Arctic Zephyr: From Ashes

[mattyspurs76 4]

Does this skin have tv/movie hubs like exploded?  

[Guardian Hope 117]

This question has probably been asked but I can't find an answer... What does this skin do or has that the original doesn't? Is this optimized for Emby somehow? What am I missing?

 

@Nazgulled:

 

Support for the original, Arctic Zephyr: Exploded, ended with Kodi 15 Isengard. The original authors moved on to creating Eunique and I was given the reins to direct where Exploded went next. So queue From Ashes which is quite literally Exploded from the last stable point plus all the updates afterwards checked for stability before being back-ported in. After that, From Ashes got a number of new features and bug fixes (but still has a way to go).

 

Arctic Zephyr: From Ashes is supported and at the moment has two working versions: one for Kodi 16 Jarvis that's available now, and one that's experimental but works for Kodi 17 Krypton.

 

Arictic Zephyr: Exploded - Kodi 15 Isengard (SoL: April 2015 / EoL: November 2015)

Arctic Zephyr: From Ashes ("dormer builds"/"Bluestone 1") - Kodi 16 Jarvis (SoL: December 2015 / EoL: TBD)

Arctic Zephyr: From Ashes ("danvers builds" / "Bluestone 2") - Kodi 17 Krypton (SoL: April 2016 / EoL: TBD)

 

 

Does this skin have tv/movie hubs like exploded?  

 

@mattyspurs76:

 

If it was in Exploded it's in From Ashes. If it's not working in From Ashes that means a patch hasn't been released to make it Jarvis compatible unless the feature is removed at the Kodi level.

[justpig 27]

Hello, I am having a similar problem to @ezpz. I have the requirements installed but failed at 19%.

[tooltime 0]

Hi

 

Just installed the 16.1 RC2 on my Shield TV and then tried to install the Arctic skin, but it's marked "incompatible". 

 

Using the 3.0.5 beta rep and seeing the 3.2.04 skin but can't install it.

 

Missing something obvious? 

 

Thankful for any advice.

 

Figured it out, wasn't enough to update the repo, had to re-install. All is well.

Edited March 31, 2016 by tooltime

[Guardian Hope 117]

Hello, I am having a similar problem to @ezpz. I have the requirements installed but failed at 19%.

 

@@justpig - how are you installing From Ashes? You could try what @@tooltime did and see if it works. If it doesn't, you have the manual option available. However, having ~2 reports of being unable to install it with the current version means it will be very hard to narrow down the problem for just you two. It could be as simple as the fact the legacy code is still there and will be removed with the next major release (3.2.10; not 3.2.05). It may not.

 

Hi

 

Just installed the 16.1 RC2 on my Shield TV and then tried to install the Arctic skin, but it's marked "incompatible". 

 

Using the 3.0.5 beta rep and seeing the 3.2.04 skin but can't install it.

 

Missing something obvious? 

 

Thankful for any advice.

 

Figured it out, wasn't enough to update the repo, had to re-install. All is well.

 

Glad to hear @@tooltime. I am going to tag @@Angelblue05 so that he is aware of this just in case something is wrong with the repo addon. 

 

3.2.05 Status Update - This is not an April Fool's joke unfortunately, but it should be released tomorrow. It is however incomplete in that it's lacking one important feature that 3.2.05 was supposed to have: plot info on playback (the "Info Banner"). The reason for this is that earlier today I had to get my left ear checked out as I might be (hopefully not; it's just infected right now) suffering from Sudden Deafness Syndrome in that ear. It does feature a number of other updates and the ground work for the Info Banner. It will be about 12 days before I know for certain what's going on with my left ear during which time my efforts will be focused medically. There is one glitch known in 3.2.05: the info banner tries to display but displays a black bar for a second before disappearing.

 

Two versions will be released: 3.2.05 (on the dormer build line) for Jarvis and 3.9.00 (on the danvers build line) for Krypton. Obviously the "Danvers" line will be released as 4.0.00 upon Krypton's beta's stage. 

[laststar 2]

Had to reinstall kodi, and updating to the new updated version of from Ashes i can't see the Media Flags as they used to be in the pervious version of your build from when it came over from exploded. 

