Homebrew [Release] freeShop - open source eShop alternative

[Drakia]

Here is an idea:

Can you mimic Nintendo's server to install homebrew cia's? (I'm only asking if it's a possibility. Not telling you to do it.)

Without Nintendo's signing key, it will never be possible to install homebrew CIA's on an unmodified system. There is already BrewMan (https://gbatemp.net/threads/wip-brewman-homebrew-installer-and-manager.415165/) that's a sort of eShop of homebrew, if that's what you mean.

 

[cearp]

rip Nintendo eShop... Nice work!
Now if only we had a way of injecting these games into the Nintendo Network ID so it can be downloaded onto multiple 3DS console that share 1 NNID

not at all possible to register that you bought the game with nintendo when you didn't.
sure we can download files from their server, but it doesn't mean the game will be listed on our account in their databases...

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

@TheCruel - this is really nice and beautiful!
very useful you had brewman to work from as a base! although i can see you improved on the interface even more.
i see people talking about keys, will you support using the json data from that key website that CIAngel makes use of?
or would someone have to fork this and add a few lines of code for an 'all in one' solution?

 

[Metab]

Amazing, can't wait to test it, and check out your source!
Just to jump into the piracy debate, as an Australian, and a student at university, the prices here for games are stupid, the eShop titles like Mario Kart and 3D land are STILL 70$, same price they were when they came out, almost every mainstream and popular game has remained a simular overpriced amount since release, only 'sub par' games that people arent that interested in purchasing have become a reasonable retail amount or second hand purchase.

I love nintendo but I simply cant afford that, It might be different for different countrys but here in Australia, in my current position and game pricing its just asking to be hacked and games pirated.

Since I matured and respected the effort game developers put in some years ago, I have since pirated I think 1 game that I later purchased, thanks to things like G2A, humblebundle, steam sales and reasonable pricing.

You expect me to pay more for a 3DS title, with less content, less graphically comparable (Not to talk down to 3DS, I love the system but for comparisons sake), less updates, no mods (without homebrew, and even that is extremely hard and most games havnt reached that stage within the community).
It's annoying that people expect me to throw away my savings for games that have been out for years...

 

[lpchaim]

I gotta say, this has made me realize just how far the 3DS scene has come at this point from how it was just some time ago. From 'Another exploit? Get real lol' to menuhax to a9lh. From flashcards and clones to CFWs and patched CIAs to just installing everything directly from the eshop servers with very little effort. And on sysnand CFW for many of us, to boot. How about that, huh?
Anway, thank you for this OP. It also seems way more polished than your pretty humble description made me figure, I might add.

 

[XiaoDii]

peak of the 3ds hacking(piracy) scene confirmed

 

[pastaconsumer]

not at all possible to register that you bought the game with nintendo when you didn't.
sure we can download files from their server, but it doesn't mean the game will be listed on our account in their databases...

Thanks for the info! (Insert overused 'The more you know' gif)

 

[Deleted User]

@TheCruel Something that would be nice would be to not automatically download the images (it takes a while) but rather just have the option to download the screenshots after selecting the game

 

[TheCruel]

@TheCruel - this is really nice and beautiful!
very useful you had brewman to work from as a base! although i can see you improved on the interface even more.
i see people talking about keys, will you support using the json data from that key website that CIAngel makes use of?
or would someone have to fork this and add a few lines of code for an 'all in one' solution?

It needs more information than that json provides, namely the eshop id for the title, and the specific country code to use to fetch the eshop info. Right now freeShop essentially just needs the encTitleKeys.bin, any one. If you use the one from that 3ds titlekeys website, than the information is already preprocessed in the json (which the program keeps up-to-date itself with the game icons). Any other encTitleKeys.bin which has titles not in the cache will need an average of 4 seconds per title to process to fetch eshop data on the 3ds. An annoying one-time process which is kinda unavoidable though could maybe be sped up.

This is the plan for now, though I'm open to changing it. I ultimately want the most flexibility possible without only working with a single titlekey source.

@TheCruel Something that would be nice would be to not automatically download the images (it takes a while) but rather just have the option to download the screenshots after selecting the game

I think the official eShop app shows the game info and has little loading icons where the screenshots are and loads them afterward. I'll make it like that, except the screenshots will just fade in when they're downloaded. Of course easier said than done.

