This thread will serve as a bottom-up guide to modifying SPB Mobile Shell 3.5. Any help and links is appreciated and will be incorporated.
Last updated: 10/24/09
*Basics of SPB Mobile Shell 3.5*
Areas of the program that can be modified are based on an XML architecture.
Entering the Program Files folder, one finds many files named *.dat. Many of these correspond to concepts or widgets that are easily familiar: clocks and etc., and several of them are responsible for the larger structure and feel (qa_layouts, for example). A more comprehensive listing of all the include files is:
[To come]
*.DAT Structure*
.dat files that can be modified are actually standard .zip archives. Simply copying them over to your PC, changing the file extension from .dat to .zip, then opening the archive and extracting the files inside, shows you all that comprises a given widget or layout.
assword: In extracting files from the .zip, one will be prompted for a password, which is universally b0fm18zq .
The files contained in an archive are generally a mix of .xml files (determination layout, composition and functionality) and .bmp (image files that correspond to the different looks a widget may have). The .xml files may be viewed and edited in any standard text editor, like Notepad++, and the .bmp files can be viewed and edited in anything from Photoshop to Microsoft Paint (though, for exactitude, Photoshop or similar is best).
*What Goes Into a Widget*
A widget is defined by three specific files (with filename containing the three prefixes qa_, va_, and ma_), as well as by XML references in files like qa_layouts.dat and qa_layouts_bup.dat.
*Simple Widget Appearance Modification*
Luiggi's 9 Icon Build Guide: http://rapidshare.com/files/101365258/9_Icon_Build_Guide.zip
Just making a quick link here to another forum thread for Vostradamus Mobile Shell Manager. Besides the app there's also a lot of information there on how to modify widgets:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=689087
Hi, I have this animation (gif) file that I want to have booting up when I turn on my atrix. Basically, three questions.
1. I have the animation in gif but also in a series of PNG's, which one works?
2. How do you add sound to an animation?
3. Does this phone use an xml or txt for instructions (probably linked to question 2 answer).
Thanks guys in advance
A boot animation consists of a zip file that contains a series of png or jpg images, along with a desc.txt file. Here's a snippet from the factory desc.txt for AT&T's Atrix:
# 540 wide, 960 high, 15 frames per second
540 960 15
# p means we're defining a part
# first number is repeat count, 0 means infinite
# second number is delay in frames before performing the next part
# so if you are playing 15 frames a second 15 would be... one second
# string defines the directory to load files from
# files will be loaded in order but names don't matter
# s defines a sound for a part
# sounds will be loaded from /system/media
# oggs with loop points will loop automatically
# only one sound will play at a time
# timing is driven by the part, not the sounds
# if you want no sound, leave blank
(I'm not sure if the sound has to be an OGG; an MP3 or a WAV might work. If not, google around for OGG converters.)
So, say you had a folder of pngs called MainAnimation, and a startup sound called StartupSound.ogg, your desc.txt would look like this:
540 960 15
p 1 0 MainAnimation
s StartupSound.ogg
Or, if you want the animation to loop (instead of just sitting on the last frame), your desc.txt would look like this:
540 960 15
p 0 0 MainAnimation
s StartupSound.ogg
After you make your desc.txt file, zip that up with your MainAnimation folder. The structure should look like this:
bootanimation.zip
|
|- MainAnimation
| |- 001.png
| |- 002.png
| |- 003.png
| |- 004.png
|
|- desc.txt
When you create your zip, use "storage" or "no compression" mode. The zip needs to act simply as a container, instead of trying to save on file size.
Now, all that's left to do is copy bootanimation.zip and StartupSound.ogg to your phone. I use Root Explorer, but any method that'll get the files on there is just fine. Both files go in the /system/media/ folder.
That was great, I will let you know if that works. BUT...two more questions, if I get it wrong, ie no boot animation, will my phone still boot up, other is, will my phone boot whenever it wants or say the png's are set to last 30 seconds playing at 15 frames a second, it will wait for the sequence to stop?
Thanks
The phone will boot just fine if bootanimation.zip is missing or messed up, it'll just keep showing the Dual-Core Technology splash screen until the phone boots. (btw, that Dual-Core splash screen always shows at the beginning; your custom animation will start after it)
Boot time isn't affected by the boot animation, from what I can tell. If you have a short animation, it'll either loop or pause on the last frame (depending on the option set in desc.txt) until the phone finishes booting. If you have an animation longer than the phone's boot sequence, the phone will interrupt the animation and load the home screen.
anyway way to remove splash screen just so we get more animation time?
