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[lalittle]

Give this one a try and let me know how it looks on your systems....

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=46

VERY nice!

Everything is looking great to me so far.  Regarding the specific issues mentioned above (in no particular order):

1)  Hi-light bar on home page -- Fixed.  The width no longer overlaps with the pictures.

2)  Navigation menu "Playing Now" box hi-light -- Fixed.  The PN box now fits within the green hi-light area.  On top of this, both the color gradient and the shape now look much better for this item.  Nice job.

3)  It occurred to me that the "Playing" indicator CAN'T be green since this would be the same color as the hi-light, which of course wouldn't work.  That said, the "Playing" triangle seems way too small to me.  Combined with the "glow" effect surrounding it, the triangle shape is largely "lost" - it looks like a little blob rather than a triangle unless you look right at it.  My guess is that it would look about right if it was about twice as big as it is now -- I think this could give it the "boldness" that it seems to call for.

4)  I'm still correctly seeing the Playing Now "display" area as well, so I don't know what's going on with bennyd's system.  He posted a picture on the beta forum, so it's definitely doing what he's saying -- I just don't understand why this is happening.  Ironically, a lot of other people have requested what he is seeing, so it will be interesting to see what caused this.

Thanks again Nathan -- fantastic job.

Larry

[lalittle]

One other oddity I noticed.

Most of the hi-lighted text (albums, artists, etc.) is white.  With the buttons, however, the text turns slightly gray when it's hi-lighted, which seems counter-intuitive to me.  I think the lists look better in this regard at the moment, so it seems like the buttons should follow the same behavior as the lists, which is to leave the text fully white and just let the green background color take care of the "hi-lighting duty" by itself.

Again -- nice work.

Larry

[bennyd]

4)  I'm still correctly seeing the Playing Now "display" area as well, so I don't know what's going on with bennyd's system.  He posted a picture on the beta forum, so it's definitely doing what he's saying -- I just don't understand why this is happening.  Ironically, a lot of other people have requested what he is seeing, so it will be interesting to see what caused this.

I've found the problem:

My PC's international settings are Dutch, Belgium

I've changed it to English, United States and I can see the PIP now.

So there is a problem with international settings.


Very nice skin indeed, my favorite.

[jmone]

3)  It occurred to me that the "Playing" indicator CAN'T be green since this would be the same color as the hi-light, which of course wouldn't work.  That said, the "Playing" triangle seems way too small to me.  Combined with the "glow" effect surrounding it, the triangle shape is largely "lost" - it looks like a little blob rather than a triangle unless you look right at it.  My guess is that it would look about right if it was about twice as big as it is now -- I think this could give it the "boldness" that it seems to call for.

Actually the Green Play Now button does look good - If you want to try the Green Button copy the "PlayOverlay.png" file from "....\Acajou\List" into the "....Blue Too\List" directory.  The button is a graphic and as such is just called on by the MAIN.XML file (I can not change the colour or shape without change the acutal png file).

Thanks
Nathan

[lalittle]

Actually the Green Play Now button does look good

Even when the currently playing song is hi-lighted?  Is it a green button against a green background in this case, and doesn't this look rather odd?

Thanks,

Larry

[jmone]

Looks OK to me - but you can only try (just back up the original PlayOverlay.png file)!

[jmone]

Here is an updatee MAIN.XML file which attempts to reintroduce the box around the buttons on the front page.  It looks good on my setups but it does not scale well at some combinations of resolutions & "options > theaterview > size" combinations (especially if you have items scroll in this page - try reducing the size).  Let me know if it should be removed (simple to do just cut out the "<Item Bitmap="Pictures\menu_bg.png" Location="*" Rect="View2\0,0,100,100" Alpha="95" Background="1" />" line.

I am also now updating the first POST of this thread with the latest files.

Thanks
Nathan

[Chili-Jam]

I´m getting an error:

An Error Has Occurred!
It seems that you are not allowed to download or view attachments on this board.


What do i have to do to change this?
Or can you post it in a public way?

