Homebrew [Release] Homebrew Launcher with grid layout

[Vague Rant]

@Xenosaiga Not really, no. I have no idea what the hell you're talking about, because I haven't seen anyone with any knowledge of the situation blame "blargSNES", least of all "Themehax" who from my experience seems to know his shit and not run around blaming homebrew applications for problems in payloads that he launches. Likewise, the post you show here (by Discostew, clearly an alias for "blargSNES") doesn't point fingers at our good friend "Themehax", just explains that the issue is not in blargSNES.

There is no debate as to what is causing this issue among people who have any idea what is causing this issue. It's not a blargSNES issue, it's not a Themehax issue, it's a payload issue. That's not "finger-pointing" (why would I, I am neither Themehax nor blargSNES), it's the accepted fact.

 

[JoostinOnline]

The title selector and backend for it was added in Ninjhax 2.1, so yes

So I've got a choice of kernel access and save managers?

 

[ihaveahax]

So I've got a choice of kernel access and save managers?

What firmware are you using?

 

[JoostinOnline]

What firmware are you using?

9.2U. Things like PastaCFW and rxTools just freeze on 2.1.

 

[ihaveahax]

9.2U. Things like PastaCFW and rxTools just freeze on 2.1.

I think they'll soon work under NH2.1 (for 9.0 - 9.2), so choose what you think is important. You could probably use something like SaveDataFiler or whatever though, if you're trying to manage saves.

 

[JJTapia19]

9.2U. Things like PastaCFW and rxTools just freeze on 2.1.

They got updated when brahma 2 came out! I'm using Mashers HBL mod wich is based on ninjhax 2.1 and Pasta, rxtools, reinand and cakes cfw all work.

 

[kiwiis]

The issue is not Mashers's job to fix. It'll either be fixed by the *hax authors with an updated payload or Homebrew Launcher will be fixed upstream and then he'll merge the changes with his HBL downstream.

Keep in mind BlargSNES seems to no longer be maintained by @StapleButter who is active with other projects on Github now, which is his right to do so. You can either keep using BlargSNES and wait for the issue to be fixed by someone (not saying it's his fault) or try one of the more actively maintained SFC emus from Retroarch which don't have this problem.

 

[Vague Rant]

Christ, this place is a fucking hellhole. mashers cannot fix this issue. Badgering mashers about this issue is wasting everybody's time, including your own. Here's yellows8 and smea on the subject:

This should get properly fixed via a hblauncher-payload update eventually, hopefully.

yeah i'm working on it, hopefully should be a real fix in a few days

Here is the relevant issue on GitHub.

I am not instigating an argument with you, I am correcting your factual misunderstanding.

 

[Xenosaiga]

The issue is not Mashers's job to fix. It'll either be fixed by the *hax authors with an updated payload or Homebrew Launcher will be fixed upstream and then he'll merge the changes with his HBL downstream.

Keep in mind BlargSNES seems to no longer be maintained by @StapleButter who is active with other projects on Github now, which is his right to do so. You can either keep using BlargSNES and wait for the issue to be fixed by someone (not saying it's his fault) or try one of the more actively maintained SFC emus from Retroarch which don't have this problem.

Look towards my original question. I did not say it was his problem. I even go as far as to say I know it's not his issue. I was simply asking if he knew a way to fix it. And no I did not know that he had stopped development on it. Would you happen to know a better solution to BlargSNES? I was only using it as it seemed to be the best one at the time.

Christ, this place is a fucking hellhole. mashers cannot fix this issue. Badgering mashers about this issue is wasting everybody's time, including your own. Here's yellows8 and smea on the subject:


Here is the relevant issue on GitHub.

I am not instigating an argument with you, I am correcting your factual misunderstanding.

And as for you, there is no "factual misunderstanding".

I understand the facts perfectly but you seem to keep wanting to degrade me by saying I'm badgering them. And then you go as far as to insult my intelligence. Bravo! You are now a bully!

 

[shoemaker]

Is there a way that the information from the standard 3DS apps (when you press the lower left icon) could be stored in some sort of file instead of reading through everything when you first press it? I understand that once you press it once, it's stored until you exit the launcher, but - as I have several 3DS apps - it takes some time to load that menu. Would it be possible to have all that information cached, so there's no need to read everything every time the HBL is launched? With this option, refreshing the list of apps could be done by manually pressing an icon or something of that sort.

 

[mashers]

Please don't turn what has been a really positive and enjoyable thread into a flame war. If you have an issue with each other, start a new thread or take it to PM. Don't do it in my release thread please.

I'll address the bug reports and feature requests later today - thanks for keeping them coming.

 

[JJTapia19]

@mashers Another great feature would be the ability to have multiple themes and change between them from the settings
The themes placement could work similar to what CHMM does for example
SD:HblThemes/Zelda Theme/hbltheme.cfg wallpapertop.png wallpaperbottom.png
SD:HblThemes/Mario Theme/hbltheme.cfg wallpapertop.png wallpaperbottom.png

I'm pretty sure you must have thought of something like this but I wanted to share my suggestion anyway
We have 28 shared themes thanks to everyone that has contributed and it's been hard choosing only one

 

[mashers]

About the back button screens I'll add screenshots to let you know what I mean. One page haves the back button and the other one doesn't.

