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Swizzy

Aurora Skin Toolkit

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I've made 2 tools for you guys to use when making skins for 0.4b+

In order for skins to show in Aurora they need to have 2 files:

  • a preview image named preview.dds, this needs to be a 256x144 Headered DXT5 image, for that i present to you: DDSConverter.rar
  • a data/meta file named skin.meta containing details about your skin; who made it? what's it's name? what version is it for? etc. etc. for that i present to you: SkinMetaGenerator.rar
Any questions? feel free to ask me! any bugs? report them to me so i can fix them!

Now, you're probably wondering, how do i use these tools? let's start with the DDSConverter: it's as simple as a drag 'n' drop, you drag 'n' drop any support image (bmp, png, jpg, gif, tiff) optionally you can specify the output filename as the second argument, normally it just takes the name of the input and replace the extension to dds :)

The second tool is slightly more complicated, it's a GUI tool which you run that generates the skin.meta file you need to have included, most fields are quite self explanatory, like author... that's your name, skin name... obviously it's the name shown in aurora to determine what skin it is and so on... however, "updateID" isn't relevant for the time being, it's not used for anything right now but it will be later on...

Here's a screenshot of the Generator:

oibrwo.png

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Nice mate might have a go myself at making a skin now when i get some time :)

There's alot more to it then these 2 tools, they're just tools required for the skin selector in 0.4b+ to work ;)

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Is there any step by step turturals that's shows what tools you need all together to make Skins. Thanx for the tools keep up the good work.

What you need is mostly part of the XDK (Xbox 360 Software Development Kit)

Step 1. Find a base skin (aurora's default is a good start)

Step 2. Extract it using xuipkg.exe /U filename.xzp

Step 3. Modify the XUR files and the rest of the package so it looks the way you want it to

Step 4. Use the meta generator above to create the skin.meta file required to test/use the skin

Step 5. Put the skin on your console (in the skins folder, you can put it as-is in a subfolder during testing)

Step 6. When you're done with your skin and ready for a release, make a screenshot of what it looks like (using webui or the sceenshot combo)

Step 7. Drag 'n' drop your screenshot onto the DDSConverter above, put this with the rest of your skin files with the name "preview.dds"

Step 8. Make your new xzp with the command xuipkg /R /O filename.xzp *.*

Step 9. Upload your newly created skin to your console to verify that it's still working properly (delete your folder and make sure the xzp works)

Step 10. Upload/release your skin if you want to make it a public one

Voila! you're now done :)

(this is just a quick reference guide to how you'd get started for details skinning you'd have to read a F3 or XUI skinning tutorial, and if you don't plan on making a public release you can skip steps 6-10 as the skin will work in a folder aswell)

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Great tools as usual. Thanks a lot.

One question though, is there any reason why we shouldn't edit the skin.meta in text editor? I mean this is just JSON, right?

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Great tools as usual. Thanks a lot.

One question though, is there any reason why we shouldn't edit the skin.meta in text editor? I mean this is just JSON, right?

You can edit in a text editor also if you want, that's not a problem :) but, how many really understands JSON? ;) i make tools to make it easy... using this tool you'll have everything shown in a way that makes it easy to just change the values, then save... you don't have to think about anything, just look at the text showing what's supposed to be in each box, and make the changes... voila! done!

Using my tool you can also make the changes while you're tired, if you do it manually you risk breaking something causing it to not work at all...

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You can edit in a text editor also if you want, that's not a problem :) but, how many really understands JSON? ;) i make tools to make it easy... using this tool you'll have everything shown in a way that makes it easy to just change the values, then save... you don't have to think about anything, just look at the text showing what's supposed to be in each box, and make the changes... voila! done!

Using my tool you can also make the changes while you're tired, if you do it manually you risk breaking something causing it to not work at all...

 

Your tool will definitely make it easier, I was just wondering if it's doing anything else :)

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And how to put an image when i am at skins selector

This:

a preview image named preview.dds, this needs to be a 256x144 Headered DXT5 image

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I need help ... extracts a skin, put some pictures and then used the SkinMetaGenerator to save the skin and she was ready automatically for use in the dawn, but now only saves the skin.meta file.

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I need help ... extracts a skin, put some pictures and then used the SkinMetaGenerator to save the skin and she was ready automatically for use in the dawn, but now only saves the skin.meta file.

These tools only generate the skin parts that are special for Aurora, it doesn't build or edit skins...

