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Thnaks...testing!

So sorry....edited post to include him (of course)!  Good eye guys!

I dont think you can add scripts/coverflow into the skin. If you can, I would love to know, as I am working on a skin right now, and I have a custom coverflow for it, that was made specifically for it. it makes all the box art tiny, and puts it way at the the bottom of the screen, as the bars at the bottom got moved to the top, and i want as much space inbetween for my overly complicated "Animation", I plan on putting together. Basically simulated sprite based gameplay on a loop, with explosion sounds and stuff as rockets explode, and screaming when the hero is killed. you will see, all the sounds and images are either coming from stuff I modified, or from one specific game. More on that later, if I can pull it off. I figure it will be difficult enough, as every character has 64 sprites, and like 6 sounds depending on what you are doing, and then there is the fact there has to be at least 2 people, hero and bad guy, which makes 128 and 12, and all those images need to be touched up, resized, etc.... it is a bit of a project. I just want to see if it can be done, with out creating objects, and scripting. It wont have any sort of pattern recognition, it will be more like a generated movie playing on a loop. probably wont update it past 0.5b though, I will pass it on to some one like begal to maintain, as I get bored if I do the same thing all the time.

WOOOOW, between you and Felida and Begal ....im such a SUPER NOOB again at skinning....LoL....   It sounds VERY cool, and with alot of features.  But your right, i dont see anyway *through* the default skin unless its in the content list.xui or whatever.

but doubt that...thats for looks only, right?

Begal i used to use alot of his, if i remember he helped me back then too.  Hes a great skinner...if he eventually starts fully skinning agin, he's kinda waiting on future releases, no?

Your welcome..... You do know that this is swizzy's project, and all I do is help look for bugs, and throw in suggestions, some of which you will see in the next release.   And if you are going to thank me for that, you need to thank Felida also, as he has been going above and beyond in the endeavors of the devs on this site. He has helped me test multiple projects, fill in cheat data for the cheat manager, and find bugs in that, we are working on a database full of game esrb ratings, so that info can be added to unity, though I am still waiting on the Unity DB Dump, as we are kinda dead in the water on that project, until we get the rest of the data I asked for. Pretty much have the filters ready though, and an app that will patch the db, and add the data for the games pretty much finished. I might just make an app that will allow you to add rating data like the cheat manager, as who knows when I will hear back on this. I asked both maester rowen, and JQE, and neither has dumped the unity db for me yet.   And I really dont want to have to copy and paste it all from unity.

OH MAN, cant believe i forgot to mention him...yes SWIZZY (and was gonna do CF for me) and MaesterRowan for the app, ....Felida for helping Swizzy teaching me.....and you for the .db suggestion.....  ;-)  Was trying to get everyone will add Felida also, i feel so bad...but point was thanks to everyone involved in making it all possible!!!

SWIZZY:  Just saw your update....THANK YOU!!  ;-)  Great addition to this app. (no hurry tho!)

And to your other point all Swizzy, Felida, gavin_darkglider, MaesterRowan, Phoenix, and anyone else Involed for making ALL of this possible!!!!! ....if i didnt live paycheck to paycheck i'd dontate... (soon i hope).   Sorry again, I'm big on giving credits!!!

Swizzy another great script..that hopefully will be implemented by default (no hurry tho, know you all are busy.)  IF/when i get skin done (if for 5b, may i include this script?

Thanks again!!

At least the Database part is easy.

Very easy.......easier then adding the covers imho (you can sort db, LoL) but this app kicks butt!! Thanks Swizzy, Fielda, and gavin_darkglider!!!

Ok,

It took alot longer then I thought..but, finally I did it!!  Thank You!!

I'm thinking about tweaking it a hair more...but got what i wanted.  ;-)  Had a learning curve...was stupid and didnt look up how to use it, just went off your earlier post. (But that's how your learn, right? HaHa)

JIC you want to see my end result check this:  (Also will be working on a modification of the Gallery one, but not in a hurry..LoL.)   Oops, forgot to take a pic of the default Spine by Phoenix coverflow, in case someone wants to compare, will add it later.  I have 2 CFs atm, Lower Spine and Lower Spine 2 (I made 2 just to see how it look a little higher.)

