x-s users could post their ideas/comments about the features UnleashX devs should add in futures builds. Here's my modest ideas:

A simple text editor Editing *.xml files directly from the xbox would be koo
HDtemp support
Builtin save game manager

id like to see it implement preview vids like mxm and ftp like ava.
oter thant that it seems dead on with everything i might need aside from flashing.

1) To me, one of the main features that is lacking is scripting ability. The ability to use custom scripts in the config.xml would make this dash pretty close to perfect.

And if you (UnleashX) decide to implement scripting support, there's a particular feature that I have always wanted in EvoX, that hopefully you could implement. It would be great to have the ability to call other scripts and/or apps from within a script. Conditional statements (eg. if, then) would be awesome, too! But that might be asking too much (is it?).

2) The 2nd main feature that would be great would be a few slight improvements to the background music handling. What I think would be cool:
- mp3 (and other major music types) playback
- Specify the path to a music folder within the config.xml (eg. F:music), for those of us who don't use the MS dash to rip CDs
- Play control buttons (play, pause, stop, fast forward, rewind, skip). It would be cool to make extra skin tags to handle this, so we could make custom buttons to match our skins.

3) This has already been mentioned, but the ability to flash your chip's BIOS is almost essential

[EDIT] Just thought of another thing...

4) The ability to use relative pathnames in the config.xml. I noticed it's already available for the <Skin path> tag. It would be handy to be able to use for all the pathnames.

Wake on Lan would be nice. See my general request...
http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?act...30&t=131590&hl=


thelusk

QUOTE (dzv @ Nov 29 2003, 01:06 PM)

1)  To me, one of the main features that is lacking is scripting ability.  The ability to use custom scripts in the config.xml would make this dash pretty close to perfect. And if you (UnleashX) decide to implement scripting support, there's a particular feature that I have always wanted in EvoX, that hopefully you could implement.  It would be great to have the ability to call other scripts and/or apps from within a script.  Conditional statements (eg. if, then) would be awesome, too!  But that might be asking too much (is it?). 2)  The 2nd main feature that would be great would be a few slight improvements to the background music handling.  What I think would be cool: - mp3 (and other major music types) playback - Specify the path to a music folder within the config.xml (eg. F:music), for those of us who don't use the MS dash to rip CDs - Play control buttons (play, pause, stop, fast forward, rewind, skip).  It would be cool to make extra skin tags to handle this, so we could make custom buttons to match our skins. 3)  This has already been mentioned, but the ability to flash your chip's BIOS is almost essential [EDIT] Just thought of another thing... 4)  The ability to use relative pathnames in the config.xml.  I noticed it's already available for the <Skin path> tag.  It would be handy to be able to use for all the pathnames.

You do know that Media X Menu supports full action scripting correct? Might wanna take a look here http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?act=SF&f=58

SHORTCUTS!!!!!!! Like in XBMC, where it searches for all .xbe files and makes a shortcut menu to them! That would rock!!!

One big small problem at the moment is that the rightbutton on the d-pad changes the song, but when your entering a password, the right d-pad button still changes music, so everytime you try to scroll along the buttons, the music changes, which is quite annoying.

Other than that - great job!

this one may seem kinda weak but its really bothering me...

items on menus just disapear in plain sight when scrolling. might wanna make them fade out or something. it would look more professional

there needs to be a boundry limit on text so when game names are too long it doesnt mess everything up, same with newsfeed, this should be skin defined.

yea and i second the mp3 support.

QUOTE (dzv @ Nov 29 2003, 06:06 PM)

1) To me, one of the main features that is lacking is scripting ability. The ability to use custom scripts in the config.xml would make this dash pretty close to perfect. And if you (UnleashX) decide to implement scripting support, there's a particular feature that I have always wanted in EvoX, that hopefully you could implement. It would be great to have the ability to call other scripts and/or apps from within a script. Conditional statements (eg. if, then) would be awesome, too! But that might be asking too much (is it?). 2) The 2nd main feature that would be great would be a few slight improvements to the background music handling. What I think would be cool: - mp3 (and other major music types) playback - Specify the path to a music folder within the config.xml (eg. F:music), for those of us who don't use the MS dash to rip CDs - Play control buttons (play, pause, stop, fast forward, rewind, skip). It would be cool to make extra skin tags to handle this, so we could make custom buttons to match our skins. 3) This has already been mentioned, but the ability to flash your chip's BIOS is almost essential [EDIT] Just thought of another thing... 4) The ability to use relative pathnames in the config.xml. I noticed it's already available for the <Skin path> tag. It would be handy to be able to use for all the pathnames.