Thanks

[jmone]

Hi Chili-Jam - I've only seen that message if I am not logged into the board before clicking on the link....

[robydago]

Hi Chili-Jam - I've only seen that message if I am not logged into the board before clicking on the link....

Nathan,
I think you're right but judging by your status (MC 12 Beta Team
Citizen of the Universe) I bet that when you're logged into the board you see and get what we can't...

[jmone]

Ahhh ( )  is it the same result for both the Hyper Links (try the first post) & the attachment Icons (if you can even see them in the post four above)?  Can a Forum Moderator please advice

Thanks
Nathan

[lalittle]

Here is an updatee MAIN.XML file which attempts to reintroduce the box around the buttons on the front page.  It looks good on my setups but it does not scale well at some combinations of resolutions & "options > theaterview > size" combinations (especially if you have items scroll in this page - try reducing the size).  Let me know if it should be removed (simple to do just cut out the "<Item Bitmap="Pictures\menu_bg.png" Location="*" Rect="View2\0,0,100,100" Alpha="95" Background="1" />" line.

I am also now updating the first POST of this thread with the latest files.

Thanks
Nathan

Looking good here -- so far I have not run into the scale issue you mentioned.

I noticed you also fixed the highlight issue -- the highlight for "most" pages is now white instead of gray, which looks good.  There is one place this is NOT working, however, which is the Weather page.  The highlighted day is gray, while all the "other" days are white.  Would it be possible to reverse this?

Once again, really nice work.

Thanks,

Larry

[jmone]

Thanks Larry - now you have pointed it out I can see the odd highlight with Weather!  Will have to have a play (and check the base skin) as I'd expect them all to be white like with the other lists....

[lalittle]

PS.  I checked the green "playing" triangle, and it does work better than I thought due to the visible "edge" that sets it apart from the background when the currently playing song is highlighted -- i.e. it doesn't get lost like I feared it would against a green background, and the larger size looks better than the original one.  As I originally thought, it also looks better than the original when the playing song is not highlighted.

Thanks for looking into the Weather highlight issue.

Larry

[Chili-Jam]

I'm logged in and i'm not allowed to acces the attachements.

I think you can do it because of your Beta-Tester status.

[jmone]

Larry - I've had a look at the code and can not see why the Weather has the grey highlight.....

[lalittle]

Larry - I've had a look at the code and can not see why the Weather has the grey highlight.....

That's interesting.  Maybe it's something in the Weather plugin itself.  Hopefully somebody from JR will let us know how to adjust this.

Larry

[jmone]

Chilli-Jam / robydago please try to download from the links again - it should now work! 
Thanks
Nathan

[lalittle]

When using build 277, the hilighted text on the Home page of Blue Too is VERY blurry -- much more so than on other pages.  The non-highlighted text doesn't seem to have this issue, but it still looks kind of "odd" to me compared to recent builds.

Thanks,

Larry

[jmone]

I've posted in the Beta forum but my guess is it's the new "Theater View uses FSAA and anisotropic filtering when possible"...just intoduced, lets see what the public releases bring...

FYI - the following taken from wikipedia on FSAA (Full-scene anti-aliasing):

Modern graphics cards usually support some method of full-scene anti-aliasing (FSAA) to help avoid aliasing (or "jaggies") on full-screen images. The resulting image may seem softer, and should also appear more realistic. One tried and true method of avoiding or removing aliasing artifacts on full-screen images is supersampling.  However, while useful for photo-like images, a simple anti-aliasing approach (such as supersampling and then averaging) may actually worsen the appearance of some types of line art or diagrams (making the image appear fuzzy), especially where most lines are horizontal or vertical.
quote]

[lalittle]

I've posted in the Beta forum but my guess is it's the new "Theater View uses FSAA and anisotropic filtering when possible"...just intoduced, lets see what the public releases bring...

The thing that struck me, however, was the fact that with the Blue Too skin, the "Home" screen looks so much worse than other screens in this same skin.  In other words, subsequent screens are noticeably less blurry.  Is there something special about the "Home" screen that would accentuate this issue?

