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Mr.McNally

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Posts posted by Mr.McNally

    [AddOn] Yod'm 3D 1.4 v1.0

    in WPI, nLite and RVM Addons

    Posted

    Hi MrNxDmX,

    Yesterday I got to try the English only version on my non-virtual machine.

    Program crashed(exactly as it would in VMWare) until I got my display drivers installed(ATI catalyst Control Center v7.6).

    After reboot, program worked flawlessly. It really is a super cool app. Each side of the cube is a different full size desktop, making 4 desktops from 1!

    Then after another reboot, it started to crash repeatedly on startup.

    I looked for a way to uninstall the app, but I couldn't find one.

    Finally, after uninstalling the ATI catalyst 7.6 and installing the MSUpdate ATI display driver, I managed to regain function of the app. It seemed to have corrupted my display driver in some way, as I never could get decent graphic performance even after redownloading and reinstalling new display drivers.

    At this point the app will crash if it tries to start while my screen resolution is set too low.

    I think part of the problem is in the catalyst drivers, as they tend to load rather slowly on startup, usually being last to show up in the taskbar on startup.

    The "start with windows" option is checked by default. If there was some way to remedy that aspect of the app, it might be somewhat less troublesome. It may also work for me if was to use a startup delay app to keep if from starting before the ATI software.

    I am going to give the program another shot, but I don't think I will be trying to add it unattended at this point. The lack of a uninstaller and the dynamics of the ATI catalyst control software are making it more than i can handle at the moment.

    Thanks for your hard work, as well as for your taste in choosing such a cool app to work with. I really hope I can get it to work for me in a stable fashion. It is not only useful but also really cool looking to spin 4 full desktops around!

    Keep up the great work! Best Regards, Randall :welcome:

    [Finalists] June 2007

    in Graphics Showcase

    Posted

    Its so hard for me to decide!

    VastoLorde's is quite impressive. I'll bet he has a rather powerful hardware setup.

    Rick's makes me feel sad I am not getting to take a vacation again this year. Colorful, tropical and the gadgets fit very nicely with the theme.

    Mavric77's is clean and uncluttered. I am a fan of black themes. His desktop looks like a very comfortable and productive place to work or play.

    If I had to choose one of them to have as my own it would be Maveric77's, my choice for the month.

    Can I share an addon made from someone else's switchless installer....

    in Addon Discussion

    Posted

    I have a question about making a addon from a switchless installer that I got from someone else's site. I found a couple of switchless installers elsewhere and used them to make my first nLite/svcpack style addons.

    My addons work great and I would like to know if it would be inappropriate to share them.

    Also, if it is alright to share them, what would be most appropriate way to give credit to the person whom I got the switchless installer from?

    If it is not ok I understand, as I would never want to be accused of stealing someone else's work.

    I just need someone to school me on the proper way to go about sharing things I found elsewhere.

    My only motivation is to contribute to the community. :)

    WinCert stealer

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I have been thinking about this situation and I have an idea.

    I notice that the one guy, Ahmed has less than 20 members of his site. What if we all went to his sight and signed up as members. Then everyday, each one of us will stop by his site and ask some extremely daft questions, make some moronic comments, or test the limits of his knowledge by asking him to explain in detail some really complex concepts that he claims to understand. I propose a quota of three questions/comments per day per person. It shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes a day to complete. :D

    I doubt that he ever considered the possibility that he might launch a website and have it filled with a bunch of pestering imbeciles, who never let up with the questions and comments. :crazy:

    It may also affect his membership growth rates as people come and browse his site and see that it is frequented by a bunch of dip****s on a daily basis. At least a few of his 19 members will probably have a hard time dealing with the new crowd as well.

    In the end there would be no real harm done. The only downside that I can see is in the potential loss of personal productivity. The amusement and laughter gleaned from reading Ahmed's responses to out questions as we show up to fulfill our daily quotas could potentially become rather addictive. ;)

    WinCert Forums

    in Announcements

    Posted

    I've renamed the current Addon Requests forum to Addons Discussion and its description says it all. Anything is allowed there :)

    Thanks for the suggestion.

