Homebrew Homebrew app Project Cloud sync homebrew

[angel-val]

[ To preface, I'm not just posing this idea for someone else to make, I'm gauging interest in a project I'm planning on making. ]

[ Also, skip to the next set of square brackets if you don't care about the why, and you just want to know what the idea is. ]

Managing saves, roms, etc. between consoles is a tedious process if you want to play across different consoles. SDs are tiny, breakable, and slow, FTP is unreliable (and terrible in a lot of other ways but that's a rant for another time), and I've run out of options to discuss because that's pretty much it. It's a very volatile process no matter how good you get at doing it, and I get anxious every time I have to pull my SD card out of my 3ds or wii and put it in my computer. (maybe that's just me being autistic about it, but it's not like i've never had a bad experience shuffling stuff around on the SD cards of my modded consoles)

There's also the matter of backing up your stuff. For the same reasons detailed above, this process is frustrating to me, especially when I have a bunch of different folders in different places that I need to backup individually. There's also the fact that every time you back something up, and you want to make sure you have everything, you've gotta download the whole folder, as (to my knowledge) most desktop file explorers don't have any incremental transfer features (oh yeah, and if you're just dragging files to another device, you have to worry about the extra step of getting those files backed up from said device).

[ Here's the cool part: ]

Essentially, my idea is: you run the homebrew, and it syncs whatever folders you have configured (all in a very backup-able config file) with an equivalent folder on { google drive/dropbox/mega/webdav/whatever else I choose to implement }. You can then go to another console, and do the same thing. And bam! All your roms and saves are synced and backed up, and you can even backup/sync your homebrew, themes, etc. between consoles of the same type! And yes, I plan on making this for many different platforms.

This solves the unreliability problems of FTP (fuck FTP), and you don't have to take your SD card out. It also means you don't need to have a computer as a middleman, and all you need is a wi-fi connection (and admittedly some time to leave your console be while it up/downloads).

IMO, it's a much more elegant and stress-free option, and something I feel is very badly missing from the console modding scene as a whole. But what do y'all think?

 

[SylverReZ]

That comes up as a security risk, especially on old hardware.

 

[angel-val]

That comes up as a security risk, especially on old hardware.

What makes it any different from, say, installing stuff via something like universal-updater or hShop? If those are what you'd consider insecure then that's fair, but it's a level of security I'm kinda fine with.

 

[SylverReZ]

What makes it any different from, say, installing stuff via something like universal-updater or hShop? If those are what you'd consider insecure then that's fair, but it's a level of security I'm kinda fine with.

Universal-Updater and hShop are fine, since they both come from their own secure CDN by the server providers. However, if you were to say download your files off Google Drive using your 3DS, using your account's credentials, then it could certainly lead to an attacker trying many ways to find vulnerabilities for that matter.

 

[angel-val]

Firstly, all the big cloud storage providers have an API that you use an OAuth key to authenticate, and HTTPS is a thing that exists. Secondly, is this really a desirable attack target? Like, don't get me wrong, security is a big thing for me too, but who cares if someone gets a hold of your roms and saves?

 

[lone_wolf323]

Firstly, all the big cloud storage providers have an API that you use an OAuth key to authenticate, and HTTPS is a thing that exists. Secondly, is this really a desirable attack target? Like, don't get me wrong, security is a big thing for me too, but who cares if someone gets a hold of your roms and saves?

its not roms and saves that are just on a 3ds console. You may have other personal info like say. credit cards from when ya used the eshop that attackers would go for.

 

[angel-val]

its not roms and saves that are just on a 3ds console. You may have other personal info like say. credit cards from when ya used the eshop that attackers would go for.

The sync is selective, you choose which folders get backed up. You don't really need to back up your system credit card info, even if you could (it's stored on the system memory, not the SD so it's a pain) since the eShop doesn't exist anymore.

 

[ghjfdtg]

I don't see as much of a problem with synchronizing data between your 3DS and whatever server/cloud storage as long as it's secure.

That being said due to the slow WiFi speed of the 3DS i can only see this being useful for saves. For actual games you are going to wait a long time for them to upload/download.

 

[angel-val]

Yeah, the idea is using it for the data that matters (like saves). Games can always be reinstalled (and keeping the cia files for games around on the 3ds would be dumb anyway) but save data is important. IMO for stuff like ROMs, the wait isn't that long, so especially if i'm just adding a couple and not downloading my whole library. The same applies to homebrew, themes, splashes, etc.

 

[MayorBryce]

Yes please. Such a homebrew app would be incredibly handy.

 

[pokemon5life]

I don't know if you are still planning on making something like this, but I created an account just to say this would be such a good idea

 

[PoorPocketsMcNewHold]

We basically got an easy sync 3DS→Local PC with Citrahold already.
It is mostly destined to allow continuing your games on PC with 3DS emulators, and pick up again on your 3DS, but you can, of course, just sync and keep your saves on PC.

 

[tech3475]

Personally, I'd rather have a server running on a LAN than rely on cloud storage for something like this.

This way you avoid any potential security/API/protocol changes and you don't have to worry about say Google deleting all your ROMs (or files in general).

 

[JK_]

This way you avoid any potential security/API/protocol changes and you don't have to worry about say Google deleting all your ROMs (or files in general).

Yeah. They did that to me a while back. I had a private folder on drive with my own dumps of some of my retro games and they just nuked it without me even knowing. I was in a waiting room and was gonna play Donkey Kong Country on my phone only to find out my ROM dump folder just disappeared...

 

[Whole lotta love]

A port of Syncthing would do the trick.

 

[VeniaSilente]

Awesome idea!

Anything that syncs to a local LAN over any of the countless already available open protocols (SSHFS, syncthing, webdav, rsync, etc) should do the trick. The Syncthing idea sounds interesting because it parallels the workflow you'd already do for eg.: your phone if you are using Syncthing on it. An SSH (well, SSHFS) component would also be nice IMO, wit just about the only difficult part being how to automatize the auth (I don't want to have to type a long RSA private key on the 3ds's keyboard lol)