diff --git a/osu.Desktop/app.manifest b/osu.Desktop/app.manifest
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2e9127bf44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/osu.Desktop/app.manifest
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+<asmv1:assembly manifestVersion="1.0" xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" xmlns:asmv1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" xmlns:asmv2="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v2" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:asmv3="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
+  <assemblyIdentity version="1.0.0.0" name="osu!" />
+  <trustInfo xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v2">
+    <security>
+      <requestedPrivileges xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
+        <requestedExecutionLevel level="asInvoker" uiAccess="false" />
+      </requestedPrivileges>
+      <applicationRequestMinimum>
+        <defaultAssemblyRequest permissionSetReference="Custom" />
+        <PermissionSet class="System.Security.PermissionSet" version="1" Unrestricted="true" ID="Custom" SameSite="site" />
+      </applicationRequestMinimum>
+    </security>
+  </trustInfo>
+  <asmv3:application>
+    <asmv3:windowsSettings xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2005/WindowsSettings">
+      <dpiAware>true</dpiAware>
+    </asmv3:windowsSettings>
+  </asmv3:application>
+</asmv1:assembly>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/osu.Desktop/osu.Desktop.csproj b/osu.Desktop/osu.Desktop.csproj
index 453cf6f94d..01e4ada2f1 100644
--- a/osu.Desktop/osu.Desktop.csproj
+++ b/osu.Desktop/osu.Desktop.csproj
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
     <Title>osu!lazer</Title>
     <Product>osu!lazer</Product>
     <ApplicationIcon>lazer.ico</ApplicationIcon>
+    <ApplicationManifest>app.manifest</ApplicationManifest>
     <Version>0.0.0</Version>
     <FileVersion>0.0.0</FileVersion>
   </PropertyGroup>
diff --git a/osu.Game.Rulesets.Osu/Skinning/OsuLegacySkinTransformer.cs b/osu.Game.Rulesets.Osu/Skinning/OsuLegacySkinTransformer.cs
index 479c250eab..f5b7d9166f 100644
--- a/osu.Game.Rulesets.Osu/Skinning/OsuLegacySkinTransformer.cs
+++ b/osu.Game.Rulesets.Osu/Skinning/OsuLegacySkinTransformer.cs
@@ -49,7 +49,11 @@ namespace osu.Game.Rulesets.Osu.Skinning
                     return this.GetAnimation(component.LookupName, true, false);
 
                 case OsuSkinComponents.SliderFollowCircle:
-                    return this.GetAnimation("sliderfollowcircle", true, true);
+                    var followCircle = this.GetAnimation("sliderfollowcircle", true, true);
+                    if (followCircle != null)
+                        // follow circles are 2x the hitcircle resolution in legacy skins (since they are scaled down from >1x
+                        followCircle.Scale *= 0.5f;
+                    return followCircle;
 
                 case OsuSkinComponents.SliderBall:
                     var sliderBallContent = this.GetAnimation("sliderb", true, true, "");
diff --git a/osu.Game.Tests/Visual/Gameplay/TestScenePlayerLoader.cs b/osu.Game.Tests/Visual/Gameplay/TestScenePlayerLoader.cs
index 74ae641bfe..dbea8d28a6 100644
--- a/osu.Game.Tests/Visual/Gameplay/TestScenePlayerLoader.cs
+++ b/osu.Game.Tests/Visual/Gameplay/TestScenePlayerLoader.cs
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ using System;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.Linq;
 using System.Threading;
+using System.Threading.Tasks;
 using NUnit.Framework;
 using osu.Framework.Allocation;
 using osu.Framework.Audio;
@@ -19,6 +20,7 @@ using osu.Game.Overlays;
 using osu.Game.Overlays.Notifications;
 using osu.Game.Rulesets.Mods;
 using osu.Game.Rulesets.Osu;
+using osu.Game.Rulesets.Osu.Mods;
 using osu.Game.Rulesets.Scoring;
 using osu.Game.Scoring;
 using osu.Game.Screens;
@@ -55,6 +57,9 @@ namespace osu.Game.Tests.Visual.Gameplay
             beforeLoadAction?.Invoke();
             Beatmap.Value = CreateWorkingBeatmap(new OsuRuleset().RulesetInfo);
 
