[GUIDE] Adding custom GameStream games to your homescreen. - Shield Android TV General

We all know that we can add custom games to Geforce Experience in order to stream games to our Shields that are not officially supported by Nvidia. Last year, Nvidia added the ability to display Gamestream game shortcuts directly on our home screens. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, they did not carry this ability forward for custom games that have been added to Geforce Experience, but only to the officially supported ones. After a lot of digging around, here’s a way to circumvent this limitation. It’s important to note that this method bypasses the ‘Add Custom Games’ function in Geforce Experience, in order to have our games appear as officially supported ones. And now, a warning: this guide is long. It’s long because the process is long, but it’s also long because I’ve never been good at concisely explaining things. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
Now, navigate to:
Code:
\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\Nvidia\NvBackend\ApplicationOntology\data\
Here you will find a file called fingerprint.db. This is an XML file that contains information on all of Nvidia’s officially supported games. Inside you will find entries such as the following:
Code:
<Fingerprint name='the_witcher_3'>
<DisplayName>The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt</DisplayName>
<Version name='steam'>
<CMSID>10534111</CMSID>
<CMSVersion>1</CMSVersion>
<Distributor>Steam</Distributor>
<Files>
<File name='bin\x64\witcher3.exe' />
<File name='bin\ddi\Steam.dll' />
</Files>
<Hypersampling>0</Hypersampling>
<HypersamplingFactors>2;4</HypersamplingFactors>
<Icon>bin\x64\witcher3.exe</Icon>
<Image>bin\x64\witcher3.exe</Image>
<IsAutomatable>1</IsAutomatable>
<IsStreamingSupported>1</IsStreamingSupported>
<Launch>start steam://rungameid/292030</Launch>
<SteamAppIds>
<id>292030</id>
<id>124923</id>
</SteamAppIds>
<StreamingAutomatedLaunch>0</StreamingAutomatedLaunch>
<StreamingCaption>The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt</StreamingCaption>
<StreamingClassName>W2ViewportClass</StreamingClassName>
<StreamingCmdLine>start steam://rungameid/292030</StreamingCmdLine>
<WhisperModePopsFactor>0.588</WhisperModePopsFactor>
</Version>
</Fingerprint>
It’s fairly obvious what most of the tags inside this entry are for. The most important one, however, is the CMSID tag. This is the id number that Nvidia identifies your game with and uses to launch in GameStream. Also take note of the Files tag. In here you will find the files that Nvidia is looking for when scanning for new games.
I’ll also point out here that when you launch an officially supported GameStream game on your Shield, the shortcuts that are created on the homescreen are actual self contained apps.
The method of this guide is fairly straightforward:
1) We make an new entry in fingerprint.db with a custom CMSID, and fill out the rest of the information inside our entry to ensure that our game is detected and launched properly.
2) We extract one of the apks for the GameStream shortcut apps that are on our Shield’s homescreen, and copy this apk to our pcs.
3) We replace every instance of the old CMSID in the apk with our newly created CMSID, then recompile the apk and install it on our Shields.
Once this is done your newly installed shortcut app will launch your game as defined in the new entry you made in fingerprint.db. One thing to point out is that Geforce Experience overwrites fingerprint.db frequently (how frenquently, I don’t know.) I’ve changed this file to be read-only (via the security tab) on my system, which I hope will stop it from being overwritten. As a backup, I keep all of my custom entries in fingerprint.db backed up in a separate file, which I will simply append to the original database if the above method doesn’t work. (not sure how Window’s permission policies work.)
I’m not going to write a step-by-step guide here, but rather describe the game I’m launching and go from there. I like playing games on the WiiU emulator, Cemu, through GameStream. What I did here is create a shortcut in Steam to launch Mario Kart 8 directly in Cemu (if you have questions on how to do this, you can Google it.) I then used the option in Steam to make a desktop shortcut for this Steam shortcut, which creates a .url file that launches the game. Looking at this file’s properties shows that it runs the command: steam://rungameid/9898741384892907520. This is the command that I have GameStream launch. Note that your command will differ depending on what you are launching.
