Database Info

[How-To]Themeing your hero

well since there have been ALOT of threads asking how to theme a hero I figured I would go ahead and make a quick guide. I am sure that I will miss stuff so if anyone else sees what I miss let me know and I will add it to the post.
ok first things first there are a few programs that you are going to need. The first is some kind of archive program such as 7zip or winrar. I personaly use winrar but 7zip is free you can download it here.
http://www.7-zip.org/download.html
next you will need a image editing program the favorites are Photoshop and gimp. if you dont have photoshope already and dont want to buy it then download gimp. it just as good and once again its free. You can download gimp here.
http://www.gimp.org/downloads/
Now that you have those programs it is now time to start making your theme.
1. download the ROM of your choice that you want to use since not all files are the same across all ROM's
2. I have 2 folders on my desktop one named "theme apks" and one named "working apks"
3. Use 7zip to unzip the rom you downloaded.
4. in the newly unziped ROM find and open the "system" folder, you will see a list of several sub-directories. The two that we are mainly concerned with are "app" and "framework".
5. Open the "app" folder and move any of the apps that you want to change to the "theme apks" folder that you created earlier in a sub-directory named "app" then open the "framework" folder in the unziped Rom and find and move the "com.htc.resources.apk" and the "framework-res.apk" to your "theme apks" folder into a sub-directory name "framework".
6. now that you have your files seperated out into your "theme apks" folder choose an apk that you want to edit and use 7zip to unzip the .apk into the "working apks" folder you created.
7. now in your "working apks" folder you should have a folder named "res" in this folder there will several other folders. the main ones we need are "drawable", "drawable-mdip" in the 2.1 builds and "drawable", drawable 480x320" in the 1.5 builds" there maybe others depending on what you are trying to change.
8. open the proper drawable folder and find the image you want to edit and open it with your image editor (gimp, photoshop) and make your changes then save it using the same name into the "working apk" folder.
9. now that you have your images edited there are a few ways to add them to your apk the process described here is how I do it since I find it to be the easiest way. go back into your "theme apks" folder and find the apk that you edited. Use 7zip to open NOT unzip the apk. Inside 7zip open the "res" folder and then the proper "drawable" folder now pull up you "working apks" folder and select the edited images and drag them into the 7zip window. A dialog should pop up asking if you want to add and replace existing files and just choose yes. you can now close 7zip.
you have now themed your apk. just repeat steps 6-9 for the rest of the apks you want to theme. then just push the files back to your phone using ADB. I push them back after I am done editing each one before I clear my "working apks" folder so that I can make sure that it looks the way it should that way if I need to make changes then I dont have to go through all the steps again.
after you have created and tested your theme if you want to share it you will want to make an update zip. there are a few ways to do this. by far the easiest way is to use the fresh pre-kitchen to sign it. for this process you will need to follow these steps. download the pre-kitchen here
http://geekfor.me/android15/fresh-pre-kitchen-02/
1. if you followed the steps above then this will be a snap. just open your "theme apks" folder and create a folder named "system"
2. then select either the app folder or the "framework" folder or both depending on what you changed and move them into the "system" folder you just created.
3. now use 7zip to zip the system folder and name it whatever you like.
4. now open fresh pre-kitchen and go to the tools section and choose the sign a zip option. Follow all the prompts and you should have a signed update zip that anyone can flash.
a few side notes
the process above works great for regular images such as png, jpeg and the like now you will find that to change some things they will be in the dreaded ".9.png" format. these images need extra steps to edit them. that I am not going to go into in this guide but they can be found here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=5206698
also there is another method to making an update zip that I am not going to go into in this guide but all the tools and how to do it can be found in this thread here. in the first post 4th section.
http://htcpedia.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1404
if you are completely new to themeing I would suggest trying a 1.5 ROM first as they are a little more straight forward because in 2.1 they spread the images for some of the more popular mods over several different apk's.
I want to give a few quick thanks to the great devs here that give us these ROM's to work Flipz, Toast, Damage, Obalisk, Zenulator, and any that I missed thank you. Also to some of the people that have helped me out emensly in my quest to learn how to theme. Noj you have been such a help, Godzson, Chubbzlou and the others that have helped thank you as well.
I hope that this helps some people on their way to customizing their Heros.
if there is anything that someone sees that I missed let me know and I will add it to the post.

