Tried every single method you could think of and never even heard of. Let me run you the list of methods I've done:
- back up original bootanimation in /system/media and switch it out with custom (fail)
- place custom bootanimation in /data/local with reboot (fail)
- adb push over to /data/local (fail)
- terminal emulator push over to /data/local (fail)
- adb push over to /system/media (fail)
- terminal emulator push over to /system/media (fail)
- adb push over to /data/local and /system/media at once (fail)
- terminal push over to /data/local and /system/media at once (fail)
- pull apart original bootanimation, delete all JPEG images and replace with custom images (fail)
- pull apart original bootanimation, delete all JPEG images, fill in with custom JPEG and reorder in the same numbers as original:
0000.jpg to 0027.jpg in part0 and 0000.jpg to 0027.jpg in part1 (fail)
- pull apart original bootanimation, delete all JPEG images, fill in with custom JPEG and reorder in the same numbers AND same original file names (fail)
- redo the desc.txt in custom bootanimation to match that of desc.txt in original bootanimation (fail)
I've repeated all these steps for 3 different custom bootanimations and all have failed similarly.
What I do notice is, when I replaced custom bootanimation with original, it was back to normal showing the ugly bootanimation.
My conclusion? Something is calling onto the CRC matchup (or maybe MD5's?) and allowing the original bootanimation to go through but stops custom animations from going through.
At least I've narrowed my search down to the fact that it isn't a ROM issue or Theme Manager issue. It's a file issue that does the approval of what goes through.