Thanks again for everyone's help on this matter!!! 

**Edited with original 'Spine by Phoenix' pic**

Ok, thanks.its too much to unhook my pc and like i said it never imported (and then broke the app).........I will follow your directions you gave earlier and play/break it that way..LOL.

..I guess we can delete this thread, now i realize i was too stupid to open a file after booting the app...LoL...SORRY and THANKS!!!!

Ok, it seems i somehow broke the app.  It tried to connect (said my firewall) but it never imported a coverflow...and now the app wont boot. (stopped working and must close.)  BUT i believe i CAN edit it locally.  I saw when I was trying to import from my box, that i can open files....now to fix the app somehow.  Looking for the file that holds its data, hoping its the ip or something making it crash on boot.  Ok, got the app  fixed too....and can edit locally!!! YEAH!!!

BUT i got an unhandled exception when trying to load a coverflow locally ;-(  But it seems to be working... :-s

Ok Spine then, i'm easy and was my 1st intention...LoL ....i'll edit OP again....

Spine would be easier for what you are trying to do, just adjust the values, save copy to xbox, change coverflow. sooner or later you will get everything the scale/size you want, and where you want. just dont change the other values, or it will change cover layouts and stuff.

 

Out of curiosity, why cant you connect your xbox to your computer? all you need is a router, and 2 ethernet cables, you dont even need that, if you have a crossover cable, and some ethernet cards(Most newer ones) will detect if you use a regular ethernet cable, and switch the wires around for you. there is no reason I can think of, that you couldnt play with this your self.

Technically i can...but my router is in the other room, and dont have 2 cables ran (I dont do wifi, i want my speed...LoL).  So im being lazy...need to find my other 50ft cable and run it....used to have 2 lines for FSD and link, but that was a LONG time ago.  I've always been super paranoid about hooking up my jtag to the internet.....even though i have it locked down via dashlaunch and NXE and have never wanted to or intend to trying to get on LIVE.  Plus i just spent 2hrs getting covers and info's manually in Aurora...would be like me to go online the day after all that work...LoL.

Yeah, and didnt think about taking pc offline and direct connecting...its been awhile.

So, im too lazy to find my other cord and run it.....is also why i've waited so long to switch.  I just got all my covers/infos/ratings added to Aurora yesterday, and now its my daily driver, im quite impressed now i can do that stuff offline.  Personally I dont believe i should HAVE to go online to make my dashboard look like everyone else's, i guess.  LoL

I'll try a direct connection, my card should work (and pretty sure i sys linked thru pc, back in the day).

Correct sir.. ;-)  spine or gallery which ever is easier....;-)

That is an easy coverflow to create, I would start with the spine coverflow, and adjust the position, and scale values. If I remember correctly, it number boxes follow this basic setup. X, Y, Z

 

X=X axis (Left/right position)

y= Y axis (Up/down position)

z= z axis (Depth, or how close to camera, or how far away)

 

So move the position of every thing on the y axis down. so set y for every thing to -1 to start, save, and copy to xbox. see where position is. Copy and repeat until satisfied.

 

Size options should let you change scale, if I remember correctly, I only played with it for 5 minutes. so if you want the scale smaller, change the x and y scales, but keep the Z(depth) the same.

Three or 4 tries, I am sure you will get what you want, without ever connecting to the plugin.

Thanks, don't I need to be online to edit the coverflow? (I know with the latest app it says 'connect to xbox ip').  That was/is my problem, my box is offline.  I was hoping it wouldnt be too hard as the others were already made that I  was using for reference. :-)

BUT I did realize itd probably be easiest just to use the 'gallery by phoenix' resized to the 'aurora by phoenix' and moved to the bottom of the screen.  Think that would be easiest, then all you have to do is move and shrink ;-), but im a n00b. ;-)...  Either one would be awesome, beggers cant be choosers...LoL.

Going to edit the OP to reflect this...

