Quite interesting as there is no sanctioned official release of 8.1. Even technet and msdn subscribers will not be getting this one early.

- Well, it seems Microsoft changed their tune regarding the RTM Release to Technet subscribers. Got it now..

It works fine for me.

There should be a new update to DeskScapes next week with further Windows 8.1 enhancements.

However any issues with video dreams will be codec issues. 

In my testing with Windows 8.1 Pro x64 RTM with Media Center, I've found this isn't the case. I'm capable of doing testing with video dreams by converting the MPEG-2 video dreams to other video formats (e.g MPEG-2 to WMV, AVI, etc.) and I can pretty much say the codecs isn't the issue. Windows 8.1 RTM without Media Center works perfectly with WMV video dreams for example. However, the second I add Media Center no dreams, not even the default ones provided with DeskScapes, will load at all. DeskScapes can't even apply normal wallpaper images after Media Center is added too. It either blacks out the background or doesn't do anything at all.

To test, I even did a clean Windows 8.1 RTM install and immediately added DeskScapes, and it works perfectly. But when I added Media Center, it just refuses to work. So Media Center is probably the key here. Just in case, this is my Windows 8.1 Pro RTM clean install procedure...

1. Install Windows 8.1 Pro x64 RTM using the default install key when asked (not using my legit Windows 8 key yet, just the default one so it'll install but not activate).

2. When Windows 8.1 Pro is booted, activate Windows 8.1 Pro using my legit Windows 8 key via the phone activation method.

3. After rebooting and verifying my Windows is activated, I install DeskScapes to confirm everything is working fine. I even reboot a few times and all is still well. All dreams, videos and wallpapers work just fine.

4. I then upgrade to Media Center (via the add features to Windows feature in the Control Panel) using my legit 8.1 WMC key when prompted, then rebooting a few times to let it install. After Media Center is successfully added, I have to re-verify the activation of Windows and when that's taken care of, I'm activated once again with only this time as Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center RTM x64.

5. DeskScapes, however is now broken. No matter what I do, no dreams, videos or wallpapers of any kind will load or can be applied once Media Center is installed and activated. The previews in DeskScapes for dreams, videos and wallpapers works fine. Sometimes when trying to apply a dream/video/wallpaper, the background blacks out suggesting that it's a codec issue. Installing codec packs and things as such doesn't make any difference and the fact that all dreams, videos and wallpapers worked completely fine before updating to Media Center suggest it's some sort of bug and not a codec issue at all.

So yeah, Media Center is indeed the key here to why it breaks. Keep in mind too that I'm not using MPEG-2 dreams/videos or trying to use them as I said above too. For my tests, I'm using dreams/videos that are encoded/created using the WMV codec that comes standard with Windows.

after 4 hours of looking at this from different angles it seems deskscapes 8.09  does not run at all well in 8.1 RTM

If I change to static wallpaper via Windows Personalise .. no problem

If I use Deskscapes .. theres an instant blackscreen .

Desktop icons "align to grid" function which is switched off works normally up to this point..

If I log off or reboot ,the deskcape screen appears normally but the icons on the desktop freeze & cannot be moved !

No .. Only Start 8 , Blinds 8 & Modern Mix

It works for me, EXCEPT there is no multi-monitor selection.  I can't choose which monitor to place the dream on.  I'm stuck with just the main monitor.  Lame.

I have Windows 8.1 Pro x64

Actually, now that I look at it, there is no apply button.  The only way I can change dreams is to directly click on the dream in the filesystem.

The blackout when applying any wallpaper is something I noticed over a month ago when the RTM was released on TechNet. It happens when running DeskScapes alone without any other Stardock programs.

But the devs probably are fully aware of the issue and are in the process of fixing it.

Just tried this and DeskScapes 8.0  seems to be working perfectly under Windows 8.1 General Availability Release (with Media Center). In fact, it is working better than it ever did under 7/8.0 because the Desktop icon text labels are now clear not fuzzy (although to be fair, I have a newer video card since I ran 8.0 as AMD and Adobe dropped support for Radeon HD4x series on 8.1 and Photoshop CC stopped working as a result).

Now, I was waiting on an 8.1 release because the forums gave the impression that the DeskScapes 8.09 Beta was there to make it work under 8.1 (implying that the 8.0 version was not safe to use). Now I am wondering if the Beta is just for new features such as an animated Desktop tile and animated backgrounds to the Start Screen?

I also seem to remember trying it on 8.1 RTM and having serious problems, but I have had so many things to do with the 8.1 migration it all seems a vague memory.

Or is it that Microsoft made it work on 8.1 with the GA patches without anyone noticing?

Of course, I would emphasise do not install DirectX 9 from non-Microsoft sites. Just use the DirectX 9.0c package provided on Microsoft.com - you can then be sure it is not compromised. At the moment I am not sure if my new 8.1 build has DirectX 9.0c either - I may be waiting until I install a program that needs it.