[Android General] TheXGX:
THIS GUIDE IS TESTED WORKING ON CYANOGENMOD 12 WITH THEME ENGINE ONLY.

Please do not post that this isn't working for you unless you have a ROM which has the CyanogenMod 12 theme engine installed.

It should theoretically work on all ROMs based off CM12 like CyanogenMod 12, GearCM12, AICP, Vanir, BlissPop, CyanideL, Candy5, Euphoria, Temasek, Resurrection Remix, Screw'd, Validus, Team UB, Dirty Unicorns and many more!

I recently posted a thread on changing the lock screen wallpaper on CM12 (which got featured on the portal :D). And now, I'm gonna share another way of customizing the CM12 on your phone. As you know, you can't apply custom boot animations except through the theme engine- until now. Some people did figure this out, but I couldn't find a thread anywhere that listed the steps to do this clearly. So I thought I'd post one. Devs probably already know how to do this, but I'm hoping this helps some newbies out there.

Please follow this carefully step by step or this may not work for you. If you ARE on a ROM based off of CyanogenMod 12, and you did these steps correctly and it still didn't work (I don't see why it wouldn't), post your device information and ROM details and I'll look into it.​

What boot animations will work?

Try to do this

only

with a boot animation that was meant for CM12, with the

correct resolution

of your phone.

Pay attention to the dpi

when downloading your boot animation. Most devs will provide boot animations for different resolutions. Make sure to

download the correct one

. If you try to do this with an incompatible boot animation, mess up your phone then point your finger at me, I will laugh at you. This is relatively easy, and if you followed the steps correctly, you will not go wrong. Pay attention.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU READ THE F.A.Q. BEFORE DOING THIS.

Now that that's out of the way, let's get started.

Things you'll need:

A ROM based off of CM12 (duh)

Root access.

A root file explorer.

Here's a video tutorial I made to make things easier to understand:

[YOUTUBE]w9uKhuNmfzQ[/YOUTUBE]

Here are the steps

:

Download/place the boot animation you want to apply in your internal/external storage and remember it's location. THIS HAS TO BE A .ZIP FILE.

Go to theme manager, and apply the boot animation of the stock theme. <-- IMPORTANT. Or the new boot animation will NOT work.

Download, install and open a root file browser. (ES File Explorer recommended)

Grant the file explorer root access.

Go into the root directory and then go to system/media.

Scroll down till you find a file named "bootanimation.zip". Rename that to "bootanimationOLD.bak" to keep it as a backup.

Now navigate to where you saved your new boot animation, and rename it to "bootanimation.zip"

ONCE AGAIN. THIS HAS TO BE .ZIP FILE.

.

Now move this file to the location mentioned above (system/media).

Change permissions to -rwx r-- r--

Reboot the phone now, and watch your new boot animation. :D

F.A.Q.

Q: How do I revert to the old boot animation?

A: Simple. Just delete the new one, and rename the backed-up boot animation.

Q: Will this work on ROMs other than the ones based off of CM12?

A: I do not know. I've only tested this on Resurrection Remix 5.3.1 which is based off of CM12 on a S4 GT-i9500. Give it a shot, and if it worked, let me know so I can update the OP.

Q: Will this cause any bricks or bootloops if I mis-rename the files?

A: Theoretically, no. If something isn't right, the phone should just start up, but without any boot animations. I've never had any other problems with this. But if you DO get stuck in a bootloop or anything like that, rename the files back from the recovery. Make sure to have a backup so you can revert changes from the recovery. But if you followed the steps EXACTLY like I mentioned and set the right permissions, then this WILL work. Watch the video for proof. A few other XDA members have already tried this method and it works just fine.

Q: What happens if I just rename the existing one and don't replace it with anything?

A: You might possibly end up with a bootloop, a soft brick, or no boot animation during boot. Revert changes through recovery to get out of this.

Q: What boot animations will work?

A: Try to do this only with a boot animation that was meant for CM12, with the correct resolution of your phone. Pay attention to the dpi when downloading your boot animation. Most devs will provide boot animations for different resolutions. Make sure to download the correct one. If you try to do this with an incompatible boot animation, mess up your phone then point your finger at me, I will laugh at you. This is relatively easy, and if you followed the steps correctly, you will not go wrong. Pay attention.

Q: I did this, and I see a boot animation, but it's not the one I downloaded and applied.

A: Go to theme manager, and go into boot animations. Select the system (default) and apply it. It should work. (You should have done this in the first place.)

Q: I did everything right, and it still doesn't work!

A: Please make sure you did everything correctly again. Redo all the steps. Watch the video for more help. Verify that you've set the permissions right, renamed it properly,set the stock theme's boot animation. If it still doesn't work, then it means your ROM just doesn't support it. Ask the dev for help. :)

Watch the video if the steps seem complicated to you. If you're gonna tell other people about this, please link back to this thread. :)

Enjoy your new CM12 boot animation. :good: