separators were not displayed with the !SkinCustomMenu bang.

New in Rainmeter 3.1.0 Rev 2269 Beta (Feb 17, 2014)

  • Added FileView: Added support for opening the Windows properties or context menu dialogs for file or folder objects. Details at Change Announcements.
  • Added Rainmeter: Added !SkinCustomMenu bang to display only user-defined context menu items instead of the normal skin context menu.

New in Rainmeter 3.1.0 Rev 2255 Beta (Jan 6, 2014)

  • Added Measures: New String measure type, used to create and manipulate string values.
  • Added Measures: New IfMatchAction options for taking actions based on a regular expression comparison with the measure's string value. See Change Announcements for details and examples.
  • Added Section Variables: New :EscapeRegExp measure section variable parameter. This will return the string value of the measure with all regular expression reserved characters escaped.
  • Added Section Variables: New :EncodeURL measure section variable parameter. This will return the string value of the measure as a URL-encoded string.
  • Fixed WebParser: A problem in some cases with properly handling [&MeasureName] variables on the URL option.
  • Changed Calc: Due to possible impacts on system resources, UniqueRandom now has a limit of 65535, defined by the difference between LowBound and HighBound.

New in Rainmeter 3.1.0 Rev 2218 Beta (Dec 27, 2013)

  • Fixed Corrected an issue with the AdvancedCPU and Perfmon plugins and 32bit Rainmeter, caused in an earlier beta.

New in Rainmeter 3.1 Rev 2211 Beta (Dec 23, 2013)

  • Fixed Corrected a bug with the Round math function, caused in an earlier beta.
  • Changed Language: Updates to localization language strings.

New in Rainmeter 3.1 Rev 2209 Beta (Dec 23, 2013)

  • Added SysInfo: New LAN_CONNECTIVITY and INTERNET_CONNECTIVITY SysInfoType options. Measure will return "1" on success and "-1" on failure.
  • Fixed Calc: Fixed repeating log error message when Random function HighBound is smaller than LowBound.
  • Changed Tooltip: ToolTipIcon option now allows a relative path to the image.
  • Changed Language: Updates to localization language strings.

New in Rainmeter 3.1 Rev 2187 Beta (Nov 11, 2013)

  • Added Measures: New IfConditions functionality added. This is a powerful extension to the concepts provided in IfActions, allowing multiple tests and actions, both "true" and "false" testing, and the ability to use logical AND and OR operators in the conditions.

New in Rainmeter 3.0.2 Rev 2161 (Oct 30, 2013)

  • Rainmeter: Fixed an issue where skins would "flicker" when refreshed.

New in Rainmeter 3.0.1 Rev 2151 (Oct 21, 2013)

  • Direct2D: Fixed crash of Rainmeter in D2D when String meters had a negative width or height.
  • Rainmeter: Fixed an AnchorX/Y issue caused by a change to support D2D.
  • SkinInstaller/SkinPackager: Support Unicode characters in skin paths when creating or installing .rmskin files.
  • Installer: Fixed that the illustro default layout was not loaded when Rainmeter was installed in portable mode.
  • Language: Updated Hungarian and Romanian languages..
  • NowPlaying: Clear details when track ends with iTunes.
  • Installer: Reset to English instead of Arabic when a user's system has an unrecognized language code in Windows.
  • Installer: Removed 64-bit install checkbox for standard installs on 32-bit systems.
  • Rainmeter: Updated project files to support Windows 8.1.
  • Installer: Removed the need to support / install older versions of .NET and C++ runtimes.
  • Installer: Embed msvcr110.dll and msvcp110.dll C++ 2012 runtime libraries, so if they are not currently installed on the user's system, Rainmeter will not need to try to download and install them.

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 2116 (Oct 14, 2013)

  • There are a lot of new features and capabilities in the latest Rainmeter. You can safely install the new release version right over your existing Rainmeter installation, and nothing you have done will be lost or changed. There is never any need to uninstall any earlier version of Rainmeter to use the newest version.
  • Improved font rendering:
  • The biggest single change in Rainmeter is that we have moved from the older GDI+ display rendering method for applications to the newer and vastly better Direct2D rendering engine. As a part of a bigger effort to move all of Rainmeter to the new engine, the initial change concentrates on improving the quality of text displayed in String meters.
  • There will be a dramatic improvement in the quality of text you display in your skins.
  • Rainmeter will use the new Direct2D rendering by default if your system supports it. If not, it will fall back to the older GDI+ engine, and there will be no impact. Direct2D requires either Windows 8, or Windows 7 with the latest Platform Update.
  • The Rainmeter user is given complete control over when Direct2D is used and when it is not. The overall default use of Direct2D for your entire Rainmeter installation is controlled with the UseD2D option in the Manage / Settings Tab. In addition, the user can have individual skins override this setting by changing the UseD2D option in the skin context menu.
  • There may be some minor differences when Direct2D is used with older Rainmeter skins, due to differences in the way Direct2D and GDI+ handle font metrics and create the "container" the meter is displayed in. It is possible that some older skins, particularly those using 3rd-party custom fonts, may need some tweaking for position with Direct2D.
  • Other enhancements in Rainmeter:
  • The WebParser plugin now supports Dynamic Variables. This is a long-awaited and very welcome change to the way WebParser works, and should provide a lot of flexibility in creating skins that access the web. See Change Announcements for additional information about this change.
  • Added support for Unicode characters in Lua scripting. This means that you can use languages and alphabets in Lua other than those supported by standard "ANSI" in your text editor.
  • Added a Padding=left,top,right,bottom option to meters. Allows adding pixels around any or all sides a meter. The width and height of the meter will dynamically be adjusted to the new size. This can be very useful for positioning meters relative to each other with more flexibility, and when used with the SolidColor meter option, can give you a lot of control over the "background" of your meters, without having to create additional meters specifically for this purpose.
  • Added a AccurateText option in the [Rainmeter] section of skins. One of the failings of the older GDI+ rendering engine was some forced and undesirable extra padding around fonts when rendered in String meters. Whether your system or skin uses Direct2D or not, this option can be used to render fonts with the much more accurate method used in Direct2D. This option defaults to 0, which will use the GDI+ positioning of the string within all meters. When set to 1, the more accurate method will be used, giving you much better flexibility with relative positioning.
  • Added a new UniqueRandom option. If set to 1, any Calc measure using the Random constant and UpdateRandom will not repeat until all values between and including LowBound and HighBound have been used. Note that any dynamic change to LowBound or HighBound will reset the tracking of values.
  • Added !PauseMeasure, !UnpauseMeasure, and !TogglePauseMeasure bangs. This is similar to a disabled measure, however the measure retains its current value instead of changing to zero. Group versions of these bangs have also been added.
  • dded a Paused=0/1 option to measures. This allows setting the "paused" state of a measure, in addition to the !PauseMeasure/!UnpauseMeasure/!TogglePauseMeasure bangs above.
  • Added a OnWakeAction option to the [Rainmeter] section of skins, to take action when Windows returns from sleep or hibernate states.
  • Important improvements made to the Process plugin to correct issues with the plugin not being able to detect processes started with a higher security level than Rainmeter, 64bit processes when Rainmeter is 32bit, and processes run as a Windows "service".
  • Added a OnDismissAction option to the InputText plugin. This will allow you to define an action to be taken when you hit escape to dismiss the input text field without submitting any value.
  • Added a ImagePath option to General Image Options. This replaces the existing Path option on Image meters, and extends the functionality to all other meters that support images. Note that Histogram uses PrimaryImagePath, SecondaryImagePath and BothImagePath due to the fact that the Histogram meter has an optional secondary measure binding.
  • Added a UseExifOrientation option for meters using images, to automatically correct the orientation of the image based on the EXIF data encoded by a camera.
  • Added new "Config" and "File" parameters to the !Manage bang. This will allow opening the Manage / Skins panel with the desired config and / or skin .ini file automatically selected in the list.
  • Added a new #ROOTCONFIG# built-in variable. This provides the name of the root config - The highest-level folder under the skins folder for the current skin.
  • Made improvements to the About / Log dialog to better show the source of errors. Where possible, the config or skin.ini, and meter or measure section producing the error will be displayed. In addition, improvements have been made to to the level of detail in the Rainmeter log when there are command or bang errors, and added a "Clear" button to the panel to remove the current contents of the log displayed in the panel.
  • Improved performance when using the !SetWallpaper bang with large images.
  • Changed the mouse over behavior on Button meter images, to ignore transparent areas of the image. This make the behavior visibly match the existing mouse click behavior.

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 2106 Beta (Oct 7, 2013)

  • Changed Direct2D (UseD2D) rendering is now used by default if the system supports it

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 2097 Beta (Sep 30, 2013)

  • [Changed] Due to some Direct2D issues with image quality when an image meter is "resized" in Rainmeter with W and H, all image rendering is changed to use the GDI+ engine while a more permanent solution is found.

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 2094 Beta (Sep 23, 2013)

  • [Fixed] Lua Scripting: Fixed a problem with a defined "default" value not working with SKIN:GetVariable() and meter:GetOption().

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 2090 Beta (Sep 17, 2013)

  • [Added] Variables: New #ROOTCONFIG# built-in variable. Name of root config - Highest-level folder under the skins folder for the current skin
  • [Fixed] Bangs: Fixed a bug where the !Manage bang would not function without any parameter. "Skins" is the default parameter
  • [Fixed] Meters: Fixed a bug where in some cases the width and height of a meter was not dynamically changing correctly when the Padding option was used

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 2085 Beta (Aug 27, 2013)

  • [Added] About: Added a "Clear" button to the About / Log panel to remove the current contents of the log displayed in the panel.
  • [Changed] Bangs: Added "Config" and "File" parameters to the !Manage bang. This will allow opening the Manage / Skin panel with the desired config and / or skin .ini file automatically selected in the list.

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 2081 Beta (Aug 21, 2013)

  • [Added] Calc: Added a new UniqueRandom option. If set to 1, any Calc measure using the random constant and UpdateRandom will not repeat until all values between and including LowBound and HighBound have been used. Note that any dynamic change to LowBound or HighBound will reset the tracking of values.

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 2076 Beta (Aug 13, 2013)

  • [Changed] Script: We have now added support for Unicode characters in Lua scripting.
  • [Changed] Direct2D: There have been many fixes and improvements for compatibility with the new UseD2D / Direct2D functionality and older skins

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 2050 Beta (Aug 5, 2013)

  • [Fixed] Rainmeter: Fixed an issue with Direct2D where a string meter with an empty string would still have a width and height.
  • [Fixed] About: Fixed a bug in the Log panel that could cause problems with the "Source" column.

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 2047 Beta (Aug 5, 2013)

  • [Changed] WebParser: WebParser now supports Dynamic Variables. See Change Announcements for important details.
  • [Changed] Rainmeter: Important improvements made to the D2D (Direct2D) rendering option for Rainmeter. See Change Announcements for important details.
  • [Added] Manage Dialog: Added "UseD2D" option in the Manage / Settings Tab. If checked, all skins are refreshed using D2D (Direct2D) rendering. The option is disabled on systems that do not support D2D. Windows 7 with the latest Platform Update or Windows 8 is required.
  • [Added] Rainmeter: Added AccurateText option in the [Rainmeter] section of skins. When AccurateText=0 (default) and UseD2D=0, inaccurate GDI+ measuring of text is used. When AccurateText=1 and UseD2D=0, Accurate measuring occurs similar to D2D. When AccurateText=0 and UseD2D=1, D2D adds padding to the text similar to GDI+. When AccurateText=1 and UseD2D=1, Accurate measuring occurs using D2D.

