PreLuna theme

[neodescis]

I have a really cool PreLuna theme almost done. I have the bitmaps in place. All I need is to change the system colors in the .msstyles file. I know I need to use a resource editor, but I need more specific instructions as to exactly what I need to do to export the INI files that the RGB values are in, how to edit those exported files, and how to re-import them.

Thanks,

Neodescis

[Osiris]

http://www.heaventools.com/

Go get PE Explorer from there

it will let you modify the text files directory in the .msstlyes file.

In there you will goto your theme section and editit. Basically its the script that windows runs on, you will just have to find the areas of the colours you want to change.

What I did was saved it, edited it with a text file that way you can search the file, looked for the colours, changed em, and opened and saved it in the editor and it was all done.

[neodescis]

Sweet! I will hopefully be able to release this skin tonight! I will keep you guys posted...

[Frogboy Administrators]

Bear in mind that PreLuna is an original skin created by Alexandrie (Johanne Chaine). Posting other people's works is known as "ripping" and considered extremely uncool by people in the skinning community. I happen to know she spent a lot of time coming up with that skin.

Making something for your personal use is one thing but posting it for others would be very bad.

[KnifeFace]

Is it just me or is Frogboy getting on everybody's nervs?

[KaosAD]

No it's not just you. Sorry people, I have watched for too long now and am tired of these kind of posts. I watched one thread go from someones nice work on a skin into a battle of Stardock vs. StylesXP.

Frogboy, why don't you stop posting your tripe. I am sure others would be more than glad to converse with you if you didn't come in here throwing about accusations. I think you need to listen to your own words. Do you forget the big mess at Wincustomize when the XP icon sets came out, two people in particular arguing over who created them first? Yet you never accused either of "ripping" off each other or "ripping" off Microsoft and you never intervened once. Yet you have so much work to do but yet you find the time to come here and stir the pot. Quit throwing around accusations. According to you then, Alexandrie ripped the theme from Microsoft, that's going by your definition in the other threads. Just relax and give people a chance. Your actions are no less than what a troll would be doing. Enjoy the community, converse, share thoughts but do NOT accuse people of "ripping" unless you can provide proof.

Also quit being silly about the legalities of all this. Stardock does not have an exclusive on skinning, that would be the same as saying Microsoft has an exclusive on the Browser market or Office market. You can NOT stop anyone from developing utilities for enhancing the GUI. From what I have seen from your posts, it would not surprise me that Stardock already knows this because they have probably already looked into the legalities of the matter and found there is nothing they can do, hence you come in here to try to perform policing duties. Sorry if that is such a strong accusation but that is how you are coming off. rant>

Whew, now why don't you play nice and share some of your knowledge to help the COMMUNITY, isn't that what this is about???

[maeby]

yeah. relax. ;)

[Neil Banfield]

Originally posted by KaosAD

No it's not just you. Sorry people, I have watched for too long now and am tired of these kind of posts. I watched one thread go from someones nice work on a skin into a battle of Stardock vs. StylesXP.

Frogboy, why don't you stop posting your tripe. I am sure others would be more than glad to converse with you if you didn't come in here throwing about accusations. I think you need to listen to your own words. Do you forget the big mess at Wincustomize when the XP icon sets came out, two people in particular arguing over who created them first? Yet you never accused either of "ripping" off each other or "ripping" off Microsoft and you never intervened once. Yet you have so much work to do but yet you find the time to come here and stir the pot. Quit throwing around accusations. According to you then, Alexandrie ripped the theme from Microsoft, that's going by your definition in the other threads. Just relax and give people a chance. Your actions are no less than what a troll would be doing. Enjoy the community, converse, share thoughts but do NOT accuse people of "ripping" unless you can provide proof.

I think it will be quite easy to prove its a rip once its released. Given the name and the fact elsewhere its been refered to a port of WindowBlinds PreLuna should make it fairly clear.

I should also point out that PreLuna is NOT a rip of Luna and actually looks nothing like it. (hint the Pre bit means before)

Brad is here trying to prevent a problem before it gets out of hand. Some artists are VERY protective over their skins and will even resort to legal action to prevent rips.

This has happened before (in that case it was Mac users over ports of K skins to WB by users) and we would rather it did not happen again!

Apple are also very protective of their Aqua look and will potentially take action against skin authors, so I would suggest anyone making Aqua skins (for any app) to be careful.