Note that with the Obsidian skin, the home screen looks about the same as other screens.  It's just the "Blue Too" skin that has this particular "extra-blurry-home-screen" issue.

Larry

[jmone]

Hi Larry - Nothing I can think of except that the box that is drawn around it is causing it.  Fortunatly I'm going to be away for 10 days or so (Fiji!) so I'll have a look when I get back...

EDIT - Try removing this line from you MAIN.XML file "<Item Bitmap="Pictures\menu_bg.png" Location="*" Rect="View2\0,0,100,100" Alpha="95" Background="1" />" - it will remove the box around the items on the home screen

[lalittle]

Hi Larry - Nothing I can think of except that the box that is drawn around it is causing it.  Fortunatly I'm going to be away for 10 days or so (Fiji!) so I'll have a look when I get back...

What... you never heard of a laptop and a wifi connection!?  Going to Fiji is NO EXCUSE!  And what do you mean by "fortunately"?  Fortunately for YOU perhaps, but what about for the rest of us!?

Seriously -- have a great time.

EDIT - Try removing this line from you MAIN.XML file "<Item Bitmap="Pictures\menu_bg.png" Location="*" Rect="View2\0,0,100,100" Alpha="95" Background="1" />" - it will remove the box around the items on the home screen

I've already rolled back to build 273, but I'll give this a try the next time I update (assuming that the issue is still around at that time.)

Thanks again,

Larry

[widman99]

Thanks for your work in keeping this skin updated, it is definitely my favorite.

pete

[jmone]

Your welcome Pete.

Larry are you still having issues or with FSAA / Anisotropic Filtering optional in T"View has it all settled down?

Thanks
Nathan

[lalittle]

Larry are you still having issues or with FSAA / Anisotropic Filtering optional in T"View has it all settled down?

Thanks
Nathan

Sorry for the delay in getting  back to you -- I've been out of town for the last couple weeks (and I'm actually still not back yet.)

My problems with FSAA stopped a few builds before I left, which was somewhere in the late 290's.  As of the last time I looked, everything was working fine.  That said, I haven't tried any of the most recent builds, so technically I can't say if the very latest build is still okay in this regard.  I plan on checking as soon as I get back.

Larry

[Jean-Max]

Hello,

I have MC 1.2.0.318 installed

I made exactly the following process, but at the location where I installed MC (*):
 D:\Multimedia \J River\Media Center 12\ ...

1) Install LanceD's BlueToo skin at http://accessories.musicex.com/mediacenter/mc_data/plugins/808.mjp
2) Copy to the "C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12\FullSkins\Blue Too\Pictures" directory the following two files (News and Weather graphics):
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=26
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=28
3) Download, then Rename the file below to MAIN.XML and Copy it to the "C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12\FullSkins\Blue Too" folder.
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=48


To change the Theatre view from actual (Obsidian) to Blue Too, I go there :
Tools / Options / Theatre View / Appearance / Skin

Problem :
There are only in this list : Acajou, Glass, Hairstyle, Noire, Obsidian
and.. no Blue Too

The folder D:\Multimedia\J River\Media Center 12\FullSkins\Blue Too\  is present and OK ...


(*)  => Is my problem because I installed J River MC on "D:\Multimedia" and not on "C:\Program Files" ?


Thanks for any help

Best regards,

[lalittle]

Problem :
There are only in this list : Acajou, Glass, Hairstyle, Noire, Obsidian
and.. no Blue Too

The folder D:\Multimedia\J River\Media Center 12\FullSkins\Blue Too\  is present and OK ...

(*)  => Is my problem because I installed J River MC on "D:\Multimedia" and not on "C:\Program Files" ?

Did you restart MC?  As I understand it, MC displays the Theater View skins that it sees in the Fullskins folder, so if the Blue Too skin folder is in the same folder as the other skin folders (which MC IS seeing), it should see Blue Too as well.

It's working here with the latest build, so I know that it "can" work.  I'm honestly not sure why it's a problem on your system.  Hopefully, somebody will update the Blue Too skin to make work with the latest version of MC by default (i.e. without having to jump through the extra installation hoops.)  It really is a nice skin.

Larry

[jmone]

I've checked all the paths in the Blue Too's MAIN.XML file and they are all relative so it should not matter where it is installed but to double check do you have the following installed:
..\Shared\Base 1.xml (under your "D:\Multimedia\j River\Media Center 12\FullSkins" folder)?

You normally don't even to reload MC12 it should just appear with the Folder Name as the Skin Name.

----

I also agree with Larry - the files three files should be updated in the main download section.

Thanks
Nathan

[Jean-Max]

I've checked all the paths in the Blue Too's MAIN.XML file and they are all relative so it should not matter where it is installed but to double check do you have the following installed:
..\Shared\Base 1.xml (under your "D:\Multimedia\j River\Media Center 12\FullSkins" folder)?

You normally don't even to reload MC12 it should just appear with the Folder Name as the Skin Name.

Hello,

I uninstalled previous MCversion
I installed MC 12.0.329 in C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12
I Registered my free trial version (fast & OK with Paypal)

There is "Base 1.xml" (22/08/2007) in:
 C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12\FullSkins\Shared

I Downloaded LanceD's BlueToo skin at
http://accessories.musicex.com/mediacenter/mc_data/plugins/808.mjp

..and Installed :
=> "Media Center is about to install a component. Do you wish to continue ?"
[YES]

=> Downloading..Package : Blue Too
=> Connecting
=> Downloaded 11xxxKo
=> Package was succesfully installed
[OK]

Now, C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12\FullSkins\Blue Too\ folder exists

I Copied to the "C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12\FullSkins\Blue Too\Pictures"
folder the following two files (News and Weather graphics):

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=26
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=28

Download:
=> newsfeed_logo.png
=> weather_logo.png

These 2 files copied in "C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12\FullSkins\Blue Too\Pictures\"


I Downloaded, the file
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=48
=> main.txt

Then I Renamed it to MAIN.XML
and Copy it to the "C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12\FullSkins\Blue Too"  folder.

(It replaced previous file main.xml)

Launch MC

Tools
Options
Theater View
Appearance

=> in this list, there are only : Acajou, Glass, Hairstlyle, Noire & Obsidian

No Blue Too


Nb :
This was on my XP SP2 Laptop
and..
Exactly the same problem on my Vista Home Laptop

No chance with this process

Any idea ?
Thanks

[JimH]

=> in this list, there are only : Acajou, Glass, Hairstlyle, Noire & Obsidian

No Blue Too

Older skins may not show up.  This is controlled by the version number in the main.xml file.  You could try changing it.  The skin might work well enough.

[Jean-Max]

Older skins may not show up.  This is controlled by the version number in the main.xml file.  You could try changing it.  The skin might work well enough.

Hello,

That's it

For Blue Too, the first line of the "main.xml" file is :  <MJFS version="2.2">

For all the other Theater skins, the first line of the main.xml file is :  <MJFS version="2.3">

=> I changed the first line of main.xml of Blue Too for <MJFS version="2.3">

All is OK now !

Thanks !!

[jmone]

If your main.txt download file had 2.2 in it - it is an old file.  Try downloading the main.txt file from the first post in this thread and check it is a 2.3 version (I just checked and it is).  There have been a few changes between the 2.2 and 23 version

Thanks
Nathan

[Jean-Max]

If your main.txt download file had 2.2 in it - it is an old file.  Try downloading the main.txt file from the first post in this thread and check it is a 2.3 version ... 

Yesss !

In the first post, the Main.txt is 2.3

In this post :
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=40645.msg279875#msg279875
the Main.txt (standard backround Animation and control Buttons) is 2.2 !

Thanks for all

[jmone]

Yes, this thread has the history of getting BlueToo to work, but the first post has the latest.
Thanks
Nathan

[CarolinaGuy]

Hello,
I'm new to JRiver. I cannot get Blue Too Skin to work in JRiver MC V12.0.329.