1) There's some of "scripting" built into it. Please see the "docs" for this". I think the only dash that supports real scripting with all the features you wanted is BenJeremy's MXM.

2) The support for multimedia is limited. I never design this to be a full-featured multimedia player. This is a dashboard first, and we have great players already. I'll try supporting MP3 but that's not immediately on my list. Anything that would prove to slowdown this app will be removed from the list of my priorities.

3) Flashing, though one of the planned feature, is at the bottom of my list. Again, I designed this dash with safety in mind. I think I made that pretty clear in the docs.

4) There's a bug with the detection on bootup right now (fixed already), but you can use reletive paths to everything, except using the ".." to point one folder up.

Rest assured, these request are being thought of carefully. Speed and agility/responsiveness is one of the main feature I would like UnleashX to be known of, among other things.

QUOTE (amstrad @ Nov 29 2003, 07:13 PM)

SHORTCUTS!!!!!!! Like in XBMC, where it searches for all .xbe files and makes a shortcut menu to them! That would rock!!! One big small problem at the moment is that the rightbutton on the d-pad changes the song, but when your entering a password, the right d-pad button still changes music, so everytime you try to scroll along the buttons, the music changes, which is quite annoying. Other than that - great job!

Shortcuts? For what? Doesn't UnleashX autolist all the xbe's it can find on your HD?

The Music and DPad this has been put to my attention and quite aware of it. I'm gonna do something about it.

no it dosnt, it just finds stuff in areas you tell it to look in the .config file, it dosn't search the ENTIRE hard drive!

QUOTE (unleashx @ Nov 29 2003, 08:45 PM)

2) The support for multimedia is limited. I never design this to be a full-featured multimedia player. This is a dashboard first, and we have great players already. I'll try supporting MP3 but that's not immediately on my list. Anything that would prove to slowdown this app will be removed from the list of my priorities.

I hope it stays that way. I like the good looking, functional, logical, small footprint dashboard that it is right now. If I want a slow loading media rich frenzy to impress my friends I'd just run MXM.

No disrespect to MXM, it rocks, but I think UX has got the balance between good solid funtionality and cheap thrills about right. Rock on.

[My first post in the UnleashX forum.]

UnleashX - Great dash, thanks! And I'm already looking forward to the next release.

I hope you stick with your convictions and keep this a small and fast dash.

My 'wishlist':

1. Screen calibration. Just nice and simple x and y positioning. All TVs are different and most skins appear off center for me.
2. Custom fonts.
3. Flash BIOS.
4. Customiseable screensaver (add text elements e.g. SongName, etc).

I really can't think of anything else right now (beyond basics/bug fixes).

QUOTE (amstrad @ Nov 29 2003, 10:17 PM)

no it dosnt, it just finds stuff in areas you tell it to look in the .config file, it dosn't search the ENTIRE hard drive!

That's the trade-off we all have to deal with. You don't want a dash that takes forever and a day to load, do you?

Anyways, are you talking about XBMP's shortcut (their .cut files)?

@49er,
Screen calibration may not be there for a while. But I may suggest that you use the safe area instead when designing a skin. Leave 34-40 pixels on each side, and 25-30 pixels on the vertical. Working within these bounds should take care of your items.

Custom font is coming along just fine. I just did the font for the Infotext. I'm on to Menu font. I guess I have to limit custom fonts to those two sections. Though, I have to settle for the XPR format. TTF just takes much longer to load and render that it's not even close to being funny.

Flashing of BIOS may not be there for a long time. I have my reasons and it's stated in the docs. Until everything is A okay, don't expect it to be there. You still have EvolutionX/FlashX/raincoat for that, right?

I'll see what I can do with the screen saver. It's something I had to rush for the initial release. You can change the text right now, but that's about it.

Are the XPR fonts made the same way as they are made for mxm?

QUOTE (geniusalz @ Nov 30 2003, 12:52 AM)

Are the XPR fonts made the same way as they are made for mxm?

