Playnite Boot Screen 0.8.1

Playnite Boot Screen 0.8.1

Version 0.8.1 focuses on a clearer first-time setup and more reliable Desktop-to-Fullscreen startup on systems that change display topology while Playnite is opening.

Highlights

• Guided Quick Setup — the main settings page now keeps the essential launch, video, and reveal controls together, with a compact Ready / Setup needed status in the header.
• Shortcut icon choices — PBS-managed Desktop and Start menu shortcuts can use the Playnite Boot Screen icon, the Playnite Fullscreen icon, or a custom .ico file copied into persistent extension data.
• Topology-aware Desktop → Fullscreen readiness — Switch mode refreshes the active Windows display layout while Playnite starts, so setups that move from Extended mode to a single TV/display no longer keep checking against a stale monitor snapshot.
• Safer Fullscreen window detection — PBS still prefers Playnite's MainWindowHandle, but can fall back to another visible top-level window owned by the exact Playnite Fullscreen PID when the main handle is temporarily pointing at a transient window.
• Safer video failure fallback — if Windows media playback fails during a display change, the failed video surface is hidden and PBS continues waiting for Playnite instead of leaving a frozen frame visible.

Compatibility

Existing 0.8.0 settings are migrated automatically. Existing installations keep the historical Playnite Fullscreen shortcut icon choice, while fresh installations default to the Playnite Boot Screen icon. Custom media, shortcut state, and streaming configuration remain compatible.

The dynamic display-topology refresh is limited to Desktop-to-Fullscreen Switch readiness; it does not retarget or move the PBS overlay. Manual monitor selection remains available for explicit overlay placement.

Runtime updated to 1.0.13.

Playnite Boot Screen 0.8.0 — Playback overhaul, WebM support & Aniki ReMake integration

Playnite Boot Screen 0.8.0

Version 0.8.0 focuses on predictable video completion, cleaner streaming startup, WebM compatibility, and better cooperation with Fullscreen themes and helpers.

Highlights

• New video-end behavior controls — reveal Playnite as soon as it is ready, wait for the video to finish, or loop until Playnite is ready.
• WebM compatibility — WebM files are exposed to the Windows media pipeline through a local MKV compatibility alias, without transcoding or FFmpeg.
• Improved Sunshine / Apollo / VibePollo startup — Preload primes and rewinds the decoder, then Continue restarts playback from the beginning.
• Aniki ReMake / Aniki Helper integration — compatible helpers can detect when PBS is already handling the startup intro and avoid playing a duplicate intro.
• Optional Aniki ReMake intro included — the extended intro is bundled as a selectable video while custom media remains fully supported.
• Safer streaming failure handling — an abandoned Preload now closes after 10 seconds, and a new Continue-entry log helps diagnose rare Detached launch failures.

Aniki ReMake integration

Playnite Boot Screen now publishes Local\PlayniteBootScreen.StartupIntroHandled.v1 while it is actively handling startup. Aniki Helper can use this marker to suppress its own startup intro for that launch, avoiding two intro videos back to back.

The integration is independent from the selected video: the bundled extended Aniki ReMake intro is optional, and PBS continues to work normally with custom videos and other themes.

Compatibility

Existing 0.7.x playback settings are migrated automatically. Existing shortcuts, custom media, and streaming configuration remain compatible.

Runtime updated to 1.0.9.

Playnite Boot Screen 0.7.1

Playnite Boot Screen 0.7.1

This maintenance hotfix corrects the Desktop-to-Fullscreen bootstrap cover on high-DPI and virtual displays.
Highlights:

• the temporary black handoff cover now resolves the selected monitor's physical position and resolution instead of treating DPI-virtualized WinForms bounds as physical pixels;
• the bootstrap cover is created under a temporary per-monitor DPI context, which is restored before the existing WPF boot overlay continues;
• this prevents the cover from appearing as a smaller black rectangle in the top-left corner before the video on high-scaling displays, including 4K virtual displays;
• the normal WPF overlay, video playback, Standalone flow, Sunshine/Apollo streaming flow, monitor selection, foreground handling, and log rotation are unchanged;
• no additional per-switch logging is introduced by this hotfix;
• runtime updated to 1.0.8.
  Existing shortcuts, custom media, settings, and streaming configuration remain compatible.

Playnite Boot Screen 0.7.0

Playnite Boot Screen 0.7.0

This feature release extends Playnite Boot Screen to Playnite's native Desktop-to-Fullscreen transition and hardens runtime updates.

