[Skin] Rapier Clarity Mod (3.5.49)

[neohasse]

For the fanart, it's just because The menu starts out on the back button (unless you're using a different view and something is broken?)

I'm guessing that you're using 3.2.1, and recently added won't show up on the stable version because it requires the recently added script which I have removed (looking forward to 3.3). I've been meaning to get around to making an alternate patch for the home menu, I'll try to get around that soon as the new stable is lightning fast and I've been using that version for now.

FYI --- All you have to do to update is download the "Update 720p" from OP and replace the 720 folder via ftp...That should get you the missing thumbs.

I need to double-check which view I'm using.
And I'm using the newest nightly, 31727, so I see the "Recently added" on the homeview (is that what its called?), but what I meant was that instead of just one poster, have all four? I like eye-candy such as that. But I will try to figure out something new that you can use instead of just having the same look as Confluence. We need some original thinking here!

Also, the Aeon-Nox icon idea looks really sweet btw, we need to steal that!

You're not nagging when I'm asking for feedback, keep it coming (It's hard to catch every little detail when you're altering 90 windows of code)

Just glad to help out.

[whufclee]

If anyone want to take a look to see what I customised then feel free to take a look at the official thread here

Below is a video if you want to steal any ideas, sorry the sound goes a bit dodgy in places but v3 will be out soon so I'll have a new video for that in a few days.



EDIT: Oops uploaded the wrong video - you should be able to watch this one!

[Xphazer]

I can't see the video whufclee.
"This video contains content from UEFA, who has blocked it on copyright grounds."
Thanks anyway. ^^

[whufclee]

Oops sorry mate, good catch! Youtube deleted my first upload within minutes as it had a brief 2 second clip of a sports channel to prove it was working. Idiots.

I can't seem to find a way of deleting it from my youtube channel so that's why you accidentally had the link to that - hopefully this one will work for you

[byron]

@ neo...call it what you want, homeview works...Home.xml is the file. As far as recently added goes, I'm not opposed to that whatsoever. In fact, I think I'll have a play with that tonight when I'm done working. It shouldn't take too long to do, just a matter of changing it to a grouplist (something along the lines of confluence lite is what I'm thinking?). I only revamped the looks of the original structure because the whole concept is depreciated at this point, and it didn't make sense to mess with it other than making it fit with my style (and yes to save on RAM!). But in light of what whufclee has proposed...it makes sense for recently added to be changed, as well as adding plugins in somewhat the same manner of style (I'll check out SAF tonight and start working home screen plugins also). That's pretty sweet lee, I think that it would make a good addition...as always, how to do it without killing RAM? This skin has some to spare, and I have faith in ToDDS...

[whufclee]

That's pretty sweet lee, I think that it would make a good addition...as always, how to do it without killing RAM?

Well obviously the setup I use for non-xbox platforms isn't going to work with 64mb RAM but hopefully the video might give you a few ideas on what can be done. I really like the "Online" section for all the addons, it seems to be pretty popular with users I've spoken to on xbmchub. The random fanart I have going on obviously won't work on xbox but I'd imagine anything else you want to take from it should in theory be doable. If you need any of the artwork, icons or anything I've used in mine just PM me and you can have whatever you want.

Are the images you're using for the skin in dds format or do you mean you've used todds to convert all your fanart in your library? I remember doing quite a thorough test with and without dds when jpegturbo was introduced to xbmc4xbox and it only saved about 1mb and speed was pretty much the same. Back in the day it was loads quicker but since jpegturbo I've not been using it myself, maybe I need to revisit that.

[byron]

The random fanart I have going on obviously won't work on xbox but I'd imagine anything else you want to take from it should in theory be doable

That's not entirely true, I added conditional weather to the home menu and it toggles pictures every 10-15 seconds or so. They are scaled down a bit, but they still look really decent. I'm not sure how many images are in the package on the OP, but it's plenty and it works well.

Are the images you're using for the skin in dds format or do you mean you've used todds to convert all your fanart in your library?