Yes, but XPR is a native format for the Xbox, created using the bundler application.

No, just confirming.. because BenJeremy is working on a component for MXM skinner that will let it make XPR fonts

Without the Bundler? That's cool, so people could start making fonts without having to worry about MS.

Heres my little request, not a big deal but it would be nice to have.

ID3 tag support for the songs
It would also be nice if the song titles scrolled to the left for those exceptionally long file names that get cut off

a nice feature would be, if you could run some filetypes with a prog, like in windows *.txt with notepad
but on the xbox with xpad or so, or videos with xbmp

so maybe a configfile where you can associate a fileextension with a program and then you can launch them from the filemanager with a "click"

QUOTE (unleashx @ Nov 30 2003, 12:33 AM)

QUOTE (amstrad @ Nov 29 2003, 10:17 PM) no it dosnt, it just finds stuff in areas you tell it to look in the .config file, it dosn't search the ENTIRE hard drive! That's the trade-off we all have to deal with. You don't want a dash that takes forever and a day to load, do you? Anyways, are you talking about XBMP's shortcut (their .cut files)?

no, just once, you could add "search" in the settings menu, to search chosen drives for .xbe's ...you'd do that once, asnd then never again, unless you added a new program, nice and quick!

Support for chameleon would be awesome

my 2 cents worth:

-Swap date option(so it will show either 21.12.03 or 12.21.03)

-HDD temp

-Option to display info about ur xbox in a dropdown box
(i had this in evox),option in menu was XboX Info and when clicked on it showed

-=Aaron's Xbox=-

XboX : PAL v1.1
Bios : X2 4977 Blue Cycle
MOD : MULTI TSOP Flashx4
Dash: Evox 1.8.3921
HDD : 80GB Seagate
DvD : Samsung

in a dropdown box

-Enable/Disable/Set Password protection with-in the dash say in the settings(so u dun have to edit the xml each time throu ftp)

-I no its been said a few times but bios flashing

QUOTE

3) Flashing, though one of the planned feature, is at the bottom of my list. Again, I designed this dash with safety in mind. I think I made that pretty clear in the docs.

well not having a go at ya or nething but u say u had saftey in mind,but then u add a "format" option ????was that a safe option do u think,passwording the flashing would saftey it up a little

-Backing up of eprom like evox from the menu

-MP3 support as said in other posts would just rock

-the password redone so u dont have to use the keyboard,and show every1 there the pass u enter,maybe a button or 2 or 3 assigned to do it,like A,UP or something,kinda hard to have a password as a secret if every1 in the room can watch ya type it in



as i said just me 2 cents worth

QUOTE

-Swap date option(so it will show either 21.12.03 or 12.21.03)

Set you time zone/date time setting option from MS Dash and it would show up like that.

QUOTE

-Option to display info about ur xbox in a dropdown box (i had this in evox),option in menu was XboX Info and when clicked on it showed

Yeah, that's also being worked on.

QUOTE

-Enable/Disable/Set Password protection with-in the dash say in the settings(so u dun have to edit the xml each time throu ftp)

This is one of the feature I'm trying to add it, along with renaming of menu items.

I did said that Formatting of HD may be the only dangerous thing included with this dash, but it's not as fatal as a bad flash. It's easy enough to restore a formatted HD, and if I may add, formatting of the C drive wasn't included in the config.xml

QUOTE

-Backing up of eprom like evox from the menu

Should be easy enough to do, but don't expect it to write it back for you.

QUOTE

-the password redone so u dont have to use the keyboard,and show every1 there the pass u enter,maybe a button or 2 or 3 assigned to do it,like A,UP or something,kinda hard to have a password as a secret if every1 in the room can watch ya type it in

Have you seen the virtual keyboard asking you for a password? Isn't it masked? Oh, when you're actually typing it in, you mean. It's gonna be hard to follow that just by looking at the screen, but let me see, I'm thinking about it.

QUOTE

Have you seen the virtual keyboard asking you for a password? Isn't it masked? Oh, when you're actually typing it in, you mean. It's gonna be hard to follow that just by looking at the screen, but let me see, I'm thinking about it.

yeah i did notice it came out like ***** but ppls still c u stop on the letters and if u have a short pass then can c what u type


another wish:

-a way to re edit the sound the screensaver makes when it hits the side of ya screen,i set the saver to 0 to stop it frm comin on as its pain when u r listening to tunes and its bouncing of the walls of ya screen......

