[SOLVED] unable to skin VLC: package zips will not extract
Posted: 08 Apr 2011 05:58
Hi,
I recently downloaded vlc to my Linux OS distro Ubuntu 10.10.
I love the player, but am unable to skin it. I have dl'd several packages and they will not extract, even from root. Every time I attempt to extract the .vlt files from zip, I briefly see the extraction progress bar followed by this error: "An error occurred while extracting files."
Thanks
UPDATE!!!!
since posting this I've resolved the issue. Apparently, these .vlt files aren't meant to be extracted. For Ubuntu users utilizing VLC, simply download your preferred skin packages from videolan.org to your desktop and drag and drop them into the following directory: usr/share/vlc/skins2
Yeah, I know that the official whitepaper on the videolan skins page says the path for Linux/Unix is ~/.local/share/yadda/yadda/yadda. But my skins2 directory doesn't exist in that path. My Linux distro is Ubuntu 10.10 and the skins2 directory is located in the usr path NOT the .local one. Your mileage may vary, so I would check both paths to be sure.
Anyway, after you drag and drop your .vlt packages in the skins2 directory, open VLC and navigate to tools/preferences. Tick the "use custom skin" radio button and then use browse to navigate to your preferred skin using the usr path I outlined in paragraph one (don't forget to save), or simply right click on the VLC media player and navigate to "interface/choose skin." From there you'll see a another menu expand with all the skins you've put into the skins2 directory. Choose a skin. Close and restart VLC to see your new skin in all its glory. NOTE: custom skins doesn't support the Advanced User Controls options like, Looping, and so forth. Only the default VLC engine supports that. So if you need the functionality of advanced user controls, save yourself the headache and don't use custom skins at all. I found this out the hard way.
Good luck!
I recently downloaded vlc to my Linux OS distro Ubuntu 10.10.
I love the player, but am unable to skin it. I have dl'd several packages and they will not extract, even from root. Every time I attempt to extract the .vlt files from zip, I briefly see the extraction progress bar followed by this error: "An error occurred while extracting files."
Thanks
UPDATE!!!!
since posting this I've resolved the issue. Apparently, these .vlt files aren't meant to be extracted. For Ubuntu users utilizing VLC, simply download your preferred skin packages from videolan.org to your desktop and drag and drop them into the following directory: usr/share/vlc/skins2
Yeah, I know that the official whitepaper on the videolan skins page says the path for Linux/Unix is ~/.local/share/yadda/yadda/yadda. But my skins2 directory doesn't exist in that path. My Linux distro is Ubuntu 10.10 and the skins2 directory is located in the usr path NOT the .local one. Your mileage may vary, so I would check both paths to be sure.
Anyway, after you drag and drop your .vlt packages in the skins2 directory, open VLC and navigate to tools/preferences. Tick the "use custom skin" radio button and then use browse to navigate to your preferred skin using the usr path I outlined in paragraph one (don't forget to save), or simply right click on the VLC media player and navigate to "interface/choose skin." From there you'll see a another menu expand with all the skins you've put into the skins2 directory. Choose a skin. Close and restart VLC to see your new skin in all its glory. NOTE: custom skins doesn't support the Advanced User Controls options like, Looping, and so forth. Only the default VLC engine supports that. So if you need the functionality of advanced user controls, save yourself the headache and don't use custom skins at all. I found this out the hard way.
Good luck!