Archive:Kodi v15 (Isengard) FAQ
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Kodi v15 (Isengard) FAQ |
Frequently Asked Questions for upgrading to the upcoming Kodi v15 (codename Isengard) from a previous version. Includes how to enable some of the new features, where some controls got moved to, etc.
General FAQ
- See also: All platforms FAQ for an FAQ that applies to all versions of Kodi.
What is Kodi? What is Isengard?
- Main pages: Kodi name change FAQ and History of XBMC
- Kodi is the new name for XBMC media center. "Isengard" is the codename for version 15, just as "Gotham" was the codename for XBMC v13 and "Helix was the codename for Kodi v14". You will often see "v15" and "Isengard" used interchangeably in the community. It might be a little confusing with so many new names being used, but this is simply the new version of Kodi/XBMC. As long as you call it version 15/v15/Isengard, then everyone in the community will know what you are talking about.
Changelog
- See: Kodi v15 (Isengard) changelog (and add-on developers should also see Isengard API changes)
What are some of the major new features?
- Main pages: New features and Kodi v15 (Isengard) changelog
- Some of the major additions to v15 include:
- Improved and expanded the internationalization and regional settings options in the GUI. Settings → Appearance → International
- Added adaptive skipping/seeking through audio and video playback, also known as skip steps.
- Added a chapter selection window with visual thumbnails. See bookmarks and chapters.
- Audio nodes for audio library customization.
- Automatically jump to the first unwatched episode in a TV show. Settings → Videos → Library → "Select first unwatched TV season/episode"
- "Hide watched" now works with non-library video files.
- PVR add-ons can now auto configure using zeroconf when the PVR server supports it.
- Add-ons can now add to the context menu.
- Android HEVC/H.265 hardware video decoding for some chipsets. See Android hardware.
- UPnP improvements including external subtitle support.
- New season posters are now added automatically when updating existing TV shows.
- ...and many more
Seeking/skip steps are different
- Main page: Skip steps
- Skip steps is a new seeking function that has been implemented into Kodi as of v15, and is a method of additive skipping (also known as additive seeking) that applies to both videos and music. This allows the user to skip backwards and forwards with the left and right cursor keys (this is the default keyboard and remote mapping), and by pressing these keys multiple times they can skip with increasingly larger steps.
SmallStepBack doesn't seem to work
- In Keymaps the
SmallStepBack
action ID has been replaced byseek(-7)
. Users with custom keymaps should apply this change as well.SmallStepBack
will still work, but it will default to the first back step in skip steps.
HOW-TO:Install languages offline
Upgrading
New system requirements
- Main page: Supported hardware
- Apple TV 2 is no longer supported as of v15. See here for details.
- Android now requires at least Android v4.2
- iOS devices now requires at least iOS 5.1.1
- Macs now require at least Mac OS X 10.7 and a 64-bit Intel CPU.
How do I upgrade from v14 to v15?
If you are upgrading from XBMC v13 to Kodi v15 then please read Migration from XBMC to Kodi! |
- Main page: Installing
- Note: Always backup your settings before upgrading, just incase!
- ANDROID USERS: Don't uninstall an earlier version of Kodi/XBMC before installing the new version. Uninstalling first would remove all of your settings. Just install the new version and it will replace the older version and retain your settings.
- In most cases you can just install Kodi v15 over Kodi v14. All your settings and library are saved and will continue to work in the new version. See Installing for specific install instructions.
- Interface skins that worked in Kodi v14 should still work in v15.
- Most other add-ons that worked in Kodi v14 should still work in v15.
- If you have any issues (settings not being copied over, blank screens, etc) when updating from versions older than v14: remove the new version, install the older version of Kodi/XBMC from http://mirrors.kodi.tv/releases/ , and then upgrade to the next version. In other words, if you have v13, first update to v14, and then install v15.
MySQL
- Main page: MySQL/Upgrading
- As long as your MySQL server is set up to allow XBMC/Kodi to make new databases for the upgrade itself (see MySQL/Upgrading) then you don't need to do anything for upgrading a MySQL set up for Kodi. Even if you use "XBMC" in your advancedsettings.xml file, you can leave this the same and everything will still work.
Where did it this or that go?
advancedsettings.xml changes
- Main page: advancedsettings.xml
- <hideallitems> - For both the
<videolibrary>
and<musiclibrary>
sections, this is replaced by a GUI option in v15 Isengard - <SmallStepBackSeconds> - In v15 the
SmallStepBack
action ID has been replaced byseek(-7)
in default keymaps. See skip steps for details. When the originalSmallStepBack
action ID is used it defaults to the first backwards additive seeking value. - <timeseekforward>/<timeseekbackward> - In v15 these tags are replaced by GUI options via additive seeking, which is configured in the GUI. See skip steps for details.
Add-on manager changes
- Main page: Add-on manager
Automatic crop black bars setting
- The video playback setting for cropping black bars has been removed due to various bugs. Team Kodi is looking for any developers who might be interested in creating replacement code and is willing to guide them. Please inquire on the development forum for more information.
Apple File Protocol (AFP) has been removed
- Unfortunately, the AFP client has now been removed from Kodi. When AFP was first added to Kodi (then called XBMC) it was to help those Mac users who had issues with SMB sharing. However, the AFP client has always had major crashing issues, and the open source project behind it was no longer maintained. Team Kodi looked for a replacement and even tried to make our own replacement AFP client code, but in the end it didn't work out.
- Users who have AFP file servers can use path substitution to change those URLs into another formatted protocol. We recommend using NFS or getting SMB to work by reading SMB/Mac.
Troubleshooting
- Main page: Troubleshooting
What are some of the known issues in Isengard?
- See: Common issues
Where can I get more help?
- The general and platform specific FAQs, the Kodi support forums: http://forum.kodi.tv, and/or the #kodi IRC chat channel on irc.freenode.org.