Related
EDIT: Duh, forgive me, I have put the wrong KB sizes above. correct values are below.
PRO: if you don't use, have never used and will never use one or more of these apps the ROMs can pack more add-on software which won't have to be installed or take up storage space.
CON: If you use them it gets a little bit less convenient, as you have to install it after a hard reset.
NOTE: I don't know how much the system needs those dlls, but I guess they are not deeply embedded in it and might not even need to be installed, unless ActiveSync desperately needs them to convert files back and forth. Which does not make sense to me, at least images, when there is any conversion process, are processed in the PC, as it is much more powerful...
Footprint:
Office dlls:
office.dll: +63KB
officeres.96.dll: +95 KB
officeres.dll: +96 KB
Pocket PowerPoint:
ppt.exe: +2.277 KB
Pocket Excel:
pxl.exe: +852 KB
pxlfile.dll: +34KB
pxl2xls.dll: +47KB
xls2pxl.dll: +78KB
SubTotal: 1.011 KB
Pocket Word:
pwod.exe:+227 KB
Total: 3.769 KB
There could be more Office-related dlls scattered around, but I don't know how to identify them...
I say pack all those files into a self installer CAB and it can be up to the user to include it or not. In theory if we could ever agree on a nice stable base rom to build an online ROM kitchen like the XDA had/has and make everything else optional.
An online ROM kitchen would be sweet!
theloon said:
An online ROM kitchen would be sweet!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
we'll see on the next couple of days... maybe we'll post it on the forum... BA WM5 rom kitchen... I sure Black6spdZ, xplode, thingonaspring, Midget and others will make it better :wink:
I just need to arange and fix a few stuff, since most people more prefer bepe's ways, for me it just gettin a little complicated to manage it work with bepe's way...lol...
I voted to keep it in the ROM, but only because I'm 99.99% sure that moving them will cause all sorts of problems. Any app launcher or today plugin that integrates with the office apps will break. They'll have hardcoded the path to the /windows directory, I'd put money on that. You might be able to replace the /windows exes with small launchers that point to the storage card I suppose.
I think the compression of the apps holds a lot of potential. Is there a compression tool that decompresses to the RAMdisk and runs from there? That would be the best of both worlds; the file is compressed in the ROM but only needs to be decompressed once on each RAM reset.
fraser said:
I voted to keep it in the ROM, but only because I'm 99.99% sure that moving them will cause all sorts of problems. Any app launcher or today plugin that integrates with the office apps will break. They'll have hardcoded the path to the /windows directory, I'd put money on that. You might be able to replace the /windows exes with small launchers that point to the storage card I suppose.
I think the compression of the apps holds a lot of potential. Is there a compression tool that decompresses to the RAMdisk and runs from there? That would be the best of both worlds; the file is compressed in the ROM but only needs to be decompressed once on each RAM reset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We already have UPXed version of Office apps and dlls working, I believe Helmi will integrate them in the next version.
The 3.769 KB file footprint for the files above becomes around 1.450 KB, that's around 2.2MB of space saving.
For those who don't know:
UPX is a compression method meant to have extremely fast decompression speeds and very low resource comsumption. If I understood correctly, the ARM assembler-optimized UPX decompressor which is added to our dlls and exes is 224 bytes.
From the website, a memcpy on a Pentium 233 (dunno the OS) happened at 60MB/s, while the UPX decompression of the same data was 13MB/s.
fraser said:
I voted to keep it in the ROM, but only because I'm 99.99% sure that moving them will cause all sorts of problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is VERY true. Accessing the files would require a launcher as fraser says, and/or accessing any UPX'd resources in the DLL, or EXE without loading it in will cause cataclysmic failures in the calling application. The dangers are VERY high.
Brazilian Joe said:
I think the compression of the apps holds a lot of potential. Is there a compression tool that decompresses to the RAMdisk and runs from there? That would be the best of both worlds; the file is compressed in the ROM but only needs to be decompressed once on each RAM reset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In theory you could do this with the RamDisk now, and use a RAR/ZIP/7Zip style archive on a SD Card (or in ROM). Simply run (on boot) an unarchive of the contents to RAM, and away you go. But in theory this isn't any better (and in reality is worse than) just installing the applications to the RAMDisk in the first place, and/or keeping a second "SD Card" just for the hard-reset cases when you want to re-install everything.
