Post by: BenJeremy on January 12, 2003, 08:29:00 PM
a hard drive. It is intended to be very configurable and allow new "styles" to be added
in, both with simple visual changes (skins), or adding 3D effects (later) to the presentation
of the menus by re-writing the software.
It was intended to supercede Complex Menu X, which has some bugs and is lacking many
desired features that MXM now has.
What's New:
Beta 0.9f
* Moved "Font16.xpr" internal to the xbe, so no media directory is required anymore.
* Added the ability to put passcodes in the game entries. This will allow those with children
to prevent easy access to games without having to enable parental controls or prevent unauthorized
access to programs. (I added this so my 10 year old son would not have easy access to BMXXX)
* Changed IR remote "boot to dash" function to "Title" (Was "0" key)
* Added support for MXM and game help screens. There are 3 built-in help screens for MXM. See "Entry"
and "Help" configuration for more details on these options.
* Help for games may also be auto-config'd like the screenshots, using MXM_GHxx.* where xx is a value
from 01-99 (must start with 01 and continue contiguously) and '*' is a valid image extension.
* A TitleDelay of 0 prevents the display of the title screen.
* Added a TitleImage.xbx icon to be 'friendly' with NexGen. It will install the icon on startup, if it
doesn't already exist (internally generated, no extra files needed).
* Cleaned up the launch code a bit. Now it checks to make sure a title exists before launching it;
if the xbe does not exist, it puts up a detailed message and kicks back to the menu screen.
* Added ability of AutoConfig items to pull title and description from the Game's ID. A few titles
have regular descriptions (in many cases, this is the part of the title following the colon) and
for those without, the publisher's name can be used in their place.
* Odd, for some reason, the system was not initializing all of the drives (T:, U:).
* MXM should run without any MXM.xml file or support files. If it doesn't find entries, it
will display the likely entries it finds for a dashboard.
* A new switch "AllowVideoSound" allows you to pause the music when videos are shown as
screenshots, so the audio may play (good option to use on DVDs, too, due to speed/disc access
issues)
Sorry, Weavus, I had to get this release out, since it's a pretty big update, so the
"Generic Skinning" options did not make it in. There is a lot of the code in there now,
but it's about 70% there right now.
0.9g is expected to be a "Feature Complete" beta, with new and improved Generic Skinning included. That release may happen in the next week.
The MXMReadMe.txt file has been posted to "The usual places" - alt.binaries.cd.image.xbox, alt.binaries.games.xbox, and alt.binaries.xbox, if you find that, I'm sure you'll find what you need
but I can't specifically tell you where to find the binaries.Please do not PM me to get these files.
Post by: shanafan on January 12, 2003, 10:10:00 PM
One question though, I had an opening WMV to start MXM with...does it now play the WMV's sound, or am I still going to hear the WMA I set in the skin?
Post by: BenJeremy on January 12, 2003, 10:33:00 PM
| QUOTE (shanafan @ Jan 13 2003, 01:03 AM) |
| Nice! One question though, I had an opening WMV to start MXM with...does it now play the WMV's sound, or am I still going to hear the WMA I set in the skin? |
It only plays the sound for screenshot videos.
Backgrounds will still be "silent" - it all actually works pretty well.
Post by: BenJeremy on January 13, 2003, 08:17:00 AM
It's an annoying issue and it seems that XBMP had a similar issue but managed to solve it. I'd like any insight into why this problem even exists.
I think it might also be related to the problem with BoXplorer, which hangs int he call to DirectSoundCreate() for some odd reason.
Thanks.
Post by: SniperKilla on January 13, 2003, 10:22:00 AM
and does anyone experience slow loading times for games on multi dvd compilations?