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 2022 Beta (Jul 22, 2013)

  • [Removed] String meter: Due to problems and inconsistent behavior, removed the ability to include trailing spaces on the Text option that was added in previous betas. See the new Padding option for an alternative solution.
  • [Added] Meters: Added Padding=left,top,right,bottom option to meters. Allows adding pixels around any or all sides a meter. The width and height of the meter will dynamically be adjusted to the new size.
  • [Added] Measures: Added Paused=0/1 option to measures. This allows setting the "paused" state of a measure, in addition to the !PauseMeasure/!UnpauseMeasure/!TogglePauseMeasure bangs previously added.
  • [Fixed] !SetWallpaper: Improved performance when setting the wallpaper with large images.
  • [Changed] Button meter: Changed the mouse over behavior to ignore transparent areas of the image, to match the mouse click behavior.

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 2012 Beta (Jul 15, 2013)

  • [Changed] String meter: Trailing spaces are displayed in the Text option if the value is enclosed in quotes. This was previously changed in D2D, and now has the same behavior in GDI+.
  • [Added] !PauseMeasure: New !PauseMeasure, !UnpauseMeasure, and !TogglePauseMeasure bangs. This is similar to a disabled measure, however the measure retains its current value instead of changing to zero. Group versions of these bangs also added.
  • [Changed] !SetWallpaper: Changed the problem that an image file set with !SetWallpaper would be locked in Windows.
  • [Fixed] Rainmeter: Fix for a problem with !DeactivateConfig in a OnCloseAction that could cause high CPU usage.

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 1995 Beta (Jul 1, 2013)

  • [Changed] Error Logging: Improved the About/Log dialog to better show the source of errors. Where possible, the config\skin.ini and meter or measure section producing the error will be displayed.
  • [Fixed] String Meter: Corrected a bug where trailing spaces were not displayed when the option value was enclosed in quotes. Text="Some Trailing spaces"

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 1990 Beta (Jun 24, 2013)

  • [Fixed] Lua Scripting: Fixed an issue where some meter related bangs (i.e. !HideMeterGroup) were ignored in the Initialize() function of the script.
  • [Fixed] Meters: Fixed an issue where the hiding of a meter causing the skin to have a width and height of zero would not properly destroy the drawing of the last meter hidden.
  • [Changed] Languages: Updates and corrections to the Czech language files.

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 1986 Beta (Jun 17, 2013)

  • [Fixed] Image meter: Fixed a bug that caused images not be be displayed when both MeasureName and ImageName options were used.

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 1979 Beta (Jun 17, 2013)

  • [Fixed] String meter: Fixed a small bug with the Angle option.
  • [Changed] Many internal changes to improve performance and stability.

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 1950 Beta (Jun 10, 2013)

  • [Added] New ImagePath option added to General Image Options. This replaces the Path option on Image meters, and extends the functionality to all other meters that support images. Note that Histogram uses PrimaryImagePath, SecondaryImagePath and BothImagePath due to the fact that the Histogram meter has an optional secondary measure binding.

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 1946 Beta (Jun 5, 2013)

  • [Fixed] Fixed a bug with the !Toggle bang that could cause a crash in some cases.

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 1945 Beta (Jun 4, 2013)

  • [Fixed] Corrected a couple of bugs with group bangs that caused them to fail. One long-standing, and one caused by the most recent r1941 beta.

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 1941 Beta (Jun 3, 2013)

  • [Changed] Improvements to the level of detail in the Rainmeter log when there are command or bang errors.
  • [Changed] Major refactoring of the Rainmeter code for efficiency and easier code maintenance.

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 1930 Beta (May 20, 2013)

  • [Changed] Process: Improvements made to the Process plugin to correct issues with the plugin not being able to detect processes started with a higher security level than Rainmeter, 64bit processes when Rainmeter is 32bit, and processes run as a Windows "service".
  • [Fixed] Roundline: Corrected a rounding error when a large value is used for the StartAngle option.

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 1928 Beta (May 13, 2013)

  • [Added] General Image options: New UseExifOrientation option to automatically correct the orientation of images based on the EXIF data encoded in the image by a camera.
  • [Fixed] NowPlaying: Corrected an additional issue that caused the NowPlaying plugin to fail on XP systems in some cases.
  • [Changed] Plugin SDK: Updated and improved the C++/C# Plugin SDK for developers wishing to create Rainmeter plugins.

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 1916 Beta (May 7, 2013)

  • [Fixed] Corrected an issue with the NowPlaying plugin on systems running Windows XP that could cause it to fail.

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 1906 Beta (Apr 29, 2013)

  • [Fixed] Image Meter: Fixed an issue where an image meter controlled by a Substitute on a measure could error with "Unable to open" in some cases.
  • [Added] Skins: Added OnWakeAction to [Rainmeter] to take action when Windows returns from sleep or hibernate states.

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 1904 Beta (Apr 21, 2013)

  • [Fixed] String Meter: Fixed StringCase=Proper capitalization problem when letter followed white space, like #CRLF#, that was not a space.
  • [Changed] Language: Updated Slovenian language.

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 1900 Beta (Apr 15, 2013)

  • [Removed] Rainmeter: Due to some style issues with XP, removed icons for Unload skin and Exit in context menus.
  • [Fixed] InputText: Corrected a problem that could prevent functionality on Windows XP in some cases.
  • [Changed] OnChangeAction: Reduced resource usage with the action.
  • [Changed] D2D: Improvements detailed in Forum thread.

New in Rainmeter 3.0.0 Rev 1879 Beta (Apr 8, 2013)

  • Added Rainmeter: Added icon to 'Unload skin' and "Exit" in context menus.
  • Changed D2D

New in Rainmeter 3.0 Rev 1871 Beta (Apr 1, 2013)

  • Added InputText: Added OnDismissAction to the plugin.
  • Fixed FileView: Fixed an issue with the Open command which in rare instances could crash Rainmeter.
  • Changed Localization: Updated language files.

New in Rainmeter 2.5 Rev 1842 (Mar 24, 2013)

  • New FileView plugin. This powerful new plugin will index and gather information about all files and folders in a defined path. Information supported includes the path, name, size, type, date, and icon. Commands can be used to scroll through the index of files, move up and down in the folder tree, and select files for display or opening with the associated program.
  • Added new ClipString=2 setting and new ClipStringW / ClipStringH options. This will allow for more dynamic clipping and wrapping of a string while sizing the containing meter to accommodate the entire contents. Details are at Change Announcements.
  • Added new Mouse Actions to support the scroll wheel. Details are at Change Announcements.
  • Added new Mouse Variables. These are "macro" variables used in the context of a mouse click action to provide the current X and Y position of the mouse cursor relative to the meter or skin in pixels or a percentage. Details are at Change Announcements.
  • Added new OnUpdateAction command to Skins, Meters and Measures. This will allow an action to take place when the element is updated normally or by any bang.
  • Added new OnChangeAction command to Measures. This will allow an action to take place when the value of a measure changes.
  • Added new OnFocusAction and OnUnFocusAction options to the [Rainmeter] section of the skin, to execute actions when a skin gains or loses focus (by clicking it) in Windows.
  • Added "*" as a wildcard parameter to the !UpdateMeasure and !UpdateMeter bangs to immediately update all measures and meters.
  • Changed the behavior of the WebParser ProxyServer option to better handle how WebParser interacts with Internet Explorer for proxy management.

New in Rainmeter 2.5 Rev 1827 RC 1 (Mar 17, 2013)

  • Changed illustro: The RSS/Atom reader skin has been removed from the default illustro skins and layout on a new installation of Rainmeter. This is due to the pending end of the "Google Reader" service from Google on July 1st. Existing Rainmeter installations will not be effected.

New in Rainmeter 2.5 Rev 1819 Beta (Mar 11, 2013)

  • Changed InputText: Improved formula and section variables support in measure options and inline CommandN option. X, Y, W, H and FontSize are supported. DynamicVariables is not required on the measure.
  • Changed SkinInstaller: Remove all [Rainmeter] section options from layouts installed by a .rmskin. Skin authors may not automatically overwrite the user's settings for these options.
  • Changed SkinInstaller: Add FileView to protected official plugins, FileView.dll may not be distributed with a .rmskin.

New in Rainmeter 2.5 Rev 1808 Beta (Mar 6, 2013)

  • Fixed FileView: Fixed an issue with threading that caused icons to display as the Windows default / unknown image in some cases.
  • Changed FileView: WildcardSearch now works properly with Recursive=2.
  • Changed FileView: WildcardSearch is now always case-insensitive.

New in Rainmeter 2.5 Rev 1806 Beta (Mar 4, 2013)

  • Added Ping: Added FinishAction to plugin. Action to execute as soon as a successful value is returned, or when the number of milliseconds set in the Timeout option is reached.
  • Changed InputText: Updated to current Rainmeter API. Options in plugin can now use dynamic variables.
  • Fixed InputText: Fixed issues with handle leaks caused by threading.
  • Fixed InputText: Fixed an issue that prevented input using a language IME in the field.
  • Added FileView: Added Recursive=2 option. Allows recursive indexing of files in a folder tree. Folders are ignored with this option. Plugin commands FollowPath and PreviousFolder are disabled, and ShowFile, ShowFolder, and ShowDotDot options have no effect.
  • Changed FileView: Drives are now sorted.
  • Changed FileView: Drives are now counted as folders for Type=FolderCount.
  • Changed FileView: Folders now return dates and times.
  • Added Plugin API: Added new RMG_SKINNAME and RMG_SKINWINDOWHANDLE options to RmGet() to plugin SDK.

New in Rainmeter 2.5 Rev 1792 Beta (Feb 11, 2013)

  • Fixed FileView: Corrected an issue where an invalid path could crash Rainmeter.
  • Fixed WebParser: Corrected a string length issue that could crash Rainmeter.

New in Rainmeter 2.5 Rev 1786 Beta (Feb 4, 2013)

  • Fixed ClipString: Corrected #CRLF# and some extra padding issues with ClipString=2.
  • Fixed FileView: The current index number was not being reset on Update command.
  • Fixed Calc: An issue with negative signs being incorrectly parsed was corrected.

New in Rainmeter 2.5 Rev 1781 Beta (Jan 28, 2013)

  • Changed ClipString: Added new ClipString=2 setting and new ClipStringW / ClipStringH options. This will allow for more dynamic clipping and wrapping of a string while sizing the containing meter to accommodate the entire contents. Details are at Change Announcements.
  • Changed WebParser: Changed the behavior of the ProxyServer option to better handle how WebParser interacts with Internet Explorer for proxy management. Details at WebParser plugin.
  • Fixed FileView: The default icon index was off by 1 when no IconPath was specified.
  • Fixed Installer: Improved VC++ 2012 redistributable checking.

New in Rainmeter 2.5 Rev 1767 Beta (Jan 21, 2013)

  • Added Added new Mouse Variables. These are "macro" variables used in the context of a mouse click action to provide the current X and Y position of the mouse cursor relative to the meter or skin in pixels or a percentage.
  • Added FileView: Added new FinishAction option to the plugin.

