Hacking Unofficial Luma build discussion

[BETA215]

Hi everyone. Not a full update this time, but I wanted to try a "pre-release" for some testing and feedback as the upcoming feature is a bit more complex.

Background:
Thanks to another great Sono discovery™, we can now reliably apply filters to the LCDs as the console is booting up! This means automatically applied colour-correcting filters for faulty LCDs or hassle-free redshift. However, since the filter is applied so early on, we don't have button controls available to choose whether to enable the filter or not (no "hold X to boot with redshift"). Switching boot.firms/chainloading could somewhat achieve this, but I wanted to see if there was a more elegant solution... So I thought I would try implementing a Day/Night mode to control which filters are applied dependant on the time of boot/awaken.

Setup:
In the screen filters submenu, there are three new options: "Day Mode Filter", "Night Mode Filter" and "Day/Night Config". The Day and Night Mode filters are configured in the same way as the "Custom Filter" a.k.a. redshift and are saved to files "dayshift.bin" and "nightshift.bin". "Day/Night Config" allows you to enable whether the filter should be applied and choose the time at which "Day Mode" starts and "Night Mode" starts. The time is set for 0-23 hours with 10 minute intervals for simplicity. You can also choose the brightness level in each mode (these levels can be further tuned by "Permanent brightness recalibration") and whether or not to suppress the LEDs (though this is overridden by the extra config settings). Config is written to file "configBootshift.bin" and can be deleted and the console rebooted to disable the Day/Night mode feature entirely.

Notes:
Day/Night mode only checks the time at boot or when awakening from sleep, it can't automatically apply during gameplay. Manually applying a screen filter or the "Custom Filter" should override the Day/Night mode and stop it from applying when awakening from sleep.
In this build, there is also a new "Extra Config" option to enable opening the Rosalina menu by pressing the Home Button (which will still direct you to the Home Menu as usual after closing Rosalina).

Testing/Feedback:
I'd like some people already familiar with this Luma fork to test out the attached build for bugs please. It would also be useful to get feedback on writing a good explanation of how the feature works for newer people. And any ideas for a more catchy sounding name would be nice too ("Day/Night Mode" just seems a bit plain heh).
Also, while it's not feasible to continually check the time, it's probably possible to check on other notifications such as when the Home Button is pressed or a regular application starts. So I'd consider adding those in as optional triggers if there was some interest.

Thanks and enjoy.

Hi Nutez! I'm all in for testing it, you two are doing a really great job

Maybe call this feature "LCD color correction"? Ik it's not that catchy, but it could make some users highly interested imo - or call it something related to that

 

[Sweater Fish Del]

The Day/Night mode is pretty cool and works well for me so far. I'd like to have an option in the Day/Night Config menu to delete the configBootShift.bin file, though, so that the feature can be disabled. Either that or have an option under brightness to just keep the existing level rather than setting a new one.

Also, text on the Day/Night Config menu seems to flicker and it takes a while to come up when you select it. Not sure if anything can be done about that.

I have an unrelated request: could we get an option to quickswitch the LCD backlights on/off with the Y button anywhere in the Rosalina menu like the current switches for wifi and LEDs with Start and Select? I find myself turning off the bottom backlight all the time since I play a lot of VC games and it would be nice to not have to go through all the menus to get to that every time.

 

[Nutez]

The Day/Night mode is pretty cool and works well for me so far. I'd like to have an option in the Day/Night Config menu to delete the configBootShift.bin file, though, so that the feature can be disabled. Either that or have an option under brightness to just keep the existing level rather than setting a new one.

I'll consider the deletion, but I hadn't really intended for deleting the config to be the feature control and it's not a function that must be done during gameplay (it could be done via a file manager homebrew). It wouldn't be an ideal toggle because the user wouldn't need to re-input their preferred settings if they reboot...
As for the brightness, there shouldn't be a change of level if it is set to match the existing level. Are you suggesting that manual brightness adjustment should override the Day/Night Mode level? This a bit tricky, because it's almost trying to guess at what behaviour the majority of users would prefer... Entering and exiting sleep mode is the only way to induce the change between modes without rebooting. Some users may want to induce the change and others may not. Perhaps a toggle to temporarily disable the time check, as manual override that could be chosen per session?

