Hello guys, I am very interested on modding some roms, I've already managed to modify devilsking's TheMythICS Lite. I've managed to change stuff like, overglow color, icons and some text colors
But I am not really familiar with scripts and stuff like that. So can anyone enlighten me here?
Btw, I have experience on XML programming
If you have experience in xml,try modding apk files
You know changing icons and pngs
you are good in xml then what you want to know
Prawesome said:
If you have experience in xml,try modding apk files
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I've already modded the SystemUI.apk and framework-res.apk and managed to change the icons and text colors
nims11 said:
You know changing icons and pngs
you are good in xml then what you want to know
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Idk. lol there's so much to do and deal with, I don't know where to start
Lead me?
hey u can try making lockscreens me to finding a tutorial about it.....
Related
Someone can make a porting of this ui?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=801833
Yes that ui looks awesome.
Wow, this looks great.
lollazzo said:
Someone can make a porting of this ui?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=801833
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I have ported gala s to htc legend so why not try this
There're a lot of graphic files and 9.png ones also. I can resize all the images but the 9.png make me confused. I downloaded the rom and may try it sometimes. I love this UI too.
U can not batch resize .9 pngs. U have to decompile, resize, manually edit and recompile them back one by one.
Sent from my HTC Legend
I found a jar file that writes 9.pngs info into rezised pictures
So if we batch rezise all the images then we should be able to write the info in the 9.png again
We can actually in theory batch resize
I don't say it's impossible but how do you know which pixels are resizable after you resize the whole png?
Care to share the link to that tool.
Sent from my HTC Legend
I like the colour icons in the notification bar, and the nice clear font, but a lot of the settings screens look way to much like iOS for me...
I'd love to see this miui stuff ported to the legend ;-)
Maybe we could split the work between a few people to recompile the .9 pngs and so on ?
Would love to see this, any progress ?
Indeed, it does look pretty sweet.
please anyone try to port to legend....if that it will be sweet
i think no one is caring about this thread.
I found this thread on XDA, it is an how to
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1161371
Please check the link in the first post 'cause the how to is "legacy" if used on latest ROM.
So I have been reading a few theming guides but haven't been able to really understand them. It looks like with KB1, there is nothing but .xml files in the drawable folder. Am I only needing to edit these .xml's? Or is there somewhere I am not finding the .png's?
If anyone knows how to create custom themes please let me know, or direct me to a guide that will give me more information specifically for the Vibrant.
Strericsons guide is good, but it is old and outdated.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=667951 this guide is good too but I there aren't any theme files to start off with.
Any help will be appreciated, thanks!
I also plan on sharing the themes I create. They will be good
jzero88 said:
So I have been reading a few theming guides but haven't been able to really understand them. It looks like with KB1, there is nothing but .xml files in the drawable folder. Am I only needing to edit these .xml's? Or is there somewhere I am not finding the .png's?
If anyone knows how to create custom themes please let me know, or direct me to a guide that will give me more information specifically for the Vibrant.
Strericsons guide is good, but it is old and outdated.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=667951 this guide is good too but I there aren't any theme files to start off with.
Any help will be appreciated, thanks!
I also plan on sharing the themes I create. They will be good
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The great majority of the .pngs are in the drawable-hdpi or drawable-hdpi-v4 folders.
As for theming in general, take a look at this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=916814
Also, I wouldn't call Stericsons guide, or anyone else's for that matter, outdated. There haven't exactly been major changes in the structure of APKs, so any guide that was applicable before should still be applicable.
Ok great thanks for the info. I didn't mean necessarily outdated, but the methods might have a few changes pertaining to them. I will take a look at that link you provided!
uhh.. I'm certain if I understand you correctly. You unzip one of KB1 Roms. Under \system\framework\, some basic files you need to focus is framework-res.apk, twframwork-res.apk, and services.jar. You have to extract these apks to see the corresponding pngs.
Here's an excellent REF from Master himeself:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=940692&highlight=apk+manager
xxxman999 said:
uhh.. I'm certain if I understand you correctly. You unzip one of KB1 Roms. Under \system\framework\, some basic files you need to focus is framework-res.apk, twframwork-res.apk, and services.jar. You have to extract these apks to see the corresponding pngs.
