Author Topic: Custom Windows XP Boot Screens (Read 37853 times)

Ritalin · « **on:** January 25, 2008, 06:33:20 pm »

I've created some custom Windows XP boot screens for my galaga bartop project, but it's somewhat buried in my project thread here: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=75495.0

I thought I'd create a thread devoted to custom Windows boot screens so people can upload/download unique boot screens for MAME that do not require third party add ons. (it's all about sharing!)

These are easily added to your Windows XP system by doing the following:

Go to My Computer >Properties >Advanced >Startup and Recovery >Settings. Select “Edit startup options file”. Add “ /bootlogo /noguiboot” to your default operating system path (there must be a space between each switch)

It will look something like this:

Then download the custom 16-color 640 x 480 pixel BMP files I created in a ZIP file to this post.
Change the name of the file you want to use to "boot.bmp” and add it to your WINDOWS directory.
(I can't upload bmp files directly here, and I included a horizontal and vertical option.

JPG files below are for PREVIEW only and are full color JPGs
The ZIP file contains the 16 color bmp files you will need.

Enjoy!

Ritalin · « **Reply #1 on:** January 25, 2008, 06:34:24 pm »

If anyone has a cabinet theme project that they need help with creating a custom Windows XP boot screen, just post your request here in the thread and I'll make the screen for you. Cheers.

WunderCade · « **Reply #2 on:** January 25, 2008, 10:42:43 pm »

I'd be interested in one just like you did for Galaga, but instead for a Ms. Pacman multi-pac theme like the marquee below.

BTW this is an awesome concept.

Or

phishpac · « **Reply #3 on:** January 26, 2008, 12:35:18 am »

Wow Ritalin! That's very nice of you. I would love to have one based on the attached image!!! you rock!

Ritalin · « **Reply #4 on:** January 27, 2008, 05:03:41 am »

Quote from: WunderCade on January 25, 2008, 10:42:43 pm

I'd be interested in one just like you did for Galaga, but instead for a Ms. Pacman multi-pac theme like the marquee below.

BTW this is an awesome concept.

Or

Hi WunderCade,

Here are some 16 color files you can try out as Windows boot screens.
The only issue was that the source files you included needed to be enlarged a bit which resulted in a loss of quality, but then again these are replacing a startup screen which already looks pretty poor anyway at 16 colors, so it should still look cool when booting up.

I redrew the MAME logo in a Ms. Pacman color and style for you and included both vertical and horizontal layouts.

As always, the ZIP file contains the actual BMP boot files you need.
The GIFs are just 16 color previews but you need the BMP files from the ZIP.
Enjoy!

Ritalin · « **Reply #5 on:** January 27, 2008, 05:30:24 am »

Quote from: phishpac on January 26, 2008, 12:35:18 am

Wow Ritalin! That's very nice of you. I would love to have one based on the attached image!!! you rock!

Since you have such a great logo to work with I came up with some boot screen that emphasize your logo and not the text. Again, it's a boot screen so your lettering gradient won't translate very well into 16 colors total.

The first one is just your awesome logo. Looks too good to mess with.
The second option is the logo and I recreated the MAME logo with in your logo style.

Let me know if you like either of these.
Enjoy!

WunderCade · « **Reply #6 on:** January 28, 2008, 02:02:10 am »

Quote from: Ritalin on January 27, 2008, 05:03:41 am

Hi WunderCade,

Here are some 16 color files you can try out as Windows boot screens.
The only issue was that the source files you included needed to be enlarged a bit which resulted in a loss of quality, but then again these are replacing a startup screen which already looks pretty poor anyway at 16 colors, so it should still look cool when booting up.

I redrew the MAME logo in a Ms. Pacman color and style for you and included both vertical and horizontal layouts.

As always, the ZIP file contains the actual BMP boot files you need.
The GIFs are just 16 color previews but you need the BMP files from the ZIP.
Enjoy!

Wow...thanks...those a great!!!