I have read ALL of this and other posts:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=40645.msg277115#msg277115

I download and installed 808.mjp
I down loaded newsfeed_logo.png and installed in this directory--"C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12\FullSkins\Blue Too\Pictures"
I down loaded weather_logo.png  and installed in this directory --"C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12\FullSkins\Blue Too\Pictures"

This is the heading in my main.xml

- <MJFS version="2.3">
  <SKIN Name="Blue MC12.2.3" Author="jmone" WebSite="" BaseSkin="..\Shared\Base 1.xml" />
- <ANIMATION>
  <Background Bitmap="..\Shared\Animation\Background.png" Alpha="100" Mode="1" />
  </ANIMATION>

And STILL the BLUE TOO skin refuses to show up after REPEATED RESTARTS of MC12.

I'm using the trial version; just downloaded today.

HELP

CarolinaGuy

[JimH]

Older skins may not work with the latest MC12.  You can try editing the version the main.xml file, but it may still not be right.

[lalittle]

Hello,
I'm new to JRiver. I cannot get Blue Too Skin to work in JRiver MC V12.0.329.

I think the problem might be that your MC version is too old.  I believe that the newer versions of the BlueToo skin require newer MC buids, which are now in the 380's.  Try downloading the newest MC build.

Larry

[CarolinaGuy]

Downloaded MC 12.0.380; still does not work!!!

CarolinaGuy

[JimH]

Older skins may not work with the latest MC12.  You can try editing the version the main.xml file, but it may still not be right.

[lalittle]

Older skins may not work with the latest MC12.  You can try editing the version the main.xml file, but it may still not be right.

This doesn't appear to be the issue.  I'm using 383, and the Blue Too Theater View skin is working fine.

CarolinaGuy -- I'm not sure why it isn't working for you.  I followed the same instructions you did, and it's working for me on three different systems.  I checked my xml file, and it looks the same as the info you posted.

The only suggestion I can think of would be to start over with the instructions now that you have 380 installed.

Larry

[CarolinaGuy]

lalittle,

Thanks for responding.

Well I deleted the BLUE TOO folder from this directory - "C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12\FullSkins\Blue Too\

Reinstalled 808, the two png graphics and the main.txt from page 1 and renamed it main.xml.

Still does not show up in Skins Manager.

CarolinaGuy

[lalittle]

Still does not show up in Skins Manager.

Ah-ha -- now I believe I see the problem.

BlueToo is a "Theater View" skin -- these skins aren't selected via the "Skins Manager," and therefore don't show up there.  To select Theater View skins, you go to "Tools (top bar) > Options > Theater View > Appearance > Skin" and select it from the drop down list.

Just to make sure, were you looking for a "Theater View" skin?  These are only utilized in "Theater View" mode, which you access via the "View" drop-down, or with Ctrl-4.

Larry

[CarolinaGuy]

lalitte,

Took a look and only these five are listed:
Acajou
Glass
Hairstyle
Noire
Obsidan

CarolinaGuy

[lalittle]

lalitte,

Took a look and only these five are listed:
Acajou
Glass
Hairstyle
Noire
Obsidan

CarolinaGuy

Well -- it looks like that wasn't it after all.  When you mentioned the "skin manager" I thought you just weren't looking in the right spot.

Did you install MC to the default folder?  Check the "FullSkins" folder for the presence of the "Blue Too" folder, which should be listed with the other Theater View skins.  On my system, this folder is C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12\FullSkins, and "Blue Too" is one of the subfolders inside this folder.  If you installed MC to a different folder, maybe this is my MC isn't seeing the skin. 

I've tried this on four different systems now, and I've never had a problem, so something odd is going on.  On my systems, it says "Blue Too" right after "Acajou" in the Theater View skin dropdown list.

Larry

[RiderFan]

I have tried and retried to get this skin to work many times over the last few months. I give up! I have followed the instructions correctly as far as I can tell, still with no joy. I am not going to go through all the steps I did, as I am about to throw my PC through the window.

I have a suggestion...if someone in the know, (obviously not me) could make this skin install like all the other skins. If not, what's so special about this skin that it won't install properly?

