SAWStudio / SAC User Group

There are a number of other extra spaces that need to be removed as well, so use some caution.

[quote="UpTilDawn"]I know nothing about this, but is the word AWARE supposed to be broken with a space in this line? It isn't in the line before it.[/QUOTE]

Right you are - and good eye. For some reason, that is the way the forum is rendering it. I just went back to edit the original post and it put the space back in. I'll try it again:

"C:\\SAWStudio64\\SAWStudio64.exe"="~HIGHDPIAWARE"

...what is even weirder is it didn't do it to the previous line. Maybe there is an overlap with the forum engines markup language?


EDIT: I typed in HIGHDPIAWARE by hand, so a curiosity of V-Bulletin. And if anybody has applied this, you should navigate in with regedit and fix it, or make a .reg file of just that key with the corrected value and re-apply it.

[quote="jmh"]... "C:\\SAWStudio64\\SAWStudio64.exe"="~HIGHDPIAW ARE"
...[/QUOTE]

I know nothing about this, but is the word AWARE supposed to be broken with a space in this line? It isn't in the line before it.

I applied those registry changes to my machine. [I]Initially it looked like crap[/I], but in addition to:

sysdm.cpl > Advanced > Performance;
Manually check [B]"Show window contents while dragging"[/B]

...in that same window, I also checked [B]"Smooth edges of screen fonts"[/B] (edited) - [I]and it looked good again[/I].

I haven't tested it extensively, but on a single edl during playback I opened many instances of the same and different juce plugin displays (which is a recipe for display freeze-up) freely opening and closing and adjusting them many times. This is quite suggestive to me that this is a fix - but I'll wait till I've got some more mix time before making that call.

[quote="jmh"]Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; 1. GLOBAL SYSTEM STABILITY (Applies to both 32/64-bit)
; Disables HAGS to prevent DPC Latency spikes and audio stutters
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers]
"HwSchMode"=dword:00000001

; Disables window animations to keep the GUI message thread responsive
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"UserPreferencesMask"=hex:90,12,03,80,10,00,00,00
"MinAnimate"="0"

; Sets Visual Effects to "Best Performance"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects]
"VisualFXSetting"=dword:00000002

; 2. DPI SCALING OVERRIDES (Fixes "Dark/Unresponsive" JUCE GUIs)
; Replace the paths below with your actual install locations
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers]
"C:\\SAWStudio\\SAWStudio.exe"="~HIGHDPIAWARE"
"C:\\SAWStudio64\\SAWStudio64.exe"="~HIGHDPIAWARE"

; 3. GPU PREFERENCES
; For 32-bit: Power Saving (1) is safer for legacy JUCE OpenGL
; For 64-bit: High Performance (2) is better for modern 4K plugins
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\DirectX\UserGpuPreferences]
"C:\\SAWStudio\\SAWStudio.exe"="GpuPreference=1;"
"C:\\SAWStudio64\\SAWStudio64.exe"="GpuPreference=2;"


_____________________________________


[LIST=1]
[*][B]Manual Tweak:[/B] The registry cannot reliably re-enable "Show window contents while dragging." After running this file, it is highly recommended to:
[LIST]
[*]Open [B]Performance Options[/B] (sysdm.cpl > Advanced > Performance).
[*]Manually check [B]"Show window contents while dragging"[/B]. This specifically prevents JUCE plugins from "white-boxing" or freezing when you move their windows.
[/LIST]

[/LIST]

Added EDIT (not originally in quote):Check [B]"Smooth edges of screen fonts"[/B] too.

Added EDIT (not originally in quote): If you cut and paste this, it won't work - it is rendered wrong.

[/QUOTE]

I am following this as I also have some strange graphic stuff going on with some plugins. There is one HOFA plugin in particular that shows these symptoms. I can't even get the VST3 version to open within SAW. Yet all the others I use from HOFA have no problems at all.

It will be interesting to see if these registry changes work.

Usage Note,

I had been playing around with these types of generated responses while doing a bit of programming. I found there would be mistakes inserted here and there It's like having an assistant that gets a 99 on an exam - gets his grrade then goes. But getting that last 1% right on code you didn't write may be just as hard as doing from scratch. So I would check the text carefully.

Another approach might be for whoever tests this first may be to do the changes by hand with regedit, then export those keys and repost them. I, for one, will be thrilled if this nails down this issue.

Thanks. Will give it a try.