Post by: BenJeremy on January 13, 2003, 10:31:00 AM
| QUOTE (SniperKilla @ Jan 13 2003, 01:15 PM) |
| XBMP had 0 issues with the X2 IGReset, it had problems with evox's IGReboot. and does anyone experience slow loading times for games on multi dvd compilations? |
It's odd... some games load fast and fine, but a couple seem to take FOREVER to load via DVD, and fast on the HD (Ghost Recon) - both loaded from MXM.
I don't think Ghost Recon had that many small files, either.
As for the IGR stuff, I figure any insight into the issue might give me some clues as to what's going on.
Post by: SniperKilla on January 13, 2003, 10:37:00 AM
Post by: BenJeremy on January 13, 2003, 11:43:00 AM
| QUOTE (SniperKilla @ Jan 13 2003, 01:37 PM) |
| yea, i put whiteout and morrowwind on a dvd with the last version of MXM just to see how it worked, and they both take about 10 minutes to load, i went and ate dinner and came back up and morrowwind wasent done loading yet |
I have those, but I don't recall the loading times. Maybe tonight I'll look to see what the loading time is like between HD and DVD.
It might be a flaky media issue.... but Ghost Recon seemed to load slow over several burns (UDF), and very quickly over HD. Odd.
Post by: ips on January 13, 2003, 12:35:00 PM
This post has been edited by ips: Jan 13 2003, 08:37 PM
Post by: SniperKilla on January 13, 2003, 12:54:00 PM
Post by: BenJeremy on January 13, 2003, 12:53:00 PM
| QUOTE (SniperKilla @ Jan 13 2003, 03:47 PM) |
| what if i build the dir into a iso with xISO, then burn, will it load much faster? |
Uh-oh.... here comes the flood of xISO warnings... :::groan:::
Post by: SniperKilla on January 13, 2003, 01:12:00 PM
Post by: BenJeremy on January 13, 2003, 01:17:00 PM
| QUOTE (SniperKilla @ Jan 13 2003, 04:05 PM) |
| the hells wrong with xiso |
Heh, heh, some people here just hate it.
I burn with UDF for convenience.
Anybody here try the latest version of MXM, 0.9f, yet? I just want to hear how people like the new help options and whatnot.
Post by: SniperKilla on January 13, 2003, 01:13:00 PM
im gonna test it in a few off my xbox hdd
we need a good source for wmv "trailers" of games, itspretty hard to find good ones
Post by: BenJeremy on January 13, 2003, 01:37:00 PM
| QUOTE (SniperKilla @ Jan 13 2003, 04:13 PM) |
| well ok then, ill build with GDFimage im gonna test it in a few off my xbox hdd we need a good source for wmv "trailers" of games, itspretty hard to find good ones |
I've been finding quite a few WMV files in the games themselves. You can also use Bink to convert BIK files, if you have time (I did one, but I'm too busy to do it too often).
After 1.0 clears, I'll try and get XMV files working as well. I'll probably need a preview tool though, unlesss somebody has a PC based XMV viewer.
Post by: SniperKilla on January 13, 2003, 01:51:00 PM
Post by: BenJeremy on January 13, 2003, 02:27:00 PM
| QUOTE (SniperKilla @ Jan 13 2003, 04:51 PM) |
| well i just put newest release on my hdd, video sound is cool, and the password works good, but there should be a button to switch between video sound and the music playing, cause if you have like 3 games all with sound thenm u wont be able to have the soundtrack play |
Gotcha.... I was thinking about that.
I'm running out of buttons though....
Post by: RDJ134 on January 14, 2003, 06:02:00 PM
| QUOTE |
| we need a good source for wmv "trailers" of games, itspretty hard to find good ones |
About the loading speed with Ghost Recon there are a few others out there who download very long before you can play.
Anyway didnt had the chance to try out the latest build of MXM Menu Maker yet but keep up the good work!!!!