Sorry for the low res. reference pics. I assumed you knew the vector AI files were in the Arcade Art Library...but hey, they are great and thanks again bro! Very kewl of you. Here are the vectors if you ever need them for anything...

Ritalin · « **Reply #7 on:** January 28, 2008, 04:13:58 am »

Like an idiot, I totally forgot about the vector art already available online.
Oops!

Ah well, the 16 color versions should still serve as nice Windows boot screens.
Enjoy!

bent98 · « **Reply #8 on:** January 28, 2008, 08:55:50 am »

I would love for you desgin a boot screen. I have enclosed images of what cab looks like. What do you think would look good for a intro screen?

Also are there any problems using this boot screen with XP SP2.

I remeber trying to do this and getting blue screens when booting. I used some 3rd party program to do it though.

unclet · « **Reply #9 on:** January 28, 2008, 09:56:38 am »

Will you explain what the "/bootlogo" and "/noguiboot" do?

I was assuming there would be a current "boot.bmp" bitmap file located in my C:\Windows" directory, but there is not one. Do those switches (listed above) indicate to WinXP that it should look for the "boot.bmp" file now when booting up?

Also, will making this change affect how the computer does other things ..... go into safe mode, etc.... Just trying to make sure WinXP still functions properly after making this change (apart from just seeing a new BMP image on bootup of course)..

bent98 · « **Reply #10 on:** January 28, 2008, 10:14:04 am »

I know access to the boot.ini file changed after SP1 so that why I want to know if this method works with SP2 and hopefully SP3 when it comes out later this year

Ritalin · « **Reply #11 on:** January 29, 2008, 01:35:48 am »

Quote from: bent98 on January 28, 2008, 08:55:50 am

I would love for you desgin a boot screen. I have enclosed images of what cab looks like. What do you think would look good for a intro screen?

Also are there any problems using this boot screen with XP SP2.

I remeber trying to do this and getting blue screens when booting. I used some 3rd party program to do it though.

First off, WOW, stunning looking cabinet and art you have there!
Excellent work.

How's this for a boot screen? (see below)
Please remember that you can only use 16 colors. They can be any 16 colors, but only 16 colors max nonetheless. Thus, it was virtually impossible to put too many multi-colored game characters without them looking horrible.

As for your technical question about the boot screen with XP SP2, I don't know. I'm using TinyXP without any issues at all. The beauty of this edit is that it doesn't use a third party utility and it's a text edit. You can always simply go back to the default settings if need be.

Let me know if this captures the look and feel of your cab.

Cheers.

Ritalin · « **Reply #12 on:** January 29, 2008, 01:43:57 am »

Quote from: unclet on January 28, 2008, 09:56:38 am

Will you explain what the "/bootlogo" and "/noguiboot" do?

I was assuming there would be a current "boot.bmp" bitmap file located in my C:\Windows" directory, but there is not one. Do those switches (listed above) indicate to WinXP that it should look for the "boot.bmp" file now when booting up?

Also, will making this change affect how the computer does other things ..... go into safe mode, etc.... Just trying to make sure WinXP still functions properly after making this change (apart from just seeing a new BMP image on bootup of course)..

Honestly, I have no clue.
I just followed the instructions from the BYOACWiki Page. Here:
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Hiding_Windows

It's very safe and in a total worst case scenario you can always restore your boot.ini file with your original XP install CD as per the microsoft instructions here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;330184

bent98 · « **Reply #13 on:** January 29, 2008, 08:20:16 am »

First off I just want to say it’s very generous of you to take time out and help people customize xp boots skins.

I love what you did with the pacman theme. I dont want to sound ungrateful but is their any chance you can possibly get donkey kong in with the pacman or maybe stick the marquee in the middle? If the 16 bit color limitation makes that impossible to do then maybe add some mspacman pink in the mix so it goes with the overall colors of the cab.

Let me know if that wouldn’t be too much trouble.