Brazilian Joe said:
We already have UPXed version of Office apps and dlls working, I believe Helmi will integrate them in the next version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just take care of PIM Managers, and other applications which may make direct usage of these applications. Also, a UPX'd DLL will require longer/slower load times due to decompression overhead as well as the IMGFS decompression requirements itself (even though the IMGFS portion will be 1:1 - i.e. uncompressed).
Brazilian Joe said:
The 3.769 KB file footprint for the files above becomes around 1.450 KB, that's around 2.2MB of space saving.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will unfortunately be MUCH less than that. Try building the ROM with the UPX'd applications and check the free sectors, and then compare that to a ROM with them replaced. The difference in free sectors * 512 bytes per sector is the REAL compression ratio achieved.
My guess is that UPX is about 40-60% better than the IMGFS, so this would mean a gain of around 1.1Mb in the ROM, and not 2.2Mb. But 1.1Mb of useful space is DEFINATELY nothing to be sneezed at! ;-)
Keep in ROM ...
Oh yeah, and I voted to keep the MS Apps in ROM.
Powerpoint could/should be compressed, and possibly Word/Excel if they're still 100% safe (they were in my testing in TuMa v1.3). Compressing any of the core OS though - ICK. I'm not in favour of that.
Save as much as we can, without going crazy ... and keep the Core OS, the Core OS. All the features we want to add should be exactly that - features!
OK, here's the scoop:
This ROM is to be considered BETA, it is provided as is.
It is the real deal, Windows Mobile 5 AKU 3.3 OS Rom.There are no IPL, SP
ALL DEVICES DO NEED to be CID Unlocked IN ORDER TO INSTALL THIS ROM
BE SURE YOU ALREADY HAVE 2.x IPL/SPL & RADIO ROM ON YOUR DEVICE BEFORE FLASHING THIS ROM.
For Rom Flashing & CID Unlocking Help see this thread.
ALL Applications and installers are integrated directly into the Rom so G4 Users can use this one without problems. The Extended Rom does have a Carrier Settings Utility and a couple of extras but nothing that is critical to the operation of the Rom. If you have a G4 which won't allow the Extended Rom to write don't worry you will be fine.
THE ORIGINAL ROM WAS made by : Faria, Molski, Dr Puttingham, rkwhyte2, Kyphur.
Any posts in this thread asking about CID unlocking WILL BE MODERATED.
The Features of this ROM:
REGISTRY:
Performance tweaks
Clear type On
GPS icon activated
GPS fix for additional com ports
Java support for certain web pages
999 emergency supports
Always show time in the top bar
Lunar view in calendar
BT stereo activated
Smart dialling activated
Time page in phone setting
V-card thru SMS supported
Improved clear type font
Media player set to repeat and random plus full volume
Full volume in phone and media player
APPLICATIONS:
TOTALLY NEW Version of Arc-Soft MMS
Recent Documents Auto Cleaner
Java Midlet Manager
Windows Live
* Live messenger
* Live search
HTC taskbar
Media Streamer
Dot NET Compact Framework 2
Macro media flash 7
New SIM Manager
Ringtone manager
Adobe reader
BT sim contacts
Contacts Backup
Contacts Manager
New Camera Module
New Comm Manager
Pocket RAR
New BT stereo profile (yes working A2DP)
More wireless security profiles supported
Battery status
LVM Time
Redial App
Smartskey
SMS Backup
Screen Rotate
Core player with all the codec’s
Total Commander
Task Manager
Mobile Secretary
New Menu for WM5
GB-Soft Tweak
CROSSBOW ENHANCEMENTS:
Crossbow Theme
Crossbow Dialler Skin (Updated with Moski Colour Fix)-Crossbow Media Player-Crossbow Icons-
And now the warnings:
Use this thread wisely, No CID Unlocking or how do I flash this Rom questions. If you don't know this already then you need to read before attempting to flash any Rom.
