[TUT's][Work In Progress-6th July] So YOU Want To Edit Manila? - The Complete Guide

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[★]

Senior Member
Dec 13, 2009
1,899
14
England
Please put a guide too about how to make an application can be completely uninstall without losing the original manila file.

I spending hours to learn about making custom slider for sense..using wince, quickcab, manila editor. Able to make it work, but when I uninstalled it, the icon is completely disappear..not back to original icon...

:confused::confused::confused:

yes sorry, havent done much lately, will try and continue soon
 

mitsi

Senior Member
Jun 19, 2008
567
4
Croydon
This is an excellent tutorial, I only wish it was about a couple of years ago!! :D

The number of times I got something wrong by using trial and error and completely messed up my manila.... Well.... Your tutorial will really help people not to make the same mistakes. It is very thorough too. :cool:
 

[★]

Senior Member
Dec 13, 2009
1,899
14
England
This is an excellent tutorial, I only wish it was about a couple of years ago!! :D

The number of times I got something wrong by using trial and error and completely messed up my manila.... Well.... Your tutorial will really help people not to make the same mistakes. It is very thorough too. :cool:

Thanks :D and yeah I know what you mean :rolleyes:
 

niteowl360

Inactive Recognized Themer
Nov 2, 2008
2,933
3,793
I think you must change your avatar to a snail!

[★] you need to get cracking ... this is getting worse than waiting for Co0kie to release his awesome updates :)

Oh well, Rome wasn't built in a day either!

Looking forward to the rest.

Cheers
 

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[★]

Senior Member
Dec 13, 2009
1,899
14
England
[★] you need to get cracking ... this is getting worse than waiting for Co0kie to release his awesome updates :)

Oh well, Rome wasn't built in a day either!

Looking forward to the rest.

Cheers

Whats with the snail? are you mocking me :rolleyes:
Well the most important stuff is already done, but I have so many little things to do I keep forgetting about this :rolleyes: but yeah will do some more soon :)
 

ForceField

Senior Member
Nov 29, 2008
2,192
733
Beirut
Hello, Thanks for your amazing Tutorial!:)

I was just working on a Slider for MaxSense and after converting it to a manila file I noticed that there is a difference and the converted image has less clarity and colors than the original one.

I uploaded the Original one(Left) and the Converted One (Right) to show you what I am talking about.(Using the m9editor)

Any help to fix this difference would be much appreciated.
 

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[★]

Senior Member
Dec 13, 2009
1,899
14
England
Hello, Thanks for your amazing Tutorial!:)

I was just working on a Slider for MaxSense and after converting it to a manila file I noticed that there is a difference and the converted image has less clarity and colors than the original one.

I uploaded the Original one(Left) and the Converted One (Right) to show you what I am talking about.(Using the m9editor)

Any help to fix this difference would be much appreciated.

Yeah sometimes it just looks like that when converted, the manila file is still pretty much the same on the phone :) you wont notice any problems I dont think

I think many of the phones cant handle a full spectrum of colours, I belive the hd2 is limited to 16bit ( or soemthing like that, im not sure lol :D)












Sorry about not doing much on this lately, I got lots on :)
 

negawolf

Senior Member
Aug 17, 2009
384
13
Yogyakarta
Hey star..can u tell me an alternative to m9editor? or maybe a way to make m9editor works on vista 32bit? On the screenshot, it seems u use vista too..or windows 7? I've been trying to replace png within manila using manila editor but it fail...the m9editor won't run on my vista..
 

[★]

Senior Member
Dec 13, 2009
1,899
14
England
Hey star..can u tell me an alternative to m9editor? or maybe a way to make m9editor works on vista 32bit? On the screenshot, it seems u use vista too..or windows 7? I've been trying to replace png within manila using manila editor but it fail...the m9editor won't run on my vista..
Sorry I dont know of any, unless maybe if you use cfcgui as the main program?
Thanks for your work!
My pleasure ;D
 

R2HD2

Member
Aug 25, 2010
29
0
Hey star..can u tell me an alternative to m9editor? or maybe a way to make m9editor works on vista 32bit? On the screenshot, it seems u use vista too..or windows 7? I've been trying to replace png within manila using manila editor but it fail...the m9editor won't run on my vista..

Are You Using "CFC GUI" Or Something Called "Manila Editor" ?

The Easiest Way To See If M9Editor Really Works On Your System Or Not Is To Take All The Manila Files Out Of The Windows Folder On Your Device, And Put The In One Folder ... Copy The M9Editor To That Same Folder And Open Using Admin Rights [ Sometimes On My System It Would Just Pop Up The Icon Running, But Wouldn't Show Anything, But This Is How I Got It To Work! ]
 

prabhat

Senior Member
Firstly, I suggest anyone who wants to mod TF3D/Manila/Sense gets "CFC GUI".