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I would like Mr. move the files needed to create a skin because I just wanted to add photos on a fur 0.5B, I had managed using only XZP Tool program to extract the skin and after putting the photos, close the skin with SkinMetaGenerator and had worked so turning a 0.5B skin modified by me, put on xbox360 and everything was as I wanted, but now the SkinMetaGenerator no longer generates a skin but only skin.meta file and always error.

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I would like Mr. move the files needed to create a skin because I just wanted to add photos on a fur 0.5B, I had managed using only XZP Tool program to extract the skin and after putting the photos, close the skin with SkinMetaGenerator and had worked so turning a 0.5B skin modified by me, put on xbox360 and everything was as I wanted, but now the SkinMetaGenerator no longer generates a skin but only skin.meta file and always error.

SkinMetaGenerator NEVER generated a skin for you, it has always only generated skin.meta, i'm not sure what you're trying to say other then that, XZP Tool is what you need to unpack/pack those files...

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Plz need help, I am using DDS Convertor to create a preview image. So when I drag the custom image (PNG format and 256x144) in the DOS window of DDS converter and press enter, nothing happens and the window closes.... How do i get my preview.dds file...?

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Plz need help, I am using DDS Convertor to create a preview image. So when I drag the custom image (PNG format and 256x144) in the DOS window of DDS converter and press enter, nothing happens and the window closes.... How do i get my preview.dds file...?

You drag 'n' drop it onto the exe itself, not the window when it's open...

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Thank you for the tools,

Besides DDSConverter/SkinMetaGenerator/XZP tool, do I need the one called "Xbox UI Tool"? I don't want to create a whole new skin, just want to edit one a bit? I saw"Xbox UI Tool" on a tutorial video.

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Thank you for the tools,

Besides DDSConverter/SkinMetaGenerator/XZP tool, do I need the one called "Xbox UI Tool"? I don't want to create a whole new skin, just want to edit one a bit? I saw"Xbox UI Tool" on a tutorial video.

Yes, that is what you use to make the majority of the changes, if you're only looking to replace images or similar, you don't need it, if you're looking to change the way the visuals look/work, you need to also use Xbox UI Tool which is part of the Xbox 360 Software Development Kit (Xbox 360 SDK or as it's more commonly known "XDK")

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Hi Folks,

i'm now hooked on skin'ing the AurorA Dashboard Skins from the scratch. Because i'm from the old days Playstation 1 scene and did intros and cracktros and i was really pleased that the 360 is open to create own stuff and get it on the TV Screen. first of all i'm working on a custom skin for v0.6  a bit late but who cares :)

thanks must go out to the dev team behind AurorA/ phoenix

i just found all necessary tools to start over (btw. a really good site here) thanks again. but first i ended up with Swizzy's tool called: SkinMetaGenerator

it crashes all over the time on my system so i decided to recode this tool from v1.0 to v1.1

tested on all typically win OS these days: win xp - win 10 x86 and x64

now..

the tool: SkinMetaGeneratorv1.1.rar

screenshot

screenshot.png

 

thats all for now. i'll be back with my v0.6 skin very soon and later with some cracktro stuff for the console ;)

 

best

inc

 

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7 hours ago, inc said:

Hi Folks,

i'm now hooked on skin'ing the AurorA Dashboard Skins from the scratch. Because i'm from the old days Playstation 1 scene and did intros and cracktros and i was really pleased that the 360 is open to create own stuff and get it on the TV Screen. first of all i'm working on a custom skin for v0.6  a bit late but who cares :)

thanks must go out to the dev team behind AurorA/ phoenix

i just found all necessary tools to start over (btw. a really good site here) thanks again. but first i ended up with Swizzy's tool called: SkinMetaGenerator

it crashes all over the time on my system so i decided to recode this tool from v1.0 to v1.1

tested on all typically win OS these days: win xp - win 10 x86 and x64

now..

the tool: SkinMetaGeneratorv1.1.rar

screenshot

screenshot.png

 

thats all for now. i'll be back with my v0.6 skin very soon and later with some cracktro stuff for the console ;)

 

best

inc

 

I would appreciate if you could mention the exception messages you had, otherwise i can't fix it in the official build in case we add more information to it...

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4 hours ago, Swizzy said:

I would appreciate if you could mention the exception messages you had, otherwise i can't fix it in the official build in case we add more information to it...

I just edit my metas with notepad.. haha.. not to diss the tool.. but yeah

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30 minutes ago, felida said:

I just edit my metas with notepad.. haha.. not to diss the tool.. but yeah

Whatever works best for you :)

It's a pretty simple/basic file to edit...

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