 

Is this something thats been removed or am i overlooking something?

 

I'm also not getting the play, stop, rewind function buttons when playing a film. They are there but they don't show up?

 

 

 

Edited April 5, 2016 by laststar

[gcthompson 0]

Are there known issues with Kodi 16.1? I'm running it with OSMC and upon reboot it fails to load correctly. 

 

https://discourse.osmc.tv/t/rpi3-april-update-sad-face-right-after-boot/15211/27

 

I'm not sure if this is a problem with OSMC or the skin itself.

 

Thanks for taking the skin on and improving it

[Guardian Hope 117]

Had to reinstall kodi, and updating to the new updated version of from Ashes i can't see the Media Flags as they used to be in the pervious version of your build from when it came over from exploded. 

 

Is this something thats been removed or am i overlooking something?

 

I'm also not getting the play, stop, rewind function buttons when playing a film. They are there but they don't show up?

 

 

 

 

There's a Media Flags option within Skin Settings that you might need to tick to show the From Ashes icons. However, this is definitely something a little odd; I haven't seen anyone with those icons whether that setting was ticked or not. Those icons are pulled up by the video information dialogue screen.

 

i will investigate this further.

 

I will also investigate your other issue with rewind/play/stop/etc.further but the only way you would have any playback issues at the moment is if you accidentally downloaded 3.2.05 which is the working branch. It may also be an issue with OpenElec. You could try reinstalling the skin as well.

 

Are there known issues with Kodi 16.1? I'm running it with OSMC and upon reboot it fails to load correctly. 

 

https://discourse.osmc.tv/t/rpi3-april-update-sad-face-right-after-boot/15211/27

 

I'm not sure if this is a problem with OSMC or the skin itself.

 

Thanks for taking the skin on and improving it

 

@gcthompson: This may be an issue with Kodi 16.1 which is in RC stage at the moment. If you note the post you linked off to, it speaks of Experience 1080's reliance on "xbmc.gui" version 5.9 which is fairly old. Modern skins use "xbmc.gui" version 5.10 (Jarvis) and 5.11 (Krypton). It might be an issue on the Pi as well at the moment (it looks like it's a Raspberry Pi discussion forum).

 

If you are having trouble with 16.1 RC, and it seems that a number of others are too, No one has been able to narrow why the install will fail on certain devices when it reaches the "Skin Helper Service" install time which is right after "NextUp Notifications" but believe me when I say that the issue has been tried to be replicated by many users over on Kodi's forums and there has been no success in doing it. The current workaround is to just manually install the skin (extract and copy the files to the Kodi Addon Directory) and it'll pick up everything you need. 

 

However, it sounds like the skin is installing for you perfectly fine but when you reboot the OSMC software crashes. I can look further into this as 3.2.05 is taking a little longer. @@im85288 has been very helpful in pointing me in the right direction to use the Skin Helper Service to display plot overlay but inserting it in is causing all sorts of problems right now so it hasn't been released yet. I have a few more tricks to try.

[MasterPhW 0]

Hey there.
Is there anything we could help you to get the new version done?
You announced, that the new version should have been ready for Aprils Fools Day, but now 10 days later there's no new version, since it probably still has problems with the plot overlay.
Just tell us, if we can help you. No need, to do all the testing alone.

[MischaBoender 5]

I'm also waiting for an update. Not on the skin, but more on the ear problem. Hope everything works out okay.

 

Release dates for the .05 went from "early april" to aprils 1st to "taking a bit longer". Sounds like just a few nasty little bugs preventing the release.

[jnot2 3]

I am not seeing this skin listed in the beta repo. Any thoughts...

[andersen 0]

I don't see it either...

[zonly1 1]

Hello, I am having a similar problem to @ezpz. I have the requirements installed but failed at 19%.

 

 Btw, I have been having the same issues too. Installation would fail from the repo. The only way to use the skin for me was to manually copy the skin folder as no other method of installation would work. I had to do that for each update hoping it would get fixed but so far it isn't (up to 3.2.04 at least).

 

The error I get in the log is:

CAddonInstallJob[skin.arctic.zephyr.fromashes]: could not read add-on description of special://home/addons/skin.arctic.zephyr.fromashes

Edited April 15, 2016 by zonly1

[Guardian Hope 117]

Hey there.

