Skin loading errors

[Davy]

Hi. I recently purchased UltraHal Assistant 6.2, so i'm new here. I've playing with it, trying to get it configured to my satisfaction. So far so good, except i am having trouble getting skins to load properly. I have about 25 interface skins, but only 4 work like they should.

I get "error 380 invalid property value occurred at line 11 in UltraHal Assistant: SkinLoader. LoadSkinImages"

If i click on "ignore" the skins will load, but don't display as the should (like the preview image), the background is all black. I don't have any tall skins that work properly. Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this error message, and how can i fix it?

Thanks
Dave

[Bill819]

Did you by any chance also purchase the expansion pack, if not then that explains your problem?

[Davy]

I forgot to mention that i did purchase the expansion pack. I can't figure out what's wrong. The .uhp files and the images files are in the correct folder. Most skins come with a setup installer, so that should be automatic.

Regards
Dave

[freddy888]

Bill, Davy ; You don't need the character expansion pack to load skins - the CEP is for adding characters to HAL not GUI's...

I am sorry I don't know the answer, which skins are you using ?  Maybe other's can confirm if they work for them or not.

[Data]

Davy:

Did you install Hal to C:Program Files ? Its default location.

If you didn’t, like me, then the installers will not install the skins to the correct place and you will need to install them manually.

[Davy]

UltraHal is installed in the C:Program Files default folder, and the installers are working correctly. I checked the folders to make sure. My screen resolution is 1024 x 768, although that shouldn't make a difference, since some skins are working properly.

Here is a list of the skins that do work -
Default
Evil Brain
Hand Held
Lithium
Plastek
Strange Sky
Windows Default

Here are the skins that do not work -
BigBlue
Blued
Compact Black
Custom Skin 1
Hal 9000
Large Character Skin
Maximus Skin
Pewter
Simple Device
Cool Blue
Smoothy 1
StarTrek Hand Held
Tall 3
Tall Blue
Tall Gold
WMP Skin

It's a real mystery why some work and some don't. :-(

Regards
Dave

[Data]

To me, it looks like the images are not being found.

Just in case you don’t know…

The skin images must be in the Skins folder located in Hals root folder, this is not the same place as the skins uhp file, which should be in the root folder.

Please try this:

Download the clear skin from my skins page and manually copy the files to the correct folder.

ClearSkin.uhp into Ultra Hal Assistant folder

The image files into the Skins folder.

[Davy]

That's true, the images are not being loaded for the non-working skins. I downloaded your Clear Skin, and manually moved the files to the proper folders. But i get the same error message. Here is a screenshot of this skin -

Regards
Dave

[Data]

Thanks for trying that Davy, I just wanted to make sure everything was in its correct place.

I’ve been around this forum for a while and haven’t seen this exact problem before, maybe someone else has.

Out of curiosity what Windows are you using? I was just thinking that a 64bit OS has two programs files folders and maybe that’s causing the problem.

Or maybe the image files have got corrupted some how, but I doubt that.

Oh! and welcome to the forum []

[Davy]

Thanks for the welcome. I'm still learning about Hal, also i have People Putty, and am learning how to create characters for UltraHal. Having lots of fun.

I am using Windows XP, 32-bit. That doesn't seem to be the problem. Can't understand why some skins load ok, and some don't. I even tried putting the path to the skin images in the .uhp file, but that didn't work. :-(

Regards
Dave

[Davy]

Well, i discovered the cause of my skin loading errors. It seems i don't have the required font, Verdana. I edited the .uhp files, changing the font to Arial. Now all skins work without problems. []

Regards
Dave

[freddy888]

Bizarre, I thought Windows always came with Verdana.  Well it's good to see you got them working []

[Data]

Im with freddy on this, I thought Verdana came with windows too, it definitely does come with Vista and Win7 I just checked it.

Many websites use Verdana it is a very common font.

You can download the font here

http://www.WebpagePublicity.com/free-fonts/v/Verdana.ttf

Installation is easy just paste the font into your fonts folder “C:WINDOWSFonts” and windows will install it for you.

On the skins I made I would recommend using Verdana because the font sizes are not the same as Arial and the skin might not display as intended.

Glad you found the problem Davy, now if it happens again we know what is causing it.

[Davy]

All my previous computers came with the Verdana font, but for some reason, not this one. I will download and install the Verdana font shortly. Thanks guys.

Davy

[Davy]

I now have the Verdana font installed, and all my skins are working. I decided to try my hand at creating my own skin. It's 99% complete, the only thing lacking is settings for microphone volume control. Since i don't have speech recognition, the mic button doesn't work, so i have no way to test it. I don't know how or where to implement the volume slider settings. I have the Hal Interface Design Manual, but it says nothing about details such as this. Any help or tips on how to proceed would be appreciated.

Another question, perhaps i should start a new thread, but here goes anyway. I have a shortcut to HalAsst.exe on my taskbar, so it starts with only one click. But when it starts, it is minimized as an icon in the system tray. So i have to click that icon to open Hal. Is there any way to have the interface open without it minimizing to the system tray?

For what it's worth, here is a screenshot of my RedRust skin. If anyone is interested, i can make it available when it's finished.

Regards
Davy