Shoutbox

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Originally posted by stuartbennett
background change part? i dont really see what has to be done there

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Just look at what i did, it should give you an idea of how you are supposed to do it. Under the comment change background you got a whole blurb of things...mixed stuff for 8.1 and 8.5 (Definition and Style files) and i have no idea if they belong to the change background stuff or not (i think not, but incase of doubt i leave that to the skin author). If not belonging to it you can put 8.1 stuff in the 8.1 resgroup and the 8.5 stuff in the 8.5 resgroup i created.

Note: I'm working blind too here as i no longer have 8.5.

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it still only works in 8.5 and not in 8.1

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That's because you still have some stuff to fix.

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im sure they all the styles and definition files came from the msgres files and not from the consolidated, but out of curiosity how can you tell the difference?

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The 947 definition ones are not, i can see because it's tabbed.

ok sunshine all elements that specify what version they relate to are now in their version specific resgroups, now then to the best of my knowledge the code listed below which is what is left of the change background resgroup is not specific to either version so what do i do with that?

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        <!-- background replacement -->
        <ResGroup>
            <Restrictions>
                <MsgVersions>
                    <Version Major="8" Minor="5"/>
                    <Version Major="8" Minor="1"/>
                </MsgVersions>
                <SkinOptions>
                  <OptionSet>
                    <BoolVal Name="ChangeBkg">true</BoolVal>
                  </OptionSet>
                </SkinOptions>
            </Restrictions>
            <Resources>
            <New>
                <Pictures>   
                    <Picture Id="59001">
                        <File>Windows Live.png</File>
                    </Picture>
                    <Picture Id="59002">
                        <File>WLMessenger.png</File>
                    </Picture>     
                    <Picture Id="59003">
                        <File>background.png</File>
                            <Metadata>
                            <UMLeft>1</UMLeft>
                            <UMTop>1</UMTop>
                            <UMRight>1</UMRight>
                            <UMBottom>1</UMBottom>
                             </Metadata>
                    </Picture>
            </Pictures>
            </New>
                <Graphics><Pictures>
                    <Picture Id="20061">
                        <File>Beach Gradient.png</File>
                        <Metadata>
                         <UMLeft>1</UMLeft>
                         <UMTop>1</UMTop>
                         <UMRight>1</UMRight>
                         <UMBottom>1</UMBottom>
                        </Metadata>
                        </Picture>
                        </Pictures></Graphics>
            </Replace></Resources>
        </ResGroup>
       
<!-- ResGroup for 8.1 -->
        <ResGroup>
            <Restrictions>
                <MsgVersions>
                    <Version Major="8" Minor="1"/>
                </MsgVersions>
            </Restrictions>
            <Resources>
                <Replace>
                        </Style>
                        </Styles>
                    </Windows>
                </Replace>
            </Resources>
        </ResGroup>

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right theres a problem there, i know exactly what i changed in 947 styles but not a clue what i did in 947 definitions how do i find out?

well maybe if i explain what i did, i turned the forget me link white, i turned the text labels for email address and password white now im assuming thats what i did in definitions right? in relation to the styles file i set id 701 to 59001 and set 703 to 59002

the thing is while i roughly know what changes i made i dont know where to find them in the files.

All that is not version specific (in other words the things that are the same in both messenger versions) must be in a block with both MsgVersions in Restrictions.

Is it still producing a SkinTrace (after you checked all is where it should in SkinInfo)?

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Originally posted by stuartbennett
right theres a problem there, i know exactly what i changed in 947 styles but not a clue what i did in 947 definitions how do i find out?

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Compare the original definitions file with the altered one (original 8.1 > modified 8.1 to find your alterations, modified 8.1 > original 8.5 to copy paste alterations from one file to the other). You can do that manually or with the app i mentioned in my tutorial (Aptdiff).

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Originally posted by Sunshine
All that is not version specific (in other words the things that are the same in both messenger versions) must be in a block with both MsgVersions in Restrictions.

Is it still producing a SkinTrace (after you checked all is where it should in SkinInfo)?