Lol, all good. ;-)  Yeah, have scrolled through them all...is how i got the idea for mine, 'just' 'merging' three together...LoL Also, I am editing the OP as i 'optimized' the bg (i think) LoL...Just in case someone wants to test with the 'proper' bg.(firefight-Aurora.zip) ;-)

what i think you are REALLY asking for is a custom SKIN, as coverflow is just the way the titles show.. and has nothing to do with backgrounds..

and ALSO.. FUCKING AWESOME movie.. lol

Sorry didnt see this post......

Yeah, sooo love that movie...all time favorite!!!  I was making a Boondock Saints FSD skin when FSD died...LoL. And with that pic the effects in Aurora make the smoke look cool.  

Hmm, isnt coverflow how the games are positioned on the screen?  I'm already using that background (and working on custom skin), but i thought the coverflow editor edited the sizes and positions of the layout.   The games are on the faces, just trying to resize and move a bit so i can see more of the pic.  If im wrong, i apologize, and you can ignore this!

I just posted the background JIC if someone makes this for me and they wanted to test how it'd look with the bg im getting it made for. ;-)

I might make this for you tomorrow when i'm awake again, if nobody else has done it for you by then (keep in mind, i'm only doing the coverflow, not a full skin)

Yes sir, please if you can, i just cant do it as im offline.  I'd really appreciate you taking your time to help me with this if no one else has by then.  Not wanting or expecting a skin, as im playing with that myself...LoL.  Thanks!

Nice skin...glad to see the devolpment blooming!  Am liking the colors for Aurora!

Wow, your quick!!! LoL, ok edited OP with thumbnail of my thoughts.

I think this makes it easier for them...LoL.  Of course want it all even and stuff (because i cant draw).

Thanks again!!

Thank You to gavin_darkglider, Swizzy, and everyone else for helping with this post..I have completed this, thanks to you all!! 

Just minor tweaking needed now, pics added to post.

Im not requesting something from Phoenix, so I hope I'm posting in the correct place.  I was hoping/wondering if someone would be kind enough to make a custome Coverflow layout for my Aurora.  My box is offline for a bit, so I cannot do it myself.  I am asking this because I like to use pics as my backgrounds more so then designs.  Most of the default Coverflow options cover up the 'important' part of my pic... LoL.

I was hoping and wondering if someone could 'mesh' a few of these together to form 1 layout i'm hoping will look better for my pic.   Im kinda torn between the looks of 'Spine' and 'Gallery' Coverflows, but thinking 'Spine' would be easiest.

If you could please make a layout that has these 'properties':

• Looking like the  'spine' or 'gallery by phoenix' coverflow - which ever is easiest
• Covers Moved to bottom of page
• Covers the size of the 'Aurora by phoenix' coverflow

Thanks in Advance....I'd really appreciate this.  Attaching my pic JIC you want an idea of what i mean, want to try to see the faces (at least), LoL. (Seems i must .zip it JIC you want to d/l it to test or something, but the above layout should work fine.)

Thanks for all your help!! I've got it rigged to work atm....thanks to you both!  FYI, what i am doing:  Using GaDaBaMa to download my pics/info for my FSD, and then using that content from the GaDaBaMa local install to get the pics for Swizzys app.  Then, like Swizzy suggested, I used SQLite Browser to change the content of the content.db.  The ONLY things i touched in the .db were 'title' and 'description'.  All is working great!  Thank you so much!

Now i have this data in my Aurora folder, i have a backup for future releases! (So i dont take an hour to install covers/infos - and that was actually alot quicker as i had 90% of the info stored in GaDaBaMa. Thanks again for your help, and for the new covers app for Aurora!

how about trying to edit a WORKING aurora asset?? and then swap that out?? i know there are specific settings to them, as i tried just copying a working asset.bin to an emu(unedited).. and it did not show up.. has to be the way aurora is setup?? but as i've stated.. they have tried to contact creater of GaDamBa or w.e and no luck with that..

Sent swizzy a PM with info i have found out about this!! as im pretty sure it shouldnt be public knowledge.. but i'm pretty sure he'll figure out how to work it and pop out another proggy, or add it into his already badass asset editor!