[KaosAD]

Neil, glad to see you here. The fact of the matter is the skin has not been released, if and when it is and it does prove to be a "rip" then by all means it is justifiable. I am not condoning "ripping", anyone that knows me I am one of the harshest when it comes to "ripping". Still the fact remains we have not seen this skin so we do not know for certain that it is a pure "rip".

As far as Brad goes, I think you need to go through his posts and see how a member of your team is conducting himself.

I am all too familiar with the E and Mac fiascos, again I am not condoning "ripping" at all.

What my objections are is Frogboy aka Brad filling up threads with tripe. If he or yourself have thoughts or problems then post it in a thread with an appropriate title. His (frogboy) posts of late have been nothing more than Stardock propaganda and nothing less than irritating.

[Frogboy Administrators]

Well let me apologize if my posts come across as "tripe"

But in my defense, a cool feature for Neowin would be to let people actually see every post posted.

Example here are some of my recent posts:

General area:

"1st computer" created by me. General conversation about what someone's first computer was.

"Will peopl ever stop attacking Microsoft" just a general conversation about Microsoft.

"How many people like their jobs" (topic of jobs)

"I have an idea: NeoWwin mailing list" (partook in a conversation about a mailing list.

"Best PC game of all time" (what was your favorite PC game)

"The ULTIMATE job" (what do you think would be the best job to have?)

"Enterprise: Terra Nova" (trek discussion)

The post you refer to where you accuse me of turning into a flamewar was the post about Watercolor by Binary in which I merely said his skin looks cool. That's ALL I said. Then someone jumps on and asks when will WinCustomize add a section for it. I explained why and THEN it turned into a flame war.

Skin names tend to be pretty unique and PreLuna is a VERY well known WindowBlinds skin. It is not taking a leap of faith to say that this skin is probably based on it. I didn't attack him and I felt my post was polite.

And if you think you're getting irritated with me, then put me in your ignore post. How do you think I feel? I can't even compliment a skin without someone turning it into a flame war. If I point out that ripping is bad, I get flamed.

If you see something I'm posting at Stardock propaganda, then call me on it. Say "Hey, that's Stardock propaganda".

[KaosAD]

And if you think you're getting irritated with me, then put me in your ignore post.

No, I will not, you can do better than that. I never put any one on ignore. I know you are above this and can produce quality posts.

Then someone jumps on and asks when will WinCustomize add a section for it. I explained why and THEN it turned into a flame war.

If you see something I'm posting at Stardock propaganda, then call me on it. Say "Hey, that's Stardock propaganda".

You need to step back and look at what you are doing. You said it yourself, if you are truly a business man then you must have deduced by know that this kind of reaction can not be good for business. I understand Stardock's concern. They have been developing a program for what seems to be ages now and then all of a sudden Microsoft comes out with their own engine. The neat thing about it is there doesn't have to be an exclusion list for applications to use the Microsoft skinning engine. That's one reason why I always uninstalled WindowBlinds, I would have to exclude half of my applications. I am not trying to slam Stardock, on the contrary, you guys did a wonderful job with what you had to build on. Now Microsoft has built a solid themeing engine and then only lets Stardock build "on to it" in essence. So I understand your concern but I just ask that if you are drawn into a "flame war" that you think about your current and potential customers that you may be driving away. I for one may use other Stardock products in the future due to Neil and how he handles matters.

Professional conduct is a top priority in successful businesses.

[Frogboy Administrators]

I agree with you that perception is reality - if people perceive my posts as being some sort of cheesy business tactic then that's bad.

But at the same time, users should be forthright. I type long posts, but that doesn't make them tripe. If I'm posting "propaganda" then just call me on it. Say so in the post. I can't think of any posts on here that could be considered propaganda.

Saying that ripping is bad is not propaganda. Similarly, telling people that looting is wrong is not propaganda.

Look at this post from a new perspective, if you didn't know me or what my day job was, you may have agreed with my post.

[KaosAD]

Evidently I must not be getting my point across, because here you are, yet again. It's your place to be "forthright" but not opinionated. You are a business man, albeit a poor one. I am not going to squander any more of my time on this, you have spoken mountains of information for me. I was searching all your posts to quote you on this, then I realized you were leading me the same way you led others. I DO NOT have to call you on anything "I am a customer!". I suppose it is best if I put you on ignore. I was just trying to point out the position you are putting Stardock in. I retract my statement about purchasing future Stardock products. You have lost a customer. By the way, you never know who is on the receiving end of your comments and who they may work for. Have a good day gentlemen.

[brendl]

whats your problem, when brad opens his mouth he is usually saying something logical and that makes sense. He pointed out that someone was working on a rip, and you guys attack him.

