Hacking Blocking app updates for youtube?

[DChronos]

I'm not sure which forum to put this, so I'll put it in the same one as the WiiU system update dns blocking threads I saw.

Anyway, I only have my wiiU for watching youtube and use it all the time on my tv, it's about all I use the WiiU for. I already used TitleDB to DNS block system updates.

A bit of context...

Last year, youtube's app was slow, took 5-6 mins to load the app for years, then in week 2 October 2020, they changed the gui and fixed almost every problem it ever had (though broke touch screen stuff and using keypad to enter search terms. Then they screwed it up again 2 weeks later, made it take 10 minutes to load the app... then made it damn near perfect late November and through December, it loaded in 20 seconds or less, ran quick, no lag, never a freeze or crash.

Since then, they broke it again, all kinds of problems, lag, freezing, crashing, an hour loading, then partly fixed so it was working but still slow scrolling the vid list and menus and 5-8 mins loading the app.


Finally, their update on March 17 fixed the laggy crap and essentially made it like the early October update. Still doesn't load the app in 20 seconds, but every other problem seems fixed again... though I'm sure they're going to break it again and I'm sick of it.


OK, so, the deal is, last weekend I decided to switch my DNS from my never-working openDNS block to this TitleDB DNS update blocker, which IS working (stopped the system update dl).... but YouTube still updated its app TWICE after I blocked the update servers with TitleDB. How?!

How can we block youtube from updating so it might be left on a non-buggy near perfect version? I thought the DNS blocks would stop this. Youtube keeps putting out WiiU updates more than every Nintendo update combined, I swear, every few weeks, and usually it fucks everything up. Is there another update DNS I need to block just for youtube updates that will let youtube just work without letting it update?


If the just left the damn app on whatever version they had in December, it'd be damn near perfect. They haven't even changed anything since then except to break it repeatedly.

 

[DChronos]

And sure enough, they just updated yesterday and screwed everything up again! All the laggy slow crap and bugs are back! Isn't there some other domain to block in order to block youtube app updates?

 

[wolf-snake]

Yeah... i don't know what's your issue with the YT app on Wii U. Its working fine on my end.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I'm not sure which forum to put this, so I'll put it in the same one as the WiiU system update dns blocking threads I saw.

Anyway, I only have my wiiU for watching youtube and use it all the time on my tv, it's about all I use the WiiU for. I already used TitleDB to DNS block system updates.

A bit of context...

Last year, youtube's app was slow, took 5-6 mins to load the app for years, then in week 2 October 2020, they changed the gui and fixed almost every problem it ever had (though broke touch screen stuff and using keypad to enter search terms. Then they screwed it up again 2 weeks later, made it take 10 minutes to load the app... then made it damn near perfect late November and through December, it loaded in 20 seconds or less, ran quick, no lag, never a freeze or crash.

Since then, they broke it again, all kinds of problems, lag, freezing, crashing, an hour loading, then partly fixed so it was working but still slow scrolling the vid list and menus and 5-8 mins loading the app.


Finally, their update on March 17 fixed the laggy crap and essentially made it like the early October update. Still doesn't load the app in 20 seconds, but every other problem seems fixed again... though I'm sure they're going to break it again and I'm sick of it.


OK, so, the deal is, last weekend I decided to switch my DNS from my never-working openDNS block to this TitleDB DNS update blocker, which IS working (stopped the system update dl).... but YouTube still updated its app TWICE after I blocked the update servers with TitleDB. How?!

How can we block youtube from updating so it might be left on a non-buggy near perfect version? I thought the DNS blocks would stop this. Youtube keeps putting out WiiU updates more than every Nintendo update combined, I swear, every few weeks, and usually it fucks everything up. Is there another update DNS I need to block just for youtube updates that will let youtube just work without letting it update?


If the just left the damn app on whatever version they had in December, it'd be damn near perfect. They haven't even changed anything since then except to break it repeatedly.

I'm pretty sure you can't, the app is just a web browser and all the changes are happening on YouTube's end, on the website itself.

 

[DChronos]

Yeah... i don't know what's your issue with the YT app on Wii U. Its working fine on my end.

Maybe because they already put out another update, last night it was reverted and fixed again (usually it takes a month before another good update happens).

Sorry for the long response, but I'll explain what I've seen from using it hours a day every day for 3 years. 2 years ago, it was fast, then they changed the gui a bit and made it slow until early october. Also had the benefit of no ads 2 years ago.

The RC 03 22 2021 update reintroduced these bugs (or stupidly intentional "features") that makes it extremely slow trying to scroll through videos, menus, anything, among other problems. Hold right for a bit and let it change video selections for 10-20 seconds, it takes about 1 second per selection with a "bad" update, extremely slow, especially if you have hundreds of subscriptions... if it moved fast (sometimes the first movement is faster), then hold left afterwards and try moving, it'll start lagging for the rest of the session.

When its fixed, scrolling through menus and video selections are 3-5 times faster and there is no lag holding down the d-pad to scroll through even hundreds of items, like your latest subscription vids or the subscribed list.

