Xbmc Freezing Up When Starting Kai Options

[RMM]

I just upgraded a friend from an old XBMC version to the newest version but I am having problems getting Xlink Kai to work. At first the problem I was having was when I went to the Xlink screen in XBMC only a couple of the games were showing up. I then deleted all the game saves using the MS dash. I also deleted the X, Y and Z drives as well as the CACHE folder on E: I also deleted the kai-vectors.xml to try and make sure there was nothing left over that could be causing conflicts.

The problem I have now is that if I try to start XBMC with the Kai client running on my computer the Xbox freezes up as soon as XBMC starts. If I start the Xbox first then start the Kai client, I am able to connect to the arena's but when I choose one, the Xbox freezes up. Can anybody explain whats going on here?

[c-2]

http://www.teamxlink.co.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=evo7:xbmc

most likely the workarounds listed there ..

[l11l1VeNoM1l11l]

I'm having the same problem to a T.

[RMM]

I'm having the same problem to a T.

Well the problem seems to be a bug in XBMC itself in the newer builds that hasnt been fixed. In order to get around this problem you could look at the link c-2 posted where is says to:

"upload all the icons located here ..

c:\Program Files\XLink Kai Evolution VII\avatarCache

to

/XBMC/UserData/Thumbnails/Programs/XLinkKai/

upload all the icons into that folder , from both folders (avatarCache and arenaCache)"


For me, I tried that approach and it didnt fix the freezing problem (I tried on 2 xboxs that I updated at the same time) but for most people it apparently works.

[c-2]

ya it i guess didn't test it enough because mine still does freeze when it hits an icon with a name thats to long to upload .. that is the problem tho because the ones i put in work and allow me to use kai ..

we need to either shorten the icon names in kai / xbmc or stop xbmc from even trying to download them so we can specify our own .. better to ask here www.xbmc.org ..

[RMM]

OK after not being able to find any answers, I did some basic testing and here is my 2cents worth regarding some of the problems going on with this freezing situation. First you cant just FTP over the avatarCache/arenaCache from the computer for a couple of reasons. For one, many of the file names are too long and they break the XBox's FATX partition character limit of 42 characters. Second (and more important), XBMC (or more precisely the Xlink part) doesnt even use that same naming. XBMC Xlink connects to the Xlink client, downloads the icons but converts icon names to some type of Hex value type based name (Im guessing in part to overcome the FATX limitations). For example the icon for "arena_xbox_first person shooter_halo 2.jpg" is renamed and saved as "avatar-a37c9a3.jpg" when XBMC downloads the icons. I dont see how FTPing over "arena_xbox_first person shooter_halo 2.jpg" or any other icon from c:\Program Files\XLink Kai Evolution VII\avatarCache would ever work because those names are not hex based as XBMC Xlink uses.

The problem with newer XBMC builds is that somewhere along the path of downloading and renaming the icons, Xlink is freezing due to a bug or two. I dont believe this issue is related to too long a file name being downloaded and converted because you can take a very large icon name like "arena_xbox_first person shooter_greg hastings tournament paintball maxd.jpg" or its Xbox Xlink name "avatar-56d7746d.jpg" and delete it from the thumbnail directory and the Xbox will have no trouble downloading the icon without freezing the next time it is started. This would seem to me like too long a file name being downloaded and converted is not the problem. The problem seems to occur when the Xbox is trying to download and convert several icons at once that it doesnt already have in its thumbnail directory.

To prevent freezing you need to have all the icons already renamed by XBMC Xlink in the XlinkKai thumbnail directory. You could do this by downloading an old XBMC version that didnt have the freezing bug (In my case I used the July 23rd 2007 T3CH release) and go through all the Xlink arenas which will then download the icons to the XlinkKai folder at /XBMC/UserData/Thumbnails/Programs/XLinkKai/ You could then take this XlinkKai folder save it and make sure you transfer it over to any new XBMC release that has the freezing bug. I have made a zip file already containing all these renamed thumbnails for anyone that doesnt want the hassle of going through all the XBox arenas themselves to download the icons because it can take a while. I hope this helps everyone.


Extract to /XBMC/UserData/Thumbnails/Programs/XLinkKai/
http://www.zshare.net/download/800937235684bb/

This post has been edited by RMM: Feb 23 2008, 07:06 PM

[RMM]

PS If you have background animation enabled you may still get some freezing. To disable background animation click the start button on your joypad and goto personal settings, customize theme and check the disable BG Animation box.

[l11l1VeNoM1l11l]

NICE FIX, RMM! It worked flawlessly.

Thank you, you are a god.

[RMM]

NICE FIX, RMM! It worked flawlessly.

Thank you, you are a god.

LOL, hardly a god and its more of a work around than an actual fix but Im glad I could help nonetheless. I always appreciate it when people help me so I try to do my part and help any when I can. Its good to hear you got it working.

[xflbret]

I appreciate the hard work and all but the link is no good. just takes me in circles....wait for your download, click here to download, watch another ad, wait for your download...there's no escape.

google has been less than helpful in finding another download source. is this package somewhere else?

[c-2]

ya thats weird eh , the loop of ads .. you can get these icons from your own computer if you use kai .. they are located here ..

C:\Documents and Settings\your name\Application Data\XLink Kai\avatarCache

the user icons need to be copied as well, the 'arenaCache' folder has all the arenas in it .. you need to copy them all into the same folder on the xbox.

hope that helps.

[xflbret]

ya thats weird eh , the loop of ads .. you can get these icons from your own computer if you use kai .. they are located here ..

C:\Documents and Settings\your name\Application Data\XLink Kai\avatarCache

the user icons need to be copied as well, the 'arenaCache' folder has all the arenas in it .. you need to copy them all into the same folder on the xbox.

hope that helps.

I appreciate the suggestion, but it didn't work for me. I'm guessing because the pc versions had the real name, where the xbox version needs the names hexed because of space concerns.

can someone help me obtain the packet that RMM offered? That site just doesn't work (I"ve tried three times)

thanks in advance

[xflbret]

please?

[Shai Hulud]

I have the same problem with the download link, so i second the request for mirror. Thanks!

[RMM]

I appreciate the hard work and all but the link is no good. just takes me in circles....wait for your download, click here to download, watch another ad, wait for your download...there's no escape.

Well its been about a year since I posted that so Im guessing the link finally went dead. I'll post the files again on rapidshare so hopefully the link will stay good a little longer this time around. I went back and got updates on all the icons so maybe that will help with everything being updated. I will also include the original zip file I posted.

see if this helps: updated Xlink Kai Xbox icons

This post has been edited by RMM: Mar 15 2009, 07:14 PM