Also, text on the Day/Night Config menu seems to flicker and it takes a while to come up when you select it. Not sure if anything can be done about that.

Yeah, it's doing a fair bit of work to load so there's not much I can do about the speed. The flickering is the cheap way of getting around values printing over each other when changing. Most of my other UIs have the same issue. I might look into a better way of doing it in future, but I figure most people don't use them so regularly to be a priority.

I have an unrelated request: could we get an option to quickswitch the LCD backlights on/off with the Y button anywhere in the Rosalina menu like the current switches for wifi and LEDs with Start and Select? I find myself turning off the bottom backlight all the time since I play a lot of VC games and it would be nice to not have to go through all the menus to get to that every time.

Yeah that makes sense. I'll see if it's possible to add as a toggle in menus (though not for o2DS heh).

 

[Ryu_Okami]

Hi everyone. Not a full update this time, but I wanted to try a "pre-release" for some testing and feedback as the upcoming feature is a bit more complex.

Background:
Thanks to another great Sono discovery™, we can now reliably apply filters to the LCDs as the console is booting up! This means automatically applied colour-correcting filters for faulty LCDs or hassle-free redshift. However, since the filter is applied so early on, we don't have button controls available to choose whether to enable the filter or not (no "hold X to boot with redshift"). Switching boot.firms/chainloading could somewhat achieve this, but I wanted to see if there was a more elegant solution... So I thought I would try implementing a Day/Night mode to control which filters are applied dependant on the time of boot/awaken.

Setup:
In the screen filters submenu, there are three new options: "Day Mode Filter", "Night Mode Filter" and "Day/Night Config". The Day and Night Mode filters are configured in the same way as the "Custom Filter" a.k.a. redshift and are saved to files "dayshift.bin" and "nightshift.bin". "Day/Night Config" allows you to enable whether the filter should be applied and choose the time at which "Day Mode" starts and "Night Mode" starts. The time is set for 0-23 hours with 10 minute intervals for simplicity. You can also choose the brightness level in each mode (these levels can be further tuned by "Permanent brightness recalibration") and whether or not to suppress the LEDs (though this is overridden by the extra config settings). Config is written to file "configBootshift.bin" and can be deleted and the console rebooted to disable the Day/Night mode feature entirely.

Notes:
Day/Night mode only checks the time at boot or when awakening from sleep, it can't automatically apply during gameplay. Manually applying a screen filter or the "Custom Filter" should override the Day/Night mode and stop it from applying when awakening from sleep.
In this build, there is also a new "Extra Config" option to enable opening the Rosalina menu by pressing the Home Button (which will still direct you to the Home Menu as usual after closing Rosalina).

Testing/Feedback:
I'd like some people already familiar with this Luma fork to test out the attached build for bugs please. It would also be useful to get feedback on writing a good explanation of how the feature works for newer people. And any ideas for a more catchy sounding name would be nice too ("Day/Night Mode" just seems a bit plain heh).
Also, while it's not feasible to continually check the time, it's probably possible to check on other notifications such as when the Home Button is pressed or a regular application starts. So I'd consider adding those in as optional triggers if there was some interest.

Thanks and enjoy.

Having filters reapply after rebooting would definitely be great; however, I noticed two things that may need looking into:

Firstly, It refuses to automatically apply on my n3dsxl; however, it applies properly on a N2dsxl. (And a o3ds as well)
Both systems are set up in the same way, With identical settings.
As far as I know there is nothing I’ve done that’s keeping it from working :/

Secondly, I think it would be best to have an option to select the automatic application of filters to only apply to the single custom filter, Rather than having to use day and night mode

I will keep trying to see what is preventing my one system from having it applying.
Overall, this is huge! I never thought it would be possible to have it do this on startup :3
Thank you so much! (Big thanks to Sono as well, of course :3)
I look forward to seeing this in the next release! It’s awesome!

