INTERACT FORUM

Windows => Third Party Plug-ins, Programs, and Skins => Topic started by: jmone on May 18, 2007, 06:42:36 am

Title: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: jmone on May 18, 2007, 06:42:36 am
Last Updated - 7 Dec 07

These are the latest set of files and instructions to get Blue Too running with MC12
(http://www.bray.id.au/d/1164-1/BT_001.jpg) (http://www.bray.id.au/d/1166-1/BTM.jpg)

Firstly to acknowledge that I've just cleaned up a bunch of stuff in the the original Blue Too Skin by LanceD to work with the latest Ver 2.3 of the MC12 Skin (eg MC12 V12.0.258 onwards) including:
- based on the new Base_1.xml skin:
- added the bread crumb location
- refined some of the spacings and layouts of the graphics and text
- added the graphics for News and Weather on the front page
- added the graphics for all items on their sub pages

The Updated Blue Too Skin is now packed from the "Skins and Plugins" page and can just be installed from http://accessories.musicex.com/mediacenter/mc_data/plugins/825.mjp

Enjoy & please post any comments!
Nathan.
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: raym on May 18, 2007, 07:00:06 pm
The first screen shot is the result of the recent Theater View sizing changes. You can no longer define the size and most importantly, the layout of the main menu buttons by the skin's xml. This is one of my biggest gripes at the moment. I've posted some info on this in the beta forum. I'm hoping this limitation will get adressed in the near future.

The other issues you're seeing are fixable. Check the skin's XML file and:-

<PICTURE>
......
REMOVE OR COMMENT OUT THIS LINE
<Item Bitmap="Pictures\Menu_bg.png" Location="*" Rect="18.5,34,47,75" Alpha="60" Style="0"/>    
......
ADD THESE LINES
<Item Bitmap="Pictures\hover_my weather.png" Location="weather" Rect="72,70,97,100" Alpha="80" Alignment="3" Style="0"/>
<Item Bitmap="Pictures\hover_my explorer.png" Location="news" Rect="71,70,96,100" Alpha="80" Alignment="3" Style="0"/>
......
.........
.....
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE SOMETHING LIKE THIS DEFINED FOR TV
<Item Bitmap="Pictures\television_logo.png" Location="TV\**" Rect="15,10,90,35" Alignment="1" Alpha="100"/>
......
.........
.....
</PICTURE>


Finally, the dialogs look weired because the skin is missing this shared component.  At the top of the same XML file, add this:

Code: [Select]
<SKIN Name="your skin's name" Author="" WebSite="" BaseSkin="..\Shared\main.xml" />
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: jmone on May 18, 2007, 11:31:18 pm
Thanks Ralf  ;D,

I made a couple of changes as the graphics for Weather & News were in the out compared to the others so:
<Item Bitmap="Pictures\hover_my weather.png" Location="weather" Rect="10,40,30,70" Alpha="70" Alignment="3" />
<Item Bitmap="Pictures\hover_my explorer.png" Location="news" Rect="10,40,30,70" Alpha="70" Alignment="3" />

You don't have by chance have say a "news_logo.png", "weather_logo.png" in the same look and feel?

I quite like the skin but given the editing requird I'm not sure why JR has it listed as MC12 compatible!

Nathan
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: raym on May 19, 2007, 03:08:49 am
You don't have by chance have say a "news_logo.png", "weather_logo.png" in the same look and feel?

No I don't. Sorry mate. I've been meaning to do it but just havn't got around to it yet...
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: jmone on May 19, 2007, 07:29:58 pm
Here the are the missing files & code to complete Blue 2 for MC12
  <Item Bitmap="Pictures\weather_logo.png" Location="weather\**" Rect="2,2,40,15" Alignment="1" Alpha="100" />
  <Item Bitmap="Pictures\newsfeed_logo.png" Location="news\**" Rect="2,2,40,15" Alignment="1" Alpha="100" />
Enjoy
Nathan

Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: jmone on May 19, 2007, 07:43:04 pm
What’s the etiquette / process for updating this skin on the MC Website now its more or less OK for V12?
Thanks
Nathan

