Skip to main content

Menu Background Changes in Xonfluence

Xonfluence Changing Menu Background (Main & Sub-Menu Bars)


This next article is going to show you how to change the menu background in the Xonfluence skin for both the main and the sub-menu.  This is a request from a member on the Ares Forum who was looking to change colors of the background on the menu and sub-menu bar.  As you may already know in Aeon Nox Silvo you are able to just go into the settings and manipulate the colors quite easily; however, in Xonfluence we have a few changes to make.  This article is going to take you through how to change the basic color of the background on the menu bars; yet it will also help you customize the menu bars.



What’s Required?


Before we jump into trying to make the changes to the menu bar we are going to want to figure out what tools we will need to make the changes.  Don’t worry this isn’t going to get crazy and there is a good chance you already have all you need.  However, if you don’t it’s ok because I am going to give you links to websites to download the needed programs.



Paint.net


You can use any image editing software; however, I like paint.net very much.  It is a very light program and gives you much of the functionality you get with Adobe Photoshop.  If you do not have paint.net you can download it here for free and if you visit their forum you can get many great add-ons to increase your functionality as well.



Gimp


Gimp is another very popular image editing software and again is a free program.  For more information or to download Gimp click here.




Kodi Texture Tool


Now that we have the editing software taken care of we can move on to Kodi Texture Tool.  This is a tool that allows you to compile and decompile  xbt files.  This holds all the images for your specific theme inside the skin.  Xonfluence, as an example, has 4 default themes and when you navigate to the folder you will see all the files (gray, kryptonite, and zik).


If you haven’t already you are going to need to download and install the Kodi Texture Tool here.  Once you have installed and launch the program you will see the following screen.


menu background


***It is important to note Texture Tool cannot use a path with spaces in it.***


I am trying to save you the headache of having to rename the folder without spaces.  Trust me I found out the hard way and it caused me an extra step.



How to Use Kodi Texture Tool


We have all the tools we need to start working on our menu background colors so now it is time to start.  Once you open the Kodi Texture Tool you will use the top section which is for decompiling.


First: Select the input button to find the xbt file.


–You are going to want to navigate to home/addons/skin.xonfluence/media/textures.xbt


Next: You will need to select where you want to decompile the file to.  I typically just create a folder on my desktop and work off the folder as I am constantly in and out of it when I am working on my build.


Finally:  Hit start and let the system do its thing.  It may take a few minutes to decompile all the images in the folder so have a little patience.




Changing Menu Background


Now that your file is completely decompiled you can begin searching through the images in this folder.  As I mentioned, every image you see in Kodi’s UI (User Interface) is right in this folder.  This means any changes you make in this folder will go live in Kodi once you compile and update the textures.xbt file.


We are going to take a look at changing the color for both the main and sub menu inside xonfluence.



Main Menu Bar


The Main Menu bar is listed as homeback.png and you will see a small black rectangle.  If you just want to change the menu bar to another solid color you can open up paint.net, gimp, or whatever image software you use.  Once you have the program open you just want to make sure to paint over the black and change the color.


As you can see I changed the homeback.png file to a light blue for this example.


menu background


Next you just need to save the file and from here you can move on to the next change you want to make.  If you wanted to use a special background or custom picture you may do so by saving your image as homeback.png.  It is worth noting the dimensions for this image are only 16×64.



Sub-Menu Bar


Now that we are happy with the color for the main menu bar we are going to want to take a look at the sub menu.  We are going to return to the decompiled textures.xbt file and locate the homesubnf.png file.  This is going to be the image you need to adjust to change the color of the sub-menu bar.  Once again this can be changed to anything and I just suggest leaving the same dimensions; in this case 128 x 64.


submenu background color


Here you can see I used the same color for this example so you can match them; however you can set this to anything.





Compile Folder


After you have made all the changes you plan to you are going to want to compile the folder and turn it back into an xbt file.  To do this you want to open the Kodi Texture Tool again.  Yet this time you are going to work on the bottom section to compile.


First thing you need to do is to select the input folder.  This is going to be the folder you’ve been working in with all your images.  After this you are going to need to choose the output folder the place you want to save the file.  Remember no spaces in the file path here and you’ll be all set.  Third just click start and again wait because it will take a few minutes to compile.


Finally you can move the textures.xbt file back to your Kodi folder and open your build.  If you followed these instructions when you open your Kodi program it should be showing you the new menu bars.



Conclusions


I thank you for taking the time to read this tutorial and I hope it gave you a stronger grasp on backgrounds.  This is just the beginning of taking a look at small changes you can make your build look great.  This tutorial should compliment the one where we looked at changing text color.  If you haven’t read it take a look here.  If you have any questions it is best to visit us at http://ares-project.uk for more assistance.  We have a whole section dedicated to Builder’s Help & Support and this is the best place for us to talk about your needs.  We thank you again for being a part of our community and stay tuned more will be on the horizon.