-be able to add ur own sounds,i have heaps of little funnys sayings/quotes etc and would luv to assign a default sound for say when my xbox starts up,after(or b4) u enter the pass and it sayz something like"oh what is it now cant u leave me in peace" ,and when i hit the shutdown button on the menu,i noticed it beeps then turns off, would luv to be able to change the beep to something like from the great movie aliens,"Game over man its game over" i have heaps of these little quotes etc is there a way to add them like that???

EDIT UPDATE:

another wish

-bios version and dash version displayed on the dash/skin(i no u can enter some small info in the screensaver(i have my bios version roamin round the screen for the screensaver)but would be nice to have it on the dash

-show fan speed,like say display it in the settings aswell section and show in skins if configured??

I feel sorry for UX getting bombarded with requests for features, he didn't ask for any!
But hell, here's my mine anyway, at least it should be simple to implement?

Newsfeeds. Would be great if newsfeeds could be defined in xml as say <newsfeed1> <newsfeed2> etc etc (say up to 5), then the skinner could locate different feeds in different areas of the skin, rather than have a 1 feed follow the other in the same feed space.

Also I think passwords based on native controller buttons, e.g. "XAXAYB-LTRIGGER" is a great idea, would increase operation speed no end.

Long game titles should not be chopped off at the right edge of the screen. Instead, the chopped off text should be wrapped to the next line or to as many new lines as necessary.

something that would say what game is in dvd drive ?, ive alot of dvd-rws and i dont write names on em, major pain to start the game only to know which is it

NO, DONT LISTEN!! I don't like multiple-lined text, I dont know why but I just dont think it looks very neat, maybe a ... at the end, so for example:

Panzar Dragoon Orta

would become:

Panzar Drago...

A few small things:

Track time remaining.

The ability to use multiple text sources e.g. Source="You are listening to "+"SongTitle"+", "+"SongTime".

Remove the fog.

>>> Game specific NTSC/PAL switch - not sure if this is something you can add but I use MXM to lauch a couple of games that won't run in PAL. MXM is good because I can force everything else to run in PAL (so it appears centered on my TV screen).

Customiseable screensaver and loading screen.

Something was mentioned up above got me thinking. Then the ideas sprouted.

- It would be cool if the background music would first come from any audio CD loaded in the drive... then if it would somehow be possible to also tie into the XBOX method of copying CDs to the hard drive - really cool.

- I also agree that "silent passwords" using native controller functions would be great, but also leave the text passwords with an option to use one or the other in each section. The text passwords should support MD5 hashes in the XML and save that way by default from the settings menu. Possibly even detect plain text passwords and automatically convert to MD5 and resave.

- The XML configuration file should not be case sensitive. One of my text editors thinks it is real smart and changes the case of many XML tags. I found that <list ... is not the same as <List ... Upper case 'L' works while the lower case 'l' does not.

- Sometimes saving changes through the settings menu messes up the XML configuration. Many of element tags appear as <> instead of something like <Preference>. I believe this occurs when there is a slight XML error as described above. To be "safe", try to save out multiple backup copies that could be renamed through the file manager if needed. I say "try" since it may be running from CD and not be able to save config.

- I've never liked the sorting options in the dashboards, maybe I've missed something but I want to: Have a dynamically produced Games menu, with subfolders for things like Emulators and HomeBrew grouped at the bottom. My problem is that I prefer to have all the official XBOX games in the Games menu without putting them in yet another submenu.

- Allow batch script commands to be assigned shortcut keys. Save one key like the left thumb press for an alternate function. Then allow the rest of the keys to be assigned to batch scripts. This could be used to fire things like the File Manager from any menu.

- Using context menus that pop up with a key like the start menu is a great thing. Everything from firing off a command with an argument or just running some internal function could be dynamically assigned to the menu.

- Although I understand the fan speed simplicity of 1.0 to 5.0... I really prefer using 20% to 100%. I believe that a percentage is more universal and more understandable. Using a percentage would also allow a FanSpeed tag that could be assigned in the skin.

