TUTORIAL & REVIEW: free, EXCELLENT theme editor tool, ThemeGenCE

TUTORIAL & REVIEW: free, EXCELLENT theme editor tool, ThemeGenCE - General Topics

My well-known Theme Bible is, now, three years old and, therefore, a bit outdated when it comes to comparing the third-party theme creator tools. Therefore, I found it necessary to quickly review all the new tools, particularly Benoît Thonnart’s free(!) and (still) excellent ThemeGenCE, which, incidentally, has become the winner in last year’s Best Software Awards in the Utilities / Theme Creation/Management category. Note that, while it’s certainly outdated, you will still want to read my old Theme Bible. Note that the first half of it is pretty technical but is pretty much needed if you want to understand the official documentation coming with ThemeGenCE. (Benoît Thonnart’s manual even links to my Theme Bible just at the beginning.)
As, unlike the other apps, this theme creator, while it’s really-really powerful, isn’t very intuitive and the docs are pretty technical (again, they depend on my old Theme Bible, which itself is pretty technical), I found it necessary to write an easy-to-follow tutorials for newcomers. This application is really worth checking out if you’re into making themes: it’s WAY better, more powerful and up-to-date than any other free solutions out there and even kicks the back of some of the commercial, expensive ones.
1. download ThemeGenCEEnglish.zip from the homepage; decompress in somewhere. Run ThemeGenCE.exe.
2. by default, ThemeGenCE will default to VGA (640*480) output. If you have a QVGA (320*240) or a square-screen (both 240*240 and 480*480; 320*320 – see for example the Samsung i780 – is promised for the near future, so is W(Q)VGA) one, click Options to the right of Theme Format:
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Upon the first start of ThemeGenCE, the mouse cursor will automatically be placed there so all you need to do is just left-clicking twice (first, to close the initial dialog box asking you to set image parameters and, second, to click Options).
In the new dialog, just click the output format you need. For example, if you want to create a QVGA theme, click QVGA as shown in the following shot:
Then, click Validate at the bottom. Now, the (changed) output format, QVGA, will be shown in the main GUI too:
(Compare this section to that of the first screenshot above!)
3. click the Mona Lisa button,
, (the fifth button on the top) to enter the image handler dialog. It’s here that you’ll need to import the image you’d like to place in the output file and do the necessary transforms on it before saving.

4. select the image in the next dialog coming up:
It’ll be shown in the forthcoming editor window. Don’t be afraid of it: it’s much simpler than one might at first think.
First, if you absolutely don’t want to change any parameters but export the image and create a TSK file, you can click the Save Today Image,
, icon (the fourth at the top) right away. Then, you’ll still need to click the “Start” radio button in the Image Build group in the right:
and click the Save Today Image icon again. Now, you can close the dialog window by using the cross or the “Back to main form”,
, icon.

5. Now, the Create the theme on PC icon (the fourth icon on the toolbar),
, becomes active; just click it to save your stuff. Note that you may want to give it a new name (instead of the default “Theme”) and a new internal name (default: nothing) before doing so in the lower left area of the dialog:
The saving directory will be the same as ThemeGenCE.exe by default; as you can see, you can change it too. Now, just copy your TSK file to \Windows, \My Documents or the root of a storage card on your PDA and off you go: it becomes selectable.
Also note that you can change the interface colors before saving the image. To do this, go to the third tab of the large dialog on the left and click the colors you’d like to change.
To change the WM5+ basehue (see THIS for more info), you’ll need to change to the WM5 tab (to the right of the Colors tab); in here, you can change the base hue of the entire system:
Click the WM5 button (the cursor hovers above it in the previous shot) and just select the color you want. Again, click Validate at the bottom to make the changes.