New in Rainmeter 2.5 Rev 1761 Beta (Jan 16, 2013)

  • Fixed OnChangeAction: Fixed an issue with increased CPU usage with this new functionality.

New in Rainmeter 2.5 Rev 1758 Beta (Jan 14, 2013)

  • Added FileView: Added new FileView plugin.
  • Added Added new OnUpdateAction command to Skins, Meters and Measures.
  • Added Added new OnChangeAction command to Measures.

New in Rainmeter 2.5 Rev 1748 Beta (Jan 7, 2013)

  • NowPlaying: Improved cover handling with some players.
  • NowPlaying: Fixed crash with CAD interface in some cases.
  • Calc: Fixed handling of negative numbers without brackets "5+-1" is now valid and equal to "5+(-1)".
  • Localization: Fixed dialog layout with "right-to-left" languages.
  • Line meter: Fixed crash when LineCount not equal to count of "N" in MeasureNameN.
  • Upgraded project to Visual Studio 2012 (Update 1). New VC++ runtime libraries will be installed on normal installation.

New in Rainmeter 2.5 Rev 1720 Beta (Dec 17, 2012)

  • Internal changes to context menus and program dialogs to improve the Localization foundation.

New in Rainmeter 2.5 Rev 1715 Beta (Dec 10, 2012)

  • Context Menus: Fixed some bugs with the context menus caused in last week's beta.

New in Rainmeter 2.5 Rev 1713 Beta (Dec 3, 2012)

  • Bangs: Added "*" as a wildcard parameter to !UpdateMeasure and !UpdateMeter to immediately update all measures/meters.
  • Mouse: Fixed that left/right scroll actions were not executed if there are no up/down scroll actions.
  • Mouse: Fixed that MouseActionCursor was not reset when the skin was refreshed in some cases.
  • Mouse: Fixed that MouseActionCursor did not work with the new scroll actions.

New in Rainmeter 2.5 Rev 1706 Beta (Nov 26, 2012)

  • Mouse Actions: Mouse scrolling on skins and meters now works without having to click to "focus" the skin window.
  • Manage: Now allows negative X/Y coordinates.
  • WebParser: Changed the Debug=2 option to write WebParserDump.txt to the current skin folder. This is due to Windows 8 not allowing applications to write to the root directory of the system drive.

New in Rainmeter 2.5 Rev 1696 Beta (Nov 19, 2012)

  • Added new Mouse Actions to support the scroll wheel. Full details in Change Announcements.
  • Added new OnFocusAction / OnUnFocusAction options to the [Rainmeter] section of the skin, to execute actions when a skin gains or loses focus (by clicking it) in Windows.
  • Added support for two extra mouse buttons in Mouse Actions.
  • Added settings for Editor and Show notification area icon to Settings tab of the Manage window.
  • Fixed an issue with a memory leak in Skin Packager.

New in Rainmeter 2.4 Rev 1678 (Nov 5, 2012)

  • New Measure and Meter Section Variables functionality.
  • Support for custom skin Context Menu items.
  • Custom cursors on meters with mouse actions with new MouseActionCursorName option.
  • PreserveAspectRatio=2 feature added to support "crop and fill" sizing on Image meters.
  • Changed the term "Themes" to "Layouts" throughout Rainmeter.
  • SetOption now supports changing X, Y, Hidden and MeasureName on meters.

New in Rainmeter 2.4 Rev 1674 Beta (Oct 8, 2012)

  • Skins: Added support for custom skin Context Menu items. See Change Announcements for details.
  • Manage: Changed the term "Themes" to "Layouts" throughout Rainmeter.
  • Bangs: Added new !LoadLayout bang to load saved Layouts (previously Themes) from a skin or the Rainmeter.exe command line. !LoadLayout "Layout Name". Use from the command line will also start Rainmeter if it is not currently running.
  • Skin Installer: Deprecated the /LoadTheme command line option. Use the !LoadLayout bang from a skin or as a command line option to Rainmeter.exe.
  • Script: Fixed a problem with loading ScriptFile with a path using Unicode characters.
  • Plugin Developers: Fixed an issue with DllExporter in the plugin API.

New in Rainmeter 2.4 Rev 1673 Beta (Oct 8, 2012)

  • Skins: Added support for custom skin Context Menu items. See Change Announcements for details.
  • Manage: Changed the term "Themes" to "Layouts" throughout Rainmeter.
  • Bangs: Added new !LoadLayout bang to load saved Layouts (previously Themes) from a skin or the Rainmeter.exe command line. !LoadLayout "Layout Name". Use from the command line will also start Rainmeter if it is not currently running.
  • Skin Installer: Deprecated the /LoadTheme command line option. Use the !LoadLayout bang from a skin or as a command line option to Rainmeter.exe.
  • Script: Fixed a problem with loading ScriptFile with a path using Unicode characters.
  • Plugin Developers: Fixed an issue with DllExporter in the plugin API.

New in Rainmeter 2.4 Rev 1645 Beta (Oct 1, 2012)

  • Skins: Moved Author from [Rainmeter] to [Metadata].
  • Roundline: Removed MeasureName requirement. This removes the need for a "dummy" measure when drawing generic circles.
  • String: Arial is now the default font when FontFace is not specified or errors occur. Error logging with font problems improved.
  • Time: Added support for formulas in TimeZone.

New in Rainmeter 2.4 Rev 1634 Beta (Sep 24, 2012)

  • Fixed a problem with !SetOption and Measures broken in 1633

New in Rainmeter 2.4 Rev 1633 Beta (Sep 24, 2012)

  • RecycleManager: Fixed update issue with Windows XP.
  • NetIn/NetOut/NetTotal: Removed TrafficAction option.

New in Rainmeter 2.4 Rev 1626 Beta (Sep 17, 2012)

  • Language: Removed Croatian and Lithuanian.
  • SysInfo: Added Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 support.
  • Ping: Improved error reporting.

New in Rainmeter 2.4 Rev 1623 Beta (Sep 10, 2012)

  • Fixed infinite loop with RegExpSubstitute when Substitute has a empty string.
  • IfEqualAction: Now compares the values as 64bit integer.

New in Rainmeter 2.4 Rev 1617 Beta (Sep 3, 2012)

  • Time: Added TimeStamp option to Time measures.
  • Details can be found here.
  • QuotePlugin: Fixed handle leak.
  • Lua: Fixed some occasions where an error in a Lua script could crash Rainmeter.

New in Rainmeter 2.4 Rev 1613 Beta (Aug 27, 2012)

  • Registry: Changed the measure to return a number value as well as a string when REG_SZ entries contain a number.

New in Rainmeter 2.4 Rev 1611 Beta (Aug 20, 2012)

  • Image: Added PreserveAspectRatio=2 feature to Image meter. Details here.
  • Added quotes around filename when using ConfigEditor.
  • Script: Fixed backwards compatibility issues due to removed tolua.cast
  • Time: Fixed that Time measure logs invalid format error on initial skin load.
  • String: Fixed an issue with StringAlign and relative positioning.
  • Fixed an issue with #CURRENTCONFIGWIDTH# and #CURRENTCONFIGHEIGHT# on initial skin load.
  • Memory: Minor optimizations for Memory measures.

New in Rainmeter 2.4 Rev 1598 Beta (Aug 13, 2012)

  • Fixed a bug that did not allow "group" related bangs to work correctly from Lua.
  • Section Variables: - Added [Measure:MaxValue] and [Measure:MinValue] functionality. You can use it with scaling modifiers. (For instance, [Measure:MaxValue:/1024, 2])
  • Section Variables: - Trailing zeros are trimmed if decimal places modifier is not used.

New in Rainmeter 2.4 Rev 1578 Beta (Jul 30, 2012)

  • Due to inactivity, removed support for localization into the Latvian and Slovenian languages.
  • Installer: Made SSE hardware architecture support a requirement, allowing significant performance improvements in 32bit Rainmeter.
  • Added a file association (to the same program associated with .ini) for .inc files if one does not exist, to facilitate editing @Include files.

New in Rainmeter 2.4 Rev 1570 Beta (Jul 24, 2012)

  • Added support for custom cursors on meters with mouse actions with new MouseActionCursorName option.
  • If a custom cursor file (i.e. .cur or .ani) is found in @Resources\Cursors in the root config folder of a skin, it will be automatically loaded and available as an alternative for the standard "hand" pointer for meters or skins with a mouse action. The option can be used in any meter or the [Rainmeter] section with MouseActionCursorName=MyCursor.cur. No path definition is needed in the option.In addition, several built-in Windows cursors may be used without needing any file name or extension. (Hand, Text, Help, Busy, Cross, Pen)
  • Changed @include behavior. Now the sections that the included file has are inserted at the position where the @include is defined in the .ini file. See @Include for details.
  • FreeDiskSpace: Changed the measure to obey user account disk quotas in Windows. A new DiskQuota option will allow disk quotas to be ignored on "free / used" space if set to DiskQuota=0.
  • Made the second parameter of the !ActivateConfig bang optional. If the second parameter is not given, !ActivateConfig will switch to the next variant in the folder.
  • !SetOption now supports changing X, Y, Hidden and MeasureName(n) on meters
  • Lua: Fixed that GetMeter/GetMeasure/GetVariable functions do not correctly return nil on error.
  • Script Measure: Fixed that Initialize() was not called again when the ScriptName is changed dynamically.

New in Rainmeter 2.3.3 Rev 1522 (Jul 3, 2012)

  • is a minor update to correct a rare but serious bug with RecycleBin when a system has a floppy drive.. Hopefully this fully address this lingering issue.

New in Rainmeter 2.3.2 Rev 1518 (Jul 2, 2012)

  • A minor update to correct a rare but serious bug with RecycleBin when a system has a floppy drive..

New in Rainmeter 2.3.1 Rev 1510 (Jun 29, 2012)

  • A minor update to address a couple of rare bugs that can impact some systems.

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1497 (Jun 25, 2012)

  • Manage Skins: Fixed crash with empty skin folder

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1496 (Jun 25, 2012)

  • Installer: Fixed cleanup of write testing with portable installs

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1495 (Jun 25, 2012)

  • Skin Packager: Fixed that empty folders were not added

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1494 (Jun 25, 2012)

  • Fixed that %APPDATA%\Rainmeter was not created on first launch due to 4647c44

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1492 (Jun 25, 2012)

  • There is a new, improved .rmskin (Rainmeter Skin Package) system designed to make distribution of your creations easier. The most visible change is a new Rainmeter Skin Packager application available from the Manage dialog in Rainmeter. This will allow you to quickly select skins, themes and custom plugins to add to your distribution, and create a .rmskin package users can install by simply double-clicking. Please note that as of this release of Rainmeter, both deviantART.com and Customize.org will only accept the .rmskin format for new uploads. If you want to distribute your skins on these popular sites, be sure to check out the new Rainmeter Skin Packager.
  • Support for a new @Resources folder in your skins makes storing, using and distributing images, fonts, sounds and addons much easier and more reliable.
  • Automatic support for custom fonts stored in the new @Resources\Fonts folder makes distributing fonts with your skins as simple as adding the font file to the skin folder and using it in your string meters.
  • The About dialog for Rainmeter has been improved to provide much more information about your running skins. Improvements to the display of the current values of the measures and variables in your skins makes tracking down any problems with a skin much easier.
  • The installer for Rainmeter has been simplified to make the installation of Rainmeter just a few clicks while continuing to support installation in both 32bit and 64bit environments and normal or portable installations.
  • There have been many additions and improvements to the localization of the Rainmeter application into 35 languages and counting.
  • The version notification system has been improved to better alert you when there is a new release version of Rainmeter available.
  • Rainmeter is now installed and stores user files in a way that avoids most issues with User Account Control notifications or user account privileges. Rainmeter now better supports having different setups for the different user accounts on the computer.
  • Formulas are now supported in all numerical options and bang parameters.
  • A new OnCloseAction setting has been added to skins, to allow you to take some action when a skin is closed.
  • The RecycleManager plugin has been re-designed to be much more efficient and resource friendly.
  • New options have been added to the Line and Histogram meters to make horizontal and vertical placement and direction of the information in these meters much easier and more flexible.
  • Changes to the options in a String meter now make both horizontal and vertical alignment much easier.
  • The Calc measure has been updated to improve conditional statements as well as improve functionality when calling other measures.
  • Many improvements have been made to the Lua scripting environment for Rainmeter. It is now easier to communicate information between your Lua script and your skin.
  • The development environment for creating custom plugins for Rainmeter has been virtually re-written using a new much simpler and more reliable API approach. Most of the existing standard plugins for Rainmeter now support the use of dynamic variables in the measures.