Searching regarding the juce plugin interface becoming unresponsive just resulted in this discussion:
(if you try this, I'd back up the registry beforehand first so you can roll it back - I'm away at the moment so can't try it myself)
( you would save the following in a file like changes.reg with any changes as noted.)

EDIT4A: I'm in the editor, and there is no [B]spaces scattered around[/B] - but they render on the forum, as people have noted. It is probably quicker to apply these by hand than to edit a .reg file.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; 1. GLOBAL SYSTEM STABILITY (Applies to both 32/64-bit)
; Disables HAGS to prevent DPC Latency spikes and audio stutters
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers]
"HwSchMode"=dword:00000001

; Disables window animations to keep the GUI message thread responsive
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"UserPreferencesMask"=hex:90,12,03,80,10,00,00,00
"MinAnimate"="0"

; Sets Visual Effects to "Best Performance"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects]
"VisualFXSetting"=dword:00000002

; 2. DPI SCALING OVERRIDES (Fixes "Dark/Unresponsive" JUCE GUIs)
; Replace the paths below with your actual install locations
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers]
"C:\\SAWStudio\\SAWStudio.exe"="~HIGHDPIAWARE"
"C:\\SAWStudio64\\SAWStudio64.exe"="~HIGHDPIAWARE"

; 3. GPU PREFERENCES
; For 32-bit: Power Saving (1) is safer for legacy JUCE OpenGL
; For 64-bit: High Performance (2) is better for modern 4K plugins
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\DirectX\UserGpuPreferences]
"C:\\SAWStudio\\SAWStudio.exe"="GpuPreference=1;"
"C:\\SAWStudio64\\SAWStudio64.exe"="GpuPreference=2;"



___________________________________________________




so a file consisting all of the .reg changes would look like?
[B]Thinking[/B]

[B]Working on this[/B]

In 2026, the ideal
.reg file for [B]SAWStudio[/B] (both 32-bit and 64-bit) combines OS stability fixes with specific application overrides to ensure JUCE plugins render correctly.

Copy the following into Notepad and save it as SAWStudio_2026_Fix.reg.

[B]Note:[/B] You [B]must[/B] edit the paths in sections 2 and 3 to match your actual installation folders.
reg


Essential Post-Registry Steps for 2026:

[LIST=1]
[*][B]Double Backslashes:[/B] Ensure every directory in your paths uses \\ (e.g., C:\\Program Files\\...). ---- Edit: I think this refers to the .reg above
[*][B]Reboot:[/B] You [B]must restart Windows[/B] for the HwSchMode (HAGS) change to take effect.
[*][B]Manual Tweak:[/B] The registry cannot reliably re-enable "Show window contents while dragging." After running this file, it is highly recommended to:
[LIST]
[*]Open [B]Performance Options[/B] (sysdm.cpl > Advanced > Performance).
[*]Manually check [B]"Show window contents while dragging"[/B]. This specifically prevents JUCE plugins from "white-boxing" or freezing when you move their windows. [1][2]
[/LIST]
[/LIST]

EDIT5: Also check [B]"Smooth edges of screen fonts"[/B].



Why this is the "Best" Combination:


[LIST]
[*][B]HwSchMode=1:[/B] Reclaims CPU timing control from the GPU, which is critical for the sample-accurate assembly engine of SAWStudio.
[*][B]~HIGHDPIAWARE:[/B] Stops the OS from trying to "rescale" the plugin window, which is the #1 cause of the "Dark/Black" unresponsive GUI in JUCE.
[*][B]GpuPreference=1 (for 32-bit):[/B] Avoids complex NVIDIA/AMD driver handshakes that 32-bit legacy code cannot handle. [3]
[/LIST]


Edit: The preceding discussion suggested that these changes would actually result in slightly lower cpu consumption.
Edit2: Regarding the last point, [B]GpuPreference=1[/B] it suggested that this should also be done with intel cpus.
Edit3: Attempted to edit HIGHDPIAWARE - it was rendering with a space if you paste it into a file, make sure it looks right.

[quote="MMP"]Not user error. 30 track labels vanish in a second. Come back after reboot.[/QUOTE]
By unrelated, I meant to the blank plugin display.

Anyway, just throwing out possibilities. Here are another couple:

Could you have a keyboard or mouse macro selecting 'clear all mixer labels' in the mixer menu?

How about activating the default mix template (which I think impacts from the current hotkey down)? I'm not even sure how this is done off the top of my head.

Not user error. 30 track labels vanish in a second. Come back after reboot.