XBMC4Gamers (Pet project)

[Rocky5]

Well, the munchins have been wearing out the old Xbox for the past 6 months. Then they found out how to change profile names and messed things up. So I tried to fix it by changing them back and wound up on a black screen after the next boot. Couldn't get ftp access so I used Rocky's Extras Disc and overwrote XBMC4Kids, and now it boots again.

But trying to make new profiles with the original names didn't work. So with ftp access back I see some of the old profiles are still there. I don't know if there is any way to repair them or if it would be worth it? So I'm thinking I should start over using the latest updates. Any thoughts?

Just wondering what would be the best way to go about it? I've got the dashboard on 'E' and the games on 'F'. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated. I want to get them back to gaming, but don't want to booger the softmod.

Thanks

Should have disabled edit mode

Anyhow, just create the exact same names for the profiles as they show in E.

So example.

E:\UDATA Connxtion or E:\UDATA\Connxtion.profile
Create a new profile called Connxtion. Now create a profile for each .profile file then enable the individual save script and it will use the saves.

Remove the other UDATA (Profile name that your kids change) folder as these won't be used anymore.

Note: the script is disabled by default, it's a toggle in the Manage Profiles profile.

Now disable edit mode.

PS: there will also be a UDATA Backup folder keep that.


If you want to start from scratch, just remove all UDATA (profile names) and rename the UDATA Backup folder to UDATA.

[Mikey]

Should have disabled edit mode

Ahh! Yeah, I must of forgot to switch back last time I was in there.

Thanks for that super quick reply, Rocky! I will give that a try before starting over.

[Mikey]

Update: Installed the latest version of xbmc4kids, profiles repaired, and the munchkins are gaming again.

A very nice update, Rocky!

Thanks again!

[Rocky5]

Update: Installed the latest version of xbmc4kids, profiles repaired, and the munchkins are gaming again.

A very nice update, Rocky!

Thanks again!

No problem, I’m glad you got it all worked out in the end.

[dottmatrix]

Hi Rocky, loving XBMC4Kids, currently setting up for my niece and nephew, but couple of things I'm trying to get working if I can.

Does xbmc4kids work with the .cut files described here? https://www.xbmc4xbox.org.uk/wiki/HOW-T ... ble)_files

I tried it but it just returns straight to dashboard. The shortcuts work fine in an old version of XBMC fine just not with XBMC4Kids.

Also, is it possible to have sub folders within the E:/Games folders, say grouped by letter etc.? and have it so you can navigate each of these subfolders? I tried this but also seemed to just kick me back to the dash!

Any help appreciated, again great work on XBMC4Kids

[Rocky5]

Hi Rocky, loving XBMC4Kids, currently setting up for my niece and nephew, but couple of things I'm trying to get working if I can.

Does xbmc4kids work with the .cut files described here? https://www.xbmc4xbox.org.uk/wiki/HOW-T ... ble)_files

I tried it but it just returns straight to dashboard. The shortcuts work fine in an old version of XBMC fine just not with XBMC4Kids.

Also, is it possible to have sub folders within the E:/Games folders, say grouped by letter etc.? and have it so you can navigate each of these subfolders? I tried this but also seemed to just kick me back to the dash!

Any help appreciated, again great work on XBMC4Kids

Not sure about cut files, as I don’t use them but it could be an issue with what I changed to get faster games menu loading.
( XBMC now thinks every folder that’s in the db is an xbe as I disabled the folder scan )

As for sorting by letter, it should work.

I will have a look later, as I have sub folders for my applications and I have no issue traversing them.

Edit:
.cut files work fine, you dont store them in individual folders, they all go in one folder.

Sub folder dont work due to what I done to get faster loading.

[dottmatrix]

Hi Rocky, loving XBMC4Kids, currently setting up for my niece and nephew, but couple of things I'm trying to get working if I can.

Does xbmc4kids work with the .cut files described here? https://www.xbmc4xbox.org.uk/wiki/HOW-T ... ble)_files

I tried it but it just returns straight to dashboard. The shortcuts work fine in an old version of XBMC fine just not with XBMC4Kids.

