Community Skin info.

[Fatman_do]

The CommunitySkin version 2.x and the Widescreen version 1.x are closely coming to the end of the development and support cycle. These skins are strickly for what is considered the OLD user interface that has its days numbered with gb-pvr. No further development by sub is planned for that interface. Those wishing to stay with the old user interface can enjoy the features they currently have with the older skin and plugin.

Here is where the new CommunitySkin 3.x will take over.

The new CommunitySkin and soon to be re-released SkinPlugin is "breaking away" from the now legacy roots. These two items will now only be intended to be used with the new UI. We have taken this point in time to totally re-write the structure of the skin and plugin. More compatibilities are now incorporated, such as the move from having images stored in _CommonImages folder, to now _CoreImages. Some image names are changed to also be more in-line with blue.

What does this mean with legacy plugins not updated with the new UI???

No need for concern. Your favorite older plugins are still supported. They will be displayed with the older UI "look" and there will be a Community3 skin located in the "\GBPVR\Skin" folder that exists only to support new UI skin.

The re-write of the skin has been a very time consuming adventure, and I am certain there are mistakes, errors, and various bugs that are not identified. I at this time have not gone through and re-installed every plugin ever written and checked for errors. I would appreciate any bug reports or errors (please zip and include logs whenever possible).

Here it is...the pre release of CommunitSkin 3 with updated installer.(link removed due to updates).


When the update to the SkinPlugin is completed (and maybe a little testing done with it), along with reorganization of the images and recreating themes for the new UI, CommunitySkin 3 will be an official release.

Have fun beta testers.....

[Fatman_do]

Plans for a 16:9 version are no longer in the works.

[Fatman_do]

Man where do you find the time for all of this...

I don't have the time for this really..:o Next week I start being an assistant coach on my son's Pop Warner football team.

But good hobbie for you right! I hope you can take my CMSS Blue Bubble when it's finish and implement into your CS. Hopefully a working template will be completed by Aug 2007.

August is nearly here....:eek:

In any rate, sure, I'll add it to the skin. Thanks

[Fatman_do]

Ok, fixed a bug in the installer. That didn't take long to find since it broke the skin from the start. Sorry.

[McBainUK]

Planning to have a beta of the SkinPlugin ready around the end of the week.

80% of the core functionality is complete. A new feature I'm working on is the ability to save user created themes. This will allow you guys to upload theme files to the forum and share them with others. A bit like what groover_km has already done: http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?p=213387

[McBainUK]

Extract the zip to your gbpvr folder (note that it will overwrite the current theme).

Notable features and changes from the previous version include:

• Task based UI - presented with a list of tasks on start up.
  
• Edit theme UI is split into two parts - standard for those wanting to change the skin the easy way with a choice of the main skin items, and advanced, which lists ALL editable skin items.
  
• Themes can have multiple preview images to help get a feel for it before applying.
  
• User edits can now be saved as a themes! (a much requested feature).
  
• The preview window now shows the name of the currently selected option (eg if the task images are set to 'BlueMen' then it will show this)
  
• FF and RW scrolls through the possible options for a editable skin item 5 at a time, this is useful for those with a larger number of options like buttons and backgrounds for example
  
• 'Play' applies changes, 'back' cancels and quits to main menu.
  

All feedback welcome.

Download (30mb): edit link removed - superseded by preview 2

[McBainUK]

and I am certain there are mistakes, errors, and various bugs that are not identified.... I would appreciate any bug reports or errors (please zip and include logs whenever possible).

Like Community Skin 3 I think this may be the case with the SkinPlugin but, as fatman_do, says "Have fun beta testers"

[Fatman_do]

Well done.

Used it and now I see I have some positioning adjustments ahead of me. Sure beats having to manually move images now

[pcostanza]

I installed the skin plugin and verified via config that it was in the plugins list. However, it does not show up in the menu. Did I forget something in my advancing age?

[McBainUK]

Nothing springs to mind. Maybe worth checking you have the required skin files (Community3). Note that its PVRX2 only.

Best thing is to look at/post your pvrx2 log file as it will say in there why it didn't load.