Kodi Community Forum - Additional views for Advanced Launcher

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Hi All,

I have created some additional Kodiflix/Myflix based views for Advanced Launcher in Aeon Nox Silvo primarily to launch games emulators and Steam games from my PC. I am not a pro skinner but rather a persistent hacker of code learning on the run.

Full credit for Kodiflix should go to Mike_Doc and schimi2k for their Madnox skin and MikeSilvo164 for his Myflix views which inspired these views and created the code that I hacked together.

The current views are:

GamesFlix: Portrait view for PC games, Wii etc

GamesFlixWide: Landscape view for SNES games etc.

GamesFlixSquare: Square view for Gameboy, Dreamcase etc

I have numbered them based on the view names in Madnox so they should also slip straight into that skin too.

I will add more views here as I make them but as it is trial and error at this point it is a little slow.

Some screen shots:

GamesFlix (Portrait DVD style cases)

GamesFlixSquare (CD style cases)

GamesFlixWide (Landscape style cases)

***Now with Video trailer support in each view***

***Updated 2015-10-04***

These views now use the trailer and extra-fanart settings from Advanced Launcher which means not having to put the extra fanart and trailers in the Skin/Extras/Games folder but you can arrange your games library and files any way you choose. The added benefit of not having to copy them back to the skin folder when you update to the latest version of the skin.

Advanced Launcher doesn't save a logo location so I have worked around it using the extra-fanart setting but this is the only location requirement, the logo file must be called logo.png located in a folder called Logo in the extra-fanart folder.

Example

Extra-Fanart\Logo\logo.png

Next you need to add some includes to your Includes.xml located under the 1080i folder, these are GamesFlix versions of Kodiflix includes to avoid breaking anything.

Code:
<!--GamesFlix Variables-->

    <include name="GamesFlixButtonsValues">

        <height>50</height>

        <width>501</width>

        <textoffsetx>15</textoffsetx>

        <aligny>top</aligny>

        <font>font14</font>

        <textcolor>grey</textcolor>

        <focusedcolor>grey</focusedcolor>

        <onclick>noop</onclick>

    </include>

    <include name="GamesFlixShowCaseInfoPanelButtonsValues">

        <height>90</height>

        <width>501</width>

        <textoffsetx>15</textoffsetx>

        <aligny>top</aligny>

        <font>font14</font>

        <textcolor>grey2</textcolor>

        <focusedcolor>grey2</focusedcolor>

        <texturefocus border="1">separator5.png</texturefocus>

        <texturenofocus border="1">separator5.png</texturenofocus>

        <onclick>noop</onclick>

    </include>

You will need to add each GamesFlix view to your Includes.XML file located under the 1080i folder

Code:
<include file="View_801_GamesFlix.xml" />

    <include file="View_802_GamesFlixWide.xml" />

    <include file="View_803_GamesFlixSquare.xml" />

You need to add each view to your MyPrograms.XML file located under the 1080i folder.

Code:
<include>GamesFlix</include>

            <!-- view id = 801 -->

            <include>GamesFlixWide</include>

            <!-- view id = 802 -->

            <include>GamesFlixSquare</include>

            <!-- view id = 803 -->

Then you need to add the view numbers to be able to select them again in the MyPrograms.XML file

Code:
<views>50,501,51,55,500,57,503,592,801,802,803</views>

To enable the switches to choose larger or smaller cases you need to add this to your MyPrograms.XML file

Code:
<control type="radiobutton" id="8011">

                    <description>Small GamesFlix View</description>

                    <textwidth>375</textwidth>

                    <include>ButtonCommonValues</include>

                    <label>Enable small Thumbs</label>

                    <onclick>Skin.ToggleSetting(smallgamesflixview)</onclick>

                    <selected>Skin.HasSetting(smallgamesflixview)</selected>

                    <visible>Control.IsVisible(801)</visible>

                </control>

                <control type="radiobutton" id="8012">

                    <description>Small GamesFlix Wide View</description>

                    <textwidth>375</textwidth>

                    <include>ButtonCommonValues</include>

                    <label>Enable small Thumbs</label>

                    <onclick>Skin.ToggleSetting(smallgamesflixwideview)</onclick>

                    <selected>Skin.HasSetting(smallgamesflixwideview)</selected>

                    <visible>Control.IsVisible(802)</visible>

                </control>

                <control type="radiobutton" id="8013">

                    <description>Small GamesFlix View</description>

                    <textwidth>375</textwidth>

                    <include>ButtonCommonValues</include>

                    <label>Enable small Thumbs</label>

                    <onclick>Skin.ToggleSetting(smallgamesflixsquareview)</onclick>

                    <selected>Skin.HasSetting(smallgamesflixsquareview)</selected>

                    <visible>Control.IsVisible(803)</visible>

                </control>

<control type="radiobutton" id="8014">

                    <description>GamesFlix View Full Screen Video Fanart</description>

                    <textwidth>375</textwidth>

                    <include>ButtonCommonValues</include>

                    <label>Full Screen Video Fanart</label>

                    <onclick>Skin.ToggleSetting(gamesflixvideofanart)</onclick>

                    <selected>Skin.HasSetting(gamesflixvideofanart)</selected>

                    <visible>Control.IsVisible(801) | Control.IsVisible(802) | Control.IsVisible(803)</visible>

