⚠️⚠️⚠️ This is the big one that finally fixes the Sequoia/Tahoe black screen issues. However, because of the required changes to fix this, it's incomplete and missing a bunch of features so read on for more details. Support for this on Discord, or report issues on github ⚠️⚠️⚠️
Do not install this if you changed the cache location (to a NAS or an external drive for example and this is important to you). Unless there's a LOT of demand, and because of secutiry restrictions, it is unlikely to come back in the future. Like alpha4, this build moves everything to /Users/Shared/Aerial and will offer migrating data from the container.
Starting now and in the future, /Users/Shared/Aerial will be the unique place for anything Aerial, all your data will be stored there.
🚨🚨🚨 WARNING : 🚨🚨🚨
- DO NOT LAUNCH THE APP FROM YOUR DOWNLOAD FOLDER. After you download the app, move it to your
/Applicationsfolder (or if you want to test things, you can try~/Applications, it's untested but should work). You will have issues if you move around the app, so pick one and stay with it, or the new screensaver will not work.
What's new :
- Aerial screensaver is now an App Extension, and no longer relies on the (extremely buggy)
legacyScreenSaver.appexthat causes black screens and many other issues since a few . Aerial now uses the private screensaver API that Apple has used since macOS 10.15 but still hasn't shared publicly. This fixes most of the extremely annoying issues we've suffered over the years. In macOS screensaver settings, the new version appears as "Aerial4" alongside the "old" Aerial. If you have installed alpha 4, you can switch between the two if you want, both share the same settings/cache. If you have NOT installed alpha 4, it's NOT recommended to switch back and forth between the two as it will create two caches and settings. - The screensaver is automatically "installed" when you download and launch the new app. It's also automatically udpated when you update Companion. Next alpha should bring automatic updates via Sparkle again which should solve those issues.
- New (to be massively improved later, consider it a placeholder) UI for the popover menu of Aerial Companion. Should still be 100% functional until I rework it :
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The Popover will tell you if the screensaver is not set as default. Press the set button to enable it. It should work immediately (it takes a few seconds to register and you will see your wallpaper flashing, that's part of how macOS changed the way screensavers and wallpapers interact right now), if it doesn't let me know in Discord. Restarting your mac (once) can help if you moved the app around (but please don't do that).
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In the popover there are now 2 separate sets of settings, the "old" one that still has 99% of the settings and is the "cog" icon at the top-ish right of the popover. The new settings (bottom row, second icon) is where new settings are available, and everything will move there soon as I finish rewriting it.
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New "My videos" feature to very simply add your own videos to be played. You can drag videos in the UI, or move the files by yourself. It's available in the "new" settings (see above). You can also change the title of the video by clicking on it (this shows as the 'location' overlay for My Videos) :
Known issues/Various gotchas :
- Screen detection is likely broken for at least some people. Spanned mode (and others) will likely be broken for some time until I figure some things out.
- Many overlays don't work in the screensaver. Only Clock/Date/Location work in this alpha. Weather may work if you set the location by typing your city, I'm not sure the location will work otherwise for now. Message, music and others will not show up. They will come back as I need to rewrite those.
- On Tahoe, if you use the desktop feature, when exiting the screensaver it will not automatically resume the desktop video playback. This will be fixed in next alpha and is likely limited to Tahoe.
Important :
- If things don't work, open the "new" settings and look at the checklist on top. You should get buttons to resolve issues if any. (register/enable). Report this on discord/github as I try to get a better understanding of things.
- You can be sure you are running the new version if you see a version number at the bottom corner of the screen when you start the screensaver. It disappears after a few seconds and will be removed in the future.
This has been in the making for a lonnnng time. It's still early, so there will be issues on top of what's mentionned above. Be kind.