PS3 [Research] Modifying the Coldboot/Gameboot Sequence (custom_render_plugin.sprx/rco)

[LuanTeles]

I'll add now option to choose from;

Original
The Old One (Old versions)
Your New One (Default)

and can you make one with less radius too?

 

[sandungas]

Im playing a bit more with this

Spoiler

There is a visual effect from the tests when we are trying to create some kind of "glass tube" using light/shadows effects intended to make it "bump" out of the screen... that is not realistic
Is the kind of thing that doesnt matters much, most people is going to say "ok, i can live with it", but i been thinking in how to "fix" it since the first test i made (when i was adding a shadow that was looking bad, that was my first attempt to solve this problem and i failed)
Well... the problem is all the texts for date, hour, minutes, the clock icon and all other icons, and the text scrolling at bottom... everything have a shadow that is proyected "on top" or our cute glasstube.. so visually it looks that everything is "outside" of the glasstube
The nice visual effect would be to make it look like everything is "inside" the glasstube, but this has been proved for me to be very tricky

So... i thought in "inverting" the light/shadow effects of the glasstube, in this test the glasstube is like a "hole" in the screen, this way it looks like everything is "on top" of it... so when the shadows proyects on top of it is going to look realistic
Lets say... im trying to adjusts the light/shadow effects to respect the "layer order" of how the XMB is displaying all this stuff

Additionally... i increased the thickness of the "outline" in 2 pixels to create some kind of "chromed" metallic effect

This is a preview displayed on top of a 0x808080 background, in photoshop the transparency levels looks fine

DOWNLOAD ---> https://workupload.com/start/dLmgmJv7E7Y

 

[LuanTeles]

This one with a pt3 with a metalic xmb look would be a perfect match.

 

[sandungas]

I'll add now option to choose from;

Original
The Old One (Old versions)
Your New One (Default)

and can you make one with less radius too?

Dont include them yet, was just experiments, im confident that i can do it better
My first goal was to understand how works the stretching pattern used by planeResizeMode="0x3", and to find the better size that gives us a image quality of 1:1 (where 1 pixel of the image is represented by 1 pixel in a 1080p screen), and seems to be 90x90 pixels, in some way it looks like the code was originally written for this size
So.. from now all my images are going to be 90x90 and i suggest everyone that wants to create some custom desing with the indicator bar to use 90x90 because is the better quality

You need to tell me the exact radius, and i will make a new one in highest quality posible (90x90) that will look a bit better

The new one i made at 90x90 (the first time i completed the circle geometry) have a couple of visual problems, you should not include it either, i guess i need to repeat it
The fist problem is related with the color of the pixels at the edges of the 9 "sections"... im constantly taking color samples to check them but in this test went a bit out of control
The second problem is a dark shadow that appears at the right border... this is really a mistake i made... and now i found a way to solve it

----------------------------
Also... the results of this last image i just uploaded (lets call it "glasstube inverted chromed") could make you change your mind about what you want as default

In my oppinion this one is very generic, i can reduce transparency levels a lot of make it look a lot more like glass

 

[sandungas]

Ok, i think i know what im going to do, long story short, we have 4 different designs for the glasstubes. In my previous tests i was not doing the designs using my personal preferences, when i decided to use a radius of 26 that allows to complete a circle it was like a finding and i wanted to have a real proof that my calculations was right, but personally i prefer an smaller radius, if i had to design something "generic" to satisfy the biggest amount of people i would use a radius of 10 or so
In my oppinion, in this image i was using an excesive radius, it looks too big, and is very close to complete that "circle" effect i used in other designs

In my oppinion i should make 2 versions of every design, one with the radius of 29 to complete the circle... and other with a small radius (10 or so)
This design with an small radius should be actually like a "clone" of the official design that uses a very small radius too, is like updating his quality

And for the material efects, i like the glass too, the experiment with the "chrome" outline is a bit... another long story
In the original design, the outline is a solid color with a thickness of 1 pixel
The first thing i did to improve his quality when we started doing experiments in bigger image sizes was to increase his thickness to 3 pixels... this way i was creating a "bump" effect in it, it has been working fine since day one
In the "chrome" experiment i increase the outline to 5 pixels thickness, because this way i can create a bit better "bump" effect... i dont care about the metallic/chrome look... what i care is about his thickness and is another success
So... now i can make that outline like another thin glass tube
And i really like more the "inner" light/shadows effect like in the "chrome" experiment, i think this is the most correct way to do it, im calling it "inverted"

