Skinning Droid 2 Global
This is how I managed to do so. It may be incorrect or may be the “hard way,” all I know is that it works. Please tell me if there is something wrong/credit that needs to be given. Ill fix it. So I don't think images will stick, and the formatting may be bad, so i included a word document. Let me know what you guys think
. Its my first Tut and I hope it helps someone out. It took me twelve hours to figure it out as I have never skinned anything on an Android System before.
STEP 1: Before you do anything, make sure you create a backup of the entire phone. There are tuts on line everywhere. You need to root your device, install the DROID2Bootstrap and click on bootstrap recovery and restart your device to boot into clockwork. Then choose Backup.
STEP 2: Now make sure you can skin your ROM. I have Fission and I know it will accept new themes. Find your Stock ROM image and obtain the “framework-res.apk” from “/system/framework/”.
NOTE: You cannot skin themes that already have been skinned. You need the original “framework-res.apk” from your ORIGINAL ROM.
STEP 3: Download APKmanager 4.9 and extract it (Here ). Open up the folder and find “place-apk-here-for-modding” and place your “framework-res.apk” in there.
- Run “Script.bat” and press enter to get to this menu.
- Select the project you are using. To do this, press “22” and hit ENTER. Now a screen pops up.
- Select 1 and press enter. (I had more frameworks, so that’s why I have 4).
STEP 4: Decompile it. At the Home screen (Step 3 shows the home screen) press 9. It will say decompiling apk. Wait for that line to disappear. Once gone, keep the program OPEN and go to the folder you extracted APKmanager to. Go to the projects folder now. You should see a folder with the same name as your apk.
REMEMBER: IF YOU GET AN ERROR, MAKE SURE THE apk IS UNSKINNED.
STEP 5: navigate to the “projects\framework-res.apk\res\ drawable-hdpi\”
In this folder, you can modify any of the images EXCEPT for the .9.png. That one needs to do in a special way. Make your changes as needed.. The Next part is on the .9.png.
--------------------------------------------------.9.png file skinning --------------------------------------------------------------
This video (were not using MetaMorph) is helpful even though he has a mac: [video=youtube;Lf1l9JV9JBw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf1l9JV9JBw[/video].
STEP 6: find your PNG that you want to edit. An example would be “status_bar_close_on.9.png”
- Open it in any editing program. Photoshop or GIMP or anything is fine.
- Once finished, save it as a .png file without the “.9” but exactly the same otherwise.
Example would be “status_bar_close_on.png”
STEP 7: We need to download the Android-SDK. It can be found at Android SDK | Android Developers
-Personally, I used the zip file. I recommend that. Download that and extract it. Once extracted, go to “\android-sdk-windows\tools” and load up “draw9patch.bat”
NOTE: if you get an error when opening it, check the “\android-sdk-windows\tools\lib” for “swing-worker-1.1.jar” if it’s not there, you will need it. Here swing-worker-1.1.jar - dividere - Library - Project Hosting on Google Code=
STEP 8: Open it and you should see a blank screen (bellow).
-
Drag your edited file without the .9.png into the screen. It should look like bellow.
The above image is from the third eye theme. I realize that the image you open is smaller, but that’s because it stretches the entire image that long. Here it shows one image for the entire bar. (This is the bar above ongoing when you drag your finger down from the status bar)
-
OK… so the top line and the left are for where the image will stretch. The idea behind .9 images is that they stretch. If you do not want them to stretch much, just put one dot on the top and left margin. The right and bottom margin is for where text will go. In this case, I wanted text to be able to go on the entire thing, so I highlighted the entire bottom and right hand column.
- On the top, click show bad patches. If no red lines appear, your good.
- NOTE: The right shows the button, but a bad .9.png because its outlined in red!
- Save the file without the .9.. it will be there once saved.
Edit everything to your liking.
STEP 9: If you wish to edit any of the text or color, follow this: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/te...ming-guide-changing-system-text-settings.html start with “Now for the Fun” #6
STEP 10: Now.. Hopefully you kept the APKmanager 4.9 window open the entire time. If not, open it again and choose the project .apk and that should be fine. Don’t decompile it again. Ok press 11. It should say compiling.
Once it disappears, press 12.
If all went correctly, you did it correctly. If it fails on STEP 10 at all.. ask yourself this.
1. Did you start with an unmodified framework-res.apk
2. Did you follow the .9.png steps correctly?
3. Did you delete any useless files in the folder “projects\framework-res.apk\res\ drawable-hdpi\” (Like “status_bar_close_on.png” because the .apk only uses the .9.png. not the .png without the .9. If you want to keep a backup, move the non.9 .png file somewhere else)
STEP 11: In your “apk_manager_4.9\place-apk-here-for-modding” folder, there should be a signedframework-res.apk file. This will be used in clockwork, but first we need to make it an update .zip
- First we need to create a folder called update. You can see from above I did that already.
