Homebrew App Store 2.2
for Switch and Wii U
by 4TU Team
This update should address a lot of the slowness and crashing that people have experienced. We have other infrastructure-related changes that we're still working on, but are publishing this now to make sure these client bugfixes are out there!
App Download: https://gitlab.com/4TU/hb-appstore/releases
View Online: https://apps.fortheusers.org
In July 2019, we passed our third year of hosting the Homebrew App Store service since starting on the Wii U! Thank you to everyone who has used the App Store or otherwise shown support for this project. You're the reason we keep doing this.
The App Store team is: pwsincd, rw-r-r_0644, CompuCat, crc32, vgmoose, quarky, Whovian9369
Our homepage: https://fortheusers.org
Chat with us on Discord: https://discord.fortheusers.org
Changelog
Wii U + Switch App Client
*Wii U Notice: The duplicate appstore entries in HBL was an oversight, but should resolve itself after launching either HBL app after the update. It has to do with old users migrating from .elf to .rpx, and me trying to consolidate it for each platform. After updating, the issue should not occur again in the future due to libget#8 being fixed.
for Switch and Wii U
by 4TU Team
This update should address a lot of the slowness and crashing that people have experienced. We have other infrastructure-related changes that we're still working on, but are publishing this now to make sure these client bugfixes are out there!
App Download: https://gitlab.com/4TU/hb-appstore/releases
View Online: https://apps.fortheusers.org
In July 2019, we passed our third year of hosting the Homebrew App Store service since starting on the Wii U! Thank you to everyone who has used the App Store or otherwise shown support for this project. You're the reason we keep doing this.
The App Store team is: pwsincd, rw-r-r_0644, CompuCat, crc32, vgmoose, quarky, Whovian9369
Our homepage: https://fortheusers.org
Chat with us on Discord: https://discord.fortheusers.org
Changelog
Wii U + Switch App Client
- No more loading screen! Images and metadata are now downloaded on-the-fly, and you are dropped immediately into the app listing (by rw-r-r_0644!)
- Abstracted UI components into the standalone library Chesto
- Chesto is a declarative, element-based library for creating lightweight user interfaces in SDL2. Along with the App Store console client, it also powers vgedit.
- Chesto uses resinfs rather than switch/wiiu romfs for storing and loading compressed assets from memory (by rw-r-r_0644)
- Want to give it a try? Have a peek at CompuCat's example, ChestoTesto!
- Shows progress while extracting files from the zip package
- Detailed Credits page to fairly highlight importance of people's contributions in the scene
- Recovery mode added, accessed by pressing repeatedly L/R immediately after launching
- Bugfixes and Oversights
- Fixes issues when package structure totally changes (libget#8)
- Sorting button no longer occasionally crashes
- Files download to disk to avoid being stored in memory (Thanks TotalJustice!)
- Onscreen quit button added (Thanks jacquesCedric!)
- Platform Specific
- Switch: Uses https for default Switch repo (sorry for dragging feet on this!)
- Switch: Themes are now excluded from the "All Apps" category
- Switch: If launched in applet mode, uses Wii U style banners
- Wii U: Fix crackling/popping during music playback (by Quarktheawesome)
- Wii U: Fix bug that duplicates appstore entries in HBL upon upgrading... (See Notice*)
- TL;DR: after updating on Wii U there will be two appstore apps in HBL. Launching either one will work, and it will clean up the extra one
- Move primary development from GitHub to GitLab
- We’ll continue to upload releases to GitHub for the moment, but that repo will eventually be deprecated and direct users to GitLab. ↩︎
*Wii U Notice: The duplicate appstore entries in HBL was an oversight, but should resolve itself after launching either HBL app after the update. It has to do with old users migrating from .elf to .rpx, and me trying to consolidate it for each platform. After updating, the issue should not occur again in the future due to libget#8 being fixed.