    Cheers!

    Thanks! :thumbsup_anim:

    [Release] SCSI Pass Through Direct Drivers v1.56

    in SVCPACK Addons

    Posted

    Did that windows installed correctly? If no, there's sth wrong with your disc. please try doing the integration again.

    No it didn't install correctly. I have been making my installs from a XP pro SP2 image file I made that I keep mounted in a virtual drive. I have made good installs in the past with it, but lately I have been having problems. I posted this error here because the error message box was named SPTDinst. I assumed that the error was the fault of the SPTDrivers I was trying to install, of which I have no experience using.

    It is highly likely that the error is elsewhere if others are using this addon successfully.

    In fact, since I left this post I cut out any of the addons that I thought I might not need upon first startup and the problem is gone. I didn't reinstall the SPTD though. I don't know enough about what they do and I have Alcohol 120% so I don't usually install Daemon tools. I thought it would be nice to have virtual drive setup at first boot, but I realized today that Kel's Uber pack, which I have also been integrating, already has MS virtual drive.

    Rick is probably right because I have been getting an error message during the first few minutes of the installation which says "Setup can not copy FolderC.inf" and I am given the option to ignore, try again or quit. The error message happens just after setup formats the partition and begins to copy files. I used the "skip" option a couple of times, and this may be the result. Its funny but I can search the pre-iso installation files and I can not locate this FolderC.inf file anywhere, although this may be the problem that setup is complaining of. ? :doh:

    I must admit that it is very hard to remedy the setup complaints when I dont understand what setup is complaining about! Thanks for your help, I will come to understand this stuff sooner or later. :)

    [Tutorial] Creating a Theme AddOn

    in INF Discussion

    Posted

    I usually ask for permission, once they hear that their theme is gonna be slipstreamed/installed automatically into Windows XP along with all the other default XP themes they are quite happy that its possible and say yes :P

    Nice! :clap: Thanks for your help! Wincert is Awesome!!! :P

    [Tutorial] Creating a Theme AddOn

    in INF Discussion

    Posted

    Reg2inf is a utility for converting .reg format files to .inf files.

    FGCBA is a utility that checks your addons for errors and, optionally packs them for you. (You do need .net framework for it also)

    Msstyles can be made from editing the stock msstyle files with a resource editor or with stylebuilder but it is EXTREMELY difficult todo and get a good looking theme. (I have made a couple)

    Thanks for your response. I have been hesitant to run the utilities since i have no idea what will happen when I try. Are they GUI based, and are they relatively intuitive to use?

    So is the FGCBA is a tool that will tell me if my addons will work before I go through the process of making a new xp installation and then testing it in a virtual machine? If so, would is work for other types of addons besides style/theme addons?

    I toyed around with stylebuilder 2 for a couple of days a while back, and it seemed a bit complex to me. I was not very good at it right away and I quickly lost interest due to time constraints. If what I experienced with stylebuilder 2 is what it is like to make msstyles, I agree. It is very difficult skill to master.

    I have noticed that many of the themes found in the addons are made from work found on the Deviant Art website. I suppose it would be best for someone with my level of skill to work on making the addon from pre-existing msstyle designs and to not worry about the designing side of things just yet.

    Is there etiquette(besides please and thank you) to acquiring the work found on Deviant Art? Can I simply ask to use what I find, or should I expect there to be more to it than that?

    [Tutorial] Creating a Theme AddOn

    in INF Discussion

    Posted

    OK, so I have been looking over the information for a while now and I have a couple of questions for you. Although I admit to not reading the entire OSR Guides for making .INF files, I do not see anywhere in your written explanation anything regarding the usage or function of the 2 other files you are offering for download, 'sendto' and 'reg2inf'. I have downloaded both of these files and neither one has any sort of description or information file inside that gives a basic description or usage information. Could you explain the purpose of these please?

