Bundle SplashScreenSourceFile Support

[WesBonner]

I'm using Wix v5.0.2

I have a couple of questions about the SplashScreenSourceFile attribute on the Bundle element.

Is it possible to get the splash screen image to be transparent? I've tried using star_transparent.bmp from the test folder. I've also tried star_transparent.png and it isn't being displayed at all. I've had no luck with the images I've created either.

Can I do anything to make the splash screen appear sooner? My bundle is 1.3GB in size, which is why the startup is slow. During the first run the splash screen doesn't appear until ~5 secs after running and only appears for moment just prior to the main window appearing. Subsequent runs are much faster. The target machines this will eventually be put on are much slower than what I'm testing with, so I expect a much slower startup time, which is why I'd like to let the user know the installer is loading.

[bevanweiss]

I haven't dealt with this aspect of bundling, but I suspect your issue is the size of the bundle package.
1.3GB will take quite a while to extract and verify before anything can be actioned (think of how long a 1.3GB zip file would take to extract).
Even more so if you're using 'strong' compression to get the package size down.

So ideally you'd try to keep just the core requirements (your BA, any resources etc) in a separate small package that has fast decompression.

Now, it's possible that you might run into some limitations in what the WiX Burn engine provides in this regards, in which case you could help make it better (either your own code contribution, or paying the likes of FireGiant for similar).

Since I don't really know much about the WiX authoring for this (or the current limitations), the best I can do is link you to some issues discussing it:
#4889
#7490
#8029

[bevanweiss]

Is it possible to get the splash screen image to be transparent? I've tried using star_transparent.bmp from the test folder. I've also tried star_transparent.png and it isn't being displayed at all. I've had no luck with the images I've created either.

This might be a limitation of the current Burn code around the Splashscreen.
https://github.com/wixtoolset/wix/blob/ae4c3947277a5c05368276c31bc2cd562d7580bb/src/burn/engine/splashscreen.cpp#L305

Which is currently using LoadBitmapW
It might be that migrating it to use LoadImageW as Microsoft recommend in the LoadBitmapW documentation will handle the transparent bitmaps better.

I'm not sure how much of the code would need updating with such a change from LoadBitmapW => LoadImageW however..
https://stackoverflow.com/a/60222653/2535822