(Also note, I thought bax on my n3dsxl might have been a issue, but it loads fine after bax on my o3ds, so idk)

 

[Arceusisgod]

Having filters reapply after rebooting would definitely be great; however, I noticed two things that may need looking into:

Firstly, It refuses to automatically apply on my n3dsxl; however, it applies properly on a N2dsxl. (And a o3ds as well)
Both systems are set up in the same way, With identical settings.
As far as I know there is nothing I’ve done that’s keeping it from working :/

Secondly, I think it would be best to have an option to select the automatic application of filters to only apply to the single custom filter, Rather than having to use day and night mode

I will keep trying to see what is preventing my one system from having it applying.
Overall, this is huge! I never thought it would be possible to have it do this on startup :3
Thank you so much! (Big thanks to Sono as well, of course :3)
I look forward to seeing this in the next release! It’s awesome!

(Also note, I thought bax on my n3dsxl might have been a issue, but it loads fine after bax on my o3ds, so idk)

Hey paradox

 

[Ryu_Okami]

Hey paradox

>w< Ah, hey..?

 

[Nutez]

Having filters reapply after rebooting would definitely be great; however, I noticed two things that may need looking into:

Firstly, It refuses to automatically apply on my n3dsxl; however, it applies properly on a N2dsxl. (And a o3ds as well)
Both systems are set up in the same way, With identical settings.
As far as I know there is nothing I’ve done that’s keeping it from working :/

Could you try the attached build please? I've since found the same issue but between o3DS and N3DS. So I've increased the wait time between checks for the LCD status and that seems to have solved the issue for me.

Secondly, I think it would be best to have an option to select the automatic application of filters to only apply to the single custom filter, Rather than having to use day and night mode

Yeah, I'm still considering the best solution for the overall challenge of enabling both automatic and optional screen filters... Technically, a user who wants the 'single' filter experience could just match the filter settings for both Day and Night modes (or 'glitch' it to always use Night mode by setting the Night mode times to before the Day mode [may not be worth 'fixing' this issue and instead call it a feature, heh...]).
I was thinking of using the X button in menus to toggle an override for Day/Night Mode. That could be set each session to keep the user in whichever 'mode' have already been applied.
I suppose there is also the hassle of having to revert an unwanted filter and brightness level application to consider... Should I make the brightness level automatically change when the user enters the Day/Night screen filter settings as a pseudo-solution for this?

Overall, this is huge! I never thought it would be possible to have it do this on startup :3
Thank you so much! (Big thanks to Sono as well, of course :3)
I look forward to seeing this in the next release! It’s awesome!

Thanks, I appreciate the support.

I have an unrelated request: could we get an option to quickswitch the LCD backlights on/off with the Y button anywhere in the Rosalina menu like the current switches for wifi and LEDs with Start and Select? I find myself turning off the bottom backlight all the time since I play a lot of VC games and it would be nice to not have to go through all the menus to get to that every time.

Try the attached build. Due to complications with the Rosalina menu, I decided to make the Y button bottom LCD toggle also exit the Rosalina menu. And it's also an optional feature that you will need to enable via the Extra Config sub-menu to avoid other users having accidents by pressing Y. Hope you find it useful.

 

[Sweater Fish Del]

Try the attached build. Due to complications with the Rosalina menu, I decided to make the Y button bottom LCD toggle also exit the Rosalina menu. And it's also an optional feature that you will need to enable via the Extra Config sub-menu to avoid other users having accidents by pressing Y. Hope you find it useful.

Awesome! I like the way this works. Especially great for PC Engine VC games that otherwise don't even dim the lower screen,

I don't know if there's situations where turning off the top screen would be useful, but for VC games, this is perfect. Thanks.