EDIT - I've also uploaded the modified main.xml file with all the changes discussed above for those interested (you will need to rename it back to main.xml and replace the one in the Blue Two skin folder
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: LanceD on May 26, 2007, 06:48:51 pm
Wow... I tested it against my own setup (at the time) and didn't get these problems. Sorry for not doing a better job QAing it. I had actually planned to update it eventually, but I've switched to using Vista Media Center and haven't used MC much since. If MC had a decent EPG and a more intuitive DVD interface, I'd have stuck with it...
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: LanceD on May 26, 2007, 06:52:27 pm
By the way, Did you guys d/l the MC11 version and have to mod if for MC12, or D/L the MC12 version? I did make some changes for MC12, but maybe I didn't change it enough.
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: JimH on May 26, 2007, 07:06:46 pm
By the way, Did you guys d/l the MC11 version and have to mod if for MC12, or D/L the MC12 version? I did make some changes for MC12, but maybe I didn't change it enough.
Let us know if you'd like a license.
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: jmone on May 26, 2007, 07:33:10 pm
By the way, Did you guys d/l the MC11 version and have to mod if for MC12, or D/L the MC12 version? I did make some changes for MC12, but maybe I didn't change it enough.

It is a download from the MC12 Version but required the mods in listed above to work (all now in the updated main.xml) as well as the links to the updated graphics for Weather & News (all three are attached in this post if you would like to check and mod!)

Thanks
Nathan
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: lalittle on May 30, 2007, 05:40:26 am
Very nice skin -- good job.

Somebody should update the one on the download site since a lot of people won't know to search the forums in order to get it working, and the fixes necessary will be too advanced for "normal" users (people who are familiar with this stuff often forget how daunting it is for the less experienced.)

Larry
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: lalittle on May 30, 2007, 05:47:09 am
I noticed that this skin puts fewer items on any given page (i.e. 1 less news headline on a single page, 1 less weather day, one less genre, etc.)  Is this intentional?  It seems like the items are pretty much the same size, but that there is a lot of extra empty space with the Blue Too skin.

Thanks,

Larry
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: Chris Main on May 30, 2007, 05:50:22 am
Well, I'd second the call for an update to the download file, although the very fact I'm here somewhat argues against....

Quote
"all three are attached in this post "

I may be missing something, but do you mean that the three bits of code are attached, or that the files are attached that you can replace the xml files ...?

Ie, right now, do I still have to edit the xml file that was installed, or can I aquire an updated one from somewhere..

Otherwise, thanks - the skin looks great, looking forward to it looking great on my monitor...
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: jmone on May 30, 2007, 05:51:11 am
Very nice skin -- good job.

Somebody should update the one on the download site since a lot of people won't know to search the forums in order to get it working, and the fixes necessary will be too advanced for "normal" users (people who are familiar with this stuff often forget how daunting it is for the less experienced.)

Larry
I've contacted LanceD about the mods to his skin and he is looking into this
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: jmone on May 30, 2007, 05:56:16 am
Well, I'd second the call for an update to the download file, although the very fact I'm here somewhat argues against....

Quote
"all three are attached in this post "

I may be missing something, but do you mean that the three bits of code are attached, or that the files are attached that you can replace the xml files ...?

Ie, right now, do I still have to edit the xml file that was installed, or can I aquire an updated one from somewhere..

Otherwise, thanks - the skin looks great, looking forward to it looking great on my monitor...

Till the three files get updated on the main site you will need to:
1) Install it from "Skins & Plugins"
2) Download "main.txt" from this thread and RENAME/REPLACE the "main.xml" file in "C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12\FullSkins\Blue Too" directory
3) Download the 2 x PNG files from this thread and copy them into the "C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12\FullSkins\Blue Too\Pictures" directory

Thanks
Nathan

Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: jmone on May 30, 2007, 06:08:26 am
I noticed that this skin puts fewer items on any given page (i.e. 1 less news headline on a single page, 1 less weather day, one less genre, etc.)  Is this intentional?  It seems like the items are pretty much the same size, but that there is a lot of extra empty space with the Blue Too skin.

