strange icon issues...

[ShirakoDX]

so i had an xbox die on me, its hdd just doesnt spin anymore, not the one im trying to fix..i had some 3d game cover icons for all my games on that xbox, and am trying to set up the same for this xbox. i have the covers, which are in png format. i have tried ftping them over and renaming to default.tbn and clearing cache, does not work. I can get gif's to work without the transparency when renaming to tbn, but then they look ugly and i originally had the transparency on the first set too. ive unpacked new covers from the zip in case somehow they were corrupted but its not working still. When i load up xbmc4gamers and do the whole icon thing there, it works, but those arent the covers i want to use. any help would be appreciated. the icons themselves are 256x256. I'm unsure what version of xbmc i am running but its not the newer UI one for the original xbox, as i like the older look better

[Coldly-Indifferent]

If you're putting the 256x256 "default.tbn" in the individual game's folder then it should be working as long a you've cleared the previous thumbnail cache and rebooted, which you said you have done.

Are you 100% sure you've deleted all the UserData > Thumbnails > Games cache? There are or should be 1 - 9 and A - F pages unless it is a very old XBMC version when all the TBNs were not separately grouped.

Have you tried putting a "default.tbn" in one of apps folders to test whether that works? Again you'll need to clear the cache and reboot.

The XBMC version could be an issue but it would have to be VERY old for it not to work. I have old v9.04 SVN from 2008 I use for copying mostly as it has better transfer status dialogue information. I use the same "default.tbn" files with that which I do for the most recent XBMC version v3.5.3 and it works perfectly.

It might help if you could confirm the XBMC version you're using and the skin. In the Shutdown menu (right thumb click) you should have a system info option (I) or one in the Settings menus which tells you the version. The skin name will be in the Appearance settings menu. Some older skin versions do not play well, or at all, with newer XBMC and visa versa.

It could even be, as you mention you prefer the look of the older version, that you're just talking about a different skin. But it could also mean you're not using XBMC you're using XBMP (Xbox Media Player) the forerunner of XBMC.

[ShirakoDX]

ah thank you, i am runningxbmc4xbox 3.2.1-r31678. my skin is just the one that im presented with a fresh install. i had questioned wether i was deleting the right one as i have two installs of xbmc4xbox..the userdata in my e root repopulated after rescan, i have a second xbmc install in my e:/apps folder, but i dont seem to launch that one by default as its cache never repopulated. i just delete everything in the thumbnails folder cause it repopulated the whole thing. some of my games have default.tbn that works, but its not the correct cover art. previously i thought it was because they were png, so i tried jpg, which removed transparency but when i renamed to default.tbn, it worked, just the transparency was replaces with white. I attempted a simple converter to convert the images to gif and change them to default.tbn, and those work too, but the simple converter also removed the transparency...i attempted another converter to convert them to gif which was a success, transparency and all, those do not work when i convert to default.tbn

[Coldly-Indifferent]

Simply converting the extension to .tbn should work with both .png and .jpg image files. I do not know about whether it works with .gif or even .bmp (which XBMC also supports).

A typical accidental mistake, if this was done on PC then transferred to the Xbox, is that you've added the extension to an image file without removing the original extension as, by default, that is usually hidden eg. default.png.tbn.

If the original games had previous cover art or a folder.jpg in the game's folder you need to remove that as well as deleting the icon cache afterwards and then copying in the new cover art "default.tbn". If you do not on reboot that folder.jpg will hold precedence. In a case where the image file is not recognised, for whatever reason*, many games will revert to a .xbe embedded icon which is usually the same as is used for its game saves.

You're using a XBMC v3 series and although it is not the latest version you should not be having any trouble caused by its age. The default skin, usually the dull grey but very usable Project Mayhem III or (for higher resolution displays) PM3, shouldn't be causing any problems either.

* XBMC sometimes refuses to recognise a particular image file. I do not know why it happens but in such cases it best to delete the problem file and its thumbnail cache icon and transfer in a fresh copy.

Having two XBMC versions on the same Xbox should not cause any problems. If one is your main dash, in a separate XBMC folder, it won't cause any problems with another versions of XBMC installed as apps on E:\, F:\ or G:\. All their folders and files are completely separate from each other.

[ShirakoDX]

i had set up my computer to show extensions, but also have been ftping the file first, then renaming to default.tbn while its on the xbox in the specific game folder. I had been experimenting a bit yesterday and i found that the original png images, if i copy them to the xbox and try to open, they just present a black screen..in fact, every .png file ive tried, game cover or not.

I just tried to open a regular still gif image, which also presents me with a black screen on the xbox, but on my computer they open fine. .jpg files open fine on the xbox

[Coldly-Indifferent]

What I do when that happens is go back to the source file which I've usually archived because many of my apps/emulators/music/some games icons are my own custom ones. I open them in the graphics program I use and then re-save them as JPGs.

I then FTP or transfer them by other means to the Xbox and change the extension to .tbn for XBMC use. That usually works. But what causes it not to be recognised as an image file I have no idea. It can happen with UnleashX too, I've had PNGs and JPGs go bad on me when using that occasionally too.

[ShirakoDX]

So apparently its THAT version of XBMC. I switched to the latest XBMC (3.5.3) and found the PM3 skin again and went and added the source and after scan 007 nightfire is displaying the correct icon. Now to figure out how to make this one launch by default, then finish up the other games. Thank you for the help!

So i believe that the xbmc that launches by default is at the e root. if i were to launch a different dashboard, could i ftp delete my current default xbmc and move the 353 in its place?

Thanks for the help again. I have successfully set the 353 xbmc as default, and have my icons working!