Here's an excellent REF from Master himeself:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=940692&highlight=apk+manager
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Awsome! Thanks for this info, I remember seeing this but don't remember where, it was late at night. This is exactly what I needed!
Thanks
jzero88 said:
Awsome! Thanks for this info, I remember seeing this but don't remember where, it was late at night. This is exactly what I needed!
Thanks
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I just want to mention that, while I don't want to knock his guide, if you have any real interest in theming, it's best to learn how to properly decompile and compile apks, not simply unzip them. His method is fine for changing out a few pngs, though.
MWBehr said:
I just want to mention that, while I don't want to knock his guide, if you have any real interest in theming, it's best to learn how to properly decompile and compile apks, not simply unzip them. His method is fine for changing out a few pngs, though.
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Yeah definitely. I am just looking on getting my feet wet for now, edit a few simple things to get an idea of how its done. If I want to fully edit a ROM I'm definitely going to get under the hood and take a look
So being able to change colors of some status bar .png's has been successful. What I did was basically simple. I took an already modified battery stat update theme since I wanted to keep the settings from it (KA7-KB1-circ-ab-col-pm.zip) and modified the .png's from that. Added them back to the zip, and flashed. Did not need to resign at all. Took two minutes
Was able to edit the status bar color, but couldn't find the .png's for the pull down background color.
jzero88 said:
So being able to change colors of some status bar .png's has been successful. What I did was basically simple. I took an already modified battery stat update theme since I wanted to keep the settings from it (KA7-KB1-circ-ab-col-pm.zip) and modified the .png's from that. Added them back to the zip, and flashed. Did not need to resign at all. Took two minutes
Was able to edit the status bar color, but couldn't find the .png's for the pull down background color.
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You'll never resign a framework no matter what you do. The background is actually in twframework-res.apk
Hey guys,
I want to make a theme, so i ask all you themers here:
How do i have to add a background picture, for example to settings.apk? there is no bg.png or something like that to replace..so obviously i'll have to add one..but i think that has to happen in an .xml file..but how do i edit those xml files?
Please help me, our Minis are going to get a beautiful theme
Thanks,
nitro
Nitroboy77 said:
Hey guys,
I want to make a theme, so i ask all you themers here:
How do i have to add a background picture, for example to settings.apk? there is no bg.png ord something like that to replace..so obviously i'll have to add one..but i think that has to happen in an .xml file..but how do i edit those xml files?
Please help me, our Minis are going to get a beautiful theme
Thanks,
nitro
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty easy if you have xml
Code:
<android:background="@drawable/background">
Add that to relative layout
thanks for your fast reply darknessys
but i don't get you all the way..where do i have to add this line? And how do i decompile a xml file? do i have to decompile a xml file anyway?
Just modded my soft keys to light up red, attempting to get the theme on Virus's Eternity ROM to match. Could anyone change all the green to red, or point me to some tools to help me edit the framework? I'm new to the theming, but I have a decent understanding of ADB and Android file structure.
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
spenceizzle said:
Just modded my soft keys to light up red, attempting to get the theme on Virus's Eternity ROM to match. Could anyone change all the green to red, or point me to some tools to help me edit the framework? I'm new to the theming, but I have a decent understanding of ADB and Android file structure.
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
M10 tools and eclipse for Modding .9 pngs. And gimp for adding colors and a ton of experimentation
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
That looks... daunting, so lets start small. Now lets say I just wanted to mod the notification bar icons for now, I think that would fall under the .9 png modding portion. What files exactly would I be modifying? Is it some sort of jar file I would be ripping the pngs out of, modifying, and replacing? I am quite new to this, so please don't flame me too much
spenceizzle said:
That looks... daunting, so lets start small. Now lets say I just wanted to mod the notification bar icons for now, I think that would fall under the .9 png modding portion. What files exactly would I be modifying? Is it some sort of jar file I would be ripping the pngs out of, modifying, and replacing? I am quite new to this, so please don't flame me too much
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notification bar icons are mainly in systemui.apk and are standard .pngs.
Theirs alot of guys willing to help those who help them selves. from what your asking i'de suggest doing a ton of reading. their are a ton of theming modding how tos. but if you wanna jump in grab 7zip,gimp(or a similar graphics editor) and android signer, and start experimenting, If you wanna edit .9.pngs your gonna have to learn how to use apktool and a .9 compiler. But just do a search theirs alot of great how tos and tools all over the forum.