Note that this was just a quick intro to this app. It’s capable of VERY-VERY cool image transformations available in the Effect Options group (just under the already-introduced “Image to Build” group where you needed to click “Start”) in the image editor (the one coming up with the Mona Lisa icon): in addition to basic image adjusting, cropping, flipping, mirroring, rotating, etc. operations, advanced patterns, hatching, radial blur, radial zoom operations are also possible. Just click the six tabs in there to see these advanced features. Also note that you’ll need to enable them by checking the checkboxes as is shown in for example the next shot:
Also, you can import existing TSK files and modify the colors, the images etc. in them – and, then, export them again. Finally, if your phone is connected to your desktop computer, you can easily, directly deploy (and directly import) the TSK files to / from there, making it unnecessary for you to manually copy TSK files between the desktop and the PDA.
There’re some other tutorials HERE and HERE. Now that you know the basics of using the app, you’ll surely understand them too.

I've decided to stick my latest Bibles & tutorials in the General forum for some days in a round-robin fashion. That is, I stick some 2-3 articles at a time and, after some days, I stick another set. This way hopefully everyone will notice them without even searching and they get the exposure they deserve.
All in all, don't be afraid: it's only some days that a given article remains sticky - after that, I stick another one.

Related

The Guide to Playing Magnetic Scrolls games on Windows Mobile

Many older computer users know what adventure games the excellent folks Magnetic Scrolls have produced some really good adventure games. (See THIS (if the link doesn’t work, THIS) for more info). If you want to play these really excellent games on your Windows Mobile (WM for short) device, I have some very good news for you: yes, they’re all playable – and not only under CPU-hungry and not-the-best-suited-for-the-Windows-Mobile-UI emulators, but also real interpreters.
You may have already heard of “Magnetic”, THE Magnetic Scrolls games interpreter. It, fortunately, also has a Windows Mobile port.
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(another VGA shot; a QVGA one)
There are three main revisions of Magnetic: 1, 2 and 2.2. Of course, the higher, the better (see the three charts comparing them HERE for more info on the version differences if interested). For WM, fortunately, a port of the latest, 2.2 version is available; as with the desktop Windows. Note that there is another version called for WindowsCE-based Handheld Pro and 2000 devices: chiark’s MagnetiCE; you will NOT want to use it on your WM device because it uses H/PC menus even under Windows Mobile.
Installing the interpreter
Download it from here (linked from this IF-Archive page) (alternative, direct download here). Unzip MagneticWinCE.exe and transfer it anywhere on your handheld.
Note that the interpreter is only compatible with WM2003SE and newer operating systems. It doesn't seem to run under WM2003 (tested on my iPAQ 2210), let alone PPC2k2. I had no problems running it on my (several) WM2003SE+ devices; worked flawlessly even under WM6. It makes use of built-in keyboards and landscape modes without problems. It also supports command history (up/down cursor keys), which is very useful particularly if you want to, say, repeat “wait” many times.
Getting and installing the games
Fortunately, all compatible games are available online and you don’t need to do any conversion. Go HERE and go to the bottom, to the bottom-most Game Files chart. Download the “Story files” of all the games you’d like to enjoy. Unzip it to anywhere on your storage card. Make sure you only put it in a direct descendant (subdirectory) of the root of the card and not the second, third etc. one; this, unfortunately, also applies to the \My Documents directory on your card) or in the main storage, under a directory in \My Documents.
If you don't like this restriction because of the standard file selection dialog, you can fix the problem by getting Mad Programmer’s File Dialog Changer , the current WM5/WM6-compliant version of which is 1.66. Get it HERE. You'll also need GSGetfile.
I’ve often elaborated on the installation / usage of this really useful utility (see for example THIS). Just a quick recap (with WM6 screenshots): after transferring ARM\filedlgchg.cpl from filedlgchg.zip and ARMRel\gsgetfile.dll from gsgetfile-i.zip to \Windows on your mobile device, go to the new Settings / System / File Dialog Changer applet and just check in “Exchange Standard File Dialog”. This will make it possible to peek in anywhere in the file system as can be seen in here.
In addition to the (text-only) story, you may also want to download the image repository (see the “Graphics file” column for all the games you’d like to run). Title graphics and title music files are also downloadable (if present); you will need to separately watch / listen to them from a multimedia player and an image viewer. Hint files, on the other hand, are also handled by the interpreter engine; therefore, you will want to download them too if you do need hints.
Then, just start MagneticWinCE.exe, select File / Open and select the game to play.
The menu of the interpreter is pretty straightforward; in addition to the standard Open / Exit functionality, in Edit / Verb, you can select five predefined verbs to speed up input words. In Display, you can set the size of the images displayed (and whether they’re displayed at all).
The Palm OS Kronos emulator
If you have a Palm OS device, you may have heard of Kronos, an emulator for Magnetic Scrolls, Infocom-style ZMachine, and Scott Adams style adventure games. It’s very advanced: as opposed to the original Windows (and Windows Mobile) version, it supports automaps and popwords.
Unfortunately, it (as of the latest, 1.4.7 version) crashes the current version (1.0.025) of StyleTap, the Palm OS emulator for WM, in the 66% screen mode and, as can be seen in here, in 100% mode, on VGA devices, it uses a low-resolution display. However, if you can live with this (because don’t want to enjoy the images), running Kronos under StyleTap may be a good alternative.
Note that as far as QVGA (low-resolution) Windows Mobile devices are concerned, images are almost invisible on them; example screenshots here and here. However, if you don’t need images at all or can play in 66% mode on QVGA devices, the images are, then, correctly displayed (1 2).
Note that Kronos offers autoload/save features. This is missing from the WM version. The latter, however, supports saving and loading the game state (via the save/load commands) any time.