So there is going to be 4 versions, fully glass, with the updated outline in glass too but with differences in the radius and the directions of lights/shadows:
-glasstube inverted radius10 <--- my favourite
-glasstube inverted radius29 <--- my favourite with the circle effect
-glasstube radius10 <--- this is an update to the one used in the PRO mod, same style
-glasstube radius29 <--- this is an update to the one used in the PRO mod, same style with the circle effect

 

[sandungas]

Try this ones... are the 2 "inverted" versions, with radius 15 and 29, the goal of this test is to see if the (new) glass effects in the outline and inside are good enought
Im very limited of the amount of visual "glass" effects i can use, are simple because the image is going to be stretched anyway, this distortion is going to "break" more complex effects, in this images the colors are very well adjusted to counterfeit the distortions
The idea is to use this same glass effects in the others later
Also i reduced the transparency of everything a lot... but maybe is needed to reduce it even more

Glastube inverted radius 15 over 0x808080 background

Glastube inverted radius 15 over transparency

Glastube inverted radius 29 over 0x808080 background

Glastube inverted radius 29 over transparency

DOWNLOAD ---> REMOVED


Edit:
Im looking at the images in this post and i like the new glass effects of the outline
In the new glass effects inside im trying to do a very rounded "bubble", but i prefer it more "plane"
In the previous tests i was doing it with a different effect but i removed it because is problematic... i need to try to see how to improve that

Edit2:
Damn, dont try this version, i made a msitake in the inside glass effects that is "breaking" the colors completly when the image is scaled by XMB
I deleted the download link

Edit3:
This is the latest version... i rebuilt the glass effects inside, i will upload 4 new versions with this glass effects tomorrow or along this weekend done, post below

 

[sandungas]

I think this ones are the best i made so far, are intended to superceed the other images i made
In total are 4 versions of the same "glasstube" style but using different light/shadows effects, and different radius at the corners

Indicator bar glasstube r15 in

Indicator bar glasstube r15 out

Indicator bar glasstube r29 in

Indicator bar glasstube r29 out (i just realized i made a mistake in this one)

DOWNLOAD ---> https://workupload.com/start/GM9PcLNyhN9

 

[sandungas]

Btw, what i said in a previous post about not applying any image transformation to this images... only applyes to size scaling
Lets say... if you increase or decrease his size then you are losing "pixel definition" because the program that scales them is going to apply an algorith to recalculate the colors of the pixels and it results is some kind of "smooth" effect, thats bad

But you can change the colors of the pixels, thats fine, most of the colors i used are black and white (and a bit of blue)... so are pretty much greyscale and are going to acept color changes very well

 

[sandungas]

New version of my indicator bars collection, now there are 7 versions
DOWNLOAD ---> https://workupload.com/start/HnAMsjnZ2fN

Preview (expanded samples, remember, the image is scaled down when there is no text at bottom)

Changes
-Reduced the thickness of the outline to 3 pixels (the previous experiments with 5 pixels was excesive)
-All light/shadow effects are new and are made in a different way for a better control of the pixel colors
-There are 3 versions with corner radius: 9, 19, 29, and everyone have 2 variants IN, OUT
-The IN versions have a dark inner (exactly same color and transparency than the official), and the OUT versions a bright one
-Added a clone of the official indicator bar in high quality (the official have some pixel colors out of control)
-All them are inspired in the official design

 

[LuanTeles]

Wow i missed this posts, i will try them all.

Thanks @sandungas

 

[sandungas]

Wow i missed this posts, i will try them all.

