Homebrew HBWare / Homebrew Channel Discussion

[Gh0sti]

@stormwave, im not saying that archive and unarchive NDS roms is a bad idea, but you might get in trouble for doing so, unless you make people computers be the database to hold their own roms and can upload and delete from their own computer and DS

 

[SifJar]

@stormwave, im not saying that archive and unarchive NDS roms is a bad idea, but you might get in trouble for doing so, unless you make people computers be the database to hold their own roms and can upload and delete from their own computer and DS

What? I don't think you understood his post (or else I didn't

). From my reading, his idea is "archiving" would be zipping a homebrew ROM and its necessary files, and deleting the unzipped ones, so less space is used on memory card, and "unarchiving" would be extracting said zips the way they were zipped, so settings etc. are kept, unlike if the app was deleted and re-installed. Nothing to do with commercial ROMs, and nothing to do with remote storage on a server.

 

[Stormwave]

Aye, SifJar is right, that was my suggested intention.

 

[spinal_cord]

I'm not sure people would be happy with having to wait a few seconds (or longer) for their ds to unzip a game (hb) every time they want to play it. :/

If stormwave is still thinking about setting up his own hb server for this, then all this talk about different compression formats is a little redundant as he can just re-compress anything he uploads in the requires scheme.

Also, I think the config file idea is a good one, just stick a small config.ini or similar in the archive with each hb app/game, noting any specifics about installing it, such as with those hb's that require a .ini file to be in a specific place, or a data folder, even a setting to say that the .nds can be loaded from anywhere else.

 

[Stormwave]

Ah, I wasn't suggesting it extracts the nds file every time. I only ever play a few different games at the same time, and others are just on there for when I do want to play them. I was thinking you could do this, but have the ones you're not currently playing "archived". Once unarchived, they would be permanently unarchived (until rearchived), so loading would be exactly the same. This would be in a seperate app anyway, I don't plan on adding it into this one.

If stormwave is still thinking about setting up his own hb server for this, then all this talk about different compression formats is a little redundant as he can just re-compress anything he uploads in the requires scheme.

I'm waiting for GBATemp to get back to me about the possibilty of using fileTrip but repackaging some firmwares (if I support 7z and zip, only RARs would need to be redone since I don't really plan on supporting RAR files). But aye, if I set up my own server, I'll probably just have zip files.

QUOTEAlso, I think the config file idea is a good one, just stick a small config.ini or similar in the archive with each hb app/game, noting any specifics about installing it, such as with those hb's that require a .ini file to be in a specific place, or a data folder, even a setting to say that the .nds can be loaded from anywhere else.

Definitely. I was thinking of having this incorporated into the database for each item, so the contributor can modify the settings when adding/editting the homebrew in the database. The install scripts (which will be added by contributors) will handle any required files (ini files, data folder, etc), so I'm not sure whether to have the NDS location selection as part of the install scripts. For example, the scripts look something like this:

mkdir "/data"
chdir "/data"
unzip "settings.ini"
unzip_custom "homebrew.nds"

Where unzip_custom will allow the user to pick a folder for the nds file. Thats my plan anyway, what does anyone think?

All the other information, which flashcarts it's compatable with etc, will all be stored in the database similar to the config files idea.

 

[DeltaBurnt]

Ah, I wasn't suggesting it extracts the nds file every time. I only ever play a few different games at the same time, and others are just on there for when I do want to play them. I was thinking you could do this, but have the ones you're not currently playing "archived". Once unarchived, they would be permanently unarchived (until rearchived), so loading would be exactly the same. This would be in a seperate app anyway, I don't plan on adding it into this one.

If stormwave is still thinking about setting up his own hb server for this, then all this talk about different compression formats is a little redundant as he can just re-compress anything he uploads in the requires scheme.

I'm waiting for GBATemp to get back to me about the possibilty of using fileTrip but repackaging some firmwares (if I support 7z and zip, only RARs would need to be redone since I don't really plan on supporting RAR files). But aye, if I set up my own server, I'll probably just have zip files.

QUOTEAlso, I think the config file idea is a good one, just stick a small config.ini or similar in the archive with each hb app/game, noting any specifics about installing it, such as with those hb's that require a .ini file to be in a specific place, or a data folder, even a setting to say that the .nds can be loaded from anywhere else.

Definitely. I was thinking of having this incorporated into the database for each item, so the contributor can modify the settings when adding/editting the homebrew in the database. The install scripts (which will be added by contributors) will handle any required files (ini files, data folder, etc), so I'm not sure whether to have the NDS location selection as part of the install scripts. For example, the scripts look something like this:

mkdir "/data"
chdir "/data"
unzip "settings.ini"
unzip_custom "homebrew.nds"

Where unzip_custom will allow the user to pick a folder for the nds file. Thats my plan anyway, what does anyone think?

All the other information, which flashcarts it's compatable with etc, will all be stored in the database similar to the config files idea.