Now, here’s my entry for Mario Kart 8 in fingerprint.db:
Code:
<Fingerprint name='mario_kart_8'>
<DisplayName>Mario Kart 8</DisplayName>
<Version name='generic'>
<CMSID>500000001</CMSID>
<CMSVersion>1</CMSVersion>
<Distributor>Nintendo</Distributor>
<Icon>Mario Kart 8.url</Icon>
<Image>Mario Kart 8.url</Image>
<Launch>start steam://rungameid/9898741384892907520</Launch>
<IsAutomatable>1</IsAutomatable>
<IsStreamingSupported>1</IsStreamingSupported>
<StreamingAutomatedLaunch>1</StreamingAutomatedLaunch>
<StreamingCmdLine>start steam://rungameid/9898741384892907520</StreamingCmdLine>
<StreamingCaption>Mario Kart 8</StreamingCaption>
<StreamingClassName>W2ViewportClass</StreamingClassName>
<Files>
<File name='Mario Kart 8.url' />
</Files>
</Version>
</Fingerprint>
Adding this entry will cause GeforceExperience to add the game to GameStream as an officially supported title. However, It won’t do so right away. To get GeforceExperience to use our newly updated fingerprint.db, you can either end the correct nvcontainer.exe process in the Task Manager (there are a few) or just restart your computer. After this, scan for new titles in Geforce Experience and your new entry should be detected, and should appear on your Shield. Sometimes it takes a further restart of your PC for the game to finally appear on the Shield. It won’t, however, create a shortcut on your Shield’s homescreen. That’s the next step: making your custom apk.
I won’t explain all the different ways to extract apks from your Shield and so on. Here’s what I did:
1) Extracted the apk using Total Commander on my Shield.
2) Copied the apk to my desktop
3) Decompiled the apk using EasyApk (available on Xda-Developers)
4) Opened the AndroidManifest file and all the files in the res and smali folders in my code editor. I use Atom. Replaced all instances of the old CMSID with the new CMSID in all these files. (ctrl-f, find all, replace all.)
5) Replaced the banner and icon in the \res\mipmap-xhdpi-v4\ folder with new ones. You can also change the title of the app in strings.xml, as well as the color of the animation that is displayed when the app is launched in colors.xml. These are in \res\values\.
6) Recompiled the apk with EasyApk, and installed it on my Shield.
That’s basically it. The new apk will launch the game as defined in fingerprint.db, directly from the Shield’s homescreen.
Now, there are some drawbacks to using this method. One is that no poster and blurred background will be displayed on the screen as the GameStream stream loads. This can be solved, but only with root. Briefly, here’s how to solve it:
When GeforceExperience detects and adds a new game it creates an entry in the following file:
Code:
\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\Nvidia\NvBackend\journalBS.main.xml
Here’s the beginning of one of these entries:
Code:
<Id_57f8f0c0 Type="1">
<Id Type="2">1475932352</Id>
<CmsId Type="2">500000001</CmsId>
<CmsVersion Type="2">1</CmsVersion>
<DisplayName Type="4">Mario Kart 8</DisplayName>
<ShortName Type="4">mario_kart_8</ShortName>
The important info here is the second Id Tag: 1475932352. Keep it in mind. Now, copying your poster image to tegrazone3’s cache folder, located here:
Code:
/data/data/com.nvidia.tegrazone3/cache
on to your Shield will allow the poster to be displayed when the game is loading (and also while inside the Nvidia Games app.) However, a couple of things first:
One is that you must copy this image after the Nvidia Games app decides to move all its images from whatever internal mechanism or database it uses to store them, to the cache folder. This shouldn’t take too long. 5 mins? 10 mins? No idea. However, one way to force it is to clear Nvidia Games cache and data in Android Settings so that it is rebuilt. About 10 minutes afterward you should be good to copy your posters into the cache folder. You’ll know that it is time when you are being asked to overwrite the old files in the cache folder (to which you will reply ‘yes’).
Here’s the other thing, your poster must be named like this: img_s2_g1475932352_t2_i0null. Notice the part in bold. This is the ID taken from journalBS.main.xml. Also notice: there is NO file extension.
And that’s about it! Be aware that the Nvidia Games app may overwrite these cached images at some point, such as when the cache is cleared in Android Settings. I keep all my files in another folder on the Shield to be quickly copied back if and when that happens. Also, this doesn’t break the game’s launching ability anyway, so it’s not such a big deal. I’ve thought about experimenting with the read/write permissions of these files like I did with fingerprint.db. Haven’t tried it yet but it’s a potential solution, and also a potential Nvidia Games crashing error.
I’ll also mention tegrazone3’s database files. I’m not sure what the cause-effect relationship is between these files and Geforce Experience. However, there is the potential to edit this database directly as an alternative to the above guide. I tried editing it with a sqlite editor on my pc and it caused all posters to appear blank in Nvidia Games. And since the above guide worked for my purposes I decided not to spend any more time on the matter.
