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I want to start a collection of AIM buddy icons, expressions, and tricks. If you have any that you are willing to share, please email them to me at spacex@williams-net.org. The few expressions that I currently have are available here. Before I talk about the tricks, there are a few other things I'd like to tell you. Second, www.originalicons.com has large archives for buddy icons, AIM Expressions, and cool tricks. Okay, now we get to the tricks. Just to let you know, I got these from www.originalicons.com, and I hope to find more to add.
Never Appear Idle Or Away 1.) On your buddy menu select "My AIM" then "My Options" then "Preferences" 2.) In the "Privacy" preferences, uncheck the following box...  3.) Then in the "Idle" preferences place what you want your away message to be in the provided text box and be sure to CHECK the "when idle auto respond with:" box  Now, when you are not active for about 10 minutes you will not show as idle to others, however when they IM you they will receive your idle message which will appear to them as your "away" message. This is a great way to have people IM you as if you were available even if you are away, so that you will always know what's on their mind. Watching Your Warning Level You can always keep track of what your warning level is by adding yourself to your own buddylist. This way you will see the precise percentage of warning level you are at. Not only does it help with that, but this will also let you IM yourself so that you can test out your own buddy icon or test any other neat trick in an IM! Chat Without Being Signed On To AIM  To start this you first need to be signed onto AIM. But if you directly connect to a buddy using the "Connect To Send IM Image" option shown to the left, you can sign off of AIM and your connection with that buddy will remain. This leaves you the freedom to talk privately to a buddy without being available for others to reach you.Instantly Send A Voice Message  While directly connected you can press "F12" on your keyboard to record a short 10 second message which will be sent and played automatically to your friend. This can be a fun way to torture your friends if they have family or friends in the room and you want to shout something embarrasing to them. Or you can use it to share a moment with your loved ones.Cloning AIM Using A Hex Editing Program To do this trick yourself you will need the following program. Hex Workshop (1.75mb) Hex Workshop is a "Hex Editor" which is used to view and edit the contents of programs. Using Hex Workshop open up "aim.exe" in the directory which AIM is installed. Use the search feature in Hex Workshop (Ctrl+F) to find the following text string. Be sure to specify that you are searching for a type of Text String "_Oscar_AppMutex" When you find this text on the right hand side of the screen replace the period at the end with any character or number. Before: "_Oscar_AppMutex." After: "_Oscar_AppMutex1" Now save this program as aim2.exe and close Hex Workshop and you can now run aim2.exe additionally to aim.exe. You can do this as many times and save as many separate aim programs as you wish and run them all simultaneously. Create shortcuts and place them wherever you wish to have easy access to these clones. URL To Add Someone To Buddylist If you create a hyperlink in an IM to your buddy with the following URL aim:AddBuddy?ScreenName=SCREENNAME&groupname=Who's+Your+Daddy? This will create a folder on your buddy's list called "Who's Your Daddy?" and add your screen name underneath that folder when they click on the link. Be sure to place the + symbol where there would normally be a space. Click here to see how it works After clicking be sure to look at your buddy list for the new addition Finding Peoples Screen Names If you would like to find out what other screen names someone uses, you can find out by using the "Find A Buddy" feature under the "People" menu option on your buddy list. If you can not find their screen names using their email address you can try searching for them by their first and last names. Stopping The Chat Rate Limit If you wish to type freely as much as you want without getting the "You are over your rate limit" warning, here is all you do. Connect to your buddy using the "Connect to send image" option. This will allow you to type as much text as you want and as fast as you want. This is also great when pasting large amounts of text that normally would not be allowed to be pasted. Creating Strikethrough Fonts Here is an example of "strikethrough" text. If you wish to do this to your text in an IM here is what you do. Before your line of text put this tag: <s> After your line of text put this tag: </s> So that it looks like this <s>This is what strikethrough text looks like</s> Trace A Buddy's Location For this to work you MUST be directly connected to your buddy. You can do this by using the 'Connect to send image' option on the IM menu. Next you need to open the DOS Prompt in windows. The DOS prompt can be accessed by clicking "Start" on your task bar, then click "Run". In the Run box type the word "command".  At this DOS Prompt you will type the following line: netstat -n then press the "Enter" key.  