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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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Release History
 
26th May 2014 - un8y v 2.0.2: Fixed issue with picture details text colour in Media Center slideshows

29th November 2013 - un8y v 2.0.1: Bug fix to prevent certain Teletext icons showing as full screen under some circumstances
12th October 2013 - un8y v 2.0: Original release
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What is un8y?
 
This is NOT a theme for Media Browser.  It is a theme for Windows Media Center, designed to be a good visual match with soultaker's neo Media Browser theme.  It as an evolution of some themes on the old CT, but this time with a Windows 8 twist. 
 
Since running Windows 8 with Media Center, I found the WMC graphics a bit jarring with the general W8 "style", so decided to do something about it.  I've been working on this off and on (mainly "off") for a while now.

As things are, it could be used as a stand-alone WMC theme, and could be useful if you still use MB 2 or run MB Classic with MB3.
 
As it is designed for Windows 8 (it works for Windows 7 too!), it has been built for Patchou’s Media Center Themer   (sorry, never been able to get Media Center Studio to work in W8... :( ). This themer does not require ANY changes to be made to system dlls.
 
Media Center Themer 1.5 was released on 16th November 2013, meaning un8y is also now Windows 8.1 compatible.
 
Some screenshots:
 
New Start screen:
 
5259c1e4972cc_rEmuZEU_11gqkcbKp3HeS4z3p_
 
New transport controls:
 
5259c24ed85b5_un8tytransportcontrols.jpg
 
And lots of deeper level changes.
 
Here's a (fairly low-res) video of Media Center running un8y entirely under touch control:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSwlntrsfTU

Installation
 
This theme changes graphics and font colours to change the default Media Center theme to match the neo mediabrowser theme. If you are running with a custom Media Center theme, please reset to the default WMC theme before applying un8y.
 
If you don’t use Media Center Themer, download it and install it.
 
Once installed, navigate to %ProgramData%\Media Center Themer\ and take copies of the Theme directory and MCTDefault.xml file there and put the copies somewhere safe. (Note %ProgramData% is hidden by default).
 
Download and unzip un8y.
 
In this directory is a Theme subdirectory and MCTDefault.xml file. Copy the Theme subdirectory and MCTDefault.xml and paste into %ProgramData%\Media Center Themer\.
 
That’s it – un8y is installed! Go ahead and fire up Media Center…
 
I have deliberately not made any changes to the start menu (lesson number one - don't mess with peoples Start Menus!), so your existing start menu layout will be preserved.

The un8y Media Center font changes can make the mediabrowser settings screen text difficult to read – to rectify this, copy customstyles.mcml from the download to %ProgramData%\MediaBrowser\ (for MB2) or %ProgramData%\MediaBrowser-Classic\ (for MB3/MBC).
 
If you already use Media Center Themer and have custom MC start menus, etc., set up, you can simply copy the Rcdata and Html sections of the download xml into your current xml, and merge the Theme directory with your current Theme directory.
 
So, to install: copy two files and one directory to the appropriate places.
 
To uninstall: uninstall Media Center Themer (or revert back to your previous Theme directory and MCTDefault.xml) and delete customstyles.mcml from %ProgramData%\MediaBrowser(-Classic)\
 
As usual, a lot of the graphics in this theme were born in chef’s original Pearl WMC theme – thanks again chef!

There are a lot of graphic changes in the xml, there may be a few rogue graphics in there – if anything doesn’t look as it should, let me know and I’ll fix it…
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
As a postscript, I don't intend releasing any more Media Center themes.  un8y gives you EVERYTHING you need to create your own WMC themes.  Just about every graphic you could wish to change is exposed.  Look in C:\ProgramData\Media Center Themer\Theme\Resources\ehres\Images, and change/edit/re-colour as you want.   You can simply re-colour the existing images as Alwin has done, or create your own images.  It just take patience and perseverance!  Font changes may be a little trickier, but I'll be happy to point you where to look.
 
You have the template to create whatever theme you want, match Media Center to whatever Media Browser 2/Media Browser Classic theme you use.
 
Not so much a "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" (hey, that MUST be the first link to Dylan Thomas poem on the new forum!), more a wistful goodbye...
 
Any questions, don't hesitate to ask!  Have fun!

Edited by keef
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i do wish soultaker would do a rethink... Neo is still my favourite theme.(still using it)

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@Lee, I think you added some of your own images to unity to give a W8 feel. Try this one - a lot more images to play with than in unity!

 

Totally agree with your comments RE: soultaker/neo

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AlwinHummels

Based on an earlier version of keefs work, I made a MidNightBlue version :) (It has a dark background (duhh MidNight) and Blue logo's and icons.)

Pics follow soon but you can find it here

 

Versions Based on Keefs V2.0 version follow soon.

Edited by AlwinHummels
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Nice job Alwin! 

 

Note that some of the images are different in the final version.  Since I sent you the early version, the xml and ehres\images also have quite a few additions to them too - more stuff for you to play around with!  Have fun!

 

If anyone else customises the graphics, it would be nice if you could post what you come up with in this thread.

 

Essentially, if you want to match to another media browser theme, you just need a suitable backdrop and re-colour the transport controls and MCE buttons.  If you look in C:\ProgramData\Media Center Themer\Theme\Resources\ehres\Images, you should be able identify the images you need to change.  If you need help in identifying a particular image, I'll be happy to help.

