The Custom Icon Manager combined with the Icon Themes feature work as a powerful tool to change the appearance of your S9. You can create icons for additional UI components, widgets, apps, games, replace the default icons with custom ones and create folders to reorganize the structure of your menu. The Custom Icon Manager works as the basic tool to create, edit and delete additional icons to your your menu. Here you will name your icon, choose the target SWF file and its run mode. The Icon Themes feature will let you organize your icons to separate themes, accessible through the Menu Settings, including replacements for default icons, the ability to change user created icons and combining the icon themes with a specific wallpaper. A word to performance: the more icons you use in a menu and the larger the file size of the used icons, the more performance in loading time (at startup and while switching menus) you will lose. Using files with smaller file size will only slightly decrease the performance.
CUSTOM ICON MANAGER: to create additional icons (for example other flash files, additional UCI's, new folders)
ICON THEMES FEATURE: to replace all icons for each menu separately by using different sets of icons of your choice (including stock icons and custom icons)
New Icons
If you are looking for a new set of icons, please have in mind that for the usage as custom icons only JPG's and PNG's are supported. There is another limitation as well: only PNG's will work with Icon Themes and compared to JPG's, only they support transparency. So if you want to replace your default icons the usage of PNG's is required. The recommended size of your icons is about 68x68 pixels at up to 10 kilobyte. Of course larger files (in dimension and/or file size) could be used. Bigger file size will affect the performance of your main menu and larger dimensions will lessen the available space on the menu screen.
General Icon Settings
If you want to use custom icons in your menus, enable the option Custom Icons in your Menu settings (for each menu separately).
The general icon settings can be made for each menu individually (User Settings -> MenuN -> Icon Settings) and include basic options for icon appearance and animation:
- Lock Icons - for icon positioning
- Grid Settings - to align icons to a custom grid
- Hide Icon Labels - if just the icons should be displayed
- Icon Transparency - configures the transparency of the icons
- Icon Arrival Effect - choose between different icon animations
- Icon Animation Speed - determines the speed of above setting
- Icon Label Color, Alpha & Font Size - global settings for icon labels
- Icon Scale - resizing of icons if necessary
- Custom Icons - enables the usage of custom icons
- Show Lock Icons Button - enables a little button in the menu to quickly lock/unlock the icons
- Stock Icon Set - selection of which stock icon set should be used, depending on the mainmenu number or one of the two former icon sets (Set 1: silver, Set 2: color; before FW Ver. X.50)
- Icon Theme - Icon Theme selector, opens a list of installed Icon Themes
- Stock Icons - to modify the stock icons (description below)
The Special Options of these settings let you clear the settings to default, clear the wallpaper or reset the icons position (in case of an icon "getting lost" or you simply want to rearrange your icons from the beginning).
Cowon's Stock Icons
You can not only replace the stock icons by using Icon Themes, but can disable specific icons if you don't use them. The settings for these feature are in User Settings -> Menu N -> Icon Settings -> Stock Icons:
Please note that there are three icons which can't be disabled and have to be included in the menu:
- Utilities
- Settings
- User Settings
The display of icons for DMB and Dictionary depends on the firmware version you are using. They will not be displayed with the international firmware (Ver. 2.XX), since these features are only coming with the Korean firmware.
You can choose to rename all stock icon labels and configure their color (overriding the global settings).
Custom Icon Manager
While in the menu of the Custom Icon Manager you can choose to create a new icon, edit an existing one or delete an icon. Deletion of icons will only work for created icons, not for default icons (but you can disable them in your Icon Settings for each menu separately). As you add icons the menu will show a list of these icons with some short information:
Icon Status (enabled/disabled) | Icon Name | Run Mode type | "Folder" or the targeted file |
Icon Settings
After creating a new icon you have to configure its settings. Please note that some options are greyed out and are only available for certain types of settings.
HINT: Be sure to determine the right folder to install your application to.
All applications require to be launched from a specific folder as mentioned at the Run Mode option of the icon setting. If you installed an application to a wrong location it will most often result in an incorrect display of the application. If your player freezes on occasion, reset the player and try to launch the application from another folder after changing the settings for this applications icon.