This will show a list of connections to your computer. Look for the only connection that shows the word "ESTABLISHED" to the right. Copy or write down the "Foreign Address" IP number or the one that ends in either :4443 or :5190 . It will look something like this: 212.51.82.51 Now that you have this person's IP go to this webpage and enter it into the space where it says to and press the "ENTER" key on your keyboard. When the trace is complete you can zoom closer into the map by clicking on it. Also you can get more information on a specific hop location by clicking on it. Notice this trace will always originate from Dulles, VA. You can not change this.. just pay attention to where the trace ends. Thats what's important anyway. Signing Onto AIM With ICQ # You can log into AIM using your ICQ Pin # and Password instead of your AIM SN and Password. However when you connect you will not be able to IM anybody. But you will be able to join AIM Chats. You can also sign into ICQ using your AIM SN and Password but again you will not be able to send or receive private messages. Easy Way To See One's Profile If you wish to know somebody's away message without sending them any message here is all you need to do. Right click on their screen name on your buddy list, select "Get Member Info" as if you were going to view their profile. Not only does this show a person's profile but it will also tell you their away message. Removing The Ad From The Buddy List The first step is to run "notepad.exe". You can find "notepad" by clicking on the "Start" Button then clicking "Programs" then "Accessories". Or you can click "Run" on the start menu and type in the word "Notepad" Now, in notepad, select file and then open on the menu. Browse your computer to c:\program files\aim95\ or wherever you have AIM installed. Find the file "aim.odl" and open it. Now that you see the contents of this file in "notepad" search for these two sections. on_group(5) { load_ocm advert required } and on_group(11) { load_ocm advert required } Remove the contents in between the two brackets so that it looks like this. on_group(5) { } and on_group(11) { } Now save this file by clicking on "File" then "Save" on the menu. The last step is to simply exit AIM completely and restart it. Make sure that you do not have the AIM logo on your start bar either. You can remove it by right clicking on it and selecting "Exit". Another Way To Remove BuddyList Ads The alternative way of removing the ads from appearing on the AIM Buddy List is to do the following: In your AIM directory (c:\program files\aim95\) or wherever you installed AIM to, delete the file "advert.ocm" then rename the file "admin.ocm" to "advert.ocm". Thats all there is to it. Know When Buddies Sign On And Off If you are curious to know when exactly a person signs on and off your buddylist while you are gone here is what you do. First off you will need this person to be on your buddy list Next you need to open up a blank IM (Alt+I) and type in this buddy's screen name in the TO: box. Type in a message and hit send. If they are offline you will get a "User Is Not Online" message. Now that you have sent IM open to that person, it will notify you in that window the exact time that the person signed on and offline. Helpful Buddy Bots Add the screen name "SmarterChild" or "GooglyMinotaur" to your buddy list and say the word "Hello" to it in an IM. From there the "automatic response bot" will provide you with a menu with options to do such things as get your local movie listings or your local weather. Plus theres much more! There are lots of other "bots" like this out there just ask around. Buddy Icon Template This is for those of you who have a hard time creating icons that mimic the way AIM buttons look.  All you need to do is use a graphics program and cut and paste. Re-Enabling HTML Code In AIM If you use aim 4.7 or later, you may have noticed that HTML codes don't work anymore. This means that typing hidden F2 messages ( <!-- hey there --!> ) wont be seen anymopre. Also html codes in chat rooms no longer work. To enable the html code feature yourself you will need a hex editor program such as Hex Workshop (1.75mb). First make a backup of the file ate32.dll (in AIM directory) then close AIM, and use your Hex Editor to open the file ate32.dll. In the hex code search for the following hex value: "266C 743B" and replace it with "3C00 0000" Then search for the following hex value: "616D 703B" and replace it with "0000 0000" This allows you to type ascii codes for characters by typing a for letter "a" for example. Save the changes, run AIM and HTML codes should work, as well as the secret messege trick, and some HTML codes will work in chatrooms too Receiving IMs Through Your Cell Phone Email This information is only for people that have access to and knowledge of a UNIX/LINUX based computer. Using a unix/linux based program found at the following location: http://tucb.com/projects/eppim.html You will be able to use your cell phone's email feature to send and receive instant messages to AIM users. The file is only useable on a UNIX/LINUX computer so if you do not have access to a UNIX/LINUX computer or even know what UNIX or LINUX is. I'm afraid you will just have to wait for an easier