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[axc97c]

Freestyle XBOX 360 Dashboard
-------------------------

2010/02/12
Create by axc97c
version 1.08

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I decided that instead of focusing of file copying and browsing operations,
i would make the game launching and browsing as good as i could.

New stuff since last public release (1.03)
------------------------------------------

FTP speeds now 10Mb+ to internal HDD.
FTP working in many more clients (see FTP info section).
Copy DVD to USB drive or HDD.
View recently played games.
Preview video for each game.
Sounds within user interface.
View free disk space on all drives.
Date and Time in dashboard.
Background Artwork.
Add images manually using indexer.

Features
--------

FTP Support.
List XBOX 360, XBOX Live, Application and Emulators, and launch them.
Support for artwork for each title, including boxart, screenshots and icon.
Use pc to download artwork to xbox either via usb drive or ftp.
Browse games by genre.
Favourite games support.
Game details including no of players, resolution, sound and online options,
Fullscreen screenshot viewer.
Fully skinable.
Uses indexer to allow you to download artwork, and edit the metadata with
each game.
Customizable overscan.
Source code released too.

Installation
------------

Copy the "freestyle" folder onto either the root directory of the usb hard drive or
xbox hard drive and launch however you like. It will work in any directory, but
ive only provided launch isos and packages to boot from these locations.

Ive included several launch options for this release in the launch dir of the release

freestyle-usb.iso - cd image to boot freestyle from usb0:\freestyle\freestyledash.xex
freestyle-hdd.iso - cd image to boot freestyle from hdd1:\freestyle\freestyledash.xex

freestyle-usb - package to boot freestyle from usb0:\freestyle\freestyledash.xex
freestyle-hdd - package to boot freestyle from hdd1:\freestyle\freestyledash.xex

To use the iso files, burn em to a disc and boot it. To use the package files so you
get an item on the ms dash copy the one you need to
Content\0000000000000000\C0DE9999\00007000\ on your xbox hard drive.

FTP
---

To make ftp work with all clients, you need to exit the config.xml file in
the fsdata folder and set the xboxip field.

Other Notes
-----------

When first launching, you will be asked if you want the dashboard data
storing on the usb drive or xbox hdd. If you choose usb, you can run the
indexer with the drive connected to a pc, or via ftp while its still
connected to the xbox. If you use the internal xbox drive, you can still
run the indexer on the xbox via ftp.

Artwork wise, i have hosted all the icons i have available, so if any are
missing let me know which. For the boxart and screenshots, the indexer
uses the xbox marketplace for most content. Games that arent listed use
an alternate url for the main xbox site, but these need to be added manually
so some may be missing. The file for this is automatically updated so
if games have no info you can either wait for me to add them to the list or
edit the altgames.xml file yourself.

When the dash first scans your content, it takes a while as it extracts any
icons etc it finds. This is all cached though so subsequent launches of the
dashboard are quick.

The first run of the indexer will take quite some time, as it has got a lot
of artwork to get, so please be patient with it.

Video Preview support
---------------------

Plays preview.wmv from the games artwork folder. Larger files seem to crash the
XUI video player, so keep em to a few Mb. In the main skin, the res of the video
object it 354x200. Not sure what to do regarding the indexer and the video files,
they would require quite a bit of bandwidth to host if we started creating a collection
for everyone to download, so im open to suggestions.
At the the moment, some files play and some crash. I have no idea what the cause is
for this, prehaps someone can do some testing? All 3 sample wmv files with the XDK
play properly, and the 720p HD wmv samples from microsofts site done.

Fonts
-----

The dash will look for a file called fonts.xml in your skin folder. The file contains the
typeface names and filenames that will be loaded for use in the skin.

An example file is as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<fonts>
   <font name="Berlin Sans FB" file="BRLNSR.TTF"/>
   <font name="Constantia" file="CONSTAN.TTF"/>
</fonts>

To load the font "skin\NXE (List)\BRLNSR.TTF" as "Berlin Sans FB"
and "skin\NXE (List)\CONSTAN.TTF" as "Constantia"

The fonts filename and name should be the same as you set up in the XUI Tool.

Future of Freestyle Dash
------------------------

I no longer have to time to continue development of this dashboard. I may have time for
the odd fix, but for it to continue to develop someone needs to set up a svn and project
page and get the community developing it further. I have included the full source code
to everything to build the dash and indexer, but if ive missed anything please let
me know.

Thanks
------

Thanks to [coz] & Jeff, and the xedev team for the code for launching XBLA containers.
Thanks to dstruktiv for sending me the code.
Thanks to all feedback from 360 dashit indexer users, as this is what that
project has turned into.
Thanks to hfmls and ACharmedMatrix for beta testing some new stuff