 

[Ryu_Okami]

Could you try the attached build please? I've since found the same issue but between o3DS and N3DS. So I've increased the wait time between checks for the LCD status and that seems to have solved the issue for me.


Yeah, I'm still considering the best solution for the overall challenge of enabling both automatic and optional screen filters... Technically, a user who wants the 'single' filter experience could just match the filter settings for both Day and Night modes (or 'glitch' it to always use Night mode by setting the Night mode times to before the Day mode [may not be worth 'fixing' this issue and instead call it a feature, heh...]).
I was thinking of using the X button in menus to toggle an override for Day/Night Mode. That could be set each session to keep the user in whichever 'mode' have already been applied.
I suppose there is also the hassle of having to revert an unwanted filter and brightness level application to consider... Should I make the brightness level automatically change when the user enters the Day/Night screen filter settings as a pseudo-solution for this?


Thanks, I appreciate the support.


Try the attached build. Due to complications with the Rosalina menu, I decided to make the Y button bottom LCD toggle also exit the Rosalina menu. And it's also an optional feature that you will need to enable via the Extra Config sub-menu to avoid other users having accidents by pressing Y. Hope you find it useful.

Sorry for such a late reply >w<
This build works great!
It’s consistently auto-loading redshift regardless of the consule ^w^
Also I have had a idea on a solution for the day/night mode being active or not.
Perhaps simply add a option in extra configurations to enable or disable using day and night mode :3
Disabled, it would automatically load regular redshift.bin, and use the system-set brightness level.
If it’s enabled, it would load day/nightshift.bin, and the chosen brightness levels like normal.
This way, users can decide on which features they want to use, or not use.

Also, though it isn’t a main priority, an idea for a clock would to have it display just the hour/minute, and only refresh when Rosalina is opened.
Could it be possible to place it between the “Rosalina menu” and “Volume: xx%” text?

Finally, I think this is a good time to mention, in apps like thirdtube or Line3ds, that adjust screen brightness themselves, all the extra data text (battery, volume%, ect) on Rosalina’s main menu is hidden. It’s not a major issue, however, perhaps it’s fixable?

If I find anything else of interest I’ll let you know as soon as I can!

 

[Ryu_Okami]

@Nutez
So I ran across another mod of luma, that contains several features you may be interested in, including a chainloader (needs modded B9S) cia installer, a file browser, and a title uninstaller!

I’ve tested it out and it works pretty well, though the CIA installer will not work with any files under 1mb, though perhaps it’s fixable? Lots of homebrew fits into that range...

I hope this helps!

https://github.com/kasai07/Luma3ds-Mod

 

[Nutez]

Sorry for such a late reply >w<
This build works great!
It’s consistently auto-loading redshift regardless of the consule ^w^
Also I have had a idea on a solution for the day/night mode being active or not.
Perhaps simply add a option in extra configurations to enable or disable using day and night mode :3
Disabled, it would automatically load regular redshift.bin, and use the system-set brightness level.
If it’s enabled, it would load day/nightshift.bin, and the chosen brightness levels like normal.
This way, users can decide on which features they want to use, or not use.

Oh hey, sorry I've been pretty MIA on this recently... I did some reworking a while back, but it's frustrating that I can't quite get it working in a simple and satisfying enough way to release just yet...
IIRC, the attached build has some un-pushed code that can disable Night Mode, stop brightness being changed and allow for temporary time check overrides. Entering the menu option to edit either Day/Night filter will also now apply their respective brightness adjustments (though need to close Rosalina menu for it to update). I wanted to leave the redshift.bin as a separate, existing feature with priority and avoid mixing in with the extra config.

Also, though it isn’t a main priority, an idea for a clock would to have it display just the hour/minute, and only refresh when Rosalina is opened.
Could it be possible to place it between the “Rosalina menu” and “Volume: xx%” text?

Finally, I think this is a good time to mention, in apps like thirdtube or Line3ds, that adjust screen brightness themselves, all the extra data text (battery, volume%, ect) on Rosalina’s main menu is hidden. It’s not a major issue, however, perhaps it’s fixable?