Is there anything we could help you to get the new version done?

You announced, that the new version should have been ready for Aprils Fools Day, but now 10 days later there's no new version, since it probably still has problems with the plot overlay.

Just tell us, if we can help you. No need, to do all the testing alone.

 

Hey @@MasterPhW - the skin has indeed been delayed. Sometimes I forget to update the Emby forums but it's been posted to the Kodi forums for a while. There is a rather nasty glitch in the plot overlay that's delayed the release exponentially. Even though the code, as confirmed by @@im85288 is correct - the skin is displaying a "black screen glitch" for a few seconds with the outlines of the overlay.

 

Any help would be appreciated on that. I redirected my efforts towards a few other features people have requested as that one was driving me crazy. The 3.2.05 branches are available on GitHub and updates are going to be pushed to them from my local system soon but there for unrelated features.

 

My goal is to now release 3.2.05 (now 3.2.10) on or before the day I leave to close on a new home in Moorpark, CA which will be this month. As you might imagine, due to the delay the version bump represents the "Spring Update."

 

I'm also waiting for an update. Not on the skin, but more on the ear problem. Hope everything works out okay.

 

Release dates for the .05 went from "early april" to aprils 1st to "taking a bit longer". Sounds like just a few nasty little bugs preventing the release.

 

@@MischaBoender Indeed, some nasty bugs currently exist at the moment.

 

And thank you for your concern regarding my left ear; I have doctors at Hopkins running some pretty extensive tests next week but still no hearing in that ear unfortunately.

 

I am not seeing this skin listed in the beta repo. Any thoughts...

 

@@jnot2 - try turning "show incompatible mods" on; since some of the requirements which will be eliminated soon aren't part of the Jarvis repo this is the first thing I would check.

 

I don't see it either...

 

@@andersen - same suggestion as above would be the first thing to try.

 

 Btw, I have been having the same issues too. Installation would fail from the repo. The only way to use the skin for me was to manually copy the skin folder as no other method of installation would work. I had to do that for each update hoping it would get fixed but so far it isn't (up to 3.2.04 at least).

 

The error I get in the log is:

CAddonInstallJob[skin.arctic.zephyr.fromashes]: could not read add-on description of special://home/addons/skin.arctic.zephyr.fromashes

 

@@zonly1 - Make sure you have all the required addons which aren't in the repo first. Links are in the first post. There have been sporadic reports of some Android devices and Raspberry Pi's not running "normal Kodi" have had this issue.

 

Finally for everyone - Those that pull the skin from the Enterprise CDN option - it will be unavailable for part of this weekend while a networking team pushes out significant updates. I will update this thread when the maintenance is over.

[zonly1 1]

Hey @@MasterPhW - the skin has indeed been delayed. Sometimes I forget to update the Emby forums but it's been posted to the Kodi forums for a while. There is a rather nasty glitch in the plot overlay that's delayed the release exponentially. Even though the code, as confirmed by @@im85288 is correct - the skin is displaying a "black screen glitch" for a few seconds with the outlines of the overlay.

 

Any help would be appreciated on that. I redirected my efforts towards a few other features people have requested as that one was driving me crazy. The 3.2.05 branches are available on GitHub and updates are going to be pushed to them from my local system soon but there for unrelated features.

 

My goal is to now release 3.2.05 (now 3.2.10) on or before the day I leave to close on a new home in Moorpark, CA which will be this month. As you might imagine, due to the delay the version bump represents the "Spring Update."

 

 

@@MischaBoender Indeed, some nasty bugs currently exist at the moment.

 

And thank you for your concern regarding my left ear; I have doctors at Hopkins running some pretty extensive tests next week but still no hearing in that ear unfortunately.

 

 

@@jnot2 - try turning "show incompatible mods" on; since some of the requirements which will be eliminated soon aren't part of the Jarvis repo this is the first thing I would check.

 

 

@@andersen - same suggestion as above would be the first thing to try.

 

 

@@zonly1 - Make sure you have all the required addons which aren't in the repo first. Links are in the first post. There have been sporadic reports of some Android devices and Raspberry Pi's not running "normal Kodi" have had this issue.