Post by: BenJeremy on January 15, 2003, 06:54:00 AM
| QUOTE (RDJ134 @ Jan 14 2003, 09:02 PM) | ||
About the loading speed with Ghost Recon there are a few others out there who download very long before you can play. Anyway didnt had the chance to try out the latest build of MXM Menu Maker yet but keep up the good work!!!! |
I checked out some of the WMV files they had at that site, but it didn't like the format
I haven't tried them on an Xbox yet, though.ATM, I'm cleaning up some things before enabling generic skins... the first thing hit was the music manager, which is about 90% done. hopefully it will eliminate any quirkiness in the song selections in the latest "Work-in-progress" for those with access.
Post by: hevnbnd on January 16, 2003, 02:58:00 PM
Post by: BenJeremy on January 16, 2003, 04:35:00 PM
| QUOTE (hevnbnd @ Jan 16 2003, 05:58 PM) |
| I am downloading some .mov video's to use in the screenshot area for the games in my menu, what settings work best for the .wmv file when i convert it to that format? Also what is the easiest program to use to convert .mov files to .wmv Thanks B |
Well, I'm not sure about trasncoding MOV to other formats. Try Adobe Premiere to get it to an AVI then use the WM8Tools to finish the job.
Post by: BenJeremy on January 16, 2003, 04:39:00 PM
| QUOTE (kyokushin @ Jan 16 2003, 06:44 PM) |
 Q: I don't like the title screen. Can you get rid of it? A: Well, it's simple enough to give the title screen delay a value of '0' to skip by it. I did this but i am still getting a loading screen before the menu load up !!!! i set the delay to 0 see below <Config> <Main> <DiscTitle>games</DiscTitle> <DiscSubtitle>Collection</DiscSubtitle> <Theme>1</Theme> <TitleDelay>0</TitleDelay> <SaverDelay>0</SaverDelay> <MenuPath>E:\APPS\MXM2</MenuPath> </Main> What am i doing wrong ????  |
That's not the "Title screen" - it's the MXM logo shown while loading.
As it's open source, feel free to change it. As long as I'm building it, the logo stays.
It was set up to be less intrusive, by fading to black before launching the "Title screen" (or when TitleDelay=0, the menu screen).
I may offer several different styles of it, but it's there for several reasons.
So the short answer is it isn't the title screen, therefore there is no option to remove it in the built binaries, but you are welcome to create your own version using the source code that is freely distributed.
Post by: BenJeremy on January 16, 2003, 06:01:00 PM
| QUOTE (kyokushin @ Jan 16 2003, 08:10 PM) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Quote from: BenJeremy,Jan 17 2003, 12:39 AM Post by: hevnbnd on January 17, 2003, 01:39:00 PM <Config> <Main> <DiscTitle>Football 2003</DiscTitle> <DiscSubtitle>Sports</DiscSubtitle> <ExitApp>c:\xboxdash.xbe</ExitApp> </Main> </Config> and here is the MXM_Entry.xml that i have in each games directory: <Config> <Item> <Title>Maccen 2003</Title> <Description>EA Sports</Description> </Item> </Config> I used a .wmv file for the MXM_ss.wmv Sorry that did not make a lot of since but you know what i mean. Some help would be greatly appritiated. Thanks Post by: BenJeremy on January 17, 2003, 02:12:00 PM
Does it lock up stuck SHOWING the logo, or after it fades? Have you modified the skin(s)? The files you have should work fine. Except for launching, you can recreate the directory structure on your HD and launch from Evo-X... you don't need the game (since you aren't testing the launch of the game, anyway), just the game directories, along with the MXM_Entry.xml, default.xbe and media file in each one. (default.xbe just allows the autoconfig to 'see' the entry is 'valid') Is this a US Xbox? PAL? Oh.... and one more thing. With 0.9f, you should be abvle to throw it in it's OWN directory and launch it with Evo-X. It should run with no skins or entries, giving