Well guys I have started writing up the essential skinning guide for all you people out there wanting to learn how to skin.

I know that I won't be skinning for much longer so I figure share the knowledge instead of having it become lost.

Anyway I'm going to cover everything I can and start releasing a series of articles which will help in the skinning process. If there are experienced skinners who want to lend me a hand then please leave me a message

I would also like to get this guide translated to other languages, so if anyone is willing please leave a message here

Willz Skinning Guide - English

1: Introduction to Skinning Download
2: Your First Plus Skin Download
3: Dealing with RLE's Download
4: The Windows Live Messenger 8.5 Resource Bible Download
5: Controlling The Layout of Elements Coming Soon

Willz Skinning Guide - Greek
Translation: Basilis Kakaronis

1: Introduction to Skinning Download
2: Your First Plus Skin Download

Excellent, it will be a nice way to learn the "advanced" way of the skinning side.

why you are not going to skin any longer? are you getting married or something

Well I just finished university and I got to start looking for a proper job now. Once I have the job I really don't know how things are gonna be so I doubt I will have time to skin anymore.

Nothings for sure now so I have to let things play themselves out and see what happens. Besides even if I'm not fully skinning I'm sure I'll still be around helping others get their skins out

* Nathan raises his hand.

Well for starters what I could use is some translators, since I wouldn't want to exclude people who don't speak english from this information.

So far i've just started on the introduction, which is covering taking a look at msgsres.dll and how things work (yeah I know plus has made it so you dont have to touch this anymore, but I feel that people need to look to understand how things really work)

* Nagamasa will definitely read!

This would be a good idea for noob computerists like me as I can barely understand how everything works blah blah blah...

Perhaps include a table of certain parts like "Background - ID 123456".

OK but i expect skin dedications to me after all this

haha nah just kidding, though if you really wanna you can

Great idea Willz, this will help make skinning a more accessible feature for all. With more people that know how to skin, more skins will be available and more customization for MP!L

awesome, i will certainly read these!

quote:

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Originally posted by Willz
OK but i expect skin dedications to me after all this

haha nah just kidding, though if you really wanna you can

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Skinning?!?!
Guide?!?!
Willz might not be skinning anymore?!?!

Sounds SWEET!!!! Except for the last part

That'll be great but you might not be skinning anymore ... what about Ev0 4 ?

Well here is the first part in the series I will be writing up. Its an introduction to skinning.

This section covers Messengers resource structure as well as some handy information on UIFIles. It includes a table which shows what each UIFile does so that people know what to edit.

So yeah here it is. Any comments appreciated.

Ooh... a skinning guide! Too bad we'll probably lose a great skinner like you, Willz. But it's an awesome idea to make a guide for all of us, so we can continue your work!

I can do the Dutch translation when I get home.

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Originally posted by Mattike
Ooh... a skinning guide! Too bad we'll probably lose a great skinner like you, Willz. But it's an awesome idea to make a guide for all of us, so we can continue your work!

I can do the Dutch translation when I get home.

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Nice first part of the guide I have had a quick read through it and it will be really helpful to me

Thank you

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Originally posted by freak544
Nice first part of the guide I have had a quick read through it and it will be really helpful to me

Thank you

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quote:

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Originally posted by Phillip

quote:

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Originally posted by freak544
Nice first part of the guide I have had a quick read through it and it will be really helpful to me

Thank you

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x2

In the first section;
"It’s getting to the point where I know won’t be skinning"
needs to be fixed. Well it doesn't have to be but you know what I mean

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The guide should be very useful!  great job!   

Would you mind if I put the guide up on mpskins.net once its done?  With credits of course?

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Originally posted by Dempsey
The guide should be very useful!  great job!   

Would you mind if I put the guide up on mpskins.net once its done?  With credits of course?

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Can't wait for a tut. Gogogo!

Looks great so far, can't wait to see the rest of it.

quote:

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Originally posted by Willz
put up alongside the official documentation in the skins database.

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messenger-skins.net was a fantastic forum with great tutorials when I was into my skinning. It's a shame that domain was never renewed

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Originally posted by absorbation
messenger-skins.net was a fantastic forum with great tutorials when I was into my skinning. It's a shame that domain was never renewed

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Part 2 of the guide should be out sometime tomorrow.

This will feature a rundown of SkinInfo.xml as well as some handy things to look out for for newbie skinners and more useful tables to refer to.

The infamous Multilayer MSNRLE trap will also be covered. So stay tuned to this space for more.

quote:

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Originally posted by Willz
Well here is the first part in the series I will be writing up. Its an introduction to skinning.
[snipped]
Any comments appreciated.