Thanks @sandungas

If you (or someone else) finds some mistake, have a critic or a suggestion advise me, all feedback is welcome
Im still thinking in doing other creative designs and experiments

 

[sandungas]

Someone knows where is used the image xmb_plugin_normal.rco/tex_demo_plane.gim ?
Im asking about it here because it seems to follow the same rules than the tex_indi_bg.gim with the attribute planeResizeMode="0x3" that stretches the image this way, cropping it in 9 sections:

This is a zoom of the official tex_demo_plane.gim, is 15x15 pixels (so the XMB "crops" it in 9 sections of 5x5 pixels each)
They are keeping 1 transparent pixel all around, so it results in a radius of 4 pixels at the corners

Spoiler

It have a lot of pixels with color problems

I guess is used in some kind of "floating menu" or background for a button or something like that ?... i cant figure it rigt now, not sure if it was mentioned before but we could do the same with it:
1) find where is used and meassure the "target" size
2) decide if we want to expand it to cover the "target" size
3) imagine a design for it in higher quality



Edit:
I think the image tex_demo_plane.gim could be used in a "floating window" for the Demonstration Mode
I never seen that screen, but in the link in psdevwiki is mentioned that it should display the text "Playstation 3 Demonstration Mode ver. xxx"
.... i guess that text is displayed inside a "floating window" in semitransparent gray color and with the corners using a radius of 4 pixels (not inside the red rectangle used in other floating windows that are just a <plane> filled with a plain color)

 

[Matty]

Update 02/09/2019 : Got some more experimental mods on the go now. See HERE

Original post from 30/08/2019:
I have been messing with the custom_render_plugin.rco for a while, and its kind of interesting. I am not sure if this is already known or has been done before, But i have managed to get the old style gameboot to play instead of the coldboot. This has some advantages, main one being it is much easier to edit the GIM file than to edit a raf file.


Also it looks kind of cool with its sparkles and black background. I cant do a video as my capture device wont record that early in boot cycle, if someone can do a video that would be cool.


EDIT: Thanks @Louay for the video,

The thing is, we have alot of control over these animations in the rco:

<AnimTree>
<Animation name="anim_coldboot">
<Lock unknownInt0="0xffffffff" />
<Fade object="object:ps3logo" duration="0" accelMode="0x0" transparency="0" />
<FireEvent object="event:native:/anim_coldboot_BootBG1" />
<Delay time="0" />
<FireEvent object="event:native:/anim_coldboot_NormalBG" />
<Delay time="0" />
<Fade object="object:ps3logo" duration="0" accelMode="0x3" transparency="0.8" />
<Delay time="0" />
<Fade object="object:ps3logo" duration="0" accelMode="0x3" transparency="0" />
<Delay time="0" />
<Delay time="0" />
<FireEvent object="event:native:/anim_coldboot_ShowGUI" />
<Unlock unknownInt0="0xffffffff" />
<Delay time="0" />
<FireEvent object="event:native:/anim_coldboot_Finished" />
</Animation>
<Animation name="anim_coldboot2">
<Lock unknownInt0="0xffffffff" />
<Fade object="object:scelogo" duration="0" accelMode="0x0" transparency="0" />
<FireEvent object="event:native:/anim_coldboot_BootBG2" />
<Delay time="0" />
<FireEvent object="event:native:/anim_coldboot_NormalBG2" />
<Delay time="0" />
<FireEvent object="event:native:/anim_coldboot_ShowGUI" />
<Unlock unknownInt0="0xffffffff" />
<Delay time="0" />
<FireEvent object="event:native:/anim_coldboot_Finished" />
</Animation>
<Animation name="anim_gameboot">
<Lock unknownInt0="0xffffffff" />
<Fade object="object:ps3logo" duration="0" accelMode="0x0" transparency="0" />
<Resize object="object:ps3logo" duration="0" accelMode="0x0" width="0.938" height="0.938" unknownFloat4="1" />
<FireEvent object="event:native:/anim_gameboot_BG2" />
<Delay time="500" />
<Fade object="object:ps3logo" duration="863" accelMode="0x3" transparency="1" />
<Resize object="object:ps3logo" duration="863" accelMode="0x4" width="1" height="1" unknownFloat4="1" />
<FireEvent object="event:native:/anim_gameboot_BG3" />
<Delay time="1100" />
<Fade object="object:ps3logo" duration="174" accelMode="0x1" transparency="0" />
<Resize object="object:ps3logo" duration="174" accelMode="0x1" width="1.284" height="1.284" unknownFloat4="1" />
<Delay time="1000" />
<Delay time="200" />
<FireEvent object="event:native:/anim_gameboot_Finished" />
</Animation>
<Animation name="anim_otherboot">
<Lock unknownInt0="0xffffffff" />
<Fade object="object:ps3logo" duration="0" accelMode="0x0" transparency="0" />
<FireEvent object="event:native:/anim_otherboot_BG3" />
<Delay time="200" />
<FireEvent object="event:native:/anim_otherboot_BG4" />
<Delay time="300" />
<FireEvent object="event:native:/anim_otherboot_Finished" />
</Animation>
</AnimTree>