Thanks,

Larry

Hi Larry - this was also noticable to me especially on my 720p setup - While LanceD may be able to comment about his original intentions, I've kept reducing the TheaterView size in the options till I got the number of rows & items I wanted (for me it was 90%)
Thanks
Nathan
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: Chris Main on May 30, 2007, 09:04:34 am
2) Download "main.txt" from this thread and RENAME/REPLACE the "main.xml" file in "C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12\FullSkins\Blue Too" directory
3) Download the 2 x PNG files from this thread and copy them into the "C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12\FullSkins\Blue Too\Pictures" directory

Thanks for the quick response, and I've tried everything I can think of to avoid looking like a noob.... but *where* in the thread are these files...

I'm happy with what to do with them, just that most bulletin boards have file links that are ....obviously file links..... and I cannot see any for these three files...

Thanks again....
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: JimH on May 30, 2007, 09:10:01 am
In jmone's signature?
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: Chris Main on May 30, 2007, 02:53:57 pm
Well, sorry if I'm being thick.... in the signature all I see are links to his to five songs... and great though that is, it ain't helping.

So apologies if it's ovbious, but can you be a little more specific ? ... do I need to be a certain level of poster ? is there some BB setting I'm missing ?

I've tried editing the xml file... though I know I still need the other two .png files anayway... but the skin still doesn't appear in the Theaterview skin list...

Maybe I'd better wait for the download file to be updated....

Thanks...
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: JimH on May 30, 2007, 03:00:32 pm
It isn't his signature, but it looks like his fourth post is the one you need.  Small typeface.
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: marko on May 30, 2007, 03:03:28 pm
main.txt (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=40645.msg277292#msg277292)

png files (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=40645.msg277291#msg277291)
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: jmone on May 30, 2007, 03:32:11 pm
Well, sorry if I'm being thick.... in the signature all I see are links to his to five songs... and great though that is, it ain't helping.

So apologies if it's ovbious, but can you be a little more specific ? ... do I need to be a certain level of poster ? is there some BB setting I'm missing ?

I've tried editing the xml file... though I know I still need the other two .png files anayway... but the skin still doesn't appear in the Theaterview skin list...

Maybe I'd better wait for the download file to be updated....

Thanks...
Look for the little Paperclips just above my Sig Block in the two posts that Marko as linked to above. :)
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: Chris Main on May 31, 2007, 01:28:47 pm
Well... after more frantic searching and in the end some direct emailling... I'm happy to say that it was worth the effort... the skin just looks the business...

It feels churlish to mention that the top page descriptions for news and weather also seem to be missing, but since I'm likely to use this most on a non-connected machine it's no bother...

Thanks all....
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: jmone on May 31, 2007, 03:39:46 pm
Hi Chris the two PNG files I sent you are the "Top Page Descriptions" you just need to save them into the "...Blue Too\Pictures" directory and all should be good.


Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: lalittle on May 31, 2007, 04:41:36 pm
This thread has officially become a testiment to the idea of keeping the Plug-in download page updated with the latest version ;)

jmone -- I used the "size" method as a temporary workaround to put more items on the screen, but this of course makes some of the text feel a bit small.  Have you heard back about this issue?  It seems like something about this skin is not using the space as efficiently as the Noire skin.

Also, just a minor bug, but the icon for "Audio" on the main menu has a darker "box" around it during the animation -- i.e. when the Audio icon is either growing or shrinking, you can see a darker blue box around it.  This box disappears when the icon reaches full size, but none of the other icons do this, so something is "amiss" with this icon or the way it's displayed.

Thanks again,

Larry
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: LanceD on May 31, 2007, 08:36:06 pm
This thread has officially become a testiment to the idea of keeping the Plug-in download page updated with the latest version ;)

Ok, don't lynch me here   :o

When I updated this skin from the MC11 version, I was using whatever the initial release of MC12 was. I just tested the skin and couldn't figure out what you guys were on about  ? The skin worked for me. Then I decided to check my MC version, and sure enough, I was using 12.0.079 (or something similar) and 12.0.240 was the newest. When I updated, the skin broke (As was expected). If I may rant a little; I can understand changing the skinning methodology between major releases (say... between MC11 and MC12), but between minor releases?? As it was, when I made the skin, there was no documentation anywhere considering theater view skin construction, and I assume that aside from a user tutorial on the WIKI, there is still no spec posted anywhere. If this thread has become a testament to anything it's the idea that if you make a skinnable product, you should give your users the spec for creating skins...