    Secondly, my next question may be a completely daft one and if so I apologize for my dafticity. How do I make a .msstyle file? Will I need to use a program like TGIsoft's "stylebuilder 2", or is there another way? If an explanation would be extraneous or a bit off topic here, would you please direct me to a reference that might help me understand this creation of .msstyles files?

    Once again I apologize if I am asking questions that have obvious answers, or if my understanding of these ideas is a bit behind the group. Thanks so much for the time and effort you have spent in making this guide for all of us.

    [Tutorial] Creating a Theme AddOn

    in INF Discussion

    Posted

    How to make a INF Theme AddOn Explained

    AddOn Tools:

    Reg2Inf Ricks_Reg2Inf_AddOn_v0.37.7z

    FGCBA Ricks_FGCBA_SendTo_AddOn_v0.897.7z

    OSR INF Guide

    Notepad2 Website

    Ill begin with a step by step tutorial with this icon12.gifVistaBasicTheme.7z Theme mod

    Start by extracting and studdying the layout of the Theme Pack and where the files need to go in Windows

      File				 Destination
     Aurora.jpg	 -> %WinDir%\Web\Wallpaper
     Basic.theme	-> %WinDir%\Resources\Themes
     Basic.msstyles -> %WinDir%\Resources\Themes\Basic
     Shellstyle.dll -> %WinDir%\Resources\Themes\Basic\Shell\NormalColor

    Now to create an INF file that will copy the files to the specific places

    1a- Open Notepad2 and lets start by creating a section called

    [Version]
     Signature="$Windows NT$"

    $Windows NT$ means that the following files can ONLY be installed on NT, 2000 and XP ($CHICAGO$ is used for ALL Platforms 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000 & XP)

    2a- Now go to File->Save As... and save the file as Basic.inf and you will now see some colors appear in your Notepad2 text editor

    NOTE: the INF filename must be 8.3 filename compatible, that means 8 letters for the filename and 3 letters for the extension

    3a- Go back to the INF file and now add another section [Optional Components] and under that put the name of your project i.e. Basic

    [Optional Components]
     Basic

    4a- Now were going to create a section with the EXACT same name that is under [Optional Components], in this case its Basic so we make a [basic] section and Add the following below it:

    OptionDesc= for Option Description, Tip= for the InfoTip, Modes=0,1,2,3 (I don't know what this is for) and CopyFiles= for the different directories to copy to

    [Basic]
     OptionDesc = "Basic"
     Tip		= "Vista Basic Theme"
     Modes	= 0,1,2,3
     CopyFiles   =

    Now we can begin...

    Lets start with the copy instructions for the Basic.theme file:

    1b- Create a custom section with whatever tittle you wish... Lets use [Theme.File] and add the Basic.theme theme file to it

    2b- Now Add Theme.File to CopyFiles= in your INF file under [basic]

    3b- Create a NEW section named [DestinationDirs] and add Theme.File equals (=) and the destination you wish to extract and install the file to. In this case look in the OSR PDF Guide and on the last pages you will find the Value Number for %WinDir%\Resources (16440)

    Note: 16440 is equal to %WinDir%\Resources, so every file listed under the [Theme.File] secction (in this case only Basic.theme) will get copied to X:\Windows\Resources then to the Themes sub-folder

    Lets do the same for Basic.msstyles:

    1c- Make up another custom section name for the msstyle file i.e. [style.File] and now add Basic.msstyles under it

    2c- Now add it to CopyFiles= after Theme.File (Separate each CopyFiles entrie with a Comma <,>)

    3c- Now add it to [DestinationDirs] (dont forget to add the sub-folders after 16440)

    Now the ShellStyle.dll copy instructions:

    1d- Again Create a custom section of your choice i.e. [shell.File] and add Shellstyle.dll file under it

    2d- Add it to CopyFiles=

    3d- And DestinationDirs (it needs to go in X:WINDOWS\Resources\Themes\Themes\Basic\Shell\NormalColor)

    NOW the Aurora.jpg Wallpaper for the Theme:

    1e- Create another custom section i.e. [Wall.File] and add Aurora.jpg under it

    2e- Do the same to CopyFiles as before

    3e- Add it to [DestinationDirs] (needs to go in X:WINDOWS\Web\Wallpaper)