And now, finally: IS THIS WORTH THE TROUBLE??? Probably not. Not for most people, anyway haha. I don’t play that many different games so doing the above for those handful of games wasn’t a huge deal. I also really hate having to go through the Nvidia Games app and seeing all that tegrazone grid streaming what-have-yous. I don’t use that stuff, and much much rather have everything I do use displayed on my homescreen. But if you have hundreds of games that you would like added to your Shield’s home screen, I’m sure you stopped reading long ago.
That’s it! Hope I didn’t forget anything.

Awesome Guide!
I've never done any of this stuff before, and I was able to follow this guide and it seemingly worked perfectly! I do have one question about an issue I ran into, though. The game I made "gamestream ready" now defaults to mouse/keyboard controls versus shield controller controls. So now when I open the game, I have to hold the start button to make the "on screen controls" go away. Here is my custom fingerprint entry. (ignore my formatting here, I couldn't get it to paste right)
<Fingerprint name='monster_energy_supercross'>
<DisplayName>Monster Energy Supercross</DisplayName>
<Version name='generic'>
<CMSID>500000002</CMSID>
<CMSVersion>1</CMSVersion>
<Distributor>Steam</Distributor>
<Icon>supercross.exe</Icon>
<Image>supercross.exe</Image>
<Launch>start steam://rungameid/711750</Launch>
<IsAutomatable>1</IsAutomatable>
<IsStreamingSupported>1</IsStreamingSupported>
<StreamingAutomatedLaunch>1</StreamingAutomatedLaunch>
<StreamingCmdLine>start steam://rungameid/711750</StreamingCmdLine>
<StreamingCaption>Monster Energy Supercross</StreamingCaption>
<StreamingClassName>W2ViewportClass</StreamingClassName>
<Files>
<File name='supercross.exe' />
</Files>
</Version>
</Fingerprint>
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

wooow so, maybe, will be possible to share gamestream games unsupported from nvidia?
will be awesome!!

Sorry for necroposting)
Great tutor!! Thanks for your investigation!
I've also seen there some lua wrappers over each supported game. Maybe main magic is there?
I think all this actions can be described in the lua scripts for each title and running automatically after game detected.

Related

mobilePVD - PocketPC client for movie managment PVD

Hi all!
This is the PocketPC Version (Viewer) of PVD the very best program to organize your movies.
You can download the PC version from http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/.
My thoughts were: what is the best movie managing and cataloging software worth while in the movie store and searching for a title... or sitting in front of the TV and trying to remember what cool movie I could watch...
That, and enjoying to write software for my mobile phone, were the reasons for mobilePVD.
The software is published at PVD's home and at xda-developers place.
How it works
First of all, you have to get PVD and enter your movies. After that, make a XML export. This writes a file containing the movie information and a directory containing the pictures. Take both and copy them onto your device. I recommend to copy them onto the SD card in a sub directory PVD.
Download mobilePVD and install it on your device. When starting, you will have to select the XML file by clicking Menu->Open DB. Your can select other languages and other skins (if someone makes them ).
When going to a sublist in mobilePVD (i.e. viewing the movie details or selecting directories) and you want to get back, just slide with your finger over the list from left to right...
How to translate
In the program directory on the device is a sub directory called "Languages". Within you find the language files. I deployed English and German so far. To make own translations just copy a file to your desktop, open it with any text editor and translate. Please publish your translation on either forum, so I can build the next version with more supported languages.
How to skin
also in the program directory you will find a sub directory "Skin" with all the images I use. The images in "Manila WVGA" are for a resolution of 800x480. If you like you can take those bitmaps and change them to fit other resolutions and other colors. Don't forget to adapt the settings in the skin.ini file.
And please share your work with us and publish your skins on either forum. I will put them in the download section.
Have fun!
Obelix
Changelog:
2.1 Filtering is back and actors are grouped by first letter.
2.0 uses virtual mode to load more movies before reaching end of memory
1.1 out of memory problem fixed
1.0 Initial release
If you like my work, you can buy me a glass of wine
Version 2.1 of mobilePVD
I was hoping this allows you to enter movie info directly on mobilePVD. A desktop entry method is rather inconvenient. Would that be possible?
Does this also mean I have to re-export everytime I add movies? I took a look at the desktop version and it is very good. I can see why it is more practical using the desktop for entry of movie info.
Obelix_A, I have exported some movies and I must say it looks really nice on my HD2 although it is still not very stable, sometime I get an error that quits the program. It's only 3 movies so I am wondering if it may sow down when I have much more (2,800 in my collection). I would love to have Ratings and duration. It is missing after export. Thanks, this is great for movie lovers just like IMDB Mobile. I am just surprised that there is not much feedback yet.
