Kitty Corp Meow Mix Forums

Community of Wonderful Brawlers,

We've been toying with the idea of developing a Homebrew App for BrawlVault, designed to let you browse and preview what's available, and then download it directly to your SD card.

But, of course, before we pull a Homebrew team together, we have to ask: "Would you use it?"   --   If you would, feel free to suggest some ideas for it.

If there's a demand, we'll throw a team of geniuses together.

Keep in mind that this is still in the very early conceptual stages. We have no idea how capable the Wii is of doing the things we want to do. Our plan is to start ambitious and strike features if they end up impossible.
...................
List of Basic Functionality
- Browse hacks and see images
- Upon downloading character, choose slot to replace
- PAC and PCS are placed and named correctly
- Upon downloading stage, it is placed and named correctly
- Upon downloading brstm,  choose stage, then track to replace


List of Advanced Functionality (future usage)
- Upon choosing character, browse available CSPs
- Upon choosing CSP, inject it into correct slot in common5
- Upon choosing stage, choose which stage to replace
- Chosen stage hack is named and has the appropriate rel to replace target stage
- Upon choosing stage, browse available SSPs and stage names
- Chosen SSP and name are injected into common5 (in correct slot, especially important if targeted stage replacement is also implemented)

Leave these topics alone for now
- Brawl+, Brawl-, etc. Implementation
- SFX support
- Items
- After choosing brstm placement, offer option to change music title
- Accept user text input for title and inject into info.pac and mu_menumain.pac

this is a good idea

it would save people time and would just be awesome to do
to bad i dont have my wii hooked up to the interent

any way this is a good idea

This "BrawlBrew" or whatever sounds absolutely wonderful. Another innovation in the footsteps of the BrawVault!

I support this, fully.

I support this 100%.  Anything to make Brawl hacking more accessible to outsiders.  I've seen far too many people on the net who'd love to get hacks but have no idea where to start.

I know someone that's coding for the wii now (his GeckoOs Tunnel app for GC) and I could ask if he'd like to help with some.

And this topic was extremely debated a while back before the forum layout was changed. I think it was a topic in the "Program" section, but I'm not sure.

I'd use.
I support 100%.

I'm assuming that the hack creator(s) would receive proper credit on this hypothetical application?

It'd be pretty much like browsing BV here, so yeah, the name(s) would be right there on the screen.

I guess it depends on your definition of the incredibly vague term, "proper."

this sounds splendid

"Proper" as in hack creators' names, collabs, and credits showing up.

And descriptions too. Those are.... sometimes important.

Best idea ever. Would be nice to see this happen

Ah, then yes, all that will be there.

Like I said, it'd be pretty much like browsing BV.

I'm all for this.

Will there be support for downloading stages onto Stage Expansion Code slots? Almost all my custom stages I have on my SD card are over those extra slots.

Also what about those people who have characters ported over other characters? For example if someone has Marth over Jigglypuff and they want to download a Marth hack and have it download to Jigglys slot instead, could they do that?

I know the app hasn't been created, but just throwing out questions that should be considered.

I support this. It will make things more easier in a way that I don't need to log into my computer to download hacks all the time.

Assuming that this will have support for both Riivo and Gecko, I'm all for it.

I don't see how you'd code it so that you can download from any link right into your SD (And if the DL link is in a .rar and whatnot) unless you're hosting it all yourselves.

Good question. We brought that up in our discussion, and currently it would be solved by any of the following (sorted from easiest to implement, to most difficult):

1)  Host Every Hack Ourselves
2)  *Re-upload said hack as .pcs instead of a .rar or .zip file
3)  Implement an extraction tool into the brawlbrew app.

* This however, doesn't solve multi-file necessities. Characters that require double-file downloads (pcs and pac for transforming characters like zelda, wario, etc) would have to have two separate download links for the pac and pcs. This would be a repair to be implemented on the vault side of things though.


I'm unfamiliar with the functionality behind Riivo, but to my knowledge, isn't it essencially "chuck everything into the root folder instead of specific folder hierarchies"? If it's merely folder location placement that's different between normal File Patch Code replacement and Riivo, I'm sure there could be future implementation of "click here for Riivo," and "click here for File Patch Code method" (as well as, "click here if you have know idea what either of these mean").

Yeah, that's great. This is exactly the kind of thing we want.

In all honesty. This idea seems pointless.

Especially if you all are going to need to do such drastic changes to the server... And, just how much would hosting all those files cost a month? And all so that a Homebrew app which many people might not even use works?

I'm rather against this.

