I feel like this is much more complicated than you make it out to be.
Here is some code to get the fade effect without a window icon. Use Shift+Tab.
#SingleInstance force
#NoTrayIcon
SetBatchLines, -1
SysGet, VirtualWidth, 78
SysGet, VirtualHeight, 79
Transparency := 0
Fade := 0
Settimer, GUI2AlwaysOnTop, 10 ; Keep gui 2 on top
Gui, 1: Default
Gui, Color, 0x000000 ; Color to black
Gui, +LastFound +AlwaysOnTop -Caption +E0x20 ; Click through GUI always on top.
Gui, 1: +owner
WinSet, Transparent, %Transparency%
Gui, Show, x0 y0 w%VirtualWidth% h%VirtualHeight% ; Cover entire screen, may have to adjust X if you have multiple monitors
Return
Shift & Tab::
If (Fade:=!Fade)
FadeIn(500, 40)
Else
FadeOut(500)
Return
FadeIn(TotalTime = 500, TransFinal = 255)
{
StartTime := A_TickCount
Loop
{
Transparency := Round(((A_TickCount-StartTime)/TotalTime)*TransFinal)
WinSet, Transparent, %Transparency%, ahk_class AutoHotkeyGUI
if (Transparency >= TransFinal)
break
Sleep, 10
}
}
FadeOut(TotalTime = 500)
{
StartTime := A_TickCount
Loop
{
Transparency := ((TimeElapsed := A_TickCount-StartTime) < TotalTime) ? 100*(1-(TimeElapsed/TotalTime)) : 0
WinSet, Transparent, %Transparency%, ahk_class AutoHotkeyGUI
if (Transparency = 0)
break
Sleep, 10
}
}
GUI2AlwaysOnTop:
Gui, 2: +AlwaysonTop
return
A good amount of the GUI code is from SmartBright. I've had these fade functions around, I know I modified someone else's script to my liking, but I cannot find the source.