Downloads
Homebrew Launcher Compatible
Homebrew App Store v1.5 - Use Homebrew Launcher and install to SD under /wiiu/apps/appstore
source code: https://github.com/vgmoose/hbas
github release: https://github.com/vgmoose/hbas/releases/tag/1.5
Installer
You can install it quickly to your console by visiting wiiubru.com/go on your Wii U.
This will let you run the App Store, where you can install it from itself. You will need a FAT32 SD card inserted. It will only modify the SD card, unless you also install Haxchi.
Run Homebrew Launcher to use it after installing, which you can also download from itself.
Video
Description
Homebrew App Store allows you to download homebrew apps for HBL directly in the app. Installed apps can also be reinstalled, updated, or deleted. It is an attempt at a poor man's Cydia for Wii U!
Apps featured within HBAS are made by other homebrew developers. If anyone takes an issue with their work being distributed in this manner, contact the respective repository owner.
Although "store" is in the name, the apps within are all free-- If a specific homebrew developer wants to charge for their app, they would have to do so outside of HBAS. The name just refers to the concept of an App Store.
Requirements
- Internet connection
- SD card
- A way to run HBL (see stickies)
How to Use
Unzip the "appstore" folder from the zip at the above download link. This is the bundled HBAS app. Place this folder inside the /apps/wiiu/ folder on your SD card. After this, run HBL and select it from the menu.
Once the app launches, press A or touch the screen to dismiss the splash screen. You can scroll with either stick, the D-pad or the touch screen. To download an app, touch its icon and choose "GET".
Guide:
LOCAL - An app that is only on your SD card
INSTALLED - An app on your SD card and the server
UPDATE - An app on your SD card and the server, with a different version number
GET - An app only on the server
Default Repository
The app bundle that I provide above features http://wiiubru.com/appstore as the default repository, courtesy of @pwsincd . The apps featured there are hosted on his server.
Thank you @pwsincd !
Known Repos
- (default) Wiiubru - http://wiiubru.com/appstore
- Utools - http://coc4tm.github.io/Utools/web
- Wii U Utilities - http://wiiu.3utilities.com
- My apps - http://hbas.vgmoose.com
A future update will provide support for multiple repos and priority sorting. Until then, the repo can be specified by putting one of the URLs in a repository.txt (see Customization below) with no newlines.
Troubleshooting
Duplicates of apps from my sd - HBAS tries to figure out which apps you have installed by going by the app's folder name. You can safely ignore this, or delete your local copy.
Update was a downgrade - Upgrading relies on the repository maintainer to keep the version numbers up to date. Since versions don't have to be numbers, the update check is != rather than >
Crashed with white text on black text! - post a photo of what your screen looks like and how you got it
Seems to have froze - describe what you were doing when it froze, and were you able to scroll still or was it truly frozen?
No apps are listed, only local ones - This happens when the server can't be reached. Tubehax dns may be down, or your repo may be down.
HBL/HBAS won't load anymore! - One of the apps got corrupted, redo your SD card to contain only a fresh HBL
Button enlarged, but no window opened - Pressing the buttons waits for the server to respond, so it may respond once fully the download is complete.
Customization
There are three components that can currently be customized:
- The splash screen: place your own "splash.png" in sd:/wiiu/apps/appstore/resources/splash.png
- The music: place your own "slimers.mp3" in sd:/wiiu/apps/appstore/resources/slimers.mp3
- The repository: place a "repository.txt" file in sd:/wiiu/apps/appstore/repository.txt
For the images and music, they must be png and mp3 respectively. For repository.txt, it should be a file that contains only the desired repository url, no newlines or anything. And it does include the http://
Self-Hosting
There's no real need to self-host your own HBAS repo, but if you're interested you can check out the web folder. Inside there's a python script that can assist in building a directory, which can then be hosted locally or on a server.
The HBAS binary currently expects a /directory12.yaml file, and then a /apps/ folder, which contains HBL-compatible apps folder (like sd:/wiiu/apps/). You can setup the directory12.yaml file without using the python script, but the script makes it easier. Once your have your server setup, you will need to create repository.txt on your SD card to point HBAS to it (see Customization).