 

Finally for everyone - Those that pull the skin from the Enterprise CDN option - it will be unavailable for part of this weekend while a networking team pushes out significant updates. I will update this thread when the maintenance is over.

 

I have skin info service and imdb top 250 installed. I am also running Kodi 16.1 on Windows 10. Anyways, side loading the skin works fine for now, just have to update it manually each time.

[StealthDefender 29]

@@Guardian Hope

 

Hi mate

I am using AZ:FA since a while now on my shield tv and i love it!

One thing i miss is and now comes my question....is it possible to insert a letter jump function to navigate in larger lists easely?

Til today i used a harmony remote and there i used the jump keys, like M goes to M!

Now the shield remote only has a few buttons and scrolling to larger lists is a mess!

In some skins there is this option in the list view, but wozld it possible to use some tweak on other views also?

Greetz Stealth

 

Gesendet von meinem LG-D855 mit Tapatalk

Edited April 20, 2016 by StealthDefender

[nekromantik 24]

Look forward to update.

Hope your ear gets better

[Guardian Hope 117]

@@Guardian Hope

 

Hi mate

I am using AZ:FA since a while now on my shield tv and i love it!

One thing i miss is and now comes my question....is it possible to insert a letter jump function to navigate in larger lists easely?

Til today i used a harmony remote and there i used the jump keys, like M goes to M!

Now the shield remote only has a few buttons and scrolling to larger lists is a mess!

In some skins there is this option in the list view, but wozld it possible to use some tweak on other views also?

Greetz Stealth

 

Gesendet von meinem LG-D855 mit Tapatalk

 

@@StealthDefender - I am glad you are really enjoying the skin on your Shield TV. I always felt this skin was best suited to the "10-foot experience" compared to others.

 

This is a good question and something I would have to look into. I use a Harmony remote these days (literally replaced every remote I had - well worth the few hundred). I know, and as you said, it works on the list views but I am honestly not sure about the others.

 

That will have to be something for 3.2.20 (3.2.10 has been delayed long enough due to bugs).

 

Look forward to update.

Hope your ear gets better

 

Thanks @nekromantik  .

 

For everyone: I am timing the release of the "Spring 2016 Update" (3.2.10 - formerly 3.2.05) for when I leave to close on the house in Moorpark, CA. Realistically, departure dates based on airline availability means probably May 1st rather than April 27th. I also don't want to release an update without the Enterprise CDN running as I know quite a few get it from there. That should be back in a few days as well.

 

A lot of bugs are being ironed out still due to "under the hood" changes (things you won't see visually but will give you a better experience moving forward).

 

For those tuned to Kodi's release updates, you'll know when you see From Ashes' Audio Suite get a version bump to 4.0.00 that the release is inbound. As I brought up before, two versions will be released: Dormer 3.2.10 for Jarvis and Danvers 4.0.00 for Krypton Alpha which is highly experimental and could possibly make your compute make eggs and bacon for you  .

 

There may be a "3.2.15" for the further enhanced color selector allowing even more customization of the skin's colors. As I am not handling the UX User Choice Customization it's a possibility that it won't make it into the 3.2.10 deadline of May 1st.

[Guardian Hope 117]

Update for Everyone (I like to Keep People Informed): 3.2.10 is progressing once again now that the bugs are being squashed. @ over at the Kodi forums whose doing everything skin color customization for the skin and I have been speaking in private and updates providing further enhancements to color selections will be released in "batches" rather than "all at once."

 

3.2.10 should be released May 1st, 2016 as scheduled which will be about the time the Enterprise CDN is back up and running (it's amazing what one typo can do to a network). 3.2.10 is the Spring 2016 Update to Arctic Zephyr: From Ashes and no release will occur beyond 3.2.10 until after I get back from California (again) so hopefully this is a stable build with all the code changes going on.

 

For those boldly running Kodi 17, 4.0.00 will be simultaneously released featuring literally everything in 3.2.10 just updated for Kodi 17 and hopefully actually working.

[shaefurr 1337]

Still loving the AZ skin, glad to see your keep it updated Guardian

 

Quick question, is there an easy way to disable the background fanart but still use a fallback image? The tian skin for example you can just disable the fanart in the view settings. So thats what im trying to achieve.

