msstyle import question
Tuesday, April 5, 2005 by kromiumsun | Discussion: SkinStudio Help
Occasionally I've find an .msstyle that I want to import with SkinStudio. With most I get a SkinStudio popup with a big red 'X' that says "A file of that format? It might be very useful. Here it will not work." Kind of cryptic. My guess was that it's referring to the shellstyle.dll that usually resides in a subfolder, which of course we don't need since we're using Windowblinds (or I am anyway). A couple of .msstyles I've been able to convert by tossing the shellstyles.dll. There's one in particular I'm after that is being extremely resistent to import. One I found over on DevArt called Kamino (from Star Wars). Even after removing the shellstyles.dll I get the message. Only way it seems to work is by importing as a Universal Skin, and exporting as WB. But after doing so, I have the WB, but the XP Start Menu does not appear as it does in SkinStudio, loses something in translation I guess. Any ideas anyone? While I'm at it-might I presume there are no ethical issues with importing someone's visual style for my personal use, as long as I'm not re-distributing it as WB without the author's permission?
MadDeez
Reply #2 Wednesday, April 6, 2005 9:56 AM
Reply #2 Wednesday, April 6, 2005 9:56 AM
you kind of need the shellstyle.dll in order for sks to know which shellstyle to import, don't you? when i convert a skin, the first thing i do is extract the msstyle skin to the windows/resources/themes folder, then open sks and import it. sks does a great job. i always look things over and change what i think needs to be before i post it anywhere, though. sometimes, in order for the shellstyle to appear, the XP Shell - Shellstyle (unofficial) - Shellstyle Low Level Definition attribute needs to be removed. I don't remember if that's the case with Kamino, though.
kromiumsun
Reply #3 Wednesday, April 6, 2005 10:42 PM
Reply #3 Wednesday, April 6, 2005 10:42 PM
Thanks Jafo, just being cautious on the 2nd question,& wanted to hear it from someone else.
And thanks to Mr Snidely for your suggestion - I guess I've read about 'hacking' and 'patching'
the shell, I wasn't up to speed as to whether shellstyle.dll played some sinister part of that
method. Turns out you're the one to talk to since I have a number of the ports you did of KoL's stuff.
As you might guess I'm a bit of n00b at actually using SkinStudio. I've poked around and got into
a tutorial of making a skin, but then gained a great deal more appreciation seeing how tedious
the work is that goes behind making a really good skin.
I tried placing the whole Kamino folder w/shelstyles and all in Windows Themes per your suggestion
and appear to have imported it successfully minus the cryptic message. Yay. Got the WB, but still no
Start Menu grfx-I tried validating & manually locating all the stuff reported missing and still
no cigar.
I'll keep trying-it'll be a good learning experience if I figure it out! Thanks for your help. 
And thanks to Mr Snidely for your suggestion - I guess I've read about 'hacking' and 'patching'
the shell, I wasn't up to speed as to whether shellstyle.dll played some sinister part of that
method. Turns out you're the one to talk to since I have a number of the ports you did of KoL's stuff.
As you might guess I'm a bit of n00b at actually using SkinStudio. I've poked around and got into
a tutorial of making a skin, but then gained a great deal more appreciation seeing how tedious
the work is that goes behind making a really good skin.
I tried placing the whole Kamino folder w/shelstyles and all in Windows Themes per your suggestion
and appear to have imported it successfully minus the cryptic message. Yay. Got the WB, but still no
Start Menu grfx-I tried validating & manually locating all the stuff reported missing and still
no cigar.
I'll keep trying-it'll be a good learning experience if I figure it out! Thanks for your help. 
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Reply #1 Tuesday, April 5, 2005 11:24 PM
No....no issues at all. That's what the 'converter' is for...