Hacking [Release] Vita-Launcher App to launch games and apps

satel

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A new feature to implement folders within Categories is in progress. This will give you custom grouping of games under specific categories.
The current design of the categories make it extremely difficult to mix games of different types (VITA/NES/SNES etc..) under a custom category, so this might not happen unless the app is revamped.
Hopefully the folders will at least allow some level of custom grouping of games under a category.

any additional features are always more than welcome as long as you don't remove or break existing ones in the process as the way the app is right now is perfect for my setup. :)
 

cy33hc

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Release 2.6
  • Add ability to create folders in categories
    • option to rename folder
    • option to config a custom icon for each folder
    • while creating folders, you have the option to create the folders in multiple categories
    • option to delete folder. when a folder is deleted, the games under the folder isn't deleted. It is moved back to the main folder
  • Add multi-selection ability for moving games to folders or hide games.
    • Use the "SELECT" button to toggle "multi-select" mode.
    • Multi-Selection mode is automatically cancelled if you switch category or folder
  • removed the option to re-scan all games since it is a little dangerous. You can achieve the same by just deleting the "cache.db" file under the folder ux0:data/SMLA00001.
  • Made the "Actions" tab the first tab in the "Settings and Actions" dialog.

see following video tutorial on how to use the new folders features.
 
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satel

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really good update many thanks @cy33hc however i found a small bug which causes the vita to power off,if i want to change 2 settings at the same time (grid mode & view mode) & press OK then the vita will power off & this happens most but not all time, to fix this issue i just change 1 setting at a time.
 

cy33hc

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really good update many thanks @cy33hc however i found a small bug which causes the vita to power off,if i want to change 2 settings at the same time (grid mode & view mode) & press OK then the vita will power off & this happens most but not all time, to fix this issue i just change 1 setting at a time.
OK. Thx. I will take a look. Is this bug in the new version only or a also on the old versions?
 
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nowhereman87

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Hi cy33hc, first thanks for all the improvements you already did since last time we talked. Glad to see you are still improving this must homebrew launcher (the best among all for me), the ability to use database files for MAME / FBA / NEOGEO roms names is just excellent, and so seems to be the new feature for creating folders, which I have not used for now, but I will do it when I need it, for example a "Soccer Games" inside SNES category, etc
I have some bugs to report, questions and some request, hope it does not bother you.

BUGS: (or so I believe)
When scanning for PSX games eboots shows fine but ISO/IMG/BIN files are duplicated over and over after every scanning. The solution I found is to re build the cache from the global options and so re scanning ALL categories for delete those duplicates entries. (Had to go back to 2.5 version because of that option, later I remembered it was the same deleting the cache.db file, maybe it would be good keeping that option with a confirmation dialog if you think it was risky.)
Another downside of this is that the my favorites are lost any time redoing the library cache. Is there any way to save and backup the favorites just in case ?

Another issue for me is a crash when adding a item to a custom list I made (PC ports) I already moved a lot of them one by one from the original hombrews category without any problem, but now it crash when adding/moving any new one. Checking the config.ini file I found that a lot blank space is generated right where that last item is added, cutting the ID title in two. I am attaching my configuration files for you to see.

A curious bug, or perhaps a feature of the graphical interface used in the launcher: when I accidentally touch the screen with two fingers, all the launcher moves freely and is easily put out of place on the screen, sometimes too much for which it is difficult to adjust it back to the original position.

Some fine tuning features I would like to have if possible:
Setting a secondary folder for looking for snapshots / cover arts. This because I use the folder structure that Retroarch generates automatically when scrapping miniatures. RA makes a root for every system (lets say SNES) and inside two or three folders for the different kind of images (snaps / artwork / title). For some games I also got packs so I have the art but I have not the title snap or vice versa. If this is not feasible or too much hassle maybe it would be possible to look recursively on the choosed folder, so I would set just SNES and have most of the games covered by both folders inside.

Also I would like to set alternatives shapes of icons for some categories. I understand the Launcher stretch any image showing all of them as square icons, it is already fine, but It would be nice having the chance of having some alternatives for showing them in a more preserved shape: e.g. SNES and N64 as horizontal rectangles and Mega Drive as vertical rectangles.
Maybe just having two alternatives 4:3 / 3:4, one landed and another vertical one, can be enough to cover most of shapes as for each particular system, both using artwork or also snapshots (maybe for vertical arcade shmups) as icons without deforming them too much as a plain square does.
If these alternative formats are possible it would be good to have a intermediate size of icons and grid, something in between the two already available. I found 4x2 one very big for my use, maybe it would be nice having a 2x3 and 3x3 grids even with some spacing between icons.

Also two questions ... What means the "Use new icon method" option ? I still using the standard or first icons mode I guess, I did not tried that option because I feared losing my current setup of categories or settings.

Is there is any way of creating and deleting categories from the launcher itself? I think it would be very convenient to be able to delete (at least those "not essential") and even better to create new ones from the interface itself.

I have 19 categories by now and sometimes it get messy while going through the entire row to find a category. It would be nice to be able to enable a secondary row when the category first row fills up on the screen, so maybe jumping between those rows and tabs "ala Frogger" ... and/or also to make the row to return to the beginning once I reach the end, in the carousel way.

On the other hand, I saw that the developer Graphene has continued to improve his plugins and hacks to make homebrew apps keep running in the background (such as the system ones) ... not long ago he replied to me that your Vita Launcher was capable of running that way and stay in the background, so it would somehow replace the Live Area, https://www.reddit.com/r/vitahacks/...?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
https://github.com/GrapheneCt?tab=repositories
... Is there any chance that this will be added in future versions? If not, maybe just having it launch itself once a game or app is closed, it would be enough.

