[phate89]

Hi. I always used only smart playlists to split my library in categories (in my case anime, cartoons, movies) and it was working well but it only had a list of movies and no tags, actors, genres etc etc. So i start to dig in the wiki to see if there was something to have a full library splitted without using multiple profiles.
In the wiki i discovered that the video library isn't hardcoded but is based on video nodes that allows us to manually customize everything and even add a filter to the categories.
So i actually managed to split the movies in all the categories i want and also leave a 4th with all the movies together.
Here's my library before:

And here's the result:

Every category works well and it is filtered.

Here's how you can do it:

1) You need a smart playlist to filter your movies and split them. here's some info about the smart playlists:
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Smart_playlists
You can split the movies using various methods (tags, path, genre). In my case all the anime are in one folder, cartoons in a different one and movies in a different one so i created a playlist based on path. Here's my anime playlist:

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
<smartplaylist type="movies">
    <name>Anime</name>
    <match>one</match>
    <rule field="path" operator="startswith">
        <value>smb://SERVER/Y/Anime/</value>
    </rule>
    <rule field="path" operator="startswith">
        <value>smb://SERVER/X/Anime/</value>
    </rule>
</smartplaylist>

Remember to set a name to the playlist and remember it. You'll need it to filter the library!

2) Save the playlist in the playlist video folder:

Code:

iOS                     /private/var/mobile/Library/Preferences/XBMC/userdata/playlists/video/
Linux                 ~/.xbmc/userdata/playlists/video/
Mac OS X             /Users/<your_user_name>/Library/Application Support/XBMC/userdata/playlists/video/
OpenELEC             /storage/.xbmc/userdata/playlists/video/
Windows XP, 7, 8     %appdata%\XBMC\userdata\playlists\video\
(or in case you have more than one profile and the desired profile is not the master instead of userdata/library/ go to userdata/profiles/#profilename#/playlists/video/)

3) go to this path:

Code:

iOS - Varied:         /Applications/XBMC.frappliance/XBMCData/XBMCHome/system/library/
                    /Applications/XBMC.app/XBMCData/XBMCHome/system/library/
Linux                 /usr/share/xbmc/system/library/
Mac OS X:             /Applications/XBMC.app/Contents/Resources/XBMC/system/library/
Windows (32bit):    C:\Program Files\XBMC\system\library\
Windows (64bit):    C:\Program Files (x86)\XBMC\system\library\

select the video folder in it and copy the folder in this path:

Code:

iOS                     /private/var/mobile/Library/Preferences/XBMC/userdata/library/
Linux                 ~/.xbmc/userdata/library/
Mac OS X             /Users/<your_user_name>/Library/Application Support/XBMC/userdata/library/
OpenELEC             /storage/.xbmc/userdata/library/
Windows XP, 7, 8     %appdata%\XBMC\userdata\library\
(or in case you have more than one profile and the desired profile is not the master instead of userdata/library/ go to userdata/profiles/#profilename#/library/)

4) Download this file: http://www.mediafire.com/download/xr1hte.../anime.zip
and extract the anime folder in the video folder you copied in the profile directory. Rename the anime folder as you like (xbmc will ignore the name and will use the name we're going to set in pass 5).

5) Open the index.xml in the anime folder, replace "Anime" with the name you like for the library part, replace the 1 in

Code:

<node order="1"

with the position you'd like to put the new category (and of course save the file).

6) Open all the other xml files (actors.xml, country.xml, directors.xml, genres.xml, sets.xml, studios.xml, tags.xml, titles.xml and years.xml) and replace in each file "Anime" with the name of the playlist you created (and of course save them).

7) Open xbmc and go to video. Now with movies tvshows and musicvideos you should have a new category.. Anime (or the name you chose for it).

You want to add other categories? Repeat steps 1,2,4,5,6 every time you want.
You don't want the old entire library movie? Delete the movies folder. You want to change the label of the old entire library? enter in the movies folder and replace "342" in index.xml with the name you want..

TV show splitting: With a similar trick it is possible to split also the tv show library (and i guess the music video library too)
Music library splitting: I can reproduce with this trick only the 70% of the music library in the video library but even this doesn't work well because all the skins doesn't load the icons of the music in the video section. So right now it is impossible to do it with the music for what i'm aware of..

Every suggestion to improve the method, to improve the guide or my english is welcome.

[pr0xZen]

Good one!

[patseguin]

Good stuff. You got me thinking now about smart playlists for different categories. Right now I just have Movies and 3D Movies. In either one, I can just filter by comedy, drama, whatever. I wonder if there is a way to make a smart playlist for animated movies (Beowulf, Monsters vs Aliens, etc.). Do they already have animated as their category or is it still like Drama for Beowulf, comedy for Monsers vs Aliens?