                </control>

                <control type="radiobutton" id="8015">

                    <description>GamesFlix View Auto Play Video Fanart</description>

                    <textwidth>375</textwidth>

                    <include>ButtonCommonValues</include>

                    <label>Video fanart Auto Play</label>

                    <onclick>Skin.ToggleSetting(gamesflixvideoautoplay)</onclick>

                    <selected>Skin.HasSetting(gamesflixvideoautoplay)</selected>

                    <visible>Control.IsVisible(801) | Control.IsVisible(802) | Control.IsVisible(803)</visible>

                </control>

Finally I have used some graphics files from Madnox Kodiflix view which you would need to download and save into the Skin folders.

These files are:

views/KodiFlix/fanart_diffuse.png

views/addonwall_select.png

views/other/panel.png

views/other/panel2.png

thumbs/thumb_border_fade.png

I unpacked the texture.xbt file using the XBMC Texture Tool and then added the Madnox files to the media folder,

1) Unpack the texture.xbt to the Media folder
2) Rename the texture.xbt file to texture.old
3) Copy the files from madnox to the Media folder

Additional steps for Silvo Mod on Isengard 15.1

you need to add the following lines to

custom_1130_Views.xml before the end of the file

Code:
<item>

                    <label>GamesFlix</label>

                    <onclick>Container.SetViewMode(801)</onclick>

                    <visible>[SubString(Container.FolderPath,plugin.program.advanced.launcher)] + !Skin.HasSetting(Disable.GamesflixView)</visible>

                </item>

                <item>

                    <label>GamesFlixWide</label>

                    <onclick>Container.SetViewMode(802)</onclick>

                    <visible>[SubString(Container.FolderPath,plugin.program.advanced.launcher)] + !Skin.HasSetting(Disable.GamesflixWideView)</visible>

                </item>

                <item>

                    <label>GamesFlixSquare</label>

                    <onclick>Container.SetViewMode(803)</onclick>

                    <visible>[SubString(Container.FolderPath,plugin.program.advanced.launcher)] + !Skin.HasSetting(Disable.GamesflixSquareView)</visible>

                </item>

This will allow you to switch to the view from the side menu.

Then amend the following line in IncludesBackgroundBuilding.xml

From

Code:
<control type="multiimage">

            <description>Normal Default Background Image</description>

            <include>FullscreenDimensions</include>

            <include>AnimatedBackgroundAnimation</include>

            <imagepath fallback="$INFO[Skin.String(CustomDefaultBackground)]" background="true">$VAR[GlobalBackgroundVar]</imagepath>

            <visible>!Control.IsVisible(701) | Window.IsActive(skinsettings)</visible>

        </control>

Code:
<control type="multiimage">

            <description>Normal Default Background Image</description>

            <include>FullscreenDimensions</include>

            <include>AnimatedBackgroundAnimation</include>

            <imagepath fallback="$INFO[Skin.String(CustomDefaultBackground)]" background="true">$VAR[GlobalBackgroundVar]</imagepath>

            <visible>[!Control.IsVisible(801) + !Control.IsVisible(802) + !Control.IsVisible(803) + !Control.IsVisible(701) ] |  Window.IsActive(skinsettings)</visible>

        </control>

This will remove the fanart background for the GamesFlix views but retain it for other views in Kodi.

Also in IncludesBackgroundBuilding.xml

change

Code:
<control type="videowindow">

                <include>FullscreenDimensions</include>

                <visible>Player.HasVideo + !Skin.HasSetting(Disable.ShowBackgroundVideo) + !Window.IsVisible(TVChannels) + !Window.IsVisible(RadioChannels) + !Control.IsVisible(701)</visible>

            </control>

Code:
<control type="videowindow">

                <include>FullscreenDimensions</include>

                <visible>Player.HasVideo + !Skin.HasSetting(Disable.ShowBackgroundVideo) + !Window.IsVisible(TVChannels) + !Window.IsVisible(RadioChannels) + !Control.IsVisible(701) +!Control.IsVisible(801) + !Control.IsVisible(802) + !Control.IsVisible(803)</visible>

            </control>

This stops the trailer video from playing in the background as well as the trailer window.

The View XML files are located on Dropbox, as I get better at this I will add more views to Advanced Launcher but the link should stay the same.

*** The most recent Gamesflix views with video and support for AL settings for trailers and extra fan art are under the GamesflixVideo\Code folder***

Advanced Launcher views

*** The older Gamesflix views without video also available but do not support the AL settings for trailers and extra fan art ***

Things I would like to add to the GamesFlix views:

Font Colors determined by the Skin color choice in Settings -Done.
Switches on the views to have a larger and smaller Thumbs option, similar to Shift and Shift Small. -Done
Video instead of extrafanart -done

Other views
Info wall view (already working) with games trailers in the info section (not currently working) -working on video at the moment but have rotating extra fanart
Shift view with media pop up, i.e. DVD artwork for PC or cartridge artwork for consoles or a coin pop up for arcade games.
Big Info view with trailer background or extrafanart

Hi UsefulG,

Thanks for the new views for AL, isn't AL unsupported now? I've never used it as I only have Roms via RCB and there was a stream big picture addon I used to access steam.

