Using Rockbox Simulator

[Tapeworm]

I've recently installed Rockbox 3.0 on one of my Sansa 260v1's and have downloaded several themes. Many were broken, but I've managed to 'fix' them and also make small changes in the WPS so that they are more to my liking, by pouring over the Create Custom WPS pages and gleaning information from this forum.

I've been successful doing this, but it's a PITA to constantly plug-in & un-plug my player to check coding change differences. Basically trial & error.

I've downloaded the Rockbox Simulator, as I understand (correct me if I'm wrong) that you can write and/or edit your .wps file and 'see' the changes on the fly before finally copying it to your player for a final 'road-test'.

However, I can't get the Simulator to work. Is there a tutorial or some intructions somewhere that I've missed. I've searched and can't seem to find any. Forgive me if I missed it somewhere. Just point me in the right direction and I'll figure it out.

Otherwise, can somebody give me a brief run-down on it's use, or any tips? I keep getting an error mesage in the DOS-type window:

"Can't open font: /.rockbox/fonts/12-Adobe-Helvetica.fnt"

I have extracted the same font.zip file to the directory on my hard drive containing the simulator and have verified that the font is question is in the fonts folder.

All I can get, depending on which file (.bat) I run is the Mouse location when I click on a spot in the simulated screen. But all I get is the font error msg. when I try to launch the rockboxui.exe file.

While the mouse location certainly helps, I have to think there's more to the Simulator than this?

I know it's probably something really simple I'm missing, so if somebody could help, I would appreciate it.

And if it is something really simple, please feel free to call me a bonehead. 

I'd like to be able to teach myself about this stuff by fixing and modding existing themes (for my own use only), so that I can eventually write my own WPS.

Thanks -

A humble & grateful Newbie

[Chronon]

Can you give the full path to the font folder?  Saying that you extracted the font.zip to the directory containing the simulator makes me suspect that your fonts aren't really in the right place.

Once we've gotten  past this issue you can run rockboxui.exe --debugwps to make the simulator direct WPS errors to the console.

[Tapeworm]

Thanks for the quick reply . . .

The full path is:

C:\Program Files\Rockbox Simulator\sandisk-e200-sim-w32\.rockbox\fonts

Do I have to run the '--debugwps' to use this, or maybe I'm mis-understanding the function/operation of the Simulator.

And does this have to be run from a command line, of can I simply click on it in Windows Explorer to launch it?

[karashata]

You'll need to run it from the command line, unless there's a batch file that passes the --debugwps option to rockboxui.exe. Then again, if you're having that sort of issue with it not finding the font, you may want to run it from the command line anyway because it doesn't sound like the .exe is seeing the directory structure correctly and running it from the command line might help that.

[Chronon]

Extract the font archive to  "C:\Program Files\Rockbox Simulator\sandisk-e200-sim-w32\simdisk\" instead.  The "simdisk" directory is treated as the root of the player by the simulator.  The simulator isn't finding the fonts at: "C:\Program Files\Rockbox Simulator\sandisk-e200-sim-w32\simdisk\.rockbox\fonts\" so it's complaining.

And you certainly don't have to include the --debugwps switch.  You can use the simulator for other things than WPS work.

*edited to include the new path.  Thanks, karashata.

[Tapeworm]

You'll need to run it from the command line, unless there's a batch file that passes the --debugwps option to rockboxui.exe.

There is a debugwps.bat file in the same folder. I would assume double-clicking this would launch it.

In fact, it does. that's when I can click on the screen that's when the mouse position is printed in the DOS window.

Extract the font archive to  "C:\Program Files\Rockbox Simulator\sandisk-e200-sim-w32\archos\" instead.  The "archos" directory is treated as the root of the player by the simulator.  The simulator isn't finding the fonts at: "C:\Program Files\Rockbox Simulator\sandisk-e200-sim-w32\archos\.rockbox\fonts\" so it's complaining.