Change log for v2 roms
Welcome screen bypassed except time zone
Fixed smartdialer
Fixed auto complete in messaging
Registry wizard added to the control panel
Memory app added to the tray
New reboot app [less resources]
Clea type in landscape
Removed today agenda
New splash
New htc logo
Cleaner program layout
Smart dialling 2.2 [downgraded due to incompatibility issue]
Wireless 54g support
Obex on
Support for audio/video
3g2="video"
mp3d="audio"
aac="audio"
qcp="audio"
And best of all there is a choice of page poll 8mb 6mb and 4mb roms,note that the lower the page pool the more ram you will have but performance will decrease.
For ram freaks I may be inclined to post a rom with 2mb page poll! But bear in mind that you may miss 1 year of phone calls before the device rebbots.ehe
A special thanks goes to Bepe and Risidoro for helping with the page poll business.
Credit also goes to everyone that created the freeware software included in the rom ,and also everyone that helped testing the rom.
Download
8mb page pool rom here
6mb page pool rom here
4mb page pool rom here
patches
download patch here
Known Issues with this ROM:
please refer to the wiki page below for solutions before posting
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index...name=faria_3_3
.........................................................................................................................................................................................................
OPERATION:
Ram will decrease 2-4mb upon inserting SD card , this is due to the high performance of the rom .
faria
Cool will download as soon as I write this and test it.
Loved the first version and the SMS auto complete in SMS help speed up messaging by a few seconds.
Thanks for all your work guys !
******* WAS WONDERING WHY I COULD NOT DOWNLOAD IT! HEHEHE STILL UPLOADING I SEE !
******** JUST LOADED IT! LOVE THE SPLASH SCREEN! NOW LET ME GO THROUGH THE SETUP.
********** Loaded, Tested and configured. Had to reset after everything that I needed to add was added as it was kinda laggin. Love it. Great Job Guys !
I AM USING THE 8MB version !
Cool, Will download as soon as it is done UPloading
A***** ROM!!!! Good rom faria got it and it is so much better!
Good to see the the 4Mb is uploading now!! that is the one i want!
And a BIG Merci
Thanks
Just thought I would say thank you for taking time and creating yet another great ROM.
Sounds good, great stuff buddy!
Gonna test it, just to see what the maestro had build
Molski
What about the audio big? (((((
was this not fixed in the update of the last one? Cus they both already worked for me!
Fixed smartdialer
Fixed auto complete in messaging
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to see that the re-set after the first boot does not happen anymore for me!!! would have to re-sewt 2 times before it would get go!!! A********
Flexer said:
What about the audio big? (((((
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
as far as i know ther is no audio issue.....have you tested with another rom?
Well i am going to give it a good ruin and then i will be back!!!
Page Pool
Faria
Thanks for this rom, I really liked the first one but soem of the problems were too much to live with and I was very close to going back to one of the earlier ones.
I dont know much about page pools but from the first post here you say a smaller page pool the less performance.
Why would anyone want less performance and more ram? what is the benefit of more ram?
Thanks again
I have just downloaded and will no doubt spend the next few hours salivating.
Bhayani
faria said:
as far as i know ther is no audio issue.....have you tested with another rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep.. To be specific I didn't have any audio bug, was happy.. Until i received a call.. Then audio from the player came out.. And it's the same every time
After soft reset audio is OK.. After a call - everyone hears my music and calls.. BTW. This is with headphones plugged in, on G4 (
Nice Work... Gonna give it a try right away
hail to the mighty one
Glad to hear the about the page pool guys, about the sd booting slower I guess that's why in the previous rom all the shortcuts I had for apps on the start menu that were installed on the sd would have blank icons.
Also registry wizard already installed? genious guys, pure and simple genious. Word of advice though, since registry wizard won't recognize the AKU version it won't dissable some options that you shouldn't play with, namely on "TWEAKS 2" page "Taskbar Date/Time" be sure to uncheck that as it will be checked by default and if you apply that tweak the area where the clock is of your taskbar will probably get screwed up. I know of at least that one, I pretty much use all the other ones with no problems.
Anyways can't wait to play with the proper versions of these roms (I had installed the one with the broken TCMP, but before I said anything Faria had already noticed and was already reuploading the fix..... what a guy)
bhayani said:
Faria
Thanks for this rom, I really liked the first one but soem of the problems were too much to live with and I was very close to going back to one of the earlier ones.
