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un8y - a WMC theme with a Windows 8 twist (and a template to create your own WMC theme)


keef

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I'm struggling a bit with this. I installed the original un8y theme which appears to work fine but I would like to use the Midnight Blue design instead. 

 

 

But the download links for the "blue" versions have no Theme folder, just the MCTdefault.xml file. Where do I find them?

 

I've just checked Alwin's SkyDrive links - for MidnightBlue there is certainly a Theme folder as well as the xml.  I know Alwin is reworking some graphics, so maybe the Theme folder was offline for a while...?

 

At the moment, Alwin's images could result in the bug fredodebo007 saw - but this will only happen if you see these Teletext icons on your system.  As I said, @@AlwinHummels has told me he is in the process of reworking the images.  I'm sure he'll let us know when they're ready.

Edited by keef
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AlwinHummels

Yes I'm reworking the themes and will upload when they are ready :) and tested on my system :) The old links are working I made copies to work on and when ready I'll replace the old files but I'll let you all know. for now I'm still busy.

Hope tomorrow I've those ready.

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politby

I've just checked Alwin's SkyDrive links - for MidnightBlue there is certainly a Theme folder as well as the xml.  I know Alwin is reworking some graphics, so maybe the Theme folder was offline for a while...?

 

At the moment, Alwin's images could result in the bug fredodebo007 saw - but this will only happen if you see these Teletext icons on your system.  As I said, @@AlwinHummels has told me he is in the process of reworking the images.  I'm sure he'll let us know when they're ready.

 

Thanks, maybe there was a temporary glitch - I can download the theme folders now.

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AlwinHummels

I've made the new un8y themepacks I made a Midnight and a Morning version in the folowing colors:

Red (Red Morning is the original from Keef)

Green

Blue

Yellow

DarkYellow

Edited by AlwinHummels
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  • 2 weeks later...
NeoMesal

EDIT: Please check the new thread that I have created

http://mediabrowser.tv/community/index.php?/topic/3013-modern8-media-center-theme/

 

Hi all!

 

I've been using Keef's template to help me create my own "metro"/flat/modern (whatever you want to call it) inspired theme.

 

It's still a work in progress but I thought I'd post some screenshots :)

 

 

Some further enhancements:

-Clock shows day, date and seconds

-When changing the channel, long titles shouldn't have their text cut off (see last screen shot)

 

52ace965da3fe_Screenshot3.jpg

52ace948bae92_Screenshot2.jpg

52ace912c74c2_Screenshot1.jpg

 

 

52acec73c9405_Screenshot4.jpg

 

 

(Just note that I'm also using My Channel Logos to change the guide layout)

 

Any suggestions?

 

Cheers!

Edited by NeoMesal
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Consider starting your own thread because I'm sure lots of people will be interested in following it's progress.

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Nice, NeoMesal. I like your transport control scheme.

 

I'm playing about with a more overtly metro style myself, but not sure if it's going anywhere.

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  • 5 months later...
scottydog

Loving the theme, great work @@keef!

 

I do have a small issue when running a slideshow - the text displaying the name of the picture is too dark to read, it looks like it should have a gradient background behind it, like the clock does....

 

 53806a855c714_screengrab.png

 

Would you be able to point me to where I can add the gradient behind the text? Or what would I need to change in colors.mcml to make the text white again?

thanks!

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keef

@@scottydog, firstly and most importantly welcome to the community.

I'm glad you like the theme.

Thanks for flagging this up - I hadn't noticed this as I don't show picture details on Media Center slideshows.

un8y doesn't really add anything to the default Media Center theme, it just changes the appearance of graphics and text that are already there. There is no mask or background behind that text in default Media Center, so the same applies to un8y.

OK, that colour is "OffWhite" in colors.mcml. BUT this is a global colour definition in Media Center - if you change the OffWhite RGB values in colors.mcml, this will change ALL text in Media Center whose colour is defined as OffWhite.  For example, the font on the non-selected Start Menu items.  By all means try this, but I think it will look ghastly..

 

However, it should be possible to create a custom colour definition for this text, so that only this slideshow text colour is changed.  Let me know if you want me to look into this.

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keef

@@scottydog (again!) - I had a quick look and found the offending text definition quite easily, so I've gone the custom colour definition route:

 

Try this version - you'll need to replace your existing Theme directory and MCTDefault.xml with the ones in the download.

 

Let me know if this one is OK for you - if it works as expected, I'll update the main download in the top post.

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keef

Glad it worked for you, @@scottydog - I'll update the main download with this fix.

 

If only there was a "handy reference guide" for this stuff...  I'm afraid it's (semi-)educated searching and trial and error.  I use Restorator to search and extract contents from ehres.dll and Microsoft.MediaCenter.Shell.dll, modify the content and then use Media Center Themer to replace the original content with the modifications.

 

Usually the names of the html/mcml entries are pretty self explanatory, so you generally know where to start.  This one funnily enough was slideshow.mcml in the html section of ehres.dll. 

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scottydog

cheers for the welcome @@keef - and many thanks for the very swift reply and update too, this looks great - the text now stands out against a dark background, and if it runs onto a light area of the photo such as the sky, the drop shadow provides enough definition to read the text, just what I needed!