windows method to come along. Appear Away Without Being Away 1.) Open your AIM Preference Window ("My AIM", "Edit Options", "Edit Preferences") 2.) Click on "Away Messages" 3.) On the left hand side, click on any away message (It does not matter which one because you are not really going to use it) 4.) Click the "I'm Away" button once, this will open up you're "I'm Away" window 5.) Now, using your space bar, hit the "I'm Back" button (closing the away window), then again the "I'm Away" button (opening the away window). Do this very fast about 10-15 times ending on closing the away window. Now if you have added your self to your buddy list you will see the notepad next to your screen name, indicating that you are away. However when somebody messages you, they will not get an away message. This is a great way to screen IMs. You can use Ctrl+H to create a horizontal bar and type a fake away message to make somebody think you are actually away if you do not wish to talk to them. This HAS been tested to make sure that the notepad shows up on everybody's buddy list. If you wish to undo this trick without exiting AIM completely, just edit your profile and the notepad by your name will disappear. Making Your Profile Longer You may already be aware that AIM has a limit as to how many characters long your profile can be. Below are two methods, it is suggested that you use the first method because its fast, easy and free! The Simple Method There are now plenty of websites that will let you create and host your ehanced profile right on their website. The Advanced Method In the following directory you will find a folder with the same name as your screen name: For Windows 9x/me: C:\WINDOWS\AIM95\ For Windows XP/2000: C:\Documents and Settings\<name>\Application Data\Aim\ Open the folder that shares the name of your screen name and you will see a file called "info.htm" This file contains the HTML code that makes up your profile. You will need to edit the contents of this file. So here is how to go about doing that; On your taskbar click on "Start" then "Program Files" then "Accessories" and click on "Notepad" Now that you have Notepad open go to the top menu and select "File" then "Open". At this point you need to change the file type from Text Document to All Files (*.*). If you do not do this you will not see your info.htm file. Now browse your hard drive to the C:\WINDOWS\AIM95\ directory and in your screen name directory find the info.htm file and open it. In your notepad now you should be viewing the contents of your info.htm file. The trick now is to make a hyperlink in your profile that links to a webpage that contains all of your profile information. This means that you will need to create a webpage and have it available for download and this will not work if it is stored on a banner hosting site such as geocities or fortune city. I will give you an example of what mine looks like. <html><body><a href="http://www.gigahosts.com/~c1003/aimicons/trench.html" target="_self">Click Here To View</a></body></html> What you see here is that his profile is nothing but the words "Click Here To View" which link to the trench.html URL, but the trick is that he has added the target="_self" which forces the URL to open inside the profile window. In that URL that you link to you can use as much text as you want without worrying about any character limits. You can view the URL that he uses as his profile here at this link: http://www.gigahosts.com/~c1003/aimicons/trench.html You may test this profile trick by directing your profile to this URL if you'd like. After you have altered this info.htm file you simply just need to save it, then exit and re-open AIM. Now you can add yourself to your own buddy list and check your member info to see if it works. Unfortunately there are not many free webhosting services that do not show banners or frames on your webspace. These services will cause the profile trick to not work. You will need a hosting service that does not show any advertisements or use any frames of any kind. I have been told that http://www.volare.net/ provides free webspace without using frames or banners. Also the page that you create for your profile must contain plain text and no special links or images of any kind or it will not work. Enabling Dormant Logging Feature If you ever used AIM 4.4 beta you might have noticed that the Logging feature was fully functional in the aim preferences window. This feature logs IMs, Chat Rooms, Buddy List Activity, File Transfer Activity and Talk Activity. It creates an .htm file in c:\AimLogs\ which you can view by simply double clicking on it. This trick has been reported to not work with AIM 5.0 releases To enable this 'dormant' feature in AIM you simply need to do the following: 1.) Download this logginghack.zip 2.) Close AIM completely and remove AIM from the system tray (next to the clock). 3.) Extract the contents which should include: aim.odl netwait.odl osclog.ocm readme.txt 4.) Copy the aim.odl, netwait.odl and osclog.ocm file to your most current AIM directory (c:\program files\aim95\) 5.) You will be asked if you would like to overwrite existing files. Answer YES TO ALL FILES. 