Easiest way to make your own custom bootskin

[katuuuz]

Bootskin Buddy by: RabidRobot

i've been trying to make my own custom bootscreen for a while now. after some googling, i found a forum with this link to this easy to use, must have for making a custom bootskin:

http://desktopgadgets.com/ViewGadget.aspx?GadgetID=52

alls you need to do is create/load your screen into adobe photoshop. go to image/mode/indexed color and set it to look like this.. (you can also tinker with the options to see what your image looks best as).

Palette: i'd suggest local (selective)

Colors: MUST BE 16 (windows uses only 16 colors for the bootscreen, if you notice it's not too hi-res)

Forced: black & white

Diffusion: 85%-95%

make sure perserve exact color, and transparency are NOT ticked.

now you need to go to image/mode/color table and save your color table to where you are going to save your screen you just adjusted.

once this is done, save the image as a .BMP where you saved your color table, and MAKE SURE to tick 4-bit i believe the default is 8-bit but you need to change it to 4.

now for the process bar. create a new document in Photoshop, 22pixels x 9pixels. (pretty sure it has to be this big, but you can test it otherwise... this size suited me just fine. since this is real small, zoom in all the way to work on your process bar. first fill the bar black with the bucket, then go image/mode/indexed color/ change nothing, and click ok. Now image/mode/color table click load, and load the table you saved when you made your actual screen. (i suggest having the BMP screen you saved open along with the bar you are creating so you can use the eyedropper to pick what colors you want to use ((because it has to be from the same color table))). create your bar as you want it, then save as a .BMP and select 4-bit instead of the default 8-bit like you did with your screen.

Basically you are done. Open bootskinbuddy (exe you downloaded from the link above) and import your screen image, then on the bottom, import your process bar. you can drag the bar around to place it where you would like, along with change how long it is in the box on the right. (must be increments of 22 pixels). once you are done, export your image to wherever you'd like and now when you open bootskin, you can import the bootskin you just exported.

works like a charm, and is probably the easiest thing i've done to customize my pc. I've included my custom skin based on Fire_brand's design (i used the galaxy backdrop and his triforce font). also i'll include my process bar so you can have some ideas on creating your own. or if you want you can just change the colors to suite your loaded color table, and use it as a template.

My Bootskin: http://www.filesend.net/download.php?f=711...c8c3d1109985ee4

(i found a FAQ on creating the screen image, and process bar using adobe, but cannot re-locate it so i typed this in my own words).

[amos_82]

You could be on to something katuuuz; GameEx could do with some more boot skins & bezels.

I use tuneup utilities & objectdock to change the way xp looks, although objectdock interferes a bit with the gameex hideos.exe.

[headkaze]

I used a cool little program called BootLogo to change mine. Don't know if it's any better or worse but it allows you to customise the progress bar colours as well.

bootlogo.zip

[katuuuz]

I used a cool little program called BootLogo to change mine. Don't know if it's any better or worse but it allows you to customise the progress bar colours as well.

yeah, you can creat your own progress bar though in adobe and load it into bootskinbuddy. i guess it is all preference though.

You could be on to something katuuuz; GameEx could do with some more boot skins & bezels.

I use tuneup utilities & objectdock to change the way xp looks, although objectdock interferes a bit with the gameex hideos.exe.

yes amos, what i have done is hidden my taskbar (auto hide) so it will float up if highlighted, used tweakUI referred by headkaze to hide my recycle bin and bypass "select user" windows welcome screen, made a wallpaper advertising the name of my machine, with images i used in my theme editor for gameex and on my marquee, and put game ex in my start up folder.

thus, when i power on the pc, my customized bootskin matching my marquee and gameex theme hide's the window's loading screen, it boots directly to desktop which doesn't look like the desktop for there isn't a taskbar and any icons (thanks again kaze for tweakui) and within a second or 2 startup automatically launches game ex. I have windows 99% hidden minus the 2 seconds inbetween starting game ex, but it's fine with me and looks great. plus it's a lot safer than using a sheller or snooping around in your system bios.

[jthompson]

plus it's a lot safer than using a sheller or snooping around in your system bios.

Yeah, how about that. Did you ever get your computer to shut down with out the "its now safe to shut down windows" message? That screen must really mess up your theme. You really shouldn't be so scared of your BIOS. If you can set up multiple emus and GameEx, you can surely take a peek at your BIOS and look at those advanced power settings. If you go in and don't see the settings then simply exit, no harm no foul.

Jay T

[TX_TRINITY]

The company that make window blinds desktop software also have a great freeware bootskin tool.

http://www.wincustomize.com/

I used to use object desktop but it was accessing Hw T&L and dx9 features which makes it glitch like mad with some normal applications. Bootskin works fine though.

TX

[katuuuz]

Yeah, how about that. Did you ever get your computer to shut down with out the "its now safe to shut down windows" message? That screen must really mess up your theme. You really shouldn't be so scared of your BIOS. If you can set up multiple emus and GameEx, you can surely take a peek at your BIOS and look at those advanced power settings. If you go in and don't see the settings then simply exit, no harm no foul.

Jay T

no jt, i looked in the bios, and went into power management and it doesn't say anything about the log off. probably because when i exit windows from the desktop the "it's now safe..." screen doesn't come up. it's only when i exit via gameEx. it may just have something to do with how gameex shuts down. but no, i havn't solved this problem, and as a result have to exit game ex, then windows. not a huge deal, but it would be cool to do everything through gameex.

EDIT>

yes, Jay T i finally did it. i went back to that thread where i origionally asked and saw your microsoft soloution, but in my control panel i didn't have power options. so then i saw shbon's reply, and found out i can also access power options by typing REGEDIT in START/RUN. sure enough modifying POWEROFFACTIVE to represent 1, in both HKEY_current user, and HKEY_users solved this problem lovely. now i wonder, anyone know about, or ever heard about a skin for the log off? i figure if it can be done for the welcome screen, it sure as hell can be done for the log off. (i never seem to be satisfied. i figure getting the damn thing to just turn off would be it, now i want a screen. oh well).

[emphatic]

I don't know if there's a logoff screen app, but you can setup GameEx to launch an app on exit, can't you? There should be some pictureviewer or something that might be able to show up real quick...

Emph

[katuuuz]

I don't know if there's a logoff screen app, but you can setup GameEx to launch an app on exit, can't you? There should be some pictureviewer or something that might be able to show up real quick...

Emph

good idea. i'll look into it.

[jthompson]

no jt, i looked in the bios, and went into power management and it doesn't say anything about the log off. probably because when i exit windows from the desktop the "it's now safe..." screen doesn't come up. it's only when i exit via gameEx. it may just have something to do with how gameex shuts down. but no, i havn't solved this problem, and as a result have to exit game ex, then windows. not a huge deal, but it would be cool to do everything through gameex.

EDIT>

yes, Jay T i finally did it. i went back to that thread where i origionally asked and saw your microsoft soloution, but in my control panel i didn't have power options. so then i saw shbon's reply, and found out i can also access power options by typing REGEDIT in START/RUN. sure enough modifying POWEROFFACTIVE to represent 1, in both HKEY_current user, and HKEY_users solved this problem lovely. now i wonder, anyone know about, or ever heard about a skin for the log off? i figure if it can be done for the welcome screen, it sure as hell can be done for the log off. (i never seem to be satisfied. i figure getting the damn thing to just turn off would be it, now i want a screen. oh well).

Good for you, I was wondering if you got it solved or not. This would have bugged the s**t out of me if it were mine.

Later

Jay T