Going to keep this short and sweet. But not to forget some huge props to flattspott, for putting mucho time into the data this DB provides and also to Blazed for hosting the videos. (of course BJ and UnleashX for enabling us, yes both dashboards will be using this.)

Maybe at a later date we can provide mini-game cover image and ESRB image? will think about that.

while not 100% complete from the web-user viewpoint. Game Preview video download is 100% ready for MXM Actionscripting adn while I was planning to do it myself, it wouldnt be right to horde the information.

First, the web-view of the games database. http://www.xbox-skins.net/games/index.php

So lets get started.

Big question---> How?

You can get the info needed two ways. And you will need to get this data either once, if using the full database, or each time for each game based on the HEXID

1. Full Database http://www.xbox-skins.net/games/gamesdb.xml

2. Using the HexID of the game to check for the single item xml and pulling only that xml data. ie http://www.xbox-skins.net/games/xml/4b4e0002.xml for Airforce Delta Storm.

Then you only need to determine if the video is available, if you want it , and how to handle it. You then send a video request to the website and work the file and possible cookie that is returned.

in the actionscripts, you send the video request using http://www.xbox-skins.net/games/sendvid.php?sid=135

XML Data:
The sid in the url is the VidID value in the XML.

Video : 0=No Video Download, 1=WMV, 2=XMV

VC= Video Compression: 0=No Compression, 1=RAR, 2=ZIP


Retrieve the data:

Key points to check for are:
1. is the game in the DB, or single XML available?
2. is video available?
3. if video is available, how does it need to be handled? (RAR, ZIP, WMV, XMV)?

And all additinal info in the XML can be displayed, or not.

Keep in mind. Video downloads may or may-not be restricted to a certain download count. Much like the way AXS does the skins now.

When that download count is reached, a cookie will be sent so you can display that the limit has been reached, and how long before downloading can resume. (this might still need some work from BJ) Use the webdownload and click on 12 links or so)

The cookie you need to look for is named TimeLeft and its value will read something like :

"Everyone is limited to 10 Downloads in 24 hours. You have 2 hours 34minutes and 12 seconds to wait before downloads are re-enabled"


Not too short, and hopefully not too confusing. If it is confusing, let me know and i will clarify.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Current Working code (except i have the filefetches rem'd for now till i get the thumbs and covers uploaded and renamed.

Call from context, it makes no self references so you can name whatever you want to.


kudos to Jezz for the loaddialog from xml he used in the IPDialog script. Its awesome code and was used extensively with modification. Made the script build go extremely fast.

also... if you can master this, then skin downloading and actionscript downloading will be just as easy

short and sweet huh? Just kidding. Sounds good to me

Definitely sweet. Are all the preview videos up? I was thinking of redoing some of them. These are my thoughts on what the videos should be like:
-All in-game footage. Prefereably some action, or scenes cut and pasted together. Should show no titles (game name, dev name) or intro.
-No audio, because it sounds weird scrolling through.
-Low bitrate, about 300 kbits > Smoother scrolling


Besides that, I was thinking about a system where scripts could request files. e.g. skins for (originally) no-resource games, sound effects, etc

So you could let scripters upload files, and then put URLs in the script to download those optional files.

500 seems ok. As for the game title screen, that's like a pet peeve of mine. Don't really like it, because the game name is there anyway when you're scrolling through your list. But I guess it's fine, because who am I to tell you how to make them when you're the one making them

anyone have anything that works yet?


Edited to remove old code

I don't know for sure but you really should make it a point to try and read both the ActionScript Readme and the Change Log. Not trying to be mean spirited or anything like that. It's just that BJ revamped the webfile fetch in the 1197 build.

well, understandable to state, but i did read it. over and over, tried numerous ways of doing it, im just not getting the results returned. Yes, i tried the new var after the url too. I either get a lockup, or nothing.

Once i run the script I may or may not be able to navigate the main menu again even though i can quit the script and reboot with the controller... weird.


Nice try though, thank you for taking the time to provide a working sample.

hold on, my dumb ass is a wip behind.. just noticed im still using 1172 and not 1197. Thanks flattspot, you were helpful after all, image that.

getting the XML AND the rar using the sendvid.php? work fine now.

the xml and vid get from xbox-skins is fine now too.

I feel like an ass now, but when do i not?

Edit, see first post for code

Blazed, you want to put the game covers in the same general location too? They are just mini ones like you see on walmart.com.

I can add code to the admin to handle them but i will need a directory to put them in. im thinking "covers" in the same location as the "XML" folder

329 are 15 mb so far. I think it would be easier to see whats missing if they could be compared against the same list.