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1453 Beta (Jun 12, 2012)

  • Skin Installer: Fixed a problem with user defined settings like SkinPath being left in when a theme is installed.

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1448 Beta (Jun 11, 2012)

  • Plugin: Fixed error when using forward slash in Plugin=.
  • Updated Skin Installer user interface.

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1434 Beta (Jun 4, 2012)

  • WebParser.dll: Fixed that [measures] in FinishAction were not dynamic.
  • NowPlaying.dll: Fixed that [measures] in TrackChangeAction were not dynamic.
  • Calc: Fixed integer overflow with Random when using large LowBound/HighBound values.

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1406 Beta (May 28, 2012)

  • Minor tweaks and improvements to language localization.

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1387 Beta (May 20, 2012)

  • add String meter: Added vertical alignment to StringAlign option.
  • add Added support for @Resources folder in skins.
  • fix Corrected an issue with restoring .rmskins created by the Backup feature in Manage.
  • fix Corrected an issue with InputText plugin and bangs beginning with "[".

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1377 Beta (May 14, 2012)

  • Added GraphOrientation and GraphStart to Line and Histogram meters.
  • GraphStart will indicate starting from Left or Right (default).
  • GraphOrientation will indicate Horizontal or Vertical (default).
  • Flip will indicate starting from 1 (Top) or 0 (Bottom - default).
  • Lua Script: Added support for multiple parameters to SKIN:Bang() to simplify bang arguments:
  • SKIN:Bang(string bang, string arg1, string arg2, string argN)
  • SKIN:Bang('!SetOption', 'Meter1', 'FontSize', '15')
  • Previously, a bang was sent using SKIN:Bang('bang string'). New scripts should use SKIN:Bang('!name', 'arg1', 'arg2', 'argN').
  • Made !Execute optional in all bangs.
  • Fixed StringCase=UPPER/LOWER/PROPER with non-Latin chars in String meters.
  • Fixed recent bug causing Rainmeter to crash when installing .rmskins and using InputText plugin.
  • Fixed a bug that did not allow Group bangs to execute.

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1372 Beta (May 11, 2012)

  • Installer: Special mid-week release to fix a bug with installing 64bit with UAC enabled.

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1364 Beta (May 7, 2012)

  • Installer: Changed the path input to be directly editable on portable installs.
  • New Rainmeter.data file to support future improvements to how default plugin values and other internal Rainmeter information is managed.
  • Internal system tray notifications to welcome new users to Rainmeter and provide notifications of new available versions.

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1349 Beta (Apr 30, 2012)

  • Localization: Corrections and additions to language files.
  • Installer: Simplification and improvements to the Rainmeter installer.

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1334 Beta (Apr 23, 2012)

  • chg: AdvancedCPU.dll: Plugin now supports dynamic variables.
  • chg: Win7AudioPlugin.dll: Plugin now supports dynamic variables.
  • chg: WifiStatus.dll: Plugin now supports dynamic variables.
  • fix: Manage Themes: Fixed a problem with selecting theme name from list in some cases.
  • fix: NowPlaying.dll: Fixed negative duration issue with Winamp.
  • fix: NowPlaying.dll: Fixed that SHUFFLE, REPEAT, and VOLUME were not reset on player shutdown.

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1320 Beta (Apr 17, 2012)

  • Fixed a long-standing issue with the initial update of a skin returning zero for measures.
  • This corrects several problems, including measures returning a percentage having an initial value of 100% or causing a "divide by zero" error, as well as the fact that UpdateDivider=-1 on a script measure ran the script twice instead of once.
  • Updated the 24x24 resolution Rainmeter tray icon for those with a larger DPI setting in Windows.
  • FolderInfo plugin: Added support for dynamic Folder= and fixed a memory leak issue.

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1304 Beta (Apr 9, 2012)

  • Added support for formulas in all numerical options and bang parameters.
  • Added !Log bang.
  • Calc measure: Added rad function.
  • Updated notification area icon.
  • Reduced the number of errors that automatically cause the About Log dialog to appear.
  • Time measure: Fixed that did not default to %H:%M:%S.
  • Calc measure: Fixed sgn function.
  • PerfMon plugin: Fixed 0 return value in some cases.
  • PerfMon plugin: Fixed issue with MaxValue in some cases.
  • Removed support for TrayExecuteL and TrayExecuteDL in Rainmeter.ini.

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1273 Beta (Apr 2, 2012)

  • Added OnCloseAction option to [Rainmeter].
  • PerfMon plugin: Fixed incorrect return value in some cases.
  • Fixed that X, Y, and Hidden are not reset in some cases when using !SetOption with MeterStyle.

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1265 Beta (Mar 26, 2012)

  • Fixes:
  • SysInfo.dll: Fixed incorrect return value in some cases
  • PerfMon.dll: Fixed incorrect return value in some cases

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1259 Beta (Mar 19, 2012)

  • Add: NowPlaying plugin: Added support for PlayerType NUMBER and YEAR
  • Chg: Script: Added support for simple numbers in SKIN:ParseFormula()
  • Chg: FolderInfo.dll: Added support for DynamicVariables
  • Chg: SysInfo.dll: Added support for DynamicVariables
  • Chg: PerfMon.dll: Added support for DynamicVariables

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1245 Beta (Mar 12, 2012)

  • Fix:
  • Wallpaper bang: Fixed that .png images were not supported under Windows 7
  • Changed:
  • Added support for formulas in !Move/!MoveMeter bangs
  • Changed measure:GetOption in Lua scripting to support optional default value
  • Added:
  • Added measure:GetNumberOption in Lua scripting
  • Added SELF: measure object in Lua scripting
  • Added SKIN:ParseFormula() function to Lua scripting

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1231 Beta (Mar 5, 2012)

  • Fixes:
  • NowPlaying plugin: Fixed crash caused by invalid PlayerName=
  • NowPlaying plugin: Fixed that PlayerType=COVER did not work with iTunes

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1229 Beta (Mar 5, 2012)

  • About dialog: Variables in the Skins panel are now sorted alphabetically
  • Localization: Several changes to language translations

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1224 Beta (Feb 23, 2012)

  • About dialog: Added support for viewing variables.
  • add About dialog: Added support for CTRL+C (copy) shortcut and tooltips in Log and Skins tabs.
  • fix WebParser plugin: Fixed crash with FinishAction in some cases.
  • fix Fixed that skins disappeared in some cases when resuming from sleep/hibernate modes.
  • chg About dialog: Renamed Measures tab to Skins.

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1203 (Feb 23, 2012)

  • Add:
  • Formulas now allowed in addtional setttings
  • Fix:
  • Manage/About dialogs: Fixed that keyboard commands didn't work
  • Window message API: Partly broken since r1157
  • Corrected empty messagebox when Rainmeter is launched with Logging=1 and no existing log file
  • Fixed crash when a bang didn't contain a config name
  • Fixed crash when !EnableMeasure generated an error log message
  • Installer: Workaround for failed admin detection in very rare cases
  • NowPlaying.dll: TrackChangeAction executed on skin refresh, fixed
  • !WriteKeyValue: Fixed that formulas didn't work
  • Changed:
  • RecycleManager.dll: - Improved resource usage. Removed Drives= setting
  • Changed interval of writing network statistics from a minute to two minutes
  • WebParser.dll: Updated to new plugin API
  • Disabled "Log file created" messagebox

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1182 Beta (Feb 16, 2012)

  • Added:
  • Language: Added Czech
  • Fixes:
  • SetOptionGroup bang: Didn't work with measures
  • DeactivateConfig bang: Didn't work without (Config) parameter
  • Plugin measure: C# plugins didn't work on 32bit Windows 7 in some cases
  • CoreTemp plugin: CoreTempType didn't work (always returned Temperature)
  • NowPlaying plugin: PlayerType=COVER did not work when PlayerName was changed with !SetOption/!SetVariable
  • About dialog: Dialog not updated when a skin is closed

New in Rainmeter 2.3.0 Rev 1172 Beta (Feb 6, 2012)

  • Added support for DynamicVariables in the following plugins:
  • Ping
  • CoreTemp
  • WindowMessage
  • RecycleManager
  • QuotePlugin
  • SpeedFan
  • ResMon
  • NowPlaying
  • Improvements to the Calc measure. The limit for nested conditional statements has been increased to 30. The "delay" in the measure values has also been fixed.
  • New !SetClip bang to send text to the Windows clipboard.
  • New !SetWallpaper bang to set the Windows desktop background (wallpaper). See Bangs for details and usage.
  • Added new plugin SDK and API for C++ and C#.

New in Rainmeter 2.2.0 Rev 1116 (Jan 10, 2012)

  • Localization support -- finally! Our users have already translated the Rainmeter UI into 35 languages ranging from Arabic to French to Vietnamese. Your language can be selected when Rainmeter is installed, and changed at any time using the Manage tool.
  • "Show desktop" support improvements. Previously, skins had to be manually set to "On desktop" to keep them visible when using "Show desktop". Now, you don't have to do a thing -- skins will stay visible by default when you show the desktop.
  • Rainmeter executables are now "digitally signed", to ensure what you are using is valid and unaltered, as well as reducing many "false positive" returns from some antivirus software.
  • Several important improvements to NowPlaying plugin.
  • Added "Type" to FreeDiskSpace measure to determine the type of drive being measured.
  • Dynamic variables now supported on plugins for common measure settings.
  • New "Process" plugin, to determine if a particular process or application is running.
  • Many bug fixes and performance enhancements, which make Rainmeter even lighter, faster, and more reliable.

New in Rainmeter 2.2.0 Rev 1084 Beta (Dec 19, 2011)

  • Rainmeter executables are now digitally signed to prevent changes by malware or other 3rd parties, and to eliminate many if not most "false positives" when scanned by some antivirus applications. The certificate information can be viewed by right clicking any Rainmeter executable (the installer, Rainmeter.exe, Rainmeter.dll, SkinInstaller.exe) and selecting "Properties / Digital Signatures".
  • A new plugin, Process, has been added to Rainmeter. This plugin will allow a skin to detect if a defined Windows process or application is running

New in Rainmeter 2.2.0 Rev 1078 Beta (Dec 11, 2011)

  • Minor code performance and stability tweaks this week...

