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XBMCMBX · 2013-11-12, 22:25

I'm trying to open MP4 files from the excellent AVS HD 709 - Blu-ray & MP4 Calibration suite, to calibrate my HDTV, but when I click on files or directories that contain a percent sign in the name, the files don't open and the directories open but show no files. I tried eliminating the percent sign in the names of files in a directory as a test and, sure enough, they opened fine. So, short of renaming hundreds of files, and kind of ruining the integrity of the file organization hierarchy, what can I do to make XBMC open these files as is?

I installed the 'Skin Font' from Programs and set the Confluence skin font to 'Arial based' but this did not change anything. I assume the installed Skin Font is some version of unicode Arial since the icon showed Chinese characters. I tried setting the skin font to the default with same results.

Is there a font or setting that will enable the correct reading and opening of files with this character and maybe any other special characters?

jmarshall · 2013-11-13, 09:12

Nothing to do with the Confluence skin, right? I mean you did try others and it also didn't work, correct?

XBMCMBX · 2013-11-13, 17:35

(2013-11-13, 09:12)jmarshall Wrote: Nothing to do with the Confluence skin, right? I mean you did try others and it also didn't work, correct?

No I didn't try other skins. I'm not really interested in other skins. I'm not sure if it is a skin issue frankly. I thought it might be. You don't think it is?

**Martijn** · 2013-11-13, 17:42

(2013-11-13, 17:35)XBMCMBX Wrote:
(2013-11-13, 09:12)jmarshall Wrote: Nothing to do with the Confluence skin, right? I mean you did try others and it also didn't work, correct?

No I didn't try other skins. I'm not really interested in other skins. I'm not sure if it is a skin issue frankly. I thought it might be. You don't think it is?

If you try it with another skin we will know as well

XBMCMBX · (This post was last modified: 2013-11-14, 16:41 by XBMCMBX.)

(2013-11-13, 09:12)jmarshall Wrote: If you try it with another skin we will know as well

How can I do that without losing all my current settings when I switch back?

artrafael · 2013-11-14, 17:06

Skin-specific settings are saved by skin. Application-wide settings are unaffected when you switch skins (i.e., they are carried over).

XBMCMBX · 2013-11-15, 09:08

(2013-11-14, 17:06)artrafael Wrote: Skin-specific settings are saved by skin. Application-wide settings are unaffected when you switch skins (i.e., they are carried over).

Of course but I mean will I lose my current SKIN settings if I switch to another one or are they preserved? It seems that all those settings are within the app itself and not in the Application Support folder.

artrafael · 2013-11-15, 09:14

They are saved in guisettings.xml in your userdata (wiki) directory. Browse that file and you'll see that there are separate settings for each of the skins you've installed.

XBMCMBX · 2013-11-15, 23:08

(2013-11-15, 09:14)artrafael Wrote: They are saved in guisettings.xml in your userdata (wiki) directory. Browse that file and you'll see that there are separate settings for each of the skins you've installed.

OK, I backed up the whole userdata folder before adding Aeon Nox. Aeon Nox had the same problem using various fonts. I put back Confluence, quit the program, and did a diff of the before and after state of guisettings.xml. As you said, the settings were left intact for Confluence and the Aeon Nox settings were added. BUT when I looked at the Confluence settings, the font had been changed back to the default, so that setting was lost. So I was then curious about what else had been changed. I did a diff between the original and the changed userdata folders. There were changes in 94 different files!

Most of those were image files and probably of little consequence, but there were a number of database files that were also changed, including

Code:
userdata/addon_data/plugin.video.movie25/settings.xml

userdata/addon_data/script.module.universal/playbackengine.db

userdata/addon_data/script.module.universal/watch_history.db

userdata/Database/MyVideos75.db

which probably are of importance. MyVideos75.db had a lot of changes. I don't know what effect this would have but I'm glad I backed up and restored.

This should be a warning to anyone else changing skins. BACK UP YOUR USERDATA!

Since no change was observed, this is most likely a bug in the main program. I'll have to post it in the main forum.

jmarshall · 2013-11-15, 23:16

Thanks for taking the time to test.

Any change to MyVideos75.db would be either scripts inserting additional art, or an additional scrape, or more streamdetails retrieved. All these things happen regardless of skin in the day to day running of XBMC. The same with those script and plugin changes. i.e. they're of little or no importance.

It seems the only change that was made which couldn't be undone was the skin font. This is because that isn't a skin setting, so isn't saved separately per skin. It's an XBMC level setting which depends on the skin. While this isn't ideal, it's the way it is for the foreseeable future.

Cheers,
Jonathan

artrafael · (This post was last modified: 2013-11-15, 23:47 by artrafael.)

Are you sure those changes aren't due to normal usage rather than just switching skins? For example, if you have the update library on startup option enabled, the MyVideos75.db will change everytime you launch XBMC.

jmarshall beat me to it! Smile

artrafael · 2013-11-16, 00:00

When you changed fonts on the Settings page, did you ensure the newly selected font "took hold" before backing out of the Settings page? You have to wait some seconds after selecting the new font before it is applied (the display will refresh). If you back out too soon, the old font is retained (and that's what you'll see in guisettings.xml)

XBMCMBX · 2013-11-16, 17:40

(2013-11-15, 23:16)jmarshall Wrote: Thanks for taking the time to test.

Any change to MyVideos75.db would be either scripts inserting additional art, or an additional scrape, or more streamdetails retrieved. All these things happen regardless of skin in the day to day running of XBMC. The same with those script and plugin changes. i.e. they're of little or no importance.

It seems the only change that was made which couldn't be undone was the skin font. This is because that isn't a skin setting, so isn't saved separately per skin. It's an XBMC level setting which depends on the skin. While this isn't ideal, it's the way it is for the foreseeable future.

Cheers,
Jonathan

I see. I kind of figured that but just to be safe, I restored the original. That way nothing has changed. Not that changing a skin would have much effect but, I am in the habit of backing up my userdata before making ANY changes. I have found that adding new add-ons or updating an existing add-on or installing a new 'program' can render the app inoperable to the point where it is best to just re-install. Backing up before making such changes gives you the ability to get back to where you were painlessly. Thanks for you input. Meanwhile, where else should I look for a possible solution? I tried changing the encoding but no go.

jmarshall · 2013-11-17, 04:17

What OS and sharing filesystem are you using?

XBMCMBX · (This post was last modified: 2013-11-17, 04:37 by XBMCMBX.)

(2013-11-17, 04:17)jmarshall Wrote: What OS and sharing filesystem are you using?

OS X 10.6.8 over AFP share. It plays in VLC and other players no problem. There seems to be a character encoding problem with XBMC itself. BTW, files are named like "1-100% White.mp4". If I simply remove the '%' and leave the space it plays fine in XBMC.