Homebrew Homebrew Launcher with grid icons, paging and info on top screen

[Jwiz33]

This will definitely be my main HBL, just so you know

 

[zezzo]

It looks so nice now

 

[TiagoHenriqueCan]

Getting back into C coding has been tough after getting used to Objective C, Cocoa, Xcode and proper device simulators. The latter is the hardest part - being able to log information has become second nature. At one point in this project I had a problem so confusing that I wrote a load of information to a text file then had to FTP in to the 3DS to retrieve it and work out what was going on... For certain things, namely dealing with file reading/writing and arrays, I have given up with plain C and hacked in some C++. I still don't understand arrays in C, so switching to vectors made much more sense to me.

I'm taking basic programing class and they are using C as basis... I knew programming in C, but now I began college and have to relearn everything from basic again

it is difficult to prepare an environment to create a homebrew?

 

[suloku]

It's looking great so far!
Btw, any reason to have "only" two rows per page?

 

[Shadowtrance]

It's looking great so far!
Btw, any reason to have "only" two rows per page?

I agree, looking great.
3 rows per page like the concept image would be good though (is there even enough room?)

 

[mashers]

Good idea about the number of rows. I'll add an option so you can have either two or three.

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[ironmaster49]

Yes, Smealum likes! Maybe he will add official support for your home menu customization

 

[bunny365]

Not sure how possible this would be, but it'd be nice to also integrate a "smart folder" system, where you could have (for example) a folder (in the launcher) listing all the GameBoy ROMs in the gb folder, then clicking on that ROM in the launcher would open it in GameYob or RetroArch Gambatte.

 

[shoemaker]

The aesthetics of this look great! Nice work!

I feel like the top screen with the selected app information looks a bit bare at this point. Perhaps the "wave" animation and Homebrew Launcher logo from the standard program could be pushed a little upward, leaving room at the bottom of the top screen for the currently selected app information.

 

[bunny365]

I feel like the top screen with the selected app information looks a bit bare at this point. Perhaps the "wave" animation and Homebrew Launcher logo from the standard program could be pushed a little upward, leaving room at the bottom of the top screen for the currently selected app information.

Yeah. You could have the app info shown inside the brew. Maybe even move "the" onto the same line as "homebrew" on the logo, and move it a bit upwards. That way you'd have move space for the app info. Even more so, you could have some of the bubbles in the brew be the icons of the apps. Also, it'd be nice if you could change the time at the top to be in 12-hour format instead of 24-hour format. Date display would also be nice up there, since that's on the HOME Menu status bar.
EDIT: I apologize for throwing so much at you at once, but I like to throw out ideas for any project I like.

 

[kontrolaltdelete]

Mashers, this looks gorgeous already. I'm stoked to see the finished product. Keep up the hard work.

 

[BurningDesire]

I know what i am using for my Japanese 3ds homebrew launcher!

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Hi everyone

I decided to start a new thread about my update of Smea's HBL, as I didn't want to detract from the thread @suloku has running about his fantastic update to provide sorting and folder support.

My update of the HBL is slightly different in that I am endeavouring to replicate this layout:

View attachment 25259


PROGRESS UPDATE 15/09/2015

Progress so far:

• Grid layout with paging, touch/d-pad controls
• Built-in settings to change options without editing config files
  • Optionally hide the region free loader
  • Optionally sort alphabetically
• Help page with contact details

Screenshot of current progress:
View attachment 25361

View attachment 25360

The following tasks, when complete, will result in a binary release:

• Change the font
• Improve the appearance of the settings page
• Minor cosmetic improvements to main interface

Following this, source code will be released as soon as I figure out how to upload it to GitHub. The launcher is based on smea's original homebrew launcher.

Finally, the following additional features will be added in further updates in the future:

• Customisable background wallpaper for top and bottom screens
• Customisable colour scheme
• Customisable background music
• Sound effects
• Folders

Please post feedback, suggestions or feature requests here!

I think you should have along banner between the two buttons at the top. That says region free and in there banner there is part of a glob filling it up as well as saying launch region free i can do that if you wan't i just need to know how long it should be as well as how wide. I think it would be really cool and really pretty @mashers

 

[mashers]

It's looking great so far!
Btw, any reason to have "only" two rows per page?

I used two rows because that's how the home menu is structured. However, I've now added an option to display an additional third row.