Also in regards to the bootskin question, can you please verify what service pack you are running with tiny XP. To find out just right click mouse button over the my computer icon and then left click on properties. It will tell you at the bottom of the properties screen next to the cpu information.

phishpac · « **Reply #14 on:** January 29, 2008, 01:38:23 pm »

Ritalin,

I love them both!!!

You do fantastic work. The blue and red MAME lettering is SICK!!!

Thanks so much... this will really add that extra touch to the arcade!

Ritalin · « **Reply #15 on:** January 29, 2008, 03:22:55 pm »

Quote from: bent98 on January 29, 2008, 08:20:16 am

I love what you did with the pacman theme. I dont want to sound ungrateful but is their any chance you can possibly get donkey kong in with the pacman or maybe stick the marquee in the middle? If the 16 bit color limitation makes that impossible to do then maybe add some mspacman pink in the mix so it goes with the overall colors of the cab.

Hey there, no problem.
I saw that your cab was mostly black with light blue trim so I went in that direction.
If you would like it to be more pink, then please see the options below.

Oh, I just checked and I'm running XP Service Pack 2 if that assists you.

Enjoy!

bent98 · « **Reply #16 on:** January 29, 2008, 03:46:37 pm »

Thanks. It looks great.

I will try it out tonight

bent98 · « **Reply #17 on:** January 29, 2008, 05:03:45 pm »

Would you mind using putting the ms pacman mame loading graphic with the first background you did that has the blue boxes you did. This way it will give it a suttle pink without overpowering it.

Ritalin · « **Reply #18 on:** January 29, 2008, 06:33:57 pm »

Sure, no problem.

Enjoy.

bent98 · « **Reply #19 on:** January 29, 2008, 09:21:29 pm »

I tried it works great. Can you make one last revision and change the MAME from blue to the pink and yellow mame outline from the multipac one you did.

dont want to drive you mad.

Ritalin · « **Reply #20 on:** January 30, 2008, 03:06:28 am »

No trouble at all.

Here's the new one. I really like it. It should look nice at bootup!

Enjoy!

bent98 · « **Reply #21 on:** January 30, 2008, 07:25:43 am »

Yea this is it.

Thanks. Looks sweet.

Mega-Prime · « **Reply #22 on:** February 07, 2008, 09:37:51 am »

Quote from: bent98 on January 28, 2008, 08:55:50 am

OMG!,

Is this a home-made cab?

Do you have a link to the plans you used for it?

It looks awesome!

ErikRuud · « **Reply #23 on:** February 08, 2008, 09:54:33 am »

Windows boot option switches: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/833721

javeryh · « **Reply #24 on:** February 08, 2008, 11:27:37 am »

If anyone wants to take a crack at it for me please go HERE to download the custom logo I want to use for the boot screen. I want it to be VERTICAL and on a PINK background, if possible.

THANKS!!!

waveryder · « **Reply #25 on:** February 08, 2008, 11:32:24 am »

already done javeryh

javeryh · « **Reply #26 on:** February 08, 2008, 11:41:04 am »

Quote from: waveryder on February 08, 2008, 11:32:24 am

already done javeryh

Holy crap! You RULE.

waveryder · « **Reply #27 on:** February 08, 2008, 11:47:13 am »

Theres also a windows wallpaper, that way the whole cab will boot bella, load bella, then mala bella.

javeryh · « **Reply #28 on:** February 08, 2008, 01:00:12 pm »

Quote from: waveryder on February 08, 2008, 11:47:13 am

Theres also a windows wallpaper, that way the whole cab will boot bella, load bella, then mala bella.

Wow that's slick. So when I power on no one will be able to tell there is a computer in there!

Dazz · « **Reply #29 on:** February 20, 2008, 05:49:11 pm »

Ugh.. I followed this to a T and now I cannot get into Windows. This is on a fresh install of XP with SP2. When I reboot the computer I see the boot screen, but the bootscreen never goes away.