Excellent opinion, to which I'd love to answer your concerns about:

We're always investigating ways to make it so changes (especially to the server) are minimal. We already have unlimited everything as far as bandwidth and host space goes, and to keep it that way we'll likely throw a small ad on the Vault. Nothing obtrusive. The potential it has to bring those Brawlers that aren't as savvy to the table makes us excited.

But then again, those people might not even have Homebrew at all...

And I'm not seeing how this would help them out. Once they already have Homebrew, and look around a bit for info, they're set for putting stuff on their SD card.

how you is going to upload/Download a whole package (like goku over pit where you needing all files for get it to work all .pcs/fitmotionetc.pac/Fitchar.pac) if you can´t get it in to a .rar/zip
if you can only upload 1x Fit(char)xx.pcs

Jack's possibly even more out of touch with the current state of things than I am; I don't think he really knows about stuff like that. So he didn't address it.

It's too early to be talking about things outside the conceptual stage, but I believe that including everything in a single rar/zip should be fine. You'd just have to add an XML file that tells where each file belongs.

Something like

And the app would read that XML file and know where everything goes. That seems like it would work to me, but it's honestly too early to say. But if we did take that approach, we'd release a template and instructions on how to format it.

Edit: A bonus to this method should be the ability to include multiple versions of a hack in one rar, as I know that, say, Mewtwo2000 is fond of doing.

And we can just as easily say that they might.

If we let negative possibilities discourage us, we won't get anything done.

Well, I think this going rather well. It would make things a whole lot easier for the people, like me, who only have a small window for computer access. Also, with the idea for rar/zip downloads, will the un-archivng tool, or whatever it will be called, unpack rar's and zip's equally? like, on the computer I use, i have to use http://www.wobzip.org/ (http://www.wobzip.org/) to unpack rar's. Zip's automatically get unpacked. I'm assuming this won't be a problem with this app?

Most files are uploaded as rar or zip, so just code a decompressor for rar and zip. If the file isn't in a zip/rar format, you could just treat it as a regular file to place directly in a directory.

This idea should work because the XML file for Riivo and the files for the file patch code need to always be in the same location.

I support this; I think it can work without any server side modifications. As long as you can get a coder to code these things and a nice menu ;O

I approve of this awesome idea! I'd download it as soon as I see it.

I wonder if the app is begining it's road to completion? It's been so quiet on this topic, so that's my theory.
:yay:

Nope

I hope so. ;D :yay:

I support this idea. It'd certainly make things simpler for those who really have a hard time grasping where to place files and how to replace CSPs and such.

There should be a shadow only section :af: [/sarcasm]

but anyway, there shoudl be like, PSA, textures, imports, stuff liek that. idk. just an idea.

This wouldn't be a bad idea actually. It'll save me the trouble of having of having to format my SD card everytime I want a new hack. :srs:

Why are you doing that?

That's what i want to know.

same here. that makes no sence

For some reason, almost everytime I insert my SD card into my laptop, it ask if I want to format my SD card and if I don't, I can't view the files on it. Thankfully I have a backup on my computer.

Then you might consider getting a different SD card.. :srs:

I did.  :srs:

So it does this for both cards? Then your laptop is pretty far gone xD

My lappy is fine. :notimp:
And I get that more from the older one than the new one.

Fine isn't the right word for it lol. It works but has issues with the SD card. But i'll stop here and not derail any further. :)

Yeah, I kinda figured. But I thought the optimism would help boost the marale.:)

It would need a lot of work on the brawl vault side of things. I looked into doing this for the file replacement tool.

What I would suggest for rar or zipped files is to include a bvault.xml file that tells the program what each file is so the names can remain human readable.

Content creators would have to set it up so that every file has it's proper brawl name and is in a folder with the hack name. Then the program can easily identify a complete character hack.

That will be the biggest bottleneck to the project, every hack up would need to be redone(though if you guys want to do that, require csps and bps plz)

The second biggest problem is downloading the files from mediafire. They don't want automatic download that bypasses their ads, so you have to find a way around that. Hosting yourselves puts you at risk of being shut down or just having a big bandwidth bill.

If you can solve those problems I would be happy to help get a program going on Wii and PC.

this would save me some time i like this

I like everything except that it isnt minus friendly. I never wanna vbrawl again.

yes, yes, yes, yes... A THOUSAND TIMES YES!!!

As long as it dosn't end up like the KC-MM HD replays I'm all for this.

I'd definitely appreciate this :P

I support this if it also supports usbs (my sd card slot is broken at the moment).

