Talk:PlayStation 3 Theme (P3T)

Standarizing "theme format" names

This standarization of names can be polemic, and initially confusing, but after some brainstorming i realized we need to "keep the sony standards naming" and at the same time think in another way to name the different methods used, and here is where the confussion starts because "the scene" has been using names that are limited in long term for his derivations e.g: "slideshow" "pro slideshow" "dynamic pro slideshow", etc... (big mention here to glowball for his experiments, cheers)

The point is if you take a "dynamic pro slideshow" as base and add to it a new 3d sphere + more semitransparent layers + etc + etc this is a "dynamic pro slideshow multilayer with rotating objects" ?... well, it sounds good for a resume, but not even this long text explains how has been buit, to make a list we need the "method" or "technique" used, so i propose something like this:

1. Static background (.JPG)
   1. Linked to PS3 timers
      1. seconds
      2. hours of the day
      3. days of months
      4. days of years
   2. Linked to day or daytime
2. Dinamyc background (.RAF)
   1. Method 1 (3d model.dae covering all the background, several .dds textuers applyed over the model, the script changes the texture every 10 seconds)
   2. Method 2 (no 3d model, several .dds textuers in the background, the script changes the the transparency of textures every 10 seconds)
   3. Method 3 (no 3d model, several .dds textuers in the background, the script moves the textures from right to left with a fadeout every 10 seconds)
   4. Method 4 etc... (note all this methods in the examples are "slideshows")

• Some themes might not work under some resolution and ratio.

The big difference (that keeps the standard naming) is static doesnt use an script.js, and dynamic does... we will have problems to give a name to the "methods" but i think this way to focus is better, any idea or suggestion is wellcome --Sandungas 11:01, 14 February 2013 (MSK)

• Notes about "background linked to seconds"

Test: download PS3 Themes background testkit v1.zip and compile "Test 15bg to seconds.xml" theme, then install and "apply", and... press "x" button again over "apply" repeatedly as faster as possible (lol), you will see how the background numbers increases 1 by 1. Now wait 3 seconds and press "apply" again and the number in screen has increased in +3

p3t format, p3tcompiler, and p3textractor notes

p3tcompiler

• p3t format uses several tables to store the "standard names of the files" without file extension (original names and file extensions of the files used to build the theme are lost)
• backgrounds lost his file names,, instead of the original name of the file is used the "standard" name... either "hd" and "sd" for static themes... or "anim" for dynamic themes
• backgrounds are stored in a table in the same order that are placed in the original "Theme Name.xml". There is no conversion to this .jpg files, the start position of static backgrounds can be found by looking for "FF D8 FF E0 00 10 4A 46 49 46 00 01 02 01 00 48 00 48 00 00" in the .p3t file in a hexeditor
• The original name of the .xml is lost (there is no place to store it, just his tags in a table)
• The order of items and tables in the p3t file is fixed and always the same (with a few exceptions). The compiler reorders the items to his convenience
• Items in the p3t file that respect the original order of the xml are all contents of: <icontable>, <bgimagetable>, <pointertable> ?
• Compiler version 2.00 with dynamic background ouput unrecognized attribut name "anim" for dynamic background and fail to make the p3t, when the 1.80 compile it.

p3textractor

• rename problems
  • "notification" image is renamed to "src"
  • if the theme contains multiple backgrounds, extracted backgrounds are not renamed in the correct order using "hd_1", "sd_2" etc... (but are correctly ordered in the p3t)
  • png filextensions are duplicated (in the extraction process is needed to convert images to .gim then to png, the resulting files are renamed to "file.gim.png")
  • png and .gim filenames are numbered by adding a "_1" at the end, but is not needed (is only needed in the backgrounds when there are several of the same type)
  • "Theme Name.p3t.xml" instead of "Theme Name.xml"
• xml problems
  • the order or items inside <info> and <icontable> in the extracted xml is different than the one contained in the .p3t

p3t format, standard order of tags after compilation (based in the tags stored in the xml table inside the .p3t file)

Code Sample