you some gradient backgrounds and one or more items on the menu corresponding to your dashboards. Post by: hevnbnd on January 17, 2003, 04:07:00 PM Post by: hevnbnd on January 18, 2003, 02:12:00 AM \madden03 \nflblitz03 \ncaafootball03 default.xbe MXM.be MXM.xml In each game's directory here is what they have: default.xbe MXM_Entry.xml MXM_SS.wmv Here is what my MXM.xml file says: <Config> <Main> <DiscTitle>Football 2003</DiscTitle> <DiscSubtitle>Sports</DiscSubtitle> </Main> </Config> and here is what my MXM_Entry.xml file says: <Config> <Item> <Title>Madden 2003</Title> <Description>EA Sports</Description> </Item> </Config> I also added the Media X to the evox.ini When i go into evox and select Media X it brings up the media x logo and then fades out and back to the Evo dashboard. It never brings up the menu with the three games what am i doing wrong? Please help me. Thanks B Post by: BenJeremy on January 18, 2003, 07:30:00 AM The might be causing the system to crash... Did you see my tips in the General Chat forum? Every WMV file I've made using that has worked well. Post by: hevnbnd on January 18, 2003, 11:45:00 AM Post by: hevnbnd on January 18, 2003, 12:00:00 PM Post by: hevnbnd on January 18, 2003, 12:33:00 PM <Sounds> <TitleClose>launch.wav</TitleClose> <MenuUp>menu.wav</MenuUp> <MenuDown>menu.wav</MenuDown> <MenuLaunch>launch.wav</MenuLaunch> </Sounds> <Backgrounds> <Title>swirl.wmv</Title> <Loading>wait.jpg</Loading> <Menu>MenuBack.jpg</Menu> <SaverLogo>SaverLogo3.png</SaverLogo> </Backgrounds> <DefaultDelays> <DefaultTitleDelay>300</DefaultTitleDelay> <DefaultSaverDelay>300</DefaultSaverDelay> <DefaultLoadingDelay>5</DefaultLoadingDelay> </DefaultDelays> <Music> <UseMusic>off</UseMusic> <Dir>MUSIC</Dir> <Global>off</Global> <Random>off</Random> </Music> </Config> I thought i have everything turned off but it still plays the music from the hard drive instead of the music from the video. Help please! Thanks B Post by: BenJeremy on January 18, 2003, 12:43:00 PM
Well, you're almost there... The sound from videos option is only available for screenshots - for now. When the new skinning is fully implemented, you'll be able to have greater control over the sound options, including soundtrack pause and audio playback for backgrounds. I'm not quite sure what's going on with the music, though... but I am revamping the soundtrack stuff a bit, so that should be fixed in 0.9g. Sorry about that. Post by: hevnbnd on January 18, 2003, 12:45:00 PM <Config> <Main> <DiscTitle>Football 2003</DiscTitle> <DiscSubtitle>Sports</DiscSubtitle> <ExitApp>C:\xboxdash.xbe</ExitApp> </Main> <Music> <UseMusic>off</UseMusic> <Dir>MUSIC</Dir> <Global>off</Global> <Random>off</Random> </Music> </Config> The music settings are the same in the MXM_Skin.xml file also. Is there anything else that needs to be there to make the .wmv files that i created play the sound also? Any help would be much appritiated. Thanks B Post by: BenJeremy on January 18, 2003, 01:42:00 PM
In <Main> <AllowVideoSound>On</AllowVideoSound> Should allow your "screenshot" videos to play sound (it pauses music when a video is displayed as a screenshot). Post by: hevnbnd on January 18, 2003, 02:19:00 PM Post by: hevnbnd on January 18, 2003, 02:42:00 PM Post by: hevnbnd on January 18, 2003, 02:50:00 PM Post by: BenJeremy on January 18, 2003, 03:47:00 PM
Well, I'll have to check, but it's possible that when the soundtrack is turned off, the video sound may not play.... You did add this to your MXM.xml "Main" node, right? <AllowVideoSound>On</AllowVideoSound> My sound in the video works fine, but I've got a soundtrack playing on all my discs with videos on them. When the video appears, the soundtrack is paused while the video plays it's own sound. Of course, this is with 0.9f, since the video "sound" option is only part of the most recent ediiton. Post by: hevnbnd on January 18, 2003, 05:00:00 PM Post by: BenJeremy on January 18, 2003, 05:51:00 PM