I din't see anything about the META-INF folder with update-script to make it flashable. I don't use Fresh kitchen so I'm not sure if it does it or not. I would visually include the layout of the folders before zipping.I might have missed something you typed.
/system/app/
/system/framework/

Looks right. But my name is chubbzlou.

chubbzlou said:
Looks right. But my name is chubbzlou.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry cubbz was trying to do it from memory but its fixed now.

Thanks for the how-to write up

No prob just busting chops. The how to looks good. Now we need a how to for the .9.png images.
wtphoto said:
sorry cubbz was trying to do it from memory but its fixed now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I din't see anything about the META-INF folder with update-script to make it flashable. I don't use Fresh kitchen so I'm not sure if it does it or not. I would visually include the layout of the folders before zipping.I might have missed something you typed.
/system/app/
/system/framework/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't add anything about META-INF because the pre kitchen adds it but that's why I added the link to the other way of signing it explains all that
@chubby that is also why I put the link to the other post I think its a pretty easy to understand guide for the .9.pngs
Sent from my HERO200 using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk

added to wiki

This is just what I have been looking for. Thanks for putting it together.

[Q] Trying to edit an apk

This is my first post so please dont flame me too bad!
Just bought a GS2SR and installed a keyboard app to replace the android keyboard however i LOATHE the keypress sound (sounds like an old typewriter). I really like the galaxy s2 keyboard sounds so here's what i've done to solve the issue so far..
-downloaded stock GS2 rom and extracted the .ogg sound files for the keyboard click
-converted .ogg files to .wav(same format as files i am replacing inside the .apk) and renamed them to the EXACT name of the .wav files i am replacing inside the .apk
-download the keyboard .apk and open in winRAR (didn't change file extention)
-inside the .apk i located directory containing the .wav files and deleted them
-from the desktop i dragged the new .wav files into winRAR and dropped them in the original directory
-close winRAR
-resign .apk
-plug phone in and view on PC as mass storage mode.
-click and drag newly edited and signed .apk into the downloads folder on phone
-unplug phone
-install .apk on phone
So the installation went fine. I go into messaging and the keyboard shows up and works perfectly. only problem is i have no keyboard sounds! why aren't my new .wav files playing when i press a key? what am i missing here?

Did you rename the .wav files to be the same?

weaselnoze said:
This is my first post so please dont flame me too bad!
Just bought a GS2SR and installed a keyboard app to replace the android keyboard however i LOATHE the keypress sound (sounds like an old typewriter). I really like the galaxy s2 keyboard sounds so here's what i've done to solve the issue so far..
-downloaded stock GS2 rom and extracted the .ogg sound files for the keyboard click
-converted .ogg files to .wav(same format as files i am replacing inside the .apk) and renamed them to the EXACT name of the .wav files i am replacing inside the .apk
-download the keyboard .apk and open in winRAR (didn't change file extention)
-inside the .apk i located directory containing the .wav files and deleted them
-from the desktop i dragged the new .wav files into winRAR and dropped them in the original directory
-close winRAR
-resign .apk
-plug phone in and view on PC as mass storage mode.
-click and drag newly edited and signed .apk into the downloads folder on phone
-unplug phone
-install .apk on phone
So the installation went fine. I go into messaging and the keyboard shows up and works perfectly. only problem is i have no keyboard sounds! why aren't my new .wav files playing when i press a key? what am i missing here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From my limited experience, I don't think it's that easy to modify the apk. Me thinks you need to decompile the .dex, muck around with that a bit, re-compile the apk, then rezip and resign it.
Doesn't hurt to Zipalign it also.
Look up Apk Manager to get more info.

