Add-on:Special Features

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Special Features
icon.png

See this add-on on the kodi.tv showcase

Author: smitchell6879, evertiro

Type: Video
Repo:

Summary: Given a properly structured 'Extras' directory, this addon will present all of the bonus media in your library.
Home icon grey.png   ▶ Add-ons ▶ Special Features

Special Features is inspired by the upcoming Blu-ray features being introduced in Kodi 18. Given a properly structured 'Extras' directory, this addon will present all of the bonus videos, discs and alternate versions of the movies and tv shows in your library.

Installing

This add-on is installed from the Add-on browser located in Kodi as follows:

  1. Settings
  2. Add-ons
  3. Install from repository
  4. Video Add-ons
  5. Special Features
  6. Install


What Is It?

Special Features is inspired by the upcoming Blu-ray features being introduced in Kodi 18. Given a properly structured 'Extras' directory, this addon will present all of the bonus videos, discs and alternate versions of the movies and tv shows in your library.

Installation

Requirements

  • Kodi 17/18

Installation Sources

Repository (recommended)

You can install Special Features from the official repository by going to Add-Ons → Download → Context Menu → Special Features and hitting "install"


Manual

Releases of Special Features are available on github, at these links:

Download the zip of the version you'd like to install, and "install from zip file" in Kodi. Installation this way won't allow for automatic updates.

Setup

For Special Features to properly detect your extras, you wll need to create an 'Extras' folder in the root folder of each video that you want to add special features to.

eg.

The Pirates of the Caribbean\
                              >BDMV
                              >CERTIFICATE
                              >Extras
                              >poster.jpg
                              >fanart.jpg

This Extras folder can contain individual video clips, or full Blu-ray or DVD rips.

The Pirates of the Caribbean\Extras\
                                    >Theactrical Trailer.mkv/mp4/ etc
                                    >3D Verison\BDMV\index.bdmv
                                    >Bonus Disc\VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.IFO

Accessing Special Features

There are currently two ways to access Special Features. The 'builtin' method is to simply access the 'Special Features' addon directly. If any special features are available, they will be presented in a video list.

The following skins currently provide official support for Special Features:

  • AppTV
  • Andromeda
  • Black Glass Nova
  • Chroma
  • Nebula
  • Rapier

While the long-term goal is to see every skin supporting Special Features natively, for now patches are available for many of the official skins in the skin xml directory. The following skins are currently supported, with more being added as time permits:

  • Aeon Nox Silvo
  • Amber
  • Arctic Zephyr
  • Bello 6
  • Box
  • Confluence
  • Eminence 2
  • Estuary
  • FTV
  • Fuse Neue

If you use one of these skins, you can add a handy button to video info pages for videos with Special Features by overwriting the files in your skin folder with the supplied patches. Don't see a patch for your favorite skin? Feel free to request it (or submit it yourself)!

Context Menu Access

Originally, Special Features were accessed through a context menu entry. This method was temporarily dropped to prevent adding to the existing clutter of context menus and in the hopes of providing a more intuitive, streamlined solution. However, given that patches are not available for all themes, the context menu is back as a togglable option.

Recommended Advanced User Settings

Without tweaking your advanced settings, you will end up with all of your extras being unceremoniously dumped into your media library. To prevent this, it is recommended that you add the following block to your advancedsettings.xml file. The Advanced Settings file is not created by default, so you will likely have to add it yourself.

<advancedsettings>
    <video>
        <excludefromscan action="append">
            <regexp>/Extras/</regexp>
            <regexp>[\\/]Extras[\\/]</regexp>
        </excludefromscan>
        <excludetvshowsfromscan action="append">
            <regexp>/Extras/</regexp>
            <regexp>[\\/]Extras[\\/]</regexp>
        </excludetvshowsfromscan>
    </video>
</advancedsettings>

MySQL Server Support

The optional SQL database option has been tested on MySQL 5.7 and MariaDB 10.2.

Assuming you already have MySQL setup and running, simply go to addon settings MySQL tab and fill in your information. It's as simple as that!