- Now we need to create the following “Update\META-INF\com\google\android\” NOTE: There should only be one update folder. In “Update” create “META-INF”, then “com”,etc.
- In the android folder, right click and select create new “Text Document”
-
Name it “update-script.txt” It should look like this.. Notice the folders on top. One Update folder
- Open the “update-script.txt” and write this exactly. Copy and paste it if you have to
“copy_dir PACKAGE:framework SYSTEM:framework“ and save the file.
- Next we need to delete the file extension. It cannot have the “.txt” part anymore. If you are unable to access this, press (windows 7/vista) alt>tools>Folder Options> View> and uncheck the Hide extension for known file types box. So it should look like this…
STEP 12: Go to the root of the Update folder and create a framework folder. So its “Update\framework\”
- Place the “framework-res.apk” file in there.
STEP 13: Ok now it is a little ridiculous, but we need to sign this too… it’s a little bit difficult.
- We need SignAPK. It can be found here *********** - free file sharing and storage - download
- Ok extract the SignAPK files to C:\ and place the “Update” folder you created in the SignAPK folder.
- NOTE: you NEED java installed in order for this to work. It can be found here https://cds.sun.com/is-bin/INTERSHO...ProductRef=jre-6u20-oth-JPR@CDS-CDS_Developer
- Ok, Now create an Update.zip folder. When you open in it, you don’t want to see another update folder. You want to see “META-INF” and “framework”. The easiest ways to do this is to have winrar installed (HERE http://winrar.software.en.softonic.com/universaldownloader-launch ) and to open the update folder and select both folders and click “Add to Archive” and make sure to select “Zip” on the bottom. Not “Rar”.
- The following should look like above. Now Press Start>run (Windows 7/Vista press the windows key and R at the same time) and type “cmd”
Type “cd c:\SignApk\” and press enter.
Next if you did what I said above correctly the exact same way as me, type this:
“java -jar signapk.jar certificate.pem key.pk8 Update.zip Update1.zip”
- Now go to your SignAPK folder and you should have an Update1.zip file now.
DONE!!! All you need to do is copy this file to the root of your Droid 2 Global SD Card, boot into clockwork and install the update.zip file. HAPPY MODDING J
I would like to thank google images, anyone you created any of the files above because they are so amazingly useful. I would also like to thank team Defuse and droidforums.net as well as londatiga.net for helping me learn how to skin/theme.
~Cdeath27
EDIT: Fixed an error on the last step. I forgot a 1 in update1.zip. Should be fine now.
This is how I managed to do so. It may be incorrect or may be the “hard way,” all I know is that it works. Please tell me if there is something wrong/credit that needs to be given. Ill fix it. So I don't think images will stick, and the formatting may be bad, so i included a word document. Let me know what you guys think
. Its my first Tut and I hope it helps someone out. It took me twelve hours to figure it out as I have never skinned anything on an Android System before. STEP 1: Before you do anything, make sure you create a backup of the entire phone. There are tuts on line everywhere. You need to root your device, install the DROID2Bootstrap and click on bootstrap recovery and restart your device to boot into clockwork. Then choose Backup.
STEP 2: Now make sure you can skin your ROM. I have Fission and I know it will accept new themes. Find your Stock ROM image and obtain the “framework-res.apk” from “/system/framework/”.
NOTE: You cannot skin themes that already have been skinned. You need the original “framework-res.apk” from your ORIGINAL ROM.
STEP 3: Download APKmanager 4.9 and extract it (Here ). Open up the folder and find “place-apk-here-for-modding” and place your “framework-res.apk” in there.
- Run “Script.bat” and press enter to get to this menu.
- Select the project you are using. To do this, press “22” and hit ENTER. Now a screen pops up.
- Select 1 and press enter. (I had more frameworks, so that’s why I have 4).
STEP 4: Decompile it. At the Home screen (Step 3 shows the home screen) press 9. It will say decompiling apk. Wait for that line to disappear. Once gone, keep the program OPEN and go to the folder you extracted APKmanager to. Go to the projects folder now. You should see a folder with the same name as your apk.
REMEMBER: IF YOU GET AN ERROR, MAKE SURE THE apk IS UNSKINNED.
STEP 5: navigate to the “projects\framework-res.apk\res\ drawable-hdpi\”
In this folder, you can modify any of the images EXCEPT for the .9.png. That one needs to do in a special way. Make your changes as needed.. The Next part is on the .9.png.
--------------------------------------------------.9.png file skinning --------------------------------------------------------------
This video (were not using MetaMorph) is helpful even though he has a mac: [video=youtube;Lf1l9JV9JBw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf1l9JV9JBw[/video].
