With the launch of PSU’s own PS3 themes section, we felt obliged to provide our users with this handy guide to show you exactly how to go about creating, uploading and installing your own themes with as little hassle as possible. Read on to find out how to get the best out of your theme endeavours with PSU!
CREATING THEMES:
Step 1: You will need to download the official PS3 Theme Tool by visiting Sony Australia’s official website, then clicking on the button in the bottom right.
Step 2: Extract the file to a folder on your computer
Step 3: Open command prompt and navigate to the folder.
Step 4: The folder should contain a sample folder, a GrimConv folder, a p3tcompiler.exe and other assorted files. To create your theme you will need to run the p3tcompiler.exe passing in the sample.xml.
Example: If you are in the p3tcompiler_v101 folder, you run: p3tcompiler .sample�1sample.xml
Step 5: This creates a number of .gim files and a sample.p3t files in the sample /01/ directory. Take the sample.p3t file and transfer it to a memory stick in the following location: PS3->THEME
Step 6: Plug the memory stick into your PS3 and select the theme setting, where you will be given an option to install; do so, and you will have your sample theme.
Step 7: To construct your own custom theme, it’s a case of editing all of the .png files in the sample directory, and re-run all of the above.
UPLOADING YOUR THEME:
To upload your theme, point your browser to our upload themes page here, and simply fill out the required information:
Theme title: The name given to your theme
Author name: The original author of the theme; do not upload unless you have permission from the author.
Description: A basis description on the theme itself.
Next, simply upload the required information in the ‘Theme file’ and ‘Theme preview’ boxes to complete the process. Users can download the PS3 Theme Previewer, which allows you to make .jpg images for your theme.
Over the next few days, PSU.com will be adding new additions and upgrades to the PS3 themes section such as "Credit to original author", " ability to add multiple screenshots of theme", and a "rating system”.
INSTALLING YOUR THEME:
All themes files (.p3t) need to be saved to a memory card/HDD/USB thumbstick, in the following directory structure:
/PS3/THEME/<theme file>
1. Create a folder titled: PS3
2. Inside the PS3 folder, make another folder titled: THEME
3. Put all the themes you have inside the THEME folder.
4. Plug your USB drive to your PS3 and on the XMB, select:
Then go to: Settings>Theme Settings>Theme>Install (hidden at the top)> and then select your theme you wish to install.
PSU would also like to note that you’ll soon be able to download themes straight to your PS3’s hard drive via the consoles web browser – bare with us on this, as we’ll have it working very soon.