I dont know much about page pools but from the first post here you say a smaller page pool the less performance.
Why would anyone want less performance and more ram? what is the benefit of more ram?
Thanks again
I have just downloaded and will no doubt spend the next few hours salivating.
Bhayani
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
from the WM blog:
The Page Pool
Applications use RAM in two ways. There is code that runs, and there is data that is created while it is running. On a NOR device, the code can run directly from the ROM and not be loaded into RAM first. This process is called XIP (eXecute In Place). NAND devices can't XIP, so their code is loaded into RAM and executed from there. If you don't have a Page Pool, this code is loaded into normal RAM. The Page Pool is a mechanism to limit how much code is loaded into normal RAM. With a Page Pool, we can unload code that hasn't been used in a while and reload it later if we need to. We can't do that without a Page Pool.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even after reading that it is still not clear what the paging pool is used for - can't understand why it increases performance!? Does anybody have a better description - didn't find anything when googling...
How I understand the explanation: if there is no page pool at all then all the started apps will go into RAM and reside there. With a page pool code that is "not needed" at the moment will be unloaded and reloaded (from NAND) later. But then - where is the performance boost??
Tried downloading about 5 times so far and it bombs out right at the end?
Is it just the amount of people trying to download it simultaneously
Andy
DoctorT said:
from the WM blog:
Even after reading that it is still not clear what the paging pool is used for - can't understand why it increases performance!? Does anybody have a better description - didn't find anything when googling...
How I understand the explanation: if there is no page pool at all then all the started apps will go into RAM and reside there. With a page pool code that is "not needed" at the moment will be unloaded and reloaded (from NAND) later. But then - where is the performance boost??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm no programmer, but it sounds quite a lot like the use of Virtual RAM back in the day of DOS and whatever the heck they called RAM between 640-1024K. The bigger the 'window' for swapping non-current data between RAM and a HDD, the better the speed performance.... I remember that there was also a king of tipping point, below which swapping was effectively one-way, and above which it was effectively two-way.
Regardless of how page pooling actually works, are there any guidelines or rules of thumb for page pool size versus free program memory after soft reset?
(While I'm not a "RAM hog", I do prefer more than less, as I live with MSVC, emoze, and sometimes a GPS app)
rpodos said:
are there any guidelines or rules of thumb for page pool size versus free program memory after soft reset?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mmmhhh - let me guess - 1MB less PP means 1MB more free RAM...
But I still don't understand the sense of a PP - on a desktop the page file is just needed if you don't have enough RAM - it doesn't boost the performance, just let's you run more apps at once if you just have little RAM (BTW, yesterday I saw a PC with 128MB RAM which was running WinXP - unbelievable...)...
as subject.
can i make it bigger?
using doc tools only get 30.53mb?
i dont need ramdisk i need storage rom. in my prophet i can get it. but in himalaya i cannot get it.
thx
i believe thats all the flash that the himalaya got
If that would be,
It would be really great if somebody could figured out to push through the idea of having more than 30.53 to the extends of it, or somehow make it,bigger, or if its posible to transfer the ramdisk or pagepool or a part of it to the storage memory,and that would be very cool and useful,
Yes, that would be cool if it would be possible. But it's not. Storage is located in flash ROM, page pool and ramdisk are in RAM. Physically totally different types of hardware. Adding address space of one to the other is a kind of magic similar to turning a frog into a handsome prince. forget it
I am trying to run some Java programs using JBed. But the font size of the programs is way too small on Diamond's VGA screen. Is it possible to change it to some larger font size?
neverhoodboy said:
I am trying to run some Java programs using JBed. But the font size of the programs is way too small on Diamond's VGA screen. Is it possible to change it to some larger font size?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anyone knows how to do this?
small fonts is a common problem with jbed apps on the diamond.
Sadly I haven't seen a solution for that, hopefully someone knows a solution.
Regards,
EquinoXe
I m amateur Java programer , I wrote some Java application (In fact took open source and changed things)
I changed all the fonts in the code to Font.SIZE_LARGE , but still they are too small , specially when graphics display (it's ok when only clear text)
There are some complicate way to bypass the problem for example drawing text ...
meanwhile seems like Java MIDP is not ready for VGA...
