Shoutbox

I checked the documentation and there's no mention of being able to replace actual re-encoded UIB files in skins. Do I just have to reference the same file for both Style and Definition, or is it just impossible?

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Originally posted by ryxdp
I checked the documentation and there's no mention of being able to replace actual re-encoded UIB files in skins. Do I just have to reference the same file for both Style and Definition, or is it just impossible?

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Just refer to both style and definition, you won't use uib in skinning =)

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Originally posted by blessedguy

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Originally posted by ryxdp
I checked the documentation and there's no mention of being able to replace actual re-encoded UIB files in skins. Do I just have to reference the same file for both Style and Definition, or is it just impossible?

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Just refer to both style and definition, you won't use uib in skinning =)

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Well, that makes the MPTools convertor kinda useless plus if you use UIBs in a skin it'll save space. I wanted to use UIBs to make my skins a bit more tidy, but oh well :/

MPTools is, among others, to encode and decode UIBs so that you can make your own add on =P, plus you don't need to use all styles and all definitions, only the ones you'll use =)

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Originally posted by blessedguy
plus you don't need to use all styles and all definitions, only the ones you'll use =)

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Yes, but it's a well known fact here that just replacing a window's style or definition will slow down the skin's performance

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Originally posted by ryxdp
Yes, but it's a well known fact here that just replacing a window's style or definition will slow down the skin's performance

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Really? unless you know of a test scenario that reproduces the problem, I have to say I doubt it. I did a lot of efforts in optimizing the decoding/encoding of UIB files. On a decent computer, it takes a tenth of a second to encode a file and it's done only once, then the result is cached into memory

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Originally posted by Patchou

Really? unless you know of a test scenario that reproduces the problem, I have to say I doubt it. I did a lot of efforts in optimizing the decoding/encoding of UIB files. On a decent computer, it takes a tenth of a second to encode a file and it's done only once, then the result is cached into memory

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Originally posted by Skinning Documentation
...when a skin is loaded, if either a definition file or a style file is missing for one window, Messenger Plus! decodes the internal UIB data to generate the missing piece before re-encoding the whole thing. It slows things down a little but this way, nothing needs to be changed in the way you're used to write your skins.

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I understand that this is a very small amount of time, but still, it would be nice to only need to include just one file, even if you have both files present. For example if you modified all 59 windows, it would take about six seconds longer for Messenger to load according to what you've said. Of course, I also see that hardly anyone would need to do this (take Willz's current skins, which modify only about 35-40 windows) but it would still be a considerable amount of time wasted just by encoding these files.

Hey, it's a supposed 6 seconds (or shorter) time, once in a skin's use. Normally, people won't even notice it, as they'd only click the icon and do anyother thing while Messenger doesn't load.
Take it easy =)
It's a fraction of a second, according to patchou's next post, so don't worry.

I toyed with the idea of allowing pre-compiled files to be bundled but decided the encoder was fast enough to avoid the need for it (and keep things more simple to everybody).

Note that as far as loading 59 windows is concerned, it doesn't work this way. Messenger Plus! creates the UIB data only when the window is displayed by Messenger. That means that only one window is loaded/encoded at a time, making the whole thing completely transparent.

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Originally posted by Patchou
I toyed with the idea of allowing pre-compiled files to be bundled but decided the encoder was fast enough to avoid the need for it (and keep things more simple to everybody).

Note that as far as loading 59 windows is concerned, it doesn't work this way. Messenger Plus! creates the UIB data only when the window is displayed by Messenger. That means that only one window is loaded/encoded at a time, making the whole thing completely transparent.

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Alright then, thanks I just thought it may have made skin ripping that little bit harder to do, due to all the decoding and re-encoding just to change a single picture or something.