[butchabay]

background="true" cause loading textures in background thread(s) and this should be used exclusively with big textures resolutions (f.e. backdrops/fanarts) and shouldn't be abused too much (launching too many background workers will have negative effect on overall performance).

So general guideline is to have as little background loaded textures as possible and use it exclusively for fanarts/backdrops.

We propably should have some smart mechanism of detecting if texture should be loaded in background or not and handle multiple textures load smarter but we're seriously lacking work hours to get some changes done

--edit
<preloaditems> will automaticly cap to 2 if bigger value was provided so this is not an issue

Thanx for clearing this up, i'll go through all my xml's and start a cleanup.

Cheers

[pecinko]

background="true" cause loading textures in background thread(s) and this should be used exclusively with big textures resolutions (f.e. backdrops/fanarts) and shouldn't be abused too much (launching too many background workers will have negative effect on overall performance).

So general guideline is to have as little background loaded textures as possible and use it exclusively for fanarts/backdrops.

We propably should have some smart mechanism of detecting if texture should be loaded in background or not and handle multiple textures load smarter but we're seriously lacking work hours to get some changes done

--edit
<preloaditems> will automaticly cap to 2 if bigger value was provided so this is not an issue

Afaict, you have to use background loading for icons aswell or performance would be crappy on OSX and iOS. Not sure about other systems, but Black has more experience with that.

However I have never saw an issue on kid's pc (quad core, win xp) with using background loading for both icons and fanart. And I always use .xbt

[Hitcher]

background="true" cause loading textures in background thread(s) and this should be used exclusively with big textures resolutions (f.e. backdrops/fanarts) and shouldn't be abused too much (launching too many background workers will have negative effect on overall performance).

So general guideline is to have as little background loaded textures as possible and use it exclusively for fanarts/backdrops.

We propably should have some smart mechanism of detecting if texture should be loaded in background or not and handle multiple textures load smarter but we're seriously lacking work hours to get some changes done

--edit
<preloaditems> will automaticly cap to 2 if bigger value was provided so this is not an issue

As pecinko said, I'm sure we were told to use this mainly for thumbs so lists scrolled smoothly instead of pausing while the thumbs were loaded.

Now I'm slightly confused.

[butchabay]

As pecinko said, I'm sure we were told to use this mainly for thumbs so lists scrolled smoothly instead of pausing while the thumbs were loaded.

Now I'm slightly confused.

In fact, added background true to the list view and now it's flowing

[Hitcher]

I'm also pretty sure background="true" is ignored for all textures stored in an XBT.

[pieh]

Obviously You are right guys and I'm wrong here - I've missed some important inner mechanism we have for background loading - sorry for confusion. Nevertheless, I still think we have room for improvment here - skinner shouldn't care about background attribute and this should be done automaticly.

[butchabay]

I'm also pretty sure background="true" is ignored for all textures stored in an XBT.

You're right as i had fallback icons in extras.

So that might be my fault, now added background true to all textures that are used in extras and it's speedy like hell

Changed from:

PHP Code:

<texture fallback="special://skin/extras/musicgenres/default.png">special://skin/extras/musicgenres/$INFO[ListItem.Label].png</texture> 


to:

PHP Code:

<texture background="true" fallback="special://skin/extras/moviegenresnowall/Unknown.png">special://skin/extras/moviegenresnowall/$INFO[ListItem.Label].png</texture> 


[pieh]

so it seems basicly like having $INFO in texture should automaticly cause background="true" (if wasn't specified otherwise)?

[Hitcher]

Best ask Jonathan for the definitive answer.

[pecinko]

so it seems basicly like having $INFO in texture should automaticly cause background="true" (if wasn't specified otherwise)?

Sometimes is good to have control of what is background loading and what is not. Too much of it will bring skin to it's knees.

[butchabay]

Ok, next problem

Add a bordertexture for a vertical list seems to be a bad idea, as i see flickering the border on scrolling. I've read the wiki and fact is the bordertexture is fading once the icon/thumb changes.

Now if i have:

PHP Code:

<texture background="true">$INFO[ListItem.Thumb]</texture>
<bordertexture border="8">ThumbBorder.png</bordertexture>
<bordersize>8</bordersize> 


A smooth scrolling but as said a flickering on the border

if i use:

PHP Code:

<texture>$INFO[ListItem.Thumb]</texture>
<bordertexture border="8">ThumbBorder.png</bordertexture>
<bordersize>8</bordersize> 


I have a nice transition on the border as it seems remains static, but the scrolling stutters

So i decided to remove the bordertextures and added a separate background image. It works fine, now i just have to adjust size and position. Not a big deal, as there are only 3 List views i have to change.

[pecinko]

I'm not sure if I follow you rightly, but there seams to be a bug regarding bordertexture.

E.G. Enable recently added on home in Quartz. Scroll item to item and look at bordertexture.

Is this similar to your problem or have I missed something?

[butchabay]

I'm not sure if I follow you rightly, but there seams to be a bug regarding bordertexture.

E.G. Enable recently added on home in Quartz. Scroll item to item and look at bordertexture.

Is this similar to your problem or have I missed something?

I see you have very dark bordertextures and it's not noticeable as when you have brighter bordertextures, but yes this is what i've tried to say.

What do mean " there seems to be a bug regarding bordertexture " ?

[pecinko]

@butchabay

Just that I'm not sure if it's supposed to be like that.

[Hitcher]

Ok, next problem

Add a bordertexture for a vertical list seems to be a bad idea, as i see flickering the border on scrolling. I've read the wiki and fact is the bordertexture is fading once the icon/thumb changes.

Now if i have:

PHP Code:

<texture background="true">$INFO[ListItem.Thumb]</texture>
<bordertexture border="8">ThumbBorder.png</bordertexture>
<bordersize>8</bordersize> 


A smooth scrolling but as said a flickering on the border

if i use:

PHP Code:

<texture>$INFO[ListItem.Thumb]</texture>
<bordertexture border="8">ThumbBorder.png</bordertexture>
<bordersize>8</bordersize> 


I have a nice transition on the border as it seems remains static, but the scrolling stutters

So i decided to remove the bordertextures and added a separate background image. It works fine, now i just have to adjust size and position. Not a big deal, as there are only 3 List views i have to change.

Don't forget the border texture has to be re-sized for every thumb whether you're using <aspectratio>keep</aspectratio> or not.

If you're displaying thumbs at a set size then a separate image for the border would be indeed be better.