Also, is it possible to have sub folders within the E:/Games folders, say grouped by letter etc.? and have it so you can navigate each of these subfolders? I tried this but also seemed to just kick me back to the dash!

Any help appreciated, again great work on XBMC4Kids

Not sure about cut files, as I don’t use them but it could be an issue with what I changed to get faster games menu loading.
( XBMC now thinks every folder that’s in the db is an xbe as I disabled the folder scan )

As for sorting by letter, it should work.

I will have a look later, as I have sub folders for my applications and I have no issue traversing them.

Edit:
.cut files work fine, you dont store them in individual folders, they all go in one folder.

Sub folder dont work due to what I done to get faster loading.

Cheers for the prompt reply! I'll have a play around with the cut files, i had them in named folders so guess that's my problem there. Is it easy enough to re-enable the folder scan by editing the scripts?

My plan is to use either those .cut shortcuts, or XBE Shortcut Maker shortcuts instead of the traditional games in folders if I can, so assume scanning speed would be less of an issue? Any help would be appreciated

[Rocky5]

Cheers for the prompt reply! I'll have a play around with the cut files, i had them in named folders so guess that's my problem there. Is it easy enough to re-enable the folder scan by editing the scripts?

My plan is to use either those .cut shortcuts, or XBE Shortcut Maker shortcuts instead of the traditional games in folders if I can, so assume scanning speed would be less of an issue? Any help would be appreciated

Cut files need to all be in one folder, as XBMC treats them like any other game. But it doesn’t seem to cache there tbn files, so loading thumbs takes its time.

As for enabling folder scanning again you will need a new xbe file and I can send you one if you wish.

Also I take it you’re using .cut files for emulator roms?
( if not then look into dashloader + .cfg file for loading specific xbe files, it’s part of my softmod on my GitHub. In the C partition/nkpatcher/dashloader folder )

[dottmatrix]

Cut files need to all be in one folder, as XBMC treats them like any other game. But it doesn’t seem to cache there tbn files, so loading thumbs takes its time.

As for enabling folder scanning again you will need a new xbe file and I can send you one if you wish.

Also I take it you’re using .cut files for emulator roms?
( if not then look into dashloader + .cfg file for loading specific xbe files, it’s part of my softmod on my GitHub. In the C partition/nkpatcher/dashloader folder )

The xbe file would be excellent Rocky thanks, plan is to have a handful of "kid friendly" games running from the shortcuts so talking 10s of games rather than 100s.

I read somewhere that if you leave out the <thumb> section in the .cut(xml) and add a name matched .tbn in the same folder those *should* cache, will test that as well

I will looks into the dashloader thing also, wasn't aware that was part of the softmod.

One final question, sorry to be a pain. But is it possible to have a profile set up as either an adult or a child profile. So that in edit mode both adult and child profiles are accesable, but when edit mode is disabled only the "child" profiles are selectable. Similar to how if you try to access Manage Profiles when edit mode is disabled, it forces you back to the main screen. Hope that makes sense

[Rocky5]

The xbe file would be excellent Rocky thanks, plan is to have a handful of "kid friendly" games running from the shortcuts so talking 10s of games rather than 100s.

I will build you one and send you it.

I read somewhere that if you leave out the <thumb> section in the .cut(xml) and add a name matched .tbn in the same folder those *should* cache, will test that as well

thats how I had them setup, but it was taking ages for XBMC to disable the thumbs after they had already been shown/cached.

I will looks into the dashloader thing also, wasn't aware that was part of the softmod.

yeah it’s what I use to to load dashboard paths, supports a custom path via a .cfg file named the same as the xbe.

One final question, sorry to be a pain. But is it possible to have a profile set up as either an adult or a child profile. So that in edit mode both adult and child profiles are accesable, but when edit mode is disabled only the "child" profiles are selectable. Similar to how if you try to access Manage Profiles when edit mode is disabled, it forces you back to the main screen. Hope that makes sense

its actually the skin that controls this, so you would need to make a copy of the Profiles skin and change it’s name to say, Profiles adult skin and copy the “custom_menuloader.xml” from the manage Profiles skin and edit 1 line of this xml

Code: Select all

<onfocus>ReplaceWindow(Profiles)</onfocus>

to

Code: Select all

<onfocus>ReplaceWindow(Programs,Games)</onfocus>

Now when edit mode is enabled you will get the error.[/b]

Or I can do it and send you the skin with th xbe?