MILocker and MIUI Lockscreens

A bunch of MILocker and MIUI Lockscreens

I downloaded some new lock screens, and whenever I apply them, just the wallpaper changes and the actual lockscreen part stays the same. Any help?

The .mtz file is just a renamed zip. Look inside, is there a file called lockscreen or is there a folder called lockscreen?
If it's a folder do this:
Unzip the whole thing to a folder called work.
Next, zip what's inside the lockscreen folder, (not the lockscreen folder, just what's inside). Call it lockscreen, if an extension gets added, rename it without the extension.
Next delete the lockscreen folder.
Next zip everything inside of the work folder. Call it Test.
Next rename Test.zip to Test.mtz and copy it to your phones miui/theme folder.
You should be good to go after you disconnect the phone from your computer and let it scan the sdcards.
Note: This can also be done on your phone without the aid of a computer.
If this doesn't help, let me know which lockscreen you were trying to get working.

I'm guessing there's no shortcut to that ^?

Garen21 said:
I'm guessing there's no shortcut to that ^?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought that my info was straight and to the point. When themes are written for one program, sometimes a little change needs to be made for them to work with others. As in the MiLocker doesn't read a lockscreen folder. Hence, it has to be zipped within the theme.
Heck, I'm an ex-junky who's lost more brain cells to acid then anyone that I know. If I can do/figure it out, anybody can.

Not able to see themes on Milocker
Hi,
I installed Milocker, and downloaded couple of .mtz themes... I copied the .mtz files to sdcard/MIUI/Themes folder...but when i Look at Milocker in Local section I am not able to get any themes.......
Please help....

Looks like these are for older MIUI, probably 2.3.x. Depending on what version you are running ymmv...

[MOD] Flashable Zip for Ringtones and Notifications

I have wanted a way to easily flash a zip immediately after flashing a new ROM that will import all my custom ringtones and SMS notifications.
I found a DIY-zip posted by maatsby. It was made for the Desire HD, and it might work just fine with our phones just as it is. I don't know a whole lot about flashable zips but I looked at the zip Synergy made for our GS3s to back up the EFS partition, and I modified the script of the original DIY file to match the same dev/block address for the system partition.
Followed the instructions maatsby had in the OP to put in my own files, flashed on Carbon 1.5 AOSP and it worked perfectly! You can give maatsby thanks in his thread
Here are the steps:
1. Download the DIY-sounds-GS3.zip
2. Open zip but do not extract it
3. Navigate through "system" until you get to the folder that you want to make changes to
4. Drag and drop your song in that folder
> e.g. if you want a new ringtone, navigate to "ringtones" folder and drop your song in to the ringtones folder
5. Delete the README.txt
6. Navigate to the other folders and add your songs there too
> If you don't want to add any other songs, just delete the README.txt files in each of the other folders
7. Nandroid backup
8. Flash in recovery

Well this is awsome
Make it so number one!

Thanks for this, it saves me a lot of time.

How To Theme Apps To Marshmallow's Style

Hi Xda today i will show you how to change apps icons to marshmallow's one
First you will need X-Plore Apk And Solid Explorer Or any Root Explorer.
Second You Will Need Marshmallows icons pack i made them in two zips first zip for system apps and the second one for user apps.
Now open solid explorer and go to system/privapp or apps here you will find all system apps. In this tutorial i will theme stock music app that located in system/privapp in folder named as Smusic. Open the folder and copy the apk to any folder in internal storage. After that open x-plore apk and press on three dots and choose open apk as zip then go back and select the apk of music app then you will see two folders open the folder that named as "res" then scroll down until you see folder named as mipmap-xxxhdpi then open it and scroll down until you see the icon of music app then swipe from right to left to open another window and open the folder of icons you downloaded then find the new style music app icon and rename so it be same as the original one and then choose copy then overwrite. Repeat this steps with this following folders (mipmap-xxhdpi/mipmap-sw411dp-xxxhdpi). In Some apps you will find drawable folders so search in them for the icon and rename and copy and overwrite. Also some apps the icon will be in qmg format so just rename the new icon from png to qmg and replace.
After you changed icons take the new Smusic apk and go to System/Privapp and overwrite and dont forget to give prim R-W-R-R for the new apk then reboot.
You must search in all folders just to be sure that you replaced all icons.
ENJOY
Credits goes to @qareembizzle for providing the icons

