New skin for Hal: Super Size Me

[Dr.Benway]

The size of this skin for Hal 5 is 1024x768. It will probably cover your whole desktop. If you need a skin like this, but your desktop has a different format then add your comment to this thread please.





Download Attachment: SuperSizeMe_1024x768_updated.zip
45.34 KB

[Holllywood]

Good one Dr. Benway. I like it. I'm only seeing one Prob. I'm set up with 1024, and my task bar comes up over the controls. If I slide the window up a bit I lose the backdrop buttons. But over all the window is great. The Character is really in the room. []

StillTrying,StillListening,StillLearning

[Dr.Benway]

I know what you mean. I had the same problem. Another problem I encountered is when Hal starts up and its window is placed lower than usual on the desktop. In that case you will find it difficult to grab the window and pull it up.

You can make the taskbar go away by right clicking on it and then choose "unlock taskbar" (or something, I have a dutch version). If your taskbar keeps being a nuisance we will have to think of something else.

[Holllywood]

Yeah Dr. I saw that too, when the window first comes up. it's a little low. The prob. I see with my task bar, is that when I try to go to the bottom of the window for the mic. etc. Controls, the task bar pops up getting in the way of the controls. And like I said When you do get a hold of the window and move it up a little, You've got the Prob. of getting to the backdrop controls at the top of the window. Maybe that can be fixed by putting them at the bottom of the window. Then you could move the window up out of the way of the task bar, and have access to all controls. Just a thought. You know I'm super new to this.

StillTrying,StillListening,StillLearning

[anton6364]

all i get is a grey background[]

[Dr.Benway]

I updated the skin. This time I placed the buttons higher.

I can't think of a reason why you should see only grey. When Ultra Hal doesn't accept a skin it reverts back to the default skin and there is no color grey in my skin to begin with. Are you sure your PC can handle a full screen Haptek-window? Is it an old PC?

[Holllywood]

Thanks Dr. Good one. I can get to the buttons. Now I got another favor to ask... How do I resize my backdrops? Because now the Pixels are to large. And Oh Yeah thanks for the eyelashes. I don't know how to load 'em yet. but I've got them. LOL. Got any sunglasses?? heh.heh.heh. But serious. Good job on the window..

SillTrying,StillListening,StillLearning.

[anton6364]

PC is fine..amd 26000 win xp sp2..512 mb ram
  i can go to the file and view the image...just when it loads i get a grey background..the bar shows up..changed from 1024-768 to 800-600. still grey..could be a prob with service pack 2...that has been the source of a lot of program errors..i'm at a loss..maybe someone else will run into this and find a solution..

[Dr.Benway]

Don't let it bother you Anton, the best part of it is the Haptek logo which is something you will never see if the Haptek player is installed. Plus, a full screen character does not always look better. Furthermore, in no time you will find yourself hunting for new backdrops, because the installed one's look ugly when resized.

You can easily enlarge any skin up until 200% by selecting that function from the Ultra Hal main menu.

[anton6364]

it's not a real biggie...it just seems odd that even under the general options/skin the image is shown but appears as a plain grey background..and yet the bar at the bottom shows..just for the heck of it.i ran it through an editing prog and changed the background.and wouldn't ya know it, same, shows everywhere but on screen.i will just delete it and wait for the next one. i am using desktopmate debbie and she is pretty tall. so i thought a full screen might have been a nice option to the skins. i'm also running "windowblinds" and have changed the systems GUI. The color theme is gold and green..so i have no skin for Hal that matches..maybe i can try to copy and edit one of the other skins.see how that looks..(i can't stand the look of XP) so i change the colors quite a lot.

[Dr.Benway]

I think what you are saying is interesting. I presumed you were using this skin with the Haptek engine. I never owned a desktop mate so I have to guess, but I think the "desktop mates"-engine can't handle such a large viewport.

You might try this:

- Open Zabaware\Ultra Hal Assistant 5\SuperSizeMe_skin.uhp
with Notepad
- change the following settings in this file to smaller numbers:

skinFacewidth=1024
skinFaceheight=709

- save the file and see if it this fixes your problem.

[anton6364]

OK...i hope i don't make this sound too confusing... i edited the numbers for the skin size, gradually decreasing them,and as the numbers went down,the grey box shrank torward the upper left corner,
 I continued untill i had (0)for both the skinfacewidth and skinfaceheight, now..full size skin is 100% visible..(along with my edited background)so now i have 2..
  New problem..the Desktop character is now following the old grey box location.she stands at the upper left and all i see are her legs (unless i drag her down the screen) but..if i drag the entire screen down,she will follow the same location..she stands on the "size" button...is there a way to relocate the button? lets say to the middle of the screen? and maybe i could re-color it to black to make it seem invisible..then my character will default to the center..and all will be good..as far as i can tell..all the problems with the skin may be the desktopmate character..is it possible that may be the case? maybe because she does not stay inside a box..but rather stands in front of one?

[Dr.Benway]

1) Meaning of some names in Hal skin-files:

skinFaceX= horizontal start point of animation box on skin
skinFaceY= vertical start point of animation box on skin

skinFacewidth= width of animation box
skinFaceheight= height of animation box


You could try something like this:

skinFaceX= 512
skinFaceY= 384

skinFacewidth= 0
skinFaceheight= 0



2) You might try this to change the background color for a desktop mate:

- open the settings file for your desktop mate with Notepad. The name and the location of the file must be something like this:

Zabaware\Ultra Hal Assistant 5.0\{name of your desktop mate}.uhp

- Change the following setting to get the color black:

BGColor=0

[anton6364]

well, i'm getting closer.have the button location at a good spot.
 i think it's skinfaceX-118. skinfaceY-378. that puts the size button in a unused black area on the background(diff than haptek).now it's just a matter of hiding or re-coloring the button (if possible).still,a lot better than just seeing legs.LOL.would have been easier if the button had a BMP or JPG.then i could have just done a recolor..Thanks for all your help on this.

[Dr.Benway]

I never understood why Medeksza invented that button in the first place. I have no idea how to change the button. Maybe we could do the same trick as with the AgentSpace_skin. Have you ever tried that skin and does it work with Desktop mate?