Ever wanted to know how you can use low-res (176*220) titles on your QVGA phone?

If you have a QVGA Smartphone like the HTC Vox / s710, you know well enough that most existing games and other graphics-based Smartphone apps (Windows Mobile 6 Standard) out there only use a postage-stamp sized screen area. An example of this is PDAMill’s Flux Challenge, which, being designed for the traditional low-res (176*220) Smartphone resolution, only uses part of the available QVGA screen estate:
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There were no widely known solutions for the problem. Some developers announced support for QVGA devices (for example, that of Cell Doom – see announcement HERE), but the most (including PDAMill) didn’t.
Fortunately, an excellent White Russian coder has come up with a generic solution, which not only makes it possible to run MANY (but not all!) games at full screen, but, in cases, also lets for using real (!) QVGA resolution with some titles (for example, emulators).
Downloading, installing
Go to this MoDaCo thread and download the ZIP file attached to the first post. You’ll need to register as a forum user if you aren’t able to access it. If you don’t want to bother with it, I’ve also uploaded the file to my database back-end; it’s HERE.
After this, just unZIP it and start GxQvga Patcher.exe. Should you encounter an error message complaining about the lack of the .NET Framework 2, you will need to download it HERE (note that some stated it only requires 1.1. I haven’t checked whether they’re right. The latter is accessible HERE.)
Using
This patcher app runs on the desktop, NOT on the Smartphone. This means you must transfer the main EXE file of the game / emulator / app you’d like to make use of the QVGA screen to your desktop computer first. To do this, use for example Total Commander with the CE file system patch (see THIS for an explanation of installing it) or, if you don’t want to bother, just the “Explore” button of ActiveSync.
Transfer the main EXE files (but nothing else) of the apps / games you’d like to patch to the directory of where the above-mentioned, just decompressed GxQvga Patcher.exe resides.
Now, start GxQvga Patcher.exe. It will present you a dialog:
In there, click “Select exe file to patch...". Now, select the EXE file you’d like to patch:
After letting it go on, you’ll be presented a message telling you the patching was successful:
Now, all you need to do is:
Copy the patched EXE file back to your MS Smartphone, making sure you overwrite the original EXE file
Go to the QVGA subdirectory on your desktop (just under the directory where GxQvga Patcher.exe resides), and copy XG.dll to the same directory on your smartphone
Start the game / app to see whether it worked; answer Yes to the message.
If the game / app still only uses 176*220 (and not the full screen), exit it and go to the SCALE (NOT the previous QVGA!) subdirectory on your desktop, and copy XG.dll to the same directory on your smartphone and copy XG.dll to the smartphone, making sure you overwrite the previously copied QVGA XG.dll. Now, start the game on your Smartphone. Hope it’ll use the full screen. If it still doesn’t do this, then, nothing can help, I’m afraid.
Examples of the before-after cases
PocketHobbitSP2003 (as of the current, Alpha 11 version) doesn’t support QVGA devices. As can be seen in the following screenshot, without patching, it only uses a stamp-size screen area in Portrait mode on QVGA devices:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/062007C64Emus/c64EmuDefaultStamp.bmp.png
After the patch and using the QVGA DLL, it becomes much bigger and, what is even more important, makes use of the full horizontal screen reoslution – that is, 240 pixels, resulting in MUCH more readable text:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/062007C64Emus/PatchedSEQVGAP.bmp.png
Incidentally, with the SCALE DLL, it also fills in the entire screen horizontally, BUT only upscaling the original, 176*132 rendition resulting in a MUCH inferiour real resolution & readability:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/062007C64Emus/PatchedSPVersionScaleDLLQVGAPortrait.bmp.png
This is why I’ve emphasized you MUST give a try to the QVGA DLL first and only give a try to the SCALE one when the former doesn’t deliver any results.
Recommended link
This MoDaCo thread discusses the converter at length. A MUST!