 

[Deleted User]

It needs more information than that json provides, namely the eshop id for the title, and the specific country code to use to fetch the eshop info. Right now freeShop essentially just needs the encTitleKeys.bin, any one. If you use the one from that 3ds titlekeys website, than the information is already preprocessed in the json (which the program keeps up-to-date itself with the game icons). Any other encTitleKeys.bin which has titles not in the cache will need an average of 4 seconds per title to process to fetch eshop data on the 3ds. An annoying one-time process which is kinda unavoidable though could maybe be sped up.

This is the plan for now, though I'm open to changing it. I ultimately want the most flexibility possible without only working with a single titlekey source.

I think the official eShop app shows the game info and has little loading icons where the screenshots are and loads them afterward. I'll make it like that, except the screenshots will just fade in when they're downloaded. Of course easier said than done.

The fade in transition with that would be GREAT! Thanks!

 

[Ricken]

...At this rate we'll have a That ISO/Chaos site server right on our systems

 

[Ketchup901]

PSP, plagued by piracy.
DS, plagued by piracy.
3DS, facing the same fate.

I wouldn't be suprised if the 3DS would attract as much shovelware as the DS due to this.

What shovelware? Also the DS required a flashcart to play pirated games on, which not many people did.

 

[DinohScene]

What shovelware? Also the DS required a flashcart to play pirated games on, which not many people did.

DS library has a fuck ton of shovelware.
And that's where you're wrong.
R4s where readily available and extremely cheap.
So the vast majority of people that pirated had an R4.

More people have flashcards then people have CFW PSPs

 

[Ketchup901]

DS library has a fuck ton of shovelware.
And that's where you're wrong.
R4s where readily available and extremely cheap.
So the vast majority of people that pirated had an R4.

More people have flashcards then people have CFW PSPs

Yes. I know you said the DS has lots of shovelware, and I asked what kind of shovelware.

 

[DinohScene]

Yes. I know you said the DS has lots of shovelware, and I asked what kind of shovelware.

My Baby and me.
Cooking Mama.
Etc.

Come on, you know damn well how much shovelware there was on the DS.

 

[smileyhead]

I'm about to go on a vacation for a week, so I figured I'd post some progress on my freeShop project. It's still relatively buggy and I have not yet uploaded the source. But atm the goal is to copy all the useful content of the eShop and improve on the crappy parts. It also permits flexibility with user-provided titlekeys which the eShop will obviously never do.

At the moment, it uses a cache of games scraped from that 3ds titlekeys website, however the keys will not be bundled obviously with freeShop. But it will permit user-provided encrypted titlekeys too and fetch the eShop information as necessary. After all, you should be using your own keys, piracy is illegal and I cannot promote that.

I am open to suggestions as to where you think the project should head. Before I commit to any specific model of managing titles, I'd like to hear what features people would like from a program like this. I only started learning about title installation stuff a few weeks ago, so I'm still learning about the limitations and possibilities atm.

Expected release date: May 28th

Dammit. I need this. I need this now!!

 

[Ketchup901]

My Baby and me.
Cooking Mama.
Etc.

Come on, you know damn well how much shovelware there was on the DS.

How does that have anything to do with piracy and freeShop?
Also no I don't that's why I asked.

 

[Noroxus]

Not this again. Seriously take your Anti-Piracy vs. Piracy fights somewhere else...
People are going to do what they want and not what you tell them to do lol

 

[jaksy]

The code being open source has jack shit to do with whether or not Nintendo can send a C&D or actually take legal action. What matters is what the code is doing, not the way the code is licensed. There are also other ways Nintendo can stop this from happening, to make it so you always have to be connected to the internet to play games on a console, especially a handheld, is one of the most retarded ideas I've ever heard.

I have to agree with the statement in this post.

Ticket usage through homebrew is legally questionable at best even when used even to download titles you have legitimately purchased.
The author of this homebrew isn't even trying to thinly veil his intent, with statements such as "piracy is illegal and I cannot promote that (rofl emote)" clearly implying this tool's main usage is just that.

Look, I'm not trying to bring an antipiracy debate here, I legitimately think it has it's place and don't look down on it.
I just think this tool would be better promoted in certain other forums where piracy is the main focus, as that's clearly what this tool's primary usage will be, regardless of whether the author openly promotes it as such or not.

 

[randomdev]

As always, nice homebrew Cruel!
I assume this is not legal?

 

[Drakia]

Look, I'm not trying to bring an antipiracy debate here

But you're going to anyways?