I found the systemUI.apk from reading the beats headphone icon thread. So I'm assuming that the .pngs found in the systemUI.apk are normal .pngs that don't need any kind of special encoding or transparency values. If I were going to change some sense 3.0 assets, I would need to use this guide posted here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=5206698, correct?
Edit: Also, is the SystemUI.odex file anything I have to worry about?
spenceizzle said:
I found the systemUI.apk from reading the beats headphone icon thread. So I'm assuming that the .pngs found in the systemUI.apk are normal .pngs that don't need any kind of special encoding or transparency values. If I were going to change some sense 3.0 assets, I would need to use this guide posted here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=5206698, correct?
Edit: Also, is the SystemUI.odex file anything I have to worry about?
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if your just looking to change images the .odex isn't something you need to worry about, the link you posted refers to .9.pngs, when you say assets if your refering to the images that are in assets folders tose are .m10 files and for those you need the .m10 tools that can also be found here on xda.
Well, I got the drawable-hdpi finished, I may have to tweek the 4g icon, the signal bars look a little pink. Tomorrow I'll see if I can find the syncing icon, battery percentage, and other little odds and ends that I can easily edit. I'm attaching the SystemUI.apk for anyone who wants to try it.
I have been theming apps on my phone to give them black backgrounds. The white backgrounds bother my eyes. I'm doing pretty well but I am having a big problem with the LGSettings.apk. I have decompiled the apk and edited the colors.xml, styles.xml and parts of the manifest that i thought might change the theme. I then recompile and run the settings app but I never see any changes. I am trying to figure out what I need to edit to achieve white text on a black background. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I don't have the apks in front of me, but you may need to theme more than that one. I think you'll need:
LGSettings (which you currently themed)
Possibly: LGSettingsAccessibility/LGSettingsProvider
These two may or may not have anything to theme in them, so you may need to decompile to take a look.
Ok. I'm getting there. The background item and textcolor item were lurking in the lge-res.apk. I am still having trouble finding a way to change the blue action bar color (1) and the color of the white section headers (2). Anybody know what these might be called and what apk I need to look in? Thanks a lot!
skyman88882002 said:
Ok. I'm getting there. The background item and textcolor item were lurking in the lge-res.apk. I am still having trouble finding a way to change the blue action bar color (1) and the color of the white section headers (2). Anybody know what these might be called and what apk I need to look in? Thanks a lot!
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Ok. I found the action bar - I used 'Widget.Material.ActionBar.Solid' to hard code the background color. Now I just need somebody to help me find those white section headers. Anybody? Thanks so much!
Well after two hours of poking around the apks I finally figured it out. Pretty easy to make all the changes in lge-res.apk. pm me if interested in doing this kind of theming
skyman88882002 said:
Well after two hours of poking around the apks I finally figured it out. Pretty easy to make all the changes in lge-res.apk. pm me if interested in doing this kind of theming
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Awesome, great work!
I remember doing something similar when I was doing this to my Galaxy S3, trying to find the various apk's where Sammy had changed things. It was a great feeling to find and change things.
skyman88882002 said:
Well after two hours of poking around the apks I finally figured it out. Pretty easy to make all the changes in lge-res.apk. pm me if interested in doing this kind of theming
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HI THERE, I WAS WONDERING IF YOU CAN SHARE THOSE APS's, COUULD YOU MAKE IT POSSIBLE?
elmanolette said:
HI THERE, I WAS WONDERING IF YOU CAN SHARE THOSE APS's, COUULD YOU MAKE IT POSSIBLE?
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Hi. Please in the future don't use all capital letters. I know you didn't mean this in this case, but it's generally considered "shouting", and for longer strings it makes it harder to read. Thanks for understanding.
roirraW "edor" ehT said:
Hi. Please in the future don't use all capital letters. I know you didn't mean this in this case, but it's generally considered "shouting", and for longer strings it makes it harder to read. Thanks for understanding.
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sorry man, i'm understand!
I definitely intend to share my findings. However right now i am redoing the theming trying to push all the edits into LGsettings. Since I did the editing in the lge-res.apk it has a lot of unintended consequences on other parts of the system
subscribed.
i despise white backgrounds.