Great progress Koldfuzion, how about adding thumbnails to it as well? And how about instead of just listing the age rating an icon for the age rating?

for the web listing, we got away from icons and the soon to be sent code doesnt even shot the values unless you do a mouseover of the "+" sign that is shown on the webpage. This is only to show you that the value or content exists, the real work should be done by the scripts, web side, the user should just be clicking the download links.

Eventually, the scripts will download the videos, download the covers and the ESRB graphic and dump them all into the game directory.

If the skins are set to use resource calls using basenames , then no one will be forced the reboot to see the content immediately in the skins that support all three.

Edit: What would the source be for the thumbnails? I suppose the larger walmart.com cover images could be cropped to a decent thumb, but who is gonna do it? It was a pain just to get the 329 mini covers (i definitely thank adobe for adding actions to photoshop 7, saved me an butt-load of time but was still a lengthy process.)

um, friendly sarcasm aside. Thanks for pointing me to my error flattspott. Its great to see this stuff work, even though it still has a way to go. On your skinfix script to use basenames, you are including the in the script the thumbs/covers basenames too?

BJ, a little concern about a user choosing "download videos" on the context menu more than once before final execution. Maybe a function to disable controller input for a specific time, and/or timeout?


msgbox "Controller input will disabled during video download, press a button to continue, black to quit"

CNTLRLOCK 20000 <<- Lock controller input with time to wait, follow
Webfilefetch var path result <<- get file if bad result immediately unlock (i havent played with the results yet, so i dont know what im talking about)
If result == "404" GOTO Unlock
CNTLRUNLOCK
GOTO File cleanup

:Unlock
CNTRLUNLOCK
GOTO QUIT

What are the possibilities of using actiondraw to provide progress on content download??

I could send the filesizes, but how to send the value first and how to use in MXM to display? I think it would be a very nice touch...and very progress informative.

Well about the thumbnails, just get everyone here to upload all their own ones

well there are a few covers for homebrew stuff already on
http://covers.boob.co.uk/
And a few others have been posted before... If you get a list of the ones that haven't yet been done then I'll make ones for them.

As for the thumbnails - it shouldn't be too hard to create a script to dump all the thumbnails to a folder where we can then upload them to a site for you should it?

nice link chilin_dude, definitely to be used.

I will post a link later today so the covers i have can be checked for those willing to grab what is missing. Yes, a upload form could be done to allow the dumping of the covers/thumbs.

Like I said, I only hit walmart.com, never made it to amazon or any other site to search for covers.

Need to add an internet check to the script too.. so if the xbox ip is 0.0.0.0 the script is killed right away.

Well I'll definately help out with covers and whatnot (thumbs )
because thats the only way i can really help as I'm too stupid for the rest

will do, the script went very fast so far.. just need to work the rar and unzip stuff for it to be completed.

wmv, cover and thumb will save to the game directory.

i still think its better to use z: for rar/zip operations.

See the FIRST POST for the code and required xml, props again to Jezz for the dialog code he used.

Now i got lots of php to write, email on the way Blazed.

I almost forgot the ESRB Button and icons, plus I made a mistake that screwed the script. So if you got it before now, you need to update both files.


almost there.. time for a quick bite, an email and some php.


Edit: Here are the mini covers i have so far. I havent touched the homebrew/apps yet.

chilin_dude, you can always upload the thumbs to the ftp. single zip if you want.
(anonymous access : ftp.allxboxskins.com can write to the incoming dir, wont see anything listed though)


Edit 2: Added a video request function (see very first post in thread). So if a XMV is provided, a WMV video can be requested from the dash. Will add this so any video missing can also be requested but I first need to make the php to pull the url data in and add to the yet uncreated table to list the requests. I will set this up on AXS for testing, and if it works right, convert to the xbox-skins code.

updated the code in the very first post.

The video request url points to axs right, but the code there works fine, so it might be wise to adapt the code to all possible requests.

Title, hexid, request type and xbe size are the only things saved.

I'll move it over to xbox-skin.net soon, i have other code i need to finish before i send blazed another update.

Request posting

heheh i feel like im talking to myself

Changed back to using the Z drive for the Thumb and Cover as a temp locations. Wmv and esrb download will go straight to the game directory.

Why? because if a thumb or cover doesnt exist on the webserver a #hexid#.jpg still gets created with 0 (zero) filesize. Not too big a deal, it can be checked for, but it CANT be deleted until you reboot and delete it yourself.

