XBOX ARTWORK BUILDER
Builds Xbox game artwork from your scans, fanart, screenshots and videos.


GETTING STARTED

    1.  Run Xbox Artwork Builder.exe
    2.  Add your games in the Source tab.
    3.  Pick a case colour in the Build tab and press Start.

    Your finished artwork ends up in the "Artwork (Built)" folder.
    The tabs are labelled as you go, so you shouldn't need this file to find your way around.
    If a game fails to build you get a popup, and the details are saved in error_log.txt.


YOUR FOLDERS

    Artwork (Source)    Your source artwork, one folder per category (Homebrew, Xbox NTSC Games etc.)
    Artwork (Built)     The finished artwork
    resources           Case colours, themes and ffmpeg. Your own additions in here are never overwritten
    settings.ini        All your settings. The app looks after it, you don't need to edit it
    changelog.txt       What changed in each version, in the resources folder and shown in the Settings tab


ADDING GAMES BY HAND

    The Source tab does all of this for you. If you'd rather copy files in yourself:

    Artwork (Source)/<Category>/
        CDs/            Disc images (png)
        Default.xmls/   XML files
        Fanarts/        Fanart images (jpg)
        Scans/          Full case scans (1610x1080 jpg) or a front only image
        Screenshots/    "Game-T 1.jpg", "Game-T 2.jpg" and so on
        Videos/         Preview MP4s

    Every scan needs a suffix saying where thumb.jpg is cropped from, so the game name stays in the picture:

        -VT   Very Top (scans with no banner)
        -T    Top
        -MT   Middle Top
        -M    Middle
        -MB   Middle Bottom
        -B    Bottom

    No disc image? One is made from the front image for you.


IGNORING A CATEGORY

    In the Source tab pick a category and press Ignore category. It stays where it is in the list with
    (ignoring) after the name, and its games are greyed out. You can still look at them and edit them,
    but the category is left out of every scan and build. Select it and press Include category to bring it back.
    (This adds or removes "(skip)" on the end of the folder name, you can do that yourself too.)


CASE COLOURS

    Any folder in "resources" named case_<name> shows up in the Build tab as <name>. Black and Metal are included.
    Only the files that differ need to be in the folder, anything missing comes from resources/default.
    To use a different case colour or disc overlay for a single game, use the Options tab in the Source tab.


TRANSLATING THE OVERVIEW

    When you add a language in the Info tab you're asked if you want the default overview translated into it.
    Say yes and it is filled in for you. Check it over and press Save XML. It uses Google, so it needs the internet
    and the text is sent to them. If Google asks it to slow down it waits and tries again by itself. The other tags are typed in by hand.

    To do a whole category at once, select it in the Source tab and press Translate all overviews. Pick the language and whether to
    skip games that already have one. Only the overview is changed, and you can stop it at any time.


SUBMITTING TO THE COMMUNITY

    Built an item you want to share? In the Library tab select up to 20 items and press Submit to community.
    The (Installer) zip made when it was built is sent to the website, where it is checked and looked over before it is added.
    Items over 10 MB, or with a name that is already there, are turned away and you are told why.


VIDEOS

    Previews must be mp4. If one isn't Xbox ready you're asked if you want it converted.
    If ffmpeg is missing you're asked to download it.


THEMES

    Pick one in the Settings tab. To make your own, copy resources/themes/Custom.ini, rename it and change the colours.
    Colours can be #rrggbb or ARGB like the XBMC colour files. Anything you leave out comes from Light.


UPDATES

    The app checks for a new version when it starts. If there is one an "Install update" button appears at the top.
    Updates never replace your settings.ini, PSD files, Artwork (Source) or resources/themes.


CREDITS

    Thanks to Bomb Bloke, whose original JavaScript artwork builder inspired this one.
    https://consolemods.org/wiki/File:Xbox_Artwork_Builder.zip

    The Python 3 scripts were converted into exes using Nuitka.