[Guardian Hope 117]

Still loving the AZ skin, glad to see your keep it updated Guardian

 

Quick question, is there an easy way to disable the background fanart but still use a fallback image? The tian skin for example you can just disable the fanart in the view settings. So thats what im trying to achieve.

 

Thank you . To answer your question, I am not certain as I haven't touched fanart which means it's still using AZ:E's way of doing it. I know you can disable fanart in AZ:FA's options which may do what you are trying to accomplish; otherwise I see no reason not to add it in a future update. Just let me know if it does or does not.

 

This finally brings me to a few notes (copied and pasted from Kodi's forums) about AZ:FA which should have been released today:

 

3.2.10 Update - the Spring 2016 update was delayed to implement a few color selector enhancements plus I really haven't felt up to packaging the skin (sadly, my ear is beginning to effect my balance so the good old docs have gone for the nuclear treatment options meaning right now I am not doing much on any front). Given all of that, the Spring 2016 Update will be released no later than May 21st, 2016.

 

A Note about Kodi's Switch to RERO Development - To put bluntly: just no. From Ashes won't be releasing an update every other day because Kodi decided they wanted to start updating every other day (this is an exaggeration). The From Ashes project was created to take over Exploded and ensure it's compatibility with future versions of Kodi. It has since evolved and took on a life of its own but the development pace will not change. Everyone who has or does contribute does so in their spare time as do I. This means there will be no shotgun releases and we'll stick to following the same release schedule for From Ashes as we have been doing since its introduction (1 or 2 a month or a large update every 3-4 months).

[Guardian Hope 117]

Well, now that all this is up and running again, 3.2.10 will be released by May 17th, a few days earlier than the projected 21st. Directly from the Kodi forums:

 

day 20:26

 

Post: #148

NortheBridge Anycast Edge Enterprise CDN Restored - May 7, 2016 @ 8pm

The Anycast Edge Enterprise CDN, or as you all know it as, the Enterprise CDN has been restored. We have enhanced it quite a bit with edge locations in nearly every country in the world which allows content distributed from the origin in Washington, D.C. to be downloaded at speeds like as of you were in the capital of the United States. In essence, the easiest way to get AZ:FA has returned.

We moved Arctic Zephyr: From Ashes to our Anycast Network since it is so popular it deserved the proper treatment. Here are some fun facts:

• 300GB of downloads of AZ:FA occur each release from the Enterprise CDN
• 120MB is the approximate size of the AZ:FA download
• 2,500 People on average, download AZ:FA from the Enterprise CDN on release day
• All these statistics exclude those who download from GitHub or the Emby Repo

All links have been updated and now work again.

Enterprise CDN Download (3.2.04): https://embycdn.northebridge.com/AZFA/do...3.2.04.zip

[Guardian Hope 117]

From the Kodi forums:

 

Okay everyone, as we inch closer and closer to the 17th (release day of AZ:FA 3.2.10 "Spring Update") which will be the last update for at least a month, I am pleased to say that virtually every legacy script has been eliminated from the skin except for one: "script.duration." The goal of the Spring Update is to remove all legacy dependencies so that we can move forward without the need for people to download and install older plugins. So far, this objective has been 66.6% met with "script.duration" being the very last thing that needs to be changed.

However, I have had a fight and a half with this skin to try and remove it in favor of the one built into the Skin Helper Service. I'm sure it's something painfully obvious but I've been working on this update for a while to get rid of the old. So, if anyone can get this skin to actually take to using the Skin Helper Service's duration (readme at: ) rather than script.duration, I would be grateful. Added bonus if you can get the plot overlay function to actually work rather than bring up a black flicker (the only known bug in 3.2.10).

