Homebrew [RELEASE] Howling Theme Tool - Create your own CIA theme packages with Custom and Official themes

Gamefreeze

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Has anyone found any new info on the black icons (i know that this is a pretty dead thread but still...)? Btw in the old comments where it says to delete old themes under CTR-M-HMME-00 mine is labeled as CTR-M-HMME-09. Why is this? Is a possible reason that there is black icon is that the pixel size is wrong i'm using 48x48 but this isn't working...
 
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tilesunderscore

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Has anyone found any new info on the black icons (i know that this is a pretty dead thread but still...)? Btw in the old comments where it says to delete old themes under CTR-M-HMME-00 mine is labeled as CTR-M-HMME-09. Why is this? Is a possible reason that there is black icon is that the pixel size is wrong i'm using 48x48 but this isn't working...
I saw on your other thread that you managed to get some help to fix it from @redunka. I'm having the same problem and would appreciate knowing how to fix it. Do you think you could get into contact with Redunka and maybe they could explain how to fix the black icons?
 

Gamefreeze

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Yea so the problem was with how the howling themes tools converts the icon pics to bmp file. The short answer is that there is no fix for it. But i sent redunka the themes i wanted to get converted and he sent me back the cia file. Afterwards i was able to install the cia file with no problem. Howling and Redunka created a group to fix the problem but the problem still hasn't been fixed. if you want to get in touch download telegram and i will invite you to the group.
 

tilesunderscore

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Yea so the problem was with how the howling themes tools convert the icon pics to bmp file. The short answer is that there is no fix for it. But I sent redunka the themes I wanted to get converted and he sent me back the CIA file. Afterwards, I was able to install the CIA file with no problem. Howling and Redunka created a group to fix the problem but the problem still hasn't been fixed. if you want to get in touch download telegram and I will invite you to the group.
I've already got Telegram: @memeguel. Could you add me to it please, whenever convenient to you. :)
 

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I see posts about better, updated tools, but I cant seem to find. Im creating region theme packs out of the 3k or so stock themes I have on my hard drive. I get such a mix of outcomes, I cant come up with a standard repeatable process to know the theme cias will turn out.
I either get black icon previews, or the icon is upside down, Sometimes I can flip the icon 180 and it will show up correctly, sometimes it turns out black. I even went through and deleted every single icon.png and let the theme checker recreate them. Then batch flipped all the newly created icon.png's. We feeling really good about this until I loaded up the CIA and now every single preview has a black icon.
Theme tool shows icon correctly as well as Usagi. All im trying to do is go through and choose my 100 favorite themes from across all regions, and bundle it into a CIA. Im perfectly comfortable spending some time getting these things correct so Howling can create correct CIA's. The problem is I cant seem to find the magic recipe to make them all turn out correctly. Does this have anything to do with the small icon specified for the themes? Im noticing most of the Japan themes have a different small icon, and those are the ones that predominantly turn out with black icons. Ive been able to create a theme pack with customs themes, and those all turn out correct, even without flipping the icon.png. Please help a newb!

Edit: Solved my problem partially by not using ACDSee to batch flip the icons. If I do a windows search for all icon.png in a specific set of folders, select all, then right click and select Rotate Right, twice (this was mentioned in an earlier post). Apparently ACDSee saves the image in some sort of incompatable format.

And btw, I know this is old and not getting much action these days, but while under quarantine for the past month, its apps like this that have allowed me to keep my sanity. I very much appreciate the work that has gone into this!
 
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Darkshadow1997

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It's funny that when I decided to use this tool again for old times sake, I no longer had any issues with the icons. Not sure if it is becuase of My N3DS region as I had issues on the european one but not my american one. Thanks for this tool as I enjoy changing themes from the themes menu as opposed to using a homebrew.
 

Chelsea_Fantasy

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* Black icon fix *
Download and install Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2013:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=40784
If your OS is a 64bits one, you will need to install both, x86 and x64

Thanks to @redunka for the tests!