Hi
Suggestions:
1)
Use this JBED version and see if it helps. It could use some more hacking to improve all font sizes supported by it - but its better than nothing. BTW its one of the older JBEDs hacked to support VGA...
2)
Use JBLEND.
Improve it by editing:
HKCU\Software\Jblend\VM_Font_Size0
HKCU\Software\Jblend\VM_Font_Size1
HKCU\Software\Jblend\VM_Font_Size2
to bigger numbers like 28 - 30 and 32 - you then get BIG fonts.
And for fullscreen;
Edit: Full_Screen_Mode from 0 to 1. (Only works as long as you stay in the program - but not when returning from for example a phone call)
Martinhdk said:
Hi
Suggestions:
1)
Use this JBED version and see if it helps. It could use some more hacking to improve all font sizes supported by it - but its better than nothing. BTW its one of the older JBEDs hacked to support VGA...
2)
Use JBLEND.
Improve it by editing:
HKCU\Software\Jblend\VM_Font_Size0
HKCU\Software\Jblend\VM_Font_Size1
HKCU\Software\Jblend\VM_Font_Size2
to bigger numbers like 28 - 30 and 32 - you then get BIG fonts.
And for fullscreen;
Edit: Full_Screen_Mode from 0 to 1. (Only works as long as you stay in the program - but not when returning from for example a phone call)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot for your information! I installed the JBlend that comes with your attachment, but the problem is, the same application that can be successfully installed in JBed failed to be installed in JBlend. JBlend reports "errorno=910, application authentication failure". How to resolve this problem?
Thanks Martinhdk,
To bad it means I have to switch to jblend instead of using the embedded Jbed.
But it is a good solution.
Thanks for the tips!
Yup - go for JBLEND for now. I hope we get a good JBED for VGA one day but the JBLEND is also quite cool because its easy to tweak.
Just a shame that it only supports some degree of full screen.
The real solution for all the problems would be a Java VM with pixel duplication.
But unfortunately such a VM does not exist.
TDO
Anyone had any luck running games with the attached version of JBlend?
The following registry settings control the font sizes for apps running in JBed.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Apps\Esmertec Java\Device Info\Java Font]
"Size Large"="26"
"Size Medium"="20"
"Size Small"="16"
You may need to create the Device Info & Java Font keys since they are not created by default. I know they change the font with JBed 20080912_5_1, not sure about older versions.
Since I was at it, I tested these registry settings against Jbed 20080418_2_1 and they do not make a difference. They may only effect 20080912_5_1, which makes sense because the default fonts in 20080912_5_1 are larger than any previous build I have seen. See attached screen shots to compare Extra Large in 20080418 vs Extra Large in 20080912.
Note: these are on a 320x240 screen, but they give you an idea of the difference.
Just to round out my triple play, when using Jbed 20080912_5_1, you need to enter the following font values to restore the familiar font sizes used in previous releases (ideal for QVGA), otherwise you get the giant fonts (ideal for VGA) as posted above....
Code:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Apps\Esmertec Java\Device Info\Java Font]
"Size Large"="16"
"Size Medium"="14"
"Size Small"="11"
Opera Mini note:
If you are attempting to customize the font based on how Opera Mini looks, take note of the following....
Under Menu\Tools\Settings\Font size:
Extra large = "Size Large"
Large = "Size Medium"
Medium = "Size Small"
Small = can not be change using the above registry settings.
so is this Jbed 20080912_5_1 version downloadable from somewhere, I've searched google but interesting enough it finds only a couple of pages, mostly russian forums...?
Esmertec Jbed 20080912_5_1 Raphael OEM
banesi said:
so is this Jbed 20080912_5_1 version downloadable from somewhere, I've searched google but interesting enough it finds only a couple of pages, mostly russian forums...?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the version of JBed included in the most recent AT&T Fuze ROM (HTC Raphael). I've attached it here for your convenience.
I removed the AT&T crap. The default font sizes are ideal for VGA screens (I had to change them for my lowly QVGA ELFin). This is the OEM Package for cooking. The only new files are jbed.exe & ieplugin.dll, so feel free to just copy them over to your device if you don't cook.
