Freestyle XBOX 360 Dashboard
-------------------------
2010/02/12
Create by axc97c
version 1.08
-------------------------
I decided that instead of focusing of file copying and browsing operations,
i would make the game launching and browsing as good as i could.
New stuff since last public release (1.03)
------------------------------------------
FTP speeds now 10Mb+ to internal HDD.
FTP working in many more clients (see FTP info section).
Copy DVD to USB drive or HDD.
View recently played games.
Preview video for each game.
Sounds within user interface.
View free disk space on all drives.
Date and Time in dashboard.
Background Artwork.
Add images manually using indexer.
Features
--------
FTP Support.
List XBOX 360, XBOX Live, Application and Emulators, and launch them.
Support for artwork for each title, including boxart, screenshots and icon.
Use pc to download artwork to xbox either via usb drive or ftp.
Browse games by genre.
Favourite games support.
Game details including no of players, resolution, sound and online options,
Fullscreen screenshot viewer.
Fully skinable.
Uses indexer to allow you to download artwork, and edit the metadata with
each game.
Customizable overscan.
Source code released too.
Installation
------------
Copy the "freestyle" folder onto either the root directory of the usb hard drive or
xbox hard drive and launch however you like. It will work in any directory, but
ive only provided launch isos and packages to boot from these locations.
Ive included several launch options for this release in the launch dir of the release
freestyle-usb.iso - cd image to boot freestyle from usb0:\freestyle\freestyledash.xex
freestyle-hdd.iso - cd image to boot freestyle from hdd1:\freestyle\freestyledash.xex
freestyle-usb - package to boot freestyle from usb0:\freestyle\freestyledash.xex
freestyle-hdd - package to boot freestyle from hdd1:\freestyle\freestyledash.xex
To use the iso files, burn em to a disc and boot it. To use the package files so you
get an item on the ms dash copy the one you need to
Content\0000000000000000\C0DE9999\00007000\ on your xbox hard drive.
FTP
---
To make ftp work with all clients, you need to exit the config.xml file in
the fsdata folder and set the xboxip field.
Other Notes
-----------
When first launching, you will be asked if you want the dashboard data
storing on the usb drive or xbox hdd. If you choose usb, you can run the
indexer with the drive connected to a pc, or via ftp while its still
connected to the xbox. If you use the internal xbox drive, you can still
run the indexer on the xbox via ftp.
Artwork wise, i have hosted all the icons i have available, so if any are
missing let me know which. For the boxart and screenshots, the indexer
uses the xbox marketplace for most content. Games that arent listed use
an alternate url for the main xbox site, but these need to be added manually
so some may be missing. The file for this is automatically updated so
if games have no info you can either wait for me to add them to the list or
edit the altgames.xml file yourself.
When the dash first scans your content, it takes a while as it extracts any
icons etc it finds. This is all cached though so subsequent launches of the
dashboard are quick.
The first run of the indexer will take quite some time, as it has got a lot
of artwork to get, so please be patient with it.
Video Preview support
---------------------
Plays preview.wmv from the games artwork folder. Larger files seem to crash the
XUI video player, so keep em to a few Mb. In the main skin, the res of the video
object it 354x200. Not sure what to do regarding the indexer and the video files,
they would require quite a bit of bandwidth to host if we started creating a collection
for everyone to download, so im open to suggestions.
At the the moment, some files play and some crash. I have no idea what the cause is
for this, prehaps someone can do some testing? All 3 sample wmv files with the
K
play properly, and the 720p HD wmv samples from microsofts site done.
Fonts
-----
The dash will look for a file called fonts.xml in your skin folder. The file contains the
typeface names and filenames that will be loaded for use in the skin.
An example file is as follows:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<fonts>
<font name="Berlin Sans FB" file="BRLNSR.TTF"/>
<font name="Constantia" file="CONSTAN.TTF"/>
</fonts>
To load the font "skin\NXE (List)\BRLNSR.TTF" as "Berlin Sans FB"
and "skin\NXE (List)\CONSTAN.TTF" as "Constantia"
The fonts filename and name should be the same as you set up in the XUI Tool.
Future of Freestyle Dash
------------------------
I no longer have to time to continue development of this dashboard. I may have time for
the odd fix, but for it to continue to develop someone needs to set up a svn and project
page and get the community developing it further. I have included the full source code
to everything to build the dash and indexer, but if ive missed anything please let
me know.
Thanks
------
Thanks to [coz] & Jeff, and the xedev team for the code for launching XBLA containers.
Thanks to dstruktiv for sending me the code.
Thanks to all feedback from 360 dashit indexer users, as this is what that
project has turned into.
Thanks to hfmls and ACharmedMatrix for beta testing some new stuff
History
-------
v1.08 View favourite games of main menu
Store recent games and view off main menu
File manager - copy, move, rename and delete file
Support custom fonts in skin
v1.07 NON PUBLIC RELEASE
Copy DVD to HDD or USB drive
Various fixes
Cover list has title for games with missing cover
v1.06 NON PUBLIC RELEASE
Fix for filezilla ftp client (and probably others) Requires your xbox ip
to be put in the config.xml file in the fsdata folder
Fix startup crash when no content.xml file was found
v1.05 NON PUBLIC RELEASE
FTP speed fix, now 10-11MBps, however, copying to usb is still slowish for
some reason, but then it is in XeXmenu too.
Fixed render loop to be fixed at 60 FPS instead of using a sleep
Change video preview to XMediaCreateXmvPlayerFromFile so streams files instead
of loading into ram
Add buttons working on indexer, allow you to add custom graphics to a title when
none have been automatically downloaded
Pick all/xbox 360/xbla/homebrew/emu on indexer to help sorting out your content.
Remove deleted stuff from index
Add background downloading support to indexer
Save list every 15 games when scanning
v1.04 NON PUBLIC RELEASE
Fixed emulator button not working
Added preview.wmv support, with option to disable
Added background image support, with option to disable
Added date and time and optional format setting
v1.03 Fixed content saving bug in dash
XML saving in dash quicker
Added usb0:\applications and hdd1:\application paths. Please delete your config.xml
for these to be added to existing installs. (The one in fsdata not base)
v1.02 Runs with cooler cpu/gpu
FTP speed much quicker
v1.01 Fix to storage selection location
v1.0 Original public version
It should be available at all the usual places shortly.