[lalittle]

I have a suggestion...if someone in the know, (obviously not me) could make this skin install like all the other skins. If not, what's so special about this skin that it won't install properly?

That's actually been asked before, and I'm not clear why it hasn't been updated by one of the users who understands how to do it.  It appears that the original author just decided not to update it.

As far as what's so "special" about it, it's just one of those things -- i.e. it's just a nice skin that is both functional and visually pleasing.

Before you "totally" give up, could you possibly check the folder location like I mentioned in my last post?  It's starting to sound like the "Blue Too" folder may simply be be in the wrong spot, which could happen if you didn't install MC to the default location (you didn't tell us if you installed to the default location or not.)  If you look in the MC12 "FullSkins" folder and don't see a "Blue Too" subfolder inside it along with all the other Theater View skin folders, then that's the problem right there.  If you can find the "Blue Too" folder someplace else, try moving it into the "FullSkins" folder and see if it shows up in MC at that point.  If the "Blue Too" folder is already in the FullSkins folder, I'm out of ideas other than to say it sounds like an issue unique to your system -- I've never heard of this happening to anybody else, and this appears to be a pretty popular skin.

I have a feeling that the issue is something basic that's being overlooked -- some issue that isn't intuitively obvious at this point.  I just can't think of any reason that MC would refuse to display one of the Theater View skins that I've confirmed DOES work in the latest MC builds.  It's a pretty straightforward system -- MC looks in the FullSkins folder for Theater View skin folders, and as long as a skin is compatible (which this one is), MC displays it in the Theater View skin dropdown list.  I still think it's worth checking for that folder location -- it's easy, it only takes a second (i.e. just look for it in Windows Explorer), and it might solve the problem instantly.

Please let us know what happens -- I'm rather curious to figure out what is causing this.

Thanks,

Larry

[RiderFan]

Well, I thought that I would try one last time, so I went to a different computer running XP and did what I always did to install this skin and it worked the first time. So, I thought, cool, and tried it (again) on my Vista machine and (again) no luck. Same versions of MC12. It must be something with my system. At least know I now it wasn't me just being a total spaz and screwing up the skin install.

[lalittle]

Well, I thought that I would try one last time, so I went to a different computer running XP and did what I always did to install this skin and it worked the first time. So, I thought, cool, and tried it (again) on my Vista machine and (again) no luck. Same versions of MC12. It must be something with my system. At least know I now it wasn't me just being a total spaz and screwing up the skin install.

Did you check fop the Blue Too skin's folder location -- i.e. did you look in MC's "FullSkins" folder for the presence of a "Blue Too" folder?  I've suggested this in two different posts now and given details on what to check for, but you haven't responded with whether or not you've checked this.  I'm honestly trying to help you, but it's really difficult if you don't give feedback to the suggestions being offered.

Maybe the problem is that Vista uses slightly different folder paths, and that the "Blue Too" folder was installed in the wrong spot.  Or... maybe the problem is just that this skin doesn't like Vista for some reason (I don't remember if I've seen this skin work in Vista or not, but I "thought" it did.)

Please open Windows Explorer and (quoting from an earlier post) check the "FullSkins" folder for the presence of the "Blue Too" folder, which should be listed with the other Theater View skins.  On my system, this folder is C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12\FullSkins, and "Blue Too" is one of the subfolders inside this folder.

Please see my previous two posts for more details.  If you've already checked this, please just let me know so I can eliminate this as a potential explanation.

Thanks,

Larry

[RiderFan]

Yes, the blue too folder is in the proper location, and I had also made sure of that before your suggestion. Like I said, I did the exact same thing on 2 different PC's. 1 worked, 1 didn't. I mean, the instructions aren't difficult, and that's why I was always confused as to why I couldn't get it to work. Now I know that it wasn't me, but a quantum singularity with my Vista machine.

Anyway, got it to work on my XP machine with no problems, took me 5 seconds. It looks FANTASTICK, and it should really be the default skin when you install MC12.