So if oyu use the Z drive, you can check filesize before you copy and you dont run the risk of messing up your menu.... and it will stop it in its tracks.

BJ, how can i check if a remote file exists before attempting to save to a null file that cant be deleted??

for this.. an easy fix is just to add the thumb/cover as another database field in the xml (just a 1 or 0 depending on its existance, hex value for filename), so if the xml is zero byte, then i can work around it.

first post code updated. works rather nicely.. but i did run into the delete bug

Wel I'm wanting to try this out, but I don't get the first bit, add tothe context menu, whereabouts do we add it in there?

in your MXM.XML find a nice spot and put this whole block (edit the path to what you need)

<Context>
<Item Name="Content Download">
<Mode>HD</Mode>
<Action>CallFile C:\mxmscripts\getvid.xas</Action>
</Item>
</Context>


Once you have the MXM.XMl edited, the content.xml file in the same dir as MXM and the script in the place you specified just go to a game, press Y, select game options and choose "Content Download".



All the covers will be going up real soon. Should have the dash to web requests completed soon too.

hey flattspott... where you at with the xml? we could just post what you already have and go from there.

Im reluctant to add any titles that are in your range because i dont want to duplicate work. Except new ones that come out, im manually adding them.

If you want to, you can send me what you have now, and just do it web-based from then on.


Edit: Im also going to add the content.xml to the script. Do a check in the same location as the pref.xml for MXM and if it doesnt exist, write it out. It will take away any user setup, especially if the script is included in one of the releases.


Finish this up.. and I can get to work on the Actionscript market.. Like geniusalz proposed. script writers will be able to create, distribute and update scripts with thier own source control and versioning.

btw.. the update from-dash-to-web worked great using existing filefetch which in a way.. was a step toward the high-score list for games, add the security and its just begging people to play for the #1 spot.

Yeah when you going to do it flatt
Only messing I know it takes a while!!!
BTW KF thanks alot for the pms you sent me, I had a play around for a while and I think I understand just about all of it and have got about finding which games down't have preview vids there, one question though - I don't get how you ul thumbs

Scripts are all currently queued up in a single thread.

This will change soon, however, when Plug-n-play becomes fully integrated.

You will be able to specify whether or not an app requires UI interaction; in the case of context, menus, I will have to consider that.... the best bet, as flattspott has said, is to post a message box up while doing your thing. Capturing input would be enough to prevent any issues. I may look into a way of notifying MXM that you want to suspend the UI while operating, though.

I worked on a little bit of code today... maybe a bit more this afternoon and tonight. I really need to get a new WIP out so you guys can hammer on the optimized interpreter. Meanwhile, I'm adding a bunch of code to handle various things.

One thing I'm adding is memory buffers for byte-by-byte access to files, as well as "handled" searches (if you don't specify a handle for the search, it becomes "GlobalSearch", so old scripts will still work with the new methods.)

I've been fleshing out the PnP White Paper, too... more ideas, refining the whole scheme. Once I'm satisfied it's solid, I'll start implimenting it - which is why this next WIP release should be carefully looked at, including the updated White Paper when I get it uploaded tonight. I really will need feedback on it.

1. The pulldown box to the left chooses what you are uploading. Cover or Thumb.

2. The browse button lets you locate the jpg to be uploaded.

3. The UL button is to start the upload.

It will post it using the hex value of the title...and all that is automatic.

A popup will appear saying something like "d3f45434.jpg was uploaded to the covers" or if hex is 0 or null, it will tell you hells no...of sorts.

Sorry if its confusing.. very limited on space so i dont show the filename you selected.

Glad you were able to read through the pm's. I know it was a lot to get at once..but its a lot to explain too.

what browser are you using?

the script has been updated to require only one file. flattspott built in the content.xml so if it doesnt exist, it will be created in the mxm folder on E.

it needs to be optimized. The area for zip/rar handling is there and i cant think of anything else it needs besides those two.

The post has served its needs

finally got around to testing it out, downloaded the GTA3 vid. It was slow for me (dialup) but it worked nonetheless

Maybe BJ can optimise it a little more to help out your dialup?

You never mentioned the delete bug.. so im assuming its fixed. I can wait to try out the new WIP once i get home.

It is one cool piece of work I must say, and the request feature is a great idea too!

Doesnt do anything for me now, dialog comes up be nothing else happens and i cant even quit the script. I have to reboot the box.

Yea, it wont do anything at all.

Can anyone else verify this?

the script has a pretty good update now too,esrb, thumbs, covers and videos all downloadable now. (no thumbs on the site though) . link is in first post.

I was gonna mention it when you posted