I've just merged folders, placed it in my Internal Storage and installed Gmail and Opera mini, it works perfectly! Thank you trueg!
No worries. How do the fonts look on your VGA screen?
just perfect, I wouldn't touch anything, even slightly lowered my font size settings in mini opera to "large", font size in Gmail is slightly smaller but better than anything I saw by now on Diamond
This is really good news as JBLEND is not as good as JBED in my opinion.
Let the play begin and thank you guys.
banesi said:
just perfect, I wouldn't touch anything, even slightly lowered my font size settings in mini opera to "large", font size in Gmail is slightly smaller but better than anything I saw by now on Diamond
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most programs (Gmail included) use the "Size Small"="16" value. If you up the value it would increase the font size accordingly.
Procedure To Edit The Internet Globe Button Manila Files
(No more solid white blank buttons)
7d3f1247_manila - Globe Unselected
3f00cd2f_manila - Globe Selected
What:
With this procedure you will be able to select any graphics or highlight color you want to use for both the selected and non selected states of the Internet globe button.
How:
There are no special tools required other than Manila Editor 0.2 and a graphics program that can work with png files. You will need to know how to use both of these programs though.
Advantages:
The biggest advantage over editing either 27c65cbd_manila or InternetPortal-en-US.xml would have to be speed. When I tried that way on my Fuze it would take well over 5 seconds to load every time I scrolled to the Internet tab. Sometimes almost double that on a fresh boot. Second advantage would be that this *should* work on any device that uses those 2 files, where the xml edits are different files for different devices. Which leads to the third advantage of not needing special install instructions for theme makers. Edit the manilas and drop them in with the rest.
Other Info:
(Just skip this part if you don't care about the why and scroll down to the instructions.)
I have literally scoured these forums and the Internet for days trying to find information on editing not only the Internet globe manila files, but the other 7+ files that just don't work right with Manila Editor. Most theme makers know of these files. Mostly what I found was a lack of information and more questions than answers. The only other procedure I could find at all for converting manila files gives better results than using Manila Editor but it's very complex for the average user requiring command line tools. Even so the author, (Chainfire) has written a damn near fool proof tutorial so if anyone is interested you can find the thread HERE. Unfortunately even that procedure would not handle the problem manila files properly and quits with the following message.
Reading file: 5c01b59c_manila
Error: file is not QTC format
For reference, this is the list of files that I know of at the moment with this problem, and all return the same error except for 7d3f1247_manila. (More on this file to come.)
7d3f1247_manila - Globe_Unselected (512x256) 28.5k
3f00cd2f_manila - Globe_Selected_D (512x256) 64.5k
40ec2415_manila - Small Avatar_D (64x64) 2.5k
2f411611_manila - Exclamation Point_D (256x256) 32.5k
4d97cac6_manila - Add Contact_D (256x256) 32.5k
54e0759d_manila - Contact Avatar_D (256x256) 32.5k
400b663e_manila - You Tube_D (64x64) 2.5k
55cc771a_manila - Selection Highlight Bar (512x256)64.5k
5c01b59c_manila - Contact Avatar2_D (256x256) 32.5k
The first oddity I noticed when using Manila Editor on the Globe file (3f00cd2f_manila) is no mater what size my graphic was before running it through, it always came out to be approximately 125k. Since the stock file was roughly half that size I knew something was really wrong. The other glaring anomly with most of the files is they show up as duplicated (side by side) images when viewed with M.E. so I figured that somehow all of this must be connected.
I am not a programmer by any stretch but I know just enough to get me into trouble most of the time. Anyway I loaded both files into Notepad++ and turned on hex view to see what was so different. The header of both files were similar but not exactly the same so I copied chunks of the problem file from below its header and pasted it into the good manila at the same address location. What it produced was a repeating pattern on the top left corner of the stock green button but every other row was white. I don't know why but the fact that the image repeats in M.E. as well and the file being double the size made me think to cut the image in half and try to see if M.E. would accept it. It did and I was elated to finally see an image on my phone other than than the big white rectangle.