If I find anything else of interest I’ll let you know as soon as I can!

There is an official Luma pull request for a clock, but I kind of don't see the point in handling a frequently changing (or quickly out of sync) value when time can be checked on the home menu...
I've not tried either of those apps yet so I couldn't say. I'll try to remember to have a look at that for a future release.

And on the subject of future releases... A while back, I thought that the home menu editing code merged in from gabe565 would allow for easy custom app logos. Obviously I was very wrong about that XD (and I wasted my time creating one before realising...). However, after messing around in the loader code for exefs when implementing the previous feature "per game N3DS settings", I think that it should be possible to enable them. So that's a potential feature if anyone is interested.

@Nutez
So I ran across another mod of luma, that contains several features you may be interested in, including a chainloader (needs modded B9S) cia installer, a file browser, and a title uninstaller!

I’ve tested it out and it works pretty well, though the CIA installer will not work with any files under 1mb, though perhaps it’s fixable? Lots of homebrew fits into that range...

I hope this helps!

https://github.com/kasai07/Luma3ds-Mod

Thanks, I had another look at that fork and it's quite impressive, but I'm not sure the features are a fit for this fork, given that FBI and 3DShell now have functionality above and beyond. Please do keep the suggestions and feedback coming though, it's all appreciated even when I am in stealth mode hoho...

 

[TamarindoJuice]

I'm trying to set night mode filter to 5500k colortemp instead of the default 6500k value, but when i change it to 55 and press start nothing happens, so i close it and when i back to check it still the default value... Any tips on how to proceed?
Anyway thank you, awesome work!

 

[Nutez]

I'm trying to set night mode filter to 5500k colortemp instead of the default 6500k value, but when i change it to 55 and press start nothing happens, so i close it and when i back to check it still the default value... Any tips on how to proceed?
Anyway thank you, awesome work!

Setting it should work the same way as the original Redshift filter. So I believe the issue is that you need to apply the colortemp value to the top and bottom screens (by pressing X and A) before saving with Start. Part of the benefit of Sono's redshift approach is that each screen can have different values, though it means the UI and instructions are bit more difficult to communicate.

 

[Ryu_Okami]

Oh hey, sorry I've been pretty MIA on this recently... I did some reworking a while back, but it's frustrating that I can't quite get it working in a simple and satisfying enough way to release just yet...
IIRC, the attached build has some un-pushed code that can disable Night Mode, stop brightness being changed and allow for temporary time check overrides. Entering the menu option to edit either Day/Night filter will also now apply their respective brightness adjustments (though need to close Rosalina menu for it to update). I wanted to leave the redshift.bin as a separate, existing feature with priority and avoid mixing in with the extra config.


There is an official Luma pull request for a clock, but I kind of don't see the point in handling a frequently changing (or quickly out of sync) value when time can be checked on the home menu...
I've not tried either of those apps yet so I couldn't say. I'll try to remember to have a look at that for a future release.

And on the subject of future releases... A while back, I thought that the home menu editing code merged in from gabe565 would allow for easy custom app logos. Obviously I was very wrong about that XD (and I wasted my time creating one before realising...). However, after messing around in the loader code for exefs when implementing the previous feature "per game N3DS settings", I think that it should be possible to enable them. So that's a potential feature if anyone is interested.


Thanks, I had another look at that fork and it's quite impressive, but I'm not sure the features are a fit for this fork, given that FBI and 3DShell now have functionality above and beyond. Please do keep the suggestions and feedback coming though, it's all appreciated even when I am in stealth mode hoho...

So um, 3 requests if it’s alright.
If you haven’t already can you push the code from this pre-release to the github..?
Next, I would really like the addition of patching the logo into exefs for custom splashes! I hope it gets added soon
Finally, you said you made a logo file yourself? I was wondering if you’d be willing to share it or any others that you got if you made the feature lol

Thank you in advance!

