Bubbles Screen Saver - Change Settings

How to Change the "Bubbles Screen Saver" Settings in Windows 7 and Windows 8​

   Information

By default the Bubbles screen saver has no settings to set in the Screen Saver Settings window in Windows 7 and Windows 8. However, you can change the Bubbles screen saver settings through the registry instead. This will show you how to.

   Note

The default location of the Bubbles screen saver file is at:

C:\Windows\System32\Bubbles.scr.

   Tip

You will just need to play with the settings below and adjust the Value Data (step 8) until you get the desired affect from the selected DWORD Name (step 5).

EXAMPLE: Bubbles Screen Saver

OPTION ONE

To Restore the Default Bubbles Screen Saver Settings

1. Click/tap on the download button below to download the file below.Restore_Default_Bubbles.reg


Download



2. Save the .reg file to your desktop.

3. Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

4. Click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK when prompted.

5. When finished, you can delete the downloaded .reg if you like.

OPTION TWO

To Customize the Bubbles Screen Saver Settings

1. Press the Windows+R keys to open the Run dialog, type regedit, and press Enter.

2. If prompted by UAC, then click /tap on Yes.

3. In regedit, navigate to the location below. (See screenshot below)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Screensavers\Bubbles

4. In the right pane, right click on a empty area, and click/tap on New and DWORD (32-bit) Value. (see screenshot above)

5. Type in a DWORD Name from the table below that you want to change and press Enter.

DWORD Name	Value Data	Description
MaterialGlass	0 or 1	Set this value to 0 for solid bubbles, 1 for transparent bubbles.
Radius	1130000000 to 1090000000	For smaller or larger bubbles. Higher value number for larger bubbles.
ShowBubbles	0 or 1	Set this value to 1 for current desktop background, 0 for black desktop background.
ShowShadows	0 or 1	Set this value to 1 to enable, 0 to disable bubble shadows.
SphereDensity	1000000000 to 2100000000	For more or less bubbles on screen. Higher value number for more bubbles.
TurbulenceForce	1000000000 to 2000000000	How strong the "wind" is on your screen. 1000000000 = No turbulence, and bubbles move inertially in straight lines until they hit something. 1100000000 = very slight turbulence, not really noticeable but enough to keep the pattern changing. 1150000000 = noticeable turbulence; the screen starts to look as if small gusts of wind are batting the bubbles about. 1200000000 = strong turbulence, with whirls of bubbles whipping about all over the place.
TurbulenceNumOctaves	1 to 255	For how fast the bubble colors are distributed on the screen. Higher value number for faster color change.
TurbulenceSpeed	1000000000 to 2000000000	Affects how quickly colors change across the screen. This is most noticeable with a screen well packed with little bubbles. 1000000000 = bubble that's stationary or barely moving will change color very slowly. 2000000000 = stationary bubble will change quite rapidly.

6. Double click/tap on the DWORD Name (from step 5) to modify it.

7. Dot Decimal, type in the Value Data you want in the table above, and click/tap on OK. (see example screenshot below)

8. Repeat steps 4 to 7 to change another available DWORD Name option.
NOTE: You can add and customize one, a few, or all of the available options if you like (see table below step 6), but only add one instance of each DWORD Name in step 5 to prevent problems.

9. Close Regedit when done.

That's it,
Shawn Brink

Related Tutorials

---

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• How to Change the "Mystify Screen Saver" Settings in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Change the "Ribbons Screen Saver" Settings in Windows 7 and Windows 8

 

[Mark]

Nice work unlocking all these settings, do you think you can post a download link for all the mods in place as well, Thanks heaps!!!

 

[Brink]

Hi Mr GRiM,

I do not know,they may be to variable and subjective to.

Folks would only want to add the DWORD names that they want to change, then they may like a different setting.

 

[Mark]

I will do some Beta testing for you if you like, lol

 

[Brink]

LOL, there's nothing to test though.

 

[crazydude007]

Shmecksy.

 

[Mark]

I was having a look around and I came across an interesting file C:\Windows\System32\en-US\Bubbles.scr.mui which I opened with ResHacker and I took some screenshots to show you and I would like to know if you can some how enable these options.

 

[Brink]

Hi MR GRiM,

I do believe that cannot be enabled without MS doing it. The tutorial will allow you to set these through the registry though. The display settings here would have to be done through the normal display settings if available with the driver.

 

[Kitti Ritter]

Curious

Please explain the necessity for the merge. Would it work the same by going directly to the registry and making the changes?

 

[Brink]

Hello Kitti Ritter, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Yes, you can manually restore the default settings in the registry if you like. The REG file (contents below) download is just to make restoring the default settings easier to do. That's all.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
 
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Screensavers\Bubbles]
 
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Screensavers\Bubbles]
 
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Screensavers\Bubbles\Screen 1]
 
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Screensavers\Bubbles\Screen 2]

 

[Kitti Ritter]

Thanks for the tutorial. My bubbles are just the way I like them now.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Kitti. Just don't pop to many now.

 

[DocBrown]

Is there a list of add on screen savers here at SevenForums?

 

[Brink]

Hi Doc,

I'm not sure of what you mean? There's a list of ones you can modify in the related tutorials list in the tutorial if that's what you mean.

If not, then you can add free screen savers to install in Windows 7 from these links: WinCustomize: Screen Savers Gallery or 3Planesoft - Premium 3D Screensavers

 

[Tyenot]

Hello,

Nice Tut. I have one problem trying these effect. I don't have the bubbles folder in my registry. Sorry for the large photo I'm not very good at inserting images.

 

[Brink]

Hello Tyenot,

Doing OPTION ONE in the tutorial will restore the "Bubbles" key for you. Afterwards, you should be able to change the settings in OPTION TWO.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Tyenot]

Thanks Brink.

Worked like a charm.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Tyenot. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted.

 

[NoTopo]

This is great information! When I initially installed Win 7 I had the bubbles flaoting over our desktop, and we loved it. Mysteriously, after reinstalling most of our applications, the bubbles went back to the black background. I have tried the registery edits, and an HTML based GUI program, I even ran the zip found here to return to the defaults. I can change all parameters except the background, very frustrating as that is the only parameter I wanted to change in the first place.
Any suggestions? One thing I noted. In my regiistry under Bubbles there are Screen 1 and Screen 2. I have a dual screen card card, but am running only one monitor right now.

 

[Brink]

Hello NoTopo, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Usually the background should be whatever it was when the screensaver is turned on with the bubbles floating over it as you descibed.

You might see if uninstalling anything that you installed since it was working properly to see if one of them may be the cause if the screen saver works properly after the progam was uninstalled.

You could also do a system restore using a restore point date when the screen saver worked properly, then start installing the programs one by one and test after each one to see if it still works or not.

Hope this may help,
Shawn