You will get a preview of your icon at the bottom of the screen. This preview will only work correct if you place all files to the right folders. Please note that for Custom Icon Themes icons the preview might differ, since the icon image would be stored in a different folder if using them.
The Icon Settings:
- Label - enter the name of the icon and the icon label
- Type - decides whether to create an icon for a folder (and the folder itself) or an application (Flash file)
- Flash File (.swf) - enter the filename of the targeted Flash file, you can leave out the extension (.swf)
- Icon Image (.jpg or .png) - enter the filename of the icon image, if you use a PNG, you can leave out the extension as well
HINT: The location of the targeted files depends on which run mode they are set as mentioned below. Basically the related icon image files could be placed in the same folder as the targeted application or in the Flash UI folder if creating a folder. But if you use Custom Icon Themes, they have to be placed in the related theme folder (description at Custom Icon Themes).
- Menu Placement - decides where the icon is placed after creation (Main Menu or Utilities folder), you can change its position afterwards (using the Lock Icons feature in the Main Menu settings)
- Target Main Menu - decides for which menu theme the icon shall be created (All or a specific menu)
HINT: Please note that the Custom Icon feature only works with Wallpaper UI's "mainmenuN.swf" or other compatible mainmenus.
- Run Mode - decides on how to open/handle the selected file (if an SWF file) and therefore determines where the file and image of the icon can be found (and should be placed on your S9 file directory, exception: Custom Icon Themes):
- Flash Browser = "Flash" folder
- Launcher = "Flash UI" folder
- Widget = "Widgets" subfolder in "Flash UI" (for Claw's widgets)
- Main Menu = "Flash UI" folder (for additional UCI themes to launch)
- Music = "Flash UI" folder (for additional music UI's)
- Video = "Flash UI" folder (for additional video UI's)
- Lock Screen - only available if the Run Mode is set to Widget, if enabled it will lock the screen behind a running widget to prohibit accidental tapps
- Auto-Start - only available if the Run Mode is set to Widget and Lock Screen option is disabled, if enabled it will launch the selected file automatically:
- Always - the widget will be started every time the menu starts
- On Startup - the widget will be started once on startup
- Enable Wallpapers - only available if the Run Mode is set to Main Menu, enables the usage of custom wallpaper settings in other UCI's
- Preload Wallpapers - only available if the Run Mode is set to Main Menu and above option is enabled, determines if wallpapers should be preloaded at startup of the player or when the icon is used
- Allow Icon Themes - enables the icon to be used (and updated) by an entry in an icon theme
- Enabled - set whether to use/display this icon or not (the information of the icon position will be stored if disabled; disabled icons will be marked with an red "x" in Custom Icon Manager list)
Please note that there are some factors influencing these settings. Flash files could be run with different settings and while sometimes you get some information about how to setup these along with the files, sometimes you don't. Try to experiment a bit. If your tool is displayed wrong for example, vertical while it should be horizontal (or vice versa), most often the Run Mode should be switched (Flash Browser - Launcher). And always have in mind that the Flash version of the Cowon S9 is limited, regardless of the Run Mode at all.
Icon Themes
If you want to replace the embedded default icons and the icons of Claw's UCI you can use the Icon Themes feature. You can use it to change your custom icons as well. Once installed you will be able to select one of your created themes in the menu settings for each menu separately with the option Icon Theme on page 3. In fact this is a little icon theme manager. The advantage of having your own icons has a slight disadvantage as well: the system memory is used additionally so the initial startup of the player might increase about 2 to 3 seconds and the display of the menu would have a short delay, comparable to the usage of custom icons.
HINT: Be sure you use the correct upper-/lower-case spelling for the following changes. Otherwise you will have problems to get the icon themes working.
If you want to use this feature you have to do some preparations. First create a folder called "Themes" in your "Flash UI" folder. This folder works as your main directory for your icon themes. The themes themselves are stored in subfolders, which could be named as you like.
Furthermore you have to create a file called "themes.txt" which works as an ini-file for your theme manager and has to be saved in the "Themes" folder:
<Themes>
<Theme name="Crystal"/>
<Theme name="Orbs"/>
</Themes>
These four lines are an example of how it has to look like. You can simply copy/paste them into your "themes.txt" (be sure to save it after your editing). As mentioned above the spelling of upper-/lower-case is very important with just one exception: of course you can name the themes like you want. Just make sure that the theme name has to be the same name as the related folder. You can use more than two themes as well, but the more themes you install, the higher the loss of performance might be (depending on how much icons you replace and how big their file size is).