- Dynamic fan speed based upon temperature measurements. This doesn't need to be checked every second and I know that it will only be dynamic when the dash is running, but it would be great if after playing an intense game and returning to the dash if the fan speed would increase to cool off the box quickly. The "dynamic" settings could be something in the config file where we could set levels that would increase the speed. Maybe just Red, Yellow, and Green settings that each have threshold and fan speed, maybe also Eject LED color change...

- You mentioned having tags to display the FTP server functions... but I haven't seen these anywhere yet. I would love to see the last operation and user names connected along with a log file option.

- I'm not sure how other dashboards do it, but it would be great if UnleashX would find the correct icon for a game. Either in the saved game, in the XBE, or where ever... the ability to assign custom icons is great, but simplicity is when you don't need to.

- The ability to start, stop, and reset the network and FTP server from the menu is great. It would also be great if we could start, stop, and refresh the newsfeed.

- Having a menu option to rescan the file system in order to present a new game or application without restarting, to reload the icons, rescan the DVD drive, etc... all of these features would just added to the already great menu options.

Hey, I think I'm finally done :-) Many of these I think would be really easy to implement without sacrificing performance. Thanks again for a great dash with many awesome qualities!

QUOTE (FullMetalPacket @ Nov 30 2003, 10:21 PM)

something that would say what game is in dvd drive ?, ive alot of dvd-rws and i dont write names on em, major pain to start the game only to know which is it

It's coming. Source is "DVDTitle"

QUOTE (amstrad @ Nov 30 2003, 10:21 PM)

NO, DONT LISTEN!! I don't like multiple-lined text, I dont know why but I just dont think it looks very neat, maybe a ... at the end, so for example: Panzar Dragoon Orta would become: Panzar Drago...

The next release have it like this already, it truncates and add "...". I agree with the multiline text thing. There's so much going on in there already with the smooth transition, scrolling and what not. Making it multiline may just simply ruin the look, at the very least, slow down the display to a jitter.

QUOTE (unleashx @ Dec 1 2003, 02:56 AM)

QUOTE (FullMetalPacket @ Nov 30 2003, 10:21 PM) something that would say what game is in dvd drive ?, ive alot of dvd-rws and i dont write names on em, major pain to start the game only to know which is it  It's coming. Source is "DVDTitle"

Excellent !

Hi all !

First of all , CONGRATULATION for your great job about Unleash x !!


This is my primary dash for some days and it work very well !

( and only 2 file for installation, yehhhhhh good job ! )


Here is my little to do list


1/ make the rss news work

2/ can we have rss news in list, ie :

news1 news 4
news2 news 5
news3 news 6

in place of rolling news ?

3/ does unleashx can/will support boost mode ftp transfert like avalaunch ?

4/ possiblity to change color in real time
ie : click on a keypad, choose a color, and apply it directly, in the filebrowser for example.
it faster than edit the xml, reboot, see it...

5/ hu, not more at this moment, cause your dash rock !!!!


congratulation again....

IGR's

i dont want to use Xecuter Bios X.x

Gr8 work on UnleashX its really working gr8. Skinning support is gr8, don't even have to reboot

Some things i like to c to change/add

1. The counter from free diskspace is updated every 0.1 sec as example, so its counts fast, just like in the earlier evox'es instead of counting very slow.
2. You have zip, but i like to c rar support. SO i can unpack all those r00, r01 r02 files on my xbox.


Further its just simply rocks.
Good release btw, nothing hasty, but its all working no Alpha, stable ftp, i get 7,5 Mb/s uploading trough a router. Better than Evox

truncating the long game names of some names is cool like you say. ie.

The Simpsons Hit......

I like scrolling text better. I don't know if this release has scrolling game text since I was just browsing thru all the menus and option before I had to come to school.

But an option to let the user decide whether they want the name truncated or to have scrolling text would be cool.
options, options, options.

UnleashX has been my default dash now for 3hrs.
bye bye evox. Now I have to get to work on converting my InvaderZim and Ghostrider skins from evox

My 2 cents of Features

I've read alot of posts for 2 particular additions a) Flashing the BIOS + IGR.

