I'm using kanotix/debian sid which has grub-gfxboot installed by default.
I've installed some gfxboot themes via apt-get then done make in the directories and copied the message file to /boot/message and all the themes work fine but when I try to customize them I get the menu options
on boot but just a black background or badly distorted image.
I followed a guide on gentoo forums on how to customize an existing theme.
I've copied my own image into one of the gfxboot theme directories and made sure it is the same size, same amount of colours etc and even made sure the file size is identical then done make and copy to /boot/message again but they won't work.
Looking at the installed gfxboot docs it explains how to compile the entire thing from scratch but it is pretty hard to follow and I only want to customize an existing theme, not start from scratch.
Can anyone help?

Please not I am using GRUB-GFXBOOT this is a different thing from the xpm type splash screens some people use with grub and is not compatible with those.