After a period of silence, @Reisyukaku has shared what some would call a rather unexpected project with the community. What you see in the picture above isn't just a custom theme, but rather a homebrew replacement of the Switch's home menu.

The project is called ΔLaunch (DeltaLaunch) and the developer stresses it's very much a work in progress with no ETA yet, so it should be taken just as a proof of concept for the moment. It works by replacing the OS's qlaunch process, which controls the system settings, news and home menu applets. The result is an open source menu replacement which can be customized completely. Themes can reportedly be installed by editing an INI file on the microSD card, which supports all the things you'd expect from a more traditional Switch theme (changing the background, editing the layout, etc.) however it will do away with custom theme formats as it will instead simply load resources from a directory specified in the aforementioned INI. It will also be independent from the firmware version, meaning you won't have to worry about custom themes working only for specific versions or having to reinstall them after an update. Finally, there will also be support for adding more icons on the home itself (notice the browser icon near the news' one)

Rei has also posted a brief video showing the homebrew in action:

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While, as previously stated, the homebrew is "far from done", it could be something worth looking forward to if you like to customize your Switch's home menu appearence.

Source

 

[MasterJ360]

Looks nice custom themes were only lacking custom icons at least in an easier method. I guess after we accomplish the icons we can strive for animated themes

 

[Kioku]

Don't have a Switch but this looks great!

You mean Just Around the Corner™?

Nooo.. that's old school and just not as fun.

 

[Darth Meteos]

i got half a page into this thread and had to stop because i was contracting cancer
@Adran_Marit, good work

 

[Beerus]

Okay now this is EPIC cant wait

 

[mattytrog]

The very next day, "TX Rolling Along With Release After Release In The Year Of The SX 2019!"
(fucking fite me if you don't like this joke)

So edgy... So sassy.

 

[Kraken_X]

I'm really looking forward to this. Automatic booting into UnleashX on the original Xbox and FreestyleDash on 360 really made the systems feel like they were fully mine to control and the interfaces were much faster and versatile than the original dashboards. I really miss that with the newer consoles, especially the Switch since the stock OS is so limited.

 

[Kubas_inko]

Why does it look just like a qlaunch mod?

 

[YugamiSekai]

I hope it comes with the Hatsune Miku theme, and has background music support

 

[Adran_Marit]

Why does it look just like a qlaunch mod?

It's not a qlaunch theme but rather a full rebuild of qlaunch from ground up

I hope it comes with the Hatsune Miku theme, and has background music support

Sorry no miku in the stock version

 

[Meepers55]

I've been using custom themes for a while now, so I don't really see a point, but I guess it's still cool

 

[ombus]

Cant this add dynamic backgrounds ? would be cool.

 

[ScarletDreamz]

Hope something like the PP Scene back in the day! custom home menus for that system, god, they were awesome!

 

[mrissaoussama]

i know it's a WIP, but is there any info about ram usage? the stock menu uses less than 200kb if i remember correctly

 

[ciaomao]

Thanks for posting this thrice.

I love it - I'd customize the crap out of my menu. If only this allowed to show more titles on the home screen, or let me choose a layout like on the 3ds (smaller icons, but more on screen) I'm already sold. Probably needs to be redone though every time a new fw update rolls in.

just try it with the theme installer and chose the patching option to get two rows. easy, job done. Anyway, if your intension is more complex, you have to wait for the 15 of July

 

[Ericthegreat]

Rei has such sexy manly hands for a girl.

 

[wurstpistole]

just try it with the theme installer and chose the patching option to get two rows. easy, job done. Anyway, if your intension is more complex, you have to wait for the 15 of July

Never installed custom themes, should give it a go

 

[Mythical]

Can't wait for this. I want to make a hexagonal wheel with sub categories that slide out kind of like a pop up book. Maybe some folder support within that

 

[thequickbrownfox]

Any updates? We seriously need folders right now, Nintendo doesn't give a $hit, and this is our last hope.
I wonder why aren't more people interested in this?

 

[Meepers55]

Any updates? We seriously need folders right now, Nintendo doesn't give a $hit, and this is our last hope.
I wonder why aren't more people interested in this?

Probably because a lot of people, including me, don't really care for folders; it's not a feature that we really desire right now. Besides, the "folders update" usually comes later in a console's lifespan. If you're gonna wait for folders, might as well wait for Nintendo to do it themselves.

 

[Kubas_inko]

Probably because a lot of people, including me, don't really care for folders; it's not a feature that we really desire right now. Besides, the "folders update" usually comes later in a console's lifespan. If you're gonna wait for folders, might as well wait for Nintendo to do it themselves.

I mean. Considering that we were able to edit some minor things in qlaunch, creating folders seems like a lot (like a lot a lot) of work.