More wallpapering

[Guest zombiefly]

i've been messing round with the wallpapers. It seems that without actually creating a compiled theme (.tsk), the wallpaper doesnt like shifting between portrait and landscape .

based on the info posted on this forum, when you manually set a wallpaper in the today screen settings, it copies the selected image and overwrites the stwater_240_320.xxx and stwater_320_240.xxx files in the windows directory. (i.e. if you have a file called boobs.jpg and you set it to be the wallpaper, 2 files will appear in the windows directory, stwater_320_240.jpg and stwater_240_320.jpg.

So, to get any wallpaper working in either landscape or portrait, here's what i did:

1. open the desired image on your pc in some editing software.

2. create a folder on your local pc using the name of the image, i.e. boobs.

3. resize the image to 240x320, save the image to your boobs folder as stwater_240_320.jpg

4. resize the image to 320x240, save the image to your boobs folder as stwater_320_240.jpg

repeat steps 2-4 for as many images as you have.

5. Move the folders containing your images to the my docs folder on the device.

6. In the today screen settings, select any image to be the wallpaper, it doesnt matter at this stage which image you choose.

7. Using file manager/resco explorer etc on the device, browse to the my docs folder then into the boobs (or other image folder). copy the 2 files (stwater_etc) into the windows folder, overwriting the 2 files in there.

8. slide out the keyboard, the wallpaper should change to your chosen wallpaper.

The method above is a bit naff, but it works. I've discovered the following registry settings which looks like they might be useful....

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SECURITY/APPINSTALL/TSKAllowed]

^^ under this hive there appears to be a list of allowed wallpaper files, all starting with stwater (gif/png/jpg/bmp). I wonder what happens if you delete this key, would it allow any wallpapers to be used? would the "set as wallpaper" process create 2 resized copies of any wallpaper?...

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Color\ThemeGen]

^^ under this hive there appears to be transparency settings etc.

Does anyone have any more info on these settings?... there must be an easier way to create and use a dual format wallpaper image for both portrait and landscape?! :shock:

[Guest Laser_iCE]

Also, while reading over the steps that you've posted, you've failed to realise that the dimensions for the images are incorrect. They are in fact 240 x 268 and 320 x 188 respectively, rather than the 240 x 320 and 320 x 240 that you've posted.

The reference (which, if you read the previous thread, you would have understood) to the dimensions in the filename are simply there so that you are able to tell which is for what -- portrait or landscape.

Microsoft might as well have just called them stwater_portrait.jpg and stwater_landscape.jpg, but instead, went with the actual dimensions of the screen.

It's like making a wallpaper for Windows at 1280x1024 -- You're always going to miss that extra space down the bottom due to your task bar (unless of course you have it on hide, transparent, etc. etc.).

[Guest zombiefly]

Also, while reading over the steps that you've posted, you've failed to realise that the dimensions for the images are incorrect. They are in fact 240 x 268 and 320 x 188 respectively, rather than the 240 x 320 and 320 x 240 that you've posted.

The reference (which, if you read the previous thread, you would have understood) to the dimensions in the filename are simply there so that you are able to tell which is for what -- portrait or landscape.

Microsoft might as well have just called them stwater_portrait.jpg and stwater_landscape.jpg, but instead, went with the actual dimensions of the screen.

It's like making a wallpaper for Windows at 1280x1024 -- You're always going to miss that extra space down the bottom due to your task bar (unless of course you have it on hide, transparent, etc. etc.).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

firstly, i created the new thread because the forums are acting weird, and throwing errors about a duplicate key when i post. It was only after trying a few times that i noticed my posts were actually being submitted before the error!

The reference (which, if you read the previous thread, you would have understood)...

Here... have a cookie.. :roll:

... I did read your posts, but TBH they didnt make much sense to the average joe, hence my step by step list, as there was some confusion as to what you were saying.

regarding the screen size, 320x240 is correct for a wallpaper. IMHO the size of the image should match that of the screen as a whole, the menus etc should be overlayed ontop of the image. If you make a wallpaper in in windows, it would be 1024x768 , the start menu is displayed over the top of it. Just because wm5 is resizing slightly smaller doesnt make it right ;)

The dimensions i used work fine, and the filename of the files relates to the actual size used in the image, so it makes sense to leave them that way. The quirk is what windows does when IT resizes, which isnt an issue here as the images in the windows dir are being overwritten directly.

Edited April 6, 2006 by zombiefly

[Guest Laser_iCE]

Whether or not they work fine, still doesn't take away from the fact that they're wrong ;) When you make them to the correct dimensions, you know that you're going to get exactly what you see, rather than having some cut off due to the top and bottom bars.

[Guest Pigo]

I agree with laser ice.... and why not save space and memory while your at it. larger image means less memory to your disposal.

does anybody know what this does to your memory? i would expect 2 images to take up more memory. does the phone act slower with 2 different background images?

Pigo

[Guest zombiefly]

I agree with laser ice.... and why not save space and memory while your at it. larger image means less memory to your disposal.

does anybody know what this does to your memory? i would expect 2 images to take up more memory. does the phone act slower with 2 different background images?

Pigo

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

regarding the sizing, the amount of space saved by reducing the size by a few pixels would be around 1k, so it's negligible.

the phone loads the required picture into memory when the display mode switches, so only 1 image will be resident at any one time. You will however require twice the amount of storage space in the windows folder for both images (2x15k) for jpg images.

Edited April 7, 2006 by zombiefly

[Guest Pigo]

I don't really care about starage space. I like my phone to act quick!

so if it makes my phone slugish then this is deffinatly not a option for me.

if the change is not really noticable then two thumbs up and try it I will. (haven't yet)

Pigo

[Guest Laser_iCE]

As far as I can tell, it works just as fast as what it did before, before I put in my own personalized wallpapers. If anything, it runs faster ;) haha.