Honestly, I'd rather both of them NOT be implimented. I would rather the time for progress put forth into squishing bugs (which from that I read many are being nailed), and other features. There isn't a need to flash the BIOS many times, and it's easy to link EvoX to UnleashX to do the flash. IGR has always had some issues with EvoX, so I would give the same complains of not to add it to UnleashX...

A fellow poster commented they wanted Chamellon Support...since I have a Chemellion chip, I would like to be able to switch between 4 x 256k , 5 x 512k & 1045k, but I'd prefer to use EvoX for flashing..

Just my 2 cents, I think all of us would benefit MORE from all of your work you have already done, than adding 2 features that we will not use too often..

Thanks again!!! MUCH RESPECT for your project!!

exj982

Something I'd like to see in another release of UX is POP mail checks, it doesn't necessarily have to view emails just something that shows how many unread messages are sitting in my mailbox. I get a lot of emails in a day and I always like to get in as much xboxing time as I can, so that would help ease the transition a bit.

Keep up the awesome work, and skinners keep eatting that briain food.

The true beauty of this dash is in it's simplicity and embedded file management (and dvd copy ability).

The only thing it is lacking is the ability to Flash - and maybe the ability to lock one's HD.

Put that in and Evox is bye-bye.

As far as IGR goes, forget about it - the dash should never be expected to handle it.

Leave it up to the bios - just like the media checks...

For me the only reason I’ve stuck with using the Evo-X dash is for the fact that it has the “Southpaw” line of code in it. Or the “ID command line” that allows you to swap the Analog sticks for the game you’d like to play. If it wasn’t for this feature I wouldn’t be playing games like Enclave, Hitman-2, or XIII. None of those games have a “Southpaw” option in the button config settings of the game itself. From what I’ve read here I like most of the other suggestions as well. Keep up the good work!

IGR!

There still lots of people out there still using an older modchip, thus not benefitting from the X2 IGR.

The only reason they keep using Evox, is because it has IGR. I agree, this dash looks great but without IGR I don't see any reason of using it.

WOL support would be awesome!
(so that i don't have to run to my computer to turn it on when i want to watch a movie on the box...)

I'd like to see some easy game management options added... Like PxHDD easy... I mod boxes for a lot of people without PC's and broadband. So they rely on PxHDD to add/delete games. The main problems with PxHDD is that it doesn't show how big the installed games are, and it sticks the games in a generic PxGame## directory. Makes managing them a chore. To clean space, you can end up wiping out a lot of small games to get the needed space, when you could of just wiped out one larger one...

Anyway, this is what I'd like to see....

***edited as requested***.Pop it in the drive.
Next to the DVDTitle, UnleashX lists the "DVDSize" in MB. (This will let anyone that can do simple math know if they have the room to install the disk or not.)
If there is enough room, the user can then simply run CopyDVD and perform a reboot.
If there is not enough room, the user can go to their game menu.
They select an game on the menu.
Press some button config to open a submenu...
The submenu has the Size of the game and the option to Delete the game.
Then since there is enough space the user can use the CopyDVD function to install the DVD.

Does any of that make sense?

thanks - post removed.

C-5,

CopyDVD will fail if there is not enough space on drive G, F, or E.

First of all...EXCELLENT dash. It has impressed the hell out of me. I would be perfectly happy if it stayed the way it is. I'll go ahead and jump on the wagon and throw out my suggestions though.

Random skins option. I love booting with mxm and not knowing which skin I will have. This would be a nice feature in your dash as well.

Automatic PAL/NTSC switching. That way if I put in a PAL disc it will automatically switch the region and keep it until re-boot.

QUOTE

I've never liked the sorting options in the dashboards, maybe I've missed something but I want to: Have a dynamically produced Games menu, with subfolders for things like Emulators and HomeBrew grouped at the bottom. My problem is that I prefer to have all the official XBOX games in the Games menu without putting them in yet another submenu

I agree with this. I think there should be at least a dynamic emulator menu since this folder is widely used. No, it's not hard to manually add it but would still be nice if it auto added it.

Preview videos would be nice too. Preferably where the user can define what vid name to search for. Example: All of my backups have mxm_ss vids/thumbs added to them...so do the games on my hdd. It would be nice if UX supported vids and I could define it to search for mxm_ss. (hope BJ does not take offense to this request )

Again, thanks for the awesome dash. The quick booting is awesome.