Kill-Switch said:
Hi Xda today i will show you how to change apps icons to marshmallow's one
First you will need X-Plore Apk And Solid Explorer Or any Root Explorer.
Second You Will Need Marshmallows icons pack i made them in two zips first zip for system apps and the second one for user apps.
Now open solid explorer and go to system/privapp or apps here you will find all system apps. In this tutorial i will theme stock music app that located in system/privapp in folder named as Smusic. Open the folder and copy the apk to any folder in internal storage. After that open x-plore apk and press on three dots and choose open apk as zip then go back and select the apk of music app then you will see two folders open the folder that named as "res" then scroll down until you see folder named as mipmap-xxxhdpi then open it and scroll down until you see the icon of music app then swipe from right to left to open another window and open the folder of icons you downloaded then find the new style music app icon and rename so it be same as the original one and then choose copy then overwrite. Repeat this steps with this following folders (mipmap-xxhdpi/mipmap-sw411dp-xxxhdpi). In Some apps you will find drawable folders so search in them for the icon and rename and copy and overwrite. Also some apps the icon will be in qmg format so just rename the new icon from png to qmg and replace.
After you changed icons take the new Smusic apk and go to System/Privapp and overwrite and dont forget to give prim R-W-R-R for the new apk then reboot.
You must search in all folders just to be sure that you replaced all icons.
ENJOY
Credits goes to @qareembizzle for providing the icons
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks bro.Thanks for your guidance.But unfortunately i found qmg files in these mimap folders of most of the system apps.Any idea how to apply these png files to them?

kakkooran said:
Thanks bro.Thanks for your guidance.But unfortunately i found qmg files in these mimap folders of most of the system apps.Any idea how to apply these png files to them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just rename .png to .qmg and replace it in midmap folder.

You most welcome bro
Just rename the png to qmg and replace ?

Kill-Switch said:
You most welcome bro
Just rename the png to qmg and replace ��
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks bro
---------- Post added at 03:49 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:48 AM ----------
rozzerx said:
Just rename .png to .qmg and replace it in midmap folder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks bro

Screenshoot bro...

How can I theme YouTube app . I can't find it in my system app
Ok !! I found and done
Thx

Kill-Switch said:
Hi Xda today i will show you how to change apps icons to marshmallow's one
First you will need X-Plore Apk And Solid Explorer Or any Root Explorer.
Second You Will Need Marshmallows icons pack i made them in two zips first zip for system apps and the second one for user apps.
Now open solid explorer and go to system/privapp or apps here you will find all system apps. In this tutorial i will theme stock music app that located in system/privapp in folder named as Smusic. Open the folder and copy the apk to any folder in internal storage. After that open x-plore apk and press on three dots and choose open apk as zip then go back and select the apk of music app then you will see two folders open the folder that named as "res" then scroll down until you see folder named as mipmap-xxxhdpi then open it and scroll down until you see the icon of music app then swipe from right to left to open another window and open the folder of icons you downloaded then find the new style music app icon and rename so it be same as the original one and then choose copy then overwrite. Repeat this steps with this following folders (mipmap-xxhdpi/mipmap-sw411dp-xxxhdpi). In Some apps you will find drawable folders so search in them for the icon and rename and copy and overwrite. Also some apps the icon will be in qmg format so just rename the new icon from png to qmg and replace.
After you changed icons take the new Smusic apk and go to System/Privapp and overwrite and dont forget to give prim R-W-R-R for the new apk then reboot.
You must search in all folders just to be sure that you replaced all icons.
ENJOY
Credits goes to @qareembizzle for providing the icons
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
System ui please
SM-N9200 cihazımdan Tapatalk kullanılarak gönderildi