[dottmatrix]

Or I can do it and send you the skin with th xbe?

Thanks a lot for all the help, that all makes sense! Amazing the xbe would be great, the skin I'm happy enough to tweak myself but thanks for offering .

I'm wanting to make it as kid friendly as possible as I don't stay that close so to them so won't be able to fix it easily if they do mess anything up, all this helps a lot cheers mate

[Rocky5]

Or I can do it and send you the skin with th xbe?

Thanks a lot for all the help, that all makes sense! Amazing the xbe would be great, the skin I'm happy enough to tweak myself but thanks for offering .

I'm wanting to make it as kid friendly as possible as I don't stay that close so to them so won't be able to fix it easily if they do mess anything up, all this helps a lot cheers mate

Here you go, also redownload and build an update or just copy the new Profiles Skin over to your Xbox and overwrite the old one.

04/07/2017
1) Added a new Option to the Skin settings that will disable that profile if Edit mode is disabled.
( Just like the Manage Profile profile )

New XBE

[dottmatrix]

Thanks Rocky, some man! I owe you a pint mate

[krah]

Hi Rocky,
I'm still having issues with the xbe scanning the G Partition I've tried replacing the xbe with the latest version but it still does it every time. The only explanation I can come up with as to why it does it on mine and not yours is because I have games on both the F & G Partitions as I'm using a 2TB HDD. It's just strange the F Partition no longer scans for games but G does.
Any ideas on what I could try so it scans neither?

[Rocky5]

The progress dialog will appear if the busy time is over a set amount of seconds, the more games you add the longer the seek times and wait times you will incur.

I have 199 and it’s instant loading but someone I know has 850 and there’s takes about 20/30 seconds even with the new xbe. They are running a 2TB drive also. It did take over or just under a minute before the new xbe.
( I think can remember exact timings but it was faster )

XBMC has to check the DB to see if the file exists and also get the labels and tbn id/location, this takes time and like above the more games and bigger drive = longer wait.


Only way round it is to create static menus, like I do with XBMC-Emustation for cut files.
( XBMC scans these regardless so 1000 takes some time to, static menu bypasses this )

[krah]

Ok thanks that makes total sense, I've got 937 games so a 20 second wait is to be expected.
Thanks again

[somacast]

excellent really nice and modern looking
i did a mistake when transferd the arts to games folders, now its showing covers of games that i don't have even!!

anyways i have a few questions please

1- isn't there a shutdown and reboot options??
2- how to make it the default launcher? currently i have a full of bugs unleashX which cant even change its skin!
3- how to make my own arts for a game? many are not included in the file you shared?


thanks alot

[Albatross]

Just updated to XBMC4Gamers & know that its prime aim is as a game launcher but was wondering if its possible to directly boot into emulators from the programs window ? (I can get them to launch but only from within a folder)

[Rocky5]

excellent really nice and modern looking
i did a mistake when transferd the arts to games folders, now its showing covers of games that i don't have even!!

anyways i have a few questions please

1- isn't there a shutdown and reboot options??
2- how to make it the default launcher? currently i have a full of bugs unleashX which cant even change its skin!
3- how to make my own arts for a game? many are not included in the file you shared?


thanks alot

Press the black button to get the shutdown option. ( press down )

I can’t say how you make it your default launcher as I don’t know how your system is setup or even modded.
( but typically you just replace your current dash with the XBMC files )

You use google to find the cover image and then you resize it to the same size as the others. You can also use gimp to touch them up if need be.

Just updated to XBMC4Gamers & know that its prime aim is as a game launcher but was wondering if its possible to directly boot into emulators from the programs window ? (I can get them to launch but only from within a folder)

Edit the custom_menu_loader.xml and change the programs,games to programs,emulators

[Albatross]

Thanks, will give it a try.