I like it to a while to sort all my movies and still didnt get all the pictures from IMDB, hey ho did it manually, i need to change the skins to VGA how do i go about that im a bit of a noobie when it comes to skins?
The Actor list is huge and is close to impossible to scroll all the way down to "T" etc. Can we have a sort of filter to search actor names? trev666, use IMP plugin for movie posters. It's excellent.
@Kensong cheers mate
it works well after i restarted my phone, without changing anything from wvga to vga so im happy, thanks man not looking forward to adding all my movies though lol
Ok so i now have a HD2.... works great
great app, thanks for sharing it
here we go with Version 2.0 of mobilePVD. It now uses a virtual mode of the SliderList, what means, that it can load more movies before running out of memory.
If it runs on your devices as stable as it does on mine, we can start adding new features...
Really nice work mate
Really nice work
If you don't mind, i have share it HERE.
Please feel free to drop me a comment if you have anything else to add or in case i have missed anything. Cheers~
just released version 2.1
Filtering is back now and actors are grouped by first letter
I have installed v2.1 right now.
If I click on one of the "-" e.g. "- Actors" I get an exception:
"RemoveItem in virtual mode not allowed"
I am very interested in the development of mobilePVD since I would love to have my movie list on my phone (TD2).
Is mobilePVD a "one man show" or are you planing to involve more developers?
I will check this and fix it...
Yes mPVD is a one-man-show. you can ask my friend amirdt (here on XDA) if he wants to join the project...
Actually I wanted to ask if I could help you with mPVD
what exactly do you want to add?
the only thing I could imagine right now, is another way to read the data.
play around with PVD and the exported data (XML) and how fast you can read it.
currently I am reading with XmlReader.Read and evaluate the nodes. If you can read faster, this would help. other proposals welcome
Here is just a spontaneous list:
- WM 6.5.5 Problem with menus. The black background (when menues are displayed) does not cover the whole screen. Above there is some space visible. This is because the top bar (where the clock is) is smaller and the windows task bar is bigger in WM 6.5.5 (Sorry, cant supply a picture now how it looks like)
- Filter Actors: Add a search field also
- Add a clear button to the search fields to clear the field easily
- Add (Readd?) a ">" to the Movie list to open the movie details (I think the ">" was already there in an earlier version.
- Maybe make the UI somehow less sensitive. At least on my device it moves very quickly. E.g. I cant open the details view without moving the movie list view up or down accidentally.
- Add "Reset all Filters" menu item to the Filter Menu.
- Remove the search field in the detailed movie view to get more space to view the details.
- Maybe make the "letter lines" (+A, +B, ..) in the actors view a little bit thicker so that it is easier to open/close them with a larger thumb
- Maybe add the "letter lines" (+A, +B, ..) to the movie list also. Dont know, how large collections will be handled right now.
- Add more filters like rating (stars...)
- Add movie trailer support (e.g. prepare trailers on PC (conversion etc.) and copy them to device. Link from within mPVD to start media player on device)
- ...
So where can I get the source code to get started with it?
Regards
Al
ok, ok
I will prepare the sources and make it available for you via SVN, so we can handle developing both.
By now, the list won't move when clicking. I changed that... (but all other things from your list can/need to be done)
so, drop me a PM with your wished user name and password for SVN and give me little time to prepare...
alfish2000 now officially joined the development of mobilePVD. So let's welcome him
thanks for your support!
http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1755.40

Include local JavaScript within PhoneGap on Windows Phone 7

I have a PhoneGap application designed to work on multiple mobile platforms. I'm loading a dynamic HTML content from an external page on the Internet using jQuery Mobile. The problematic system is Windows Phone 7.
This is what I get from the external page, with the URL of the script tag already replaced to load from the phone instead of from the net to save bandwidth:
HTML:
<script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="x-wmapp1:/app/www/test.js"></script>
This works fine on Android, iPhone and even BlackBerry when I replaced the x-wmapp1: part by a respective counterpart (e.g. file:///android_asset/www/ on Android). However, on Windows Phone 7 it doesn't seem to work at all.
When I try to load the same URL via $.getScript function, it always returns a 404 eror, even if I try and load it with a relative path only.
Any suggestions?
First of all, this type of question may be better suited to the Software Development or Apps and Games sub-forums, as a lot of the people who hang out here are more familiar with homebrew hacks. I'll give it a shot, though.