STEP 6: find your PNG that you want to edit. An example would be “status_bar_close_on.9.png”
- Open it in any editing program. Photoshop or GIMP or anything is fine.
- Once finished, save it as a .png file without the “.9” but exactly the same otherwise.
Example would be “status_bar_close_on.png”
STEP 7: We need to download the Android-SDK. It can be found at Android SDK | Android Developers
-Personally, I used the zip file. I recommend that. Download that and extract it. Once extracted, go to “\android-sdk-windows\tools” and load up “draw9patch.bat”
NOTE: if you get an error when opening it, check the “\android-sdk-windows\tools\lib” for “swing-worker-1.1.jar” if it’s not there, you will need it. Here swing-worker-1.1.jar - dividere - Library - Project Hosting on Google Code=
STEP 8: Open it and you should see a blank screen (bellow).
-
The above image is from the third eye theme. I realize that the image you open is smaller, but that’s because it stretches the entire image that long. Here it shows one image for the entire bar. (This is the bar above ongoing when you drag your finger down from the status bar)
-
- On the top, click show bad patches. If no red lines appear, your good.
- NOTE: The right shows the button, but a bad .9.png because its outlined in red!
- Save the file without the .9.. it will be there once saved.
Edit everything to your liking.
STEP 9: If you wish to edit any of the text or color, follow this: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/te...ming-guide-changing-system-text-settings.html start with “Now for the Fun” #6
STEP 10: Now.. Hopefully you kept the APKmanager 4.9 window open the entire time. If not, open it again and choose the project .apk and that should be fine. Don’t decompile it again. Ok press 11. It should say compiling.
Once it disappears, press 12.
If all went correctly, you did it correctly. If it fails on STEP 10 at all.. ask yourself this.
1. Did you start with an unmodified framework-res.apk
2. Did you follow the .9.png steps correctly?
3. Did you delete any useless files in the folder “projects\framework-res.apk\res\ drawable-hdpi\” (Like “status_bar_close_on.png” because the .apk only uses the .9.png. not the .png without the .9. If you want to keep a backup, move the non.9 .png file somewhere else)
STEP 11: In your “apk_manager_4.9\place-apk-here-for-modding” folder, there should be a signedframework-res.apk file. This will be used in clockwork, but first we need to make it an update .zip
- First we need to create a folder called update. You can see from above I did that already.
- Now we need to create the following “Update\META-INF\com\google\android\” NOTE: There should only be one update folder. In “Update” create “META-INF”, then “com”,etc.
- In the android folder, right click and select create new “Text Document”
-
- Open the “update-script.txt” and write this exactly. Copy and paste it if you have to
“copy_dir PACKAGE:framework SYSTEM:framework“ and save the file.
- Next we need to delete the file extension. It cannot have the “.txt” part anymore. If you are unable to access this, press (windows 7/vista) alt>tools>Folder Options> View> and uncheck the Hide extension for known file types box. So it should look like this…
STEP 12: Go to the root of the Update folder and create a framework folder. So its “Update\framework\”
- Place the “framework-res.apk” file in there.
STEP 13: Ok now it is a little ridiculous, but we need to sign this too… it’s a little bit difficult.
- We need SignAPK. It can be found here *********** - free file sharing and storage - download
- Ok extract the SignAPK files to C:\ and place the “Update” folder you created in the SignAPK folder.
- NOTE: you NEED java installed in order for this to work. It can be found here https://cds.sun.com/is-bin/INTERSHO...ProductRef=jre-6u20-oth-JPR@CDS-CDS_Developer
- Ok, Now create an Update.zip folder. When you open in it, you don’t want to see another update folder. You want to see “META-INF” and “framework”. The easiest ways to do this is to have winrar installed (HERE http://winrar.software.en.softonic.com/universaldownloader-launch ) and to open the update folder and select both folders and click “Add to Archive” and make sure to select “Zip” on the bottom. Not “Rar”.
- The following should look like above. Now Press Start>run (Windows 7/Vista press the windows key and R at the same time) and type “cmd”
Type “cd c:\SignApk\” and press enter.
Next if you did what I said above correctly the exact same way as me, type this:
“java -jar signapk.jar certificate.pem key.pk8 Update.zip Update1.zip”
- Now go to your SignAPK folder and you should have an Update1.zip file now.
DONE!!! All you need to do is copy this file to the root of your Droid 2 Global SD Card, boot into clockwork and install the update.zip file. HAPPY MODDING J
I would like to thank google images, anyone you created any of the files above because they are so amazingly useful. I would also like to thank team Defuse and droidforums.net as well as londatiga.net for helping me learn how to skin/theme.
~Cdeath27
EDIT: Fixed an error on the last step. I forgot a 1 in update1.zip. Should be fine now.
Last edited:
