Homebrew [Release] Homebr3w - Simple Homebrew browser and installer

[Wolvan]

News: And another reason has finally been released! v1.4.0 is up to download for everyone!

What is this?
Does looking up and scanning QR codes annoy you? Wouldn't it be much nicer to just browse through all the existing homebrew apps on your 3ds, installing them with a simple click? Then this app is for you!

Presenting: Homebr3w, install or update Homebr3w easily from your 3ds. Now also with QR Code drawing and automatic update check for apps!

Where can I get this? (DOWNLOAD)
Best place to look is always my Github
https://github.com/Wolvan/Homebr3w/releases
It's always going to have the latest release of my App
You can also use the following QR Code, although that may from time to time be outdated, the App will notify if there is a new Update though

The app is also available through the Applist, so you can always reinstall through it if there is a new Version out.

Screenshots

Spoiler

App is starting up

Applist on top and more details on bottom

The menu

The options menu

Changelog

Spoiler

v1.4.0
+ Add 2 more sorting modes (Last updated, first updated)
+ Uninstall installed Homebrew Apps! Press select to change between install and uninstall mode over an installed App!
+ Searching now also checks the Author and Description. Want to see all apps by 1 developer? Now you can!
+ Icon cache now updates icons. Sometimes a dev changes their icon, Homebr3w now always loads the newest one!
+ Massive Speedboost while downloading! Especially icons should download much faster now thanks to the power of Connection: Keep-alive!
+ Pseudo-anonymous data collection has been implemented. Homebr3w generates a UUID automatically and sends that to TitleDB.com. Disable this behavior in settings or generate a new UUID by removing the entry in SDMC:/Homebr3w/data.json
* Blacklist the invalid title ID 0x0
* Fix saving config files
* Fix the blacklisting feature

v1.3.1 HOTFIX RELEASE
* Fixed failing to download Libraries due to missing App directory

v1.3.0
+ Add searching by name! Go into the menu with START to use it
+ Scroll through your applist lightning fast! Just hold the up or down button and you automatically scroll
+ Return from menu with B. Small change, but something that has been bugging me lately
* Significantly change loading of external libraries! No longer are they included in the code but instead are downloaded directly from the internet. Makes Homebr3w smaller and doesn't mess with Copyright.
* Fixed installed Apps not showing at the top when grouping is enabled

v1.2.0
+ Exit from Install page by pressing START
+ Exit from Applist by pressing SELECT
+ Apps are now checked for updates. Mark all already installed Apps as latest version in the Menu or by redownloading every one again through Homebr3w
+ Press Y on any App to generate a QR Code for FBI to install
+ Add grouping of installed extensions at the top
* Fixed problem with long author names and descriptions again

v1.1.0
+ The list can now be sorted with L/R
+ App sizes now get shown on the details area for the apps
+ Jump multiple entries with Left/Right DPAD. You can change how many places to jump in settings
* Update lpp to Rinnegatamante/lpp-3ds@26b96a2
* Use TitleDB.com's API directly instead of proxying through PHP scripts
* Fixed problem with long author names and descriptions
- Removed the PHP Proxy scripts (They will remain on my server for further support of Homebr3w 1.0.0)

v1.0.0
+ Initial release

FAQ and Troubleshooting

Spoiler

Q: The caching doesn't download all icons! Fix it!
A: Not really a question, but I'll let that slide. Unfortunately, that seems to be a problem with my webhost, which is by far not the most stable thing out there.

Q: Why is my homebrew not in the list? Why are the descriptions so bad?
A: I pull all my data from TitleDB.com so you have to submit your app there. The descriptions also get fetched from there, but it is mostly that a lot of Homebrew devs don't really add a description it seems.

Q: The App shows an error about downloading/retrieving information. What and why?
A: Check your internet connection. If you are sure it works, then it might, as I said above, be a problem with my webhost. Try again later.

Q: My issue hasn't been mentioned here, what do?
A: Best would be to check the issues on my Github and if your problem isn't listed, create a new issue.

Q: Why don't I have any friends?
A: You should get out more.

Credits
Rinnegatamante - for making lpp-3ds
ksanislo - for making TitleDB.com and fixing up lpp
yellows8 - for the base of the Icon and Banner
3DSGuy - for converting the Wii HBLauncher's theme to CWAV
TitleDB.com - as Database to pull the apps from
The people from the /hbg/ Discord, specifically Nai and AFgt - Beta testing

 

[Wolvan]

[reserved]

 

[Arck]

Awesome, really useful.
Now I don't need to download again and again when he have an update.

Can you also add A9LH .bin payload ? (like godmod9, decrypt9 ect...)
With a .cfg file who say the path to these file
(it's just a suggestion)

 

[Barawer]

I've been wondering if there's anything like this, had something like it on my wii and it was great. When i saw this post it took exactly 2 minutes until i had it in my device.
Thank you!! really really great stuff.

 

[Drakia]

I'm curious why you're proxying requests through your own PHP scripts as opposed to just accessing the titledb site directly?

 

[Reaga]

New to the 3DS homebrew. So after I have homebrew on (through ninjhax for example), I can add this to the list of apps and use it to add apps through the 3DS internet connection?

Additionally, can I assume I will still have to load Cubic Ninja and get to the Homebrew Launcher to access this?

 

[MiePx3]

Is it possible to replace the homebrew launcher with this? For .3dsx homebrew?
If so, please add an option to filter things, like unwanted or already installed homebrews. I would absolutely love it!

 

[Wolvan]

I'm curious why you're proxying requests through your own PHP scripts as opposed to just accessing the titledb site directly?

lpp (at least the build I am using) doesn't really do well with HTTPS and I can't really do POST requests either. The PHP scripts expose a fully GET-based HTTP only API instead.

New to the 3DS homebrew. So after I have homebrew on (through ninjhax for example), I can add this to the list of apps and use it to add apps through the 3DS internet connection?

Additionally, can I assume I will still have to load Cubic Ninja and get to the Homebrew Launcher to access this?

Unfortunately, Ninjhax2 can not install .cia files. You can download them but you'd need the .3dsx version of FBI to install them. Which also means you need to be on CFW.

 

[Reaga]

Unfortunately, Ninjhax2 can not install .cia files. You can download them but you'd need the .3dsx version of FBI to install them. Which also means you need to be on CFW.

I see. So FBI only works on CFW. Is it possible on 11.0 to achieve CFW without a hardmod? If so, might I request a link to such a guide?

I'm trying to get started in homebrew. Haven't even put on Ninjhax yet, just have the game sitting there.

 

[Wolvan]

I see. So FBI only works on CFW. Is it possible on 11.0 to achieve CFW without a hardmod? If so, might I request a link to such a guide?

I'm trying to get started in homebrew. Haven't even put on Ninjhax yet, just have the game sitting there.

Unfortunately, the answer of CFW on 11.0 right now is either Hardmod or nothing

 

[Reaga]

Unfortunately, the answer of CFW on 11.0 right now is either Hardmod or nothing

Oh well. I'll stick to softmods for now. Good-looking app though. Wish I could have tried it. But I don't have the tools nor skills for hard-mods.

 

[m2pt5]

Seems good, but most of the apps have no descriptions, just their name again, and no indication of what they do.

Edit: That's more a problem with TitleDB, but it's still an issue.

 

[Wolvan]

Seems good, but most of the apps have no descriptions, just their name again, and no indication of what they do.

As I said, that's a problem with the Apps themselves. TitleDB.com fetches the descriptions directly from the .cia files so the devs should add a description when they make their banner files

 

[ksanislo]

lpp (at least the build I am using) doesn't really do well with HTTPS and I can't really do POST requests either. The PHP scripts expose a fully GET-based HTTP only API instead.

The networking code in lpp-3ds looks like its based off old broken ctrulib examples, and it makes some bad assumptions about having certain HTTP headers available that won't always be there, so there's at least a few things in the TitleDB that will probably glitch it. I'll see if I can get things patched upstream to get better support in here.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Seems good, but most of the apps have no descriptions, just their name again, and no indication of what they do.

Edit: That's more a problem with TitleDB, but it's still an issue.

Really, it's more of an issue with the apps than TitleDB, but Steveice10 has updated his buildtools package to fill in the proper description in the long name field now, so this will improve as people rebuild new versions of their apps.

 

[epicmartin7]

Huh. That's weird. Everything's working fine with the app expect that when I exited out of it, it cut the framerate of my Home Menu in half. Now its just kinda choppy now. Kinda' eerie actually lol. Funny part is I'm running this on a NN3DS XL lol.

 

[Wolvan]

Huh. That's weird. Everything's working fine with the app expect that when I exited out of it, it cut the framerate of my Home Menu in half. Now its just kinda choppy now. Kinda' eerie actually lol. Funny part is I'm running this on a NN3DS XL lol.

Might be lpp's fault. Unfortunately I only have an O3DS so I can't really test on N3DS.

 

[epicmartin7]

Might be lpp's fault. Unfortunately I only have an O3DS so I can't really test on N3DS.

I honestly think it only happens after it downloads all the title images. I'll do a little bit more testing and see what happens...

EDIT: Seems like it was only a one time thing. So its all fine lol.

 

[MartinDocNewland]

Nice idea but some apps like Sunshell need extra files that you don't provide so they won't work.

 

[ksanislo]

Nice idea but some apps like Sunshell need extra files that you don't provide so they won't work.

This isn't my app, so I can't speak for if Wolvan wants to try to work around this or not, but there's plenty of cases where it will be an issue. In my opinion, it's up to the app developers to built their software in a manner that can work with it. The ability to include all required files in romfs and embed it inside the archive just like retail games is available for home-brew devs as well, so why not let them support it correctly instead of making a hacky solution to work around design flaws?

 

[Wolvan]

Nice idea but some apps like Sunshell need extra files that you don't provide so they won't work.

This isn't my app, so I can't speak for if Wolvan wants to try to work around this or not, but there's plenty of cases where it will be an issue. In my opinion, it's up to the app developers to built their software in a manner that can work with it. The ability to include all required files in romfs and embed it inside the archive just like retail games is available for home-brew devs as well, so why not let them support it correctly instead of making a hacky solution to work around design flaws?

As of right now, I have absolutely no idea how I'd provide extra data so I doubt that's going to be something I can implement without ksanislo's backend retrieving or at least telling my app that there is more information to download. I also agree with ksanislo that extra data should be prepacked into romfs or created at runtime by the app when it's dynamic files. Maybe having their apps work on the homebrew browser is gonna give them a push in the right direction, I can only hope at least.