For example, I can make the image flicker but putting in commands like this:

<Fade object="object:ps3logo" duration="0" accelMode="0x0" transparency="1" />
<Delay time="5" />
<Fade object="object:ps3logo" duration="0" accelMode="0x1" transparency="0" />
<Delay time="5" />
<Fade object="object:ps3logo" duration="0" accelMode="0x0" transparency="1" />
<Delay time="5" />
<Fade object="object:ps3logo" duration="0" accelMode="0x1" transparency="0" />
<Delay time="5" />
<Fade object="object:ps3logo" duration="0" accelMode="0x0" transparency="1" />
<Delay time="5" />
<Fade object="object:ps3logo" duration="0" accelMode="0x1" transparency="0" />
<Delay time="5" />

We can easily change the colour and size of the coldboot just by changing these values:

redScale="1" greenScale="1" blueScale="1" alphaScale="1" width="0" height="0" posUnknown="0" scaleWidth="1.25" scaleHeight="1.25"

I added this to get the gameboot working as coldboot, it took a bit of figuring out.

<Animation name="anim_coldboot2">
<FireEvent object="event:native:/anim_gameboot_BG2" />
<Fade object="object:scelogo" duration="0" accelMode="0x3" transparency="1" />
<Delay time="2000" />
<Fade object="object:scelogo" duration="0" accelMode="0x3" transparency="0" />
<FireEvent object="event:native:/anim_coldboot_ShowGUI" />
<FireEvent object="event:native:/anim_gameboot_BG3" />
</Animation>

See attached zip for the Gameboot as Coldboot mod files.

For users who want to install this mod, I have made a pkg, it will work on HEN and CFW.

Note: dev_blind needs to be mounted to install the pkg

I think if we can add more icons, we could do animations by really quickly changing the image. I need some people who know more about RCOs to look too as its not really my area.

@sandungas @dazzaXx @LuanTeles

Hi

So, how do we uninstall this? Thanks

 

[DeViL303]

Hi

So, how do we uninstall this? Thanks

Replace the custon_render_plugin.rco and the lines.qrc with the originals. You might find it easier to just reinstall your CFW PUP.

 

[Matty]

Replace the custon_render_plugin.rco and the lines.qrc with the originals. You might find it easier to just reinstall your CFW PUP.

OK thanks. If I wanted to change the logo and the coldboot_multi.ac3 how would I do that? Might get closer to what I'm looking for than reinstalling. Appreciate your help.

 

[DeViL303]

OK thanks. If I wanted to change the logo and the coldboot_multi.ac3 how would I do that? Might get closer to what I'm looking for than reinstalling. Appreciate your help.

It depends really. You might find my XMB mod called Ultimate Toolbox the easiest, it allows you to chose from loads of logos and sounds, or to install them easily from USB. Also you can just use FTP or a file manager to swap the files directly in dev_blind/vsh/resource/ if you wanted to.

See around this timestamp for the visual customization options that UTB offers:

If you are interested you can download it here: https://www.psx-place.com/resources/ultimate-toolbox.1140/

 

[Matty]

It depends really. You might find my XMB mod called Ultimate Toolbox the easiest, it allows you to chose from loads of logos and sounds, or to install them easily from USB. Also you can just use FTP or a file manager to swap the files directly in dev_blind/vsh/resource/ if you wanted to.

See around this timestamp for the visual customization options that UTB offers:

If you are interested you can download it here: https://www.psx-place.com/resources/ultimate-toolbox.1140/

Thanks man! Appreciated.

 

[Psychokompott]

Hi can someone help me with the install of the black playstation 3 starting sequence from the first post. I've installed the pkg but it still showed me that yellow waving starting screen between the new black starting screen and my black xmb theme. I also deleted the coldboot.raf but it made no difference.

 

[LuanTeles]

Hi can someone help me with the install of the black playstation 3 starting sequence from the first post. I've installed the pkg but it still showed me that yellow waving starting screen between the new black starting screen and my black xmb theme. I also deleted the coldboot.raf but it made no difference.

Use Ultimate toolbox

 

[Psychokompott]

No but thanks, anyone else have some idea?