Hi guys,
When the trial mode expires, there's a default screen showing up either to exit game or purchase the game. Is it possible to change this screen?

Thanks!

-Stephanus

Nope. It's a standard one that offers no customization. If you want a customized experience, best idea is to make your own screen that you can show at some point. I made a Connect suggestion for this a while back, but I don't know if it's anything they're planning to change.

Nick Gravelyn:

but I don't know if it's anything they're planning to change.

I see, thanks guys!

I guess Microsofts concern is that it they allowed people to make thier own trial mode expired screen they could find a way to allow the player to keep playing indefinitely, so effectively giving away a free game.

Psyk60:

I guess Microsofts concern is that it they allowed people to make thier own trial mode expired screen they could find a way to allow the player to keep playing indefinitely, so effectively giving away a free game.

I don't think anyone's asking to make their own, per se. At least I'm not. I just wish we could provide a PNG image that would be used as the background so we can list sell points or show screenshots or something like that. Just adding that little bit of functionality would greatly increase the value of the framework provided expiration screen.

Agreed. The PNG could be a part of the peer review process. We wouldn't need any special functionality, just a small way to customize the end-of-trial experience.

Hey Nick... we have this thing called http://connect.microsoft.com/ ;-)

I concur that this would be a great addition. Even if we only got half the screen or something. From what I see on XBLA there's no real consistency to these screens anyway.

The ZMan:

Hey Nick... we have this thing called http://connect.microsoft.com/ ;-)

I concur that this would be a great addition. Even if we only got half the screen or something. From what I see on XBLA there's no real consistency to these screens anyway.

Hey Andy, I posted the connect link in my first post in this thread. ;)

Nick Gravelyn:

The ZMan:

Hey Nick... we have this thing called http://connect.microsoft.com/ ;-)

I concur that this would be a great addition. Even if we only got half the screen or something. From what I see on XBLA there's no real consistency to these screens anyway.

Hey Andy, I posted the connect link in my first post in this thread. ;)

Couldn't you just let that slip through? Also, your connect issue does not mention anything PNG related :]

Bjoern Graf:

Nick Gravelyn:

The ZMan:

Hey Nick... we have this thing called http://connect.microsoft.com/ ;-)

I concur that this would be a great addition. Even if we only got half the screen or something. From what I see on XBLA there's no real consistency to these screens anyway.

Hey Andy, I posted the connect link in my first post in this thread. ;)

Couldn't you just let that slip through? Also, your connect issue does not mention anything PNG related :]

It mentions a specially named image file. Doesn't have to be PNG. :)

I need a nap it seems.... back in an hour... Sorry Nick. I got over excited fixing your code yesterday.

When do I get to fix your fix for Nicks code? :-)

Seriously, though, the first time you run, you can time how long the trial period is, perhaps writing a checkpoint to disk every 30 seconds. The next time you run, simply shave 30 seconds off the last measured time, and when you get to that point, put up your own screen. (Yes, if the user stays at that screen for 30-60 seconds, the XNA screen will replace yours. Them's the breaks :-)

This implementation is based on the theory that IsTrialMode will always be time based. We know that they previously used a 4 minute trial, and then kicked it to an 8 minute trial. They may change it yet again some time in the future, so hard-coding a screen at 7 minutes is probably not future-proof enough, but measuring the trial time each time you run, and basing off that, ought to be enough.

That's an adequate fix given the limits, but it seems really silly for us to do all the guesswork just so we can customize the sell screen. Or they can just allow us to post our own image into their already made functionality, making it future proof, and we all win. :)