
Shock Skin Version 4.0 Transparent Release Notes

Please Read Entire Document prior to using software. 
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Skin is for private use only! Any commerical use is prohibited unless approved by the author. Upon installing and using skin you agree not to use the software for advertising, selling, or other profiteering activities including, but not limited to, using the software to sell your hardware. You are free to modify, distribute or add to the code as long as it does not infringe upon the terms above. This skin is distributed as "open source" and all code shall remain open source if you choose to use it in any way.       
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Required Installation Procedure: *these are relating to the skin itself and it is assumed you have a configured, working roadrunner install*

# This version requires registering the GDIpluswrapper.dll with your system. If you have not done this yet please head over to the scripts directory in the   skin and run REGISTER_GDI.bat. This will register the dll file necessary to take advantage of the transparent features. *Please note that the dll file cannot be moved to a different directory once its registered! If you want to put the dll elsewhere, do so first, then register it.* 

# To Use GDI+ you MUST make an entry in RR.ini that states:    fastmode=-1 

# Install the 2 fonts located in the FONTS folder to "c:/windows/fonts" before loading skin

# Make sure you are using roadrunner.exe from 4-12-2007 or newer, older versions of RR do not support GDI.

# If you are running XPE place the 3 batch files included in the EWF-XPE folder directly on your c: drive to make the EWF menu work. *note* The EWF menu is   for embedded systems only. It serves no function unless you are running an embedded setup.

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Changelog from version 3.0:

# Most of the changes in v4 are 'under the hood'. Version 4 is more configurable to different systems and/or users. The code itself has been cleaned up quite a bit and you will notice much better organization and definitions of code lines. 

# PNG graphic menu files have been reduced from 30 to 15. Multiple menus use the same PNG file now making load times faster (caching) and footprint smaller.

# The top bar is now defined with labels. The labels can be renamed, recolored, or have the font changed by tweaking of the .skin files. I am still working on making the label colors changeable from a menu. For right now they are hard coded white.

# The exit menu is now defined with labels in case you want to change font or button name. 

# Sliders, horizontal & vertical, have been added all over v4 for any menu with a directory list, audio players and video players. Sliders enhance the ease of use and organization of media.

# Mute indicator has been added to the mute button, a blinking bar will appear on the 'X' while system is muted.

# Menu_2 has been added with a file manager, .M3U playlist manager, weather menu, web browser, OBD2, and an info menu that includes GPS data. The exit button has been moved to menu_2 and the "back" button will now toggle between menu_1 and menu_2.

# Black bar has been removed from directory and playlists selection so you can see the background better, also has a cleaner look. Thanks to treetop for figuring this out.   



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Helpful Notes:


# The playlist manager is hard coded to my plylist directory which is "D:/playlist" You will need to go into pls.skin and change this path to the same path you are running for "playlistpath=" in RR.ini - This is required so the playlist directory knows where to look for the M3U files. I believe this can be done with variables but its not in my coding knowledge as of yet. 

# You can add any .jpg file to the 'background'  directory in this skin and use it. Best wallpaper resolution is 800x480 or 800x600 wallpapers. Background path is written to a file called skin.ini when you change it. Upon first launch you may notice no wallpaper as the skin.ini has the path from my system and you need to select a wallpaper for it update the path in skin.ini. Darker backgrounds work best with the lettering scheme. 

# Right now GPS menu supports External GPS mode only. You must set GPS mode to 'external' in RRconfig. Full screen GPS mode is launched by pressing the 'NAV' button again in the standard gps mode. Full screen GPS is hard coded for iGuidance. If you dig into the External_GPS.skin you can see a comment line near the end to launch the full screen GPS app. You will need to modify this line in order to use an app besides iGuidance in full screen mode.

# A very nice spectrum analyzer is included with this release, it can be found in the 'visual' folder in the skin. Just drop the DLL file into your winamp/plugins directory. 

# The static bottom bar has different functions in certain menus but the same icons. The "X" on the bar is mute, the button with the 2 arrows is to toggle shuffle mode. 

# Audio Browser mode is launched from hitting 'MP3' button again while in the audio player skin. Bottons on right handle playlist navigation.
 
# Video Browser mode is loaded when you hit press 'VID' button again in video mode. Play button now loads the selected movie in browser mode. 

# Lastly, this skin was custom designed for my system and how I use my carPC. I know everyone uses their systems differently so If you would like to add menus, functions, etc. I have included the PSD files so you can add or change the menu's.

# The skin can be opened and modified with RRskineditor V0.3.024   



If you have any suggestions please let me know so I can implement them into version 5.0, mostly Im looking for help with having variables to change label colors. If you can help me at all drop me a line. 

Enjoy!

joe.shock@gmail.com

Paypal donations>   joe.shock@gmail.com




