Getting thumbnails for plugins
#1
I've found that the Google Images script (via the default XBMCScripts installer under scripts and then the category of Media:Other) is an awesome tool to get thumbnail pictures.

For example, I've used the Google Images script to get thumbnails for my Shared Folder on my PC by searching for "shared folder" using the script and it pulled up the picture of a hand holding a folder. I then pressed the A button to show the larger picture of the thumbnail and then I pressed the Black Button and found out that the image goes to the folder Q:\Scripts\Google Images\ss and the file name is given at the top. I then went to File Manager an navigated to the picture and moved it into Q:\plugins\video\ and then renamed it to Shared Folder instead of the default bowserss0.jpg.

After the picture was moved, I went to Videos and clicked my Shared Folder with the White Button and went to Choose Thumbnail and navigated to Q:\plugins\video and selected the picture.

I've also used this for the Veoh Proxy script, by searching for Veoh and getting it's logo. For scripts, you have to put the picture into the folder and name it default.tbn. In this case I put it in Q:\Scripts\VeohProxy and named it default.tbn.

You can use this little trick to change any of the icons/thumbnails. It makes the view much more pleasing if you want to view Icons or Big Icons and not have a bunch of pictures looking the same default picture of a dark folder if no thumbnail is provided, or you can change the thumbnail to something you like better.

This is very helpful if you want to Add Source to a folder inside of video plugin because it's likely that there won't be an icon for it and it's kind of a pain to find a picture on a computer and ftp it. This way it is all done using only the Xbox.

Hope this tip helps someone.
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#2
THANKS!!! I'd always wondered how to change those!
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#3
how do I do this for programs?

I read in the wiki to do rename an image file default.tbn and place it in the same directory as default.xbe but it doesn't work.

I'm trying to do it with png files on the 2008/15/18 build.
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#4
If you're using the Project Mayhem II and talking about the items under the Programs category, then it's even easier than changing the picture for scripts. Just select the item you want with the White button and go to Choose Thumbnail to change the icon picture.

I'm currently changing the pictures that I have for my emulators and it works like a charm. I follow the directions from my first post, but change the destination folder to where I have my games saved. (In my case E:\Games)

Good luck,
Nick
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#5
I now understand what you're talking about rwparris2. I easily changed the icon to the folders that contained the games, but once inside the folders, the only things that came up when clicking the White button were: Launch, Go to Game Save, Edit XBE title, Update trainer list, Go to Root, Add to Favorites, and Settings.

According to the XBMC.org wiki about thumbnails,
"In order to display the image displayed for a game, emulator or application, simply rename the desired image default.tbn and place it in the folder where the corresponding default.XBE is located."

That worked for me if a homebrew game didn't already have an icon and just had the black folder with a video game controller on it, but I couldn't replace an icon if it already had one and couldn't find where the icon came from.

I was unable to change the icon if it was just the picture of a black folder because it isn't the actual .xbe file. I was able to change Battle Pong X and BreakOutX3D, but couldn't change StarWars or SuperMarioWars.

Sorry for the misunderstanding up above. Hope this helps.
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#6
I figured it out.

You have to go to Q>userdata>thumbnails>programs and delete the cached thumbnails before the new ones will take place.

I assume the same applies to Profiles/Videos/Pictures/etc.

Hope this helps someone else too..
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#7
Nice! Thanks for clearing that up. I'd read that somewhere on another forum that they were cached, but it pointed to E:/UData/00000000 and they didn't know what to do from there.

I tried this on StarWars and it works perfectly!

Great job!
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#8
This trick is no longer working. It seems that the Google Images script is broken.
I'm on an xbox running the t3ch build from jan, 25 2009. The script pulls up google search and lets me type in a query and even pulls up the thumbnails. However, clicking "A" once pulled up the larger image and allowed you to save it, but this no longer works.
The error I'm getting is:

->Python Initialized<-
log =Q:\scripts\GoogleImage\skin\bg.jpg
http://images.google.com/images?as_q=smi...=&safe=off
Q:\scripts\GoogleImages\default.py:150: DeprecationWarning: integer argument expected, got float
self.dp.update((imgcount/len(self.images))*100)
Q:\scripts\GoogleImages\default.py:64: RuntimeWarning: tp_compare didn't return -1 or -2 for exception if control == self.imageList:

It was available on xbmcscripts.com, but since that is down I've put it on mediafire: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?3m2bzmddmzi

the default.py is here: http://pastebin.ca/1329716
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#9
I am the original author of that script. I have been looking for a copy of it since I've lost it. I want to fix it up and make it a plug in. Since xbmcscripts is down, can someone send me a copy?
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#10
sure thing! http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=c3c99...f6e8ebb871
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