Watch little sample Youtube video here...

Also, you forgot about XML's, PNG's, & HTML's.

LUA's are script, they descript the animations & actions of the page, as well as the Landscape Layout. (They need to be dumped before editing & re-compiled afterwards. Not for the unexperienced)

Mode9's are a specail xml layout format, similiar to how Titanium uses CPR's. It lists which files to use & they layout. (Need Mode9 editor to edit these. They can take some time to figure out, not for the unexperienced)

XML's are the text being used by the tab, you'll notice they have different copies for each language.

PNG's are obviousely Images like the QTC's

QTC is an ATI 3D texture formate as Qualcomm CPU's use an ATI graphic chip. (NOTE: AMD sold the mobile chip devision to Qualcomm when they merged)

HTML's are "About" files that most apps use.

Nice info friend :).
I am also looking for more info in this thread :).
Can some one help me to find how can I get this done?
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1001587

Thanks.
 

Senax

Senior Member
Aug 27, 2009
373
46
Arnhem
How to determine if a file is signed with a digital-signature

[PC] works for device too if its cradled.
Q: Is a file signed with a signature?
A: Let us check that using SystemInternals_Suite (click on the left of that page) its CLI SigCheck.exe
SigCheck; Verify that images are digitally signed and dump version information with this simple command-line utility.

EDiT;

Some more information about 'certificates' (read digitally-sign files) in this thread (WM5/6);
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=432041

UnSigner - remove authenticode signs; plus more info about 'authenticode signing' (aka certificates) ;
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=329160

Smiley-488.gif
Multiple File Signer
 
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  • 1
    Welcome all


    This thread is now in the process of being built, so please dont complain about it being rubbish until I have finished it ;)

    This thread will guide you through all the steps to skin and edit manila how you like, so you will be able to make your own themes and visual tweaks ;)

    This guide will be more complete than others, but primarily focus on the more skinned files, to save peope time scanning through long lists, I will also make raw packages for people to use to get a head start on their themes..

    So, watch this space and I will help you with all you need to know, some of the things I will cover are:




    [★]Manila Basics
    [★]Opening up a cab
    [★]Quick and basic way to find what manila file does what, and how to find them on your phone
    [★]The Better way to find Manila file does what, and how to find them on your pc
    [★]Converting Manila Files To PNG And Vice Verca
    [★]Skinning Manila Files
    [★]Re-Colouring Manila Files
    [★]Editing The Transparency Of Manila Files
    [★]Manila Compatibility
    [★]Cabbing Up Manila Files To Test




    holder_watch-this-space.jpg
    1
    Manila Basics
    Ok, so there are different types of manila file,
    even though they all look the same when looking at them
    on a desktop, or on your phone. There are: QTC, Mode9
    and Lua files. The only one I understand, and the one that
    is used for skinning manila, is the QTC files, and this is what
    we will learn about, so for now, forget about the other two,
    and note that when I refer to a manila file, I mean a QTC file,
    but you cant tell the difference anyway, just by looking at it.
    types.png


    A common question that people ask is: Is 'this manila mod'
    compatible with my version of windows? Now, this is pretty
    much irrelevant, as manila and windows are two seperate things,
    manila runs on top of windows.. However if you are running an
    old version of windows mobile, its likely you have an old phone
    which isn't able to run Manila anyway.

    There are many different name for all these manila. Touch Flo 3D,
    Sense 2.5, Sense 2.1. Now, Touch Flo 3D is the original htc ui that
    was first released on devices such as the Touch Pro and the Diamond.
    Sense 2.1 was releases on the touch pro 2, the diamond 2 and the
    blackstone, a good way to distinguish between this version and
    sense 2.5, is that 2.1 has a greyed out slider, whilst 2.5 has a colourful
    one. Sense 2.5 is on most of the newer devices, such as the leo,
    however due to custom roms, pretty much everyone on the blackstone,
    touch pro 2, touch diamond 2 and imagio now runs 2.5.

    Hardly anyone uses TF3D any more, so you can forget about that, a
    simple way to differentiate between 2.1 and 2.5, is 2.1 has no
    quicklinks on the home screen, and 2.5 does. However there has been
    many updates to both versions so it can be hard to tell sometimes.

    senseversion.png


    If you are still not sure, go to the settings tab, scroll down to the bottom and select about, select software information
    manilaversion.png

    You only usually need to refer to the first 6 digits, so mine is 2.5.2012.
    1
    Opening up a cab


    You shall want to know how to open and examine cab files,
    I will explain why in the next post. This is much easy than
    many people first think.