Well, I realized, after I posted, that that parameter defaults to on anyway. It's probably related to the music being turned off. I can't think of any other reason. Sorry. It will work in the next release (I'll test that one specifically) Post by: hevnbnd on January 18, 2003, 07:33:00 PM Post by: drewZen on January 19, 2003, 01:58:00 PM
Post by: BenJeremy on January 19, 2003, 02:15:00 PM <HelpScr_01></HelpScr_01> With the media location. See if that does the trick. Post by: drewZen on January 19, 2003, 02:25:00 PM Post by: hevnbnd on January 19, 2003, 03:03:00 PM Encoder 8 - Video loads but no sound (Used your settings [wm8eutil -a_setting 20_22_2 -v_bitrate 250000 -input 03MustangGTConcept.avi -output MXM_SS.wmv] Encoder 9 - Locks up XBOX (1st option - Hardware devices, 2nd option - High definition quality video [5Mbps VBR peak] and High definition quality audio [192 kbps VBR peak] Frame Rate 29.97 output size 1280x720) Cleaner 5 - Video loads but no sound (Codec: Windows Media Audion V7, Sample Rate 44.100kHz, Data Rate 32.0kbits/sec, Channels Mono) I am only get it to play the audio on the hard drive but never any audio with my swirl.wmv (a video i created) or with any of my MXM_SS.wmv If you have any ideas or anyone has been successfull in sound please post your MXM.xml and MXM_entry.xml and MXM_Skin.xml for me. I am a little confused on why the audio options are present in all three xml files or if it only has to be set to on in one of the xml files and which one. Any help would be aprtiated. Thanks B Post by: BenJeremy on January 19, 2003, 03:16:00 PM
As I said, it's probably due to you not using the soundtrack feature. I haven't had time to tackle that question yet, but try adding a soundtrack and see if the WM8 encoded files (has to be WM8) will play sound as a SCREEN SHOT. The backgrounds will NOT play sound. Only the screenshots. I've made about 10 videos in the past three days and all of them play fine, sound and all, as SCREEN SHOTS, but then I'm using this for my MXM.xml:
Post by: drewZen on January 19, 2003, 03:37:00 PM It worked for me when i tested with one item. I put this option under each item like this <Item_8> <Title>Burnout</Title> <Description>Racing</Description> <Media>f:\applications\MXM\pics\burnout.png</Media> <HelpScr_01>f:\applications\mxm\pics\burnout.jpg</HelpScr_01> <Dir>f:\games\burnout</Dir> </Item_8> <Item_9> <Title>Dead to Rights</Title> <Description>Namco</Description> <Media>f:\applications\MXM\pics\dead.png</Media> <HelpScr_01>f:\applications\MXM\pics\dead.jpg</HelpScr_01> <Dir>f:\games\dead</Dir> </Item_9> ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| and so on ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| <Item_12> <Title>Halo</Title> <Description>Sci-Fi FPS</Description> <Media>f:\applications\MXM\pics\halo.png</Media> <HelpScr_01>f:\applications\MXM\pics\halo.jpg</HelpScr_01> <HelpScr_02>f:\applications\MXM\pics\halo.wmv</HelpScr_02> <Dir>f:\games\halo</Dir> </Item_12> So now when i try to launch help screen for selected item it locks up. Do i need to number sequentially even tho its under its own item? Or maybe do i need to place in different row? Or maybe i should put help pics and cover pics in seperate directory. Thx in advance Post by: BenJeremy on January 19, 2003, 04:08:00 PM I'm going to have to look at it. Invalid image files can hose up MXM, because the Xbox libraries crash on them... I've seen that happen. I don't know what program is making the bad files, but there is an issue with that. I use Corel PhotoPaint and sometimes Photoshop without problems though. On a quick review of the code, it shouldn't have any problem with multiple entries, and it is