If it's ok with you then I'll look at incorporating these directly in Madnox once you have finished them and made them available? I might look at also making your new views available for RCB as well, but will see.

Mike.

@Mike_Doc Wow yes if you think they are good enough to include please do. Advanced Launcher is still downloadable from Angelscry github but all links for help to his forum are down, which makes skinning 'interesting' but I prefer it to RCB which gave me problems.

Nice work, they look very good, thanks for that
But atm Im using big picture steam addon, too.
Ill have a look at advanced launcher

Thanks for the compliments @SLiX

I used to use the Steam big picture addon and it is a really good addon and works well but I'm trying to keep everything running through Kodi and I felt it pulled me out of Kodi and made things a little disjointed. Plus it helps keeping the interface as simple as possible for my other half to use.

The instructions to include them in Madnox are different to Silvo. I'll look at pulling them in ASAP to Madnox, probably the weekend but not sure I have content to test them? will work that out! If I'm not going to be able to do it ASAP then I'll put up the instructions to adding the views manually into Madnox should anyone want to use them ASAP in Madnox.

And thanks again UsefulG, They look good.

P.S. have you scrape your games into Kodi at all? If so what scraper and where would you download the relevant artwork from etc? etc?

@Mike_Doc I haven't tested them with Madnox but hopefully not too much work to do.

Advanced Launcher can use NFO files/ NFO files+Scrapers/ Scrapers only for information. The scraper to use can be selected in Add-on configuration (TheGamesDB/AllGame/GameFaQs/ComicVine/arcadeHits)

The Thumbs and Fanart options are Local Files/Scrapers/None and choice of scrapers (Google/GameFaQs/ComicVine/arcadeHits/TheGamesDB)

Thumbs and Fanart are mandatory dialogue boxes when you add a new item to the launcher, these have 3 options 1) Scraper 2) Copy and Rename local file 3) Link to local file. Option 1 then presents a dialogue box with the top 25 hits artwork from the scraper and Options 2 and 3 are standard Kodi file selection dialogue boxes.

I only use the Thumbs artwork in the views and the extrafanart and logos are manually downloaded from Google to manually created folders, I went with manually created folders as there is an Advanced Launcher variable to associate extrafanart with an item but not for Logos and I wanted to make it as simple to do as possible

I've uploaded some new versions which change the select box diffuse color and the header text color in line with the skin theme colors. Tested as working on Nox Silvo.

Thanks UsefulG.
Is it possible to create views for rcb? i have read that you modify the views for cd boxed games etc.
You dont have implemented the video preview for games? I love it in rcb.
Your Logo view is nice. In rcb doesnt work the logo view. I hope that will be fixed in a mad nox version. Big Grin

I use steam big picture too but steam has no box art view.

The mad nox skin is great and a good platform to combine it.

I will pull down the latest git release for Madnox and do more testing to make integration a little easier for Mike_Doc. I originally got the idea and some of the code from Kodiflix so I would like to put back too.

The code is changing quite a lot at the moment because to paraphrase Indiana Jones "I'm making this stuff up as I go."

I have implemented a switch to swap between larger and smaller thumbs in each view which are independent of each other i.e you can have large SNES boxes with small PC boxes with Large Gameboy boxes. The code for this is up on my dropbox in Post 3 and I will add the additional code snippet you need to add in Post 2.

I have some ideas for video preview, maybe to include in GamesFlix instead of the extrafanart and make it a switch to have either extrafanart or trailer. I have no idea if that is possible but I will have a play.

I originally designed this for Advanced Launcher as I had problems with RCB not returning focus to Kodi after the emulator was closed down which was probably user error.

@Slipass Luckily I still have RCB installed with SNES/Gameboy/NES/Mame games scraped so I will have a look at adapting this for RCB too.

Hi UsefulG,

I'm trying to use your additional views for Advanced Launcher.
But I can't make it work.
Could You, please, help me ?

In "extras", I have created the folder "Games", in this folder I have created the folders "Logos" & "Extrafanart"
In "Logos", I have added a logo:

In "Extrafanart", I have created a folder for my game named "ActRaiser", I have added a thumb named "extrafanart001.jpg"

I have modiified my "includes.xml".

I have modified my "My Programs.xml".

And finally, I have downloaded the Kodiflix images and saved them in "skin.aeon.nox.silvo"

But I can't manage to see your new views in Advanced Launcher :

Could you tell me how to make it work ?

Thank You

@VIEUXRAFIKI It looks like you are using Isengard and the 5.7.3-2.0.6 version of Mike's skin.

In which case there are additional steps to take which I found out the hard way when I upgraded. Essentially some of the locations for variables and where to add views has changed.

This does work on Isengard and I will add some additional instructions at the top of the thread detailing what you need to change.

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