Hacking DS2 Skin Installer

[Stormwave]

Updated to 1.22.

The program will now check that you're using a 256x192 16-bit bitmap before allowing you to add the loading screen. This should prevent the corruption problem from accidently happening in future.

It will also now edit globalsettings.ini when installing a skin (on either the PC or DS installers) to ensure that the EOS skin is switched to the skin that is being installed.

As usual, there may be issues with these updates, I've not really tested the globalsettings.ini thing thoroughly (just enough to ensure it works).


I'll add the ability to edit a ds2skin in the near future.

 

[CannonFoddr]

Can you recheck your latest version please 1.22

I've just tried it to load in a 16-bit bmp (saved using GIMP) & it keep telling me it's not a valid 16-bit,
even though Windows propeties state :
Width:256
Height:192
Horizontal Resolution: 71dpi
Vertical Resolution:71 dpi
Bit Depth: 16bit
Frame count: 1

 

[Stormwave]

Hmm, it only checks the file size for bit-depth, which should be (192*256*2)+0x36. How big is your bmp? I might need to read the header instead to make it more accurate. I thought file size would suffice.

 

[Stormwave]

Updated again

This version should hopefully fix the problem of misreading some of the loading screen bitmaps.

I also added the ability to convert the loading screen image to the exact format in case of any other problems, and to speed up the creation if you've only got a 24-bit or something bitmap.

 

[Stormwave]

Update to version 1.24

All this does is move the automatic file association code to an optional button. Some people on the Supercard forums reported crashing at the startup, so I made this optional to check if that is what was causing the problem.

No other real changes.

 

[CannonFoddr]

Just a small suggestion about the plugin..... Not sure about anyone else but I find the mass of scrolling text (when installing a skin) a bit of a pain & 'messy' - it goes pass so fast it seems pointless (as far as I can tell it consists of 'Path of graphic in ds2.skin pack' / 'path of where to put the graphic' / 'status=1' (or 0) / 'Inflate size=xxxx' / 'read_total=0' constantly repeated for each graphic)

It might be great having this for Debugging purposes, but it seems this plugin is very stable (I've had no trouble with it at all with all the skinpacks I've done)

Could we have something like the following instead

Extracting 'eos skin' - 57/57 graphics completed
Extracting 'plugin skin' = xx/yy graphics completed
Extracting .....

or perhaps.... if you DO need those lines couldn't we just have the one set printed in one place on the screen & reuse them ?? (like a 'print line(s) at' or 'Clear screen after each extract').

Maybe even change the 2 path lines to just 'Extracting {graphic} to {dstwo path}' instead, so all we see on screen is something like

Extracting upper_screen.bmp to /_dstwo/ui/skinname/
Status=1/0
Inflate size=yyyyy
read total=0

Would any of these be too difficult to do ???

 

[Stormwave]

Yeah, I was thinking of improving that in the future.

I mainly kept it in for the start in case there were any problems. For example, if the program crashed at any point I would now exactly where and have a pretty good idea as to why.

Since I've had no crash reports or problems at all (and haven't noticed any myself), I think I can safely change the UI now. I might even overhaul the whole UI and make it pretty. I wanted to concentrate on functional > looks, since making the UI is probably the most fun part it's nice to make that once all the boring stuff is done.

I was even thinking of having the ability to "preview" the ds2skins before installing them in the plugin.

I'll do this soon.

 

[Stormwave]

Updated to 1.3!

I completely redid the plugin UI, it's much prettier now. I'd say it's pretty much finished now unless anyone finds any bugs.

I think I'll leave doing the preview thing, at least for now. Too much work, hehe.

 

[Stormwave]

A quick update to 1.31 to fix some bugs I noticed.

 

[Stormwave]

Updated to 1.32

This update adjusts the sensitivity of the input controls on the first menu. Some people reported that it was too sensitive.

 

[Darque420]

Is there a way to uninstall the skins once you've installed them?
Something isn't working right with the newest version I've installed.

Say I install the Chrono Trigger skin. Then I install the Don't Panic skin.
Say I don't like Don't Panic, so I go to the Start menu to change skins. Well, it will change the skin, sorta.
Chrono Trigger will be up, but the loading and main screen will still be Don't Panic.
This happens in any number of variations.

So, I've decided that the skinning is too problematic and just want to stick with the default PINK and SILVER skins.
Okay, I go to Start to change the skin to PINK. Most everything changes except the loading screen and main screen.
Almost impossible for me to get them back.

Is there something easy I can do, or do I need to wipe my MicroSD card and reload everything to the card?
I've already deleted the skins from the skin folder, but obviously once they're installed, they're located somewhere else.

 

[PeregrinFig]

Is there a way to uninstall the skins once you've installed them?
Something isn't working right with the newest version I've installed.

Say I install the Chrono Trigger skin. Then I install the Don't Panic skin.
Say I don't like Don't Panic, so I go to the Start menu to change skins. Well, it will change the skin, sorta.
Chrono Trigger will be up, but the loading and main screen will still be Don't Panic.
This happens in any number of variations.

So, I've decided that the skinning is too problematic and just want to stick with the default PINK and SILVER skins.
Okay, I go to Start to change the skin to PINK. Most everything changes except the loading screen and main screen.
Almost impossible for me to get them back.

Is there something easy I can do, or do I need to wipe my MicroSD card and reload everything to the card?
I've already deleted the skins from the skin folder, but obviously once they're installed, they're located somewhere else.

The Start menu can only change the skin used on that screen, you need to use the skin installer to change the others, or do it manually from your computer. Make sure you really like a skin before installing it, or just have some others ready to replace it.

 

[Rascal]

The solution is to use a neutral, full theme like Default or Default Blue before you choose a theme like Chrono Trigger, which doesn't have all the parts. That way, you won't have leftovers from your previous, more-complete theme. I hope this makes sense.

 

[Stormwave]

I included the "Default" skin in the DSTwo Skin Installer package.

Changing the skin via the "Start" menu will only change the EOS skin (hence the reason I made this program). If you run DSTwo Skin Installer as a plugin, or choose the "Default.ds2skin" from the _dstwo/skins folder in the DSTwo Skin Installer package, then you can completely restore the pink skin. In future, if you wish to switch entire skins, don't use the Start menu but use this program as it will change all skinnable components.

 

[VatoLoco]

well for one, i hope you get it sorted from the replies/information provided,
(basically you need to just replace the DSGAME.nds, with a fresh one)

...and for two, figgity feck off for not digging my dont panic loading screen ;p

 

[CannonFoddr]

Is there a way to uninstall the skins once you've installed them?.... I go to Start to change the skin to PINK. Most everything changes except the loading screen and main screen....

...The Start menu can only change the skin used on that screen, you need to use the skin installer to change the others...

The solution is to use a neutral, full theme like Default or Default Blue before you choose a theme like Chrono Trigger, which doesn't have all the parts......

As mentioned - because many of the ds2skin packs don't contain a full set of skins for each of the 'parts' of the DSTWO - when changing skins you may not replace everything & so you can end up with a mixture of skins (as in the case of having the 'Don't Panic' Loading with 'Chrono' eos skin)

Rascal idea of having a 'neutral full pack' is a good idea (I actually use the BlinDedBlack pack since I have a black DSi

).

The only other way around this is to include the 'default pink' (or silver) skins/loading etc in every pack that doesn't have a particular skin - which I'm not willing to do - you can in fact get some good effects mix-&-matching some elements from one skin pack with another

 

[2-bias]

whats with some new features. like:
-adding iplayer
-adding skin installer itself

-check for ndssfc or bagsfc folder and use the right one

 

[Eric345]

So does I can do this on the latest firmware right? (1.08?) Do I have to format the sd if so then what should I format it to? Soemone told me to use 1.06 intend to 1.08

 

[CannonFoddr]

So does I can do this on the latest firmware right? (1.08?) Do I have to format the sd if so then what should I format it to? Soemone told me to use 1.06 intend to 1.08Although it hasn't been updated for a while by Stormwave I've just checked it out & Yes - it does still work with 1.08 (FYI - I 'swapped' between 'BlindedBlack' and 'Default Blue' skins found here)

IIRC the only thing to worry about is the 'loading' screen 'skin', since the DS_Game file has to be 'hacked' to include it & the 'hacking address' for it is always at a different location on each DSTwo OS update (You can see the differences in the 'To change the Loading Screen using SCOne' section on this thread)

However Stormwave was clever enough to include an 'auto detect' of some kind to allow the hacking to work with virtually any DS_Game file.

All the other 'skins' are plain graphics & are replaced with 'new' graphics - so it doesn't really matter what version OS you have (until the Supercard team decide to change locations of the graphics - which I think they've done with iReader, as I've noticed there's no UI.zip file anymore, but there's a UI folder now)

QUOTE(2-bias @ Nov 20 2010, 04:47 AM) whats with some new features. like:
-adding iplayer
-adding skin installer itself

-check for ndssfc or bagsfc folder and use the right one

Well that's all down to Stormwave to update if/when he get's time, but as I noted above - it seems as though the Supercard team may've changed how the iPlayer skin is implemented (there's no 'UI.zip' file anymore) so even if Stormwave does update it - there's a chance that newer OS may change

 

[2-bias]

it seems as though the Supercard team may've changed how the iPlayer skin is implemented (there's no 'UI.zip' file anymore)

i think you mixed up iPlayer and iReader. there was allways a ui folder within iPlayer and a ui.zip within iReader