History
-------

v1.08   View favourite games of main menu
      Store recent games and view off main menu
      File manager - copy, move, rename and delete file
      Support custom fonts in skin
v1.07   NON PUBLIC RELEASE
      Copy DVD to HDD or USB drive
      Various fixes
      Cover list has title for games with missing cover
v1.06   NON PUBLIC RELEASE
      Fix for filezilla ftp client (and probably others) Requires your xbox ip
      to be put in the config.xml file in the fsdata folder
      Fix startup crash when no content.xml file was found
v1.05   NON PUBLIC RELEASE
      FTP speed fix, now 10-11MBps, however, copying to usb is still slowish for
      some reason, but then it is in XeXmenu too.
      Fixed render loop to be fixed at 60 FPS instead of using a sleep
      Change video preview to XMediaCreateXmvPlayerFromFile so streams files instead
      of loading into ram
      Add buttons working on indexer, allow you to add custom graphics to a title when
      none have been automatically downloaded
      Pick all/xbox 360/xbla/homebrew/emu on indexer to help sorting out your content.
      Remove deleted stuff from index
      Add background downloading support to indexer
      Save list every 15 games when scanning
v1.04   NON PUBLIC RELEASE
      Fixed emulator button not working
      Added preview.wmv support, with option to disable
      Added background image support, with option to disable
      Added date and time and optional format setting
v1.03   Fixed content saving bug in dash
      XML saving in dash quicker
      Added usb0:\applications and hdd1:\application paths. Please delete your config.xml
      for these to be added to existing installs. (The one in fsdata not base)
v1.02    Runs with cooler cpu/gpu
      FTP speed much quicker
v1.01    Fix to storage selection location
v1.0    Original public version

It should be available at all the usual places shortly.

[Midnight Tboy]

This is amazing stuff thank you.

Can't wait to get home to have a mess with this newer version.

You mention about wmv files from the microsoft site.  Where would these happen to be...as I can't recall ever seeing any video previews on their site of games?

Will be amazing to have a preview window for games, great cosmetic touch

edit - never mind - I can see where the trailers are now - wicked!!!  just trying to find out a way to manage to download them direct from the site

This post has been edited by Midnight Tboy: Feb 12 2010, 02:42 PM

[Tai-Kung]

man, you are at the top of the scene developers!!!
this is the best dashboard sooo far
keep the good work!!
thanks a lot

note: some wmv makes the console freeze, i dont know why, some works, some freezes the console. the size doesnt matter, i have working 90mb wmv, and a 8mb wmv crash the console, must be the way of building the wmv file or something.

another thing to add could be scrolling text for the game description, some games has long descriptions.

This post has been edited by Tai-Kung: Feb 12 2010, 03:47 PM

[aotta]

Just to thank you for your great work! i've not yet tried this release, but some of the new features seems really useful (especially the dvd copy options)!!!!

It's a pity you can't work furthermore on this dash (but i think there is no much to add, perhaps a file browser?) and i hope someone want to keep the project alive!

Thank again!

[Tai-Kung]

any way to fix the description characters bug?
its doesnt support others languages, like áéíóu´. äëïöü, etc....

PD: hope someboy can continue this dashboard, its the best, i love it, and the skinning possibilities are inffinite

This post has been edited by Tai-Kung: Feb 12 2010, 03:54 PM

[hfmls]

who is up to craete a svn and continue to code it?

i think this is the homebrew we should support and improve with svn.

somenone experienced with coding can make a svn?
so all can help?

[dschu012]

QUOTE(hfmls @ Feb 12 2010, 04:22 PM)

somenone experienced with coding can make a svn?
so all can help?

You don't need code experience to create a SVN, you just need a place to host the SVN repository. Something like Google Code or Source Forge.

A list:
http://en.wikipedia....stems_available

[firefighter1023]

First, thank you very much for taking your own time to create such a wonderful tool.  I agree, this piece of software is at the top of the charts IMO.

As far as video previews go, I'm not sure where everyone is getting their videos, but gametrailers.com seems to be a great resource for trailers.  Sure, not the same as a real video preview that we see in emulators now days, but it's a start.

Using firefox plugins the trailer downloads in FLV format at 10mb or so.  Then convert to WMV and all done.

I do hope to see a source of previews like we do in emulators, but like I said, it's a start/suggestion.  Any other resources that are out there, I'd love to hear about it!

**update**

The video previews I've downloaded at xbox.com are just as good ifnot better as they are already in wmv format.

This post has been edited by firefighter1023: Feb 12 2010, 05:36 PM

[axc97c]

Forgot to add to the feature list, this also has full file browser support, including copy, move, delete etc.

[hfmls]

can somebody create a svn? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
so we can start with this? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

axc97c needs help setting ftp cliente "not passive" and add ºC ,he doesn't have the time now (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

This post has been edited by hfmls: Feb 12 2010, 06:38 PM

[aubrey_76]

QUOTE(hfmls @ Feb 12 2010, 12:37 PM)

can somebody create a svn?
so we can start with this?

axc97c needs help setting ftp cliente "not passive" and add ºC ,he doesn't have the time now

Do you already have "v1.08".....I am in the usual places now and only "v1.03" is there......

[axc97c]

If anyone can get this uploaded to the usual places please pm me for a link to get it from.

[hfmls]

how do i make this live?

edit: nevermind, i've made a shortcut (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) better this way

This post has been edited by hfmls: Feb 12 2010, 07:51 PM

[axc97c]

QUOTE(hfmls @ Feb 12 2010, 08:42 PM)

how do i make this live?

Not sure what you meam

[hfmls]

QUOTE(axc97c @ Feb 12 2010, 06:43 PM)

Not sure what you meam

to show up in NXE. but that's ok, i created shortcuts with quickboot