Ok, rant over. Sorry.

I'll put in the patches posted and maybe do a few more upgrades and try to post it this weekend.

Lance
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: lalittle on May 31, 2007, 08:42:54 pm
If this thread has become a testament to anything it's the idea that if you make a skinnable product, you should give your users the spec for creating skins...

I think it's a testament to the whole concept of testaments.

Thanks again for all your work on this.

Larry
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: jmone on May 31, 2007, 09:03:24 pm
Ok, don't lynch me here   :o

No only Praise!  ;D

Thanks
Nathan
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: LanceD on May 31, 2007, 09:27:59 pm
I can't seem to find the files attached. Can somebody PM or email them to me? Thanks!
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: jmone on May 31, 2007, 09:31:17 pm
Weird - your the second person who can not see the attachments in the posts above (you do have to be logged in).  I can e-mail them to you if you PM your e-mail address....
Thanks
Nathan

Edit - it seems to also take up to 10 sec or so for the "Paper Clip" graphic and download link to show....it could be all the other graphics in the thread need to be loaded first (only guessing)...
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: jmone on May 31, 2007, 09:36:52 pm
Weird - your the second person who can not see the attachments in the posts above (you do have to be logged in).  I can e-mail them to you if you PM your e-mail address....
Thanks
Nathan

See if these links work for you:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=30 (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=30)
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=26)
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=28 (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=28)
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: Chris Main on June 01, 2007, 03:06:40 am
Hi Chris the two PNG files I sent you are the "Top Page Descriptions" you just need to save them into the "...Blue Too\Pictures" directory and all should be good.

Cr*p !! ... yes sorry... having said I was fine with what to do... I realise I just copied the three files to the same place, not putting the png's into the picture directory... Doh!

Put it down to trying to console a 2 month old at the same time.... thanks again.
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: LanceD on June 01, 2007, 05:02:17 pm
Ok, Have they changed the way to submit a skin too? I can't find the submit button in the "Skins & Plugins" section. Maybe I've just gone completely nuts   :'(
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: jmone on June 01, 2007, 07:59:09 pm
Hi Lance,
This is the link from the Sticky at the top of this forum.
http://accessories.musicex.com/mediacenter/submitplugin.php (http://accessories.musicex.com/mediacenter/submitplugin.php)
Thanks
Nathan
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: lalittle on June 08, 2007, 04:49:06 am
Do any of the skin guru's know how to get the BlueToo skin to work with the latest beta builds (which changed to "version 2.2" Theater View skins)?

Thanks,

Larry
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: jmone on June 08, 2007, 10:54:49 pm
Blue Too Update: Here is an updated MAIN.XML that:
- is based on LanceD's Skin in the download section
- should work with the Version 2.2 of the MC12 Skin (eg MC12 V12.0.252 (06/06/07) onwards):
- this is a "NO BUTTON" version of the skin
- this has a wider left margin than the default NO BUTTON skin

Download the attached (see the paperclip) MAIN.TXT, rename it MAIN.XML and copy it to your "C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12\FullSkins\Blue Too" folder

Enjoy
Nathan
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: jmone on June 08, 2007, 11:09:01 pm
Blue Too Update: Here is an updated MAIN.XML that:
- is based on LanceD's Skin in the download section
- should work with the Version 2.2 of the MC12 Skin (eg MC12 V12.0.252 (06/06/07) onwards):

Download the attached (see the paperclip) MAIN.TXT, rename it MAIN.XML and copy it to your "C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12\FullSkins\Blue Too" folder

Enjoy
Nathan
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: lalittle on June 08, 2007, 11:28:18 pm
Thanks Nathan.

Just to clarify, the first "main.txt" is the "no-button" version, while the second is the "button" version?
Is this correct?

Thanks,

Larry
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: lalittle on June 08, 2007, 11:35:06 pm
Thanks Nathan.

Just to clarify, the first "main.txt" is the "no-button" version, while the second is the "button" version?
Is this correct?

Thanks,

Larry

Just to answer my own question -- yes, this appears to be the case.