First of all, what kind of path are you trying to use? I haven't tried loading scripts or images in HTML or JS, but to dynamically load content within the app itself typically requires some care with regard to the path. For example, is the JS file being built into the assembly (as a resource) or included alongside it (as content)? How about the HTML page?
This is a kind of lame approach, but one option that's sure to work is just inlining the scripts in the page, directly. That won't increase the total app size or load time at all, although it might make maintaining the app take a little bit more effort.
Thanks for the reply, I will try to post this into the more appropriate forum.
With regards to paths - you can see the path in the HTML snippet I provided in the original question. It's all a bit specific and we cannot afford to load JS directly from page, since that does increase the size of the resulting HTML, sent from an external PHP page, thus increasing bandwidth. This is the first reason why we chose to have all JS and CSS files directly bundled with the application and load them internally rather than from Internet.
Also, all of JS files are included alongside the application as content. I'm using the same approach for all images, since if they were included as a resource, they would not show in the application.
GoodDayToDie said:
First of all, this type of question may be better suited to the Software Development or Apps and Games sub-forums, as a lot of the people who hang out here are more familiar with homebrew hacks. I'll give it a shot, though.
First of all, what kind of path are you trying to use? I haven't tried loading scripts or images in HTML or JS, but to dynamically load content within the app itself typically requires some care with regard to the path. For example, is the JS file being built into the assembly (as a resource) or included alongside it (as content)? How about the HTML page?
This is a kind of lame approach, but one option that's sure to work is just inlining the scripts in the page, directly. That won't increase the total app size or load time at all, although it might make maintaining the app take a little bit more effort.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First question: have you set the IsScriptEnabled proerty on the control to True? It defaults to False, preventing scripting within the control. Also, changing it only takes effect
on navigation, so if you already loaded the page and then set this property, it still won't work.
Anyhow, I missed that your HTML was coming externally, and only the scripts and stylesheets were local. That's... interesting, and seems reasonable enough, and I can't find any info online that exactly matches your use case. The way you're structuring the script src URI looks weird to me, but I haven't messed with the WebBrowserControl very much at all.
One solution, though a bit hacky:
Use the WebBrowserControl's InvokeScript function to dynamically load scripts into your pages. To do this, you would first need to load the script file content into a .NET String object. The GetResourceStream function is probably your best friend here, combined with ReadToEnd(). Then, just invoke the eval() JS function, which should be built-in, and pass it the JS file content. That will load the JS into the web page, creating objects (including functions) and executing instructions as the files are eval()ed.
Of course, you'd need to do this on every page navigation, but you can actually automate it such that the page itself requests that the app load those scripts. In your app, bind the script-loading function to the ScriptNotify event handler, probably with some parameter such as the name of the script to load. Then, on each page served from your server to the app, instead of including standard <script src=...> tags, use <script>window.external.notify('load localscript1.js')</script> and so on; this will trigger the app's ScriptNotify function for you.
I hope that helps. I can see your use case, but somewhat surprisingly, I couldn't find anybody else online who had either run into your problem or written a tutorial on doing it your way.
Thank you for your reply, it was very informative. One question though - why do you think the way I'm structuring the SCRIPT URI is wierd? I tried to mess around with relative URIs and the such, however those would load the JavaScript file from Internet rather than from the application itself.
The problem I'm running into with your proposed solutions, however is that:
1. the project is a PhoneGap/Cordova application, using its own components, so I have no idea where I would look for IsScriptEnabled here (although this all worked on an older PhoneGap release, so I'm guessing they have it set up correctly)
2. injecting a script programmatically on each navigation would require me to rewrite much of the code we already use for other platforms, not to mention those custom Cordova components, which I don't even know if they can handle such thing
As for my user case - I was surprised to be the only guy on the internet with this methodology in place as well. So it either works for everyone else or nobody really thought of doing it my way, since it's basically an Internet application (maybe the don't want to disclose their sources, who knows).
CyberGhost636 said:
1. the project is a PhoneGap/Cordova application, using its own components, so I have no idea where I would look for IsScriptEnabled here (although this all worked on an older PhoneGap release, so I'm guessing they have it set up correctly)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the WebBrowser properties.
CyberGhost636 said:
As for my user case - I was surprised to be the only guy on the internet with this methodology in place as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course you not "the only guy". I've tried to port/run a few HTML java-script based games on WP7 (Digger and couple more) more then year ago; they runs well with one HUGE exception - touch screen events are freezing scripts execution and make games not playable.
The "x-wmapp1:" URI scheme was what I was referring to. Not sure where that comes from, but I haven't done anything really with the WebBrowser control.