Future
See the issues page on github: https://github.com/vgmoose/hbas/issues
In short, I want the following things:
- smoother scrolling
- permissions for apps
- multiple repo management
- json instead of yaml for the directory
- handle corrupt apps/icons
If you'd like to contribute to any of the above, check out the code and help me out! It would be much appreciated.
Credits
I wouldn't have been able to make this without any help
@pwsincd - Helped design the web interface and worked directly with me to get the wiiubru repo setup
@brienj - Provided many, many development tips and help, this guy!
@dimok - The HBAS code is based off HBL directly, as well as making heavy use of his custom libraries.
@QuarkTheAwesome - Development help, as well as their exception handler
@CreeperMario - Porting over some old apps to HBL format
@Dylon99 - Participated in "extreme" beta testing
@Marionumber1 - For reluctantly being a 5.5.x enabler
The in-app music is Slimers by (T-T)b, who I probably should've asked more formally about including.
If you like Homebrew App Store, check out my youtube and twitter!
License
Homebrew App Store is licensed under the GPL3 license, so it can be freely modified and used as long as the source remains public. Slimers is copyright (T-T)b and is not to be distributed or used outside of an official HBAS binary.
This app is open source and free to distribute because the users (yes you!) deserve it.
the github link is dead
I'm trying to collect information to better understand how people use HB App Store and would appreciate anyone who has used it taking the time to fill out this survey, and also propagating it to other homebrew circles if applicable: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdLxL-MhFQFQ4nJbknLkLMrZSlU036bGdPJvWY7YAueS-tU0g/viewform
Thank you everyone for all the years of using this tool, and I hope that it has provided value to you.
Thank you everyone for all the years of using this tool, and I hope that it has provided value to you.
Hey I'm trying to get the Appstore on my Wii U but when I launch the Homebrew Launcher nothing appears.
--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------
And "watching" the video aka going to wiiubru website doesn't seem to work
--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------
And "watching" the video aka going to wiiubru website doesn't seem to work
We have a new web feature: detailed app download stats!
You can now visit the Statistics page on the Web UI: https://apps.fortheusers.org/stats for a detailed day-by-day breakdown of our web and app downloads from users of the App Store.
This can be accessed either from the sidebar, or by clicking on a specific app and choosing "View Details", and allows for pretty graphs like the one below:
Specific graphs can also be linked by copying the URL if you see something interesting: https://apps.fortheusers.org/stats?...-shell&time=1598646196506:1599855796506:false
The range can be adjusted along the bottom, and new apps can be added or removed at the top of the page. We hope that this feature is a good resource for developers to gauge interest and track trends with how their apps are downloaded. It may also be useful as a tool to see what other people are interested in.
With these changes, the download counts within the app are also finally fixed as well. We're hoping to continue working on more transparent features like this so that developers don't view HBAS as such a black box, and can instead see it as a useful platform to showcase their app on.
If you are a developer, you are likely also interested in seeing your Github Releases download stats and adding them to the HBAS numbers. One website to view Github downloads on is here: https://somsubhra.com/github-release-stats/
Source code for our web frontend is available here under the GPLv3 license: https://gitlab.com/4TU/hbas-frontend
You can now visit the Statistics page on the Web UI: https://apps.fortheusers.org/stats for a detailed day-by-day breakdown of our web and app downloads from users of the App Store.
This can be accessed either from the sidebar, or by clicking on a specific app and choosing "View Details", and allows for pretty graphs like the one below:
Specific graphs can also be linked by copying the URL if you see something interesting: https://apps.fortheusers.org/stats?...-shell&time=1598646196506:1599855796506:false
The range can be adjusted along the bottom, and new apps can be added or removed at the top of the page. We hope that this feature is a good resource for developers to gauge interest and track trends with how their apps are downloaded. It may also be useful as a tool to see what other people are interested in.