+            foreach (var mod in Mods.Value.OfType<IApplicableToClock>())
+                mod.ApplyToClock(Beatmap.Value.Track);
+
             InputManager.Child = container = new TestPlayerLoaderContainer(
                 loader = new TestPlayerLoader(() =>
                 {
@@ -63,6 +68,24 @@ namespace osu.Game.Tests.Visual.Gameplay
                 }));
         }
 
+        /// <summary>
+        /// When <see cref="PlayerLoader"/> exits early, it has to wait for the player load task
+        /// to complete before running disposal on player. This previously caused an issue where mod
+        /// speed adjustments were undone too late, causing cross-screen pollution.
+        /// </summary>
+        [Test]
+        public void TestEarlyExit()
+        {
+            AddStep("load dummy beatmap", () => ResetPlayer(false, () => Mods.Value = new[] { new OsuModNightcore() }));
+            AddUntilStep("wait for current", () => loader.IsCurrentScreen());
+            AddAssert("mod rate applied", () => Beatmap.Value.Track.Rate != 1);
+            AddStep("exit loader", () => loader.Exit());
+            AddUntilStep("wait for not current", () => !loader.IsCurrentScreen());
+            AddAssert("player did not load", () => !player.IsLoaded);
+            AddUntilStep("player disposed", () => loader.DisposalTask?.IsCompleted == true);
+            AddAssert("mod rate still applied", () => Beatmap.Value.Track.Rate != 1);
+        }
+
         [Test]
         public void TestBlockLoadViaMouseMovement()
         {
@@ -196,6 +219,8 @@ namespace osu.Game.Tests.Visual.Gameplay
         {
             public new VisualSettings VisualSettings => base.VisualSettings;
 
+            public new Task DisposalTask => base.DisposalTask;
+
             public TestPlayerLoader(Func<Player> createPlayer)
                 : base(createPlayer)
             {
diff --git a/osu.Game/Screens/Play/GameplayClockContainer.cs b/osu.Game/Screens/Play/GameplayClockContainer.cs
index ff78d85bf0..58c9a6a784 100644
--- a/osu.Game/Screens/Play/GameplayClockContainer.cs
+++ b/osu.Game/Screens/Play/GameplayClockContainer.cs
@@ -214,10 +214,13 @@ namespace osu.Game.Screens.Play
             base.Update();
         }
 
+        private bool speedAdjustmentsApplied;
+
         private void updateRate()
         {
             if (sourceClock == null) return;
 
+            speedAdjustmentsApplied = true;
             sourceClock.ResetSpeedAdjustments();
 
             if (sourceClock is IHasTempoAdjust tempo)
@@ -239,7 +242,12 @@ namespace osu.Game.Screens.Play
 
         private void removeSourceClockAdjustments()
         {
-            sourceClock.ResetSpeedAdjustments();
+            if (speedAdjustmentsApplied)
+            {
+                sourceClock.ResetSpeedAdjustments();
+                speedAdjustmentsApplied = false;
+            }
+
             (sourceClock as IAdjustableAudioComponent)?.RemoveAdjustment(AdjustableProperty.Frequency, pauseFreqAdjust);
         }
     }
diff --git a/osu.Game/Screens/Play/PlayerLoader.cs b/osu.Game/Screens/Play/PlayerLoader.cs
index 87d902b547..57021dfc68 100644
--- a/osu.Game/Screens/Play/PlayerLoader.cs
+++ b/osu.Game/Screens/Play/PlayerLoader.cs
@@ -55,7 +55,9 @@ namespace osu.Game.Screens.Play
 
         protected override bool PlayResumeSound => false;
 
-        private Task loadTask;
+        protected Task LoadTask { get; private set; }
+
+        protected Task DisposalTask { get; private set; }
 
         private InputManager inputManager;
         private IdleTracker idleTracker;
@@ -159,7 +161,7 @@ namespace osu.Game.Screens.Play
             player.RestartCount = restartCount;
             player.RestartRequested = restartRequested;
 
-            loadTask = LoadComponentAsync(player, _ => info.Loading = false);
+            LoadTask = LoadComponentAsync(player, _ => info.Loading = false);
         }
 
         private void contentIn()
@@ -250,7 +252,7 @@ namespace osu.Game.Screens.Play
                     {
                         if (!this.IsCurrentScreen()) return;
 