Ahh, I forgot to put the back button on that page. Thanks, I've added to the todo list to add it

JP Homebrew Launcher anytime?

I can't get TTF fonts working properly so not right now. If somebody else can get it working then yeah, JP characters should display as long as they exist within the TTF.

That should definitely be doable relatively easily with FreeType, I am currently working on a VN engine port (cs2, Grisaia VNs engine amongst others), and I can kind of render Japanese text (some glitches remaining right now ^o^) using FT_Select_Charmap.

FreeType caused all kinds of problems when I tried to incorporate it. I can't remember the details now, but they're earlier in the thread. Once the source is out perhaps somebody more experienced can have a go at it.

Is there a way that the information from the standard 3DS apps (when you press the lower left icon) could be stored in some sort of file instead of reading through everything when you first press it? I understand that once you press it once, it's stored until you exit the launcher, but - as I have several 3DS apps - it takes some time to load that menu. Would it be possible to have all that information cached, so there's no need to read everything every time the HBL is launched? With this option, refreshing the list of apps could be done by manually pressing an icon or something of that sort.

I don't actually think it will make it any faster though. The data have to be loaded from somewhere after all, whether from the original SMDH for the title or from a cached version in the launcher. I really don't think you'll see a significant change in the time it takes to do one or the other.

@mashers Another great feature would be the ability to have multiple themes and change between them from the settings
The themes placement could work similar to what CHMM does for example
SD:HblThemes/Zelda Theme/hbltheme.cfg wallpapertop.png wallpaperbottom.png
SD:HblThemes/Mario Theme/hbltheme.cfg wallpapertop.png wallpaperbottom.png

I'm pretty sure you must have thought of something like this but I wanted to share my suggestion anyway
We have 28 shared themes thanks to everyone that has contributed and it's been hard choosing only one

Yes this is planned The planned folder structure will be:

/boot.3dsx
/gridlauncher/
/gridlauncher/hbl.cfg
/gridlauncher/themes/
/gridlauncher/themes/Zelda Theme/
/gridlauncher/themes/Zelda Theme/hbltheme.cfg
/gridlauncher/themes/Zelda Theme/wallpapertop.png
/gridlauncher/themes/Zelda Theme/wallpaperbottom.png
/gridlauncher/themes/Mario Theme/
/gridlauncher/themes/Mario Theme/hbltheme.cfg
/gridlauncher/themes/Mario Theme/wallpapertop.png
/gridlauncher/themes/Mario Theme/wallpaperbottom.png

I then need to make a menu to select the theme.


I saw a suggestion earlier about making the icons on the buttons translucent but I can't find the original post now. Yes I forgot about that! I've added it to the todo list.

 

[JJTapia19]

Awesome! We can't thank you enough for your great work.

 

[mashers]

Awesome! We can't thank you enough for your great work.

No need, I'm enjoying it It's nice to know that others are enjoying the launcher as much as I'm enjoying making it.

Now, I'd be grateful for some opinions on the attached screenshot before I go any further with this. I've added an optional translucent panel behind the text. If this looks ok to others then make it so they are displayed anywhere there is text when that option is enabled. If any tweaks are needed just let me know!

 

[Shadow#1]

No need, I'm enjoying it It's nice to know that others are enjoying the launcher as much as I'm enjoying making it.

Now, I'd be grateful for some opinions on the attached screenshot before I go any further with this. I've added an optional translucent panel behind the text. If this looks ok to others then make it so they are displayed anywhere there is text when that option is enabled. If any tweaks are needed just let me know!

View attachment 27093

Some themes the white text is just hard to read possible to make text black or other colors to properly suite each theme?

 

[mashers]

Some themes the white text is just hard to read possible to make text black or other colors to properly suite each theme?

Yes you can change the text colours in the settings. The panel should also make it easier to read text, but I need opinions on how it looks.

 

[Tjessx]

No need, I'm enjoying it It's nice to know that others are enjoying the launcher as much as I'm enjoying making it.

Now, I'd be grateful for some opinions on the attached screenshot before I go any further with this. I've added an optional translucent panel behind the text. If this looks ok to others then make it so they are displayed anywhere there is text when that option is enabled. If any tweaks are needed just let me know!

View attachment 27093

Looks really good!

 

[mashers]

Looks really good!

Thanks mate! I've made the panel drawing into a function which can be called from anywhere and can also draw a panel on the bottom screen, so it should be easy to place it anywhere it needs to be.

 

[kiwiis]

I don't actually think it will make it any faster though. The data have to be loaded from somewhere after all, whether from the original SMDH for the title or from a cached version in the launcher. I really don't think you'll see a significant change in the time it takes to do one or the other.

What about doing it the way Home Menu does it? When you first start the Home Menu you can tell not everything displays immediately. Load all the homebrew apps at grid launcher startup, while waiting for each system title to be fully read, have the icons draw as each title is read into memory.

If people don't want system titles displaying with homebrew, it could be an option.