With these changes, the download counts within the app are also finally fixed as well. We're hoping to continue working on more transparent features like this so that developers don't view HBAS as such a black box, and can instead see it as a useful platform to showcase their app on.
If you are a developer, you are likely also interested in seeing your Github Releases download stats and adding them to the HBAS numbers. One website to view Github downloads on is here: https://somsubhra.com/github-release-stats/
Source code for our web frontend is available here under the GPLv3 license: https://gitlab.com/4TU/hbas-frontend
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Why? If you use aroma/tiramisu you can't use forwarders atm. Don't ask me why.
- Joined
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- Messages
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I think you don't get any support for leaked stuff. Aroma is still not released yet. I use tiramisu and can use it like normal. I recommend that you also install tiramisu.
Attachments
Homebrew App Store 2.3.1 is out!
Download: https://github.com/fortheusers/hb-appstore/releases/tag/v2.3.1
Source: https://github.com/fortheusers/hb-appstore
This release has significantly faster download + extraction speeds, support for viewing screenshots of each app, and music-related changes.
On Wii U: There is a new Aroma-ready category for downloading WUHBs. As of this time, hb-appstore on Wii U is available as both a WUHB or RPX. Both versions should be able to live side by side and work as expected in both Aroma and Tiramisu environments.
Changelog
* When Aroma is out of beta, most current ELF/RPX apps will move to the "Legacy" category, and the "Aroma-Ready" category apps will take over the usual categories.
** The included repos.json file in the zip file will overwrite and automatically update existing users to these new repo URLs.
Download: https://github.com/fortheusers/hb-appstore/releases/tag/v2.3.1
Source: https://github.com/fortheusers/hb-appstore
This release has significantly faster download + extraction speeds, support for viewing screenshots of each app, and music-related changes.
On Wii U: There is a new Aroma-ready category for downloading WUHBs. As of this time, hb-appstore on Wii U is available as both a WUHB or RPX. Both versions should be able to live side by side and work as expected in both Aroma and Tiramisu environments.
Changelog
- All Platforms:
- Uses full qwerty keyboard on Search/Feedback pages
- Adjustments to the App details page:
- View multiple Screenshots when available
- List to-be-installed files with button press
- Change uninstall button to X, to prevent accidental clicks
- Faster zip extraction for large packages (Thanks @Maschell!)
- Allow changing of music by replacing background.mp3 file
- MP3 title and artist are now displayed in the UI
- Adds SFX when moving cursor through menus
- Save and remember music/sfx toggle setting
- Wii U Specific:
- Compiles to both .wuhb and .rpx formats
- New sidebar category "Aroma-Ready" hosts .wuhb homebrew*
- Properly implement app exiting via ProcUI (Thanks again @Maschell!)
- Music plays at a higher quality and lower volume
- Uses the full version of Slimers by (T-T)b with lyrics
- Use HTTPS for repo and enable by default (Thanks @GaryOderNichts!)
- Icon size matches Switch build (no longer uses HBL-style icons)
- Change sidebar color from purple to blue
- Compiles to both .wuhb and .rpx formats
- Repo Management:
- The default repo URLs are changed to new bunny.net powered CDN URLs**
- Switch: switch.cdn.fortheusers.org/repo.json
- Wii U: wiiu.cdn.fortheusers.org/repo.json
- Apps will now tend to use any resolution icons (not HBL/square/specific/etc)
- Banners will be mostly replaced by 1 or more screenshots, where applicable
- On Wii U, Aroma-compatible apps will display a notice in the banner location
- The default repo URLs are changed to new bunny.net powered CDN URLs**
* When Aroma is out of beta, most current ELF/RPX apps will move to the "Legacy" category, and the "Aroma-Ready" category apps will take over the usual categories.
** The included repos.json file in the zip file will overwrite and automatically update existing users to these new repo URLs.
