Reply To: How can I install XBMC next to RetroPie?

[Anonymous]

Yes, in fact, it is! And quite easy as well. You need to create a theme for XBMC. In /etc/emulationstation/themes/simple/ create a new folder called apps (or whatever you named your folder when adding start.sh). Inside that folder, create another folder (art) and an XML file called theme.xml. Here, you can copy and paste code from other themes. Here is my theme.xml if you are interested:

<theme>
    <formatVersion>3</formatVersion>
    <include>./../simple.xml</include>

	<view name="system">

		<image name="background" extra="true">
			<path>./art/XBMC_blur.png</path>
		</image>

		<image name="logo">
			<path>./art/XBMC_Logo.svg</path>
			<maxSize>0.90 0.2</maxSize>
        	</image>
		
		<helpsystem name="help">
			<textColor>ffffff66</textColor>
			<iconColor>ffffff66</iconColor>
		</helpsystem>
		
	</view>

	<view name="basic, detailed">
	
		<text name="system_name_1" extra="true">
			<text>XBMC</text>
			<forceUppercase>1</forceUppercase>
			<size>0.45 0.08</size>
			<pos>0.527 0.01</pos>
			<color>7b7d7f</color>
			<fontPath>./../art/OPENSANS-LIGHT.TTF</fontPath>
			<fontSize>0.055</fontSize>
			<alignment>right</alignment>
		</text>
		
		<text name="system_name_2" extra="true">
			<text>Media Center</text>
			<forceUppercase>0</forceUppercase>
			<size>0.45 0.08</size>
			<pos>0.527 0.07</pos>
			<color>7b7d7f</color>
			<fontPath>./../art/OPENSANS-LIGHT.TTF</fontPath>
			<fontSize>0.055</fontSize>
			<alignment>right</alignment>

		</text>

		<image name="logo">
			<path>./art/XBMC_Logo.svg</path>
			<pos>0.025 0.079</pos>
			<maxSize>0.90 0.2</maxSize>
			<origin>0 0.5</origin>
		</image>

	</view>

	<view name="basic">
	
		<textlist name="gamelist">
			<pos>0.025 0.22</pos>
			<size>0.950 0.68</size>
			<alignment>center</alignment>
			<horizontalMargin>0.01</horizontalMargin>
		</textlist>
		
	</view>

	<view name="detailed">
	
<!-- <measuring rectangle 
		<image name="measure" extra="true">
			<pos>0.025 0.6</pos>
			<origin>0 0</origin>
			<size>0.125 0.301</size>
			<path>./../art/white.png</path>
			<color>ff00ff</color>
		</image> 
-->

		<image name="md_image">
			<pos>0.025 0.22</pos>
<!-- 			<size>0.124 0.301</size>
 -->			<maxSize>0.124 0.301</maxSize>
			<origin>0 0</origin>
		</image>
		
		<text name="md_lbl_rating">
			<pos>0.176 0.21</pos>
		</text>
		
		<text name="md_lbl_releasedate">
			<pos>0.176 0.25</pos>
		</text>
		
		<text name="md_lbl_developer">
			<pos>0.176 0.29</pos>
			<size>0.133 0.04</size>
		</text>

		<text name="md_lbl_publisher">
			<pos>0.176 0.33</pos>
			<size>0.133 0.04</size>
			</text>
		
		<text name="md_lbl_genre">
			<pos>0.176 0.37</pos>
		</text>
		
		<text name="md_lbl_players">
			<pos>0.176 0.41</pos>
		</text>

		<text name="md_lbl_lastplayed">
			<pos>0.176 0.45</pos>
		</text>

		<text name="md_lbl_playcount">
			<pos>0.176 0.49</pos>
		</text>
		
		<text name="md_playcount">
			<pos>0.309 0.49</pos>
		</text>

		<datetime name="md_lastplayed">
			<pos>0.309 0.45</pos>
		</datetime>
		
		<text name="md_players">
			<pos>0.309 0.41</pos>
		</text>
		
		<text name="md_genre">
			<pos>0.309 0.37</pos>
			<size>0.24 0.04</size>
		</text>

		<text name="md_publisher">
			<pos>0.309 0.33</pos>
			<size>0.24 0.04</size>
		</text>
		
		<text name="md_developer">
			<pos>0.309 0.29</pos>
			<size>0.24 0.04</size>
		</text>
		
		<datetime name="md_releasedate">
			<pos>0.309 0.25</pos>
		</datetime>
		
		<rating name="md_rating">
			<pos>0.309 0.216</pos>
			<size>0.028 0.028</size>
			<filledPath>./../art/star_filled_spacing.svg</filledPath>
			<unfilledPath>./../art/star_hollow_3_spacing.svg</unfilledPath>
		</rating>
		
		<text name="md_description">
			<size>0.52 0.3</size>
			<pos>0.025 0.577</pos>
		</text>
		
		<textlist name="gamelist">
			<pos>0.615 0.22</pos>
			<size>0.359 0.68</size>
			<alignment>left</alignment>
			<horizontalMargin>0.01</horizontalMargin>
		</textlist>

	</view>

You can see that it links to a few other images in the art folder, XBMC_Blur and XBMC_Logo. The blur is the background image for the menu screen, and the logo (SVG) is for the apps folder logo. I have it slightly off positioned because I like the look of it, but you can change it if you want. You can probably find a vector logo online, if you don’t have it already, and you can choose whichever background you want in place of XBMC_blur.png. I have the default XBMC blue background.