Creating your own Kodi build Part Three

Creating your own Kodi build Part Three

Welcome to Creating your own Kodi build Part Three. This handy series will give you all the steps you need to make your own Kodi build.

Part One of this series can be found HERE

Part Two of this series can be found HERE

OK, here we go, I have to say, I’m quite excited about this one as it’s now that we really start to make things look different.

I finished off the last blog by saying that I was off in search of some cool images and photos. I have selected a few to kick things off and for now, I have simply saved them onto a memory stick.

This is great timing for this step in the process as it coincides with a couple of super blogs from Ezzerman on background images, well worth a peek.

Also, I am sure you will have seen that we have sent out some really magical Christmas images for users background images in the festive period.

To read How to add a background click HERE

To read How to add multiple backgrounds click HERE

To get the Christmas Backgrounds click HERE

So, if you’ve already taken a look at the posts listed above (like me) this should be a piece of cake!

However, as we’re creating a build, I’m going to go a little deeper on this one and see where it takes us.

So I start where we left off with my now coloured main menu items.

Scroll to System and click on Skin Settings.

Then Setup the Aeon Nox main menu.

Now, like last time, probably it’s best to use the keyboard now if you’re anything like me.

Select one of the Main Menu items on the left, I will use PHOENIX, then slide over to the right and down to Set item background and click it.

You will see we have new menu.

Go down to Set single image background and click it.

Now you have to locate where you saved your photos. I saved mine for now on a memory stick which I have plugged into one of the USB ports of my T8 box and it’s named sda1

I click on this, and now I can see all of my images.

I will select one for Phoenix and click it. This automatically installs the photo and takes me back to the previous screen where I can see the path to my image now being shown.

If I now come out of this and scroll to Phoenix I can see my cool image is now installed!

OK, before I go any further and get all crazy with images I needed think about the bigger picture…..(terrible pun !!!)

How I did this was great, but rather than have the images for my build stored locally on my device, I want them to be attached to the build.

This means that when I transfer the build to another device or make it available for others to use, I want the images embedded within the data so they go with it.

After a bit of investigation, trial and error and some sound advice from fellow BestforKodi blogger and kodi builder Megamind this is what I came up with.

We are now going to venture into the file structure of Kodi for the first time.

I am using the File Manager HD App which is already pre-loaded on my T8 box.

If you don’t have it simply download it for free from your App supplier.

The Wookie App Store is always what I recommend.

Once you have the File manager open, click on the three squares in the top right of the screen to display the menu and select Settings.

Now make sure you have Show Hidden Files selected.

Now, from the home screen in file manager select the following folders to navigate to our destination.

Android

data

org.xbmc.kodi

files

kodi

addons

skin.aeon.nox.5

backgrounds

Once in here, use the Create icon on the top of the screen to make a New Folder and call it Backgrounds. You can see below I have already done this.

Now you have created this folder, this is where you want to copy all of your images into. When I click on the Backgrounds folder you can see all my images inside.

Also, if you look at the bottom of the screen, you can see the entire path to where we are.

OK, I hope your still with me?

Any questions please contact me on Twitter @Grendel1905.

So now when we go back into Kodi to select our background images, this is where we should get them from.

This time I will choose to edit the background for the main menu item, SYSTEM

I will by-pass the Memory stick this time. And take the same route as above, but this time in kodi rather than File Manager.

Select External Storage

Then Android

Then data

Then org.xbmc.kodi

Then files

Then kodi

Then addons

Then skin.aeon.nox.5

Then backgrounds

Then our new backgrounds folder

See also

Create your own Kodi Build

Creating your own Kodi build Part Four

And there they are, in their glory!

Select the image you want and we are off and running !

Now this image and selection is embedded in the build and will stay with it.

PHEW !!!!!!

OK, last one for today before I go and set up all my images.

Setting Multiple Background Images.

Sometimes it is cool to have several images for each menu item automatically changing from one to another. We can do this and it’s not as difficult as it may seem.

For the following, I am working in the BACKGROUNDS folder that I have just  created.

First decide which main menu items you want to have multiple images, and which images you want to use. In this example I will chose Phoenix.

Now, this is how I worked it out, it’s seems good and does work well.

Using File Manager again go back to the BACKGROUNDS folder just created.

Once in here, make a new folder and call it by the name of the main menu item, in my case PHOENIX.

Now copy and paste the multiple images for that menu item into the new folder.

You can do this in File Manager, using the Multi function.

Here I have pasted 3 images into my Phoenix folder.

Now, go back to Kodi and the background image settings for Phoenix and this time select set multi-image background.

Now navigate to the Phoenix folder and click it.

You will not see your images at this point, just trust it and click ok.

Now when I go to Phoenix on my main menu, I get all 3 images in turn.

Pretty cool stuff !!!!

Don’t worry, navigating these menus will be second nature soon, I promise !

If at any time you make a mistake and chose the wrong folder or menu, don’t panic, just press Escape or Back to rewind.

It feels like this has been a lot to take in so I need to go practice this some more before we move to the next step.

Just repeat the steps above to set up all the backgrounds for the main menu items.

I think the next blog will be more simple. It’s time I learnt how to back up what I have been doing !

It would be a shame to lose it now it’s coming together.

Any questions please contact me on Twitter @Grendel1905 or @Bestforkodi

Keep dabbling