yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] mbushnaq00:
Thank you for the quick reply, I really appreciate it :good:
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Regii:
I can't seem to be able to add tiles to the Start Menu, only the collection of apps when scrolling down. Instead of making it possible to add it to Start, it only gives me the option to remove it from there. Am I doing something wrong?

EDIT: Nvm, Too lazy to go back two pages doesn't pay off.
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
Try this :highfive:
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] harmonyjim:
Small Tile Dimensions Not Working For Me

All of the dimensions work fine for me, with the exception of the Small Tile. My Small Tile image (no matter which of the three listed dimensions) does not fill the area in the box for the Small Tile, leaving a border area. For images with a solid color background, I get around this by changing the tile background color (sometimes after using a color picker to get the rgb). But for non solid colors, I can't do anything but find a complimenting tile background color

I am using the latest version of Oblytile (0.97). Are there any other dimensions for the Small Tile image that will fill the entire box?
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Mjuksel:
This is just the way that the smallest tiles get displayed. Nothing much he can do about it

XDA Mambe | N7100 Note2
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] fitifititis:
Is there a way yo create a new tile for the Camera app? I just want it to look like the original, only large...
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
Try this:

Program Path:

C:\Program Files\OblyTile\WinAppsDefault.vbs

Program Arguments:

shell:AppsFolder\Microsoft.MoCamera_cw5n1h2txyewy!Microsoft.Camera

Tested on Windows 8.1 with the new "Update 1"

Hope this helps

Argony
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] fitifititis:
It worked! Thanks a lot! Do you know of any way to find and use the exact same color of the camera tile? Thank you again!
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
I'm glad it worked :good:

The

Hex

color of the camera tile is:

#95008C

Example picture:
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] fitifititis:
Thank you very much man! Your app is great! I am loving it! Do you think it is possible to upload a picture of a colour to a site that extracts its Hex code and use this code at your program to reproduce the same colour? For example Print Screen the start menu and crop the camera tile background and upload it to get the above code.
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
Yes, you can use a website like http://imagecolorpicker.com/ :highfive:
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
At least Microsoft is taking the right ideas. :laugh:
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
It is still possible to select multiple tiles, you just need to hold ctrl while selecting tiles. :highfive:
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Treboeth:
The only complaint I have with this program ……..

Is it took me so long to find out about?

Love Windows 8 but love it even more now I can create my own tiles.

Mega thanks OP.
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] fitifititis:
Is it possible to create a Google Chrome tile that acts like the default Chrome tile: go to the open chrome window instead of opening a new one? I just want to change the looks of the original tile, but keep its fuctionality...
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
Yes, you have to use the "Single Instance" option. :good:

Example Picture:

View attachment 2687656
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] DirtyShady:
Do you think it's a good idea to add Languages support ?
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
Yes, it's a good idea. I'll consider it. :highfive:
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] DirtyShady:
If you want I could help you to translate into french language ?
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
That would be nice! :good:

I don't know when I'll add the function though :(

I hope to add this feature as soon as possible.
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Lorddeff07:
That didn't work for me. I used convert shortcut tile option, picked google chrome from the list, made my modifications and then selected the single instnce option. With that clicking on the tile just takes me to the desktop. when i uncheck the box though clicking on teh tile launches chrome. I am running chrome in windows 8 mode, doing it this way so my desktop remains free and chrome just shows up as another app on my recents menu.

Any help will be awesome.

edit: I tried creating two random tiles from desktop app based shortcuts that will naturally switch to the desktop and open there. Once I checked the single instance option they stopped working, without it they were working fine.
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
I am afraid that the single instance option won't work for Modern Apps :(

I'll look into this, thank you for your report :highfive:
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] hwangeruk:
1 pixel border around tiles?

I seem to have a very fine (probably 1 pixel) border around my tiles created by Obly.

Is that normal?

Can I turn that off?
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
It is normal and it can't be turned off :(
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] shazbot:
I'm having difficulty getting popcorn time pinned with obly tile. The shortcut created for popcorn time on my desktop is as follows:

Target: "C:\Users\Alex\AppData\Roaming\Popcorn Time\node-webkit\Popcorn-Time.exe" app

Start In: "C:\Users\Alex\AppData\Roaming\Popcorn Time"

In OblyTile I've tried setting the program path as "C:\Users\Alex\AppData\Roaming\Popcorn Time\node-webkit\Popcorn-Time.exe" and the program arguments as "app" (no quotes for either.) That didn't work. I tried setting the program path to exactly what the target for the popcorn time shortcut uses ("C:\Users\Alex\AppData\Roaming\Popcorn Time\node-webkit\Popcorn-Time.exe" app). Also does not work.