Eleven times more votes for Yes than No. That's cool.

I changed the poll to a more important question.

In response to the new poll, I would use it for downloading hacks, because I have to use a card reader in order to connect my SD, and it is such a pain because the only usb port is at the very back of the comp. So yes, I would use it to browse and download.

*Answering to new poll*

I would use this because I can only do downloads from school, so if it's saturday and i'm browsing the vault from the wii internet browser, and I see something I really want, I scream this:


Why? cuz I have to wait until I get to school to get. And that's not always a garuntee. So yes, I would totally use this. That way, If i see a cool hack, i can just get it right there and then.

i would definitly use this app as long as it gets hacks added to it the same time they get added to the site.

As a new user I'd absolutely support this. I'm having trouble figuring out how to hack the game as it is - I don't quite understand "Codes" yet (using the Riivolution method). If I could just go to an app and download, it'd make life infinitely easier.

It takes of I got my riivolution without homebrew(MKWii custom tracks way) I really don't care but I still rather use my computer.

why havent i seen this before? it would be darn epic!
i mean seriously, it would get rid of the time consuming "search>download>rename>insert"
because its cool to do it when you just want to download a single character, but if you want to "update" your brawl, it gets tedious as hell.
so even if i cant vote because the poll is already closed, my vote would go right away for the YESZ!

so is this still a moving idea, or has it been dropped?

Well, Jack's done another of his disappearing acts, but that doesn't mean it's dropped.

In the meantime, I'll ask another question: who should we try to get involved in this project? Do you guys know of any homebrew or Brawl-related programmers that would be good to have on board? Since we'd like to modify common5 to include portraits and such, and maybe even do SFX, it'd be nice to have BlackJax or someone who really understands the Brawl files to help us automate that stuff. But that's all I can think of.

No poll this time, since it's open-ended.

i approve of this... and i'd soo use it 100% of the time!

I can help out with the programming.

Why not ask Mewtwo2000? He's done plenty of brawl file programs. :)

homebrew applications are probably very different from PC apps

hmmmm...your right.....This app is seeming less and less likely to actually be made every time I look at this topic. :-[

I can do homebrew apps.

i think i'll would be awesome that there exist a smash attacks and brawl box for homebrew i would really help alot

I love this idea and support it all the way. Btw is it going to be possible to get item hacks too because it dosent say in the OP

@Vyse: Have you looked into team twiizers? They made the HBC in the first place. Not to mention a lot of the apps on the HBB. I'm not sure if you'll be able to collaborate w/ them, but if you guys managed to get help from the main Homebrew team, then you'd be ahead of the game! ;D

I'm going to see if I can contact them.

Item hacks are common3, yes? They're not mentioned because I'm not sure if that's possible. If we can successfully automate editing common5 (for portraits and such), editing common3 shouldn't be much of a stretch.

Ok just asking.

*answer to new poll*

I'd use both. Wii if needed & Computer if needed. Overall sometimes I can't use my Computer so I gotta get on the Wii's internet to check stuff out. I can't download something unless it is a program for the Wii from the Wii Shop Channel & it can't be the raw file. It sucks so I say "YES!" like :falcon: to the app. Sorry for such late reply to it tho. Still "Better late than never".

Also someone named "agoaj" wants someone to hear him/her I think. I believe he said he can do homebrew apps.

Gee you don't say? If he wants to be heard, he can always PM them. r)

it would help me alot

How is this going so far? Any progress at all?

Just asking cuz it's been a few months since I last checked this topic.

I want to finish redoing BV before I start looking at this.

And there's a lot of logistics issues to work through before it can even be considered a possibility.

Hmm... So a while eh. :-\ This would revolutionize the vault a bit I think. You gotta take your time tho unless you want to have a lot of mistakes.
Small question tho. If you download something using this app will it be read here in the vault too?

That's impossible to answer definitively right now.

But I'd guess yes?

that should be one of the last things to worry about, since it would anyway seem like a piece of cake after making the app itself...

I know Jack H and all of the kc-mm team are probably busy, but has it been started yet? I'm just curious.

This is one of the most epic ideas of HB I've seen so far.
Not only has brawl been able to be hacked, but now an idea is building to create an app for the HBC that automatically downloads and names the hacked texture files for you, so you won't have to spend COUNTLESS hours replacing all the characters textures.
I'd love to help in any way I can, I'm pretty good at making CSPs, designing music, but I am a preschooler when it comes to coding.