Most of 3.2.10 has been pushed to GitHub: https://github.com/NortheBridge/skin.arc...e/3.2.10cu but I've had to hold back Rotten Tomatoes temporarily as I figure out a way to get it on the Video Info screen without overcrowding it (I'm thinking placing it below "Overview" as a separate page before "Similar Titles"):



Finally, 3.2.10 will tell you to remove the old legacy helpers. Just uninstall them from Kodi as you normally would. However, since the page isn't dynamically detecting that it's been removed, it will display this:



3.2.10 will re-base the images with the main Arctic Zephyr theme from @jurialmonkey. This has not yet been pushed to GitHub! Also going to shoot @Moor208 a message in regards to the three items I figured should be merged into the skin as well so those obviously don't exist on GitHub yet either. Basically, what I am telling you is that the 3.2.10 on GitHub is not the release 3.2.10.

[Guardian Hope 117]

 

http://imgur.com/a/BENme

Arctic Zephyr: From Ashes ("Spring 2016 Update")
3.2.10 (Dormer) Jarvis / 4.0.00 (Danvers) Krypton

 

Arctic Zephyr: From Ashes' Spring 2016 Update is finally here... two days late. From Ashes' Spring 2016 Update was a major code overhaul to remove legacy scripts all of which have been removed except "script.duration" which you'll still need to download (simply find the link in the first post). Most of From Ashes' Spring 2016 Update's changes are back-end with many of the user experience functions currently disabled. The new user experience changes will be slipstreamed into AZ:FA leading up to the Autumn Update/Anniversary Update. Unfortunately, time was a factor here and I simply ran out of time (I'll be leaving on Saturday to head to CA so it was now or never).

There's a few things to note: this version of AZ:FA uses more disk space (205MB versus 119MB). This is temporary. The compression of the textures were not working for me so I had to stop trying. You may also get a Skin Helper Error when you try to change views or customize the colors. Simply update the Skin Helper Service even if you have the latest version as this will resolve the issue.

The resolution textures are temporary placeholders. They were supposed to be reverted to AZ's base indicators but somehow were missed. However, with the media textures exposed to everyone, I encourage everyone to try their hand at creating new texture designs. If there is a grouping that will fit into AZ:FA's ethos, it will become the default in lieu of AZ's base textures.

The issues with Raspberry-PI's can't be investigated by myself as I don't own one but I made a few adjustments which might resolve the issues or they might not.

This is also the first Arctic Zephyr release available for Krypton. Support is experimental!

Via Enterprise CDN (Jarvis - Dormer): https://embycdn.northebridge.com/AZFA/do...3.2.10.zip
Via Enterprise CDN (Krypton - Danvers) https://embycdn.northebridge.com/AZFA/da...4.0.00.zip
Available on GitHub
Available in the Emby Beta Repo (Jarvis 3.2.10 ONLY)

 

Changelog:

3.2.10 (3.2.10_bsrelease01) / 4.0.00 (4.0.00_bsrelease02) - "From Ashes Spring 2016 Update"

Experimental Krypton Support ("Danvers" Build Line - Bluestone 2 - 4.0.00)
Minor Improvements to the Skin's Code for Jarvis Support ("Dormer" Build Line - Bluestone 1 / "Danvers" Build Line - Bluestone 2")
Auto-completion Keyboard Support Added
Enhancements to Color Selector (courtesy of minus0)
Enhancement IMDB250 from Skin Helper Service
Adds Rotten Tomatoes Ratings to Video Info (Feature Disabled)
Additional Slipstream Updates from Arctic Zephyr: Exploded 2.0.12 Back-port
Slipstream Updates from Upstream Arctic Zephyr Base Skin (Jurialmonkey)
Removes Legacy Code "Script.Duration" References Completely
Removes Legacy Code "IMDB250" References Completely (Replaced)
GUI Change: English Language Now Defaults to American Flag (Except Subtitles)
GUI Change: Video Information Indicators Changed
Info Banner ("Plot Overlay") Partially Implemented (Feature Currently Not Functional)
NOTICE: Due to GUI Changes, Skin Required Space May Temporarily Increase
NOTICE: Due to Legacy Code Removal, Certain Functions May Not Operate Correctly
NOTICE: Rotten Tomatoes for Views Will Be Added In 3.2.11/4.0.01 (Feature Disabled Currently)

Edited May 19, 2016 by Guardian Hope

[nekromantik 24]

my skin just updated however all my colors are wrong.

highlight color is white as is text color so hard to tell what your selecting. 

Edited May 19, 2016 by nekromantik