Is there a way to turn off the background video?  Also, is there a way to get the background to reach all the way to the edges and just have the "items" come in from the sides when using the overscan adjustment?

Thanks,

Larry
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: jmone on June 09, 2007, 12:01:21 am
Just to answer my own question -- yes, this appears to be the case.

Is there a way to turn off the background video?  Also, is there a way to get the background to reach all the way to the edges and just have the "items" come in from the sides when using the overscan adjustment?

Thanks,

Larry

Hi Larry,
Turn Off Animations:  Add the following code to your BlueToo MAIN.XML file just under the SKIN NAME line -

<ANIMATION>
   <Background Bitmap="Animation\Background.png" Alpha="100" Mode="0" />
</ANIMATION>

Boarders - If I understand you Q propertly, you have two options:
1) "Tools > Options > Theater View > Border Size" - I use 2% on my HTPC that is hooked up to a TV, and 0% on a PC hooked up to a Monitor.  With Animations off by adding the code above you should just see a Black Border if you % is to high - try to adjust the % so you just don't see the border.
2) In the Skin itself you can modify how far the buttons are indented in so here is MAIN.XML #3

Blue Too Update: Here is an updated MAIN.XML that:
- is based on LanceD's Skin in the download section
- should work with the Version 2.2 of the MC12 Skin (eg MC12 V12.0.252 (06/06/07) onwards):
- this has a wider left margin than the default skin

Download the attached (see the paperclip) MAIN.TXT, rename it MAIN.XML and copy it to your "C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12\FullSkins\Blue Too" folder

Nathan
Title: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.252 onwards
Post by: jmone on June 09, 2007, 05:02:09 am
How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.252 onwards

Firstly to acknowledge that I've just cleaned up a bunch of stuff in the the original Blue Too Skin by LanceD including:
- support for Version 2.2 of the MC12 Skin (eg MC12 V12.0.252 (06/06/07) onwards) based on the new Base_1.xml skin:
- added the bread crumb location
- refined some of the spacings and layouts of the graphics and text
- added the graphics for News and Weather

How to Install (for now)
1) Install LanceD's BlueToo skin at http://accessories.musicex.com/mediacenter/mc_data/plugins/808.mjp (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:
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=26)
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=28 (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=28)
3) Download, then Rename one of the files below to MAIN.XML and Copy it to the "C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12\FullSkins\Blue Too" folder.  Your choices are simply to have the Background Animation and the Left Hand Control Buttons present or not:
- main: Has the standard backround Animation and control Buttons - http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=41 (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=41)
- main_noA: Has the control Buttons but NO background Animation - http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=42 (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=42)
- main_noB: Has the background Animation but NO control Buttons - http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=43 (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=43)
- main_noA_noB: Has NO background Animation and NO control Buttons - http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=44 (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=44)

Enjoy
Nathan.
Title: Re: MC12 and BlueTwo TheaterView Skin
Post by: lalittle on June 09, 2007, 03:44:21 pm
Boarders - If I understand you Q propertly, you have two options:
1) "Tools > Options > Theater View > Border Size" - I use 2% on my HTPC that is hooked up to a TV, and 0% on a PC hooked up to a Monitor.  With Animations off by adding the code above you should just see a Black Border if you % is to high - try to adjust the % so you just don't see the border.
2) In the Skin itself you can modify how far the buttons are indented in so here is MAIN.XML #3

Thanks for all your feedback and help with this skin.

Regarding the border, the only real "solution" to the issue would be to make the skin system keep the background color all the way to the edges of the image rather than stopping at a "border" around the edges of the screen.

Please see my post here http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=40997.msg279938#msg279938 (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=40997.msg279938#msg279938) for more thoughts/explanations on this issue, which just cropped up with the Theater View 2.2 skin system changes.  I'm hoping that the behavior of the background color will be returned to the way it worked in the 2.1 system, where using the overscan adjustment did not result in a visible "border" being created.

Thanks,

Larry

UPDATE:  This is fixed as of build 258.
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.252 onwards
Post by: lalittle on June 14, 2007, 11:53:39 pm
Okay Nathan -- it looks like Blue Two needs updating again ;)  The Theater View skin version is now 2.3.  Any chance you could figure out what needs to be changed to get this skin to work with the latest MC build?  You're much better in this arena than I am.

