Screensavers With XNA and .NET?

Question

I'm fairly sure you can create screensavers with.NET but are there any tutorials on doing so? and how well can you make XNA screensavers?

Answer 1

A screensaver is just an executable named that has been renamed '.scr' :) So yes, you can make one in whatever language you like, pretty much.

Answer 2

Here's a nice and small tutorial that explains how to create a screensaver with C#.

As already mentioned, a screensaver is just an executable with an .scr file extension instead of .exe. Additionally, if you want to create a useful screensaver, you should support these command-line arguments:

/c, /c:HWND, /c HWND: Configuration mode where HWND is the handle to the window that should be used as the parent.
/p, /p HWND: Preview mode where HWND is the handle to the parent window.
/s: Run in full-screen mode

Answer 3

James O'Meara has created a nice XNA Screensaver Starter Kit which is a great resource for learning how to create a screensaver with XNA. Detail including the downloads are in the XNA forum here. I recommend reading the comments too, as there are some good tips on how to show the screensaver in the preview window also.

Answer 4

Today, I have posted an updated starter kit at the XNA forum here. The update consists of XNA GS 3.1 support, working preview and modal configuration dialog.

Tonight, I will write an article describing the different aspects here: http://doktormadsen.dk/wp/xna-screensaver-kit/.

Update: the article is now drafted and comments are very welcome.

Answer 5

For a simple tutorial try Useful screensavers which also explains how to do the preview mode which is generally left out of any accounts

Answer 6

There is an XNA 3.1 screen saver kit on the second page of this thread.

http://forums.xna.com/forums/t/254.aspx

Answer 7

I've written a fully functional screen saver that takes into account some of the more obscure details that they don't normally tell you about. You can view the source code and a wiki explaining the details.