Formerly, this was an attempt to port Kilkakon's fork of Shimeji-ee from JRE 6 to JDK 21. I switched to porting to JDK 11 to maintain the most compatibility possible, though it is still compatible with JDK 21.
This fork also contains bug fixes, log message changes, fixes in the default mascot action/behavior XML files,
more documentation (including comments and documentation from the original Shimeji, now translated through a better
Google Translate than before), updated dependencies, formatting fixes, and probably more. Notably, I have also switched
the project from Ant to Maven, and ported the launch4j.xml file from the original Shimeji to the Launch4j Maven
Plugin.
(It also has WIP Linux support, though it was just copied and modified from asdfman's fork and doesn't entirely work yet. I can only test it by using a VM, so that doesn't help.)
The rest of this file is the original README, albeit ported to Markdown and with slightly more up-to-date information.
Shimeji-ee is a desktop mascot for Windows, macOS, and Linux that freely wanders and plays around the screen. The mascot is very configurable; its actions are defined through XML and its animations/images can be (painstakingly) customized. Shimeji was originally created by Yuki Yamada of Group Finity. This branch of the original Shimeji project not only translates the program/source to English, but adds additional enhancements to Shimeji by Kilkakon and other members of the community.
- Links
- Requirements
- How to Start
- Basic Configuration
- Advanced Configuration
- How to Quit
- How to Uninstall
- Licensing
- Trouble Shooting
- Windows Vista or newer / macOS / Linux
- Java 11 or newer
- Open the Shimeji-ee JAR file (
Shimeji-ee.jar). On Windows, openingShimeji-ee.exewill also work. - Right-click the tray icon for general options.
- Right-click a Shimeji for options relating to it.
For a tutorial on how to get Shimeji running, watch this video.
You can also watch the FAQ if you encounter problems.
You can also join Kilkakon's Discord server.
If you want multiple Shimeji types, you must have multiple image sets. Basically, you put different folders with the
correct Shimeji images under the img directory.
For example, if you want to add, say, a new Batman Shimeji:
- Create an
img/Batmanfolder. - You must have an image set that mimics the contents of
img/Shimeji. Create and put new versions ofshime1.png-shime46.png(with Batman images, of course) in theimg/Batmanfolder. The filenames must be the same as theimg/Shimejifiles. Refer toimg/Shimejifor the proper character positions. - Start Shimeji-ee. Now Shimeji and Batman will drop. Right-click Batman to perform Batman specific options. Pressing "Call Shimeji" in the tray icon menu will randomly create and add either Shimeji or Batman.
When Shimeji-ee starts, one Shimeji for every image set in the img folder will be created. If you have too many image
sets, a lot of your computer's memory will be used... so be careful.
Shimeji-ee will ignore all the image sets that are in the img/unused folder, so you can hide image sets in there.
There is also a tool, Image Set Chooser, that will let you select image sets at run time. It remembers previous options
via the conf/settings.properties file. Don't choose too many at once.
For more information, read through the configuration files in conf/. Most options are somewhat complicated, but it's
not too hard to limit the total number of Shimeji or to turn off certain behaviors (hint: set frequency to 0).
All configuration files are located in the conf folders. In general, none of these should need to be touched.
The logging.properties file defines how logging errors is done.
The actions.xml file specifies the different actions Shimeji can do. When listing images, only include the file name.
More detail on this file will hopefully be added later.
The behaviors.xml file specifies when Shimeji performs each action. More detail on this file will hopefully be added
later.
The settings.properties file details which Shimeji are active as well as the windows with which they can interact.
These settings can be changed using the program itself.
Each type of Shimeji is configured through:
- An image set. This is located in
img/[NAME]. The image set must contain all image files specified in the actions file. - An actions file. Unless
img/[NAME]/conf/actions.xmlorconf/[NAME]/actions.xmlexists,conf/actions.xmlwill be used. - A behaviors file. Unless
img/[NAME]/conf/behaviors.xmlorconf/[NAME]/behaviors.xmlexists,conf/behaviors.xmlwill be used.
When Shimeji-ee starts, one Shimeji for every image set in the img folder will be created. If you have too many image
sets, a lot of your computer's memory will be used... so be careful.
Shimeji-ee will ignore all the image sets that are in the img/unused folder, so you can hide image sets in there.
There is also a tool, Image Set Chooser, that will let you select image sets at run time. It remembers previous options
via the conf/settings.properties file. Don't choose too many at once.
The Image Set Chooser looks for the shime1.png image. If it's not found, no image set preview will be shown. Even if
you're not using an image named shime1.png in your image set, you should include one for the Image Set Chooser's sake.
Editing an existing configuration is fairly straightforward, but writing a brand-new configuration file is very
time-consuming and requires a lot of trial and error. Hopefully someone will write a guide for it someday, but until
then, you'll have to look at the existing conf files to figure it out. Basically, for every behavior, there must be a
corresponding action. Actions and behaviors can be a sequence of other actions or behaviors.
The following actions must be present for the actions.xml to be valid:
- ChaseMouse
- Fall
- Dragged
- Thrown
The following behaviors must be present for the behaviors.xml to be valid:
- ChaseMouse
- Fall
- Dragged
- Thrown
The icon used for the system tray is img/icon.png.
Right-click the tray icon of Shimeji-ee, and select "Dismiss All".
Delete the unzipped folder.
- Download the source code. This can be done by either downloading a ZIP file containing the source or using Git to clone the repository to your computer. Both options are available through the green "Code" button at the top of the GitHub page. Git is recommended if you plan to contribute changes to this repository.
- Install Java 11 or newer.
- Install IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition.
- Open the source code directory in the IDE.
- Open the Maven tool window on the right side of the UI. The icon to open the window should look like an "m".
- Right-click the "Shimeji-ee" item and select "Run Maven build". This will build the project and output the files to
the
target/directory. The distributable file should be a ZIP file namedShimeji-ee_[version].zip.
Programmers may feel free to use the source. The Shimeji-ee source is under the New BSD license.
Shimeji by Yuki Yamada is licensed under the zlib/libpng license.
For a tutorial on how to get Shimeji running, watch this video.
You can also watch the FAQ if you encounter problems.
You can also join Kilkakon's Discord server.
Shimeji-ee takes a LOT of time to start if you have a lot of image sets, so give it some time. Try moving all but one
image set from the img folder to the img/unused folder to see if you have a memory problem.
If the Shimeji-ee icon appears, but no Shimeji appear:
- Make sure you have the newest version of Shimeji-ee.
- Make sure you only have image set folders in your
imgdirectory. - Make sure you have Java 11 or newer on your system.
- If you're somewhat computer savvy, you can try running Shimeji-ee from the command line. Navigate to the Shimeji-ee
directory and run this command:
"C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-11\bin\java" -jar Shimeji-ee.jar - Try checking the log (
ShimejieeLogX.log) for errors. If you find a bug (which is very likely), report it on Kilkakon's Discord server.