If you dont like Wb, dont blame him, it makes you seem really stupid when you attack an intelligent opinion.

[Frogboy Administrators]

Kaos - that's like saying I won't ever buy anything from whoever employs you. I'm not allowed to have a life outside of work?

What does saying rips are bad have to do with Stardock? I pointed out that most of my posts on Neowin are not even remotely related to my day job and you attack me. Great.

[Redmak Administrators]

Ok a short reply.

We won't host ripped themes on neowin. Just don't expect us to check every linked theme to see if it's a rip or not (don't even know how to do that cause I don't know that many existing themes)

On the other hand it has to be really clear a theme is a rip. Themes can easily look alike.

and yes, the images on neowin look somewhat like the images found in window XP :ponder: (never said we were perfect)

Now play nice you hear.

[Steven P. Administrators]

KaosAD, please dont scare away our visitors, as Brad pointed out he contributes alot to this forum aside from the Stardock posts in which HE is FLAMED and simply defends himself (I would do so in such a situation) I have had strong opinions on Stardock too, but I didnt go out of my way to make Brad feel smaller than me!

This is also just un-acceptable here. We have up until now not really have to deal with such an amount of flame posting.

The advice I have to you and everyone else that reads this is: Treat others as you would expect others to treat you.

[neodescis]

Well, if you look at porting skins that way, then over half of the WindowBlinds skins are ripped. I.E. beos skins, the popular Whistler and Luna skins, the KDE and Gnome skins.

I readily admit that my skin is the port of the WindowBlinds PreLuna skin. I also know that in the .wba file of the original PreLuna skin, there is no copyright information, therefore I assumed it was free to use as I saw fit (including porting).

If they at Stardick (sorry, I am somewhat mad at them right now) are upset that I used their skins in a way that it nowhere mentioned was not OK, then I will "mention" that all skins in their library based on the Linux design are illegal themselves, because Linux is GNU, and anything based off of that is also necessary to be GNU.

Also, aren't all of these Aqua themes pretty much rips themselves? I can find no difference in snapping screen shots (or using borrowed ones) and using the original bitmaps.

Finally - I don't want to host my themes on Neowin. If this is the kind of "welcome" I get, then I don't really want to put my files here.

[Steven P. Administrators]

Listen I think Brad is trying to point out that the authors created those images themselves, just as I did here on Neowin, YES its a MS flag and YES they are icons and images found in Windows, BUT I edited them and in such a way that they are no longer the same as the originals, in style or size.

Be-OS and Aqua skins may well be rips, but the author had to start somewhere, he made the graphics. That is the whole point.

He said it to protect you! say you went ahead and posted it, he made you aware that the author MAY have a problem with it.

He didnt accuse or order you to do anything, nor did I.

[Frogboy Administrators]

neodescis - Did I say what Stardock says on it? No, I am TRYING to help you.

To repeat a story told already elsewhere:

A few months ago someone ripped one of Treetog's (a famous skinner) WinAmp skins. The rip appeared on WinAmp.com. Within days of discovery, thousands of people jumped on WinAmp.com and it became a warzone.

WindowBlinds skinners are no more ethical than anyone else. Not a week goes by that some guy will submit a Kaleidoscope skin rip and the moderators have to zap it. And we've learned from painful experience what happens when one gets passed. On Skinz.org, a few Kaleidoscope ports got through and their message board erupted in a huge month long flame fest that spanned the entire site as Mac users jumped on and just went nuts.

With regards to OS ports, for whatever reason people don't have as much of an issue with them. Though I can tell you that I've gotten many calls from Apple lawyers over the years but they seem to have gotten softer on that.

But it's a specious comparison anyway. Taking the work of a particular individual, especially one that is easily contactable, and using it for your own and then distributing it is wrong. Morally, ethically and probably legally.

And this has nothing whatsoever to do with Stardock for crying out loud. If you were making WinAmp skins I'd say the same thing because as Neobond has pointed out, I hang out on many boards here and I can tell you already what would happen if rips started appearing. And it's almost always onsided because you end up with a handful of people lamely arguing that stealing other people's skins is okay and a gazillion people flaming.

You act like it's somehow some sort of Stardock policy. Plagarism isn't new.

[neodescis]

Originally posted by Neobond

Listen I think Brad is trying to point out that the authors created those images themselves, just as I did here on Neowin, YES its a MS flag and YES they are icons and images found in Windows, BUT I edited them and in such a way that they are no longer the same as the originals, in style or size.