6.) Run AIM now and open up your preference window. You will now see the Logging feature on the left side on the very bottom. WARNING: If you press the "Log Manager" button AIM WILL CRASH! There is no way around this and you can not use the Log Manager. You can still view your logs by simply opening your c:\AimLogs\ directory and double clicking on the .htm files. Customizing The Appearance Of AIM To do this trick you need to download a program called "Resource Hacker" Second thing you must do is back up your "aimres.dll" file by copying it to a separate directory in case you go and screw it up. Once you have downloaded and extracted resource hacker you can begin. Replacing Images ---------------------------------------------------- First you will, of course, need to have an image to replace an existing AIM image with. We'll say you created MyNew.gif to replace the logging in screen .gif on AIM. In Resource Hacker, after opening aimres.dll, go to the top menu under 'Action' then select 'Replace Other Resource'. Click the "Open File With New Resource" button and browse your hard drive for the MyNew.gif. In the "Resource Type" box enter: GIFDATA In the "Resource Name" box enter: 103 In the "Resource Language" box enter: 1033 GIFDATA is the folder where the .gif images are stored for things like the logging in screen and the buddy list ad box. 103 is the number under that folder where that particular image is located. 1033 is just the number you will always put for the Language Type in any resource your replace. If you want to replace a button's image in AIM with your own you can do this by selecting 'Replace Bitmap' on the menu. Here you find it much easier to scroll through the images to find the button you wish to replace, then simply press the "Open File With New Bitmap" button and browse your computer for the new .bmp. After you select the new .bmp and the old .bmp you wish to replace press the "Replace" button. After you have finished changing images be sure to go up to the menu and select 'File' then 'Save'. Keeping AIM From Changing Your AD Box Image ------------------------------------------------------ AIM has a pain in the ass habit of changing your new buddy list image into advertisements after about 30 seconds. To keep this from happening use a hex editing program (HexWorks is a good one) to open the file "advert.ocm". Do a text search for: http://%s/image/%d/%ld/aim%s Replace the word 'image' with 'imagd' and save the file. This will successfuly botch up AIM's ability to replace your buddylist image. yay! Replacing The Buddy Icon Selection Window ------------------------------------------------------ If you would like you can load any particular URL in the buddy icon selection window in your preference window (this is where you go to select from all the boring icons AOL provides you with). In order for you to do this use your hex editing program again open the file "browse.ocm" Do a text search for: http://www.aol.com/ Replace this with: 'http://wwd.aol.com/'. This will keep AIM from forcing their own URL into that window after you change it to your own. Now you need to open up "aimres.dll" with Resource Hacker and open the folder called 'String Table'. Scroll down to the folder number 65 and open it. On the right now you will see a list of numbered lines. Find line #1037, it should look like this: http://dynamic.aol.com/cgi/redir?http://www.aol.com/aim/buddyicons/buddyicon.html You want to replace this with your own URL, for example: http://www.gigahosts.com/~c1003/aimicons/aimbrowse.html Now if your URL is not simply formatted and sized correctly it will look very distorted, it took me a while to make mine show up the right way in AIM. Replacing Menu Items With Your Own ------------------------------------------------------ If you wish to change the menu names of AIM you can simply use Resource Hacker to open up "aimres.dll" and look for the folder called "Menu". You can scroll through these menus to find which names or menu layouts you wish to change. The buddy list menu is under folder number 103. I renamed existing menu options such as "Send Bug Report" to "Get Buddy Icons" and I was able to make this open up www.originalicons.com by editing the URL under the 'String Table' section, under folder 12, Line #181 which normally shows: www.aim.aol.com/cgi-bin/bugs.cgi I just changed this to www.originalicons.com After any changes to the menu items or string tables be sure to hit the "Compile Script" button and save the newly modified aimres.dll. Downloading Older AIM Versions This isn't much of a trick but it does prove to be quite useful for many people. If you are looking for an older version of AIM you can go here: http://www.oldversion.com/aim.shtml Also you can try here: http://ftp.newaol.com/ Removing Your AIM Screen Names Easy Method On the sign on screen select the screen name you want to delete and press the 'Delete' ('Del') button on your keyboard. If this does not work proceed to use the advanced method below Advanced Method First you will need to shut AIM completely down and remove the AIM icon from your system tray (next to the clock on your start bar). Next you will need to do is open up your windows registry with the program "RegEdit". You can do this by clicking on your START button on your task bar, then click "Run" and in the provided box type in "regedit" and hit the OK button. Regedit should now be open. You now need to find the AIM section of your registry which you can do by following the tree image provided below. I removed all of the unecessary folders so that you are not confused. Where you see the word Screen Name is where you will see the screen names on your 'Sign On Screen'. Simply click on the folder of the screen name you don't want, and hit the 'Delete' ('Del') Key on your keyboard once. You are now finished! You do not need to save anything here, just simply close the registry and run AIM.  