Setting ShaderGlass to cover entire active display without overlapping windows menus / notifications

[schenker-dr]

I will update this guide with images whenever I have time but I hope this small guide can help you with whatever small retro PC project you have.
To whoever, please feel free to edit or take and improve these notes.

I am writing this small guide on how to set up your displays in order to have ShaderGlass cover the entire display and not having Windows break the immersion that the program offers with its filters.

I prepared a retro pc lookalike for somebody and these were my findings after reading the following comment:
#181 (comment)

Recommended for people that want to have a permanent CRT feeling while using their PC.

If you are using Win10 this should also get rid of the annoying yellow borders that appear from the overlay.

---

1. Get https://github.com/VirtualDrivers/Virtual-Display-Driver
2. Install and run the driver installation.
3. Right after confirm that the driver is detected in your device manager as a new display device.
4. If the installation went successfully you should be able to set up an additional display in the windows display settings.

Now comes the tricky part:

5. Clone your current display to the new virtual display as a starting point.
6. Then extend displays and set your virtual display as the primary display.

I recommend that you have the taskbar active in both displays.
Because the virtual display will not be visible for you, make sure you are able to move windows from one display to the other in an easy way.
If you struggle in this part or have difficulties with the displays, use the Win + P key combination to switch between display modes and gain back control.

7. Open ShaderGlass and move the window to your secondary "real" display monitor.
8. Then go to the Output menu and select Mode -> Clone.
9. If the ShaderGlass window is not capturing your virtual desktop, go to the Input menu and select the virtual display in the Desktop sub-menu.
10. Once you confirm that ShaderGlass is reflecting the primary display, toggle full-screen mode.
11. Move your cursor to your virtual main display.

---

Now you should be able to see whatever is rendered in your virtual main display with the shaders from ShaderGlass applied on top, without windows menus on top nor other immersion breaking layouts popping over your filters.

💡 If you notice that your cursor is doing nothing and does not look affected by the filter, you will simply have to move your mouse to your other virtual display.

💡 I recommend that you set your "real" actual display to the bottom left diagonally from the virtual desktop in your windows display settings.
That way when you move your mouse it will not be thrown around from one display to the other if horizontal or vertical and will have to feel out the corner to move it from one area to the other.

💡 Use 800x600 resolution or whatever divine resolution you like to use.

❤️ Thank you for this wonderful software @mausimus

[mausimus]

Hey @schenker-dr , that's great to hear and you're welcome! Thanks so much for writing the guide, much appreciated. 🤜🤛
I've cleaned up the discussions section a bit, it'd be great to have some sort of knowledgebase but I haven't figured out the best way to do it yet, this is a great start though.