Yeah, that's what the 'working' was...but like i said, maybe its pulling from somewhere else, as I couldnt get it to work today again either (but not a fresh install like it was at first).  Yeah, was hoping i/we didnt have to bug him for that if its actually reading that file.  Yes, i know Keyser's retired...so is why im just trying to see if its supposed to work or find another way to edit infos, and SQLite will work if needed.  Just didnt know if its supposed to read from those files (like fsd did) or not.  Thanks for helping me test this theory tho, and I swear it worked the first time.

This file isn't used by Aurora no, well, it's used during refresh, but not otherwise...

Once this has been parsed it's left only so you don't have to re-download everything every time... the Database holds the Description/title, so, you can use SQLite Browser to manually change it

And unlike what felida told me in PM this isn't dangerous at all, as long as you make sure to only edit the fields you understand (meaning; only edit description and/or title) anything with a number; leave it as-is if you don't know what that number is for...

And of course, you should only replace the database using something like FSD, XEXMenu or another instance of Aurora, replacing it while Aurora is running will likely break it, if it works to do so at all...

Ok, maybe i did get them to work..but like i said i cannot make it read those files again (I think it worked on the first edit of aurora), but ill add more covers and such and see if anymore work/take.  BUT i can just use SQLite to edit.

Yes, I use XexMenu disc after booting to NXE to transfer important data...then power off xbox and test.  (FSD and the TUs taught me that), and I NEVER just edit infos i dont understand (i look for the exact text in the file of what i want edited..and touch nothing else (unless i make a backup like i did today with the plain text try).  Thanks, and if i need to use SQLite and edit info's thru .db I can, like i said, just thought i got it to work some and didnt want to mess with .db unless i needed to...............and SQLite will work fine, np, just not as easy as copy n paste..but im not picky.

Thanks to you both!!

Sorry, stupid auto settings..editing post now with non passworded...im sorry!  Both are straight from GaDaBaMa....its just i didnt download that information for the working one, i manually entered it into GaDaBaMa.  Is how i know some works with Aurora....Im thinking its the size or something like Swizzy said.....but there are alot of tags at the end, wasnt sure if that's where it was messing up.  But for the 1 liner to work, and the ones with alot of into not working, im thinking along with Swizzy (plus he checked the file...LoL). (Yeah i tried to get Keyser too but with no luck).

Thanks guys, Last 2 things for Aurora I 'needed' manual cover and info adding...........and like i said, worse to worse i can take the working one and just copy n paste the infos (im thinking..LoL), just thought it was weird and was hoping there was an easy fix so i could copy n paste...LoL.

Fixed working download  also, sorry for the  password, didnt think i had zips to password.

I can't see anything with this that would make it not work, it should be the same data, i'll ask the devs for the buffer size(s) to check if that's the culprit maybe (this could also be a database issue as the database stores this information) but were you able to put the info there manually?

Plain text didnt work, but testing the manual changing now, will edit with update, and whats werid in the working one i dont see a decription..

ok, after playing alot more it seems now i cannot get the gameassetinfo.bin to matter anymore....even the ones that worked I cannoot edit....I think i just need a break....as the content is stored in DB, not the GameAssetInfo.bin files, correct?  If that's the case then editing this .bin file wont affect Aurora.  I'm starting to think its pulling the working info's from somewhere else. (Never really looked at the synopsis before as I only tested briefly before).

Thanks again, and sorry if we are looking for the wrong file to edit for the descriptions.

Of course, and thank you!  Its in xml..maybe that is why all the tags and stuff.....im editing manually now to test without all the BS...as the non-live GameAssetInfo.bin's are working fine.  Just got back from taking out the xml, and trying plain text...of course that didnt work either...LoL.  By non-live above i mean the Game Description was input by me and not downloaded via GaDaBaMa (not live stuff in xml and missing all the tags at the end).  The downloaded ones (mostly) are what Im having issues getting Aurora to show.