New in Rainmeter 2.2.0 Rev 1002 Beta (Nov 7, 2011)

  • Improved performance when drawing images. (2-10 times faster in some cases)
  • Fixed a problem where negative (W)idth or (H)eight values could crash Rainmeter.
  • NowPlaying.dll/iTunesPlugin.dll: Fixed incompatibility with iTunes controllers.
  • NowPlaying.dll: Removed support for caching cover art.
  • NowPlaying.dll: Fixed some bangs which caused iTunes to crash when no track is playing.
  • Minor performance tweaks and code cleanup.
  • Additonal localization / language support.

New in Rainmeter 2.2.0 Rev 1008 Beta (Nov 1, 2011)

  • Fixed a bug with StartHidden in [Rainmeter] caused in earlier beta.
  • Fixed a crash of Rainmeter in some cases if W= was negative.
  • Fixed an issue with a language .dll file not loading correctly.
  • Various updates to language / translation files.

New in Rainmeter 2.2.0 Rev 1002 Beta (Oct 24, 2011)

  • Added two new languages
  • Chinese (Traditional)
  • Lithuanian
  • Updates to many of the other languages
  • Fixed issue with Background= and .png files.

New in Rainmeter 2.2.0 Rev 1000 Beta (Oct 18, 2011)

  • NowPlaying: Fixed issues caused by new 10.5 version of iTunes application.
  • Localization: Several languages added / updated.
  • WebParser: Fixed that matching failed with Codepage= other than 0 and 65001 in some cases.
  • PowerPlugin: Fixed crash when waking up from sleep/hibernation in some cases.
  • Manage Themes: Fixed that loaded wallpaper was not set permanently.
  • Installer: Fixed that default language detection failed on 64bit Rainmeter.
  • Installer: Now remembers language selection.

New in Rainmeter 2.2.0 Rev 995 Beta (Oct 11, 2011)

  • Added initial support for localization / language in the Rainmeter application. The application UI, context menus and log entries.
  • New languages will be added during the course of the beta cycle, as translations are provided and validated.
  • Fixed that "Edit Skin" in "Manage" caused a needless UAC elevation prompt in some cases.
  • WebParser: Fixed a RegExp failure if the data contained embedded NULL characters.
  • DynamicVariables are now supported on plugins for settings that are common to all measures, like MaxValue, Disabled, etc.
  • Removed support for using Rainmeter.dll as a LiteStep modual. This was required to support Localization project.
  • Fixed a bug in "Manage" that did not save the skin "Position" value correctly.
  • Reduced overall system resource usage.
  • Fixed a bug in "Manage" that did not allow negative numbers to be entered for "LoadOrder".

New in Rainmeter 2.1.0 Rev 959 (Sep 24, 2011)

  • Added the NowPlaying plugin, which allows a single Rainmeter skin to interact with a huge range of popular media players by changing only a single setting. AIMP, Foobar2000, iTunes, MediaMonkey, MusicBee, Winamp, VLC Media Player, and Windows Media Player are all fully supported, along with any other players that are compatible with CD Art Display. Also, Last.fm, Media Player Classic, OpenPandora, Spotify, TTPlayer and Zune are partially supported. The plugin not only allows the display of track, artist and album information and basic player controls, but also makes it possible to change the track position, toggle shuffle and repeat settings, and even rate your music directly from Rainmeter.
  • Past versions included a small fleet of popular addons that made it easier to manage and customize your skins: RainBrowser, RainThemes, RainBackup, and Rainstaller. We are now in the process of baking those features directly into Rainmeter, starting with the Rainmeter Manager. Just click on the Rainmeter icon in your Windows tray, and you’ll have your whole library at your fingertips. Load new skins, change settings on the fly, and save and restore your “theme” arrangements - all from the same elegant tabbed interface.
  • While Rainmeter was already incredibly light on system resources, you asked us to make it even lighter - and we answered the challenge. Rainmeter’s performance has been improved in countless areas, including significantly faster launch times and image caching for graphics-heavy skins. Rainmeter 2.1 also plays better with Windows 7 than ever before. Skins can take advantage of Aero blur, and Rainmeter now keeps track of your network usage independently, instead of by theme.
  • And for you Rainmeter skin authors looking for new development features, we have a whole lot of new toys for you. We’ve added commands to change any meter’s settings and appearance without using styles or variables, added escape variables and “magic” quotes to make bang commands more powerful, and made improvements to the Lua script measure, which lets you break free of Rainmeter’s simple format and jump into a complex multi-line script whenever you need to. Substitution now allows regular expressions for all measures. The totally-overhauled About console gives you finer control over notification, debug and error logs. And we’ve cleaned up the code, shortening many commands, and making others more consistent and intuitive for beginners to learn.

New in Rainmeter 2.1 Rev 800 Beta (May 2, 2011)

  • Added support for Aero Glass "blur" effects on skins:
  • This will allow you to have the Windows Aero effect, where your desktop background is "blurred" behind your skins or parts of skins. Windows Vista or Windows 7 is required or the new settings are ignored by Rainmeter. See Aero Blur for details and an example skin.
  • Improvements to FolderInfo plugin:
  • FolderInfo now returns size in bytes. If using InfoType=FolderSizeStr, (which until now autoscaled the value internally) AutoScale=1 should be added to the meter(s). While this does change the behavior, it allows for the use of Scale, NumOfDecimals, etc. that weren't possible prior to this change without an extra Calc measure.
  • Fixes InputText plugin failing if a "config name" folder had a space in it.
  • Fix for the CoreTemp plugin to address a mutex handle leak.
  • Added image caching system to the internal Rainmeter code:
  • Reduces memory resources when a single image is used repeatedly in a skin. For example, you might create a single image with multiple areas, and use ImageCrop to display some area based on the value of a measure. Rainmeter will no longer load the image multiple times in memory.
  • New option for Uptime meter:
  • Setting added to disable the addition of days to hours when days (%4) is not specified in the Format= setting. Use AddDaysToHours=1/0 to control this option.
  • Some bug fixes and improvements to VirtualDesktops plugin from Patrick at Dexpot
  • "Silent" installation of Rainmeter now available
  • Rainmeter development environment updated to Visual C++ 2010.
  • Rainmeter now requires WinXP SP2 / Win2003 SP1 / WinVista or Win7:
  • Support for Win2k (Windows 2000) is not provided in the new VC++ 2010 development environment.

New in Rainmeter 2.0.0 Rev 745 (Feb 7, 2011)

  • Rainmeter is now just one integrated installer package:
  • No longer do you need to download a different installer for 32bit, 64bit or "portable" installations. The new Rainmeter installer will detect your version of Windows, and will offer appropriate choices as you are installing. Any runtime "libraries" required by Rainmeter or plugins will be installed only if you don't already have them.
  • Change to how featured skin suites are distributed:
  • We have changed the way "default skins" are distributed for Rainmeter. No longer are Enigma and Gnometer part of the build, but are added after you install Rainmeter from our Recommended Downloads pages. This allows us to reduce the size of the installer and the footprint of Rainmeter on your system if you don't use Enigma, Gnometer or ABP, as well as providing a way to have the "Recommended Skin Suites" updated by the authors without having to wait for a release of Rainmeter.
  • New illustro "default / starter" skins:
  • Of course there needs to be some skins distributed with the installer, so our wizard poiru has created a new set of skins called "illustro" which are automatically installed. These are designed to show off some of the capabilities of Rainmeter to a new user, be very simple to edit and change, and are fully commented so someone looking to get started with editing and creating Rainmeter skins has a good place to start and learn.
  • New plugins, and a new capability for C# programmers to create their own Rainmeter plugins.
  • InputText Plugin - Allows Rainmeter to accept user input in a customizable text box, and use this input many ways in your skins.
  • CoreTemp Plugin - Written by the author of the popular CoreTemp application. Monitor your CPU load and temperatures.
  • FolderInfo Plugin - Display information about folders on your system.
  • C#PluginTemplate - The Rainmeter project now includes an easy to use template for creating Rainmeter plugins using the C# language for programmers who want to dip their toes in the plugin waters without needing to know C++.
  • New "Script" measure integrates Lua scripting with Rainmeter! Use the Lua scripting language to add almost unlimited new functionality to your skins.
  • Many, many other additions and improvements to Rainmeter. A full list of changes is at History of changes. Also be sure to check out the improved Rainmeter 101, and the reworked and up to date Rainmeter Manual.

New in Rainmeter 1.4 Rev 687 Beta (Jan 3, 2011)

  • Change to how featured skin suites are distributed
  • New illustro "default / starter" skins

New in Rainmeter 1.3 Rev 560 (Oct 11, 2010)