I have no knowledge of PhoneGap or Cordova; I assume they're "we write your app for you" frameworks? One would assume that such tools would know to set IsScriptEnabled, but you may have to do so manually. A bit of web searching on that direction may be fruitful - maybe earlier versions enabled scripting by default, and now it's disabled by default so you have to specify an option somewhere?
Injecting the script on navigation really doesn't require any major change to the server-side code. I mean, is sending
<script>window.external.notify('load localscript1.js')</script>
really much different from sending
<script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="x-wmapp1:/app/www/test.js"></script>
? If that's too different, you could instead send
<script src="http://yourserver.com/LoadLocalScripts.js"></script>
and put "LoadLocalScripts.js" on your server with the following code:
window.external.notify('load localscript1.js');
This has only a trivial increase in server traffic and load time, but lets you continue using external scripts instead of inline ones. Very little server-side change needed at all.
Now, the additional client-side code to support the window.external.notify and call InvokeScript... normally I'd say that's dead easy, because it is if you have any experience with the .NET framework, but in your case I get the feeling that this isn't so? I code to the framework, or to the underlying native code, and I tend to code "raw" (very little auto-generated code), so I'm not going to be able to help you solve the problems with a "make me an app" wizard unless I can see the code it generates for you.
For what it's worth, here's the approximate raw code that I'd use (it's over-simplified, but close enough):
void HandleNotify (String param) {
String[] parts = param.split(" ");
if (parts[0] == "load") LoadScript(parts[1]);
}
void LoadScript (String script) {
String content = Application.GetResourceStream(new Uri(script, UriType.Absolute)).ReadToEnd();
theBrowserControl.InvokeScript("eval", content);
}
void theBrowserControl_Loaded (...event handler args here...) {
theBrowserControl.IsScriptEnabled = true;
theBrowserControl.ScriptNotify += HandleNotify;
theBrowserControl.Navigate("http://yoursite.com");
}
the URI comes from Windows Phone itself, with this code, you can see for yourself:
var a = document.createElement('a');
a.setAttribute('href', '.');
alert(a.href);
also, I've been informed that this works in Cordova 2.0, so it might be a 1.8.1 bug... will try and see how it goes
thanks for your help so far!
Looks like it was a problem with PhoneGap 1.8.1 - after upgading to Cordova 2.0 (PhoneGap got renamed) it all works now... thanks for all the help!

Deleting built in (and otherwise undeletable) metro apps (saves disk space too.)

EDIT: Found a faster and cleaner way!
You guys who run tablets that have uber tiny amounts of storage (e.g. 32gb dell venue 8 pro) might want to do this as it will free up space used by apps that you probably don't even touch. You can always just install any you want to keep from the Windows store, but personally I think 8 apps are all crap (except Netflix.)
Click start > type 'powershell' (no quotes) > press ctrl+shift+enter > (say yes if it asks)
Type the following:
Get-AppXProvisionedPackage -online | Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage -online
Get-AppXPackage | Remove-AppxPackage
Tada! No more useless built in Windows apps taking up disk space, and new user accounts don't start with a cluttered start menu.
If you're like me and you keep an autoconfigure batch script for new installations, you can accomplish the above with the following lines:
powershell -Command "Get-AppXProvisionedPackage -online | Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage -online"
powershell -Command "Get-AppXPackage | Remove-AppxPackage"
Guessing this works with RT as well, but it's a sad OS that I wouldn't ever buy, so I can't test.
(Old post sticking around for archival purposes)
I never use these things. I don't like apps that force full screen when it is really unnecessary. I guess it makes sense for a touch screen, but for a desktop this is downright stupid, especially when you have a big monitor and like working with multiple things at once. Anyways, I noticed that these take up a gig of space, and I am on an SSD, so space is precious. Sadly, uninstalling them from the start menu doesn't actually delete them, in fact it's really no different at all from using the unpin from start option.
Simply navigating to that folder to delete them doesn't work. First you'll claim ownership via the UI, and then it will at least let you browse the folder. I tried taking it a step further and using the universal "take all" method from an admin prompt:
d:\windows\program files\> icacls windowsapps\* /T /C /Grant UsersOI)(CI)(MA)
It failed. So I figured, let's try rebooting to the command console and do the same thing. Success! Well, not really.
If you type del windowsapps, it pretends to delete them, but it doesn't actually do so. Microsoft is clever, they really went out of their way to make sure you keep them and like them! So I took it a step further, I tried the same thing from WinPE by booting from the install disk, hitting the repair button, and navigating to the command shell. Same result as above. Microsoft REALLY wants to make sure they remain intact.
