retired_vpoorni

Also with all the graphics and xml files inside fmf archives it should stop people from deleting files the game needs.

I'm not sure if I'm a fan of the community releasing files in the fmf format - whilst it makes it easier for people to install packs, it will making customizing more difficult. (Say you want small logos in one style and normal in another, or want to edit one file in a skin).

retired_donnambowers

Then that user can extract it from the fmf :p

Norfolk_boy

You can't make something more customizable without making it more complicated sadly. If the CM3 system still existed then you wouldn't have seen skins we have over the years - the ability to do pretty much what you want wouldn't be there.

I'm always saddened when people take that attitude over editing xml too. Every other skinner didn't know anything about editing xml at one stage. It's NOT rocket science, it's not coding, it's actually pretty straightforward. Everything is well commented, much of it is plain english and it's easy to mess around with and see the results. I think a lot of people are expecting something resembling C++.

To say "Unfortunately, I know NOTHING about XML, so no skinning for me" is just so negative. If you have good PS skills then we're missing out as a community. At least try - wait for the fmf unpacking tool, look at the files in the default skin and try moving things around. Get a decent editor (Notepad ++ is great) with colour coding to make like easier and just give it a go.

retired_blueshoes

Perhaps I will give XML a try. At this point I fear it has a very steep lurning curve, but when I started using photoshop 10 years ago I was rubbish at it as well...

retired_2symonds

The best thing to do is to start by creating your own graphics in the game. This doesn't involve any learning of xml at all if you keep things to roughly the same dimensions as the ones that are currently used.

Then you can start experimenting with xml but for the most part you won't even need to change anything.

retired_vpoorni

The easiest way to learn is through trial and error (well a bit of trial and a lot of error ).

Once the fmf extracter tool is released, you'll find most of the xml files and graphics are rather obvious what they do and are for.

The easiest way to find out where other graphics go is to copy them into your skin's folder and recolour the graphic to see what it affects.

Same with the xml files, most of them will have the title of the screen they affect somewhere near the top of the file (if it's not clear from the filename), then it's just a case of slightly tweaking a couple of lines until you find out what works, you break something, or you get stuck and hopefully someone here knows how to fix it.

retired_donnambowers

Ye - what I tried to do with Smooth 07 - After I remake Flexion for the Flexion lovers - I'm gonna get back to that.

retired_silvapol

Previous version of what? This is the first version we have used fmf files. </BLOCKQUOTE>

Well i'm new to this but wanted to give skinning a try... so i searched for fmf unpacker and found one... would that do the job or only some particular version SI release... sorry for my ignorance.

retired_blueshoes

I'm just so scared that I mess up the skin... And I don't know if what I want is possible... I want to be able to make menubars... So that I can replace one piece of the menubar each time when I change teams...

Norfolk_boy

Change it a bit at a time.

Either delete stuff then ctrl+z in your text editor if it goes wrong or just comment out bits using &lt;!-- --&gt;.

It's very possible to do what you want.