Plasma 6 + Wayland: Maximized windows cause unwanted darkening (even with Breeze Dark EOS theme)
Hi all,
I’m running EndeavourOS with KDE Plasma 6 on Wayland, and I’ve encountered a frustrating visual issue.
Whenever I maximize certain windows (like WzTerm, but others too), the entire screen — including the maximized window itself — becomes darker. It seems like some kind of dimming or contrast effect is being applied.
What I’ve already tried:
Disabled all relevant desktop effects via System Settings: Background Contrast, Dim Inactive, Blur
Tried changing every visual or compositor-related setting I could find in System Settings
Using the Breeze Dark EOS theme, but also tested standard Breeze and Breeze Dark
Verified that the widget style is set to Breeze (not Kvantum):
kreadconfig6 --file kdeglobals --group KDE --key widgetStyle
Disabled opacity settings in the app itself (e.g. in wezterm.lua):
window_background_opacity = 1.0
Also tested with:
wezterm --no-startup-config
No change
Confirmed that this behavior happens with other apps too, not just WezTerm
None of this has helped. I’m starting to suspect it’s something related to Wayland and how Plasma 6 handles maximized window rendering with the EOS theme or default settings.
Question:
Is there a way to completely disable this dimming behavior when windows are maximized?
Or is this a known limitation or design choice in Wayland or Plasma 6?
No, it has nothing to do with the monitor at all.. I’ve checked it, and it’s also unlikely. I know that I’ve previously set a setting somewhere like “light to environment/background” or something similar, but I can’t find it again.. So if I open a window that is very dark, it gets much darker, but if I close it, it goes back to normal…
As I said, this is really annoying, as soon as I open a window or a website with a completely black background, everything gets darker. Please, help me, I’m going crazy!
The transparency you mean ? I don’t have this issue with my terminal. At least i did not notice it. Will try it out later for you to check it out and will report back.
Huh? No. watch the clip in full screen and you’ll notice that when I have my windows maximized the light goes down and when I restore it it gets brighter again, then it stays that way, and if it’s a completely empty terminal for example it gets even darker.. You don’t see what’s happening if you don’t watch the clip in full screen mode…
and as I said, it’s the same thing if I use a web browser that shows a very dark page, etc.
The video looks completely normal, there’s no dimming. If you have some dimming going on with dark content it probably also affects playing the video your side only.
Just for a sanity check I would create a new user - to test the plasma defaults - and test if it happens there.
Are you kidding me? Well, I see it clearly in the clip, but as I said only in full screen, otherwise I don’t see it… but if it’s not in the clip, it shouldn’t show it to me exactly when it happens in the clip if you’re in it, I mean.. hehe, well, a check on my mental status, I’m starting to think about it, honestly, when you claim that you don’t see it… I’ve also logged in with a script that doesn’t see it either, maybe something is starting to become a problem with the screen or my graphics card..
To be honest, I also have a tough time to see something out of the ordinary within that video.
May I ask which opacity settings you’re using for your panel settings ? Adaptive, opaque or translucent ?
I’ve got the impression that you’re in adaptive mode. And that you may want to change it to opaque.
There are effects that are not captured by screen recording, for example if you use Night Light. So it’s possible there’s something going on that you can’t record (except with an external camera pointed at the monitor).
Personally I’m not aware of any build-in plasma feature that even optionally would dim the screen on dark content. I’m only aware of such features from displays with dynamic backlight adjustment.
This is sick.. You’re right, it doesn’t show up in the video on other screens / machines, I created a new user and recorded the same error, when I watch in full size it happens, but it only happens on my screen, not in the clip.. This is very annoying..
Just right click on the panel itself would open up the panel configuration via the context menu. And you can’t miss the opacity settings there, essentially.
I’ve focused on the panel within the video and there are minor differences if you watch closely, and my guess is that it’s set to adaptive.
hehe, no problem, it’s almost a bit comical… I started to doubt myself for a while, but it’s been going on for a while now, so I’m pretty sure that what I’m seeing is happening..
No, I don’t have any opacity on the panel etc, all I have is a little bit of it only in the config for WezTerm.. Where can I change adeptive somewhere, because I really can’t find it anywhere, and I’ve searched properly all I’ve found is that you can turn it off with POWERDEVIL_NO_DDCUTIL=1 and Shift + Alt + F12
I started to doubt myself for a while, but it’s been going on for a while now, so I’m pretty sure that what I’m seeing is happening..