PS: There are some timing issues, the black icon still might appear to some with slow devices or not powerful enough PCs, but VCRedist 2013 helps reducing the time it takes to flip on the fly, so it helps to avoid the icons issue...

Try to use always media with a good write speed and avoid using media with different write speed (SSD/Flash/HDD).
 

jeffyTheHomebrewer

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* Black icon fix *
Download and install Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2013:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=40784
If your OS is a 64bits one, you will need to install both, x86 and x64

Thanks to @redunka for the tests!

PS: There are some timing issues, the black icon still might appear to some with slow devices or not powerful enough PCs, but VCRedist 2013 helps reducing the time it takes to flip on the fly, so it helps to avoid the icons issue...

Try to use always media with a good write speed and avoid using media with different write speed (SSD/Flash/HDD).
What do I do if both installers bring up the modify prompt? (only options are Repair, Modify, and Uninstall)
 

Chelsea_Fantasy

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Also, how come both the x86 and x64 versions are needed if I'm on an x64 PC?
Because the x86 version is required for x86 apps running on an x64 PC. In fact, you just need the x86 version, even on x64, but if you only install that, you will have some complications with other software that uses the x64 saying "[filename] not found" over and over due to it believing you're all set.
For your knowledge, and this applies to every VC++ redist:
In an x86 OS, you must install x86 only
In an x64 OS, you must install x86 and x64 'cause one will be used by x86 apps and the other will be used by x64 apps
Always keep that in mind.
 

RE0

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Very good application!!
It just took me a long time trying to make the icons appear in 3ds even though I installed the 2 Visual Studio 2013 again, I'm not lying when I say that I made 17 .cias files until the icons worked xd.
I did all the processes on an M.2 SSD and my processor is not that old: R5 5600x so I really don't know what happened.
but thank you very much for the effort you put into creating this application and that we can enjoy our favorite themes without using anemone xd
 
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Chelsea_Fantasy

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Very good application!!
It just took me a long time trying to make the icons appear in 3ds even though I installed the 2 Visual Studio 2013 again, I'm not lying when I say that I made 17 .cias files until the icons worked xd.
I did all the processes on an M.2 SSD and my processor is not that old: R5 5600x so I really don't know what happened.
but thank you very much for the effort you put into creating this application and that we can enjoy our favorite themes without using anemone xd
Thanks!
And, so... how exactly did you managed to make them appear in the end?
 

dmoeenm

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im not sure how to fix this but I'm having issues with my icons displaying upside down and the names of the themes not corresponding to the theme that it is i was trying to install these themes i have packed them and installed them with bigbluemenu several times and its not working out for me my etrian themes also display in the menu with the defualt Spotlight: mario,peach names. ive checked past pages to make sure there isnt already a solution to my problem and couldnt find much can someone please help me? i know this is an old thread but its the only place i can get help.
1680631544209.png
 

Deleted member 672055

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I do not know what to do anymore, and I am out of ideas already - I also have the black icon problem, weird thing is it did not happen to me first time, but only after I decided to make a bigger pack of themes. I installed vcredist as said before, but it did not help at all.

Is there any alternative solution (no Anemone please, I want to stick to using the stock theme loader)? Or is there someone willing to make the CIA pack for me? (I have a theme list if necessary)

All themes in package were official themes by the way, so not sure where is the problem.
 

jeffyTheHomebrewer

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I do not know what to do anymore, and I am out of ideas already - I also have the black icon problem, weird thing is it did not happen to me first time, but only after I decided to make a bigger pack of themes. I installed vcredist as said before, but it did not help at all.

Is there any alternative solution (no Anemone please, I want to stick to using the stock theme loader)? Or is there someone willing to make the CIA pack for me? (I have a theme list if necessary)

All themes in package were official themes by the way, so not sure where is the problem.
Have you tried making smaller theme packs at a time? There's probably a limit on how many themes can be in a CIA before the 3DS acts weird about it.
 

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