Repacking Themes

Since HyperSpin 1.0 offers zipped theme support, old themes that worked in HyperSpin .8 are packed in separate folders that will no longer work with the new release.  The image below shows what the old folder layout may have looked like.

Note: The latest version of HyperTheme will correctly pack any new themes you make.

Within each folder (Artwork1, Artwork2, etc.) each of the files for a particular game would be named the same.  All of the artwork for pacman would be named pacman, with the Artwork1 image for pacman named pacman.png or pacman.swf and would be placed in the Artwork1 folder.  
With the new zipped support, all of the artwork for one theme will go into one folder with the art for Artwork1 named Artwork1 (with the png or swf extension).  See the image below for an example of how the Pac-Man theme would be named.

Once you have pulled all of the artwork from the individual folders and renamed it according to its origin, place it in a single folder level as shown above.  Notice that one image remains named pacman.png.  That is the Wheel Art image.  HyperSpin won’t read the image from there, but it is packed there in case you need it.

One other file you’ll want to add is a simple text file with the example text filled in as above.  This file should simply be named Info.txt.

Once you’ve done this, make sure you have the 7-zip archival program installed.  It is available for free from 7-zip.org.  You can use the shell version (regular install is recommended) or the 7za.exe command line extension.  The regular install allows you to use the context menu (right mouse click) to create an archive as shown below.

Select Add to Archive.  The archival options window will appear.  Make sure that you use the zip format with no compression (Store method).  The image below shows the correct settings.  NOTE: You’re themes will not work in HyperSpin if they are not zipped in exactly this manner; they will bring up a ZIP ERROR.

For use on your own computer, using the game name only for the zip name will work in HyperSpin if it matches the XML entry for that game.  FOR UPLOADING TO THE HYPERSPIN WEBSITE: you must use the following naming convention:
description - romname - creator(YYYYMMDD).zip
Note that there are no spaces between the end of the game name, hyphen, creator name, and date in parentheses.   Wheel images inside your zip file should only be named with the game name.  Note: if you need to make changes to a file in your theme, you must repack it completely, not add files to the zip.

NOTE: The entire set of current themes for HyperSpin (approved prior to 11-18-2009) has been repacked and will be available for download from the FTP (gold members) and the HyperSpin website (free for non gold members).