IF x= 54321 do THIS: destroy everything on screen!!!!
 See? this code probably won't work, will it? :>.>:
Oh well, I guess that's for the collegers.

now this, i would use. when i want more hacks, SCREW THE COMPUTER! i have homebrew.

If you guys need any info on the downloading process (which i'm sure you don't), looking through the "Wiitch" app could help figure out getting files from internet → Wii. It would have to be edited to support the vault specifically i guess.

just a thought...

problem would be more about the external servers used to store the hacks themself...

I'm glad i'm the more ignorant one here. The smarter people (such as yourself) know a whole lot more about this kind of thing than I do. I'm just hoping for a slight update within the next 3 months. It doesn't even have to be ground breaking. Just something. :P

i may start studying programming, so i MAY, and i mean MAY be of some use in a year or so xDDD

I'm currently taking visual basic in school, and I plan to take Visual Basic 2, and C++ next year. :P

On topic though, I think as more progress is made, then eventually a Brawlbox HB app could be mafe. It would be lacking many of Brawlbox's more complicated features, but would help with replacing CSP's and other things for those who can't/don't use a PC. :P

Don't get your hopes up. This is still nothing more than a whimsical idea.

this sounds like one of those great ideas that never comes to fruition xD

Yeah I know. Being Positive about it kinda helps though. :P

...is getting files from the computer up to organize them personally on your SD card REALLY that hard to do that you need a lazy tool to do it for you?

Yep. This is one of the major setbacks.

is going to a library to get information out of books that hard you need a lazy tool to do awkward searches for you?

@joke: oh burn. XD

Lc some people don't have a pc but do have a wii, those people have big use for this.

>compare Google to books
>because books can give you pages to games, music, movies, and other media on the internet
>watch your comparison fall short because of how stupid it is
>laughing_elf_man.jpg

He got mad.

LC, are ALWAYS so negative and such a jerk, or is it just with me?

He's always like that. <_< Just ignore him and move on.

But LC does have a point. It's easy enough to organize the Hacks from PC>SD either manually or using those programs that auto arrange Brawl hacks (There's a few programs that do this, iirc). I feel this project would take too much time and have so little benefit (I'm pretty sure, in the end, you will all just come back to your PC and browse the Vault there, for it being easier/more accessible or whatever).

If you don't have a PC, what are you doing here? You need a PC to hack a wii to begin with.

And whoever says that they don't have a PC or access to one, why, then, are you still around here? It's like whining about not being able to use hacks for the DS for not owning a R4.

(http://imageshack.us/a/img843/1876/jimunr.png)




It's not being negative, it's being realistic. The only reason people want this is that this is "somehow better" than going to the PC and doing it all yourself. Not to mention people'd want it more since someone else is doing it, I mean, no one would want to actually have a hand in helping.

In a way the computer is better but what if you suddenly lost your internet or your computer crashed? Then what would you do? You'd ether have to wait till you pay the internet service provider or try to get it fixed just for more hacks. Who'd want to spend money for hacks? If you could get them on the Wii anytime you want (like if your computer crashed or somehow had a bomb in it & exploded so that you'd need to buy a new computer) it would be much easier cuz then instead of waiting & having to go to a friend's (who may or may not let you use his/her computer) to get the hacks you can just go on your Wii & get them there & even have them anywhere you want! Maybe even named what you want too. Sounds like a better thing to do for me. Besides. Anyone who hacks their Wii must have a Wii so this is a good idea & I for 1 want this.

No internet on the PC = no internet on the Wii.

Still. If your computer is broken you can't use it for Hacks. You'd need to use the Wii. Or at least your cell phone. Also if you got a back up server then you can just connect to that for internet instead.

Hey I 90% say yes, 10% say no.....for the cold, hard, risk of the almighty BRICKING OF THE WII!!!

you're not saving anything on the wii, nor touching any wii-software...
it's all out of SD and into SD, wii is only the platform... the engine, however you wanna call it, a wii only bricks if you do something wrong messing with the wii's internal files

Yeah....plus bricking is the least of their (whoever might make this) problems. It's making the app itself. Making it capable of carrying out all of this. It's probably much easier said than done.

lol it's most likely not going to happen. there is definitly a want for the app, but it doesn't seem like anyone wants to step up and actually, make the app.

It's easier said than done. And I'm pretty sure the Admins have other things to worry about.

We can hope now it seems

Sounds awesome!

It is.

Sounds like a good idea to me!