Forwarding Your IMs Using a free service provided by www.aimforwards.com you can have all Instant Messages that are sent to your AIM Screen Name forwarded to either your email address or to a wireless device. This has been tested by originalicons.com and they currently use this service so they can assure that it is very secure. Screen Name History If you've ever tried to remember a persons screen name that you were just talking to but you closed the IM window this trick is for you. You can get a history of the past 10 screen names you've IMed with by opening a blank IM window and clicking where the "TO" screen name is. A drop down box will appear with the last bunch of screen names you talked to. AIM Crash Hyperlinks I'll warn you this is a nasty trick to play on someone. Create a hyperlink to point to either one of these following URLs: aim:AlertsInternal?Command=1&ProviderID=5d5e170a-55aa-11d3-b143-0060b0fb1ecb&AlertID=1&Symbol= When the person clicks on either of these hyperlinks, their AIM will lock up and they will be forced to end-task the running program. It may also cause them not to be able to run AIM directly thereafter. I urge you to use good judgement if you decide to use this against someone. Open URL In AIM Today Window If you paste the following code into your profile, a link will be displayed that when clicked will open up the specified URL in the AIM Today window. <a href="http://aimtoday.aol.com/redir.adp?at_spot=at_nw1.home.main.mid&url=http://www.originalicons.com" target="_aim_today">Click Here</a> Just replace the address http://www.originalicons.com with your own address for it to work. You can also replace the text "Click Here" with words of your choice. IM Desktop Shortcuts If you are constantly sending IMs to the same individuals all the time here's a way to make it easy to do without having to use the buddy list. In XP there's a neat wizard that makes shortcuts for you if you right click on your desktop and select 'New' then 'Shortcut'. In the box that says "Enter the location of the item" paste the following string after you've replaced the screen name "Original+Icons" with your own. Putting a + where there is normally a space. "C:\Program Files\AIM95\aim.exe" aim:goIM?ScreenName=Original+Icons You can name the shortcut anything you'd like.. for example "IM John". You can then also drag this shortcut to your quicklaunch bar in windows. If you aren't using windows XP you will have to manually create and edit a shortcut. Chat While Sending While being direct connected with a buddy, you might have noticed that you can't chat while a large file or picture is being pasted. If you still would like to chat with the person while the file is transferring simply invite the person to a chat and once they join you can continue the conversation. Alphabetize Your Buddylist To sort the names on your buddylist alphabetically follow these steps: 1.) Open your buddy list 2.) Click the "List Setup" tab 3.) Right click on the group name that you'd like to alphabetize 4.) Select the option "Sort" Thats all there is to it folks! Color Images In Your Profile Easy Method If you go to http://www.profilehost.com and create a profile, you will be able to automatically upload any image file you have and it will be resized and displayed in your very own profile! This is quick, easy and free! Advanced Method Either method you decide to use, your image will turn out quite pixelated due to the html limitations of the AIM profile window. If you are creating your own interactive profile using HTML and wish to store your own images and as many as you'd like you can use the program "Pixel Monster" to transform your images to work in your profile window Go to http://clik.to/pixelmonster to download Pixel Monster. Below are two examples, the yoda one he made from an icon from this site using blocks. The other his wife made of our two boys using the text "my boys".   