-                        loadTask = null;
+                        LoadTask = null;
 
                         //By default, we want to load the player and never be returned to.
                         //Note that this may change if the player we load requested a re-run.
@@ -301,7 +303,7 @@ namespace osu.Game.Screens.Play
             if (isDisposing)
             {
                 // if the player never got pushed, we should explicitly dispose it.
-                loadTask?.ContinueWith(_ => player.Dispose());
+                DisposalTask = LoadTask?.ContinueWith(_ => player.Dispose());
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/osu.Game/Skinning/SkinnableDrawable.cs b/osu.Game/Skinning/SkinnableDrawable.cs
index 9ca5d60cb0..fda031e6cb 100644
--- a/osu.Game/Skinning/SkinnableDrawable.cs
+++ b/osu.Game/Skinning/SkinnableDrawable.cs
@@ -29,13 +29,13 @@ namespace osu.Game.Skinning
         /// <param name="defaultImplementation">A function to create the default skin implementation of this element.</param>
         /// <param name="allowFallback">A conditional to decide whether to allow fallback to the default implementation if a skinned element is not present.</param>
         /// <param name="confineMode">How (if at all) the <see cref="Drawable"/> should be resize to fit within our own bounds.</param>
-        public SkinnableDrawable(ISkinComponent component, Func<ISkinComponent, Drawable> defaultImplementation, Func<ISkinSource, bool> allowFallback = null, ConfineMode confineMode = ConfineMode.ScaleDownToFit)
+        public SkinnableDrawable(ISkinComponent component, Func<ISkinComponent, Drawable> defaultImplementation, Func<ISkinSource, bool> allowFallback = null, ConfineMode confineMode = ConfineMode.NoScaling)
             : this(component, allowFallback, confineMode)
         {
             createDefault = defaultImplementation;
         }
 
-        protected SkinnableDrawable(ISkinComponent component, Func<ISkinSource, bool> allowFallback = null, ConfineMode confineMode = ConfineMode.ScaleDownToFit)
+        protected SkinnableDrawable(ISkinComponent component, Func<ISkinSource, bool> allowFallback = null, ConfineMode confineMode = ConfineMode.NoScaling)
             : base(allowFallback)
         {
             this.component = component;
diff --git a/osu.Game/Skinning/SkinnableSprite.cs b/osu.Game/Skinning/SkinnableSprite.cs
index e225bfc490..5352928ec6 100644
--- a/osu.Game/Skinning/SkinnableSprite.cs
+++ b/osu.Game/Skinning/SkinnableSprite.cs
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ namespace osu.Game.Skinning
         [Resolved]
         private TextureStore textures { get; set; }
 
-        public SkinnableSprite(string textureName, Func<ISkinSource, bool> allowFallback = null, ConfineMode confineMode = ConfineMode.ScaleDownToFit)
+        public SkinnableSprite(string textureName, Func<ISkinSource, bool> allowFallback = null, ConfineMode confineMode = ConfineMode.NoScaling)
             : base(new SpriteComponent(textureName), allowFallback, confineMode)
         {
         }
diff --git a/osu.Game/Skinning/SkinnableSpriteText.cs b/osu.Game/Skinning/SkinnableSpriteText.cs
index e72f9c9811..567dd348e1 100644
--- a/osu.Game/Skinning/SkinnableSpriteText.cs
+++ b/osu.Game/Skinning/SkinnableSpriteText.cs
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ namespace osu.Game.Skinning
 {
     public class SkinnableSpriteText : SkinnableDrawable, IHasText
     {
-        public SkinnableSpriteText(ISkinComponent component, Func<ISkinComponent, SpriteText> defaultImplementation, Func<ISkinSource, bool> allowFallback = null, ConfineMode confineMode = ConfineMode.ScaleDownToFit)
+        public SkinnableSpriteText(ISkinComponent component, Func<ISkinComponent, SpriteText> defaultImplementation, Func<ISkinSource, bool> allowFallback = null, ConfineMode confineMode = ConfineMode.NoScaling)
             : base(component, defaultImplementation, allowFallback, confineMode)
         {
         }