The XML file has no effect on what colors are used in the graphics.

There are two theme-related directories used by DVDA. The _themes directory holds archives of all themes -- they are zip files with a THM extension, and inside each zip file are all of the buttons, frames, etc, and the XML file which tells DVDA what to use where and how it should look. When you make or download a theme file, you put it in the _themes directory.

The other theme-related directory is Themes. When DVDA loads, it checks the _themes directory to see if any themes have been aded or changed. If so, it unzips the new / changed theme(s) and puts the files in the Themes directory. (Despite the fact that it creates subdirectories for each theme, it names said directory with a .thm "extension" as well, which I frankly don't get at all -- don't give a directory a dot extension...that's just dumb and confuses people even more.) It's this Themes/[theme-name.thm] directory that DVDA uses while designing your project.

Here's the rub: If you edit a file under the Themes structure, and the filesize has changed, DVDA is going to overwrite it with whatever's in the original THM archive. It doesn't know which one has changed or which one you want -- it just knows that something's different and tries to correct that difference. Since the archive takes precedence, the better bet is to edit the image in there or make a new theme:

Go to the _themes directory and find the theme you want to modify. Change the file extension to ZIP and open it (or, if you're using a Zip program smarter than the Windows XP incarnation, just run the program and open the theme with it). Unzip this all to a temporarry directory, edit the files however you want, and zip it all back up with a THM extension. Put it back in your _themes directory, overwrting the original, and go start DVDA. Assuming your file sizes are different, DVDA will reload the theme with your new graphics.

Rob