I do have a dashlaunch one working with Aurora tho that I manually input into GaDaBaMa...will post that also.  I can always just take a working one and re-edit that for all my games if needed i guess, just wondering why I cant copy n paste some and i can others.

THANKS again!!!!

**EDITED-FIXED WORKING DOWNLOAD**

GameAssetInfo.zip

GameAssetInfoWorking.zip

Yes,

Does Aurora have different restrictions for this file then FSD?  By that I mean, is there a line length for the description in GameAssetInfo.bin for Aurora.  I hope its not too confusing.  Here is my issue:

I am manually transfering my covers from my backup GaDaBaMa folder (pics, game infos), and so far, i have just been overwriting my new GameAssetInfo.bin with my old GameAssetInfo.bin from FSD/GaDaBaMa.  This someimes works....but not all the time.  I am still playing around to find out.  Some work, some dont, so, i was thinking maybe this is a 'line restriction' or something with Aurura reading the GameAssetInfo.bin files, because the ones that ARE working are shorter descriptions and Homebrew.....and the ones not working so far are the longer descriptions for 360 games.

I have opened the files with text editor...so i can add the info that way too i think...but was just wondering if there were any major changes to the length/format of a 'proper' GameAssetInfo.bin for Aurora.

Sorry if this is confusing....just some infos are working and some arent, and im trying to figure out why. (then I could possible just edit the descriptions manually or via GaDaBaMa and overwrite the empty GameAssetInfo.bin's.

Thanks, starting to really like Aurora now.....I'm a late bloomer..LoL.  Also, hoping I posted this in the right section, as it wasnt an LUA/script question, so I wasnt sure where to post.

Here's a Lua Subtitle to make it even easier (no need for calculator or database editor(s)!)

GameListSubtitles["GameDataPath"] = function(Content)
    return string.format("Game Data Path: Aurora/Data/GameData/%08X_%08X", Content.TitleId, Content.Id)
end

 

Yeah, just add to aurora subtitle scripts..and change the subtitle in the Aurura menu...will give you the direct path.  Everything seems to be working great so far.!!

Thanks again, im one of those people who were holding out for manual covers before fully switching...and especially if i can get my old GameAssetInfo.bin files to work with Aurora (some are, some arent)....just seems more 'complete'..LoL.  Thank you!!

the .asset files are memory maps so when basically there is an app on the computer, that will map the image as if it is loaded into xbox memory, so it is one less thing the xbox has to do. unfortunatly, there is no way that I know to reverse that, so you are out of luck.

:-(

I still use fsd i like it because of its custom themed skins,if i want to use aurora its in homebrew, it only takes a few seconds to boot into it.

Manually adding covers i assume you're talking about aurora

I was looking into skinning Aurora 4b....now with 5b and the sorting ill look into it again.

I'm hoping we can find a way for these asset files or an app for manual cover/info adding, as that is all i really miss.  (And if i'd ever take my box online, i'd have np, but box is always offline....now with NOVA, now maybe I'll make my box NOVA capible....LoL)

Is Keyser still around?  I'd love to spend some time with him explaining the new asset format in Aurora so GaDaBaMa could be updated to support it.

I dont think so...I wish....not since the fsd3 release, i dont think.

I wish i knew more, as I am willing to help or whatever, I've just been out of the coding/windows app game for a long time now, so im ignorant again... and know a guy or two willing to look into it if we can get more info, so we can try to create something like GaDaBaMa (with of course credits to you all and keyser if we were to ever do it).  Hopefully he is around and will see this, as I've always used his apps for FSD3 and I was getting into skinning until all development for FSD3 stopped, thanks to him.

Thanks again to everyone involved!!

Nice work guys....im still one of the ''wierdos'' still on FSD3....is there a way to manually add covers yet?  I currently use GaDaBaMa (thanks keyser) for all my covers and infos (it also tells me DLC for each game in my library)?  This is one of the main reasons i've yet to switch to Aurora.  I see/know everything is kept in .assets files...anyway to extract and edit or something?

Thanks again for all your hard work, and look foward to eventually making the switch from FSD3......eventually...LoL.