Thanks,

Larry
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.252 onwards
Post by: jmone on June 15, 2007, 01:43:02 am
Okay Nathan -- it looks like Blue Two needs updating again ;)  The Theater View skin version is now 2.3.  Any chance you could figure out what needs to be changed to get this skin to work with the latest MC build?  You're much better in this arena than I am.

Thanks,

Larry

Hi Larry - for now open up the MAIN.XML file in the Blue Too folder and change the top line to <MJFS version="2.3">.  This will keep you going BUT, it looks like a bunch of stuff has changed however in V2.3 regarding how the skins reacts to the Overscan settings so I'll have to look at over the weekend and fix them up properly.
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: jmone on June 15, 2007, 07:30:29 am
Larry - can you test this one out (it is taking a bit of work so far!).  It has both Vis + Buttons & still has some fine tunning to do on spacings.
Thanks
Nathan
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=45 (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=45)
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.252 onwards
Post by: bennyd on June 15, 2007, 01:44:09 pm
Hi jmone,

I tried your latest main.xml and all is working fine and looking nice but I have 1 question.

When in "Playing Now", I don't see the PIP, although it is specified in the XML file.

Do I have to do something special to see the PIP (coverart, track info, vis) ?
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: lalittle on June 15, 2007, 05:02:02 pm
Larry - can you test this one out (it is taking a bit of work so far!).  It has both Vis + Buttons & still has some fine tunning to do on spacings.
Thanks
Nathan
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=45 (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=45)

Okay -- I just tested it (thanks again for all your work on this skin.)  I'm not seeing the issue that bennyd reported -- i.e. I AM seeing the coverart/track info etc. in the PN screen.

The only "new" bug I'm seeing so far is that on the home page, the green "hi-light" bar is overlapping onto the pictures of the currently selected item -- i.e. the green bar is much too wide.

A couple other things that stand out for me:

The "Play" indicator is no longer green.  I realize that this may not be due to the latest version, and that it's more of an artistic choice, but I think the green triangle worked a bit better since it stood out more, and it went well with the other hi-light green.  The current triangle is too understated in my opinion.

Another thing I've noticed for a while is that on the browsing screens, the "Playing Now" album art box does not fit within the green hi-light.  It looks like the green hi-light was stretched so that the PN box would fit here, but the box protrudes beyond the edges of the green hi-light a bit.  This is obviously a bit of a nit, but I've noticed it for a while so I wanted to mention it.

Thanks again,

Larry
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.252 onwards
Post by: jmone on June 15, 2007, 05:40:53 pm
Thanks for the feedback, guys.
1) PN - I too have no problems with this
2) Buttons (Front) - Needs works!  The prob is especially noticable on my 720p box (with scaling and overscan) but looks fine on a hi res monitor
3) Play Indicator - If you want the Green Button (which does look good in the skin) copy the "PlayOverlay.png" file from "....\Acajou\List" into the "....Blue Too\List" directory
4) PN Art Box - I've also been distracted by this before (but never enough to look at it)!

Will play some more!
Nathan

EDIT - Play Indicator above...
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: jmone on June 15, 2007, 07:22:08 pm
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 (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=46)

Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: jmone on June 16, 2007, 01:56:26 am
This one should play nicer with scaling and overscan seetings (but let me know!)  ;D

As always, download the following MAIN.TXT, rename it MAIN.XML and put in your "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=47 (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40645.0;attach=47)
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: lalittle on June 16, 2007, 02:44:07 am
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 (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
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: lalittle on June 16, 2007, 04:02:31 am
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
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: bennyd on June 16, 2007, 06:02:07 am
Quote
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.
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: jmone on June 16, 2007, 07:13:43 am
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
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: lalittle on June 16, 2007, 07:29:00 am
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
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: jmone on June 16, 2007, 08:18:45 am
Looks OK to me - but you can only try (just back up the original PlayOverlay.png file)!
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: jmone on June 17, 2007, 01:29:53 am
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

Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: Chili-Jam on June 17, 2007, 06:39:57 am
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
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: jmone on June 17, 2007, 07:21:10 am
Hi Chili-Jam - I've only seen that message if I am not logged into the board before clicking on the link....
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: robydago on June 17, 2007, 09:49:10 am
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...
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: jmone on June 17, 2007, 03:37:16 pm
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
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: lalittle on June 17, 2007, 03:44:56 pm
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
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: jmone on June 18, 2007, 07:04:35 am
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....
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: lalittle on June 18, 2007, 04:03:52 pm
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
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: Chili-Jam on June 19, 2007, 04:20:32 am
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.
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: jmone on June 22, 2007, 06:24:05 am
Larry - I've had a look at the code and can not see why the Weather has the grey highlight..... :-\
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: lalittle on June 22, 2007, 02:21:33 pm
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
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: jmone on June 22, 2007, 04:05:03 pm
Chilli-Jam / robydago please try to download from the links again - it should now work!  ;D
Thanks
Nathan
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: lalittle on July 05, 2007, 08:16:59 pm
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
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: jmone on July 05, 2007, 09:15:30 pm
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):
Quote
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]
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: lalittle on July 06, 2007, 01:49:52 am
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
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: jmone on July 06, 2007, 02:07:10 am
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
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: lalittle on July 06, 2007, 02:32:34 am
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.

Quote
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
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: widman99 on August 01, 2007, 06:27:34 pm
Thanks for your work in keeping this skin updated, it is definitely my favorite.

pete
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: jmone on August 01, 2007, 07:34:20 pm
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
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: lalittle on August 10, 2007, 04:09:19 am
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
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: Jean-Max on September 21, 2007, 08:48:48 am
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,

Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: lalittle on September 21, 2007, 02:42:24 pm
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
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: jmone on September 21, 2007, 06:57:04 pm
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
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: Jean-Max on September 23, 2007, 10:08:02 am
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 :)
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: JimH on September 23, 2007, 10:25:13 am
=> 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.
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: Jean-Max on September 23, 2007, 10:52:07 am
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 !!
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: jmone on September 24, 2007, 03:34:58 am
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
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: Jean-Max on September 24, 2007, 03:53:48 am
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 :)
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: jmone on September 24, 2007, 04:46:38 pm
Yes, this thread has the history of getting BlueToo to work, but the first post has the latest.
Thanks
Nathan
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: CarolinaGuy on December 02, 2007, 06:14:27 pm
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
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: JimH on December 02, 2007, 06:23:28 pm
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.
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: lalittle on December 02, 2007, 06:59:26 pm
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
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: CarolinaGuy on December 02, 2007, 07:23:53 pm


Downloaded MC 12.0.380; still does not work!!!

CarolinaGuy
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: JimH on December 02, 2007, 07:28:59 pm
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.
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: lalittle on December 02, 2007, 08:08:56 pm
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
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: CarolinaGuy on December 03, 2007, 03:19:14 pm
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
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: lalittle on December 03, 2007, 06:14:32 pm
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
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: CarolinaGuy on December 04, 2007, 11:26:45 am
lalitte,

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

CarolinaGuy
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: lalittle on December 04, 2007, 02:54:04 pm
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
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: RiderFan on December 04, 2007, 08:02:29 pm
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?
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: lalittle on December 04, 2007, 08:51:35 pm
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
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: RiderFan on December 05, 2007, 02:03:32 pm
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.
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: lalittle on December 05, 2007, 03:45:34 pm
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
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: RiderFan on December 05, 2007, 04:08:28 pm
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.
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: lalittle on December 06, 2007, 01:43:32 am
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.

I'll have to check on a Vista box and see if perhaps this just a "Vista" thing.  I thought I did this already, but I'm not sure now.

Quote
It looks FANTASTICK, and it should really be the default skin when you install MC12.

I agree -- it's my favorite Theater View skin.

Larry

Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: jmone on December 06, 2007, 03:02:42 pm
Hi CarolinaGuy / RiderFan - I've got BT working on two different Vista Boxs just fine (in fact I used these to test the chagnes to get this skin working with the later versions of MC12).  Larry thanks for the helping!

Updating the Plug In Download
As I'm not the Author (who has now moved on from JRiver) I can not update the original Plug In download from the JRiver website.  I've asked JimH if someone with the right permisions could take the three files from the first post in this thread and update the Plug In download as IMHO it causes nothing but confusion!