I am trying to use Restore from my XP cd, but that isn't working either. :mad:

waveryder · « **Reply #30 on:** February 20, 2008, 05:57:36 pm »

Press F8 before windows begins booting and select safemode once in windows remove the changes you've made then restart. That'll get you back into a working windows. This bootscreen method works on SP2/SP3 beta no problem. Don't know why your having issues.

Trebeck · « **Reply #31 on:** February 22, 2008, 12:23:47 pm »

Great idea!
I now have something to this weekend

Ritalin · « **Reply #32 on:** February 25, 2008, 03:57:14 am »

If anyone still need a custom 16 color Windows XP boot screen, post your request here and I'll make it for you.

Just post a pic of your cab or your cab's theme, etc.

Cheers.

Miguelsluma · « **Reply #33 on:** February 25, 2008, 08:35:55 am »

if you happen to have some time anywhere in the future. perhaps you could make one of those beauties out of the art in my topic (not the first 2 pics. the finished ones)

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=75713.0

great contribution so far, my respect.

Ritalin · « **Reply #34 on:** February 25, 2008, 02:15:09 pm »

Quote from: Miguelsluma on February 25, 2008, 08:35:55 am

if you happen to have some time anywhere in the future. perhaps you could make one of those beauties out of the art in my topic (not the first 2 pics. the finished ones)

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=75713.0

great contribution so far, my respect.

Hi Miguelsluma,

Where are your finished pics? I only see sample pics.
Just PM or post the final logo pic to use for your custom XP boot screen. Cheers.

Ian · « **Reply #35 on:** February 25, 2008, 08:28:49 pm »

wave are you doing them too? Since you did my CPO I was wondering if you could whip up a quick boot screen based on the ninjarcade artwork?

waveryder · « **Reply #36 on:** February 26, 2008, 03:23:08 am »

Ian thats no problem, I'll do it and email it to you this afternoon.

Ian · « **Reply #37 on:** February 26, 2008, 07:22:13 am »

Thanks very much!

Miguelsluma · « **Reply #38 on:** February 26, 2008, 07:28:04 am »

Quote

Hi Miguelsluma,

Where are your finished pics? I only see sample pics.
Just PM or post the final logo pic to use for your custom XP boot screen. Cheers.

done! thanks in advance and take your time

Ritalin · « **Reply #39 on:** February 26, 2008, 03:10:44 pm »

Here's a Rotterdam Nation boot screen for you.

Please remember that there's a max of 16 colors, so I had to simplify your image a bit to one that uses far less colors but still keeps your theme in mind.

Enjoy.

Miguelsluma · « **Reply #40 on:** February 26, 2008, 04:40:40 pm »

Quote from: Ritalin on February 26, 2008, 03:10:44 pm

Here's a Rotterdam Nation boot screen for you.

Please remember that there's a max of 16 colors, so I had to simplify your image a bit to one that uses far less colors but still keeps your theme in mind.

Enjoy.

thanks man, will surely use it on my cab!

Lutus · « **Reply #41 on:** February 27, 2008, 08:24:18 am »

I have a Donkey Kong machine (vertical monitor).

Would it be possible to take the image of the very beginning of the first level of donkey kong and make some type of load screen out of that?

That would be amazing.

Ritalin · « **Reply #42 on:** February 27, 2008, 07:34:33 pm »

Quote from: Lutus on February 27, 2008, 08:24:18 am

I have a Donkey Kong machine (vertical monitor).

Would it be possible to take the image of the very beginning of the first level of donkey kong and make some type of load screen out of that?

That would be amazing.

Here are two different choices:

The first choice is based off the marquee and has a more "classic" look.
The second choice is based on what you requested from level one.

The ZIP file contains both boot screen options.

Enjoy!

Lutus · « **Reply #43 on:** February 28, 2008, 08:22:41 am »

PERFECT!!!!

That is exactly like I had in mind.

A 1000 thank yous to you and your family, ancestors, etc...

Ritalin · « **Reply #44 on:** February 28, 2008, 04:27:13 pm »

Quote from: Lutus on February 28, 2008, 08:22:41 am

PERFECT!!!!

