Flux Screensaver
Added 2024-03-03 23:06:01 +0000 UTCA mesmerizing screensaver inspired by something you may have seen on laptops named after a fruit. Drift off into a sea of soothing colors while your computer idles.
β¨ Features
- 3 color presets: Original, Poolside, and Plasma.
- NEW Custom colors sampled from your desktop wallpaper.
- Support for ultrawides and seamless multi-monitor setups.
- A real-time fluid simulation running on the GPU. Not a pre-recorded video. Not a web app either.
- Lifetime access & updates.
Check out the web version for a preview flux.sandydoo.me!*
(*) The web version has a lot of experimental options that aren't yet available in the native version. Send me a message if there's a specific option you'd like to see in the screensaver.
βοΈ System Requirements
Flux is a real-time fluid simulation. It should run at 60fps on most GPUs from the last decade, but here are a few things to keep in mind.
More fluid needs to be simulated for each monitor you connect.
Laptops with integrated graphics have limited capacity to drive high-resolution monitors. Running Flux on multiple 4k+ displays will likely cause the fans to spin up.
Minumum requirements:
- Windows 10 64-bit or later.
- An x86_64 CPU. Basically, Intel and AMD CPUs. Tablets with ARM CPUs wonβt work.
- OpenGL 3.3 or greater. In other words, any GPU released after 2010.
π Support
If you have any issues, reach out on Twitter or via email.
Thanks for supporting me! I hope you enjoy staring at it for hours on end like I do :)
If you don't have a Gumroad account, this link gives you access to the downloads page. Use it to check for updates!
π Support
If you have any issues, reach out on X or via email. I usually reply within a few days.
Please allow up to a week for me to respond as I may be busy. Do not send DM and email me at the same time.
β¬οΈ Downloads
LATEST stable version for Windows β v1.6.2 (23rd June 2024)
Downloads for previous versions are available down below.
BETA version for Windows β v2.0.0-beta-9 (15th July 2025)
Beta versions have the latest features and fixes, but may not work on all systems. Please report back any issues you encounter with the beta (email or X, not through reviews that I'll never see π€¦) ! Thank you!
Rewritten from the ground up to run on either Vulkan or DirectX 12. Improved performance, power efficiency, and compatibility with modern Windows features, like Auto HDR on Windows 11.
A new settings app that lets you change the colors, fluid parameters, noise profiles, and more.
Mouse position is no longer reset when exiting the screensaver.
[beta-7] Ensure that Fill mode always uses a separate submit queue to avoid blocking on present in multi-monitor setups.
[beta-8] Fix crashes caused by concurrent rendering.
[beta-8] Fix freezing preview window.
[beta-8] Fix issues opening the settings app if installed in a custom directory.
[beta-8] Disable window transparency to tackle inverted colors on Intel GPUs.
[beta-9] Fix artifacts in generated noise, particularly on Nvidia cards.
Previous betas
How to install
Using the installer
Download the installer (flux-screensaver-setup-v*.exe). Open the installer and follow the instructions.
Manually (Not officially supported in v2.0.0+).
Download the screensaver (Flux.scr). Save it somewhere where you can find it later, like your home folder. This part is important if you want to be able to uninstall the screensaver.
Right-click on the Flux.scr screensaver file.
Click Install.
On Windows 11, if the Install option is missing, click Show More Options and then Install.
How to remove
If you used the installer
Select Start > Settings βοΈ > Apps .
Select Flux from the list of applications and select Uninstall. Follow the instructions.
Manually
Find the Flux.scr file that you downloaded and installed. Delete the file and Flux should disappear from the screensaver options.
FAQ
Q: How do I receive updates?
A: New versions will be posted to Gumroad. You'll also receive an email with an announcement for big changes.
If you don't have a Gumroad account, use the download link in your email receipt to access updates.
Q: How do I change the colors/settings?
A: Go to βοΈ Settings > Personalization > Lock screen, and select Screen saver settings. Choose Flux from the drop-down list and select Settings to open the Flux settings windows.
Q: Can I use Flux with Wallpaper Engine?
A: Yes. Rename the Flux.scr file to Flux.exe and Wallpaper Engine should be able to run it. Pass the
/sflag to start the screensaver.Q: The screensaver disables HDR on my monitor. What can I do to fix this?
A: Use v1.5.0 or newer.
Q: My antivirus says that Flux.scr is not safe. What do I do?
A: This is a false-positive. You can safely whitelist Flux.scr in your antivirus software. Send me a message if this happens to you β I'd like to keep track of how often this happens.
Q: Task Manager is showing really high GPU usage when the screensaver is running. This is way more than I expected!
A: Most GPUs will significantly throttle down their clock speed whenever possible to reduce power consumption. GPU utilization reflects the load at the current clock speed, not the maximum clock speed. Tools like GPUZ can show you the clock speed, utilization, and power consumption of your GPU.
Changelog
v1.6.2 (23rd June 2024)
Updated the installer to install the screensaver to C:\Windows\System32. This works around issues in Windows 11 where the screensaver panel seems to lose track of the screensaver.
Updated the installer to launch the screensaver settings, instead of the Windows screensaver panel, which cannot be launched correctly from the installer.
Updated the installer to run the uninstaller before installing, if it exists.
Updated dependencies.
v1.6.1 (9th June 2024)
Fixed an issue where the cursor would be moved to the center of the screen after running the screensaver.
Configured the screensaver to log panics to the log file.
Added an option to set the log verbosity.
Added a button to open the directory containing the logs.
v1.6.0 (2nd January 2024)
Added a new option to use an image to sample colors from.
Added a new option to change how the screensaver works across multiple monitors.
Added a feature to brighten really dark images before sampling the colors.
Fixed an issue where only the desktop wallpaper from the primary display was used.
Added error handling during rendering. This might help with some Intel drivers crashing the screensaver.
Added the current version to the settings panel.
Updated dependencies.
v1.5.1 (26th September 2023)
Fixed a black screen issue on integrated Intel graphics.
v1.5.0 (23rd September 2023)
Fixed an issue with Auto-HDR turning off on Windows 11.
Fixed an issue where the screensaver exits randomly on Windows 11.
Fixed an issue where the window flickers and adjusts for several seconds on certain AMD cards.
v1.4.0 (28th March 2023)
Switched back to the windowing library that was used before v1.3. This fixes a number of issues that were reported, including Flux launching in a small window that didn't cover the entire screen or being offset from the top left corner of the screen.
Fixed an issue with the multi-monitor spanning logic that would create excessively large windows, negatively impacting performance.
Disabled the fade-to-black feature. It's currently incompatible with the windowing library mentioned above.
v1.3.3 (18th March 2023)
Fixed detection of high-DPI screens. May resolve an issue where Flux would not fill the entire screen.
Added support for systems that might not have the latest OpenGL features.
v1.3.2 (14 March 2023)
Fixed a window misconfiguration that would cause excessive GPU usage.
Re-enabled the fade-to-black feature.
v1.3.1 (14 March 2023)
Temporarily disabled the fade-to-black feature due to excessive GPU usage.
v1.3.0 (14 March 2023)
3 color presets: Original, Plasma, and Poolside.
Custom colors: Flux can now sample colors from your desktop wallpaper.
Fade to black: the screen gently fades to black when the screensaver launches.
and a ton of improvements behind the scenes to make future updates easier.
Previous versions