It also causes problems opening the options and related videos when watching a video. I see the video freeze and jitter while scrolling. Ive also experienced everything from the vid randomly freezing at the same spot, even if you reload it, the controls going dead as everything freezes except the video, then after 30 seconds to several minutes, all your inputs seem to try to act and it freezes on and off, and I've had hard freezes where I had to restart, even taking 10 minutes to an hour from launch before it gets to the main screen. When the app version is "good", I never experience any of that, everything runs fast, smooth, and flawlessly. I keep checking the version number and date in the options so I know it's them, it stays fine until the next bad update and vice versa.

The only thing I notice different for how the app works are these subtle sliding animations when popping out the left side menu, scrolling, and popping up the options / related videos when playing a vid. When it's a "good" app version, nothing slides, it instantly pops up the menus or options or when moving video selections, and everything runs fast.

I'm pretty sure you can't, the app is just a web browser and all the changes are happening on YouTube's end, on the website itself.

Even if it is, they are still updating the client app itself, I see that it specifically says what client Version it is and specifically states it's the WiiU version on device. Every device using the YoutubeTV stuff still need their own client apps updated specifically for each device's hardware. I can also say it's the app on the system itself being updated because previously, the app supported the WiiU touch screen to select things and used the WiiU system's keypad to type, mostly in Search. It also streams to the Gamepad with menus only on the gamepad, which is very specific to the WiiU. It still registers the touchscreen touches, and acts like you clicked with it but no longer selects.

Edit: Oh, also, often times when the app version changes, my WiiU will show the waiting popup with the loading circle for a split second just before the home screen loads, like it's updating.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Maybe because they already put out another update, last night it was reverted and fixed again (usually it takes a month before another good update happens).

Sorry for the long response, but I'll explain what I've seen from using it hours a day every day for 3 years. 2 years ago, it was fast, then they changed the gui a bit and made it slow until early october. Also had the benefit of no ads 2 years ago.

The RC 03 22 2021 update reintroduced these bugs (or stupidly intentional "features") that makes it extremely slow trying to scroll through videos, menus, anything, among other problems. Hold right for a bit and let it change video selections for 10-20 seconds, it takes about 1 second per selection with a "bad" update, extremely slow, especially if you have hundreds of subscriptions... if it moved fast (sometimes the first movement is faster), then hold left afterwards and try moving, it'll start lagging for the rest of the session.

When its fixed, scrolling through menus and video selections are 3-5 times faster and there is no lag holding down the d-pad to scroll through even hundreds of items, like your latest subscription vids or the subscribed list.

It also causes problems opening the options and related videos when watching a video. I see the video freeze and jitter while scrolling. Ive also experienced everything from the vid randomly freezing at the same spot, even if you reload it, the controls going dead as everything freezes except the video, then after 30 seconds to several minutes, all your inputs seem to try to act and it freezes on and off, and I've had hard freezes where I had to restart, even taking 10 minutes to an hour from launch before it gets to the main screen. When the app version is "good", I never experience any of that, everything runs fast, smooth, and flawlessly. I keep checking the version number and date in the options so I know it's them, it stays fine until the next bad update and vice versa.

The only thing I notice different for how the app works are these subtle sliding animations when popping out the left side menu, scrolling, and popping up the options / related videos when playing a vid. When it's a "good" app version, nothing slides, it instantly pops up the menus or options or when moving video selections, and everything runs fast.




Even if it is, they are still updating the client app itself, I see that it specifically says what client Version it is and specifically states it's the WiiU version on device. Every device using the YoutubeTV stuff still need their own client apps updated specifically for each device's hardware. I can also say it's the app on the system itself being updated because previously, the app supported the WiiU touch screen to select things and used the WiiU system's keypad to type, mostly in Search. It also streams to the Gamepad with menus only on the gamepad, which is very specific to the WiiU. It still registers the touchscreen touches, and acts like you clicked with it but no longer selects.

Edit: Oh, also, often times when the app version changes, my WiiU will show the waiting popup with the loading circle for a split second just before the home screen loads, like it's updating.

That's all fine, but the reasons for the lag and long load times I'm guessing is probably to do with their backend, it's not optimized for the Wii U, and as such they don't test changes on the Wii U, so they might break stuff.

 

[DChronos]

The app runs fast with fast scrolling and no other bugs when the update removes the animated menu and "smooth" scrolling crap, like the left side menu sliding out instead of instantly appearing, or the related vids and video options sliding up from the bottom while viewing a video instead of instantly appearing without "smoothly" sliding... or when you scroll through videos and the rows of video thumbnails "smoothly" slide left and right / up and down, instead of instant movement of the entire row, the thumbnails and rows instantly click into place with no "smooth" sliding. When the animated scrolling is added back, the app runs slow as hell.

Anyway, they updated the version and broke it yet again and now the app is slow as hell scrolling again and I had another freeze up. The sliding animation crap is back lagging movement and screwing up other stuff.