Sounds good. Though there are some homebrew that conflict when installed at the same time (ex: DSKiosk and DSorganize). So maybe whenever making the config file you can also put other homebrews that the homebrew you're making a config line for can't work with at the same time. So if you installing DSKiosk and DSorganize is on it's "doesn't work with" list it'll tell you to delete dsorganize or search for an edited version that works with dsorganize. I know it's a bit much for things that'll only happen 2-3 times, but that can sometimes be icky.

 

[Gh0sti]

stormwave 2 things

i wonder if fef51 from sc forums, who created dstools, would be willing to help, his dstools are almost a miniaturized version of HBware,

also if you need ill test some beta stuff if you get things working out

 

[spinal_cord]

Here's a ui idea, if someone wants to run with it, that's fine by me. the 'gift' icon represents a compressed archive.

As you can see it's based on both the DS and DSi firmware.

 

[Stormwave]

I like that a lot, it matches up perfectly with some ideas I've already had aswell

I'll start programming the UI next, unless of course you want to do it Spinal_Cord? If not, I'll throw together a demo interface soon and see what you think (your idea in action).

@squirrelman10

I will definitely need some beta testers when I get to a later stage, thanks for offering.

 

[spinal_cord]

I'm having a little rest from ds coding right now, I seem to have lost all motivation

but I will be keeping an eye on the progress here, I am defiantly interested in the project. Any other time I would jump at the chance though. I wouldn't mind testing either, however my wifi isn't wep so I wouldn't be able to test any of the downloading parts

 

[alidsl]

I hope this project goes well, good luck stormwave

I do have wifi on my DS so testing would be Ok for me, but why do official beta testing with a homebrew, I never worked out why people do that

just release it to the public and you're guaranteed to find more bugs

 

[spinal_cord]

...but why do official beta testing with a homebrew, I never worked out why people do that
just release it to the public and you're guaranteed to find more bugs

It's a little disheartening to release something then have hundreds of emails, pm's and forum posts about it not working.
Although I believe that freeware does not need to be finished fully before release, it should at least work reasonably well and most of its features should work to the extent that peole will happily use it in its unfinished state. I don't recommend a long internal beta stage, that should be as brief as possible, but it should be done none the less.

[edit]
Quick question... Will this be designed to work mostly offline and only connect to do the actual downloading, or will it work mostly online?
I envision something line

Open DSWare app -> Ask to download database -> browse database offline (with descriptions and maybe icons) -> connect only to download hb.

 

[alidsl]

Good idea, that would make it slot faster

Also maybe an update service when it tells you when there is a later version of your homebrew

 

[Berthenk]

Sorry for my long absence, I was occupied by school stuff...

Anyway, this is what I was thinking of:

Spoiler

Yup, those are tabs. More tabs can be added if needed, maybe even scrolling with tabs...?

 

[Countbisquit]

And has anyone thought about the panfully slow download speeds of the DS? How would we get past that?

 

[Berthenk]

And has anyone thought about the panfully slow download speeds of the DS? How would we get past that?

We can't. Only solution is extremely compressed archives, however, these need to be decompressed so it will take longer to decompress while it's shorter to download.

I hope that sentence made sense...

 

[Countbisquit]

And has anyone thought about the panfully slow download speeds of the DS? How would we get past that?

We can't. Only solution is extremely compressed archives, however, these need to be decompressed so it will take longer to decompress while it's shorter to download.

I hope that sentence made sense...

Umm.... Kinda.

 

[CannonFoddr]

Might as well put my 'tuppence' worth in, even though I don't have Wifi etc

Anyway... I like the following ideas

> Download a database, to allow you to browse 'offline' - only connecting when you've chosen to download
> Spinal suggestion for the 'compressed file' icon
> Spinal's suggestion of something similar to the DSiHBC interface (post #14)...

... but with these suggestions

• 1) Using the Left and Right buttons to swap between 'sections' Homebrew/Skins etc
  2) on top screen the 3 tags along the bottom (for 'L',Dsi,'R') should show the title(s) of the sections, which change as you press the L or R buttons - with the 'Dsi' (middle section) showing the current section you're in
  
  e.g If we assume the sections of Homebrew are 'Games','Apps','Emulators','Skins'
  then...
  
  @ start the tabs show: [L Games] - [Apps] - [Emulators R]
  Press 'L' (to select 'games'): [L Skins] - [Games] - [Apps R]
  Press 'L' (to select 'Skins'): [L Emulators] - [Skins] - [Games R]
  
  This way if new sections are created - the main interface graphics won't need changing for the extra tabs

> remove the 'credits/ver/app options on the bottom screen & move the icons closer together - you may get more than just 3 items showing
(the credits/ver /optionsetc could be shown if you press [select] for example)

 

[alidsl]

What's the point in hosting an emulator when you have to download roms for it which requires a computer, I don't think emulators should be added

 

[Stormwave]

Aye, not much can be done about the speed unfortunately. Most homebrew is only quite small anyway, so it shouldn't be toomuch of a problem. OSs tend to be a bit bigger. I guess it's just convenience over speed, although I've no idea how fast or slow it'll be until I've made it.