*Check my last post here to know what I'm gonna say*

I think it's a fantastic idea, but what about one slot support with module ports?

the files would probably come with the download like they do now. As for CSP's, there'd have to be a make-shift brawlbox.

at this point, the cause is seeming more and more lost. :\

This should be for the Cell or Wii (preferably Wii) so others can use it. I for 1 need this thing at this point of time to get stuff from here.

Also why not just make it be Brawlbox on the Wii? Tha would be nice & if it comes with a texture editor & vertex editor & stuff it would be perfect. Then I guess we'd 1st need it like this on the computer so we can change it a bit so it works the same (Wii Mote for mouse & on-screen keyboard) on the Wii :/

now ur asking for a image edittor and model edittor program for the wii? O.o

I think Brawlbox will stay on the PC. The main focus is just on downloading hacks from the wii. If the Wiitch HBC app was edited to specifically work with file sharers, such as mediafire, then maybe. Even though it won't really be a "Vault" app.

OMG.  I want it NOW.
It's an AWESOME idea.

I'd give my life for this idea. :srs:

BB on Wii would be nice in the next year or so. At least for opening .pacs & .pcss & stuff. Maybe not models & editing but still could help (the wii does have photo channel which can edit pics). Heck. It could be for extracting the textures to your SD so you can edit via photo channel at least.
Since downloading from here is the biggest concern here I gotta say that anything to download stuff here would help hugely! I currently have no computer right now so we'd need to at least do this.

Now we must play the waiting game. Patience is key.

HYES!

*Sigh* I wonder if it'll be able to be used even with an 8GB SD card, or hopefully just save it to the Wii. :\

The app would work with any SD card, presumably, but Brawl still can't, so why would you?

^he's got a point :p

Something funny & random:

Sorry, my comment was quite a bit uninformed.  I guess I thought the max size of an SD card able to be read by Brawl was 8GB for some reason...

Anyway, I don't have a 2GB SD card, but instead a 16GB SDHC card...  I was hoping that I'd get Brawl to work without having to scrub my backup every time I add something.

YES YES YEEEEESSSS!!!!!! Best idea ever! PLEASE DONT CHANGE YOUR MIND!!!!!

^I'd not say this but it does say how much I want it as well as many others (possibly). So if this can & will be done I'll be super happy!

tbh, i dont see this coming anymore, wii-U is already out, so the wii homebrew scene may as well start to get less attention, sucks, but that's my prevision

Darn. :-\

That is, until the Wii U Homebrew era begins.

Still Darn. :-\

maybe there is a glimmer of hope, what with the wii mode functioning exactly the same as the actual wii on the wii u...

I have 10% of my hope back thanks to you :p

I'd still like this :3

this is a good idea

YEAH!!!

11/10 Do want.

I actually had this idea a while back (whether I was the first to have it is highly debatable) but had zero programming and hacking skillz to see it through.
Good on you, tc!

I hope this will be possible. But it's looking like it's not atm... Hopefully I'm wrong tho.

Dude, that an awesome idea! please do that! *-*

Love it, would definitely help me.

Yeah... Better not give false hopes. Unstickied. We will sticky it again if the project actually moves forward.

I'm all for this. If Homebrew Browser is able to install apps, then with a simple code to be able to rename files to more conveniently download hacks, this should be very possible. One issue I should point out is how people will be putting up files (in zip files, with images/other files, etc.) which could be solved with having people follow a certain format when uploading hacks (such as textures being uploaded uncompressed/unzipped beforehand, with only either or both of the paired .pacs or .brstms and no other extraneous files like a ReadMe or snapshots, while other more specific and complicated downloads such as .brres or only parts of of the .pacs and such, be uploaded to brawlvault but without access to them on the Wii. As for how the app will know where to place the files, we'd have preset location/redirectories for them. The user would be able to choose through a simple GUI that narrows down the preset locations until they get to the correct one (Choose Fighters, HUD displays character selection screen or similar, choose character e.g. Mario to choose corresponding folder, then choose from the 10 or 12 Portraits, the ideal ones being ones with numbers like the missing texture portraits from cBliss, which names it correspondingly e.g. portrait 02, file(s) get renamed as FitMario02.pac/pcs correspondingly). To improve upon this we might let the app use the common_5.pac files and such to use for the interface. The difficult part would be letting the app EDIT files, as it would need to be able to do what BrawlBox does.

there is the homebrew browser app. it has a way to un-RAR files and ZIPS so you could probably use coding from that. perhaps it would be better to start smaller and work up from there. like maybe a very  basic downloading app that allows you can extract, move, and rename the files after you download them? i think other edits can be put off till later tho, such as editing the common.pac files, etc.