Highlights:

• the configured boot video can cover Playnite's built-in Desktop-to-Fullscreen switch;
• the new switch integration is enabled by default and can be disabled from the extension settings;
• a lightweight on-demand black bootstrap cover bridges the Desktop closing phase to the existing WPF boot overlay, with no resident helper process;
• Playnite still owns and performs its native Desktop-to-Fullscreen transition; if the cover cannot be armed, the integration fails open and Playnite continues normally;
• the existing monitor selection, video playback, readiness detection, fade, cancellation, and foreground handling are reused for the switch path;
• managed runtime files are synchronized by content on Playnite startup, so an outdated or modified managed file is repaired even if the runtime version marker was not changed;
• runtime updated to 1.0.7.

Existing shortcuts, custom media, settings, and Sunshine/Apollo streaming configuration remain compatible.

Playnite Boot Screen 0.6.2

Playnite Boot Screen 0.6.2

This maintenance release hardens streaming foreground handling for the rare case where Playnite Fullscreen replaces its initially launched process during startup.

Highlights:

• Detached/Continue delegates foreground permission to the preload Host before exiting;
• the Host keeps tracking Playnite if the initially launched PID is replaced during startup;
• the final Playnite window receives foreground handoff attempts immediately before and after the boot-overlay fade;
• explicit Alt+Tab/yield behavior is preserved, so the launcher does not reclaim focus after the user intentionally switches away;
• existing Prep and Detached command strings remain unchanged;
• runtime updated to 1.0.6.

Existing shortcuts, custom media, settings, and streaming configuration remain compatible.

Playnite Boot Screen 0.6.1

Playnite Boot Screen 0.6.1

This maintenance release fixes foreground handling when Playnite Fullscreen is launched through streaming Prep/Detached commands.

Highlights:

• Detached/Continue now launches Playnite Fullscreen directly, preserving the normal Windows foreground launch context;
• the preload Host adopts the launched Playnite PID and keeps the boot overlay visible until Playnite is ready;
• fixes Playnite Fullscreen sometimes remaining behind a terminal or other foreground application after the overlay closes;
• existing Prep and Detached command strings remain unchanged;
• runtime updated to 1.0.5.

Existing shortcuts, custom media, settings, and streaming configuration remain compatible.

Playnite Boot Screen 0.6.0

Playnite Boot Screen 0.6.0

This update improves multi-monitor behavior and makes custom boot videos easier to manage.

Highlights:

• optional Follow Playnite Fullscreen setting monitor selection, read from Playnite's configuration in read-only mode;
• safe fallback to the last manual monitor choice when Playnite's display setting cannot be resolved;
• readiness detection on whichever monitor actually contains the Playnite Fullscreen window;
• a managed video list for supported files placed directly in the persistent Runtime\media folder;
• external video paths remain supported;
• standard-folder videos are stored in the runtime configuration using relative paths;
• new language-neutral extension icon;
• runtime updated to 1.0.4.

Existing shortcuts, streaming commands, custom media, and settings remain compatible.

Playnite Boot Screen 0.5.0

Playnite Boot Screen 0.5.0

First stable public release of Playnite Boot Screen.

Highlights:

• English 4K60 default boot video with configurable custom media;
• direct Desktop and Start menu shortcuts;
• optional full-video playback before revealing Playnite;
• Sunshine/Apollo-compatible streaming preload using Prep and Detached commands;
• Alt+F4 cancels the active boot sequence and stops the Playnite Fullscreen process started by it;
• Alt+Tab explicitly yields the overlay while automatic foreground changes from streaming launchers are ignored;
• English and Italian UI;
• hardened shortcut path handling and absolute Windows PowerShell resolution;
• clean, deterministic build and packaging output;
• managed runtime, diagnostics, and bounded log files.

Before reporting a streaming black screen, retry once with Playnite's default Fullscreen theme and attach both Playnite and Playnite Boot Screen logs.

v0.4.0

Changelog

All notable changes are documented here. Versions follow the Playnite extension manifest format.

[0.4.0] - 2026-08-04

Added

• Public name Playnite Boot Screen.
• English and Italian settings UI.
• Managed runtime installation under Playnite's extension data directory.
• Direct-launch shortcuts with a configurable name.
• Generic Sunshine/Apollo-compatible Preload and Continue commands.
• Optional wait for the natural end of the video.
• Volume control from 0 to 100 percent.
• Diagnostic summary copied without private paths or log contents.
• Runtime log rotation at 2 MiB with one backup.
• GitHub Actions build and tagged-release workflows.
• Playnite add-on database manifest templates.

Compatibility

• Existing plugin ID and settings are preserved.
• Legacy vibepollo runtime configuration is accepted in read-only compatibility mode.
• Playnite Desktop to Fullscreen switching remains supported.

Known limitations

• Fullscreen themes can fail to render correctly on some virtual displays. Test with Playnite's default Fullscreen theme when diagnosing a black screen.
• No global emergency hotkey is included in this version.