    TIP: Look in the OSR PDF Guide and locate the nearest location or folder number to X:\WINDOWS\Web\Wallpaper

    In this case we find the number 10 which equals %WinDir% which is the same as X:\WINDOWS now simply add "\Web\Wallpaper" (including quotes) after the destination folder number 10 or WINDOWS

    Almost finished:

    1f- Create a new folder named Basic on your desktop and gather/copy ALL the Theme files into it

    Aurora.jpg

    Basic.msstyles

    Basic.theme

    Shellstyle.dll

    2f- Cab Archive them together. I use TUGZip to make my CAB files by highlighting all the files, then Right Click and Add To Basic.cab

    Tip: If you have CabTool (included in Kels and Ryans Addon Packs) Right Click the Basic folder then Send To->CabTool and it will create a Cabinet file named Basic.cab with all the theme files in it

    TugZip example

    tugzipey6.png

    CabTool example

    cabtoolxi0.png

    3f- In the inf make a NEW Required Secction called [sourceDisksFiles] and add ALL the files in your Cab file to it = 1

    4f- In the inf make another NEW Required Section named [sourceDisksNames.x86] and add this to tell the INF file that the files are located in Basic.cab in the i386 folder in your XP CD

    The final result is a Basic.inf file that looks similar the following:

    [Version]
     Signature="$Windows NT$"

     [Optional Components]
     Basic

     [DefaultInstall]
     OptionDesc = "Basic"
     Tip		= "Vista Basic Theme"
     Modes		 = 0,1,2,3
     CopyFiles   = Theme.File,Style.File,Shell.File,Wall.File

     [Basic]
     OptionDesc = "Basic"
     Tip		= "Vista Basic Theme"
     Modes		= 0,1,2,3
     CopyFiles  = Theme.File,Style.File,Shell.File,Wall.File

     [SourceDisksNames.x86]
     1="Vista Basic Theme","Basic.cab",,"i386"

     [DestinationDirs]
     Theme.File = 16440,"Themes"
     Style.File	= 16440,"Themes\Basic"
     Shell.File	= 16440,"Themes\Basic\Shell\NormalColor"
     Wall.File	 = 10,"Web\Wallpaper"

     [SourceDisksFiles]
     Aurora.jpg	 = 1
     Basic.msstyles = 1
     Basic.theme	= 1
     Shellstyle.dll	= 1

     [Theme.File]
     Basic.theme

     [Style.File]
     Basic.msstyles

     [Shell.File]
     Shellstyle.dll

     [Wall.File]
     Aurora.jpg

    Tip: I added a [DefaultInstall] section (optional) with the same exact stuff as under Basic for testing purposes... You can Right Click on Basic.inf and Select install then browse to Basic.cab and select then OK and your theme should get installed

    THATS IT for the INF and now for the Entries*.ini file :) ...

    1g- Open Notepad2 and paste this into it:

    [general]
     builddate=2007/xx/xx
     description=
     language=
     title=
     version=
     website=

     [sysoc]
     Basic=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,Basic.inf,HIDE,7

     [dosnet_files]
     d1,Basic.cab
     d1,Basic.inf

     [txtsetup_files]
     Basic.cab = 100,,,,,,_x,,3,3
     Basic.inf = 100,,,,,,,20,0,0

     [i386_compress]
     rvmtemp\extracted\Basic.inf

     [HexEdit]
     I386\uxtheme.dll|6.0.2900.2180|113178|83EC1C568D4DE4|33C0C9C2040090
     I386\uxtheme.dll|6.0.2900.2523|104714|83EC1C568D4DE4|33C0C9C2040090
     I386\uxtheme.dll|6.0.2900.2845|104746|83EC1C568D4DE4|33C0C9C2040090

    2g- Add the Title, Build Date, Version Number etc. then Save As... Entries_Basic.ini

    3g- Now Zip, Rar, Cab or 7zip these files together:

    Entries_Basic.ini, Basic.cab and Basic.inf to create your finalized AddOn Example Basic AddOn

    Entries.ini file explained:

    The HIDE command in "=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,Whatever.inf,HIDE,7" will not hide this Addon from the "Add Remove Windows Components" unless it has the exact same name as whatever is under [Optional Components] in the INF example:

    Entries_Basic.ini

    Basic.inf

    The following section (Optional) will instruct nLite or the RVM Integrator to cab Compress your Addons INF install file, from Whatever.inf to WHATEVER.IN_ and add it to the i386 folder (you can manually cab it to .IN_ and omit this section)

    [i386_compress]
     rvmtemp\extracted\Whatever.inf

    Te following will only work for the RVM Integrator and it will automatically patch the UXTHEME.DLL file (does not affect nLite users)

    [HexEdit]
     I386\uxtheme.dll|6.0.2900.2180|113178|83EC1C568D4DE4|33C0C9C2040090
     I386\uxtheme.dll|6.0.2900.2523|104714|83EC1C568D4DE4|33C0C9C2040090
     I386\uxtheme.dll|6.0.2900.2845|104746|83EC1C568D4DE4|33C0C9C2040090

    Thanks Rick! You make it seem so easy. I am going to try to make one. I will share mine if I happen to come to understand this process enough to succeeded at it. Thank You. :welcome:

    WinCert Forums

    in Announcements

    Posted

    Dear fellow board members,

    We are very proud to announce that we have passed our administration team's goal of reaching 1000 valid members, to celebrate; we think that we should discuss a possible new forum structure on WinCert.

    We are aware that with such a diverse group of knowledgeable members, we should better accommodate our active and supportive members that have helped WinCert become what it is today. Furthermore we will be taking suggestions on forum structure, such as addition or deletion or closing of certain forums.

    Every suggestion will be taken into consideration.

    Thank you,

    WinCert administration team.

    Congratulations on the 1000+ membership milestone! I am happy to be one.

    Its funny that I found this topic, as I was just sorting through the forum titles trying to find an appropriate place for two questions that I would really like to ask, but can not find anywhere that looks to be the proper place for them.

    I have a question regarding svcpack addons, nlite and RyanVM's Integrator, but in the unattended section there is no general discussion area. I would very much like to engage some of the brilliant people here in conversation about the various nuances that either method employs. I would also love to figure out how to use Kel's WPI. Perhaps I should be looking for that information in the official forums created for those softwares, but as you mentioned there is a diverse group of knowledgeable members here. I am inclined to think that the discussion regarding these softwares might be more open and members might express themselves with less bias here, as opposed to what a person might experience at the 'official' forums for these apps.

    I also have a question/comment about RyanVM's forum, but I cant find an appropriate place to ask that question either. I am afraid that I will have to pm one of the mods to find out more on that one.

    In any case, thanks for being here and for having me as a member. I hope that my input is of some use here, on this topic as well as in general. :welcome:

    Windows XP SP 3

    in Microsoft Windows XP

    Posted

    I love XP....Vista still sucks.. it has not too much support.. most of apps. are on XP.. and the drivers are still to XP.. something else My XP looks like Vista and it is the same XP that I like .. Don't you believe it.?

    Watch this.. !! heehehe

    clip29zf7.th.jpg

    THIS

    clip13fa9.th.jpg

    AND THIS

    clip16cg2.th.jpg

    WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! :dribble:

    How do I make my XP Look like this????

    Log-on User Password Reg. Keys?

    in Unattended XP

    Posted

    ~~~Update~~~

    Problem solved. It turned out to be a service setting that was hindering my login situation. I am 99% certain that I between having a couple of services disabled, in conjunction with the user logon 2 enabled by Kel's Uberpack needing to have a setting changed regarding logon privileges, I have found the root of my problem.

    Seeing as how the solution was so simple, as well as being an oversight on my part, I must apologize for taking up space in the forum.

    I haven't solved the theme issue yet, but I am sure that the question stands to receive more consideration elsewhere in the forum.

    Thanks to Ricktendo64 for the reply.

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