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quote:

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Originally posted by CookieRevised

quote:

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Originally posted by Willz
Well here is the first part in the series I will be writing up. Its an introduction to skinning.
[snipped]
Any comments appreciated.

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- Its Messenger Plus! 4.50, not 4.5 ...
- Isn't the plural of DLL, EXE, etc DLLs, EXEs? Not DLL's, EXE's..... (I always mix those up)
- and for clarity, its "Resource Hacker", not "Reshack"

that's all

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Yes 's cannot be used to signify plurals

quote:

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Originally posted by aNILEator
Yes 's cannot be used to signify plurals

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Link to the tuts on the first post would be awesome

i read through the first section it really helped, i have been wondering all week (since Sunday 09/12/2007) where the toast resources were, i checked every folder in the consolidated folder and couldnt find anything that looked even remotely like a toast, then this comes along and now i know its all in windows 921, now i can experiment with toasts this weekend yay.

thanks wills i look forward to more sections, by the way maybe when complete it might be an idea to put it all together as a cfm file i think thats the right extension you know like the skinning docs are done in so you can click through the branches to the section you want to look up.

lol so much fuss over 4.5 and 4.50

Anyway I have updated the first post to have the tutorial. Also the first tutorial has been revised and changed a little bit so you will notice a few changes .

2nd one is nearly there, it would have been done earlier but people are asking me to do stuff left right and center at the moment (not just skinning )

*Edit

Tutorial #2 up now. Please see first post.

Thanks Willz! I will give it a look thru. I love the tables you have made, they were really useful for finding the correct folder and files to edit to change specific parts of the tutorial.

I was wondering if you have an ETA for a tutorial on how to change toasts? I have gotten it how I want it except the background which is horribly stretched @_@.

Thanks again .

Yea Willz it seems really useful . Cannot wait for the stuff that I phail at doing...!

However, I must say I graduated from learning the basics of SkinInfo.xml.

quote:

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Originally posted by Keikonium
Thanks Willz! I will give it a look thru. I love the tables you have made, they were really useful for finding the correct folder and files to edit to change specific parts of the tutorial.

I was wondering if you have an ETA for a tutorial on how to change toasts? I have gotten it how I want it except the background which is horribly stretched @_@.

Thanks again .

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in christmas theme of mine and jasons skin we have white text for names of contact groups but the default text colour of the contact names in the groups is black how do i change that to white?

hi willz i'm a noob but your guide help me a lot
i'm waiting for the third part!!!!
sorry for bad english

A bit of silence for a while, but I guess I'll just put what I am up to.

Christmas and New Years is a hectic time so having the time to write up this stuff is becoming hard (I'm sure I don't have to explain why )

Anyway at the current moment I am up to making part 3, which is Multi Layer RLE file replacements and how to deal with them.

And on the side, part 4, which I'm sure most of you will love.

Part 4 will the the complete 8.5 resource table organized by UIFile with an explanation of each resources purpose and any restrictions you should know of. This is to save you the headaches I had when learning skinning.

Additionally it covers the files Plus does not decrypt yet and resources that are not referenced in any style or definition but are still used.

These two guides should launch by the end of the first week of the new year and I will upload them to designevolved.net which is going through a bit of cosmetic surgery at the moment.

Anyway happy new year to all and I will see you all next year.

Looking forward to #4, good work

Cool keep up the good work and I hope you had a good christmas and hope you have a fun time over new years

I hope everyone has fun over new years

Let't party

Happy new year everyone (I know its a bit early but I might not be on late tomorrow night as having a lil party so doubt I will get to my laptop)

I can't wait Willz. Keep up the good work because a lot of people including me need the rest of the guide.

looking forward to it willz sounds just like what i could do with.

The .plsk link at the end of #2 doesn't appear to work anymore I get a 404. But probably just as well, the site (as you have said) is being redone...


I really liked those blue icons but I guess I could make my own

When will the third part of this nice guide be ready? I can;t wait to read it!

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Originally posted by Basilis
When will the third part of this nice guide be ready? I can;t wait to read it!

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quote:

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Originally posted by Ryxpia
The .plsk link at the end of #2 doesn't appear to work anymore I get a 404. But probably just as well, the site (as you have said) is being redone...