[phate89]

Good stuff. You got me thinking now about smart playlists for different categories. Right now I just have Movies and 3D Movies. In either one, I can just filter by comedy, drama, whatever. I wonder if there is a way to make a smart playlist for animated movies (Beowulf, Monsters vs Aliens, etc.). Do they already have animated as their category or is it still like Drama for Beowulf, comedy for Monsers vs Aliens?

Usually in that cases they have multiple genres. For example beowulf is animation, action and adventure:
http://www.themoviedb.org/movie/2310-beowulf
In theory with this method you can also create different subcategories leaving a root folder with an index.xml and using this method in that folder..

[LEDFan]

This is good stuff. On my side, what I do with my smart playlists is: I add them in customs menus in the home menu. But I don't have the possibility to add what you just did with your modifications under the Video menu. If I enable the sub-menus it gives me the results for all my movies and not just the results from my playlists. I wish I could do the same with my smart playlists using customs menu. Is there a way how to do that?

[phate89]

This is good stuff. On my side, what I do with my smart playlists is: I add them in customs menus in the home menu. But I don't have the possibility to add what you just did with your modifications under the Video menu. If I enable the sub-menus it gives me the results for all my movies and not just the results from my playlists. I wish I could do the same with my smart playlists using customs menu. Is there a way how to do that?

You can link the root to the menu and link the submenus to the subpath of the video playlist if your skin allows it..

[LEDFan]

Oh you're losing me here. Actually, I use Gotham Beta 2 with Aeon Nox 4.1.9.6 for Gotham from warlion. Would you be kind to guide me a little bit how to achieve this?

[phate89]

Oh you're losing me here. Actually, I use Gotham Beta 2 with Aeon Nox 4.1.9.6 for Gotham from warlion. Would you be kind to guide me a little bit how to achieve this?

You use this method to add the new branch to video and then you go to skin settings, "main menu item customizer " , choose a custom menu, click enter, enable it, click on "choose type" -> "video library node" and you choose the part you want (you can navigate in it and also choose tags, actors etc etc and set it in submenus)

[LEDFan]

OK I see but if I understand correctly, I cannot choose all the options in the "choose type". What I would like to have is all of them like I do have when I go in my movies sub-menus in the home menu. It has to be only one option to choose from, do I understand correctly? If this is like that, this is not really what I want to get like I just said, I wish to get all the options.

[phate89]

I don't know if i have understood it correctly. You want a menu, let's say "anime", with submenu tags, genres, actors etc etc etc specific only for anime? If this is what you're asking it is possible, you need to enable a custom submenu in a custom menu, then press down and set all the submenus manually (linking the library node), but it's not automatic, you have to do it for each submenu like i described before for the menu.

[LEDFan]

Exactly, this is what I wanted. With your modifications, these customs menus using the library nodes add this possibility. Now, my customs menus really acts like they should, i.e: like the movies sub-menus. I've got a little problem though. I get all the listing for everything but the actors. It works for, genres, years, tags, directors, etc. but it does not show anything for actors. I have verified the xml files and they all look OK. I don't understand why it does not work for actors. (I do have a folder actors....)

Very great modification dude. Thanks a lot for having guided me in the right direction.

EDIT:
I talked too fast! The custom submenus are re-used for each submenu from the home custom menus! I have 7 submenus at the home menu.

Example:
From the home menu:
Submenu Animated -> I use 8 spots for actors, genres, etc in: 5 spots from the custom submenu 1 (1 to 5) and 3 spots from the custom submenu 2 (6 to 10).

Then if I want to add the same thing for my other custom menus:
Submenu Sports-> I cannot re-use the same spots since they will link to the same place (animated) which means I need to use the two remaining available spots i.e: custom submenu 2: spots 9-10 and then 5 spots from the custom submenus 3 and finally 1 spot from the custom submenus 4. And so on. I will run out of spots at the end...

I don't understand why custom submenus are not independants from the custom menus (from each other).

[phate89]

That is skin dependant but can't be automatic. you can put everything you want in that submenus, even things that have very few to do with the movie.. i can chose to put the youtube extension in the submenu, a specific playlist, etc etc
aeon nox 5 doesn't have this problem but meanwhile have less custom menus to use so if you have a lot of them you have another problem.
The only skin i know that automatically set submenus by itself is aeon mq5..

[LEDFan]

OK got it, it's skin related. I'll ask where I'm supposed to.

Anyhow, thanks for this wonderful clue. This has enhanced my menus!

[Ned Scott]

Nice guide!

[phate89]

Nice guide!

Is it possible to move it to the tips and tricks section?