 

[Hark0n]

Any way to integrate Wumiibo? https://github.com/hax0kartik/wumiibo

 

[Reploid]

How do I use 'quick switches"?

 

[Nutez]

New update

So I did a refactor and a rebrand to finally get the release version out. I hope that it is flexible enough to satisfy both people looking for "persistent LCD recalibration" and "pseudo-automatic redshift".

Any way to integrate Wumiibo? https://github.com/hax0kartik/wumiibo

It already works fine alongside this Luma fork for me. So were you suggesting a way to access wumiibo from the Rosalina menu instead of "L + DOWN + START"? Unfortunately, I don't know of a way to try and do that...

How do I use 'quick switches"?

It requires a little of setup. Let's use TwlBg for the example. First, create a "TwlBg.cxi" file with Sono's patcher, applying whatever filter that you like. Second, rename "TwlBg.cxi" file to have a meaningful name and then move it into the folder "/luma/sysmodules/TwlBg/" (e.g. "/luma/sysmodules/TwlBg/CrispWithRedshift.cxi"). You can rename and move with 3DShell or PC. You need to create at least two differently named *.cxi files and keep them in the "/luma/sysmodules/TwlBg/" folder to be able to switch between them. When you switch the *.cxi file, it's name will be persisted as text in the file "twlbgName.txt". Remember that creating new TwlBg.cxi files with Sono's patcher will overwrite any existing file named "TwlBg.cxi".

 

[Hark0n]

New update

So I did a refactor and a rebrand to finally get the release version out. I hope that it is flexible enough to satisfy both people looking for "persistent LCD recalibration" and "pseudo-automatic redshift".


It already works fine alongside this Luma fork for me. So were you suggesting a way to access wumiibo from the Rosalina menu instead of "L + DOWN + START"? Unfortunately, I don't know of a way to try and do that...


It requires a little of setup. Let's use TwlBg for the example. First, create a "TwlBg.cxi" file with Sono's patcher, applying whatever filter that you like. Second, rename "TwlBg.cxi" file to have a meaningful name and then move it into the folder "/luma/sysmodules/TwlBg/" (e.g. "/luma/sysmodules/TwlBg/CrispWithRedshift.cxi"). You can rename and move with 3DShell or PC. You need to create at least two differently named *.cxi files and keep them in the "/luma/sysmodules/TwlBg/" folder to be able to switch between them. When you switch the *.cxi file, it's name will be persisted as text in the file "twlbgName.txt". Remember that creating new TwlBg.cxi files with Sono's patcher will overwrite any existing file named "TwlBg.cxi".

That's fine, it does work well for me as is (aside the really minor UI glitches). I just thought it provides such an elementary function (at least for me) that should be part of Lumas basic functionality. But it does work well as is... and should get more exposure.

 

[jelbo]

Edit: I made a few versions for changes to the hud and an alternate, red internet icon. Note that the default hud view will still be seen in System Settings app.

Tried this placing one mod on my EUR N3DSXL as /luma/titles/00009802/romfs/hud_LZ.bin and /luma/titles/00040030/00009802/romfs/hud_LZ.bin, but it doesn't work. What am I doing wrong?

/edit: correct path is /luma/titles/0004003000009802/romfs/hud_LZ.bin

I already have the BetterBatteryColors mod done on my NAND using GodMode9, but I'd like to add yours.

 

[TamarindoJuice]

Tried this placing one mod on my EUR N3DSXL as /luma/titles/00009802/romfs/hud_LZ.bin and /luma/titles/00040030/00009802/romfs/hud_LZ.bin, but it doesn't work. What am I doing wrong?

/edit: correct path is /luma/titles/0004003000009802/romfs/hud_LZ.bin

I already have the BetterBatteryColors mod done on my NAND using GodMode9, but I'd like to add yours.

Don't you get system crashes sometimes when coming back to home menu from any opened game? That happens here when using this batteryColors mod.