It's a cooool tool, I will try it.

yes, I have been using it for half a year ago, cool thing Worms, Flux Challenge... this tool doesn't know any limitations!!

Ever wanted to know how you can use low-res (176*220) titles on your QVGA phone?

Thanks for this!
I think your contributions should be published in the wiki.
Cheers
JockyW

As you said, it was already posted on MoDaCo ...
But great anyway.

jockyw2001 said:
Thanks for this!
I think your contributions should be published in the wiki.
Cheers
JockyW
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wish I had the time to edit the Wiki... the sole reason I don't publish it is that there would be a LOT of manual editing involved as I couldn't create an automated script to convert everything into the local Wiki format (I had special problems with linked images, which just didn't want to work).

Menneisyys said:
I wish I had the time to edit the Wiki... the sole reason I don't publish it is that there would be a LOT of manual editing involved as I couldn't create an automated script to convert everything into the local Wiki format (I had special problems with linked images, which just didn't want to work).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I wanted to add, though this was originaly posted on MoDaCo, I like your thread too for the pictures .
What's the point with the wiki? What's the problem with linked pictures???

KevinSephiroth said:
That's what I wanted to add, though this was originaly posted on MoDaCo, I like your thread too for the pictures .
What's the point with the wiki? What's the problem with linked pictures???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no time to reedit my articles when crossposting - I do everything with automated scripts. Unfortunately, so far, I haven't been able to come up with a script that would convert my articles 100% to the XDA-Dev Wiki - I had problems with the image conversions. Asmy articles are FULL of images, both linked and inline, it'd require a LOT of work to edit them all before submitting. I wish I had the time for that...

Ever wanted to know how you can use 176*220 titles on your hi-res QVGA MS Smartphone?

Ever wanted to know how you can use low-res (176*220) titles on your QVGA Smartphone?

Examples of the before-after cases
PocketHobbitSP2003 (as of the current, Alpha 11 version) doesn’t support QVGA devices. As can be seen in the following screenshot, without patching, it only uses a stamp-size screen area in Portrait mode on QVGA devices:
After the patch and using the QVGA DLL, it becomes much bigger and, what is even more important, makes use of the full horizontal screen reoslution – that is, 240 pixels, resulting in MUCH more readable text:
Incidentally, with the SCALE DLL, it also fills in the entire screen horizontally, BUT only upscaling the original, 176*132 rendition resulting in a MUCH inferiour real resolution & readability:
This is why I’ve emphasized you MUST give a try to the QVGA DLL first and only give a try to the SCALE one when the former doesn’t deliver any results.
Recommended link
This MoDaCo thread discusses the converter at length. A MUST!

Database Info

welcome