Not sure how possible this would be, but it'd be nice to also integrate a "smart folder" system, where you could have (for example) a folder (in the launcher) listing all the GameBoy ROMs in the gb folder, then clicking on that ROM in the launcher would open it in GameYob or RetroArch Gambatte.

Great idea. It would rely on the emulator being able to accept a path to a ROM as an argument though (and the launcher being able to pass one). Not sure if either of these is possible TBH.

The aesthetics of this look great! Nice work!

I feel like the top screen with the selected app information looks a bit bare at this point. Perhaps the "wave" animation and Homebrew Launcher logo from the standard program could be pushed a little upward, leaving room at the bottom of the top screen for the currently selected app information.

I agree - the top screen is too sparse. It will be filled in with more to improve the aesthetics in due course.

Also, it'd be nice if you could change the time at the top to be in 12-hour format instead of 24-hour format. Date display would also be nice up there, since that's on the HOME Menu status bar.
EDIT: I apologize for throwing so much at you at once, but I like to throw out ideas for any project I like.

Ok I'll add those to the to-do list. The other ideas about the wave animation I will consider, but I don't feel that they will fit with the look of this launcher.

I think you should have along banner between the two buttons at the top. That says region free and in there banner there is part of a glob filling it up as well as saying launch region free i can do that if you wan't i just need to know how long it should be as well as how wide. I think it would be really cool and really pretty @mashers

Great idea. Yes a banner along the top is needed, and I will use it to show the title of the current page. The region free launcher is displayed as an icon with the rest of the apps so doesn't need to be separate.

 

[BurningDesire]

I used two rows because that's how the home menu is structured. However, I've now added an option to display an additional third row.


Great idea. It would rely on the emulator being able to accept a path to a ROM as an argument though (and the launcher being able to pass one). Not sure if either of these is possible TBH.


I agree - the top screen is too sparse. It will be filled in with more to improve the aesthetics in due course.


Ok I'll add those to the to-do list. The other ideas about the wave animation I will consider, but I don't feel that they will fit with the look of this launcher.


Great idea. Yes a banner along the top is needed, and I will use it to show the title of the current page. The region free launcher is displayed as an icon with the rest of the apps so doesn't need to be separate.

Sorry i meant globe not glob

 

[suloku]

Great idea. It would rely on the emulator being able to accept a path to a ROM as an argument though (and the launcher being able to pass one). Not sure if either of these is possible TBH.

It is possible to pass arguments, it just needs a little tweaking. Recognizing roms is more difficult.
Also, argument passing when launching under title id is broken, but that doesn't affect emulators.

But I think that for that, since the emulators would need source changes to accept arguments, it would be easier and more universal if the emulator just tried to open "autoload.rom" in the same folder as the emulator. Then just make a folder with each emulator, the rom and a custom smdh file for that rom.

Both methods would work in the same ways as the result would be a folder filled with roms that autoload, but that would work on vanilla HBL too. Well, either is possible. I personally just launch the emulator though, I don't mind roms being a simple list.

 

[bunny365]

But I think that for that, since the emulators would need source changes to accept arguments, it would be easier and more universal if the emulator just tried to open "autoload.rom" in the same folder as the emulator. Then just make a folder with each emulator, the rom and a custom smdh file for that rom.

It'd be better to actually have an autoload.txt, containing a path to the ROM, especially if the ROM in question is, for example, a PlayStation or Sega CD ISO. We could probably contact RetroArch about this proposal, as it seems weird having the autoload be a recommendation for all emulators, only because of an unofficial Homebrew Launcher.

 

[suloku]

It'd be better to actually have an autoload.txt, containing a path to the ROM, especially if the ROM in question is, for example, a PlayStation or Sega CD ISO. We could probably contact RetroArch about this proposal, as it seems weird having the autoload be a recommendation for all emulators, only because of an unofficial Homebrew Launcher.

That would work too. I took the "only modify emulator" path because that would work with official HBL, but filling official HBL with rom entries doesn't seem like a good idea on a 4 entries per page world.

 

[Walex1234]

Hi bro, BTW mashers when will be able to download it?

 

[VaiCorinthians]

waiting for this great HBL

 

[mashers]

Hi everyone

I have just released a beta. Please see this thread for details:

https://gbatemp.net/threads/release-homebrew-launcher-with-grid-layout.397527/