something that I tested (including WMV sources). Each entry should have help screens starting sequentially at 01, just like you have. A lockup is a different problem than configuration, and as I said, it might be the media, not the config in this case. Were you trying something that had already loaded correctly? Post by: drewZen on January 19, 2003, 04:53:00 PM Only vid i got to work so far was Halo but background music doesnt pause as the vid plays. I try to put the <AllowVideosound>on</AllowVideoSound> option but no luck. Ill try to figure out. Prolly somethin simple i missed thx again Post by: BenJeremy on January 19, 2003, 04:56:00 PM
I don't have the sound stuff playing for help files... yet. Only in the screenshots displayed in the menu page. Look for it in version 0.9g Good to hear you finally got things rolling. Post by: BenJeremy on January 19, 2003, 04:57:00 PM There might be a few WMVs posted for screenshot videos, though.... Post by: hevnbnd on January 19, 2003, 08:22:00 PM Post by: SniperKilla on January 21, 2003, 11:09:00 PM
now i tried launching nhl with boxplorer and it did the same thing, so if anyone would know what my problem is? i built the iso using Xiso Post by: BenJeremy on January 22, 2003, 05:17:00 AM Especially if launching from BoXplorer does the same thing. I've been having some media issues with Princos lately. Seems to happen in fits and streaks. You've tried to reburn it yet? Post by: SniperKilla on January 22, 2003, 11:47:00 AM Post by: BenJeremy on January 22, 2003, 11:57:00 AM I prepared a bunch of WMV files for compilations I was putting together, and one I did last night would lock up on first playing the video from the DVD-RW I made, but worked fine from the HD. Additionally, at one point, I got the video to run, but it locked up when I returned to the option. Very strange, but upon replacing the flaky video with a JPG, the menu had no trouble. The other game's video worked fine (transcoded with the same settings). There may be some things I can do to make it just a hair more robust in handling images and videos, I'll be looking at them after 0.9g comes out ("Feature complete" - I can concentrate on last minute cleanups) In the meantime, my best advice is to prep your discs with a DVD-RW first, then proceed to a DVD-R burn. :::sigh::: maybe it's just a glitch in the matrix. I had a bizarre problem with a disc that REFUSED to copy OK, but when I put the files out on the hard drive and burned a new disc from them, the files checked out OK (Win32 app). In any case, most screwups with MXM these days can be traced to bad media (DVD) or 'bad' image files (PNG/WMV). Post by: SniperKilla on January 22, 2003, 01:44:00 PM i rebuilt the iso using the ustil that just came out, forget the name, and burned 2x on the same ritek dvd-r's and all 3 games work great now Post by: SniperKilla on January 24, 2003, 11:49:00 PM
Post by: Tover on January 26, 2003, 10:49:00 AM as for skins, if you can use photo shop making skins are easy. format is 640x480 and if you look in the skin xml at these tags For the left hand menu: <Menu> <Top>100</Top> <------here gives you x and y coordinates <Left>63</Left> <Width>230</Width> <------here gives you...well like it says. <Height>200</Height> </Menu> For screen shot: <ScreenShot> <Top>120</Top> <Left>334</Left> <Height>193</Height> <Width>260</Width> </ScreenShot> For the bottome blurb: <Descr> <Top>305</Top> <Left>63</Left> <Height>30</Height> <Width>230</Width> </Descr> using photoshop window - navigator - info ; will give you the handy x/y coordinates and even w/h so manipulating these numbers will allow you to put the info anywhere on the screen. Also, for all...a great and easy way to edit the xml is to use a program called edit plus...it will format and highlight tags to make them easier to work with. |