If you have problems with the image showing up "thin" in the profile window, try editing the .htm file manually with notepad and changing the font at the very top to "Courier New". Also if you get a font resource error you may need to reduce the colors in the image you are using to 249 or less. Make Your Own Intelligent Bots You can now have your own personalized artificially intelligent AIM Bot! Just go to this website: http://www.runabot.com/ There you will find all the necessary instructions to start your own AIM Bot within minutes. Its fun to use when you are away and theres tons of ways you can personalize it just the way you want it. Profile Host Bug Workaround If you have a Profilehost.com profile or eventually get one, you will notice there is a slight bug that does not allow people with spaces in their screen names to view your profile. Unfortunately this is due to a bug in the newest Apache software which was apparently installed by the server admin that hosts profilehost.com. Until Taber, who runs the site, can fix this problem he have established a remote workaround which any of you can use. Just copy and paste the following text into your profile, be sure to replace the screen name "WabbyTwax" (thats him) with your own screen name. Don't have a profilehost.com profile? Click here to get one! Profile Host Bug Workaround If you have a Profilehost.com profile or will eventually get one, you will notice there is a slight bug that does not allow people with spaces in their screen names to view your profile. Unfortunately this is due to a bug in the newest Apache software which was apparently installed by the server admin that hosts profilehost.com. Until Taber, who runs the site, can fix this problem he have established a remote workaround which any of you can use. Just copy and paste the following text into your profile, be sure to replace the word "WabbyTwax" (thats him) with your own Profile Host user name. Once again, put your Profile Host user name.. NOT your screen name. Don't have a profilehost.com profile? American Flag In Your Profile If you'd like to have full color american flag in your profile (see profile for WabbyTwax) just copy and paste the following code into your profile underneath your current profile information. How to make your own themes for AIM 5.0+ Before you read any futher.. if you do not have AIM 5.0 beta or newer this trick is irrelevant to you! So please do not read any further unless you have gone and downloaded AIM 5.0 beta from this link: Click Here To Download AIM 5.0 Beta I would first like to say that I am far from being an expert at this and have only made the one theme myself. All I can hope to do is pass along what information I have gathered so that you can start creating your own themes and share them with the world! So please email him if you have found some of his information to be incorrect and also if you have some of your own information to add to this tutorial. Starting with a template You first need to start off with an already existing theme file to get the idea quicker. You can use his very own theme to work off of by clicking HERE (origicons.arf). Extracting .arf file contents If you already didn't know, the .arf file that AIM uses is nothing more than .zip file renamed to .arf. So rename the file origicons.arf to origicons.zip and unzip it. If you don't know how to unzip a .zip file then stop reading this tutorial now and stick with just downloading other peoples themes. You may not be able to see the extension of your .zip or .arf file because viewing file extensions are disabled by default in windows. To view file extensions in XP you can open any folder up and on the menu click "Tools" then "Folder Options" then the tab that reads "View", now just uncheck the box that says 'Hide File Extensions'. The contents of the origicons.zip file should be the following...
The .xml files are nothing more than editable text files. Make sure that you do not edit any .xml files that come with any of AOL's themes because I found that they will not work right for some reason. I had to create blank .txt files and copy and paste over what was in AOL's .xml files for it to work right. It is safe to go ahead and use the .xml files included in origicons.arf though. In blskin.xml and imskin.xml all you need to do is replace the URL that points to my theme webpage to your own. You are going to have to create your own webpage and upload it for this to work. Any type of webpage will load on the buddy list or IM window but its hard to get what you want to look right because of the narrow space AIM provides you with. To get your remote webpage to load onto your buddy list without scroll bars include scroll="no" in your webpage's body tag so that it looks like this: <body background="newbg.gif" scroll="no" link="#FFFFFF" vlink="#FFFFFF" text="#FFFFFF" topmargin="0" leftmargin="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" alink="#FFFFFF"> To change the color of the top of the buddy list underneath your customized image edit the blskin.xml file and replace the text fillcolor="#E3FFE3" with your own hex code for the color you desire. If you need help finding the hex value of the color you want try this webpage: http://the-light.com/colclick.html Editing the manifest.xml file You should use the manifest.xml file inside origicons.arf because he knows it works. However you will have to modify a few numbers. I believe that if you use some of the same numbers in different manifest.xml files the themes will not load correctly. In the following lines: <DOCUMENT EXPIRATION="06/30/2007" PackageType="00" SLEVEL="00" ID="00002000-0000-0000-0000-0000000000G"> <THEME ID="0000002-0002-0002-0002-00000000000G"> You will need to change the two ID numbers. I would suggest changing a lot of the numbers around but be sure to keep the length of ID numbers the same. For instance, something different than this that would work would be: <DOCUMENT EXPIRATION="06/30/2007" PackageType="00" SLEVEL="00" ID="19672300-0000-0000-0000-0000000000G"> <THEME