Be-OS and Aqua skins may well be rips, but the author had to start somewhere, he made the graphics. That is the whole point.

He said it to protect you! say you went ahead and posted it, he made you aware that the author MAY have a problem with it.

He didnt accuse or order you to do anything, nor did I.

I am sorry, then. I viewed it as a "you jerk, you're ripping this person's work, even though half of these skins here are doing the same". I am sorry if I misinterpreted it.

Also, I did change and create at least half of the graphics that went into this, because the UIS format is not nearly as complete as the MSSTYLES format. Plus, the PreLuna theme didn't even have Start Panel graphics, which I created and am implementing in my version.

[neodescis]

Originally posted by Neobond

Listen I think Brad is trying to point out that the authors created those images themselves, just as I did here on Neowin, YES its a MS flag and YES they are icons and images found in Windows, BUT I edited them and in such a way that they are no longer the same as the originals, in style or size.

Be-OS and Aqua skins may well be rips, but the author had to start somewhere, he made the graphics. That is the whole point.

He said it to protect you! say you went ahead and posted it, he made you aware that the author MAY have a problem with it.

He didnt accuse or order you to do anything, nor did I.

Well, my above post responds to some of this (I was posting while you were, I guess). But anyway, in response to the rest - I am not at all trying to be mean to Stardock about this. I am mad at them about a separate issue (which I won't go into here).

I do realize that "ripping" skins is wrong. But, this is my first skin. Also, more than half of what is going into it will be original anyway (see above post).

As for the weak comparison of the Operating System stuff - I personally see no difference. In fact, I see that as worse, because that is copyrighted (I saw no copyright info in the PreLuna skin files). If makes no difference how easy it is to contact someone, or if it is a singular or group effort.

Furthermore, I would be flattered if enough people liked my skin to port it to another format.

Finally, let me say this - this skin is not a direct "rip" of PreLuna. See, what I did was I created a bunch of WB3 skins, and PreLuna was one of them. All I did was took the existing PreLuna skin and added the WB3 features. It is this that I am porting, rather than the original PreLuna (not that it really makes a difference, though).

[Steven P. Administrators]

neodescis: its cool, I can tell you from experience that we were forced to put an IMAGE BLOCK (or .htaccess file) on our domain root simply because people believe that the work I created can be hotlinked to their websites, this really IS pure ripping, not only do they steal the images I created/edited they steal bandwidth too.

When I said something about it, I was flamed, I was told they are MS images "so I can do what the hell I like" - er no, I edited them, and they stole them and the bandwidth! (example: I dont spend 15 mins on making an image transparant for our layout to get hotlinked somewhere else!)

If your work is BASED on an idea, well thats cool, because it will be different and yet STILL your own work/graphics. WHOOO!

[neodescis]

OK, cool. I am glad we got that settled. BTW, if all works out OK, my skin will be available tonight.

BTW, neobond, where did you get your name? Mine is actually from another board. (I am new here, but I have over 1200 posts there).

[KaosAD]

brendl...whats your problem, when brad opens his mouth he is usually saying something logical and that makes sense. He pointed out that someone was working on a rip, and you guys attack him.

Whats your problem? I was discussing this with Frogboy, at the very least, in a mature manner.

Neobond...KaosAD, please dont scare away our visitors, as Brad pointed out he contributes alot to this forum aside from the Stardock posts in which HE is FLAMED and simply defends himself (I would do so in such a situation) I have had strong opinions on Stardock too, but I didnt go out of my way to make Brad feel smaller than me!

This is also just un-acceptable here. We have up until now not really have to deal with such an amount of flame posting.

The advice I have to you and everyone else that reads this is: Treat others as you would expect others to treat you.

Scare away visitors? Flame Posting??? I know what Frogboy has done and is doing. I never said that, but I see people have problems here as well as on other forums over "reading posts". I never insulted Brad, I was merely pointing out what he was doing wrong in a business sense, unless Stardock isn't conducting business. What it still comes down to is he accussed someone of something with out solid proof. You are committing slander in the real world when you accuse someone of an act and can not prove it. If it is indeed a rip then the person will hang themselves when they release it. Alexandria can then, if so sees fit, either ask the person to remove it or persue legal actions.

Frogboy...Look at this post from a new perspective, if you didn't know me or what my day job was, you may have agreed with my post.

I have been skinning since the days of Lonerunner and I know your perspective. I do agree "ripping" is done by low individuals. Imagine having your demo reel ripped off, I know the feeling too well. Still you can not conduct yourself in the manner that you are/did when you are a known represenitive of a company.