Any idea how I can make this work?
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
Try this batch script (.bat)

@echo off
cd /d %~dp0
cd /d ..
Start "" "node-webkit\popcorn-time.exe" App

Place it in the same folder as "popcorn-time.exe"

Then you can just create a tile that runs the batch script.

Note: Use the "Hide program" option to hide the command prompt from showing up.
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] shazbot:
Fantastic that works brilliantly. Thanks!

As a thanks, here's a large popcorn time icon for anyone interested (I did not make it, only extracted it.)

My start screen is beginning to come together! http://i.imgur.com/jsl7uGO.png
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Drunkllamajr:
Hi,

Firstly love this app! just wondering is it possible at all to have the medium size tile with a smaller image similar to the default tiles?

No matter what size image I use it auto fills the entire tile.

See attached image, left is windows default (hate the tile colour) and right is OblyTile
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
Hi,

OblyTile won't do this automatically.

You must use an image editor and add transparent borders to the image.

Tile image

:

Result

:
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Drunkllamajr:
Thank you very much Argony, a massive help!

I'll go looking myself but just wondering if you have one you use yourself?
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Motawa88:
This app is awesome!

Are there other fancy apps that lets you customize windows 8?
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Drybonz:
This would be really great with the new 8.1 feature that allows you to use your desktop wallpaper as the background for the start screen. It looks a bit odd with the blocky tiles over this and transparent tile backgrounds would looks a lot better. Just a thought.
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Mjuksel:
I think it wasn't possible to use transparent backgrounds according to Argony.. (Unless he manages to find a way)
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
I use GIMP

Windows 8 Start Screen Customizer

Windows 8.1 Start Button Changer

Tiny Windows Borders
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] boktai1000:
Where does Windows store the tile information created by OblyTile?

Thanks!
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
OblyTile places the files here:

"C:\Program Files\OblyTile\<XXXXXXXX>"

%localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Application Shortcuts\OblyTile

%programdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu

Windows automatically updates the Start Screen/Menu layout files:

%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\appsFolder.itemdata-ms

%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\appsFolder.itemdata-ms.bak
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] boktai1000:
Thanks for the reply Argony-OT,

I'm not seeing where in %programdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu the files are created - I am attempting to manually create an entry by copying back data that was deleted out of those directories.

I'm trying to make a script that could say - I have a backup of the tile data somewhere on a computer, and by running a script I could create or delete a tile and modify all relevant tile data. If that makes sense, it's a request for a use-case at my work.

Thanks!

Keegan
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
"%localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Application Shortcuts\OblyTile" is used for the tile created with the "Current User" setting in OblyTile

"%programdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu" is used for the tile created with the "All Users" setting in OblyTile
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] kermage:
Awesome!

Wooooooow! :good:
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] mkomen:
Fantastic App

This app add so much functionality to W8. Thank you so much.

Is it possible (yet) to create small tiles instead of medium tiles? I'm creating 60+ websites and want to put them in the smallest space possible.
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
If you're using Windows 8 it is not possible to resize the tiles. :(

If you're using Windows 8.1 it is possible to resize the tiles by right clicking them on the start screen. :good:
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] mkomen:
Can OblyTile create the small tiles directly from the command line?
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
No, this feature might become available in the future.
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] XTS-Troll:
Used it for setting up shortcuts for all my game and used images from steam grid...works like a charm
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Durkbeef:
For some reason, all my new tiles are showing up as just black squares. has anyone encountered this problem before?
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] :
Thanks for such a great tool

btw I never knew I can find such a great thing for desktop pc on xda :silly:
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
This is strange.

What happens if you click one of those black tiles ?
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] bd2003:
Is there any way to create the tiles through command line arguments, or any other silent/invisible method?

I've been developing a utility that automates the processes of building tiles for games with very few clicks, automatically fetches the images from steam, etc. I'm not an experienced developer, so I've been using the relatively noobish autohotkey...but it works. The final step in the process is to run oblytile and feed all the paths for the various images needed to the oblytile window by essentially running a keyboard macro on it. It works, but it's more of an ugly hack than I'd like. I don't quite possess the skills yet to directly create the tiles myself in visual studio, but if there was a way to do so silently in the background, it would make it far more seamless.

I've no idea how difficult that is to implement, so if it's a major PITA, is there any chance you could point me towards some resources on how to code/build tiles directly?
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
OblyTile does support command line arguments, run the OblyTile exe with the "/?" argument to see the list of available commands. :good:

Example:

"C:\OblyTile v0.9.8.exe" /?

Hope this helps
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] bd2003:
Awesome, works like a charm. Thanks!
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Specter597:
Classic Start

I almost feel bad asking ... but:

When using Classic Start OblyTile shortcuts show up in the recent apps list with default xml script icons.