 

For my own reference, how did you find the text definition? Is there a handy reference guide to the screen elements by page, or is it all just buried in the SDK somewhere? I guess I was kinda thinking the gradient fill behind the time or channel name etc. would just be a screen element that could be added to any on-screen text, in the same way you could change the font face or colour, but I see you've had to add slideshow.mcml into the theme now, so I guess you add the custom font colour in there?

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swhitmore

Hey, I was just wondering if anyone here can help me figure out how to rearrange entry points that aren't the default ones using Media Centre Themer. I can't seem to find the strings for Media Browser etc. It used to be easy with Media Centre Studio, but I can't get that working with Win8.

Edited by swhitmore
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scottydog

hi @@keef - I've noticed another issue, not sure if this will be fixable though...

 

When a programme is flagged as HD on the guide page, it shows OK on the listing grid, but you can't really see it on the detail section below:

 

538f4062d7a36_HDscreengrab.png

 

I don't see the HD logo in the images folder, so I'm not sure if it's even in the resource dlls... not an issue if it can't be fixed / is too time consuming to change it as it's not really needed anyway (personal opinion anyway!).

 

Cheers

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keef

@@scottydog, apologies for the slow response, I've been abroad with work.

 

I see from your epg that you're in Scotland too?

 

Thanks again for picking this up.  My PC TV tuner is SD only, so the HD logo doesn't show in my system.  It is fixable though - but I'll be working "blind", so it may take a couple of iterations.

Edited by keef
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scottydog

thanks @@keef - that's not a slow response at all, I've seen cosmetic changes take months to get fixed in software! :-)

 

yep, I'm in Bonnie Scotland too - central belt for me... and WMC drives my main tv in the lounge, hence HD reception is a must these days

 

looking good to me - a definite improvement and keeps the red highlighting too - nice touch, hadn't thought of that myself! only issue I would say is it doesn't look 'sharp' - is there a slight gradient in the middle of the png? in this case I think it may look better just solid...

5395bd27c5f1c_hd_newscreengrab.png

 

many thanks again though for the swift response!

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keef

Glad I found the right image, @@scottydog (BTW, I'm in the Central Belt too!).

 

OK, I can have a play around with the image a bit more, but I can't really see the effects of the various masks WMC applies to non-selected epg items, etc.  Maybe you could edit it so that it looks best to your taste: the image is METADATA.HDTV.PNG in \Theme\Resources\ehres\Images\

 

Here's a gradient one

and a solid one

 

(right click and save image as - you know what to call it and where to put it :P )

Edited by keef
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scottydog

great, thanks @@keef - I've picked the solid one, looks best to my (degrading by the day) eyes! I did try editing the original icon myself, but mspaint only gave me bright red and big blocks :-(

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  • 7 months later...
paulpaul

Does anyone know how to change the background for a specific page? For exaple, to change the background of the picture gallery, I think I have to modify the file PHOTOSBROWSEPAGE.XML of the ehres.dll (expecially where there is "<backgroundpage url="common.background.xml"/>") but I wasn't able to obtain nothing.  :(  Anyone can please help me? thank you very much!

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Hi @@paulpaul!  So, you are directly editing ehres.dll?  Are you using Restorator? 
 
Have a look here - based on work done by bill24 (the guru of ehres modding, he used to hang out on the old Media Browser Community Tracker but don't think he's active on the new forum).

Edited by keef
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paulpaul

Thank you very much! I didn't find when I searched in the previous days for something like this :unsure:

 

The solution is great but not perfect, meaning that the backgrounds didn't fade.

That's why I tried to modify the RECORDEDTV.BROWSEPAGE.XML (just an example) by putting a navigateToAnimation="PageBackground.In" but the problem, after all, is that WMC is seeing it as a new istance (deleting the background of the start page).

I searched for a different solution, but even calling directly the PAGEBACKGROUND.MCML file, for example like for "PageBackground.mcml#AudioPageBackground" WMC creates a new istance.

At the end, after the full day  :huh:  , I success (I hope) calling something like <video:RecordedTVBrowsePage class="Page.Browse" IsWidescreenAware="true"
UIName="res://Microsoft.MediaCenter.Shell!BrowsePage.mcml#BrowseRECORDEDTV" />
inserting different copies of the same structure (having different background images) in BROWSEPAGE.MCML

I'm using Media Center Themer (great program!).

Do you have idea if it's possible to call 'something' like a program, a routine or an something like a system event from a MCML file? I would like to use a minimalistic remote control and, in order to do so, I need to use the same button for different functions (for example using the LEFT button to go left when in the user interface or SKIP when watching a video) but in order to do so, I have to notify Eventghost about the context: for example I tried watching, inside eventghost, if the FFDSHOW codec was running in order to understand if a video was playing ..everything was perfect, but WTV files doesn't use FFDSHOW :angry:  , so this is not a solution, that's why I was thinking calling something directly from a MCML file, but I have absolutelly no idea how to do this <_<

I'm using WMC from more than 10 years and I really love it.

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  • 11 months later...
Nick's MCE

Hi

Just wondering if anyone has successfully used media centre themer on the MCE Hack for windows 10. Tried installing as I did in win 8 but cant get it to stick.

 

Thanks

Nick

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