I really liked those blue icons but I guess I could make my own

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thanks willz like the 3rd tutorial but i do have a question, when replacing buddy images you only covered the contact listso what about when i click the online button next to my nickname in the dashboard itll still use the original images yeah? so how does one change them to, also can you add in custom status images for your messenger plus personalised status's?

just a few things i thought i should ask.

interesting 3rd part i am sure this could be helpful to me in the future

quote:

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Originally posted by stuartbennett
thanks willz like the 3rd tutorial but i do have a question, when replacing buddy images you only covered the contact listso what about when i click the online button next to my nickname in the dashboard itll still use the original images yeah? so how does one change them to, also can you add in custom status images for your messenger plus personalised status's?

just a few things i thought i should ask.

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at present i only read the tutorial, it seemed pretty simple though, all i wouldnt of known was how to declare each state seperately in the uifiles so it was helpful in that respect everything else i had already picked up in developing the 365 skin with jason.

i did hope it would be as easy as doing the same to the statuspill in 923 styles file but as willz didnt specifically mention it i wasnt 100% sure if that would work or if theres any other places i might encounter the status icons that i need to be aware of.

EDIT:

me and jason are going to attempt to add what we have learned from this tutorial into the 365 skin im just waiting on him to come back to me with the custom images, im good at bigger images like backgrounds simple gradients etc, he is good at adding cool graphical elements to backgrounds and making the smaller images like the icons in 90 & 94 and custom buttons like our skinops button.

you see we have now gotten to a point in our working as a team where we now know which areas of skinning we each excel at and plan our skins developement workload accordingly.

quote:

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Originally posted by stuartbennett
thanks willz like the 3rd tutorial but i do have a question, when replacing buddy images you only covered the contact listso what about when i click the online button next to my nickname in the dashboard itll still use the original images yeah? so how does one change them to, also can you add in custom status images for your messenger plus personalised status's?

just a few things i thought i should ask.

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ok thanks willz

can anyone give me an idea of the various size of the icons to be used?

and a link where I can download some icons ?

thanks

I think I should be able to create a simple skin after the 3 tutorials;
thanks Willz

16x16, 19x19 or 32x32 pixels depending on which icon.

Download icons anywhere from the internet (make sure you have the rights to use it), http://www.google.com/search?q=free+icons.

Willz. I want to inform you that the translation will take me some time because it is very time-consuming and I am going to school.But I wll do my best to have it complete very soon.Just wanted to mention it.

quote:

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Originally posted by Basilis
Willz. I want to inform you that the translation will take me some time because it is very time-consuming and I am going to school.But I wll do my best to have it complete very soon.Just wanted to mention it.

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wow and thats just part 4? who knows how many more parts there will be & how many pages those will each be? so yeah considering that by the time the guide is fully constructed youll probably have written maybe a good 1000 pages or so i dont think your solid gold status saying something like "skinning guide creator" is unreasonable, but hey its not up to me lol

Very nice explanation!
but...when I do that Min,Max,Close buttons change at the Style 45710, the messenger takes much longer to log in and doesn't open the add contact tab!
There isn't anything wrong with it...I compared the part I edited with the original one (It would be the original Min,Max,Close and the edited one), and they're almost the same (the difference is that the edited one does that ContentIndex thing).
I'm sure the code is right...because I copied from my other styles...are you sure that 45710 Style can be edited?
Thanks

Edit
(Oh...and when will the Part 4 come out?? I'm loving this guide!)

I have to tell you that I couldn't think how big the 4th part would be. Is it 249 pages with pictures or just lines? I think this translation will be a nightmare. lol

Part 4 to the skinning guide is now released. Enjoy.

Willz.

Thanks for the guides Willz! Keep it up

Yay part 4! This should be useful...

* ryxdp schemes

yeah willz is using some dodgy salesmen tactics to try and get a userbase for his forum

lol shhh this isn't a permanent thing I plan to do its just until we are well established. Once that happens I'll remove the registered requirement on the tutorials section.

Cut me some slack 249 pages of writing

* ryxdp winks at Willz


I get you not really.

Congrats Willz. Keep up the good work

Bah at having to register at the site...

249 pages !!

* Menthix should make the tutorial section on msgpluslive.net

Registration might put people off downloading it though. I can see why you would want to do it though

im confused why would toasts ever have scrollbars?

When there's too much content in the toast box?`

I have never seen a toast box with scrollbars and doesn't it get cut down with dots (...) to fit things in the toast box??

quote:

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Originally posted by freak544
I have never seen a toast box with scrollbars and doesn't it get cut down with dots (...) to fit things in the toast box??

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quote:

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Originally posted by stuartbennett
im confused why would toasts ever have scrollbars?

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quote:

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Originally posted by SpunkyLoveMuff

quote:

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Originally posted by stuartbennett
im confused why would toasts ever have scrollbars?