Comments

Post a Comment

DVDrip – TorrentFreak

Loading...

Trending Posts...

WiFi Settings & Tweaks for Kodi

I thought I’d cover the one of the most talked about issues in the world of streaming and thats WiFi and how to get the best out of it, practical measures and not some of the voodoo you read on some forums! What is WIFi? The term Wi-Fi refers specifically to the IEEE 802.11 set of standards for wireless networks. Several different standards are designated by a letter suffix on the 802.11, such as in 802.11g or 802.11n. In general all of the 802.11 standards operate on either a 2.4GHz or 5GHz radio frequency. 5GHz has much greater speed capability but a reduced range; generally speaking the lower a frequency the further it will travel, so don’t expect miracles if you switch to 5GHz. A key thing to note here is that if ANY device uses the older “b” standard then ALL devices *could* have their speed reduced to 11mbps on “g” networks, depending on your router. This really applies to older equipment or cheap equipment with old parts used in it *cough* t...
Post a Comment
Read more

How to Calibrate Kodi Add-ons using Real Debrid

How to Calibrate Add-ons with Real Debrid First off, to get the most out of this article you are going to want to have (Re) Authorized your Real Debrid in URL Resolvers.  Then we can focus on how to calibrate add-ons with Real Debrid to enhance your experience.  Some of you may be asking yourself what Real Debrid is and if you are one of those people take a look at here . Yet, others are asking themselves what add-ons use Real Debrid currently and how do I calibrate them?  Popularity in Kodiland has spiked in the past year and consequently servers are getting busier.  Hence many are turning to other sources for their streaming needs inside Kodi.  As a result of this gain in users there has been a need for other alternatives.  The popularity of using a Real Debrid account is growing dramatically as the price is cheap enough and what you receive is well worth in. (in my opinion at least). Kodi Add-ons with Real Debrid The demand for utilizing Real Debrid has ...
Post a Comment
Read more

How to Install Every Repo

The key thing to adding content to Kodi is via repositories – a “repo” is the “central storage point” for an authors add ons. Add-ons provide you with content, so you will see someone reference say Genesis and Lambda – Lambda is the author and has his repository, and Genesis is the add on held in that repo for you to install. A repo can have multiple add ons. These add ons are grouped as Program, Video, etc. I hope that’s simple enough – that’s my fifth version, if you have a simpler way to explain, please comment below and I’ll add it in! Repository Addresses Every repo has a url, an address (or source) you need to add into Kodi’s File Manager in order to install the repo into your Kodi locally. I have created a list of the most popular (I hope!) although this isn’t meant to be every repo every created. I am providing a list here of the repo’s rather than write 150 articles for each individual. This will also...
Post a Comment
Read more

How to Enable MetalliQ Add-on in Kodi

What is MetalliQ ? MetalliQ , by  OpenELEQ , an amazing and useful  Add-on  which provides available streams from all your installed add-ons in your system.  Providing you with  Movies, TV Shows,  and  Music  in the best possible quality. MetalliQ also integrates perfectly with your  Trakt  account, another tool that everyone must have in their Kodi. If you try to run Metalliq on a fresh Kodi installation, it won’t do anything. Metalliq depends on and works very well with many Video Add-ons for content. How to Install MetalliQ You can find the MetalliQ Add-on in the NaN (noobsandnerds) Repo. Open the NaN repo from “Install from Repositories”. Select Video Add-ons. OpenELEQ Tools and Install. After the install notification appears, return to Install from Repositories. Select Q’s Repository. Video add-ons. Select MetalliQ, a list of Kodi versions will appear, select the same version you have instal...
Post a Comment
Read more

How to Enable and Configure Trakt.TV in Kodi

What is Trakt.TV “Trakt is a platform that does many things, but primarily keeps track of TV shows and movies you watch. It integrates with your media center or home theater PC to enable scrobbling, so everything is automatic. Some people like to check in from their phone, so we enable that too.” The Trakt add-on for Kodi allows you to automatically scrobble all content you are watching to Trakt.tv. You can keep a comprehensive history of everything you’ve watched. Install and Authorizing Trakt Before using Trakt.TV it must be installed. Many builds have Trakt already installed. If you have such a build, you can skip down to the next portion of this article. Lets begin. Open Kodi and select System> Add-on> Install from repository. Scroll down and Select Kodi Add-on repository> Program Add-ons. The is list lengthy, so scroll to almost the bottom and select Trakt. Click to Install, wait for Add-on enabled notification. Now that Trakt is install...
Post a Comment
Read more