Solved Custom Cursors

Acebinbabe said:
Hi Hopachi

Im new to windows 8 (my XP machine has all but died!) and was disappointed with the range of cursors available. But then Google brought me here!

I LOVE the media centre aero colored which I downloaded but then my laptop asked me what it should open the file with ..........um..........sorry :o Im not too clever with the technicalities, please could you tell me know how to do it?
Thank you :)
Click to expand...

Hi there, welcome to the forums!

That cursor is one of my favorites as well. :)

Sorry there are no instructions (yet) but I'll show you how it's done here in this post.
There are even ways to install the theme through inf files or registry settings but I'll cover the usual / manual install.

Changing the cursor (theme) workaround:

To use the new file(s) first unzip/open the downloaded file. There you find a folder and/or in that folder the needed files. Then you can place those (extracted) files, the static (*.cur), or animated files, in this case, (*.ani) anywhere you want (Windows cursors are placed in "C:\Windows\Cursors" so this might be the ideal place where you'll need to browse to the files).

cursor-folder.png

You then need to access mouse settings from Control Panel -> Mouse or by right clicking on the Desktop -> Personalization

personalization.png

That will open the cursor settings then go to pointers:
pointer-select.png

You can double-click the ones needed to be changed or select each one and go to browse. Here we browse to our cursor folder needed (where you placed the extracted cursor files).
select.png

After all is changed you can even save (see below: select "save-as" and enter a theme name) the cursor theme (scheme) as a new scheme and the settings will be kept for later use, in case the cursors get changed by you or the Windows Themes.
new-scheme.png

That's it.

Hope this helps. :)
 
Last edited:
Can someone tell me what I am doing wrong? After I download the cursors to my Windows Cursor File, I am able to change to them, but they seem to be stuck in a running mode - continually running. Is there a way to overcome that? Thanks.
 
JohnBurns said:
Can someone tell me what I am doing wrong? After I download the cursors to my Windows Cursor File, I am able to change to them, but they seem to be stuck in a running mode - continually running. Is there a way to overcome that? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Not entirely sure what's causing that.
What precisely is the problem John?

After downloading the file you should extract the cursors as described in previous post.
Careful see which cursor you're changing: make sure you don't swap the selects with the busy cursors (see Mouse Properties).

If you applied an *.ani (animated cursor) to a pointer that used to be static (*.cur) then it's normal you see it spinning/running all the time (even if the computer isn't busy).
 
Thanks Hopachi, I'll give it a go! :thumbsup:I may have to wait until I get back from my holiday though, as I haven't even packed yet (too excited about my new laptop)
 
Black-Green-Binary​ theme:

Static cursors fully compatible 32px and 48px for higher DPI images included.

black-green-binary.png

Resembles 'The Matrix' a bit. :cool:

This is based on one of my favorites: Windows Black (System Scheme)
Simple and fast.

EDIT:
An install file is included in an updated zip here.
 

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Last edited:
DMZ- Neon Style

DMZ Neon Blue

Ultimate cursor: contains 32x32, 48x48 and 64x64 size pointer and looks nice up and beyond 192 dpi in display settings!

Anyone with 150-200dpi enabled?

From where I got the idea:
Once, I've seen a blue glowing cursor in an Android x86 VM:
prev0.png

That looked familiar with the Black DMZ Pointer from Ubuntu...
So I tried to reproduce the effect to an entire cursor scheme. I had to include the MIT license from DMZ source (a small text file). :)


It looks just like what I've seen:
-black background:
black.PNG
-white background:
white.PNG

I've called the theme: "DMZ Neon Blue".

This time I've included an install.inf file to ease the installation: right click on it -> install, the theme will then be available on the list of cursors.

Sorry, no animations this time; install, scalability and glow effect were priorities.
I don't know (yet) how to add multiple layers into one *.ani file for this particular theme in case of animations. :zip:
EDIT: that was taken care of: multiple-layered animation is possible as confirmed here and proved here.

Cheers
Hopachi
 

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Last edited:
I've tested a newer cursor based on the metro slider animation or whatever that's called:
slider-big.gif
Specs:
37 frames
110x32px

Unfortunately it's not a square image so the cursor is not (very) compatible. :(
It looks good in preview but is rather squished (down to 32x32) during usage.

Cursors image formats need to be square in order for a good display.
It works but not really as expected.

For those among you who are curious enough to see it, the file is included in zip.

Cheers
Hopachi
 

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Delta45 - Orange-b

Following the neon-style glow.
This one is an own design and has possibilities for other colors as well. For now, Class K of the Stellar Classification is released.

I've improved the detail by adding a new layer on top of what previous Neon Blue added: now 96x96px size is available but that means you must be running on 300dpi (!!!) to see it... but as usual, we begin with 32x32 size.

Preview:
prev-black.png

prev-white.png

Installing with right click on the install.inf found in the zip.
Check the included readme.txt for more details.

EDIT: This is the first release. The glow is improved in a newer release below called Neon-Orange2.
If you don't like too muck glow, keep this version.

Cheers
Hopachi
 

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Delta45 - Neon-Orange2

An improvement to the glow in the previous release. Also the color was brightened up a little to the yellow-side.

The same specs and sizes apply.

Preview:
prev-black.png

prev-white.png

What does 96x96 look like?
orange-prev-96x96.png

Note:
The previous orange-b release will not be overwritten by this one. Remove the files manually if needed and delete the scheme from Mouse Properties.

That's all.
 

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Hi Hopachi
Back from holidays and have successfully installed the cursor! Thank you for the download and the very clear instructions. I shall enjoy being able to spot the cursor! :)
 
HippsieGypsie said:
Keep up the great work, Hopachi. Looking good! :thumb:
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot!

I'll try. :)
You can post some cursors as well, anytime. :D


So far, I'm out of designs, some nice ones are already posted and can be made in other colors but that's basically all.
The last ones were quite heavy, technically, but I'm glad all worked out. :thumb:

Cheers!
 
Delta45 - White

The black/white default version that each decent theme has to provide.

Preview:
prev-white.png

prev-black.png

This is Delta45, so 96x96 is provided.

Cheers
Hopachi
 

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