Need Help Troubleshooting a Slow DesktopX Theme

Same in DX2 and DX3 Public Beta

Hi,

The theme in question is Latin4567's Longhorn Slate 405 Link.

It causes major slowdowns in certain apps - namely the expansion and contraction of flyout folders in ODPlus and lots of things in Photoshop 7.

System:
P4 3.0 GHz w/HT
1024 MB RAM
4 very fast Ultra ATA and SATA hard drives
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro with 5.2 Catalyst drivers
Dual ViewSonic 19" LCD monitors (1 connected to the 9800's VGA output and one to the DVI output)

Symptoms:
ODPlus: flyout menu animation is slow - a full 2 seconds to draw one level of folders.

Photoshop 7:
1. Slow to load - lingers at "Sorting Font List..." I'm unsure if that's what's happening or if the Fonts have been sorted and it is the next step, "Initializing Palettes" that is causing the long wait. This occurs on initial app launch after boot or on subsequent launches (when caching would normally speed things up).
2. Open a layered .psd file in PS.
3. Double-click a layer thumbnail to open the Layer Styles dialog. It takes seven seconds for the dialog to appear.
4. Screen update and redraw is slow, too.

What I've tried:
1. Unloading DesktopX: ODPlus and PS return to normal speed.
2. Loading a simpler, less complex theme: ODPlus and PS return to normal speed.
3. Loading a different, but similarly complex theme: ODPlus and PS return to normal speed.
4. Systematically deleting objects and graphics from the Longhorn Slate 405 theme: performance for ODPlus returns sooner than PS, but both require almost all elements to be deleted. If I leave the text objects until last, or if I leave the graphic objects until last, the result is the same: almost all objects have to be deleted before performance in ODPlus or PS return to "almost" normal.
5. Delete each and every object and item from the theme. Everything. It isn't until everything has been deleted that full normal speed returns to ODPlus and PS.

Questions:
Am I going about this all wrong?
Does anyone have any insight as to what can be added/changed/removed from this theme to restore normal performance?

I know there are different LH themes I could use, but I really like this one because it goes so well with Ian's LH Slate WB. I want to get it working, and learn more about DesktopX at the same time.

Thanks for any help,

Jeff

desktopx

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One other clue:

I have no system tray objects in my DesktopX theme, nor in ODPlus. The skinned Widows Taskbar tray hides and unhides the tray icons very slowly. You...can...watch...each...icon...appear...and...disappear.

Thanks,

Jeff

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I think the answer is too many theme objects at the "Normal" Z-order level. If I move a bunch of graphics and text and shortcuts to the "Desktop" level then the speed of the tray, PS and ODPlus return to normal. But with this theme, you have to be careful, because if you move key elements to the desktop level then applications will not respect the bar's position when they are maximized.

Cheers,

Jeff

PS - I don't know exactly which items are "key" and which are not, but it involves several hidden (not visible) objects. I kept moving objects to the desktop level until I got normal performance and maximized respect, and then I stopped.

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