I don't suppose there is any work towards using the small tile as the icon for that view in the (depreciated) start menu?

I LOVE OblyTile.

Saved the W8 experience.
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
I'll try to include a small fix for this issue in the next version. :highfive:

I can't promise it and I can't give an ETA. :(
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
OblyTile v0.9.9 Released

New update released :good:

Infos and download in the main post.
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Steel Froggy:
Forking

Greetings; I am having a problem with OblyTile ... I'm not sure why.

I've used it successfully before, but now it has started doing this:

[IMG="OblyTile Fork"]https://i.imgur.com/2UsIKnI.png[/IMG]

The program is accidentally creating a fork, & I need to run "taskkill /IM "OblyTile v0.9.9.exe" /F" on a loop while attempting to rename OblyTile to get it to stop.

It was doing it with version v0.9.8 as well, which I then updated to 0.9.9 & it's doing the same thing.

Running as an Administrator does not resolve the problem, either.

I'm on Windows 8.1, x64:

PC Info:

[IMG="PC Info"]https://i.imgur.com/wVHhWeb.png[/IMG]

Any suggestions? I re-downloaded the application a third time as well, but the same problem occurs.

Kind Regards,

- Scott
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
Re-uploaded OblyTile v0.9.9 which now includes a possible fix for the problem reported in the post #755

Infos and Download in the main post.
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] mmm286:
Hi.

Sorry is the question has been answered.

I've created a tile with a shortcut of Google chrome bookmark successfully.

But I can't make that the Google chrome open in maximized mode.

How could I do these?

Thanks and sorry for my English
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
Hi, at the moment it is not possible to create a tile that opens a bookmark/url in the immersive/maximized mode of the web browser. :(

I'll try to add this feature in a future update.
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] mmm286:
Many thanks and congratulations for your app
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Sirence:
Hi, thanks for this great app.

I enjoy it a lot, however I have one problem, I hope you can help me with this.

If I want to create a tile using the 'Associated Icon' option, the icon is all blurry and pixelated. I'll attach a screenshot to describe what I mean.

https://app.box.com/representation/file_version_17872738047/image_2048/1.png

https://app.box.com/representation/file_version_17872779049/image_2048/1.png

Looking at other peoples screenshoots they don't have the same problem so I assume I'm simply doing something wrong.

What do I have to change in order to get the normal icons?

I'm running Windows 8.1 Pro N 64bit with a screen resolution of 1920x1080p and 125% font scaling ( I tried different font scaling but it doesn't help).

If you need any other information please let me know.

Thanks in advance!
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
Hi Sirence, the associated icon feature needs to be fixed. OblyTile tries to extract the icon at 32px or 48px and resizes it to adapt it to the tile image, this process may result in a pixelated tile image.

I'll try to fix this function in the next version. For now I suggest you to use a custom image for your tiles or to manually extract the icon of the program and size it manually based on your preferences.
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Sirence:
Thank you a lot for letting me know! I'll try to get the pictures myself untill then, keep up your good work!
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] fitifititis:
Hi, I've been using your program and so far I like it, I actually find it essensial with Modern UI. I am facing a problem however. I am trying to create a tile for the web browser "Torch" but so far the picture is too big and pixelated. How can I make it use the picture without zooming it? This is the picture:
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
Hello, in this case you must use an image editor and increase the canvas size of the image.

I used GIMP Image Editor to resize the canvas of the image that you linked.

This is the picture with the increased canvas size:

This is the result:

Hope this helps :highfive:
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] fitifititis:
Thank you so much. That was great of you! I may however need to give it even a little bigger canvas. Do you know of any online site that can do that without having to download the application?
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
You can try Autodesk Pixlr - Web App :good:
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] fitifititis:
Is possible to make the background of the tile transparent, so that you could see the icon and the background instead of a colour? That would be cool..
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
Sadly it is not possible to make the tile background transparent by using OblyTile :(
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] fitifititis:
Actually I just thought of a way, but it it kind of laboury... I can take a screenshot of the backgound with a tile missing from the space I want my tile to be and crop a square image of that space. Then add the icon on that image and use it on obly... The tile will have the same pattern as the background and thus will apear to have a transparent background!
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Ndaoud360:
I can confirm Obly Tile works on Windows 10 tech preview. Use Obly Tile then right click the icon and click pin to start and its there with the icon you specified in Obly Tile.
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] fitifititis:
It would be nice to add run elevated in addition to as an administrator as an option. Now I have to create an elevated shotcut of a program and copy the file destination of the shortcut and paste it to oblytile to create an elevated tile...
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
Thank you for your support ! :highfive:

I'll download the tech preview as soon as possible to do some tests.