That is exactly like I had in mind.

A 1000 thank yous to you and your family, ancestors, etc...

No problem, enjoy!

Ritalin · « **Reply #45 on:** March 05, 2008, 07:15:42 pm »

I've been toying back and forth with making my cab a Galaga or Galaxian theme, so I created a vertical Galaxian boot screen, In case anyone is interested, here it is to use. Enjoy!

WunderCade · « **Reply #46 on:** March 10, 2008, 12:33:04 am »

Thanks for giving back to the community Ritalin and providing this thread.

Hopefully no one else will attempt to hijack the thread. I know you are doing this free and I think if others want to charge or get artwork orders they should take it to another thread. You clearly stated you wanted this thread to be free of charge and that you were giving back.

Game On....and thanks again bro!

Steve · « **Reply #47 on:** March 10, 2008, 07:15:39 pm »

Ritalin,

You are doing superb work, keep it up

I love it when people give back, it makes it all worth while.

Steve

phishpac · « **Reply #48 on:** March 10, 2008, 10:16:34 pm »

Ritalin,

Thought I'd give you an update. I started cabinet construction and I cannot wait to install the custom boot screen you made! Thanks again. Here's what I've done so far:

http://phishpac.blogspot.com/

Ritalin · « **Reply #49 on:** March 11, 2008, 12:43:11 am »

Quote from: phishpac on March 10, 2008, 10:16:34 pm

Ritalin,

Thought I'd give you an update. I started cabinet construction and I cannot wait to install the custom boot screen you made! Thanks again. Here's what I've done so far:

http://phishpac.blogspot.com/

Thanks all!

I love the cab idea you have planned. The color scheme and grateful dead logo are perfect for a cab. Great idea!

DrumAnBass · « **Reply #50 on:** March 19, 2008, 02:09:59 am »

My boot screen (I have 3 yr. old twin boys):

BASS! · « **Reply #51 on:** March 20, 2008, 02:36:07 am »

I tried to make mine as unassuming and fitting as possible for my cab.

Ritalin · « **Reply #52 on:** March 21, 2008, 06:44:36 pm »

Both of those are great!

wilef · « **Reply #53 on:** November 09, 2008, 11:10:37 pm »

I wouldn't mind a Mario Bros. and a DK3 boot screen for my reproduction cabinets!

http://mariobrosarcade.blogspot.com/

cmoses · « **Reply #54 on:** November 12, 2008, 09:20:53 am »

Ritalin,

Any chance of getting some generic ones? I don't have a theme as of yet, but would be interested in a generic ARCADE or MAME one.

Something with a retro feel, showing some popular characters, Donkey Kong, Mario, Pac-Man, Burgertime, etc.

On a side note, are you using Photoshop to convert the images to 16 color? Is there a easy way to do this? I would like to try to experiment with this.

TalkingBull · « **Reply #55 on:** November 13, 2008, 10:06:43 am »

I am so glad I found this post. I have been screwing with trying to get a decent vertical galaga themed boot screen for days! Nothing was working or coming out right. The problem was the vertical orientation of the 640 x 480 BMP being only 16 colors... kept getting screwy dimensions and crap! Thanks so much!!! I totally ripped off your Galaga Vertical screen

EnderWiggen22 · « **Reply #56 on:** November 18, 2008, 04:00:30 pm »

Has anyone made a boot screen "Scramble" themed? I've got a few conversions in need of some software TLC. So scramble would be good, or B.O.T.S.S. (Battle of the solar system)...

dprush83 · « **Reply #57 on:** December 04, 2008, 02:51:17 am »

This is great! I'm glad I came upon this thread. I went ahead and attached the image I just created to put on my cabinet. Now if only I knew how to make an intro video...

dprush83 · « **Reply #58 on:** December 04, 2008, 08:09:27 pm »

Oh bummer, I didn't realize my cab had Vista (lame, I know). Does this work in Vista as well?