  • Fixed a issue that MouseOver/LeaveAction could loop infinitely when used with !RainmeterMoveMeter.
  • Minor change to RainThemes to make closing Rainmeter more efficient.
  • Changes to many Rainmeter error/prompt dialogs to make them more descriptive.
  • Fixed a issue that Value column isn't updated if value is empty string in the About dialog.
  • Fixed a issue that Download=1 doesn't work correctly in some cases in WebParser.
  • Added [Measure]-name to log messages in WebParser.
  • Rainmeter error messages now display meter/measure in question.
  • Change to detect skins with no meters OR measures to reduce issues with people loading Rainlendar skins and such.
  • Fixed an issue where ToolTips were remaining active on hidden meters.
  • Added the ability to use formulas to define ToolTipWidth.
  • Rainstaller: Added display of fonts to be installed in a .rmskin
  • Fix for long standing issue where numbers were being truncated to zero decimal places in some instances, causing possible incorrect calculated values when the measure's number was used dynamically later.
  • Fix for a TooTip initialization issue which could cause intermittent Windows Taskbar error message loop when Rainmeter was started.
  • NumOfDecimals is now enabled when Percentual=1 is used in a STRING meter.
  • Fixed a multithreading issue that could cause a crash of Rainmeter in the internal function LSLog().
  • Added new character entity ' to automatic decode for WebParser.
  • Added code to address Microsoft security issue: Details.
  • Changed ToolTip function to allow using %1, %2 etc. as appropriate for various meter types:
  • Line, String: %1, %2, %3, ...
  • Histogram: %1, %2
  • Others: %1
  • Some minor fixes to the About diaglog.
  • New statement / option for WebParser to automatically decode html Character References.
  • DecodeCharacterReference=0 | 1 | 2 | 3 (default 0) 0 : Does nothing. (default) 1 : Decodes both numeric character references and character entity references. 2 : Decodes only numeric character references. 3 : Decodes only character entity references.
  • Improved the PLAY command so it works more like a !bang does:
  • ButtonCommand=PLAY #SKINSPATH#Beeper\Sounds\beep.wav
  • ButtonCommand=PLAY "#SKINSPATH#Beeper\Sounds\beep.wav"
  • ButtonCommand=!execute [PLAY #SKINSPATH#Beeper\Sounds\beep.wav]
  • ButtonCommand=!execute [PLAY "#SKINSPATH#Beeper\Sounds\beep.wav"]
  • Fix an issue with the "ClickThrough" skin setting broken in an earlier beta.
  • Major visual / interface changes to the "About" dialog. Should make this a much more valuable tool for "debugging" skins.
  • Win7AudioPlugin updated to version 1.6
  • New bangs Mute/Unmute
  • Volume shows -1 when muted
  • Fixed an issue where dynamic variables would be reset to default when Windows "WorkArea" is reset by changing the screen resolution or a screensaver is activated.
  • Minor fixes to WebParser for a memory leak and routines to interact with Rainmeter "window".
  • Changed to allow substituting quote characters in Substitute= statements. This is done by using single quotes to surround the first part of the "find":"replace" pair. So Substitute='"':"" would remove all quotes from the text.
  • Single and double quotes MUST be "mismatched" on the "find:replace" pairs when using single quotes as a delimiter, or the Substitute will fail. Example: Substitute='"':"None" will replace a quote with the word None. Substitute="None":'"' will replace the word None with a quote. However, Substitute='"':'None' will fail, as you can't use single quotes on both sides of the "find:replace" pairs. An easier to read example is Substitute='red':'blue', which will fail.
  • Updated the pcre (Regular Expression) library from 6.4 to 8.10. The pcre change log is at Change Log
  • Fixed an issue where certain invalid RegExp statements could crash Rainmeter.
  • Simplified and improved the Rainstaller user interface.
  • Added new !bangs to change "settings" in Rainmeter.ini for current / group / all skins at once.
  • !RainmeterDraggable/!RainmeterDraggableGroup
  • !RainmeterKeepOnScreen/!RainmeterKeepOnScreenGroup
  • !RainmeterClickThrough/!RainmeterClickThroughGroup
  • !RainmeterSnapEdges/!RainmeterSnapEdgesGroup
  • !RainmeterSnapEdges [parm1] (Config | *)
  • !RainmeterSnapEdgesGroup [parm1] [GroupName]
  • Parm1:
  • -1 toggles the setting.
  • 0 forces the setting to off.
  • 1 forces to setting to on.
  • WebParser: Fix for issue where StringIndexes from previous call to WebParser would remain even if the item no longer exists. This fixes a long standing problem with uTorrent skins for example, when the last item was removed from uTorrent but remained displayed in the skin until a refresh was done.
  • Added MeasureName2 as an alternative to SecondaryMeasureName in Meter=Histogram.
  • Changes to CALC measure to remove any and all restrictions on the string case of function names. Calc measures are now completely case-insensitive, with the exception of the "b/o/x" character when specifying the base of a number, this must be lower case.
  • Added new PluginMediaKey plugin by poiru. PluginMediaKey.
  • Some minor improvements to MouseOver/MouseLeave actions.
  • Change to Rainstaller to close RainBrowser if it is running when a skin is installed, to eliminate a problem with open files.
  • Fix by elestel to iTunes plugin: iTunesPlugin did not handle AboutToPromptUserToQuitEvent
  • Added new #ROOTCONFIGPATH# variable. This will contain the path to the highest level folder under \Skins for the current config. #ROOTCONFIGPATH#Settings\UserVariables.inc can be used to have an @Include work even if you move a skin to another "suite" for instance.
  • Re-design of the layout of the Rainmeter manual. The manual is now exclusively online. The "Help" context menu item will launch the appropriate (release or beta) version of the manual in your default web browser. The Rainmeter.chm help file is no longer included in the build or installed on your PC.
  • Added new !RainmeterWriteKeyValue bang. !RainmeterWriteKeyValue "Section" "Key" "Value" ("FileSpec"), where "FileSpec" is an optional parameter. If FileSpec is not present, the change is automatically done in the currently running skin file. If the bang is executed from the command line, FileSpec is required. FileSpec must be either in the \Skins or %APPDATA%\Rainmeter paths. This can be used to permanently change any Key=Value setting in any .ini or .inc file. (Including Rainmeter.ini)
  • Changes to MouseLeaveAction to make it more reliable and faster. This should eliminate having to put MouseLeaveAction in the [Rainmeter] section to ensure detection.
  • Made the "About" dialog a bit larger by default. Other cosmetic changes to this dialog.
  • Fixed WifiStatusPlugin so it no longer closes WLAN handle when skin is closed even if another skin is still using it
  • Fixed an issue where an invalid Format= code in a Time or Uptime measure would crash Rainmeter. Invalid formats are now written to the debug log and the measure just gracefully fails.
  • Change to Rainstaller so that a default Rainmeter plugin will not be overwritten if an author includes it by mistake in a .rmskin file.
  • Fixed an issue where Rainmeter was detecting an incorrect value for %APPDATA% in a multi-user environment.
  • Fixed an issue where check marks of context menu items in configs/root/variants menu are cleared if !RainmeterDeactivateConfig/!RainmeterToggleConfig is used.
  • Minor fix to new "groups" function for configs.
  • Added root folder of a config on the skin context menu
  • Fixed an issue where the context menu did not close when focus was given to another windows element.
  • Many additions to the supported Windows Messages that Rainmeter will respond to, allowing 3rd-party applications to query Rainmeter for paths, currently loaded configs, etc. These changes are courtesy of JamesAC and Patrick from Dexpot.
  • Added the Win7AudioPlugin plugin by Reiswaffle.
  • Added the PluginVirtualDesktops plugin from Patrick at Dexpot. This will provide support for Virtual Desktop Management tools like Dexpot and VirtuaWin.
  • Added new "version checking" functionality, with DisableVersionChecking= setting in Rainmeter.ini and on "About" dialog.
  • Re-design of the RainBrowser GUI.
  • Major re-design of the Rainmeter and Skins context menus
  • Fix to Calc measure to properly allow use of numbering systems other than decimal using a prefix of 0b (binary) 0x (hex) 0o (octal) on the numbers.
  • Added "Group=" to meters and measures in skins, and in Rainmeter.ini to support configs. This allows many !bangs to operate on multiple entities at once without multiple !bang statements.
  • Major improvement to "logging" in Rainmeter, including new context menu support.
  • Addition of support for multiple monitors when using DesktopWorkArea. This change is courtesy of user Jott.
  • Addtion of "ToolTip" functionality, so meters can have standard Windows tooltips when hovered over.
  • Improvement to image quality when scaling images

New in Rainmeter 1.2 Rev 440 (Jun 14, 2010)

  • Rainmeter now includes a new default suite of skins: Gnometer by Poiru. Gnometer is a colorful and exciting alternative to the default Enigma suite. It contains skins which show off with all the information you could want on your desktop, and is fully configurable by the user with an easy to use settings tool.
  • Rainmeter 1.2 introduces Rainstaller and the .rmskin format. This utility makes it much easier to distribute and install skins and suites. Rainstaller allows skinners to include addons, fonts and themes along with their skins in a single .rmskin package. Skins and suites are then installed by the user with just a double click or directly from a download site in their browser.
  • Rainmeter 1.2 has a host of improvements to better support Windows 7. Fully configurable support for muiltiple monitors has been added, so you can position and save your Rainmeter setup in your multiple monitor environment. Rainmeter 1.2 now supports having your skins stay on the screen if desired when Windows 7's "Show Desktop" is used.
  • A new RainBackup utility is included, so users can save their entire setup as a Rainmeter .rmskin file, making moving your setup to a different computer or recovering from a system crash / reinstall much easier.
  • Rainmeter 1.2 now supports having both the program and the skins / settings stored on network shared drives using UNC paths like "\\SERVER\FolderName".
  • Other improvements in Rainmeter 1.2:
  • Many improvements to the default Enigma suite of skins.
  • The Rainmeter installer has been improved making the process quicker and easier.
  • Image meters can now be modified using a host of new functions such as ImageTint, GreyScale and ImageRotate.
  • WebParser can now download and use HTML files locally, so skins can work when you are offline.
  • New feature of the Speedfan plugin to convert Centigrade to Fahrenheit if desired.
  • You can now define the order in which skins are loaded on your desktop by using the new LoadOrder setting.
  • You can now use Processor=n in a CPU measure to specify particular cores.
  • New variable #CRLF# means you can add a carriage return / line feed to a STRING meter.
  • New bang !RainmeterRefreshApp, allows you to fully refresh Rainmeter from a skin or command line.
  • Improvements to RainThemes and Rainstaller to better support running in a PortableApps.com environment.
  • The PLAY function for playing an sound file has been fixed so it does not "pause" Rainmeter for the duration of the sound.
  • New Mouse Actions (LeftMouseDoubleClickAction RightMouseDoubleClickAction MiddleMouseDoubleClickAction).
  • StringCase function added to string meters. Now you can set the "case" of the displayed text.
  • Improvements to the RainThemes utility.

New in Rainmeter 1.2 Rev 365 Beta (Apr 5, 2010)

  • This is the third Beta towards the next major release.

New in Rainmeter 1.2 Rev 340 Beta (Feb 22, 2010)

  • This is the second Beta towards the next major release.

New in Rainmeter 1.2 Rev 320 Beta (Jan 25, 2010)

  • Major changes so far:
  • New !bang - !RainmeterRefreshApp
  • Does a full refresh of all skins and reloads the list of configs and Rainmeter.ini settings. This is the same as "Refresh All" from the system tray context menu. Is not the same as !RainmeterRefresh [config | *] as it can be used to make Rainmeter "see" a new folder added to Skins by the user or a process. Note: This was added mostly to better support RainBrowser when a user adds a downloaded config while using RainBrowser.
  • New WebParser setting "DownloadFile="
  • DownloadFile:
  • When Download is set to 1, the file is downloaded to DownloadFile folder in the skin folder as a filename set to this value. If you define it as "DownloadFile=image.jpg", DownloadFile folder will be created in the current skin folder then the downloaded file is saved as "image.jpg" If you define as "DownloadFile=photoimage.jpg", the subfolder photo is created then a file is saved in this folder.
  • Notes
  • This file is not a temporary file so it is not deleted even if it close a skin.
  • As for specification of file path, it is not possible to specify by the absolute path and also specification to the outside of DownloadFile folder is not possible.
  • New Mouse Actions:
  • LeftMouseDoubleClickAction
  • A command or a bang that will be executed when the left mouse button is Double Clicked on the meter. (if this action is missing, LeftMouseDownAction will be executed)
  • RightMouseDoubleClickAction
  • A command or a bang that will be executed when the right mouse button is Double Clicked on the meter. Note that this disables the context menu.
  • MiddleMouseDoubleClickAction
  • A command or a bang that will be executed when the middle mouse button is Double Clicked on the meter.
  • Major changes to handling of multiple monitors:
  • There is a "Display Monitor" submenu in [Skins Menu]-[Position] of the Rainmeter tray icon.
  • These menus set the position of the skin to the desired monitor in a multiple monitor configuration.
  • "Use default: Primary monitor"
  • removes the @-directive from WindowX/Y.
  • @0(@1, @2, ...)
  • Adds the specified monitor number to WindowX/Y. @0 means "The Virtual Screen".
  • More info at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd145136(VS.85).aspx
  • "Auto-select based on window position".
  • If checked, the WindowX and WindowY "@n" settings are made automatically based on the position of the meter's window.
  • If a monitor is selected directly using "Display Monitor" in the Rainmeter / skin context menu, this menu is unchecked. This setting can be manually made in either the [Rainmeter] (all configs) or individual config sections of Rainmeter.ini.
  • AutoSelectScreen:
  • If set to 1, the WindowX and WindowY "@n" settings are made automatically based on the position of the meter's window. If a monitor is selected directly using "Display Monitor" in the Rainmeter / skin context menu, this setting is reset to 0.
  • New built-in variables for multiple monitors
  • The following variables are for the virtual screen.
  • #VSCREENAREAX# is the X-position of the left-side of the virtual screen.
  • #VSCREENAREAY# is the Y-position of the top-side of the virtual screen.
  • #VSCREENAREAWIDTH# is the width of the virtual screen.
  • #VSCREENAREAHEIGHT# is the height of the virtual screen.
  • The following variables are for the PRESENT monitor:
  • Note that these variables automatically change by the WindowX and WindowY "@n" settings. If "@n" is not set, these variables return the value of the primary monitor.
  • #WORKAREAX# is the X-position of the left-side of the work area.
  • #WORKAREAY# is the Y-position of the top-side of the work area.
  • #WORKAREAWIDTH# is the width of the work area.
  • #WORKAREAHEIGHT# is the height of the work area.
  • #SCREENAREAX# is the X-position of the left-side of the monitor screen.
  • #SCREENAREAY# is the Y-position of the top-side of the monitor screen.
  • #SCREENAREAWIDTH# is the width of the display resolution.
  • #SCREENAREAHEIGHT# is the height of the display resolution.
  • The following variables are for the PRIMARY monitor:
  • #PWORKAREAX# is the X-position of the left-side of the work area.
  • #PWORKAREAY# is the Y-position of the top-side of the work area.
  • #PWORKAREAWIDTH# is the width of the work area.
  • #PWORKAREAHEIGHT# is the height of the work area.
  • #PSCREENAREAX# is the X-position of the left-side of the monitor screen. (maybe, always 0)
  • #PSCREENAREAY# is the Y-position of the top-side of the monitor screen. (maybe, always 0)
  • #PSCREENAREAWIDTH# is the width of the display resolution.
  • #PSCREENAREAHEIGHT# is the height of the display resolution.
  • The following variables are for the SPECIFIED monitor. (@n = @1, @2, ...):
  • #WORKAREAX@n# is the X-position of the left-side of the work area.
  • #WORKAREAY@n# is the Y-position of the top-side of the work area.
  • #WORKAREAWIDTH@n# is the width of the work area.
  • #WORKAREAHEIGHT@n# is the height of the work area.
  • #SCREENAREAX@n# is the X-position of the left-side of the monitor screen.
  • #SCREENAREAY@n# is the Y-position of the top-side of the monitor screen.
  • #SCREENAREAWIDTH@n# is the width of the display resolution.
  • #SCREENAREAHEIGHT@n# is the height of the display resolution.

New in Rainmeter 1.1 Rev 306 (Nov 2, 2009)

  • The default value for the UpdateRate in the WebParser is now 600 (=10 mins).
  • Fix for the ToggleiTunes command in the iTunesPlugin.
  • The IgnoreRemovable now defaults to true (1) which should help with the missing disk errors.
  • Added Themes submenu to the Rainmeter's context and tray menus.
  • Variables can be used under the [Variables] section (as long as they have been defined before the current variable is read).
  • Changed RainThemes to automatically create a theme called "AutoSave" which will contain your current setup.
  • The windows stay visible with Windows 7 Aero Peek.
  • WebParser reads the resource now only if it has been modified. This can be overridden with ForceReload=1.
  • !RainmeterRefresh and !RainmeterQuit are now handled only during the event loop since they can crash the application if executed during Update().
  • It's now possible to use the measures as if they were variables (use [MeasureName] instead #VariableName#). Set DynamicVariables=1 for all meters and measures which refer to other measures.
  • New bang !RainmeterSetVariable can be used to change the value of a variable (DynamicVariables must be 1 in places where the variable is used).
  • Skin information and instructions can be added to [Metadata] section.
  • Aspect ratio of the image is preserved when the image is scaled.
  • New RANDOM function in the CALC measure type.
  • Fonts can now be stored in RainmeterFonts or with the skin and not "installed" in Windows.
  • Added support for style sections. MeterStyle can be used in meters to read the values from the style section.
  • Added support for the middle mouse button (MiddleMouseDownAction / MiddleMouseUpAction)
  • The skin files can read other files with @include statement.
  • If native transparency is enabled the windows are not refreshed anymore when settings change but they are just moved to the correct location.
  • Added a version check for the skins which come with Rainmeter so they can be upgraded.
  • Path and filename of the file created by Debug=2 in WebParser is now configurable with Debug2File="[Path]filename.ext"
  • The standard "hand pointer" mouse cursor is shown when you hover over a meter with any "MouseAction" on it or a button.
  • Added #CURRENTCONFIG# as a "built-in" variable.
  • Fixed: [Measure] contained in Action in Measure and Meter are not replaced when reading skins. They are replaced only when executing action.
  • Fixed: When the designation of Drive is wrong, a strange volume label is indicated.
  • The !bangs can be now used from command line even if there are no active configs.
  • Included RainBrowser to the build.
  • WiFiStatus: Added a variable called WifiListLimit=X that allows you control how many access points to display at a time
  • WiFiStatus: Removed all popup errors, all debugging messages now sent to Rainmeter log file
  • WiFiStatus: Fixed some memory leaks 7 and Vista users were facing

New in Rainmeter 1.0 (Aug 14, 2009)

  • Diskspace can be checked from the removable drives too.
  • Time measure didn't show correct week number. Fixed.
  • New plugins: RecycleManager and iTunesPlugin
  • SysInfo plugin updated with 11 new SysInfoTypes.
  • SysInfo IP Address extened to select active interfaces
  • The help couldn't be opened if Rainmeter was installed to a folder with spaces. Fixed.
  • Added support for transition frames for the bitmap meter.
  • Some Vista specific fixes: Rainmeter.ini and Rainmeter.log are now written to %APPDATA%Rainmeter and editing the skins will ask for admin privileges.
  • When Rainmeter is started the first time the default skin is activated automatically.
  • New build in variables: #WORKAREAX#, #WORKAREAY#, #WORKAREAWIDTH#, #WORKAREAHEIGHT#, #SCREENAREAWIDTH#, #SCREENAREAHEIGHT#, #PROGRAMPATH#, #SETTINGSPATH#, #SKINSPATH#, #PLUGINSPATH#, #ADDONSPATH# and #CURRENTPATH# (this is the path where the ini file that is currently read is located).
  • Math formulas can be used to define the window position and the meter dimensions (the formula must be surrounded in parenthesis).
  • If there is a file called Default.ini in the program folder it will be used as the default settings file for new users.
  • The location of the settings file (rainmeter.ini) can be defined as a command line argument.
  • Meters have now support for a transformation matrix.
  • New !bangs: !RainmeterPluginBang and !RainmeterQuit.

New in Rainmeter 0.14b (Aug 14, 2009)

  • Webparser parses the files as UTF8 by default. The codepage can be changed with CodePage.
  • Added proxy support for the webparser.
  • The reference measures in Webparser can use RegExps to parse the substring.
  • Fixed few graphics problems with the images.
  • Fixed the background rendering bug and incompatibility problem with DynamicWindowSize.
  • Some !bangs didn't work during the first update cycle. Fixed.
  • Fixed SSID and BANDWIDTH in the WirelessPlugin.
  • WindowMessagePlugin uses PostMessage instead of SendMessage so now you can control Rainmeter with it too :-).
  • Fixed couple of crashes with !RainmeterRefresh-bang.
  • The plugin folder can be defined with RainmeterPluginPath in step.rc.
  • The AdvancedCPU can show the process that currently takes the most CPU time.
  • Substitutes are applied in the order they are defined.
  • Fixed a crash with the PingPlugin and added TimeoutValue which defines the value on timeout.
  • QuotePlugin can scan subfolders and it's possible to filter the files by extension.
  • The tray meter can load directly icon files.
  • Fixed hit test in BITMAP measure when alignments are used.
  • Format in TIME measure can show the time and date as locale specific string.
  • Added OnRefreshAction which is executed when the config is refreshed.

New in Rainmeter 0.13b (Aug 14, 2009)

  • Compiled as Unicode so this is Win2k/WinXP only from now on.
  • Removed wharf interface. Use !RainmeterLsBoxHook instead.
  • Some code optimizations.
  • Updated the PCRE-library in WebParser.
  • WebParser: Debug=2 Dumps the downloaded data to a file (C:WebParserDump.txt).
  • Fixed crash bug when plugins were used as the tray measure.
  • UpdateDivider didn't work in meters. Fixed.
  • Empty substitutes are now also possible.
  • Added button meter, which should make button creation easier.
  • Removed size limitation from the section names. It should be now possible to have as many meters and measures in the skins as you like.
  • Meter background can be drawn with a gradient fill (It's quite slow so don't overuse it).
  • R (i.e capital r) in the relative position makes the meter relative to the bottom (or right) edge of the previous meter.
  • Created a quote plugin for random texts and images.
  • Created a window message plugin that allows to control other applications (e.g. Winamp).
  • Created a ping plugin for network status checking.
  • STRING meter calculates its size automatically.
  • The window size can be recalculated dynamically with DynamicWindowSize.
  • It's possible to use the string value of the measures in the actions.
  • Quoted paths work with !Execute-bang
  • MaxValue works in all plugins.
  • Configs can use environment strings.
  • Added fade effects. Set FadeDuration=0 to disable them.
  • The memory measures can show >4GB values correctly.
  • The tray histogram's colors can be changed.
  • Tray can show also a bitmap meter.
  • Snap to Edges snaps to other meter windows too
  • Added Angle to string meter.
  • Fixed the 4GB addition bug with cumulative net measures (I hope :-)
  • Font size does not change anymore with the screen DPI.
  • Added Format to Uptime measure.
  • Added BackgroundMargins and scalable background images (Use BackgroundMode=3)
  • WebParser checks references only in the same config file and not in all active configs.
  • Shift, alt and ctrl-keys don't disable mouse events anymore (except the "Hide on mouse over")
  • The drag area can be defined with DragMargins
  • Added Flip to bar meter.
  • Added "Keep on Screen"-option which makes the window to stay inside the monitor.
  • ClickThrough can be disabled with Shift-key.
  • Added ErrorString to WebParser.
  • Negative values should work with the MBM5 plugin.
  • Added IfEqualValue and IfEqualAction.
  • Added Label to the DiskSpace measure which will return the drive's label as string.
  • Mouse clicks to the tray icon can execute bangs now.
  • The about dialog shouldn't have a scrolling problem anymore.

New in Rainmeter 0.12b (Aug 14, 2009)

  • Fixed !RainmeterLsBoxHook.
  • Position changing from the menu works a bit better now.
  • Mouse over actions didn't work unless the window was set to draggable. Fixed.
  • Added automatic update checking (it can be enabled from the about dialog).
  • Sending bangs to deactivated config shouldn't crash Rainmeter anymore.
  • Fixed a typo: ValueReminder -> ValueRemainder (the old one works still too)
  • Added LineStart to the roundline-meter.