Fortunately though, I have an ace up my sleeve. I booted a linux ISO, mounted the partition, and did an rm -rf WindowsApps, and lo and behold, its gone! You see, linux doesn't really care if you keep metro apps, it just does whatever you tell it to.
By the way, I did this inside of a VM just to make sure that it doesn't break anything, and so far, it doesn't appear to do so. The apps still remain in the start menu (if you didn't unpin them) but launching them just returns right back to the start menu. No worries, just unpin them and it will stay out of sight and out of mind.
Something confuses me though...the live tiles for these apps still actually work. At least, the live tiles for news, finance, and travel still work, but launching the app just drops you back to the start menu. My guess is that the live tile portion of the app runs in another process. Somebody who is more familiar with WinRT could chime in here. Also, the useless windows store and some important things like the desktop app and the "pc settings" app (aka metro control panel) remains intact, so no issues there.
Anyways, I'd like to figure out a way to delete these while windows is still running, that way I can automate doing so when I install windows. Any ideas? My current thought is to remove them from the install.wim, but it's kind of a PITA and often something goes wrong when I try to muck with that.
Thanks for the info. I won't be able to do the research until the weekend, but in searching for windows 8 (non-Microsoft) themes, I found info on a program (I hate that all of a sudden all programs are being called 'apps') which lets you take (for real) ownership if system files. The info where I ran into it's usage was because Windows 7 and 8 need either hacked system files (guess having a hacked 7 with legit license was a great idea) or a special program to load a custom theme.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
Out of curiosity, what built-in apps did you find to be un-deleteable? Removing the built-in apps that I didn't use (Finance, News, etc.) was easy; just right-click or flick downward (to select the tile) then select Uninstall. Leftover files in the WindowsApps dir could be removed.
GoodDayToDie said:
Out of curiosity, what built-in apps did you find to be un-deleteable? Removing the built-in apps that I didn't use (Finance, News, etc.) was easy; just right-click or flick downward (to select the tile) then select Uninstall. Leftover files in the WindowsApps dir could be removed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The built in apps that it places on the start menu when you first log in to Windows 8. It prevents you from deleting them, because then new accounts won't see the apps, and it forces them on to the start menu by default.
You can delete them from Start easily enough, if for some reason you find their presence there offensive. You can also delete the updated versions from the device. The basline (1.2) versions are, I assume, what you are complaining about... meh. If you want to bang your head against this, go ahead. I get what you're asking for now, though I really don't understand why. Besides, full-screen or not, some of the "Metro" apps are pretty good, especially a few of the games (which are frequently FS anyhow). It's worth keeping the store around for free game downloads IMO... but I think we've already established that our opinions differ on how to use Win8.
GoodDayToDie said:
You can delete them from Start easily enough, if for some reason you find their presence there offensive. You can also delete the updated versions from the device. The basline (1.2) versions are, I assume, what you are complaining about... meh. If you want to bang your head against this, go ahead. I get what you're asking for now, though I really don't understand why. Besides, full-screen or not, some of the "Metro" apps are pretty good, especially a few of the games (which are frequently FS anyhow). It's worth keeping the store around for free game downloads IMO... but I think we've already established that our opinions differ on how to use Win8.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're thinking of using the "uninstall" option from the start menu. That does NOT delete them, it just removes all references to them. They still reside on the hard disk and consume disk space. On my 120GB SSD on my laptop, every gig counts. Why leave them there when they are doing nothing at all? No banging your head involved, just boot up linux, rm -rf WinApps, problem solved.
Anyways, last I checked there were approximately zero AAA titles in the windows store. In fact, I've yet to see any windows app do anything that can't already be done better in a web browser. I'm not particularly impressed with solitaire collection, pinball, toy soldiers...and ooh mahjong, the game to end all games. The only one even remotely interesting is hydro thunder, in which case they ought to call it Retro instead of Metro.
Rakeesh_j said:
I never use these things. I don't like apps that force full screen when it is really unnecessary. I guess it makes sense for a touch screen, but for a desktop this is downright stupid, especially when you have a big monitor and like working with multiple things at once. Anyways, I noticed that these take up a gig of space, and I am on an SSD, so space is precious. Sadly, uninstalling them from the start menu doesn't actually delete them, in fact it's really no different at all from using the unpin from start option.