That's a good idea, thank you for the suggestion ! :good:
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] jmuurling:
error 1 creating tiles with other user

Whe are using Oblytile 0.9.9 on server 2012 R2.

It works perfect.

When I'm using another user(administrator) for creating the tiles, I get error 1.
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
Thank you for the feedback !

Added it to the list of things to fix :good:
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] jmuurling:
Sorry but it is not solved i had to say:

Everything is working perfect BUT I'm getting an error 1 when another user makes a tile.

The Tile is under all programs but not in metro.
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
"Error 1" happens when OblyTile cannot access the registry or when the registry misses some key/value.

You can try this on the user where OblyTile shows the error.

I'll try to fix the problem in future.

Hope this helps
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] jmuurling:
Worked perfectly!
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] link6155:
Hi everyone,

After updating to the latest build of Windows 10, it would seem that the update has messed up OblyTile; more specifically, it has messed up the pinned tiles. How do I delete the corrupted pinned tiles? I've looked everywhere and haven't found where does OblyTile store pinned tiles. Here's an example of what I mean:
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
Hello,

Try this:

Open the folder:

%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows

Remove the files:

appsFolder.itemdata-ms

and

appsFolder.itemdata-ms.bak

Restart the pc

Note: By doing this you'll "reset" the start menu layout. You'll have to pin all the apps again.

Hope this helps

Argony
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] abhayy:
i seem to get this error when ever i click on tiles that i have made.
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
This error happens when the tile shortcut (.lnk) cannot find the script file (.vbs) and when your program file directory is not located on C:

A workaround is to copy the OblyTile folder from "C:\Program Files\OblyTile" to "E:\Program Files\OblyTile" everytime that you create a tile.

I'll try to fix this issue later on.

Argony
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] abhayy:
Thanks, i found that our after snooping in the folders. The folder movement isnt that big of a deal anyways. thanks.
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] GoodDayToDie:
A better work-around, if you're running OblyTile off of the E: drive and not the C: drive:

Open a command prompt as Administrator

Ensure that there is no OblyTile folder in the default location on C:

Create a directory symlink in the default location pointing to the new location

For example:

move /Y "C:\Program Files\OblyTile" "E:\Program Files\OblyTile"
mklink /D "C:\Program Files\OblyTile" "E:\Program Files\OblyTile"

That way, any time OblyTile tries to write a file to the default location (or read/execute a file from it), the link will cause it to use the new location instead. Technology!
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] shemantis:
I had been using OblyTile without issues for about a month when it stopped working. I am having the issue where it creates the tile i the "All" section, but NOT on the home screen. Suggestions I found by doing a search didn't help (clearing the cache within the app did nothing). I am on the latest version, and Windows 8. Like I said, this was working as recently as a week ago.

I tried running OblyTile as Administrator and normally.

Thank you!
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Smirny:
Thanks for this awesome app! Now I love my start screen even more =)

Here a screen of what I've done so far:

There seems to be an issue for me though, my small tiles don't show up (anymore). It worked on the first few tiles, but after that it just shows the background color when zoomed out :(

If someone likes the tiles, I uploaded them as an attachment =) (I took the office tiles from this thread)
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
Hi

Seems to be a cache problem, can you please try to press WindowsKey + Q to open the "All Apps" menu and, after this, try to zoom out again on your start screen, this should fix the issue.

Hope this helps

I'm glad it helped.

I'll add this problem in the Know Issue List on main post.

Argony.
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Smirny:
Thanks! This helped!
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] phre5k:
really, really nice. Would love to see that in the final Windows 8 built-in. :D
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Sir-Mando:
i can't download the file

When i right click and choose download there is nothing happened !!!!
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Leonick:
I think you need to log in to skydrive.
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Sir-Mando:
i already logged in if u can upload it in mediafire plz !!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
Hi

Seems a temporary problem of Skydrive, but don't worry, i'll upload it on Dropbox, give me few minutes.

Edit: Dropbox link added on main post.

Argony.
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Sir-Mando:
thxxxxxxxxxxx
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] techops:
Thanks for this great tool.

I have one suggest - to create tiles with URL - for links and favorites.
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] rtoussaint:
Try creating a shortcut to iexplore.exe (or whatever browser you use) with the url as parameter.
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Argony-OT:
Hi

OblyTile already support Url Links.

Just write the website url in the "Program Path"

Note: This will open the link on your predefinite browser.

Example:

View attachment 1419439

You can use this method, to open the link with a different browser.

Hope this helps

Argony.
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Otinademoniac:
Hi Argony, any news about the large tiles implementation? :)
[Windows 8 Development and Hacking] Pasquiindustry:
@Argony-OT can you add an external project support? Users can be easly share their creations ;)