ID="9276713-0003-0003-0003-00000000000G"> You can experiment with your own numbers. And if somebody can clarify to me what this does please email me so that I can update this tutorial. Also notice the text BART="none==" , I have no idea what this does but if you change it you'll get bad results. Now, to prevent from a user having to "X" out their buddy list window (close it) and restore the buddy list window to see the new theme they installed. To fix this change all BART= numbers to be the same 14 characters but these 14 characters must stay unique to the theme they are in. Do not use the same 14 characters found in any other themes or the example given here. The example of what all of your BART= lines should look like is this: BART="c2720ff0g21hhf==". So now there should be 7 BART= instances in your manifest.xml file that have the same value of 14 characters followed by the double =. Again, do not use the same value found in the demostration theme you downloaded from this page. Finally, throughout the whole document replace ID="OriginalIcons" and TEXT="OriginalIcons" with your own ID and TEXT word. For instance make it ID="MyTheme" and TEXT="MyTheme" instead. If you do not change these words it will conflict with my theme because no two themes can have the same ID and Text values. If you do not wish to have any content appear to the left of the buddy list window or the IM window you can remove this code from the manifest.xml file: <RESREC TYPE="Display" ID="BUDDYSKIN" BART="none==" FILE="blskin.xml"/> and <RESREC TYPE="Display" ID="IMSKIN" BART="none==" FILE="imskin.xml"/> Changing the images He have gotten bad results from changing the sizes of the images included in the .arf files so he doesm't recommend it. The blbkgnd.bmp imbkgnd.gif images should be very light watermarks so that people can read the text over top of them. I recommend adjusting the image opacity to a level of 10% for good results. The icon.gif file should be 48x48 if you want it to not distort. And someone will have to tell me what the miicon.gif does because I haven't a clue but I customized it anyway. Packaging your .arf file Once you're all finished, create a .zip file that contains all 8 of your edited files. Rename the .zip file to an .arf file. You can submit your .arf file to www.originalicons.com by clicking here, or you can upload the .arf file to your own server and use the following URL to have your friends install your theme: aim:GetExpression?URL=http://www.yourserver.com/origicons.arf when clicked, AIM will download the theme then ask the user if they'd like to use it as their current theme. Resetting AIM to reload a modified .arf file You will find yourself constantly modifying a theme and wanting to test it out. If your theme doesnt want to load because it's possibly conflicting with an existing theme or itself. Go to your AIM application data directory and delete all .arf files then reboot AIM. Your application data directory should be somewhere like this: C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name\Application Data\Aim\YourScreenName\Resources Thanks to Devils and AntixZero from www.antixzero.com for their help with this trick. Different Exchange Number Properties For AIM Chats An exchange number is given to the chat dependent on the properties of the chat. Such exchange numbers are found in the links to the chat themselves... For instantce, look at this AIM link aim:GoChat?RoomName=Test+Chat&Exchange=5 This link has a 5 on the end indicating the exchange number. Change this number to change the exchange. You must make this a hyperlink and click on it to get in.. I recommend IMing yourself the link on AIM to test it out. Here is an example of this property in an AOL link aol://2719:10-4-Test Chat The 4 in this link is the exchange number. Change this character for the different exchanges. To make the AOL link work you must put it into a browser and click go. The AOL default browser URL bar will do the trick... Here are some exchange numbers and their properties as known so far: 1 Unknown 2 Unknown 3 Unknown 4 AIM/AOL (This is the exchange under the English Buddy Invite option found as a result of right clicking and choosing buddy invite on the buddylist) [23 people max] 5 AIM only (This is the exchange used for the hyperlinks on the AIM chatlink pages under the chat and send window. When a room such as "Computing Chat" maxes out it creates a new chat in numbered succession to put you in. Example "Computing Chat 1" "Computing Chat 2" and so forth. [23 people max] 6 AIM=Unknown properties 7 Unknown 8 AIM/AOL=Unknown properties 9 AIM/AOL=Unknown properties 10 AIM/AOL=Unknown properties 11 AIM/AOL=Unknown properties 12 AIM/AOL=Unknown properties 13 AIM/AOL=Unknown properties 14 AIM/AOL=Unknown properties 15 AIM/AOL=Unknown properties 16 AIM/AOL=Unknown properties [48 people max] 17-28 AOL=Unknown properties 29+ Unknown... may not be correct exchange numbers at this point. Email CitizenXV@AOL.com if you have something you'd like to add to this Creating Cool New Smiley Faces Click on the following link to see the new smileys, and how to use them in your Instant Messages. http://spacex.williams-net.org/aim/smilies.html Created by Michael Williams |