I'm using .dds specifically for fanart and thumbs (homescreen backgrounds are 600x400 with photoshop free transform...that tool is amazing btw). I'm guessing that you read my tutorial, but the bonus is that it saves a bit of RAM...and more importantly it makes navigation SMOOTH AND FAST (with only a bit of quality loss). I understand what you're saying, but at the same time even mainline xmbc still uses .dds to compress fanart and tbns afaik. I must sound like a broken record about this crap, but it works. After watching the video I think the home screen add-ons is definitely gonna be in the works very soon, and I think it could be very similar to being identical to what you have with the help of ToDDS aiding the navigation of the thumbs on the homescreen, and taking the res down a notch on the fanart using "free transform" in PS.

I appreciate the offer, and if I need any of the stuff you've got I let you know...thanks. I gotta tell ya though, after watching that video it makes me realize how far I have to go to really make this thing current

[byron]

@ whufclee...Okay, so I checked out xtv-saf and saw what you were talking about...I still like what I saw on that video a lot more I'm going to just stick to my guns for now and try to get the home menu customizable up to Eden's standard's over the weekend (then worry about frodo). I'm in mid-stride with that right now, and I can't really switch gears so I'll wrap it up asap. I think at that point I can focus a bit more on that and try to figure out how to bump it up to a skin that is as mind boggling as what you have offered (but what I'm in the middle of right now is pretty much the framework for that to be possible/efficient).

@ neohasse...If you would like to take the code and personalize it for yourself by all means do it! That's how I got started on this crazyness in the first place. As for changing Recently Added...not gonna do it right now. It's fine the way it is IMO (efficient and non taxing like the rest of what I'm trying to accomplish), and I've got other agendas before I get to that...sorry buddy. Anything that I can do to help you learn I will, and others will more than likely help too. If you come up with something that you want me to incorporate in this skin, pm me or post the changes and I'll check them out...possibly include them.

As it stands right now though, it's running nicely so anyone looking for something new...please check it out

[whufclee]

Good luck mate, looks like you've got plenty to keep you busy

Just for clafification I wasn't suggesting you make it look like xtv-saf, however the code used for adding menu items might be able to be hacked together with the confluence_lite code. I think most users would like the confluence_lite feel with regards to having individual addons on the homepage but it's not very noob friendly as you currently have to go to settings and manually type in the paths. Xtv-SAF allows you to browse, I've no idea where the code would be but I do remember wyrm saying it was pretty easy to to - he managed to do it without even owning an xbox lol.

[byron]

This is a VERY rough draft at this point but it works (Thanks to wyrm for the scripts):

At least it's a start, and it "shouldn't" take too long to finish once I get one button totally ready...but it's still really buggy. I'm not sure what anyone else thinks, but I was thinking it might be pretty cool to redirect the actual items to a different dialog on the homescreen (kinda like what lee was sharing), and just have a button on the sub-menu that says "custom items" or something like that. When you click on that (instead of eg. "SHOUTCAST"), it opens up a pop up/slide out dialog with a pic on the opposite side of the screen and the dialog has all of the custom buttons with labels etc...I'm thinking it wouldn't really be that hard to do once I get the other 34 custom buttons in order

[whufclee]

Good start mate, it's looking very promising

[byron]

@ whufclee...Thanks, this is really kinda turning into a nightmare. You made your suggestion while I was trying to update the sub-menus and I've come to realize that without the actual tools I need from xbmc it's just never going to be the way that I want it to. I could waste even more time trying to figure out how to do it, but whatever So after watching your video, and being in the middle of my idea at the same time...you kinda gave me an idea of my own. Since I don't think it's possible to get what I want, I was thinking rather than having the sub menus all cluttered I could just do this:

which leads to this:

The template that I've made has 7 buttons for each main submenu which would leave a total of 35 on the home menu (a bit excessive but whatever). The list above would/could be full with 7 items in other words, and the same for VIDEOS-PROGRAMS-MUSIC-etc...The problem is that I don't want to commit to anything until I'm sure what to do because once I start duplicating the first button there's really no going back (lotta code that I've made already and it's just 1/7 on one sub-menu). So do you think that this might be the way to go? You've been involved with this stuff longer than I have, I respect your opinion here. I also am having a hell of a time getting the favourites button to get a label/thumb automatically, so I'm thinking about just curbing it entirely. Would it really matter if favourites were accessible from sub-menus on the homescreen or not? The label would HAVE to be entered manually (else the list item would be blank), and the icon would be default of my choice at this point. That's actually the hold up...