OK, so since there isn't already an archos folder, I assume I can create a new folder named archos within the sandisk-e200-sim-w32 folder, then move the .rockbox folder into it?

[Chronon]

Yes.  That batch file will automatically run rockboxui.exe --debugwps.  I don't have a simulator handy and didn't quite remember which batch files were included.

[Tapeworm]

Alright, now I'm confused . . .

Changed things around and created an 'archos' folder so the path is now this:

C:\Program Files\Rockbox Simulator\sandisk-e200-sim-w32\archos\.rockbox\fonts


But I'm still getting the font error msg. and nothing else. 

[karashata]

Move the .rockbox folder into the simdisk folder. The root folder was renamed recently from 'archos' to 'simdisk'.

[Chronon]

Thanks for catching that.  I missed that change, apparently.  

*edited my previous post to reflect this change.

[Tapeworm]

To try and avoid any further confusion, I deleted everything and started over. But in digging further, I found this RB 3.0.1 simulator build:

http://rasher.dk/rockbox/simulator-release/

Thinking this might have something to do with the font issue, I downloaded & extracted this one. This one seems to be up-to-date with the archos folder (which the other one didn't have) and the .rockbox folder within it (also unlike the other one).

I extracted the fonts package, so it is within the .rockbox folder alongside the wps, backdrops, themes, etc.

So now I don't get the font error msg. (that's good). But I still can't do anything with it (that's bad). 

Now the same themes that come with RB by default are also in this simulator package, & I understand I can add any other theme & .wps files that I wish to work on or edit, but how exactly do I launch them?

By double-clicking on the rockboxui.exe icon I now get a blank DOS Screen and a 'simulated' menu screen. I'm at a loss of how to  insert a .wps file into this and be able to see and/or edit the code lines.

If I launch the debugwps.bat file, I get the the DOS window and a lot of code quickly scrolling by. It looks like it might be related to a WPS somehow, but I can't make heads nor tails out of it and there's no way to tell where it came from (name, fileanme, etc.). I've been editing the .wps files in Notepad, and this doesn't look anything like that. By clicking in the 'menu simulation', I still get the mouse position in the DOS window, but that's it.

I realize I don't know what the heck I'm doing, and I'm sorry if all this seems infantile to those of you more experienced with this. But everything is foreign until you learn about it. And that's all I'm trying to do. Maybe if there was some clear directions or instructions written somewhere? Even a readme.txt file within the .zip file would help a lot.

Anyway, I'm really grateful for all the suggestions and help here. I'm a long time member on the Sansa forum with many posts under my belt, and here I'm the proverbial 'noob' asking for help that I normally would be giving in the other forum.

The shoe's on the other foot, as they say! 

[rasher]

Hello. Try running one of the .bat files with "background" in their names. You control the player with the numpad on your keyboard - the background will tell you which keys map to which buttons.

You install fonts/wps/etc into the .rockbox dir in the "simdisk" or "archos" folder (depending on the version).

[Tapeworm]

Thanks Rasher, THAT'S the key I was looking for!!!

Thanks a lot. It works now. Pretty cool!

Now that I've got a working version and basically understand how it operates, does anybody have any tips or tricks for creating a Custom WPS that isn't included in the guide here on the site?

[Chronon]

Well, the CustomWPS page is pretty much the authoritative reference on supported tags.  However, you may find it useful/helpful to look at the WPS for other themes and see how they are put together. 

[karashata]

This one seems to be up-to-date with the archos folder...

Actually, the up-to-date simulator builds are the ones using the 'simdisk' folder. It was changed after the 3.0 release. As long as it works for what you need it for, though, I suppose that's all good then.

As for creating WPS themes, as Chronon said the CustomWPS wiki page is the best resource so far as what tags are supported, and making the themes may seem a little overwhelming at first but after a few themes you kinda get the hang of it. If you ever need some help I'm sure there are a few people out there willing to point you in the right direction (myself being one.)