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They are probably just defined in the UI files, so Willz put them in to be accurate.

As to why WLM left them in; probably laziness and re-using files and changing main content

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quote:

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Originally posted by SpunkyLoveMuff

quote:

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Originally posted by stuartbennett
im confused why would toasts ever have scrollbars?

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They are probably just defined in the UI files, so Willz put them in to be accurate.

As to why WLM left them in; probably laziness and re-using files and changing main content

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Woa, damn Willz. Just downloaded the 4th part and I'm stunned of the amount of unused and obsolete resources Microsoft left in the program. No wonder the file size of the setup goes so high!

Very, very, very nice work!

phew...that will help a LOT !! But...why doesnt MS just clean up their unused images?!! There is so much junk there... Thanks for the guide, willz!!

hi willz i saw something in part 4 that confused me the text in question is as follows.

quote:

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This image also has a vista equivalent please add a replace with a source of “msgvsta” as well as your standard replace.

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Hello, I've found your messenger skins, and it's a verry beautyfull skin!

I've Just a little question.

How are you converted you'r PNG files to MSNRLE ?

Thanks a lot for your answer!

Jerem.

He's using a tool which has not been released to the public. It's a program capable of generating MSNRLEs, it is not MSRLE2PNG (becuase that converts MSNRLE to PNG).

Thanks for explaining that "msgvista" part...
But...I've used your Evo skin (very nice, by the way), and I think I've seen some pictures that glow when going to active from inactive, and also there are pictures that change from active from inactive, I've tried worlds of codes to do that...but I still can't get those effects...could you please tell how to do it or how to begin doin' it?

Thanks anyway

Those animations are controlled by messenger, there are tags you can use to call different kinds of animations but they are really bad. Like they do not work on everything as they should.

In some cases you have to restructure a button just to get the effect you want. It's a bit much to explain just like this so yeah. But the easiest way of doing it is like this:

Button[Class="TransparentButton"]
{
Background:rcclr(20017);
ContentAlign:MiddleCenter|EndEllipsis;
Tooltip:True;
Alpha:100;
Animation:Log|Alpha|VerySlow;
}
Button[Class="TransparentButton"][MouseWithin]
{
Background:rcbkd(20201);
Alpha:255;
Animation:Log|Alpha|fast;
}

You set a lower alpha for the state you want to animate and then use the Animation:Log|Alpha|fast; tag to animate it. But yeah the problem is that alpha changing affects child elements (including icons) So its hard to control it properly.

Hmm...i'll try it and see if it stays nice
Thanks a lot!!

quote:

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Originally posted by vikke
He's using a tool which has not been released to the public. It's a program capable of generating MSNRLEs, it is not MSRLE2PNG (becuase that converts MSNRLE to PNG).

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Hey Willz, something to make a Guide about in the near future is the SkinOps Panel, as the documentation doesn't go much in depth about it...and the fact that they're useful in almost every skin

actually nagamasa i started writing a tutorial for the skin options panel a few weeks ago i just hadnt gotten round to finishing it, if it is a popular request i could always send it to willz once completed for him to either include in the skinning guide if he wishes or as a seperate tutorial download on designevolved.net, i will keep you guys posted on this guides developement.

when im in xml and want to start a new skin i go to new then a box pops up and up the top of the box it says create new document and inside the box it says select the type of document you wish to create and there is a list of all the document types which one do i choose?

choose .xml if it has, or all files and type the name of the file with the extension .xml

For the skininfo for example, Save as... SkinInfo.xml
                                              File Type: All Files

Hiya i just have begun o find it had i thought it wld b soo easy as i make skins for other sites but i will carry on tryin until i do it! n thx for this document babs ^-^

Willz, why don't you include a guide with Basic and Advanced options, like the ones we need to add restrictions to make them work?
I'm really looking forward to see what will be on next guide!!
(the last time I followed your hints, my skin reached rating 3.7)

grrrrrrrrrrrrr hey willz aint there a simplyfied verson o the tutorial for like dummies hehehe kuz i need it!!

No. What are you not understanding? Feel free to post it on the forum.

Well I tried to explain everything as simple as possible, but the one thing that can't be helped is the fact you gotta know xml basic and css basic if you really want to get anywhere.

