How to create custom theme for Playstation 3

The custom theme function of the Playstation 3 allows user to change theme elements (like the background and icons).

There are thousands of custom Sony and user-created themes out there on PS Network and other websites available for download.

Still if none of those suite you, you can create custom unique look and feel for your PS3 and here is how:

Things that can be customized:

Background image
Theme color (select from the colors provided by the system)
Font (select from the fonts provided by the system)
Icons (with some exceptions)
Default icons
Pointer
Frame of the notification window

First you need to download Official PS3 Custom Theme Toolbox from here: Official Sony Custom Theme Toolbox v1.5.
Unzip it into any folder on your PC
Start editing the content in sample/simple folder

Basically there are all icons and backgrounds there in “png” and “jpg” formats, so you can use any photo editor (Photoshop, etc) to change them.

Pay attention though that “png” icons are made with transparent background, so you might want to keep them that way.

And of course you want to keep format of the files unchanged.

Also the names of the files has to remain the same, cause otherwise you need to do relevant adjustments to simple.xml file.

simple.xml contains other settings that you might want to change: there are definitions of font and color, theme properties (name, author’s name, etc). You can read more about it in the text readme file and in a pdf file called Custom_ThemeGuidelines (both come in the zip package).

4. Building a Theme File with p3tcompiler

Either

type the following at the command prompt:

p3tcompiler.exe sample\simple\simple.xml
or

drag-and-drop the XML file (simple.xml) onto the p3tcompiler.exe icon.

A theme file with file extension "p3t" will be created.

5. Preview

Place the theme file in the /PS3/THEME/ directory of a Memory Stick or USB storage, and connect it to Playstation 3.
In the XMB™ home menu, go to [Theme] under (Settings) > (Theme Settings) and install a theme file from the recording media.
Select "Settings" > "Theme Settings" > "Theme" in the system software again. A list of theme files will be shown in the option menu. Select the (theme name) and press the button.
Select (Apply) and press button to use the selected theme. The theme will now take affect displaying a new background and icons.