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[Matt K.]

Ok, I'm the kind of person that feels that good things need support... (My joining  & participating in this forum is one way of showing my support.) I'd say that Barna needs to know how great this visual is in order to garner further development & updates.

So I ask all those reading this...
Am I the only one here who cares? (Show of hands please?)

I also ask Barna specifically: What would it take to get some more of your valuable time towards the above? Donations? Help?

I'm sure there are many eyes on this thread which will be willing to put forth whatever is required...

[Dotpitch]

I certainly wouldn't mind an update .

[dbz]

Hopefully I'm posting this in the most appropriate place. I'm not sure if Barna's still around or what, but here goes anyway....

First off, this vis plugin is a must have for sure. Secondly, as great as it is, there's one thing I don't like about it - the "No Album Cover" image. I'm no graphic artist myself, but come on! I think even I could have done a better job than that. The image I wish was there, is a large picture of the xmplay icon I've seen floating around here. That's kind of a no-brainer if you ask me.

So if you're listening Barna, I beg you to please help me out here. And thanks for such a useful, and practical plugin.

[dbz]

I'm not one to encourage hacking, but since Barna's dropped off the radar for quite some time now - there really doesn't seem to be any other viable option. So here's what I'm proposing. If you're interested PSXGamerPro1, would you be up to trying to hack the coverart vis to display a different image? I know it's kinda of a stupid question since you seem to want to hack whatever you can If it can be done, I think not only myself, but a number of other people would like to be able to change the image to something more appealing. If anyone is against this idea, then I'll forget I ever mentioned it.

[saga]

He only "hacks" things that can be modified with a Windows resource editor. If the default cover is stored in one of the many other ways that can be used to store arbitrary data in an executable, he's out of luck.

[dbz]

Well are there any real hackers then? 

[piovrauz]

Before trying to hack it, why not trying to contact Barna?
Maybe he can just make that "Nothing thing" a custom image...
If his mail address is not public, the forum admin (Ian?) may privately ask him about it.
I tried going on the web address reported in the plugin, but the last post on the forum was in 2006.
Oh, as far as plain easy moddable resources go, the plugin seems to be not packed, and no image is avail to be changed. So yes, we need something better than a resource hacker
But first we should try to contact him, it's not long he was here after all,  just late 2009!

[Dotpitch]

The default cover image is cover.jpg (or cover.png) stored in the same folder as xmp-coverart.svp. The default downloading image is download.jpg (or download.png) in that same folder. (link)

I guess you should just throw in your own cover.jpg. Does that work?

[dbz]

I just want to point out that I am aware you can replace the "No cover art" by using an image in the folder. That's the quick and easy solution, as long as you don't mind having to copy this same image over and over again into all your music folders.

[Dotpitch]

You should put it in the same folder as xmp-coverart.svp, not in your music folders. However, it doesn't appear to work, because the plugin is looking for 'C:\Program Files (x86)\XMPlay\vis/cover.jpg'. I guess we're going to need Barna anyway.

[saga]

Usually mixing \ and / shouldn't be a problem in Windows...

[piovrauz]

Well, I put the cover.jpg/png and download.jpg/png in that directory (C:\Program Files (x86)\XMPlay\vis), and the black (ugly) defaults are still shown...
So something is wrong... Funny how nobody never noticed! XD

[dbz]

Hmmm.. I didn't know you could put the image in one location and it would work with any files anywhere. So I figured hey, why not try putting it in xmplay's main folder - and what do ya know... it works! The file I used is "cover.jpg" and it's in the same spot as xmplay.exe. Give it a try, and tell me if I'm wrong about this. Wish I had known about this sooner.

Edit: Upon some more testing it appears that the image file has to be in the same location as the xmp-covert.svp file. I just happened to have the sonique file in the same folder as xmplay.exe. When I tried my other setup of xmplay, it failed - and then I realized what was going on. Once I put the image file in with xmp-covert.svp, it worked again. So it doesn't seem to be dependent on the Program Files\XMplay directory - it's relative to wherever you place it. I'm not sure why it isn't working in your case - just be sure they are in the same folder and it should work.

[Dotpitch]

So I figured hey, why not try putting it in xmplay's main folder - and what do ya know... it works!

That's good news . Does that solve your problem?

Wish I had known about this sooner.

Well, it's certainly not the most obvious feature, but it is mentioned in the manual.

Upon some more testing it appears that the image file has to be in the same location as the xmp-covert.svp file. ... So it doesn't seem to be dependent on the Program Files\XMplay directory - it's relative to wherever you place it. I'm not sure why it isn't working in your case - just be sure they are in the same folder and it should work.

Correct, the plugin is looking for a file in its own folder, 'C:\Program Files (x86)\XMPlay\vis' just happens to be my configuration. The problem I'm having with the default image however is not the path itself, but the plugin using a forward slash when trying to open the file. Windows apparently doesn't like that (checking with cmd results in the same error). I'm on Win7, what Windows are you running?

[piovrauz]

mmm, same here: I put the files in the xmp-coverart.svp location, but they don't get loaded.
I'm on win7 x64, launching XMPlay as admin has no effect watsoever. T_T
Maybe some compatibility modes? But not now, I just realized it's time to sleep.

[dbz]

I still would have liked to have xmp-covert.svp use a better default image without resorting to using a separate image file, but this will do. Try not to laugh too hard, but I'm using Win98SE... yeah and everything uses "\" slashes. Is it a new feature to use "/" slashes as well, in Win7-8? Since this was coded a few years back, that's probably why there's an incompatibility no doubt.

[saga]

Windows has been able to handle forward slashes ever since - even when mixing them with backwards slashes - even on the command line. I can imagine that there are some problems with virtual paths, though, like when you manually put some files into Program Files (or a program without admin privileges does it), these files are actually stored in "VirtualStore" folder. Maybe Windows has problems rewriting this virtual paths when there are forward slashes in it, who knows.

[Dotpitch]

Windows has been able to handle forward slashes ever since - even when mixing them with backwards slashes - even on the command line.

Are you sure? My Windows at least doesn't seem to like them...

Code SelectExpand

C:\>type "d:\_dl\test.txt"
This is a test.
C:\>type "d:\_dl/test.txt"
The system cannot find the file specified.ProcMon screendump attached as well.

[saga]

Code SelectExpand

C:\>cd "\Program Files (x86)/XMPlay\Plugins/AdPlug"
C:\Program Files (x86)\XMPlay\Plugins\AdPlug>

C:\Program Files (x86)\XMPlay\Plugins\AdPlug>type "\Program Files (x86)/XMPlay\P
lugins/AdPlug\in_adlib.txt"
AdPlug Winamp plugin v1.8.2 (in_adlib.dll)
[...]
However, it seems that if the last slash in that case is a forwards slash, it doesn't work. That might be a programming error in "type" and also "xmp-vis" (the program looks for a backslash when separating path and file name, or something like that), or it might be an OS limitation. But in the path itself, it doesn't matter as you can see.

[Dotpitch]

However, it seems that if the last slash in that case is a forwards slash, it doesn't work.

Ah, you're right about that .

Code SelectExpand

C:\>type "d:\_dl\test.txt"
This is a test.
C:\>type "d:\_dl/test.txt"
The system cannot find the file specified.
C:\>type "d:/_dl/test.txt"
The system cannot find the file specified.
C:\>type "d:/_dl\test.txt"
This is a test.Good to know this one!