BASS! · « **Reply #59 on:** December 05, 2008, 03:21:14 am »

No, but there is a utility for vista by stardock that will do it for you.

wooowman93 · « **Reply #60 on:** December 15, 2008, 09:43:21 pm »

You should make a street fighter them withe ryu's haduken going across the screen for the loading bar that would be pretty awesome

shilton · « **Reply #61 on:** July 14, 2009, 07:46:16 pm »

Any chance of a Congo Bongo themed boot screen (or at least a multicade screen featuring some obvious elements of the game). My son got his hand on a Congo Bongo cab and would like to keep it as original as possible. Thought this may be a nice element.

FunkyAndroid · « **Reply #62 on:** July 17, 2009, 01:57:29 pm »

All your work is clean man. Very nice! May I ask what program you're using to make the .bmps?

Beaps · « **Reply #63 on:** July 17, 2009, 03:44:58 pm »

I am after an XP screen Ritalin - here is my image can you use this?

THANKS!

Kevin Mullins · « **Reply #64 on:** July 19, 2009, 08:58:23 pm »

Quote from: Dazz on February 20, 2008, 05:49:11 pm

Ugh.. I followed this to a T and now I cannot get into Windows. This is on a fresh install of XP with SP2. When I reboot the computer I see the boot screen, but the bootscreen never goes away.

I am trying to use Restore from my XP cd, but that isn't working either. :mad:

I had a similar problem..... except all I ever saw was the post (bios) screen and then it goes blank and won't finish booting any further.
Narrowed it down to the /bootlogo switch.
The /noguiboot switch worked fine, took the WindowsXP logo and all that off.

A suggestion that I would make that I did after having to fix this through the pia bootcfg restore option with the WinXP disc is to go ahead and set up three different configs just to be sure each option doesn't cause a conflict of sorts and it will always give you an immediate fix option to revert to.
Of course it'll boot up and you'll have to choose which option to boot, but once you know for sure it'll work you can go back and delete the extra config lines and then you won't see that selection option again.

I was just goofing around on my regular pc, not a MAME machine or anything.
Figured "why not".....and of course that turned into an ordeal all it's own.
So now I'm determined to figure out another way to do this.

Any other suggested ways to do this ?
WinXP Professional SP2

Kevin Mullins · « **Reply #65 on:** July 19, 2009, 10:26:16 pm »

Been playing around with this method:
http://www.geocities.com/thejjoelc/XPbootcolors.html

A bit complicated, but not bad once you figure it out the first time around. And be sure NOT to REPLACE your original ntoskrnl.exe .

The only thing that sucks is I still had to open up each image file, I just used Paint since it was handy, and re-save it as a 16 color format image. (even though the ones in this thread are supposedly already 16 color) (I'm not software artwork swaavvy) Which just made them all look crappy.
But it booted with the right image at least, etc, etc.

Still not sure why the simple method doesn't work with the /bootlogo switch.

Hunk_4TH · « **Reply #66 on:** April 15, 2012, 10:19:45 pm »

I apologize for bumping such an old thread. But will these work in Windows 7 the same way they do in XP? I know we have Windows Boot updater for 7 but I've messed up with installation a few times using that. Also do you still make these?

BASS! · « **Reply #67 on:** April 17, 2012, 08:59:39 pm »

I just used the tool from

http://www.coderforlife.com/projects/win7boot/

Worked great for me. It lets you load custom animations too. I just used a space invader gif I found on the web.

Hunk_4TH · « **Reply #68 on:** April 18, 2012, 03:01:28 pm »

Thanks! I use that too. I was just curious if this worked in Windows 7 same way it does in XP. I guess using this tool is much better for us 7 users. I'm using a Space Invaders thing I found in the "hiding Windows 7 completely" thread.

ChurchOfSolipsism · « **Reply #69 on:** April 22, 2012, 07:50:24 am »

Wow I've been looking for a vertical bootscreen for my Donkey Kong mini bartop and BAM! here comes Ritalin and provides the goods! Thanks a bunch, man!


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