How to make a theme

[Midnightfoxlovesmaria]

how do i make a theme?I need to know that way i can make my own "personal" themes.....that way mine won't be someone else's work....just tell me what programs i need....and tell me how to use them to make a theme....

please reply....

never mind.....i just found out by searching on google....

[cpubasic13]

First off, chill. Someone will reply. This isn't AIM or IRC.

Second, you'll need a graphics program if you want your own graphics and Wordpad/Notepad/whatever you like.

Making a theme is... uh... not complex, but you'll need to take a look at the metrics.ini if you want to make changes to anything. Try toying around with the metrics and look at each screen on the default theme to see how some things were managed. Also, there is the SM Theming Wiki, although I don't have a link... >_> AJ could help with that. :P

[dieKatze88]

1. Dont double bump, Its a fourm, not IRC. You cant expect immediate answers.

2. Ask questions about things youre confused about, There is no Hitchhikers Guide to Stepmania Themeing. There are only the gurus around here, you can ask us questions, but we arent going to write you a guide step by step. You should look at how the themes directory is.

3. Tools you need to make a theme:
A graphic Editor that supports the PNG Fileformat, and transparancy. GIMP is free, Photoshop is not. Both are choices used by the community.

Notepad, Or if you want a little sanity, try EditPad or EditPad Lite. EditPad isnt free, but it will color your code. EditPad Lite is the free version, it however does not color your code.

A graphical file management system, such as Windows Explorer, Nautilus on Linux, or Finder on Macintosh will make your life easier.

Basic knowledge of how a computer works may help you

Basic knowledge of how DDR works will help you


Go ahead, start asking questions!

[AJ 187]

SciTE is a good editor that can color XML and Ini stuff, if you want to use that. It's open source, which is awesome.

[laser123454321]

For text editors:
I would suggest ConTEXT. The text editor is pretty dam good. It has highlighters but there isn't a metrics highlighter but it does have highlighters for XML and what not, and new highlighters can be downloaded from the site. And if somebody is willing to do it, a highlighter could be made to recognize commands and what not.

Also make sure that whatever graphic option you use, make sure that it supports layers. A lot of themers like to mockup their idea then split it up into layers and save those layers as the individual graphics the theme needs.

Also i would suggest that you seek help in the SM Themeing Wiki presented by the SM Themers Guild.

You can get to it via the big picture on my site:
http://www.laser123454321.com/
or you can get their directly via
http://kki.ajworld.net/w/index.php/Main_Page