Creating a .rmskin

The Rainmeter skin package (.rmskin) is an increasingly popular method of distributing various Rainmeter components. It allows one-click installation of skins, themes, fonts, and more.

To create a .rmskin package, get the .rmskin template from here, then extract and open the newly created Template folder. It should contain five folders along with a file called Rainstaller.cfg.

Adding your skins / themes / addons / plugins and fonts.

To add components to the package, simply copy it into the correct folder.

  • Folders in Template\Skins will be copied into the skin folder (usually Documents\Rainmeter\Skins).
  • Folders in Template\Themes will be copied into the theme folder (usually %APPDATA%\Rainmeter\Themes).
  • Folders in Template\Addons will be copied into addon folder (usually Program Files\Rainmeter\Addons).
  • Folders in Template\Plugins will be copied into plugins folder (usually Program Files\Rainmeter\Plugins). See below for additional details.
  • Folders in Template\Fonts will be copied into fonts folder (usually Program Files\Rainmeter\Fonts). See below for additional details.

For example, to include the "MySkins" suite of skins, simply copy the entire Documents\Rainmeter\Skins\MySkins folder from your Rainmeter installation into Template\Skins in the template folders.

More on including plugins

You are able to include both 64bit and 32bit in one single .rmskin. If you decide to take advantage of this, you must specify at least MinRainmeterVer=2.0.0.740 into Rainstaller.cfg. Then, create the Template\Plugins\32bit and Template\Plugins\64bit folders and copy the plugin(s) into the appropriate folder.

Template\
- Plugins\
-- 32bit\
--- myplugin.dll
-- 64bit\
--- myplugin.dll

More on including Fonts

There are three ways to include font(s) in your distribution:

  • Recommended - Include a font in your skin folders, allowing use with LocalFont without any additional installation to the end user's Rainmeter or Windows configuration.
    Simply copy the .TTF file(s) into some folder under the skin/suite you will be distributing. For example, You might create a folder called Skins\MySkins\Fonts and put all the fonts you wish to include in there, then you can use LocalFont=#ROOTCONFIGPATH#Fonts\FontFile.ttf in your skins to use the fonts you have distributed.
  • Include a font that will be permanently installed into the end user's Windows configuration.
    Simply copy the .TTF file(s) into Template\Fonts.

Changing settings

After you have copied all the necessary files into the correct folders, open any text editor (e.g. notepad) and drag & drop the Template\Rainstaller.cfg file into the text editor. Fill in the obvious (Name, Author, and Version) and save the file. A detailed explanation of the other values is available at the end of this page, be sure to glance through that list.

    Rainstaller.cfg Basic Options

    MinRainmeterVer
    Sets the minimum version of Rainmeter required to install. For example, to require that Rainmeter 1.2 r393 or higher is installed, specify MinRainmeterVer=1.2.0.393
    The revision numbers are available from from Google Code.

    LaunchType and LaunchCommand
    These two values are used to either load config(s) or a specific theme after installation.

    • To open an installed theme, set the following (replacing NameOfTheme with the the theme name):
      LaunchType=Theme
      LaunchCommand=NameOfTheme
    • To open load specific config(s) after install, set something like:
      LaunchType=Load
      LaunchCommand=MySuite\Clock\Clock.ini

    The path is relative to the Rainmeter\Skins folder. To open multiple configs, separate each config with a vertical bar (i.e. LaunchCommand=file1.ini|file2.ini|file3.ini).

    Rainstaller.cfg Advanced Options

    These are advanced options and you will most likely not need these. Do not use the following, unless you know what they are for.

    CompatibilityWithBit
    Use CompatibilityWithBit in combination with at least MinRainmeterVer=1.3.0.499 to ensure that the user has a sufficient version of Rainstaller installed.
    Specifies if the package is compatible with only 32bit Rainmeter or 64bit Rainmeter. Can be set to either 32bit or 64bit. Leave blank for both.

    Merge
    Use Merge in combination with at least MinRainmeterVer=1.3.0.417 to ensure that the user has a sufficient version of Rainstaller installed.
    Set Merge=1 to merge skins in the package with the users skins. Note that the target system must already have the skin in question installed for Merge to work (set to Merge=2 to ignore this).

    KeepVar
    Use KeepVar in combination with at least MinRainmeterVer=1.3.0.427 to ensure that the user has a sufficient version of Rainstaller installed. KeepVar below Rainmeter 1.3 r560 does not support Unicode files or multiple files. For Unicode and multiple file support, use at least MinRainmeterVer=1.3.0.559
    KeepVar can be used to keep variables in a common settings file (e.g. UserVariables.inc in Engima or Variables.inc in Gnometer) during a skin upgrade. The path is relative to the Rainmeter\Skins folder.

    For example, to keep variables intact in Rainmeter\Skins\MySkin\CommonVariables.txt on upgrade, specify:

    KeepVar=MySkin\CommonVariables.txt
    If MySkin\CommonVariables.txt exists already exitsts in target system, Rainstaller will read all values from "new" CommonVariables.txt and replace them with corrosponding values from "old" CommonVariables.txt. To keep variables for multiple files, separate each file with a vertical bar (i.e. KeepVar=file1.ini|file2.ini|file3.ini).

    Custom Header

    To use a custom header in Rainstaller, simply create a bitmap named Rainstaller.bmp into the same folder as Rainstaller.cfg. Then create the .rmskin file. When the .rmskin file is opened, Rainstaller will display the custom header instead of the default. The dimensions of the bitmap should be exactly 400x60 pixels.

Creating the .rmskin file

The .rmskin file is simply a renamed .zip file. So, in order to create a .rmskin file, you'll need to create a .zip file first. To do this, right-click on the Template folder and select Send to -> Compressed (zipped) folder. You will be asked to name the newly created .zip file. Give it the name of your choice and press Enter.

To convert the created .zip file into a .rmskin file, simply change the file extension from .zip to .rmskin. If you don't know how to do this manually, grab and run ExttensionChanger from from here. It will allow you change extensions from .zip to .rmskin and vice versa.

Testing and sharing

Before sharing the newly created .rmskin with others, you will need to make sure it works properly. Remember to delete the components from your own computer before installing to make sure the files were installed properly. For example, if you know that the .rmskin is going to install a skin called "BestSkinEver", delete "BestSkinEver" from Rainmeter\Skins.

After you have ensured that everything works as intended, you are free to upload and share your .rmskin with others.