    The easiest way to do this is to use Win CE Cab Manager,
    however it is not free,but Im sure many of you have other
    ways of getting it, but that is not to be discussed on this forum ;)
    There is also another program you can use to look at the contents,
    however it is not as fancy as Win CE, but it is FREE :D. I shall go
    over that later

    To Open a cab with Win CE Cab Manager (WCM): This is very simple, just
    open the cab file with WCM and go down to the files tab, here you will find
    every file that is in the cab, along with its locations that it installs to on the
    phone. Here is a visual aid:

    winceextraction50.png


    Another way to do this, is to use ervius's Package Creator, this is free, and will quickly extract all files from a cab for you to a set folder, however this way, you cant find out where the files go to, however this does not matter because all manila files go to windows. Here is how to do it:

    packagecreatorimage50.png



    1
    Quick and Easy Way To Find What Manila File Does What

    Ok, so this is how I used to find what I needed,
    however it isn't very useful all thee time, as you have to know of
    a cab that already changes what you want to change yourself.

    So, for example, lets say I want to edit the clock background, but
    I don't know what manila file represents it, first thing I would do is
    go to try and find a cab that someone else has made that did something
    to the clock background, so I find this
    'Touch X original clock background',
    [Download it here if you want to
    follow me exactly]

    So now I have it, I will open it with WCM (see above on how to open
    the cab up with WCM), and we can see that there is the file called
    '31794a12_manila' inside, so we now know that this file is for the
    clock background.

    Next we want to find the original or 'stock' version, of this file, so
    we can work with the same file that we see on our phone. So, next
    thing to do is open up file explorer on our phone and navigate to the
    windows folder. This is located at the root of the device. Now if you
    keep scrolling down the windows folder, you should start coming
    across all the manila files. If you don't see any manila files, then
    go onto the file explorer menu and select show all files. Now, all
    you have to do is scroll down until you find 31794a12_manila, and
    then copy it from windows to somewhere like your storage card,
    and then copy it onto your pc, you now have a file ready for editing.​
    copyingfromdevice.png
    1
    Better way to find manila files.

    Sorry this took me so long to write, I wasn't sure of the best way to write it, and I'm still not :p so here goes..

    When your favourite rom chef, or even HTC for that matter, make roms, manila is added in, in multiple packages, such as Manila Music, Manila People, Mania Home ect.... This can help us ALOT in finding a particular file, as we can narrow down our searches to one package.

    So, being a rom chef myself, I just take all the manila packages from my kitchen, and look through them with cfcgui (we shall get to that later) however there are so many different versions of manila, so many different packages that it might be hard to find the packages for your specific version, however if you can find yours, thats great. Alot of files DO NOT change between versions, so usually its quite easy to find a packages that suits yours and others roms. The most used manila package at the moment is probably 2012 and 2014, so I will upload those packages for you guys, that way you have somewhere to start. Also provided is a thread which has some more manila packages, thanks to dotcompt

    [Dotcompt packages]
    [Manila 2012 Packages]
    [Manila 2014 Packages]

    So, lets begin :D, lets say for example, I want to edit the Mail background paper image, so this will take 2 seconds with this method :D, no looking for other cabs ;)

    The first thing we want to do is download CFC GUI, heres a link to the thread!
    [Download]
    [Thread, so you can read more about it and its features] - Thanks Chainfire, great work as usual ;)

    I keep CFCGUI in the same folder as my manila packages...
    Open CFC GUI, and it will ask you to select a folder, this is the directory it will work from, so we want to point it to the manila package. And we want to edit the mail tab background, and so we can make a pretty good guess that its gonna be in the Manila Mail package ;), so browse to where your manila mail package is, and then to the files folder inside that, and click ok, CFC GUI will now scan the folder for manila files.

    Now, we have a list of files, CFC GUI will name the ones that it already knows, but considering it hasn't been updated in a while, this doesnt pick up all of the files, so any ones it doesnt recognize goes into the unknown section. Just keep flicking through all these files, whilst CFC GUI displays an image of it on the right, until you find the one your looking for, which in our case is the second from last file, found in unknown - 32830efc_manila WE HAVE OUR FILE! :D

    Now, we want to edit it, use the shortkey Ctrl+S to save the file as a png ready for editing, I like to have a seperate folder for converting png to qtc and vice versa, which I name, my working folder :D, so have an empty folder called Working Folder somewhere else, and choose to save the png there.

    Another advantage to this is, the file is already converted to png for you :D


    cfcgui.png