Homebrew Question Switch Homebrew Development Questions

[TheModdersDen]

So, I have a couple of questions regarding homebrew development for the switch. I'm not sure if this is the right place to put it, but here goes:

1. I have been trying for days to figure out how homebrew developers have been able to display images in their switch homebrew. I have seen in the documentation of libnx that the images used in homebrew apps like the Homebrew Launcher have a '.bin' extension. They also are RGB8888 format. I haven't been able to find a tool, command, or method on how to convert an existing image to this format.
2. I was wondering what the simplest method of playing audio files out of the switch's speakers would be. I don't have a preference on the format, and would rather not go a long route to convert to a Nintendo proprietary format.
3. Where would be a good place beside the seemingly barebones example apps in the libnx repo to learn how to homebrew from?
4. Last, but not least, is C++ easier to program on the Switch with or is C the way to go?

I will pre-thank anyone who would be willing to give me a few pointers (pun not intended).

 

[Shrike]

Well if you are okay with a more high-level programming language like Lua instead of C++ and C you could give LovePotion a try.
LovePotion is a port of the "game framework / engine" Love2D.
Writing (simple) homebrews with it, like games and stuff, is rather easy in comparison to C++ and C (in my opinion).
Here is what you can do with it so far.. (because LovePotion is still in development and more functionality will come with the time)

I was wondering what the simplest method of playing audio files out of the switch's speakers would be. I don't have a preference on the format, and would rather not go a long route to convert to a Nintendo proprietary format.

> LovePotion "Apps" can run sounds and music in wav or ogg format.

Where would be a good place beside the seemingly barebones example apps in the libnx repo to learn how to homebrew from?

> https://github.com/TurtleP/LovePotion/tree/switch
> https://github.com/TurtleP/LovePotion/tree/examples
> https://love2d.org/wiki/Main_Page
> Oh and I can send you my Snake code if you want to.. I'm sure it is not hard to learn a few things from it. (Here is the game: https://gbatemp.net/threads/homebrew-snake-port-lovepotion.498467/)

I have been trying for days to figure out how homebrew developers have been able to display images in their switch homebrew.

> I'm not sure if I get you right, but you can easy show images inside your LovePotion game. Pictures can be jpg or png and can be stored in an external folder, or compiled into a NRO file (all together with your code)
> If you wan't to change the icon in the hbmenu you can set the icon when you compile a new LovePotion NRO or use this tool: https://gbatemp.net/threads/nro-asset-editor.499003/ to change a existing nro icon.

I hope this can help you to have a nice and easy start creating switch homebrews. Maybe just give it a try

 

[JK_]

1. I have been trying for days to figure out how homebrew developers have been able to display images in their switch homebrew. I have seen in the documentation of libnx that the images used in homebrew apps like the Homebrew Launcher have a '.bin' extension. They also are RGB8888 format. I haven't been able to find a tool, command, or method on how to convert an existing image to this format.

Right now, you have to get the pointer to the framebuffer using 'gfxGetFramebuffer' and write the RGBA8 data directly to it. As for converting, I wrote my own, but I think GIMP can export raw RGBA8. You just need to load it somehow.

 

[TheModdersDen]

Thanks Strike and JK_! For the time being, I'll use Love2D for now. I'm ultimately just wanting to tinker and see what the switch (and it's user, me) can do. That is, assuming that my Switch's WiFi/DNS issues cease to persist. I'm going to try to remove some sites I think I blocked for my Wii U to keep it from updating.

Should the removal of those addresses/IPs not fix it, well... Guess that's a question for either another post or Best Buy.

EDIT: Here's the error codes if anyone has a quick fix:
2811-1006 & 2137-8006