I've tried my best to make this tutorial as simple as possible, to cover all learning curves. So if I'm going over stuff you already know I apologise. If there's anything you feel I could add, please let me know.
The first problem I encountered when I was trying to get this to work was finding a scraper to get all the information for the extras. In short, there isn't one. Which makes the process a bit more long winded. But since when has the community been afraid of a little hard work, right? Luckily we're fortunate enough to have fanart.tv, TMDb and IMDb to source our information and artwork from.
So to add our first set of bonus features, what do we need?
The basics:
Bonus Features folder
Movie (root) folder
Season folder
A video file (avi, mp4, mkv, flv, mov...etc.)
An mp3
A clearlogo
Fanart
Poster
Tvshow.nfo
Episode.nfo (named sXXeXX.nfo)
TVTunes add-on
First you need to create your folders. Create one called Bonus Features. Inside it, create another folder, give it the name of the movie or collection. Inside that, create a Season folder, name it season 0 for a standalone movie or season 1 if you're adding extras from a series of movies. Good, structure is taking shape.
The video file I can't help you with, suffice to say if you don't have the DVDs/bluerays have a look around the web and see what you can find.... Locate your file, rename it accordingly (see section on episode NFO), and place it in your season folder.
Same goes for the mp3, all I can say is find the song which is appropriate and place the mp3 in the movie folder and rename it theme.mp3.
The clearlogos can be found at
http://fanart.tv/ under the movies section. Incidentally, if you haven't already, consider subscribing or donating to fanart.tv. Without that great site, all the logos for our tv,movies and music would not be available. Find the right one, place it in the movie folder. Ensure it is named logo.png.
Fanart and posters are all at
http://www.themoviedb.org/ find your movie, pick you artwork, add it to the movie folder. Notice a pattern?
Posters are named poster.jpg, fanart is named fanart.jpg. Now for every season you add you can have a different piece of fanart. Just be sure it is named correctly:
Season 0: season-fanart, Season 1: season1-fanart etc.
Now, NFOs. Let's start with the tvshow.nfo. Below is an example of the layout:
Code:
<tvshow>
<title>Alien (1979-2012)</title>
<rating>10.000001</rating>
<epbookmark>0.000000</epbookmark>
<year>0</year>
<top250>0</top250>
<season></season>
<episode></episode>
<displayseason></displayseason>
<displayepisode></displayepisode>
<votes></votes>
<outline></outline>
<plot>The bonus features from the Alien Collection</plot>
<tagline></tagline>
<runtime></runtime>
<mpaa>PG13</mpaa>
<playcount>7</playcount>
<lastplayed></lastplayed>
<id></id>
<genre>Documentary</genre>
<premiered>1979-01-11</premiered>
<status></status>
<code></code>
<aired></aired>
<studio>20th Century Fox</studio>
<trailer></trailer>
</tvshow>
If you look on
http://www.imdb.com/ you can find the release date, director and studio of the movie in question. Now I'm sure there are a bunch more details you can add, but I like to keep it simple so I leave most of the info blank. Copy the above info into notepad, save it as tvshow.nfo. Then alter the necessary details accordingly and movie it into the movie folder. With me so far?
Inside your season folder create an episode NFO. See below:
Code:
<episodedetails>
<title>Nostromo and alien Planet: Part One.</title>
<season>1</season>
<episode>1</episode>
<aired>1979-01-11</aired>
<plot>The making of the 1979 movie Alien.</plot>
<displayseason />
<displayepisode />
<watched>false</watched>
<credits>Ridley Scott</credits>>
<director>Ridley Scott<director>
<rating>88</rating>
</episodedetails>
Copy that into notepad, assuming you're adding extras from a series of movies, save it as s01e01.nfo. Again, you'll need to edit the information in the NFO. This time you may need to be a bit more creative. Add season number, episode number and air date. I usually keep it the same as the movie, but you can use the DVD release date or whatever date is relevant. Then comes the plot, just describe the 'episode'. Either use the description from the DVD or create your own, can be as brief or as detailed as you like. Credits and Director are down to you, but again I like to keep it the same as the movie for simplicity's sake. Lastly, rate accordingly.
To recap, your folder structure should now look something like this:
Bonus Features >
Movie > fanart.jpg, season1-fanart.jpg, poster.jpg, logo.png, theme.mp3, tvshow.nfo
Season > s01e01.nfo, s01e01.avi, season1-poster.jpg, theme.mp3
You may notice I added a poster to the season folder, you will have to assign this yourself but I'll get to that later. Also the extra theme.mp3 is optional, it will play after you've watched an 'episode'. Adds a little variety.
Okay, we're going to set these bonus features up as tv shows. Bear with me.
We need to keep them seperate from the normal shows so we need to create two smart playlists. For the first, go to videos in the main menu. Push down and from the sub menus select playlists. Next, create a new smart playlist. Change the type to 'TV Shows', the name to 'TV Shows', the rule to 'TV Show contains', then add your normal tv shows to it one by one. Just click 'Browse', highlight the show and select:
In the 'Playlist Options', change the items must match to 'one or more of the rules'. Repeat until all of your normal shows are added.
Now add the Bonus Features folder to your sources. Go to video on the main menu, push down and select files. Next 'Add Videos'. Find the location of your Bonus Features folder, add it but the contents must be marked as 'TV Shows':
Then repeat the playlist process, only this time add the fake shows to your playlist. Name it Bonus Features.
The main menu is the next thing that needs to be changed. In the settings menu, go to skin, then Customizers, main menu item customizer and first disable the TV Shows menu item. Go to the first custom item, press select change the type to a Video Playlist and choose TV Shows from the Playlists available, enable. Choose the appropriate background for your TV Shows.
Then go to the movies menu item, push down, find the first custom sub menu item and press select. Same as before, change type to Video Playlist, only this time choose Bonus Features as your Playlist. Add a background if you like and enable.
Now upon exiting to the main screen the new tv shows should appear in place of the old, and bonus features should be available under the movies sub menu.
Last thing to do is alter the look.
I have the Bonus Features start page as Landscape with logos, Season level is Poster, and then use episode view for the extras.
All done? Not quite.
Once you have your B. Features up and running, go into movies, find a movie you have extras for, press 'C' and go to 'link to a tv show'. Pick the relevant set of B. Features from the list of shows. Now the movie will show up along with the extras! Finally, if you have any 'Seasons' missing posters, the posters you put in the folders can be assigned by highlighting the missing poster, press 'C' and then assign season thumb. Phew!!
Now, if I've explained correctly and you've followed correctly, your setup should closely resemble the video posted earlier. Rinse and repeat for the rest of your content. I've applied a similar method to my WWE and UFC content to keep it seperate from the rest of my shows. For me personally, the ability to pair the Bonus Features with TVTunes is the icing on the cake. Really adds to the experience IMHO.
The rest is down to you to tweak and add to your heart's content. Hopefully this will make your XBMC experience more enjoyable. I'll endeavour, with your help, to keep this tutorial as up to date as possible. Please add videos and screenshots of your own setups to inspire others. I also encourage you to share any problems or tips below. Have fun guys, I warn you though, it's addictive!!!