Anyone else that's using the skin have an opinion about what I'm doing? Once I commit to it, it's kinda the way it's gotta be so I'm asking for anyone else's ideas about the way they might like it. Basically would you rather have the items actually on the sub-menu or have the icons and the list above the way that I've shown in this post? As always, any feedback is welcome ---

[whufclee]

Wow that's a lot for my little head to take in this early in the morning! With regards to the favourites not being able to grab a thumb I know fastcolors had this problem with the Si02 skin on mainbranch a few months ago and it was a limitation of xbmc. Team-XBMC soon added the code so it has been changed upstream, maybe buzz can bring the code downstream? I wouldn't know where to start looking for the actual changes that were made but if you look at the official Si02 skin thread on xbmchub.com you should find somewhere in one of the early posts information on the subject.

I'm a little confused with what you're proposing there, I'm sure you've documented it correctly but I've just woke up! So am I correct in thinking the following:

1) Each homescreen menu item can have a total of 7 sub-menu items
2) All of these sub-menu items can be customised (or are some hardcoded and can't be changed?)
3) The sub-menu items can only point to plugins/scripts or can they link to xbmc functions/areas too? (Such as update library, filemanager, video library etc.)
4) You may be able to add individual favourites to the sub-menu but it's hard work and we don't have the code for thumbs.

If I've understood that correctly then yes it sounds pretty good to me, can we add a few custom main menu items or is that too difficult? For example some people may want an item called Sports or Home Movies (or whatever). Hope you don't think I'm giving you too much to do but just trying to think of all the possibilities you may want in your skin, I know it's harder to go and change things rather than implement them from the start.

I have a lot of friends who don't have local content on their xbox (some don't even have a computer lol) so they only use it for online streaming. If possible I'd love to just have an online/addons section to make it more user friendly for these guys (something similar to what I have in the video). Probably a section called Online or Addons or whatever you think it appropriate and then just sub-menus for Video, Music, Program, Pictures, Scripts and Install/Update Addons. I guess if they just click on the main menu item rather than using a sub-menu it could take them to the A4X Installer?

Let me know your thoughts and whether or not I did actually understand you correctly!

[byron]

1) Each homescreen menu item can have a total of 7 sub-menu items
2) All of these sub-menu items can be customised (or are some hardcoded and can't be changed?)
3) The sub-menu items can only point to plugins/scripts or can they link to xbmc functions/areas too? (Such as update library, filemanager, video library etc.)
4) You may be able to add individual favourites to the sub-menu but it's hard work and we don't have the code for thumbs.

1) Potentially, yes (i.e. WEATHER has no sub-menu atm)
2) All custom
3) Plugins/scripts/favourites (perhaps favourites should be replaced with custom media sources?)
4) Favourites is already on the "GENERAL" sub-menu tab, and can literally be accessed at any time via the "shutdown" menu. The more I think about it, maybe having this option is not necessary.

The problem with favourites is the script that I'm accessing the xml with. I'm updating this along the lines (incorporating the code I should say) from Rapier 4.0 but that code was written with a working SetAddon function which I don't have. So instead of being able to simply execute these items that way I've had to implement the scripts that wyrm made for xTV (and in turn spent a lot of time on this). Wyrm didn't make a HomeFavourites.py so I'm stuck with using the script that was in Rapier, and it doesn't automatically grab the thumb and label like wyrm's (those scripts are really cool and simple btw).

:can we add a few custom main menu items or is that too difficult? For example some people may want an item called Sports or Home Movies (or whatever).

This is also on my agenda, and the other half of what I was wanting to do. The home icons for this skin MOVIES, GENERAL, MUSIC etc...look really cool, but it's not the same as with other skins so there's actually a folder with all of the "icon categories" to choose from. It's a bit silly, with most of the other skins all you have to do is type in the home category you want to implement and it shows up like the rest of the categories. With this skin if the category doesn't exist...it's literally gotta be photo-shopped (i.e. I made the "Add-Ons" icon on the home add-ons menu) It's give and take on personal preference I guess, but these icons look better than regular font IMHO But yea, it's in the works too...and there are plenty of category icons to choose from (along with being able to choose whatever you want for a background), like you tube, sports, anime...this should be easier than what I'm doing with the sub-menus.