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i tested it and its still producing a skin trace i really cant see what im doing wrong.

im not going to attempt to change the files to the correct one the application you linked to cant tell what the difference is cause it even picks up on the changes in layout that their is between the 2 versions and therefore its not just going to show the elements i changed, i couldnt possibly find the changes manually i can only put the proper msgres files in if someone gives me a tutorial on how to make the changes from scratch so i can find the lines i changed.

Read the TraceFile, might tell you what it is....i can't guess.

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Originally posted by Sunshine
Read the TraceFile, might tell you what it is....i can't guess.

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my trace file reads as follows

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07/12/12 16:50:32| **** The trace has started ****
07/12/12 16:50:32| Skin: Beach Skin 1.00
07/12/12 16:50:32| Messenger version: 8.1.178.0 (en-us)
07/12/12 16:50:32| Messenger Plus! version: 4.50.310
07/12/12 16:50:32| Last definition file loaded: 947
07/12/12 16:50:32| Last style sheet file loaded: 947
07/12/12 16:50:32| Last picture file loaded: 20099
07/12/12 16:50:32| DUIParserFailure: Value creation failed '' 290
07/12/12 16:50:32| DUIParserFailure: Failed to locate stylesheet 'logonFrameSS' -1
07/12/12 16:50:34| DUIParserFailure: Value creation failed '' 290
07/12/12 16:50:34| DUIParserFailure: Failed to locate stylesheet 'logonFrameSS' -1
07/12/12 16:50:44| DUIParserFailure: Value creation failed '' 290
07/12/12 16:50:44| DUIParserFailure: Failed to locate stylesheet 'logonFrameSS' -1
07/12/12 16:50:44| DUIParserFailure: Value creation failed '' 290
07/12/12 16:50:44| DUIParserFailure: Failed to locate stylesheet 'logonFrameSS' -1
07/12/12 16:50:45| **** The trace has ended ****

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no offence but that doesnt tell me anything.

EDOT:

i redid the 947 styles file cause i know exactly what i did with that file but the 947 definitions file will always have to stay as the consolidated version as i will never ever be able to figure out what the hell i did in that one.

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it even picks up on the changes in layout that their is between the 2 versions and therefore its not just going to show the elements i changed

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To only find the changes you made compare original 8.1 fill with your modified one. When comparing the modified 8.1 file with the original 8.5 one you only need to take notice of what's in the 8.1 that isn't in the 8.5 (leave what's in the 8.5 and not in the 8.1 because those are the differences between the two versions, it's needed to work).

That SkinTrace looks the same to me as before, make sure you use the correct definition and style files for 8.5.

To understand the SkinTrace a bit better read Skins Essentials - The Trace File.

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the 947 definitions file will always have to stay as the consolidated version as i will never ever be able to figure out what the hell i did in that one

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Compare the original consolidated from 8.1 with your modified consolidated of 8.1. Editing the msgres (Windows) version is exactly the same as the consolidated ones (replace the consolidated version with the msgres one for 8.1 first, and make sure all works as should in 8.1, this makes it easier to edit the msgres for 8.5).

i know what i have done wrong now but do not know how to fix it, there are some minor differences between the 947 style files for 8.1 and 8.5 i just used a copy of the same file in both folders not realising what problems i would cause, in 8.5 the windows live messenger text at the top of the login frame is comprised of 2 images the image saying windows live is id 701 and the word messenger is id 703 these are referenced in my change background res group if i move these to my 8.5 resgroup thatll fix it to a point, however in 8.1 that logo is a single image in the style file for 8.1 its simply referenced as rcimg=628 what i need to no is how to define the image in my skininfo file.

To fix it you really need to use the definition/style files from 8.5 resources, not a copy of an 8.1 file (as you saw now).

As for that image, if it is still usable in 8.5:
- put the references to it in the 8.1 ResGroup and copy it to the ResGroup for 8.5 also
- in the 8.5 ResGroup change the ID to the correct one for 8.5
If not usable in 8.5:
- put the references to it in the 8.1 ResGroup
- make new image for 8.5 and reference that one in the 8.5 ResGroup

no the 628 images i found its reference in the 8.1 style files so it belongs in the 8.1 resgroup the problem i have is does it belong in

<new>
<pictures>

or in

<replaces>
<pictures>

secondly i dont know what the picture id is supposed to be

once i have the answers to those questions i will easily be able to fix this and ensure compatability for both 8.1 & 8.5