I had an image that was really distorted but it wasn't difficult at this point to see what was going on by the way it was distorted. I was able to get a perfect button on my next try by creating my image on a 256x128 canvas and then scaling it to 512x128. It looks really bad and stretched out at this point but after processing with M.E., the phone will compress back to it's original aspect and it looks just perfect. I use The Gimp as my image editor and just save as a png file with the default settings.
Now that I Finally had a working selected globe image I wanted to change the static globe as well. (7d3f1247_manila) This was a whole new battle but at least I had something to work from this time. There are some significant differences in this file compared to the selected globe. First, it looks perfect when you extract it using M.E. which led me to believe that this would be easy. I couldn't find much info on this particular manila and I think I know the reason why. Either people are replacing both images via the xml workaround, or they are just concerned with getting the highlight the right color on the selected image. Either way, when I tried to do a 1:1 replace in M.E I got to see the wonderful white rectangle again. At this point I had finally gotten all the tools working from the post I mentioned before and decided to try this file using that procedure as it should return better results if it did work. It worked perfectly but I still wanted to get it to work using M.E as most people are not going bother with a long drawn out procedure.
After playing around some I found that if I scaled the 512x256 image to 256x256 it worked perfectly. The up side is the file size is half of the stock image. The down side is the resolution is obviously cut in half. It's really not a show stopper but using the other method does produce perfect results. Not completely satisfied yet I tried some more images at different resolutions to see what happened. The 480x240 image I had from one of the globe mods that are floating around produced a white rectangle. I then decided to try another unscaled image that was almost completely transparent and it worked without a hitch. Now that I was completely confused I went back and tried the original 512x256 that produced the white and it did so again. It wasn't until I switched to another tab and back again that it finally showed up correctly.
So what does it all mean? Hell if I know but at least the scaled 256x256 method seems to work every time without any problems and its fast to boot. The long procedure would be the best method of them all but probably not worth the effort for most. As far as the other problem files go I guess I'll try and work them out too unless someone else more capable picks up the ball and runs with it. The selected globe was the particular image that stuck in my craw and got me started on this.
Instructions for 3f00cd2f_manila - Globe Selected:
1. Create your image at a size of 256 x 128 exactly how you want it to look on your device.
2. Scale it to a size of 512 x 128 and save it. You will have to "unlock" the aspect ratio lock in most graphics programs. This will distort your image badly but do not fret. Yet.
3. Fire up Manila Editor as usual and use your new image. Now you can fret as you wait to see if this works or not.
4. <-- I hope
Instructions for 7d3f1247_manila - Globe Unselected:
1. Create your image at a size of 512 x 256 exactly how you want it to look on your device.
2. Scale it to a size of 256 x 256 and save it. You will have to "unlock" the aspect ratio lock in most graphics programs.
3. Fire up Manila Editor as usual and use your new image.
General Notes:
If you don't want to mess with any of this and like what's in the screen-shots attached, you can install the cab or just unpack the zip into your windows directory on your device. As always, please back up your files before adding new software.
Notes concerning 7d3f1247_manila:
This procedure *should* work if done as stated. If you use the alternate method I linked to in the info section above you don't have to scale the image and will get a higher resolution image. I have successfully used a non scaled image before with Manila Editor but it goes white on first load after a reboot then somehow clears up. With the scaling method I've yet to see the dreaded white rectangle. Read the info section for more information.
More Information:
Manila Editor 0.2.0
Editing Manila
Manila 3D Porting
Pixel Perfect TF3D ***
Manila Fine Details
Cheers,
Eidolen
*Disclaimer*:
Obviously I can't test this on every device but I can't think of any reason why this wouldn't work on any TF3D enabled device. If this doesn't work for you, feel free to post here or contact your congressman. (Where applicable) If this helps anyone please be sure to drop in and say hi.
There is some real development going on about this subject over on the pixel perfect thread. If you are just looking for a quick fix then what I posted above is still relevant but you might want to keep an eye out for a *real* fix as I doubt it will take them long once they sink their teeth into it.
I believe they already figured out that you can patch the header on the problem files to correct the payload size which should work also. If you are not so technically inclined then the method posted here still works flawlessly for me and should for you as well.
I've added a picture that might help if the directions above were confusing at all, so it might help clear it up. You can find the link to the Pixel Perfect thread right above this post.
Cheers,
Eidolen