Brian
i cant find any color.xml in any stock apps?
skyman88882002 said:
I have been theming apps on my phone to give them black backgrounds. The white backgrounds bother my eyes. I'm doing pretty well but I am having a big problem with the LGSettings.apk. I have decompiled the apk and edited the colors.xml, styles.xml and parts of the manifest that i thought might change the theme. I then recompile and run the settings app but I never see any changes. I am trying to figure out what I need to edit to achieve white text on a black background. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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how do you theme? i can never find the color.xml file in any stock app?
Glitch15 said:
how do you theme? i can never find the color.xml file in any stock app?
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You need a deodexed ROM/apk file to decompile to find those resources.
RMarkwald said:
You need a deodexed ROM/apk file to decompile to find those resources.
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my Rom is deodex, can you pm me a step by step guide to get to the color.xml?
it would be nice if you can post a brief guide about theming it.. so people can have benefit.
knowledge is meant to share after all
minhas729 said:
it would be nice if you can post a brief guide about theming it.. so people can have benefit.
knowledge is meant to share after all
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Hey there! Good to see you on this thread Minhas729. I'm really sorry for the delay, I have just been slammed on the home front and haven't had time to play around with this stuff.
I'm still not happy with the theming I'm doing but I plan on posting my work in process files in the next 5 or 6 days.
In the meantime, let me share my knowledge (it isn't much!)
I think I am going to change the thread title to Theming for Dummies (Like Me) (anybody know how to change a thread title?). so step one will be in the next post.....
OVERVIEW
(Ok - so here is a quick overview of the theming process as I do it. Again, I am just a novice and I just stumble around so if I get the terms incorrect forgive me.
1) The first step in theming an apk is to decompile the apk. Unzipping the apk is not going to work. This is because there are special files like styles.xml and colors.xml that are hidden in a 'values' folder in the res directory. As far as I know, you cannot access these special files by simply unzipping the apk.
2) To decompile you need an apk tool - I use 'Tickle My Android' (I'm going to call it TMA going forward) - it has a great developer with excellent instructions. The way decompiling works is you first have to create a mini-work area on your computer. You do this by decompiling and installing the framework-res and lge-res apks from your phone to your computer. TMA needs these files to decompile other apps because most apps reference a bunch of things in the framework-res and lge-res files Installing TMA is pretty easy and the instructions on the thread are excellent. The only issue I had was finding a good version of apktool.jar to use in conjunction with TMA - one that worked well with marshmallow apks. The apktool is the actual tool that does all the work - TMA (in my understanding) is simply a very well designed user interface to use the apktool. So you need an apktool that will recognize marshmallow files and be able to decompile them. I use "apktool_2.1.0-a64a03-SNAPSHOT"" as my apktool.jar file.
3) Once an apk is decompiled, all the apk components will be saved in a 'working' folder. You can then go in and edit colors and and styles using an xml editor.
4) Once you have made your edits you use TMA to recompile and sign the apk. Then you move the file back to your phone, place it in the proper device directory, fix permissions, reboot and cross your fingers.
Ok - that is the overview - go off and start trying it. One suggestion - dont try to push files from the phone to the pc with TMA - just use your usb cable.
more to come...
skyman88882002 said:
I think I am going to change the thread title to Theming for Dummies (Like Me) (anybody know how to change a thread title?). so step one will be in the next post.....
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Edit your first post in a web browser. Choose Advanced mode and there'll be a field to edit the title.
Below are links to download the themed lge-res.apk and lgsettings.apk. MAKE A BACKUP FIRST (I'm not responsible for anything that goes wrong if you try these files). Once downloaded you will need to use a root browser to copy the files to the appropriate system directory and to change the permissions. Keep in mind, this is a work in process, if you enter settings and click on the bluetooth or wifi sections you will notice that the background is not themed yet. I'll repost when these are fixed.
lge-res.apk download link
LGSettings.apk download link
Keep in mind that you have to install both files if you want the full black background.
Ok. I think I worked out most of the bugs. The files are now set up in a flashable zip. Test it out and let me know if you see any issues. If it is working well I will start a new thread in the Themes section and work on the systemui as well. Thanks. Download link below:
download