Now to the icons. Make sure that you rename your icon file to match the icon to be replaced. The icons have to be in PNG format (Portable Network Graphics). You don't have to replace all icons. Only the icons you copy in your theme folder will be replaced. All others will still use the default ones. You can choose the following icons to be replaced:
- Music -> music.png
- Video -> video.png
- Picture Viewer -> pictures.png
- Documents -> documents.png
- Flash -> flash.png
- Browser -> browser.png
- DMB -> dmb.png
- Radio -> radio.png
- Recorder -> recorder.png
- Dictionary -> dictionary.png
- Utilities -> utilities.png
- Settings -> settings.png
- 'Return Arrow' -> return_arrow.png
- Calculator -> calculator.png
- User settings -> user_settings.png
- Bluetooth toggle -> bluetooth.png
- Notepad -> notepad.png
- Playlist Manager -> playlists.png
- Hunter -> game_hunter.png
- Icon Manager -> icon_manager.png
- all icons you created with the Custom Icon Manager
Changes in the settings of a custom icon used in an Icon Theme:
- Label - no change
- Type - no change
- Flash File (.swf) - no change
- Icon Image (.jpg or .png) - you still have to enter the correct name of the icon file that it can be read out of your theme folder, but there is no need to have it placed together with its target file (the preview wouldn't work correct though); if you want to use the same icon with different icon images in all menus, you just need to use different icon images with the same file name in your icon themes
- Menu Placement - no change
- Target Main Menu - no change; it is possible to use different icon themes for your separate menu screens
- Run Mode - no change
- Lock Screen - no change
- Auto-Start - no change
- Allow Icon Themes - should be set to yes
- Enabled - no change
Theme Wallpapers
If you want a specific wallpaper to be loaded with your icon theme you can do so by renaming the desired wallpaper file to "mainmenu_bg.jpg" and placing it to the related theme folder as well. Enable the option Use Theme Wallpaper in your Menu Settings on page 3. Please note that the Wallpaper Mode in User Settings -> System has to be set to Per Screen, it wouldn't work in default wallpaper mode. This way you can add a specific wallpaper to each of your icon themes if you like.
After you have created the folders and the ini-file and after you copied the desired icons into your theme folders, the option "Icon Themes" will work as an icon theme manager and let you select all of your created themes and "none" to use the default icons. Just select one of your themes and it will be changed on the fly and be displayed as soon as you return to your menu. If your themes don't show please check the spelling in your "themes.txt" again.
Icon Positioning
The icon positioning has to be done for each menu separately, the information about the icon position is stored in the menu settings files not in the icon themes.
HINT: The information of icon positions is stored in the SOL files of your menu settings. Updating Claw's UCI won't change these settings so there is no need to worry about losing this information. But it can be useful to make a backup of your whole Flash UI folder if applying a new firmware for example.
To move the icons to their designated position, you have to unlock them first. There are three states of lock for icons to be set in the Menu Settings on page 1.
- All Locked
- All Unlocked
- Folders Locked
The All Unlocked option allows free movement of icons, on the screen itself, into folders and out of them by using the return arrow. The Folders Locked option disables the movement of icons into folders. This might be useful if you try to position Flash icons close to folder icons (because they wouldn't slip into them by accident).
Positioning of icons can be done by two ways. The first would be to drag and drop where you like them. As a small hint it should be mentioned that very small movements could be interpreted as a tapping and would lead to activate the icon function. You could avoid this by using larger distances of movement. The second possibility is to use the Grid Settings. You can configure a custom grid by defining the grids rows and columns and align the icons inside the grid. When done don't forget to lock your icons again.
HINT: On occasion it could happen that icons "get lost" during positioning. Use the Reset Icons special option of your Menu Settings to retrieve them. But this will reset all icon positions for the selected menu!
If you delete folders containing other icons they won't be lost. Their position will be reset to the position they have been originally created at.
HINT: Due to technical reasons it is recommended to delete created icons by the "Custom Icon Manager" if you want to delete them!