xStreamed *updated 3/6/11* www

[Marbles_00]

One of the next upcoming modules to be released...the Pictures Module. Here are a couple of sneak peaks:
Art flow view (default view)


Optional selected "Large Icon" view:


Optional selected "Small Icon" view:


Optional selected "List" view:

[Marbles_00]

Just to continue along in this festive time of year, here's a sneak peak at the Game Module pack I'm also working on. Basically it is listing some of the nostalgic console games, but one could set it up for virtually any PC game with the proper care and understanding of skinning.

Main Game Menu - MAME


Main Game Menu - SNES


Main Game Menu - Sega


Main Game Menu - N64


Main Game Menu - Nintendo (NES)


Main Game Menu - Playstation (1)


MAME Game Select screen (large Icon view)


SNES Game Select screen (large Icon view)


There is still work to be done. I have to add additional views (list, artwork flow, small icon) and setup some additional stuff.

But enjoy anyways.

[Marbles_00]

Added the Games Module. The download link can be found from the first post. This also requires an update to the Main module, so you will have to download v5.0 of the Main Module as well. Install the update main module first (back up existing skin directory first just in case). Make a backup of your mediatypes.xml, types.xml, xlobby.xml, and xPowerEvents.xml that all reside in the xlobby root. I added emulator information to the types.xml so either you will have to copy the info over, or over write the existing file.

I base my emulator location on c:\emulators\{emulator name}

I primarily use four types of emulators - MAME, SNES (snes9x), N64 (Project64), and Sega Genesis (Fusion). I have start screens for NES and Playstation, but I don't have any other screens created for them. If you use a different console, I don't mind aiding you in setting it up. I also use Rom2Xlobby (can be found in the Settings Module) to create my rom databases. Again it resides in the directory setup c:\emulators\rom2xlobby.

Pretty late now, and I can't think straight anymore, so if there is something I missed, I apologize in advance.

If you have any questions, please ask here, or fire an email to me.

[Marbles_00]

I knew it was a late one last night...err...early this morning...I ended up missing a whole directory. So the Games Module is now updated to v2.0. Download from link in first post. Sorry about that.

[Marbles_00]

Found another reason to love the xConvert2Variable plugin. Using it, one can open a "Virtual Keyboard" type in a web URL, click the "ENTER" button, and the xConvert plugin converts the text in the upper left corner to a variable which is then used to populate the URL, and voila, you get your web pages. This is essential if only using a remote...you don't want to have to pop out a keyboard and mouse to internet browse on your 10' GUI, if you don't have to.

This will all be included in the Internet Module release...which is just in the beginning stages, so it will be a little while . But stuff like this gets me excited...err....I didn't type that did I?

[Marbles_00]

I'm in a giving mood today, so I'm offering the Horizontal Menu skin for people to try out and play with. It is in a state of USE AS IS, and I won't be supporting any questions towards it for the next little while. The only menu currently that is setup as a horizontal menu is the Main Menu. If you want some functionality to the skin then you should be able to copy the module packs to it.

Enjoy
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B3dLKF1PKczoMjkxZDEyYjItNTJjZi00NjM2LWE3MjUtYzRmZDFkMGE4ODAz&sort=name&layout=list&num=50

Just un-compress the zip file to the xlobby/skins directory. Then if you have the settings module setup with the xChangeSkin plugin, then you should be able to swap between the standard view to the horizontal view.

[homepc]

GREAT!!! I'm really looking forward to the horizontal menus! But I'm get the following message:

"Sorry, the page (or document) you have requested is not available."

Am I doing something wrong?

[Marbles_00]

Sorry, trying to get used to how Google documents does its sharing. Try now.

[homepc]

Got it! Looks GREAT! That's the one I want to use! I know you are offering no support and I'm ok with that. I just want to let you know that in the xstreamed skin, under settings, when I select the horizontal menu, xlobby restarts but does not change the main menu to horizontal. No big deal for me, I just copied the menu.xml file to the xstreamed skin fold and it works great! Thanks!!

[Marbles_00]

hmm...that's odd. Did you install the xChangeSkin plugin? You shouldn't have to run either, but xChangeSkin.exe and xListSkin.exe should reside in the xlobby root, and the skins.xml should be located in xlobby\skins\xStreamed\databases. If you did, it may have overwritten the skins.xml (or in conflict with it because it would place a skins.xml in xlobby\databases). If that's the case, delete the skins.xml in xlobby\databases, and re-install the Settings module.

[homepc]

Hmmmm......maybe I didn't install the xChangeskin pluging. Let me and I'll let you know if that was the issue....Thanks

[homepc]

I cant seem to get the xchangeskin plugin anymore. Do you know where I might be able to get it? Thanks
Also, I tried to download the games module, but it seems that the link doesn't work. Maybe its just me, but when I click the games module link, it goes nowhere.
Thanks!

[Marbles_00]

The xChangeSkin install executable should have been in the Settings Module. It should be in the "extra applications" directory. If not, then you can still download it from Sharp_1's website.

As for the Game module, there was a typo in the download link. It should be all good now.

[homepc]

Got it! Thanks! All works great now!! Great work!

[Marbles_00]

To build on this post, about the Internet Module, I've been playing with two external executables, and most likely will try an utilize them as much as possible.

The first one is a Netflix application called Netflix TX Viewer. This little executable will create a Netflix database under your account, viewable from within the application, and IR remote information for both the Hauppauge remote and Event Ghost. Most likely I will just call on the executable and send xlobby to the back ground.
A direct download of the application is here

The second one is an Apple Trailers downloader, for direct downloads of current trailers. This one can be setup in task scheduler to download updated information every couple of days (if need be). Then you can easily setup xlobby to import the covers and titles into a database. The application is supposed to also scrape additional meta data, but so far in the limited experimentation that I've done, there hasn't been anything in addition...just the .mov file and low res artwork.

Figure people here (and especially using xStreamed), will benefit from these two apps.