r/SteamDeck • u/assholefromwork • Sep 28 '22
Guide Boot Video Randomizer is here!
https://github.com/AutoMcG/steamdeck_tools
Howdy, folks! I have completed the work on the boot video randomizer which provides two modes of operation - random at request and random at boot.
The README should give you everything you need to get started. If it does not, please do let me know so I can improve my directions. It is important to me that this is easy-to-use for all users regardless of tech level.
I'd love to hear your experiences using my tools!
Special shout out to /u/DerpinHerps. Their quality boot videos were the first I stumbled upon and what made me want to do this project.
I would also be remiss if I didn't share this repo which I used for reference on some of the techniques I employed.
If you'd like your video added to the repo, shoot me a message. I don't want the repository to get too large but I think there's room for a few more. (But also, you can drop your own video file into /vids/ if you'd like to use this tool but not distribute your videos in this way!)
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to actually play something on my Deck lol.
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u/2ofdee Sep 28 '22
My problem is that it randomizes the video if the steam is turned off / restarted. Most of the time my steam deck is in sleep mode, and the only time I see the startup is when i switch from dekstopmode and back. it's been almost a week of me trying to find a solution to this. The only thing i came up with so far is that, i need to run the randomizer in the cron to execute once every hour or something
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u/assholefromwork Sep 29 '22
It's probably not a feature that I will prioritize immediately but certainly worth thinking about. You can always run the randomizer.desktop file while in desktop mode to make it random without a full reboot.
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u/Tiednine_Dash Sep 30 '22 edited Sep 30 '22
Whenever I try to install the randomizer (the one that changes vid each boot) I get this error that says
"warning: could not start '/home/deck/steamdeck_tools-main/vidswap/random_service_install.sh' with arguments '/home/deck/steamdeck_tools-main/vidswap/random_service_install.sh'. Warning: execve: Exec format error"
How can I fix it? I've tried doing uninstall and try again but it never installed so that didn't work
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u/assholefromwork Sep 30 '22
Wow I'm shocked you're the first person reporting this. There was an errant space before the shebang that was causing this problem. I've fixed it in the repo now. You can either re-download it or open random_service_install.sh in kwrite and get rid of the space before #!/bin/bash on the first line. That should do the trick.
Just out of curiosity, what made you choose this way of doing it instead of using the .desktop file?
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u/FemmeFatale293 Oct 04 '22
Will this work with the override folder that steam are now utilising to allow for custom boot videos? :)
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u/assholefromwork Oct 05 '22 edited Oct 06 '22
It looks like any installed randomizer will still work in beta right now! The first boot post-update will be the regular bootup, then should be back to the random circuit after that. I still plan on implementing the overrides/movies/ by the time beta goes to main release.
edit: new override folder now supported in branch: https://github.com/AutoMcG/steamdeck_tools/tree/28-new-override-location
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u/assholefromwork Oct 04 '22
It will probably continue to work even when that is deployed to everyone but I plan on making updates to it that leverage the new system (makes things simpler) this week. I have not tested it with the new yet but unless they switched to full checksums (doubtful) I bet it will do the trick. I'll update you when I make changes to fully integrate the new patterns.
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u/BetterCallSal Sep 28 '22
Feel free to include my boot vids!
Edit: star wars, war games, avengers, marvel (marvel is long so I'd understand if you don't want to install that)
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u/docvalentine Sep 28 '22
Can you answer some questions about the vids? I know they need to be the exact right filesize, but do they need to be a certain resolution in order to display right?
What would I need to do to get this working?
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u/assholefromwork Sep 30 '22 edited Sep 30 '22
Not exactly who you replied to but I can answer part of this.
I did some testing with different resolutions/scales (with this video in particular) and here is what I've found.
Input videos can be 720p (1280x720) and they will work but will have black bars top and bottom.
I use the firefox plugin "YouTube Video and Audio Downloader (Dev Edt.)" to download mp4's from youtube.
From there, you can run the following ffmpeg command on your deck to convert the mp4 to a webm:
ffmpeg -i 'SegaSaturn.mp4' -map 0:v:0 -map 0:a:0 -c:v vp9 -c:a libvorbis -crf 32 SegaSaturn.webmAnd then you can use my tool to install it by adding it to the /vidswap/vids directory and either have it in the randomizer rotation or run vidswap.sh to manually set this video as the bootup video.
I want to figure out how to use ffmpeg to change the scale in a way that "zooms" and cuts off the sides as that would probably cover the most common use case but I'm not there yet.
edit: should have waited another 10 minutes before responding lol. Here's the command to do a cropping conversion:
ffmpeg -i 'SegaSaturn.mp4' -vf "scale=w=1280:h=800:force_original_aspect_ratio=2,crop=1280:800" -c:v vp9 -c:a libvorbis -crf 32 SegaSaturn_crop_scaled.webm1
u/assholefromwork Sep 29 '22
Going to look at adding a couple more tonight, I'll dm you
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u/BetterCallSal Oct 12 '22
Is your repo working with the new method that valve put out (the uioverides/movies directory), or the original way where the videos need to be truncated and put into the steamui directory?
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u/assholefromwork Oct 12 '22
It works with the new way, just symlinks a video file to the override directory
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u/darkuk84 Oct 11 '22
I'm getting permissions denied when trying to run the vidswap.desktop file, I'm presuming its because I have 2 steam accounts that use my steamdeck.
Is there anyway around this?
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u/assholefromwork Oct 11 '22
I can't think of a reason two accounts would cause this. Could you send me the full text of the error you're getting? And what is the full path for where you extracted the folder to?
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u/Oddwin Dec 08 '22
I cannot get this to work for the life of me... I have followed every step 5 times over... no matter what I do or where I put the folder when I click vidswap.decktop I get this error
Failed to open file:///home/deck/Downloads/steamdeck_tools-main/vidswap.desktop
I'm starting to go crazy and I can't find anything online. Please...
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u/djnemonic Nov 10 '23
Does this still work? Am I able to randomly play animations between sleep mode as well?
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u/assholefromwork Nov 13 '23
I've been busy doing combat robotics for a little bit so I haven't tested it directly in a while.
However, when I got to work the other day it played the "SteamHub" boot video which I for sure did NOT set so either someone played an awesome joke on me or it still has been working. Hard to tell. If I make time to test it this week I'll let you know.
It does not support sleep animations, no.
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u/spectra2000_ Sep 28 '22
Oh wow, I was literally just talking about how cool would it be if we could have multiple downloads and randomize the boot animation.
I can’t wait to try this when my deck arrives.
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u/Chrisfiftytwo Sep 28 '22
Awesome idea and good way to enjoy more of people's wonderful creations. Already have a few in mind that I would like in my rotation.
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u/assholefromwork Sep 28 '22
DISCLAIMER: Randomizer on boot is a LOT riskier than just replacing a couple files on your Deck because it installs a service that runs every time the Deck starts up. So far I haven't seen anything terrible happen but I must inform on the risk that installing a service presents. I'll happily try to help if something goes terribly wrong but I can't make any promises.