Using XBMC Skins - I need some help.

[kricker]

I grabbed the newest SVN version of Confluence skin from the XBMC svn pvr-testing 2 branch. I placed this folder into SageTV\SageTV\STVs folder. When I loaded the skin in Sage I ended up getting a lot of the localization numbers instead of the words. XBMC (current stable version, not SVN) is installed. Where did I go wrong?

Next I tried to load the latest MediaStream skin. I have the newest version of it from SVN in my XBMC installed folder. This time I tried to load the skin directly from the XBMC folder instead of copying it into SageTV\SageTV\STVs folder. Sage now looks to be locked up with the spinning arrow just spinning away for over 5 minutes now.

[QueOnda]

Here is what Narflex posted a week ago: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48462

[kricker]

Yes. I've read that multiple times. But nowhere in that does it discuss how to actually import the skin. Should I be doing this in Studio or from within Sage?

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by kricker

Yes. I've read that multiple times. But nowhere in that does it discuss how to actually import the skin. Should I be doing this in Studio or from within Sage?

The general feature is that you can open a skin.xml file from an XBMC skin with SageTV (just like you'd open an STV .xml file) and it will work with some limitations.

You should be able to open the skin and any regular stv... from studio or from within sagetv... unless I'm misunderstanding the sentence.

The article also mentions that you'll need to have the entire XBMC build and not just skins because it needs the locale files, etc.

[darcilicious]

Originally Posted by kricker

Yes. I've read that multiple times. But nowhere in that does it discuss how to actually import the skin. Should I be doing this in Studio or from within Sage?

The very first line says:

The general feature is that you can open a skin.xml file from an XBMC skin with SageTV (just like you'd open an STV .xml file)

So that's in Detailed Setup / Advanced ... and at a guess, "SageTV Application Package (.STV or .XML File)"

[kricker]

I do have XBMC installed. In fact I've had it installed for a long time now.

I do know it said to import as any other skin, but what I wasn't sure is if it had to be "translated" in Studio first, or where the skin should be. Should it be imported from in the XBMC folder, or should it be in its own folder in Sage as I did? When I imported Confluence, I got a lot of the localization numbers and not the translated text. Where is Sage looking to get the localization translations?

After re-reading that post, the 3rd paragraph made me think I should've done something with the skin before I tried to import it, but I think that is just for some actions that are done when slecting items in the skin.

[gplasky]

I haven't had a chance to work with this yet but you may need to copy the Language files into the directory where you are importing the skin from. That's why XMBC needs to be installed so you can get to those files. (Just a guess.)

Gerry

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by kricker

I do have XBMC installed. In fact I've had it installed for a long time now.

I do know it said to import as any other skin, but what I wasn't sure is if it had to be "translated" in Studio first, or where the skin should be. Should it be imported from in the XBMC folder, or should it be in its own folder in Sage as I did? When I imported Confluence, I got a lot of the localization numbers and not the translated text. Where is Sage looking to get the localization translations?

After re-reading that post, the 3rd paragraph made me think I should've done something with the skin before I tried to import it, but I think that is just for some actions that are done when slecting items in the skin.

Import it directly from the xbmc folder is the easiest.

Also make sure all the images in media are extractred they can't be compressed. Some skins involve going out to sourcefrog and downloading the imaged directly as you can't extract them as is.

[kricker]

I got the skin straight from SVN. All images are not compressed. There are language files included with the skin already, but I believe they are just for skin specific translations and not the general ones provided by XBMC. Hopefully Sage isn't hardcoded to search in program files/XBMC, as I don't use that folder. I'll place the skin into XBMC and then import it from there. I'm interested also as to where Sage saves this translated skin file. So far I can't tell. I'll experiment more later.

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by kricker

I got the skin straight from SVN. All images are not compressed. There are language files included with the skin already, but I believe they are just for skin specific translations and not the general ones provided by XBMC. Hopefully Sage isn't hardcoded to search in program files/XBMC, as I don't use that folder. I'll place the skin into XBMC and then import it from there. I'm interested also as to where Sage saves this translated skin file. So far I can't tell. I'll experiment more later.

They don't save them they are loaded on demand it is up to you to go into studio and save the translation after it is done. Do not give it the same skin.xml name though or it won't work the second time around.

[kricker]

LOL. That and it would probably screw it up for XBMC if you installed it from within XBMC.

PluckyHD, have you gotten an XBMC skin converted properly? Your comments make me think you have.

[QueOnda]

Originally Posted by kricker

LOL. That and it would probably screw it up for XBMC if you installed it from within XBMC.

PluckyHD, have you gotten an XBMC skin converted properly? Your comments make me think you have.

If so, possible in sharing. TO do this would be WAY OVER MY HEAD. lol

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by kricker

LOL. That and it would probably screw it up for XBMC if you installed it from within XBMC.

PluckyHD, have you gotten an XBMC skin converted properly? Your comments make me think you have.

Originally Posted by QueOnda

If so, possible in sharing. TO do this would be WAY OVER MY HEAD. lol

Yes I have converted 3 of the skins without much problems during the private beta. Sometimes there are some xml errors in those xbmc files and that has to be corrected before it will translate and some things just have to be fixed after import.

I do plan on sharing a xmbc skin as a plugin and had a poll started in the private forum. I will see if I can get that forum oved over to sagetv7 customizations. This however comes after MyMovies but yes they do work and work quite well especially on pc's.

[kricker]

I got a good convert of Confluence from within my XBMC folder aside from the compressed textures that is, but I can take care of that. At least all the text got properly converted this time. I need to try it with the version of Confluence with PVR integration from within the XBMC folder now and see how that goes.

[pvrpenguin]

Have you made any more progress converting an XBMC skin? I have also started playing around with this and have some success loading the Confluence skin. It still isn't perfect though. Some strings still appear as numbers for some reason and the TV view doesn't look so great. This is still a pretty cool feature however that I need to play around with some more.

[kricker]

I ended up just tweaking the default STV by hand to match confluence. I only did the main menu so far. The conversion from XBMC goes okay, but there is so much work that still has to be done after the fact that I shelved that project for now. I got too much "real" work to do.