whenever i use a msstyle that is ported from xp, my startmenu looks like this:



and i would like it to look like this (i edited this photo so it may not be a perfect example)


can i fix it somehow?

.


I gotta be blind but I don't see the difference between those two images.

It's like those old "WHAT'S DIFFERENT IN THESE IMAGES" pictures.

on the first image: the white part is narrow, and the dark part is wider... i want it to be the other way, like it is on vista by default... the right (darker) part takes too much space.

I think the only way you can do that is modifying the actual theme.. not sure.

thank you for your reply, but i don't know where to start... i tried opening the msstyles file with reshacker but i don't know what to do next...
i have no experience in creating/modding windows themes, so i need help

Are you doing this in WindowBlinds?
If so:
Can you not import the msstyle into SkinStudio and then modify the resulting WB VS?
Or have I missed a trick here?

no, it's just uxtheme patch... using this style.
i dislike windowblinds and don't want to use it... every time i installed it i had more negative experiences than the positive ones...

Took this from "Vista Hex Editing Tutorial 0.7 by UkIntel"
Making the left panel horizontally larger should shrink the right panel.

1. Open the .msstyle with Resource Hacker
2. Click on Variant / Normal / 1033
3. Then click on the Toolbar Action / Save As Binary File
4. Edit the Binary File with your Hex-Editor (Use the Values shown in the table below)
5. Save the Binary File
6. In Resource Hacker Right Click on Variant / Normal/ 1033 and click Replace Resource
7. Click Open With New Resource and select your edited Binary file.
8. Now Write in the following ...

Resource Type = VARIANT
Resource Name = NORMAL

9. Click Replace Resource and then click File / Save

?? = Your Size

Examples:
00 = No Left Side at all
A0 = 160px
B0 = 176px
D0 = 208px
E0 = 224px

The person that made the port did that on purpose. I told him to make it exactly like the XP version so he even copied that.

You can easily change the margins like psygn explained

thank you for your replies, but i am having trouble following the guide:

first, i have only Variant / Normal / 0 (no sign of 1033, even though i have 1033 on slanxp port by psycob @ deviantart)

i exported the binary file and don't have the values written in the guide (see screenshots)
i even tried to replace 61 with D0, but then the theme won't even load.




am i doing something wrong?

Some kind of lame joke right?

those values seem to be like in the manual only for the original aero.msstyles... but this is a port from windows vista + it's classic (non-aero)

i have no idea how to find what what to change...

If I remember correctly, the program I used to make this VS modifies the VARIANT for its own use, therefore UkIntel's guide doesn't apply here.

That's true and rather unfortunate for those who want to tweak it some more. The only possible and "easy" way to edit it would be to get a copy of VSB, find the properties, and change the values. I say "easy" because the navigation is a bit rudimentary and overwhelming at first glance, but most of it is understandable as to what it does (thanks to its descriptive names).

Okay, I have been struggling with this all night and I've finally decided I am going to need to ask for help on this I'm Andrew by the way.

Okay let me start off with what I am running:
Windows Vista Home Premium
The Fleur-De-Lys theme

I would like to compact the start menu so that the right panel is non-existant, or so that it only shows maybe 10px of it. I have already edited some registry files to remove the shut down and log off buttons etc and this side is now completely empty, bar the small arrow that did used to be the menu for the shutdown options.

So what I have right now is:


And what I want it like is this:


Basically I am doing everything that has been stated above, ie editing the 1033 file, and editing the hex etc. But when I go to apply the visual style in the control panel it says "Cannot load visual style" and one time when I tried it it said run32.dll had to close and closed the theme chooser.

Has this happened to anybody esle?
Is it possible to do what I am asking?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you


Apologies if I should have posted this elsewhere but I was following these instructions so I figured it was on topic.