Homebrew [Release] Homebrew Launcher with grid layout

[daxtsu]

@mungry-snip-

I must say, the multithreading you added makes the launcher feel a LOT more responsive. Thank you for adding it.

 

[mashers]

I must say, the multithreading you added makes the launcher feel a LOT more responsive. Thank you for adding it.

Glad you like it, and thanks for the link to the threading example! If you hadn't have found it and posted it then all we would have got for the title launcher today was a nicer loading screen

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@mashers On the first post, could you post a changelog? It's hard to see what's new and what's been fixed since so many people are posting.

Done!

 

[daxtsu]

Glad you like it, and thanks for the link to the threading example! If you hadn't have found it and posted it then all we would have got for the title launcher today was a nicer loading screen

You're welcome. I hope all of this stuff eventually becomes standard in the HB Launcher, though even if it doesn't, it hardly matters; I've made this my main homebrew launcher (for when I use 3dsx files, at least) anyway.

 

[BurningDesire]

You're welcome. I hope all of this stuff eventually becomes standard in the HB Launcher, though even if it doesn't, it hardly matters; I've made this my main homebrew launcher (for when I use 3dsx files, at least) anyway.

@smea should just load this homebrew launcher with his entrypoints instead of using the old one

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@mashers How about a option to adjust the size of the top translucent box. Maybe with a plus 1 slider like everything else. It be nice to have it go from the smallest to fullscreen. I say that because a full screen transparent box on the top screen would look really swaggy with my theme.

 

[JJTapia19]

@mashers Small bug report.
The water animation is apearing on the top of the upper screen again.

Spoiler: Screenshot

Suggestions
I think the new wraparound buttons background are too thick.
The title selector page now loads insanely fast! I don't even see the loading titles screen anymore. I would still like a loading folder screen for those folders whith many apps that take some seconds to load. This was a big update. Thanks!

 

[fmkid]

I would still like a loading folder screen for those folders whith many apps that take some seconds to load. This was a big update. Thanks!

Yeah... And talking about folders: a way to put and scan folders onto "3ds" path (or, even, any path different to root), and without need to put ".hbfolder" extension, will be great!

 

[ihaveahax]

One little request, could ZL and ZR do the same things as L and R? Sometimes they're more comfortable to press.

 

[bunny365]

Yes I removed it. You can achieve the same effect by changing the water colour in the settings.

Maybe the Konami code could change the color settings to match the beer color.

As well as make it so the wave doesn't jiggly when you use the dpad option

THANK YOU. I brought this up before and everyone got mad at me because they loved the wave animation, even though I clarified SEVERAL times that's not what I was talking about. XD

Glad you like it, and thanks for the link to the threading example! If you hadn't have found it and posted it then all we would have got for the title launcher today was a nicer loading screen

Just a thought: You should have a small loading indicator on the bottom left corner of the top screen when it's loading, like the indicator the 3DS uses... everywhere.

 

[fmkid]

Maybe the Konami code could change the color settings to match the beer color.

Personally, I just find now the "Konami code" very unuseful!... But, maybe, @mashers wants to know more opinions about!

 

[Gettwobirdsstone]

Personally, I just find now the "Konami code" very unuseful!... But, maybe, @mashers wants to know more opinions about!

Use Konami code to hide/show region free loader.

Also, @mashers the touch screen seems buggy, when I was using the colour changing tools, it took a few taps to grab the tab or even to push reboot. Hopefully it's a bug and not my touch screen. LOL

 

[fmkid]

Use Konami code to hide/show region free loader.

Maybe a good option!

 

[link6155]

One little request, could ZL and ZR do the same things as L and R? Sometimes they're more comfortable to press.

I think they should be used to go to the first page or the last page rather than mirror the function of L and R.

 

[ihaveahax]

I think they should be used to go to the first page or the last page rather than mirror the function of L and R.

Well, not everyone has a New3DS, so I thought about mirroring their functionality.

 

[link6155]

Well, not everyone has a New3DS, so I thought about mirroring their functionality.

ZL and ZR are used to scroll quicker through the home menu, so I think having a similar feature in the homebrew launcher would be nice.

Or maybe what would be better is to have the ability to customize these extra buttons. That way everyone wins here.

 

[Shaker78]

Or maybe what would be better is to have the ability to customize these extra buttons. That way everyone wins here.

^^ This would be great

Example: ZL = CHMM2 / ZR = your favorite homebrew
I would really love a feature like this!

 

[bunny365]

Loading other HB app folders should also be in a background thread.