In terms of the options panel thing, well I have an idea up my sleeve that may help lift the standard of skins. Not gonna say much on it because its not a sure thing. Don't want to get peoples hopes up

so, fist step has been done with  finding  you guys  before doing anything stupid .. just 2 days ago  i was  asking from someone  what's  skin is to messenger now i'm reading about  it and  already use Ev0 for my first skin  i hope i can find someone  who has a lot of patient to help me on my way to "CREATE" my own skins as i totaly don't konw  almost nothing about  it ..  kiss

hey everyone, i have just typed up a basic guide to creating option panels and about boxes, i have attached it to this post, if willz wants to use it in the skinning guide he is welcome to do so, if not i hope it will at least help get people started on making option panels and about boxes.

Great work stuartbennett. This will help a lot of people.

It's great to see other articles being made too .

quote:

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Originally posted by Basilis
Great work stuartbennett. This will help a lot of people.

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quote:

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Originally posted by absorbation
It's great to see other articles being made too .

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I believe you might be able to get this into the Skins Database as a resource thing, as Patchou said something about the Resources section of the database.

true, however i would have thought he would want it in .chm format for that section, also to be honest although i think i have done a reasonable job of covering the basics i would have thought a guide worthy of the resources section might need to be a little more in depth than the one i have written.

i am happy to submit it though if everyone thinks it would be acceptable.

quote:

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Originally posted by stuartbennett
true, however i would have thought he would want it in .chm format for that section, also to be honest although i think i have done a reasonable job of covering the basics i would have thought a guide worthy of the resources section might need to be a little more in depth than the one i have written.

i am happy to submit it though if everyone thinks it would be acceptable.

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sorry about that Vikke, i have gone back through my tutorial, i have redone the punctuation, i have also set all the instruction text to be a different colou to the code so you can easily identify what is code and what is my normal text.

i have uploaded the modified file to replace the previous one on the same post, i hope that the tutorial is now more acceptable.

quote:

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Originally posted by stuartbennett
sorry about that Vikke, i have gone back through my tutorial, i have redone the punctuation, i have also set all the instruction text to be a different colou to the code so you can easily identify what is code and what is my normal text.

i have uploaded the modified file to replace the previous one on the same post, i hope that the tutorial is now more acceptable.

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thanks Vikke, i am looking into making this tutorial a little more comprehensive in the near future, the current version is only a basic overview, may need to talk to aNILEator about maybe integrating his forum based tut on hiding elements into this, as it is closely related.

Someone please help me, I can't download the Resource Bible From WILLZ ... WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY ???

You have to register on Willz' forum and be logged in there before you can download it.

Hey,can please somebody help me,i've registered on the forum of designevolved.net but i still can't download the Resource Bible form Willz, if someone has it,please send it to benny_xh@hotmail.com

quote:

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Originally posted by ResourcE
Hey,can please somebody help me,i've registered on the forum of designevolved.net but i still can't download the Resource Bible form Willz, if someone has it,please send it to benny_xh@hotmail.com

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hi erm I was trying to download this bit and it came up with some forum and no sign of the download???

4: The Windows Live Messenger 8.5 Resource Bible Download

quote:

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Originally posted by Cherry_Blossom
hi erm I was trying to download this bit and it came up with some forum and no sign of the download???

4: The Windows Live Messenger 8.5 Resource Bible Download

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Her e-mail is just above your post.

quote:

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Originally posted by Basilis
Her e-mail is just above your post.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Cherry_Blossom
oh opss can i have it too?

jaymie_crawford@hotmail.co.uk

thanks x

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ok hun thanks so much had a lil read and already confused but hey will keep at it x

quote:

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Originally posted by Cherry_Blossom
ok hun thanks so much had a lil read and already confused but hey will keep at it x

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yes read skinning docs first then willz guides, once youve done all that youll know enough to follow my tut. i hope to see something from you soon its always good to see what young enthusiastic skinners can come up with.

cool thanks guys. I wanna make the skin i requested but might take a while lol

You can now view Willz Skinning Guide online at http://mpskins.net/tutorials/

You could already view Willz Skinning Guide online at http://www.msgpluslive.net/skins/resources/#tutorials

quote:

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Originally posted by MenthiX
You could already view Willz Skinning Guide online at http://www.msgpluslive.net/skins/resources/#tutorials

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I didn't mean anything by it, was just mentioning it since i haven't linked to it in this topic yet.

oh ok menthix no problem, sorry for getting wrong end of the stick.

psssh you guys and your alternate links I will be taking time off soon to update Design Evolved again and get it up to scratch with the guides and I'll probably write some new ones up while I'm at it just so Design Evolved has stuff the other sites doesn't

I've been really busy lately so I haven't had time to write something up, its not easy trying to juggle a whole bunch of things at once

fair enough willz i look forward to seeing these new guides you mention, but seriously man cant hurt to stop and take a day off now and then, even god made sure he never worked 24/7.