New in Rainmeter 0.11b (Aug 14, 2009)

  • The OnDesktop setting wasn't read from the config file correctly. Fixed.
  • Meter position can be defined relatively to the previous meter by adding 'r' to the end if the value (e.g. X=10r).
  • Fixed autoscaling with NumOfDecimals=0.
  • Added Format to LIFETIME in PowerPlugin.
  • Added STATUS2 to PowerPlugin, which is the same as STATUS except that the BatteryFlag in SYSTEM_POWER_STATUS is returned as is.
  • Fixed finalization in the plugins.
  • Calc-measure's Counter is separate for each active config.
  • Fixed TrayIcon.
  • Added handling of MaxValue to WebParser.
  • IMAGE meter's W and H can be used to scale the image.
  • Width of the STRING meter is handled correctly for right and center aligned text.
  • Mouse leave checks transparent pixels.
  • The WebParser can be now used to download images from the net.
  • Refresh all updates the skin-list so it's not necessary to restart Rainmeter anymore when installing new skins.
  • Fixed a crash bug with HISTOGRAM meter.
  • All substitute strings were not used always. Fixed.
  • Added "Show Log File" to context menu.
  • Spaces in config names should now work correctly. Use quotes around the name in !bangs.
  • Use * as config name in bangs to send the command to all active configs.
  • Added !RainmeterToggleConfig-bang.
  • Added BarBorder to the BAR-meter.
  • Rainmeter reads now the whole folder structure of the Skins-dir (i.e. skins can be placed into subfolders).
  • Date for local time wasn't calculated correctly. Fixed.

New in Rainmeter 0.10b (Aug 14, 2009)

  • Fixed a bug in PowerPlugin (the max value of STATUS was set incorrectly).
  • Inverted measures sometimes gave negative values. Fixed.
  • MBM5plugin's MHZ didn't work. Fixed.
  • Added CPU speed measure into the PowerPlugin too. This one measures the current MHz of the processor.
  • Fixed a memory leak in Perfmon and in AdvancedCPU plugins.
  • Improved the about dialog.
  • Created ROTATOR meter, which rotates images.
  • Added menu items for config & skin editing (opens the ini-file in editor).
  • Added TimeZone and DaylightSavingTime to Time measure.
  • Most of the values are now doubles instead of integers. This also means that there might be some inaccuracy with very large values (e.g. diskspace).
  • MaxValue and MinValue can be defined for all measures.
  • Time measure converts the Format to value (e.g. if Format=%S, a meter bound to it shows values from 0 to 59).
  • MaxRegValue is gone. Use MaxValue instead.
  • Sysinfo plugin detects now Windows 2003 too.
  • Variables can be defined in [Variables] section for 'easy' customization of the configs.
  • Added possibility to change the string values with substitute strings.
  • Meter's transparency can be changed with AlphaValue.
  • Added a click through feature (works only with native transparency).
  • Added Total to FreeDiskSpace and the memory measures.
  • Added LineWidth to the Line meter.
  • Added Flip to Histogram and Line meters.
  • Made the string meter multibindable. Several values can be displayed with Text-keyword.
  • Added MouseOverAction and MouseLeaveAction to the meters and main window.
  • Implemented Calc measure, which can calculate math formulas. The measures can be used as variables.
  • Added Solid to the ROUNDLINE meter, which draws a pie.
  • Moved the Update setting from Rainmeter.ini to the skin's ini-file so that skin can determine it's update speed.
  • AverageSize can be used to measures an average value (the parameter is the value window size)
  • UpdateDivider works for meters too.
  • If the image meter is bound to a measure it tries to load the image named after the value (that is returned as string).
  • Added !RainmeterResetStats-bang.
  • Fixed !RainmeterZPos-bang when executed without Litestep.
  • Added ClipString to the string meter.
  • AlwaysOnTop=2 keeps the window on top of other topmost windows (like to taskbar).
  • AlwaysOnTop=-2 keeps the window on desktop.
  • DesktopWorkArea can be used to change the desktop's work area.
  • String meter displays the battery time in HH:MM:SS-format (or "Unknown", if it not supported)
  • Removed !RainmeterChangeConfig and added !RainmeterActivateConfig and !RainmeterDeactivateConfig
  • Added a tray icon. It can be bound to a [TrayMeasure] in Rainmeter.ini.
  • The tray icon can be disabled with TrayIcon=0.
  • Meters can be moved with !RainmeterMoveMeter.
  • Window position can be overridden with RainmeterWindowX and RainmeterWindowY in step.rc.
  • Configs can use AppVersion to inform that they need a specific version of Rainmeter to run.
  • The config editor can be changed with ConfigEditor=editor.exe in Rainmeter.ini (don't use spaces in the filename).
  • New Help!

New in Rainmeter 0.9b (Aug 14, 2009)

  • Fixed a bug in the ini-file parsing routine.
  • Created a PowerPlugin for laptop battery information.
  • Selecting the network interface didn't work. Fixed.
  • The general config and skin's config are separated into different ini-files.
  • Added RainmeterSkinPath step.rc command, which sets the path to the skin folders.
  • Skins are read from Skins-folder by default (instead of the main folder).
  • The about dialog now shows all the active measures.
  • Removed GatherStatistics. Stats are now always gathered if a measure supports that.
  • Added Cumulative to net meters.
  • Added AntiAlias to line meter and string meter.
  • All colors can now have 4 parameters, where the last one is the alpha value.
  • Added a round line meter that can be used draw analog VU-meters and such.
  • Added Autoscale to the histogram meter.
  • Added support for native W2k/XP transparency.
  • Implemented a median filter in the automatic max value tracker to strip out the spikes.
  • !Execute bang works now also with the standalone version of Rainmeter.
  • Added BackgroundMode option.
  • Added SolidColor & BevelType options to the meters and the main window for a solid color background.
  • Added few new bangs: !RainmeterMove, !RainmeterZPos, !RainmeterAbout, !RainmeterRedraw and !RainmeterLsBoxHook.
  • The string meter can be used to draw normal text if it's not bound to anything (just use the Prefix/Postfix).
  • Added AllowNegativeCoordinates option to allow the use of negative coordinates.
  • Snapping now works on all monitors (thanks to Owain Cleaver for the patch).
  • Fixed the MBM5plugin to work with the newer version of Motherboard Monitor.
  • Added CPU and MHZ to the MBM5plugin.

New in Rainmeter 0.8b (Aug 14, 2009)

  • Rainmeter is not anymore dependant on lsapi.dll. It only uses lsapi.dll's functions if ran as Litestep plugin.
  • The position is not updated to the ini-file if the file has changed.
  • Added possibility to choose the measured network interface.
  • Negative coords were saved as very high positive values. Now they should be saved as zero.
  • Added a autoscaling line meter that can display multiple histograms.
  • Added RainmeterCurrentConfig and RainmeterCurrentConfigIni step.rc commands that can used to set a specific config.
  • Added MBM5MaxValue for the MBM5 plug-in.
  • Fixed a bug that didn't reset the AlwaysOnTop state of the window after refresh.
  • AlwaysOnTop has now three possible values: -1 puts the window always on bottom, 0 is normal window positioning and 1 puts it always on top.
  • Changed the compilation settings and the DLL is a quite a bit smaller now.
  • Plugins can display string values now too.
  • Created a SysInfo plugin that displays all kinds of data (IP number, OS version, etc.).
  • The about dialog is now modeless.
  • Fixed a memory leak in perfmon.dll
  • Created a AdvancedCPU plugin that allows include/exclude processes in % Processor Time.
  • Added SnapEdges option that snaps the window the the screen edges when moved.
  • Added NumOfDecimals option for the string meter.
  • Added !RainmeterToggle bang.

New in Rainmeter 0.7b (Aug 14, 2009)

  • Fixed a bug with histogram meter's bitmap blitting.
  • IfAboveAction and IfBelowAction didn't work. Fixed.
  • Added BitmapZeroFrame option to BITMAP meter.
  • Added build-in commands for playing sounds in actions.
  • Added NetTotal measure.
  • Added TrafficAction and TrafficValue to execute actions after certain amount of net traffic.
  • Added Hidden option to meters and Disabled option to measures
  • New plugin: MBM5plugin, which measures MBM5 data (temperature, fans and volts).
  • Added Image meter, which just shows one image.
  • Fixed a bug in Perfmon.dll that prevented measuring counters that do not have instance names.
  • Added !RainmeterHideMeter, !RainmeterShowMeter and !RainmeterToggleMeter to change visiblity of individual meters.
  • Added !RainmeterDisableMeasure, !RainmeterEnableMeasure and !RainmeterToggleMeasure to change status of individual measures.
  • The registry measure is now able to access also other keys than just the ones under HKEY_CURRENT_USER.
  • The ini-files inside subfolders do not have to be named as Rainmeter.ini (anything that ends with .ini works).
  • The same subfolder can contain several configuration ini-files.
  • The !RainmeterRefresh can now get the config name and the inifile as arguments.
  • Added !RainmeterChangeConfig bang.
  • Negative coordinates are saved as zero to prevent the window to be placed off screen.
  • Added UpdateDivider for measures.
  • The Rainmeter.exe can be used to send !bangs to the Rainmeter (but only Rainmeter bangs!).
  • Fixed vertical bar meter (should grow, not slide).
  • Fixed a bug: histogram values were drawn one pixel too short.
  • The left and right mouse actions can be defined also per meter.

New in Rainmeter 0.6b (Aug 14, 2009)

  • Fixed a bug that made the CPU-meter to go 100% after refreshing on Win9x.
  • It is not necessary to name the config file as "Rainmeter.ini", anything that ends with ".ini" will do. Note that this only applies if the name of the config file is defined explicitely.
  • If the previously used config cannot be found anymore, the first one is used instead.

New in Rainmeter 0.5b (Aug 14, 2009)

  • IMPORTANT! The configuration file format has been changed and the old ini-files do not work anymore! Also some of the config keywords have been changed.
  • Structural changes to the code (now it is easier to maintain).
  • Added GatherStatistics, which is currently only supported by the NetIn/Out-measures.
  • Added Plugin measure for external counters. Check the source code for example plugin.
  • Added Registry measure, which can get data from a given registry key.
  • Added button up actions (RightMouseUpAction and LeftMouseUpAction) and renamed the down actions as RightMouseDownAction and LeftMouseDownAction
  • Added support for actions that are executed when a measure goes above/below certain value.
  • Removed the PerfMon measure because of incompatibilities with NT4. The PerfMon measure is now implemented as Rainmeter plugin.
  • Added Time-measure.
  • Colors can now be defined also as hex values in RGB-format (e.g. FontColor=FFCCDD).
  • The position of the window can be stored into the ini-file automatically.
  • Added support for multiple configurations. The configs can be changed from context menu.

New in Rainmeter 0.4b (Aug 14, 2009)

  • If the maximum value for the meters (e.g. NetInSpeed) is not given it is determined automatically from the input.
  • All measures can be displayed as percentual strings.
  • Added uptime-measure. Usable in a string-meter only!
  • Added two new meters: Bar and Bitmap.
  • Added !RainmeterRefresh bang.
  • Added left and right mouse button actions.
  • Now it is possible to define the location (and the name) of Rainmeter.ini-file in the step.rc with RainmeterIniFile.
  • Added context menu, which can be used to refresh the window and quit the program if ran as standalone.
  • Added possibility to use images as the backgrounds for the histogram graphs.
  • Small adjustments so that Rainmeter can run in a lsbox as *WharfModule. Dunno if it also works in a real wharf.

New in Rainmeter 0.3b (Aug 14, 2009)

  • Added support for NT performance data.
  • Added support for measuring free disk space.
  • Added possibility to display the measure values as plain strings.
  • Added automatic scaling for the string values.
  • Added possibility to invert the values (e.g. measure allocated disk space instead of free space).
  • Improved mouse over hiding.
  • Now it is possible to start Rainmeter hidden.
  • Added support for Litestep's Revision ID.

New in Rainmeter 0.2b (Aug 14, 2009)

  • Rewrote (almost) everything.
  • The CPU & memory are now measured a bit different way.