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Also, theme settings should only be saved when settings is closed, so there's no lag every time you go between theme color screens. And speaking of, maybe saving settings should be a background thread too?

 

[link6155]

@mashers The toolbar icons and the buttons they're on should have separate alpha sliders. I would like to be able to make the buttons invisible, but I don't want to hide the icons. Otherwise you won't be able to see what the buttons do.

I also notice a new bug introduce in the latest build. Game titles have 3 rows no matter what you set in the settings. 3DS titles always have 3 rows no matter what I set it as.

 

[shoemaker]

Nice - I hadn't expected the threaded loading to work. One thing now is that the water animation is quite choppy while the titles are being loaded in. It might not be possible, but is that something that can be cleaned up? It's a bit obtrusive for someone who wants the water animation but has a lot of apps. An alternative to this, of course, would be to show the static water image while the apps are being loaded in, then showing the animation once it's finished loading.

A much more minor thing - I think the "Reboot" menu should have the button prompts next to the two buttons, so "Reboot: (A)" and "Back: (B)". Those are the buttons you can press on that menu, but it's not displayed anywhere on that screen. Someone uninformed might press down on the D-Pad, thinking that they've selected "Back", and press A to go back, but that would Reboot instead. The touch screen works there, but I think it's best to show what the buttons do too.

Another thing came to mind, too. Would it be possible to implement holding the Circle Pad or holding the D-Pad in a direction act like multiple button presses? For instance, holding right would scroll through the apps to the right, much like how it works in the standard Home Menu.

Lastly, I think that "Author:" being in every single app information screen is a little overkill, but that's purely up to your aesthetic preference. The standard Home Menu doesn't show that (if you do 1 row per screen, that information shows up). If it were up to me, I would take out the "Author:" text since it's clear that the second line of text displays the developer.

 

[JJTapia19]

@mashers
I also notice a new bug introduce in the latest build. Game titles have 3 rows no matter what you set in the settings. 3DS titles always have 3 rows no matter what I set it as.

I just tested this and it's working for me. Could you deleate(or backup) the hbltheme.cfg and try again?
Edit:My bad I see what you mean in the game titles.

 

[mashers]

Thanks for all the feedback on the latest beta guys. I'll respond t each point below but won't quote the posts as it will make it too hard to read (plus I'm replying on my iPad so it's harder to quote).

• Adjust size of translucent boxes: I feel this will be overly complicated. If you need a custom sized/shaped translucent box then this could perhaps be incorporated into the wallpaper image itself
• Water animation appearing at the top of the screen: yes I noticed this too. Previously it was hidden behind the status bar, but if you make the bar translucent then you can see it. It's to do with the water dropping down. Once I've got translucent animated water I'll change it so the water fades to become transparent rather than dropping down when it needs to get out of the way
• Folder loading: I will be putting this in a background thread the same as the title menu so a loading page won't be needed
• Moving folders out of root: good idea, and will also remove the need to add the .hbfolder extension. Perhaps the whole config could go into /gridlauncher/ and then anything within /gridlauncher/folders/ will be added as a folder. Any thoughts?
• Konami code: there's no reason not to reinstate this now (I removed it when I was having memory issues and was trying to get the executable size down).
• ZL/ZR: I'll try to make them multiple page scroll while holding them down
• Loading indicator: nice idea. I'll add it to the todo list
• Touch screen unresponsive: I think I know why this is. I've added a touch detection block when moving between screens. This was because previously a touch would be detected by a menu and then also by whatever the menu opened, causing unexpected results. The touch detection block starts when changing the menu status and prevents the menu from responding to touch events for a short while. I'll play around with the timeout delay on this to see if I can make it feel more responsive without reintroducing the original issue
• Saving theme settings: good idea to save in a background thread. Added to the todo list
• Toolbar icon alpha sliders: good idea, I'll make it a separate option from the alpha value of the buttons backgrounds
• Title menu number of rows: yes this is a bug. I moved the variable which stores the number of rows from one global variable to a separate variable for each menu. I just forgot to update it so it stays in sync with the option. Added to the todo list to fix
• Choppy water animation: this is likely because of the multi threading. Not sure I can change this, but I'll see if I can optimise anything. I don't like the idea of changing to the static water during loading as it will look like the app has frozen completely
• Showing button names on reboot page: eventually these information/option pages will have D-Pad control so A will select the current option and B will go back. So the button names won't really be necessary
• Holding buttons for multiple scrolling: possible but tricky... I'll consider it
• Removing "Author:" - agreed, I'll remove it

Thanks guys, your feedback is amazing