Thanks
Nathan
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: bob on December 06, 2007, 03:28:51 pm
Just submit it as a new plugin and give it your own version number and I'll take care of the rest.

http://accessories.jrmediacenter.com/mediacenter/submitplugin.php
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: jmone on December 06, 2007, 04:19:24 pm
Thanks Bob,
The only prob is I don't know how to make the mjp file - do you just want to submit a zip on the while new Blue Too folder?
Nathan

EDIT - I've uploaded a RAR with all the files and the thumbnails
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: RiderFan on December 06, 2007, 04:43:41 pm
I am not doubting that this skin works on Vista. It doesn't, however work on mine. I may have a regisrty quirk or some other PC related quirk that IS preventing it to work one one of my PC's. If I have time, I may try reinstalling and cleaning out all MC12 refrences from my registry to see if that will work.
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: jmone on December 06, 2007, 04:54:48 pm
I don't think there is anything in the registry that is going to help (but who knows).  All you "should" need to do is to ensure that on Vista you have the following:
1) C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12\FullSkins\Blue Too
2) replace the main.xml file with the new one from the first post of this thread where the top lines are
Quote
<MJFS version="2.3">

<SKIN Name="Blue MC12.2.3" Author="jmone" WebSite="" BaseSkin="..\Shared\Base 1.xml" />
You will see from the line above that this skin (like many others) uses the BaseSkin so this folder and files need to exists (eg there should be a "Shared" folder at the same level as the "Blue Too" folder

Thanks
Nathan
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: jmone on December 06, 2007, 05:29:01 pm
Thanks to Bob, The Updated Blue Too Skin is now packed from the "Skins and Plugins" page and can just be installed from http://accessories.musicex.com/mediacenter/mc_data/plugins/825.mjp

Please advise of any issues with the installer package (works fine for me).
Thanks
Nathan
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: lalittle on December 06, 2007, 07:21:43 pm
Thanks to Bob, The Updated Blue Too Skin is now packed from the "Skins and Plugins" page and can just be installed from http://accessories.musicex.com/mediacenter/mc_data/plugins/825.mjp

Please advise of any issues with the installer package (works fine for me).
Thanks
Nathan

Thanks for doing this.

Larry
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: RiderFan on December 06, 2007, 09:26:36 pm
OK, I installed the skin from the updated file, still no joy. I completely uninstalled MC12. Then reinstalled MC12. I downloaded the skin again from the updated file and voila...presto...it was finally a selectable skin. I guess I just had a flakey MC12 install.
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: jmone on December 06, 2007, 11:42:49 pm
OK, I installed the skin from the updated file, still no joy. I completely uninstalled MC12. Then reinstalled MC12. I downloaded the skin again from the updated file and voila...presto...it was finally a selectable skin. I guess I just had a flakey MC12 install.

Good to hear your up and going - hope you enjoy the skin!
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: neFAST on January 06, 2008, 10:04:28 am
How can we change the icon animation on main menu? (zoom in bluetoo, animated cube in other skins)
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: jmone on January 06, 2008, 05:06:01 pm
How can we change the icon animation on main menu? (zoom in bluetoo, animated cube in other skins)

Firstly you will find all of your TheaterView skins in "C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12\FullSkins" , each with their own directory with consists of a "Main.xml" file that controls the look and feel of each skins and references the graphics etc.  To cook up your own skin you can create your own by starting with a skin you like and copying the whole directory then start editing away (eg say copy the "blutoo" folder to "myskinname" and then start editing "Main.xml".  While I don't think there is any guide on how to create a Theaterview skin, you will get ideas from looking at each of the skins own "Main.xml" and can try cutting and pasting the bits you like from these skins into yours.

Good luck and I'm sure people would like to see your skinning efforts!

Thanks
Nathan
Title: Re: How to get BlueToo Skin to work with MC12 V12.0.258 onwards
Post by: neFAST on January 07, 2008, 03:49:16 am
Thanks jmone for your help. I already knew how to edit xml files and that's why I asked for the parameter controlling icon animation.
There is a quick guide in the wiki, but it's really not enough detailed.
Be sure that I'll share my skin as soon as possible.