How to alter grey layer?

urizen Wrote:i came to these forums looking for exactly that kind of change. that layer is buggin me big time also. i understand the how-to has been posted, but since i'm rather noobish at these things and don't know how to alter opacity, would you mind sharing your changed files? if so, please include short instructions on what and where to replace. thanks in advance.

on another note, am i just blind or is there no 'send pm' option on the user info page? geez, i feel dumb....

I you let me know what you want to alter i can do them for you and send you a link to either the altered files or as a replacement textures.xpr also what are using it on?

Hi Paul....

Are you posting a "fixed" textures.xpr?
I think an 85% opacity does the trick...
Couldn't you just do it in the mainstream one?
Maybe not everyone really wants it, but I don't think anyone has any objections...
It shows more of your fanart whilst keeping it to the background....

Someone else already made fixed xml's for the files view. Are you in the possesision of these files?
I would really like to see some new fixups, especially for the files view.

frater Wrote:Hi Paul....

Are you posting a "fixed" textures.xpr?
I think an 85% opacity does the trick...
Couldn't you just do it in the mainstream one?
Maybe not everyone really wants it, but I don't think anyone has any objections...
It shows more of your fanart whilst keeping it to the background....

Someone else already made fixed xml's for the files view. Are you in the possesision of these files?
I would really like to see some new fixups, especially for the files view.

If you want the fixes that were done by rocky5 then they are included in my xbox light version download it through my signature. I have also done a new textures pack with the transparancy reduced by about 20% on the showcase and info panels. the pack is not file locked just incase you don't like the 2 bacdrops i have used in it.
See what you think download it here http://www.mediafire.com/?nct3zfqrphb

paul Wrote:I you let me know what you want to alter i can do them for you and send you a link to either the altered files or as a replacement textures.xpr also what are using it on?

thanks, much appreciated. i would like that grey/white layer used in showcase view (showcasefilter.png) on the bottom half of the screen to be less dominant. take this screenshot with black fanart in the background, for example:



whereas this still looks somewhat smooth on my imac, the transition is a less pretty on my tv screen. less opacity seems to be the solution, i guess. although it would also already be much better in my eyes, if the transition line (the height at which it becomes fully transparent) would be a little lower, so that the cover art and the dark grey info box hide most of it.

i just downloaded the textures linked by you and it does exactly that. so far, so good. problem is that i now get some weird graphics errors. in fact, it's pretty much the same error i got yesterday when i tried to alter opacity on the file myself. i was certain that i messed up cuz i lack a true understanding of what i was doing, but now that i get the same result with your files (actually even worse here) i'm starting to think it's related to me using osx and plex... that doesn't seem to make much sense either though, since the default aeon and horizonz skins work just fine. but as soon as i change that file i always get those weird black bars on the top, although the changed png image is perfectly transparent (just as before) in that area....

urizen Wrote:thanks, much appreciated. i would like that grey/white layer used in showcase view (showcasefilter.png) on the bottom half of the screen to be less dominant. take this screenshot with black fanart in the background, for example:



whereas this still looks somewhat smooth on my imac, the transition is a less pretty on my tv screen. less opacity seems to be the solution, i guess. although it would also already be much better in my eyes, if the transition line (the height at which it becomes fully transparent) would be a little lower, so that the cover art and the dark grey info box hide most of it.

i just downloaded the textures linked by you and it does exactly that. so far, so good. problem is that i now get some weird graphics errors. in fact, it's pretty much the same error i got yesterday when i tried to alter opacity on the file myself. i was certain that i messed up cuz i lack a true understanding of what i was doing, but now that i get the same result with your files (actually even worse here) i'm starting to think it's related to me using osx and plex... that doesn't seem to make much sense either though, since the default aeon and horizonz skins work just fine. but as soon as i change that file i always get those weird black bars on the top, although the changed png image is perfectly transparent (just as before) in that area....

I will have a mess around with showcasefilter2 later today and upload a small theme.xpr for you to test out? The faults you describe or not your fault or down to you using mac / plex it's caused by over compression of the files in my oppinion. what are you using to compress / uncompress .xpr files. I will get around to creatingjust a folder of textures and just zip them up for upload then you can pack / replace whatever is still corrupt.

Have a look at these screenshots of what i have done so far have reduced the hight and transparancy of the showcasefilters and i think it looks pretty good used on
both my pc and xbox http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?q...rz&thumb=5
http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?q...zb&thumb=5
http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?q...1b&thumb=5

See what you think?

yep, those screens show pretty much exactly what i was looking for

i used xprexpress when i tried to alter the files myself. if i recall correctly, i had "normal/standard" compression turned on in the options.

what programm and with what kind of settings should i use to extract/compress textures? that way i could do little things like this in the future and for other skins by myself....

urizen Wrote:yep, those screens show pretty much exactly what i was looking for

i used xprexpress when i tried to alter the files myself. if i recall correctly, i had "normal/standard" compression turned on in the options.

what programm and with what kind of settings should i use to extract/compress textures? that way i could do little things like this in the future and for other skins by myself....

The only program i know of that extracts .xpr files is xprexpress but there may be others?
But for speed of testing i use XBMCTex but it does lock the file.
Once i am happy with the files i then use xprexpress and use quality settings as it uses less compression. i will upload what i have done so far later tonight for you if you have any other ideas let me know. ps i have replaced wallmenu2.png to look more like the time panel.
As promised here is the link to download the textures that i have modified http://www.mediafire.com/?rmhwnnml39d

Paul, thanks for taking the time to do this. However, I do have a question regarding your textures. They're pretty much all smaller in size and in resolution. I'm guessing the pack you were messing with was an Xbox Lite version with the smaller-sized textures, right?

Is there a way to accomplish the same thing with the files being of the same quality/resolution as the original pack? Only asking because I'd definitely notice on my 60" 1080P TV.

StratMangler Wrote:Paul, thanks for taking the time to do this. However, I do have a question regarding your textures. They're pretty much all smaller in size and in resolution. I'm guessing the pack you were messing with was an Xbox Lite version with the smaller-sized textures, right?

Is there a way to accomplish the same thing with the files being of the same quality/resolution as the original pack? Only asking because I'd definitely notice on my 60" 1080P TV.

Sorry nothing i can do about that the only way to make the graphics look clean on such a display would be to use the original textures and that would most definately give you issues with memory on xbox running 1080p it just aint got enough power or memory for that in my oppinion

Forgot to add I use a Windows PC. No worries, following the details of this thread, I made the alterations myself. It was a learning experience, but now everything looks much better, thanks!