I guess I've just gotten too wrapped up in this idea from a coding aspect and lost track of what I was trying to accomplish...it's gotta be kinda what sinking in quicksand would feel like I think. For perspective's sake, I went through the process of adding a button last night after I got a chance to relax...it's really simple to do and boils down to a neat "little" feature to have.

I basically just wanted your/anyone's opinion on the feel of having the thumbs/lists above the menu by clicking on a "custom" sub-menu button (rough draft from previous post), or only the labels being on the sub with no thumb. Nobody else really seems too interested so thanks for taking the time to share your opinion. I think having custom library sources would be a better option than favourites anyway...wyrm had a script for video sources, it shouldn't be too hard to make that happen, and then I can wrap this project up. As for "online," eventually I'll get around to that but golfing season is upon us here in the states

[whufclee]

Cool, I think I understand now. Yeah that all sounds good, personally I would probably just stick to a sub-menu list rather than icons.

Being able to add individual favourites is to the home menu a nice option but it's certainly not essential. What I like about it is you can add a certain part of a plugin as a favourite rather than the whole plugin. For example on my xbmc setups I have all my favourite sports channels added to "favourites" so rather than loading up SportsDevil and manually finding each channel I can just click on the favourites to access the channels directly. I also added the "Featured" section from [removed] to my favourites and that is on one of my sub-menus which means I can go directly from the homescreen to the latest movies in [removed] at the click of a button. Like I say it's certainly not a deal-breaker and if it's going to cause you too much time and effort I wouldn't bother.

You've already done an amazing job on this so I think we can trust your judgement on what gets added and what doesn't

[byron]

Cool, I think I understand now. Yeah that all sounds good, personally I would probably just stick to a sub-menu list rather than icons.

I'm in agreement with you there. For starters I'll have the items placed individually directly onto the sub-menus, and I'll implement the popout lists and icons once I get these finished and the home menu completed. I'm also going to color code them so they stand out just a touch from each other and from the standard sub-menu items (it could get confusing otherwise if a plugin/script had the same name and were the same color, etc...). And after hours and hours of trial and error I figured out how to get the favourites with an automatic path and label As it stands right now favourites, plugins, and scripts will all be able to be added to the submenus by broswing for these items and the names and paths are all automatically drawn up for a user to simply just click on them from the home menu! I'm almost ready to start populating the lists, just a couple more things to make look nice and then showtime. It actually turns out that this is the way that I envisioned it from the start and I somehow manged to get my way again...thanks again for all the input.

[skatulskijean]

Hi!a

Nice work Byron!

Please can you integrate the search from the confluencelight skin on the homescreen from your skin!

Regards Jan

[byron]

Please can you integrate the search from the confluencelight skin on the homescreen from your skin!

@ Skatulski...yes I certainly will next when I get custom sub-menus finished!

I can't believe how long this is taking to do this...ummm, I HAD to learn how to use .py and write better strings in this process but worth it! Maybe a handful of people care about that statement, but anyway...here's where I'm at:

Since I had to revamp "SkinSettings" for the second time...here is a sneak peek at integrating Rapier 4.0 (BTW xbmc4xbox_r31727 is doing a fantastic job of handling STRINGS...SkinSettings is actually sort of "flowing," well done with whatever you've been up to BuZz, it seems to be working quite nicely )

I wanted to share what I've been losing sleep over

Which leads to this (or something along these lines)

And ultimately you end up with something like this

Sorry this is taking so long, but it works and there's a lot of prep work before I commit...it needs to be right before it's updated. I should have this done VERY soon...

[sealeysonic]

awesome work mate !!!

[5l1p]

Hi byron been a bit busy recently but im still checking out your updates as they flow. The plugin setting menu in full screen is great and the weather pack too! I have a few cosmetic requests if I may:

A logo in the top corner of the OSD to cover up the two lines. Also, I can’t get to the bottom left hand button (and I have no idea what it is for!)

Remove the white box in Big Icon and Thumbnails view so transparency is functional (works fine in small icons)

A “list2” view, similar to the default but with additional info panel (used in movie information) this is really handy when using the NaviX plugin to see what host you are connecting to. I have used a screenshot of xTV as an example.

If any of this is possible I will be most grateful, Thanks.