Thanks
Not that I know of. There might be something you can do with a custom rom (completely guessing), but that's a bit beyond me.
Best of luck!
Sound DOES NOT have to be .ogg it can be any format that the phone is able to play.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Tried every possible variation of this and I cannot get it to play sound
:sigh:
Animation plays, but no sound.
Also should be noted that for windows users, you CANNOT use notepad/wordpad to edit desc.txt. You should get Notepad++ and use that instead or it will screw up the linux formatting of the file.
Do u put soundfile.ogg in zip or in system/media? Thanks for the bootani 101 ^_^ looks to b in system/media but double checking JIC
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Got the files over to my phone, and the animation and sound plays, but the sound plays after the animation is finished. Anyway to get sound to play while animation is happening?
A good app to unzip, edit the desc.txt and anything else, and rezip is found on the market and is called "Boot Animatiom Installer".
On a side note, I am having a problem with the audio files during the boot.animation. They only play at ~30% volume level with any audio file. How do I configure/change this so that I can get the audio file to play at max volume level??
Ririal said:
Also should be noted that for windows users, you CANNOT use notepad/wordpad to edit desc.txt. You should get Notepad++ and use that instead or it will screw up the linux formatting of the file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hah! That explains alot, thank you. What about editing it within something like Root Explorer?
Why To change your boot animation?
New beautiful Design
Impressive colors
Full HD colors
High speed
It knows when your device will boot
How To change your boot animation:
Make sure your device is rooted
[*]Install ES File Explorer
[*]Open ES File Explorer, tap the menu icon from top left corner and select Tools
[*]In tools, enable the ‘Root Explorer’ option and grand full root access to ES explorer when prompted
[*]In ES explorer, you will find up a / Icon Tab on it then go to system > media folder.
[*]Long-press the “bootanimation.zip” file and rename it to bootanimation.zip1 to backup your default boot animation
[*]Download Animation From Below
[*]Copy the Downloaded bootanimation.zip To system > media folder
[*]Long-press the new “bootanimation.zip” file and tab the three dots Then open its properties
[*]Now at permission tab Change
[*]Now Click on Three Boxes of Read And First Box of write
[*]Reboot the phone. You’ll now be presented with the latest boot animation !!
[*]Enjoy
Don't Forget To Hit Thanks Button
For Downloads See Attachments
No One Replay Though
What about some for stock ROM
Can it be used on stock rom?
For those of you who activated 2G-only mode in your Mobile Network Settings and can't use that menu anymore due to crashes, there is a relatively easy way to reverse this condition and bring back the menu functionality while untoggling 2G-only mode.
1. Make sure your ROM is rooted (should be the default state of Paulicat's ROM).
2. Use ESFileExplorer (or a similar root capable file manager) to backup the contents of the following directory:
/data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/...
(Note that the critical file to backup is 'settings.db', the journal and other files are not critical but should be copied just in case)
3. Make a copy of 'settings.db' in a temporary location
(You will edit this copy of the database)
4. Use an SQLite editor (I used SQLite Debug) to open the 'settings.db' file you copied previously
5. Open the 'global' table and find (by the 'name' column) the row with 'name' that is 'preferred_network_mode'
6. Update the 'value' of this row from '1' to '0'
7. Execute your transaction and commit the changes to the table
8. Close the db and re-open it to verify that your changes have persisted
9. Return to '/data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/...' and delete the entire content of that directory
10. Immediately copy and paste the edited 'settings.db' file into the '.../databases/...' directory
11. Immediately turn off and restart your phone
At this point, you should have changed your phone's network preference setting from 2G only back to 2G/3G. This will also allow you to access the Mobile networks settings menu again.
I didn't find this solution for months because I didn't realize that the Android global settings database was stored in the above directory. I hope posting this here might help someone.
Reference: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2230207 (You may follow the suggestion to make this change via adb)
I have already dumped the bootanimation.zip file, and upon unzipping it I find two MP4 files, one PNG, and one TXT document.
The text file contains this:
Code:
1 0
0 1
and the PNG is just the boot logo as a PNG.
The MP4 files are the two parts of the boot animation (one containing the main part, and the other has the loading spiral).
How in tarnation does this work?