 

EDIT: @Alwin, I've been playing about with un8y a bit more today - I've realised that I've missed out a few of the lower level graphics.  If you've not noticed them, they'll not be too important (to see what I mean, for example go through the Add Extender procedure from MC settings - I hadn't noticed this before because I don't use extenders, also some of the graphics in the Add Libraries settings tree need improved for visibility).  I'll fix them, and modify the download.

Edited by keef
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@Lee, I think you added some of your own images to unity to give a W8 feel. Try this one - a lot more images to play with than in unity!

 

Totally agree with your comments RE: soultaker/neo

yes i did, i put a video up i think...I'll try do another tomorrow

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AlwinHummels

 

EDIT: @Alwin, I've been playing about with un8y a bit more today - I've realised that I've missed out a few of the lower level graphics.  If you've not noticed them, they'll not be too important (to see what I mean, for example go through the Add Extender procedure from MC settings - I hadn't noticed this before because I don't use extenders, also some of the graphics in the Add Libraries settings tree need improved for visibility).  I'll fix them, and modify the download.

Thanks I'll take a look at it later, I don't use an extenders too :)

 

Thanks for the nice Job I try to make the theme MidNightBlue and Un8y Blue and later more if there is interest :)

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Cheers Yogi, glad you like it.  As un8y exposes just about every Media Center graphic to user editing, hopefully we'll see some variations of WMC themes appearing based on this.

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Another nice job, Alwin - your work rate puts me to shame! ;)

 

BTW, the Start Menu highlight text colour is showing as red for me - have a look at colors.mcml to change the red highlight text to blue, I think it will look nicer

Edited by keef
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I like your Start Menu icons, Lee. 

 

By default unity/un8y doesn't change these - people can be precious about their Start Menus! (I know I am!).  Did you change these using the MCT Start Menu xml?  The no focus icons are included in unity/un8y (they needed to be edited to improve visibility), but if you think it's worth it I can add the focus images to the Images directory and the xml - maybe this would be easier for folks to change?

 

I think maybe your version would also benefit from changing the Start Menu focus item text colour to blue.  It's dead easy if you want to do it (in "vanilla" WMC, the text colour of the selected ROW is the same, but I created some custom mcml and a custom colour definition so that only the colour of the text on the selected TILE changes).

 

Look in C:\ProgramData\Media Center Themer\Theme\Resources\shell\COLORS.MCML

 

The text colour to change is FocusHighlight.  This is currently set to 255,178,34,34 (ARGB) - 178,34,34 is the Firebrick red highlight colour used in neo.  Change the last 3 digits to match the RGB values of the blue you are using in your graphics.  I think it will look much better :)

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Just wondering is there anyway to change the clicking navigation sound when entering a menu or starting live tv.The clicking is there even when changing channels on live tv and becomes a bit irritating after a while.

 

Personal preference would be something like the "duller" click presently in WMC but love everything else about the themes.

Edited by Yogi
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Hey Yogi.  Yeah, the sounds have always gotten mixed reactions!

 

There are two options:

 

Have a look in C:\ProgramData\Media Center Themer\Theme\. The elements that are changed can be found in the XML file, and the items themselves are mainly in \Resources\ehres\Images.

 

The sound that you want to change is SELECT_A.

If you open up the XML, search for SELECT_A. Then just delete

 

<Resource Id="SELECT_A.WAV">
    <Replace File="Theme\Resources\Ehres\Images\SELECT_A.WAV" />
  </Resource>

 

The sound then won’t be modified, and you'll get the default WMC select sound.

 

Alternatively, you could just replace the SELECT_A wav in C:\ProgramData\Media Center Themer\Theme\Resources\ehres\Images with whatever wav file you want (you still need to call it SELECT_A.WAV, though).

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

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AlwinHummels

Another nice job, Alwin - your work rate puts me to shame! ;)

 

BTW, the Start Menu highlight text colour is showing as red for me - have a look at colors.mcml to change the red highlight text to blue, I think it will look nicer

@Keef Ehh sorry must forgot that one ^_^ and don't be shame I neve could make this if you didn't make this "framework". I've fixed this now and you can download the colors.mcml again or edit it yourself by changing the code beneath:

  <Color Name="FocusHighlight" Color="255, 178, 34, 34" />
To

  <Color Name="FocusHighlight" Color="255, 1, 105, 142" /> 
@Lee like your Menu Icons too :) it's much more Windows8.

[Cut]--8<--------I can add the focus images to the Images directory and the xml - maybe this would be easier for folks to change?----->8--[/cut]

 

Yes please that would be nice :)

Edited by AlwinHummels
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Yes please that would be nice :)

 

 

 

OK, Alwin, I'll put the default WMC Start Menu focus icons in, and incorporate them into the xml.

 

But I'm prepared to take them back out again if they mess up anyone's custom start menus :P

 

I'll try to get this done tonight.

 

 

 

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AlwinHummels

OK, Alwin, I'll put the default WMC Start Menu focus icons in, and incorporate them into the xml.

 

But I'm prepared to take them back out again if they mess up anyone's custom start menus :P

 

I'll try to get this done tonight.

I can make 2 xml files one with and one without Menu focus icons so users can choose witch to use :)

Or add an instruction to command this out on the xml by putting a starting "<!--" before the code and a ending "-->" after the code you wish to disable.

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Not old skool at all :).  Restorator is still my preferred method for personal use, but the whole point of the latest releases is to make it easier for people and not have to directly modify dll's.

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OK, download in top post now includes Start Menu focus icons, and they've been added to the xml.  The images included are just the default Media Center icons - they're only there to help people who want to change them.

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