Fellow gamers and tuning fans, rejoice! Windows 11 should soon integrate settings to easily and centrally control the lighting of all the RGB devices that illuminate your PC!
We weren’t really expecting Microsoft in this field at the moment – as the integration of ChatGPT AI technology mobilizes all teams (see our article), but it seems that the publisher is taking more and more care of gamers for some time, and in particular in Windows 11. As soon as it arrived, the latest operating system from the Redmond firm promised to improve the use of the PC during gaming sessions thanks to special functions such as Auto HDR – an option which, as its name suggests, automatically configures the graphics of games exploited the display in very high dynamic range on compatible screens – or DirectStorage – a technique which decompresses data via the graphics processor (GPU) rather than ‘with the central processor (CPU) in order to accelerate the loading of increasingly heavy games – functions which have visibly convinced and won over the public concerned.
Admittedly, all is not yet rosy in the land of Windows 11, especially for gamers, who regularly encounter problems, such as the bug affecting the performance of computers equipped with Nvidia GPUs since the 22H2 update and that Microsoft was slow to admitpromising an upcoming but still vague resolution: “Some games and apps experience slower than expected performance or stutter on Windows 11, version 22H2. Affected games and apps inadvertently enable graphics card debugging features, which are not intended for consumer use ” , thus declared the publisher in a technical note at the end of January 2023.
RGB lighting: simple and centralized adjustments in Windows 11
In the meantime, gamers and PC tuning fans will be able to rejoice with the discovery of a surprising function that Microsoft should integrate into Windows 11 in the near future: RGB lighting management. In fact, for several years we have seen the multiplication on the market of components and peripherals of products equipped with color diodes – RGB for Red, Green, Blue, or RVB in French, for Red, Green, Blue – which light up to create a personalized atmosphere during gaming sessions, in particular: keyboards, mice, but also fans, memory modules, etc. A completely useless option on the functional level, but which transforms a PC into a Christmas tree or a “tuned” Golf, to the delight of amateurs.
The problem today is that each RGB element has its own configuration utility, which forces you to juggle the windows when you want to adjust the settings of several accessories – especially since some are buggy… This is where Microsoft intends to finally bring some order, by integrating centralized settings in Windows 11 for all RGB elements, regardless of their brand and nature. An excellent idea that should significantly simplify the use and customization of these decorative devices.
The news is not official, however: we owe the discovery of this future function to Albacore, a developer accustomed to dissecting pre-release versions of Windows, who unearthed it in build 25295 of Windows 11 and shared it on Twitter.
New settings for device lighting make an appearance in build 25295. Is this the beginning of the end for low quality RGB gamer gear apps? The spec for this is from 2018 and references to the feature have been around for years. Not canceled after all https://t.co/oG4JbKsoeB pic.twitter.com/bMtxCH8REo
— Albacore (@thebookisclosed) February 10, 2023
According to this well-inspired little curious, that Microsoft would have provided a new section allowing you to manage the ambient lighting of the PC in the customization options of Windows 11, the system also being able to automatically detect each element installed or connected having a RGB device! The editor would even have provided an option to synchronize the shade of RGB lighting with the accent color chosen in Windows.
If they are hidden by default in this build, these new settings can nevertheless already be activated with the ViVeTool utility and specific commands – vivetool /enable /id:35262205 And vivetool /enable /id:41355275. According to Albacore, they can then be found very easily in Windows 11 Settings –, Personalization, then Windows Lighting.
It’s not yet known when Microsoft will officially roll out this feature – likely in an upcoming update. But we imagine that the news will delight gamers… if everything works as expected, which is not a foregone conclusion with Windows 11!