Thank you very much in advance, a cordial greeting!
 

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  • Vita Launcher bugged config.zip
    148.9 KB · Views: 148
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cy33hc

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BUGS: (or so I believe)
When scanning for PSX games eboots shows fine but ISO/IMG/BIN files are duplicated over and over after every scanning.
Do you have "CUE" and also "BIN" files? Maybe just include "CUE" extension and remove "BIN". I believe it's add 2 entries for 1 game. Workaround in v2.6, you can use "multi select" and then hide games that you.

Is there any way to save and backup the favorites just in case
Currently can't do that, at least for now.

Another issue for me is a crash when adding a item to a custom list I made (PC ports)
Yes, there is a max buffer length in the config.ini file that you might have hit. I can increase the buffer size to handle more.

A curious bug, or perhaps a feature of the graphical interface used in the launcher: when I accidentally touch the screen with two fingers, all the launcher moves freely and is easily put out of place on the screen
I don't know about this, but will take a look.

I would like to set alternatives shapes of icons for some categories
I will consider that later.

Is there is any way of creating and deleting categories from the launcher itself?
Sorry, we can't freely create categories because how the app was designed. That is why I add folders feature so you can create some kind of grouping. Consider under the "Homebrews" category, to create a folder called "PC Ports" instead of using the "Ports" category

I have 19 categories by now and sometimes it get messy while going through the entire row to find a category
I am considering removing the "Tabs" for game category. Instead, categories will display very similar like folders and you can even give the category an icon :)

What means the "Use new icon method"
Yeah. Don't enable this option. I was experimenting this, and haven't removed it.
 
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satel

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@cy33hc
i have issue with arcade roms not showing the thumbnails when using your launcher but they do so on Retroarch !!

for example
3countb rom
3 Count Bout _ Fire Suplex (NGM-043)(NGH-043) is the name for the thumbnail

thumbnail need to be renamed to 3countb in order to show up on your launcher !!

in this case i need to rename nearly 700 thumbnails !! i tried to download thumbnails from retroarch website but they also have long names !! any help ?
 

cy33hc

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@cy33hc
i have issue with arcade roms not showing the thumbnails when using your launcher but they do so on Retroarch !!

for example
3countb rom
3 Count Bout _ Fire Suplex (NGM-043)(NGH-043) is the name for the thumbnail

thumbnail need to be renamed to 3countb in order to show up on your launcher !!

in this case i need to rename nearly 700 thumbnails !! i tried to download thumbnails from retroarch website but they also have long names !! any help ?
That's weird, when I download the icons, I rename the icon to match the rom file name. Do you have the "use new icon method" enabled on this category? Can you try download icons from inside the launcher app.
 
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satel

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That's weird, when I download the icons, I rename the icon to match the rom file name. Do you have the "use new icon method" enabled on this category? Can you try download icons from inside the launcher app.

you mean the option (use new icon method) under global setting ? if so yes i did & it made no difference,i also used the download thumbnails option on the launcher & this didn't work even though it looked like it was downloading thumbnails.
 

nowhereman87

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Hi @cy33hc thanks for answering and for the help... by now I just wanted to point this for @satel: For MAME/FBA/NEOGEO roms I got a pack with the full set of thumbnails on little resolution (128x**), and all of them are named as the filename of the rom .zip by MAME standard, not the fixed titles RA get from those DATs nad XML files. And so, almost all my arcade ROMS shows their snapshot as icons on VL on the 3 different categories I set. For any other systems I found using the Retroarch bundled scraper as the easier way of getting my RA thumbnails/ VL icons simultaneously as I explained before. And so I think I never used the scraper bundled on Vita Launcher yet nor the "new icon method", also because I am too short of space now and thought VL would get bigger image files maybe slowing down the rendering of those big categories pages, as I have tons of roms (Almost all NEOGEO and FBA and a lot of MAME roms)
For clarification, you are right that when RA scrape for thumbnails those have the fixed names by their databases.

2021-03-04-025022.jpg

2021-03-04-025622.jpg
 
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cy33hc

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you mean the option (use new icon method) under global setting ? if so yes i did & it made no difference,i also used the download thumbnails option on the launcher & this didn't work even though it looked like it was downloading thumbnails.
You need to install iTLS-Enso to be able to download icons from launcher.
 
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nowhereman87

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@satel This is the pack of tiny 128px as maximum per side snaps I'm using for my MAME/FBA/NEOGEO categories. Got it from Progetto Snaps site I think but used a custom .bat to remove all non arcade games trash images as weird calculators or casino machines etc, so its lighter being just "the games" ;)
10.460 images (yes there are region variations/clones) but in only 202 MB
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sV5Rh9sh1vk7AKFpbnuBUZXh02w0FfeW/view?usp=sharing
 
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satel

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@satel This is the pack of tiny 128px as maximum per side snaps I'm using for my MAME/FBA/NEOGEO categories. Got it from Progetto Snaps site I think but used a custom .bat to remove all non arcade games trash images as weird calculators or casino machines etc, so its lighter being just "the games" ;)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sV5Rh9sh1vk7AKFpbnuBUZXh02w0FfeW/view?usp=sharing

many thanks but i'm looking for the boxarts not snaps.

@cy33hc installing iTLS made no difference,no thumbnails were downloaded using the option on the launcher
 

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