Simply navigating to that folder to delete them doesn't work. First you'll claim ownership via the UI, and then it will at least let you browse the folder. I tried taking it a step further and using the universal "take all" method from an admin prompt:
d:\windows\program files\> icacls windowsapps\* /T /C /Grant UsersOI)(CI)(MA)
It failed. So I figured, let's try rebooting to the command console and do the same thing. Success! Well, not really.
If you type del windowsapps, it pretends to delete them, but it doesn't actually do so. Microsoft is clever, they really went out of their way to make sure you keep them and like them! So I took it a step further, I tried the same thing from WinPE by booting from the install disk, hitting the repair button, and navigating to the command shell. Same result as above. Microsoft REALLY wants to make sure they remain intact.
Fortunately though, I have an ace up my sleeve. I booted a linux ISO, mounted the partition, and did an rm -rf WindowsApps, and lo and behold, its gone! You see, linux doesn't really care if you keep metro apps, it just does whatever you tell it to.
By the way, I did this inside of a VM just to make sure that it doesn't break anything, and so far, it doesn't appear to do so. The apps still remain in the start menu (if you didn't unpin them) but launching them just returns right back to the start menu. No worries, just unpin them and it will stay out of sight and out of mind.
Something confuses me though...the live tiles for these apps still actually work. At least, the live tiles for news, finance, and travel still work, but launching the app just drops you back to the start menu. My guess is that the live tile portion of the app runs in another process. Somebody who is more familiar with WinRT could chime in here. Also, the useless windows store and some important things like the desktop app and the "pc settings" app (aka metro control panel) remains intact, so no issues there.
Anyways, I'd like to figure out a way to delete these while windows is still running, that way I can automate doing so when I install windows. Any ideas? My current thought is to remove them from the install.wim, but it's kind of a PITA and often something goes wrong when I try to muck with that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to remove them from a windows install image
http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/37039-Remove-Metro-appz-and-default-associations-to-them
phailyoor said:
If you want to remove them from a windows install image
http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/37039-Remove-Metro-appz-and-default-associations-to-them
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, thanks!
You could had taken ownership of the WindowsApps folder and delete it, that's what I did.
Rakeesh_j said:
You're thinking of using the "uninstall" option from the start menu. That does NOT delete them, it just removes all references to them. They still reside on the hard disk and consume disk space. On my 120GB SSD on my laptop, every gig counts. Why leave them there when they are doing nothing at all? No banging your head involved, just boot up linux, rm -rf WinApps, problem solved.
Anyways, last I checked there were approximately zero AAA titles in the windows store. In fact, I've yet to see any windows app do anything that can't already be done better in a web browser. I'm not particularly impressed with solitaire collection, pinball, toy soldiers...and ooh mahjong, the game to end all games. The only one even remotely interesting is hydro thunder, in which case they ought to call it Retro instead of Metro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, so a game is only good if it has AAA backing?
Konstantinos said:
You could had taken ownership of the WindowsApps folder and delete it, that's what I did.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried that, even used some command line stuff that break all file locks and ensure that the current user has full control over the files. It would let you delete them, even go through and say it deleted them, but when you look in the directory again, they are still there.
link68759 said:
Oh, so a game is only good if it has AAA backing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. My current favorites are both indie titles, and are not AAA. Those being Natural-Selection 2, and League of Legends.
For Google Chrome, there are MORE and BETTER games than in the Windows store, and to a lesser extent, Firefox as well. Yep, web browsers have better games than the Windows store.
Every single game in the windows store is either old or just plain crap. I played Angry Birds on a CELL PHONE over a YEAR ago. These are all casual games, not games that you sit down for a marathon session to play. If the windows store is your idea of a good place to get games, then I dare you to go to your friends and say "Hey guys, let's all go to my house and play some reversi and then some tick tack toe!" and see what kind of reaction you get. Or how about one better, ask them to bring their PC's over for a windows 8 lan party, I'm sure they'll get right on that one.
The two games I listed above are legit desktop titles. Windows 8 games are not. In fact, as I've said numerous times, there isn't a single windows store app that does anything that isn't already done better in a browser.
So I'm doing the ol' nuclear option of a reformat for the windows 8.1 update, and I just updated OP to include some new info I found (Maybe common knowledge at this point after 18 months of futzing around with 8? Who knows, just something I discovered on my own a few minutes ago while tinkering with powershell.)
Really neat and really clean compared to the other way.
I use Embedded edition that doesn't include preinstalled metro apps (only IE, skydrive and photo viewer are included)
441Excelsior said:
I use Embedded edition that doesn't include preinstalled metro apps (only IE, skydrive and photo viewer are included)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
windows embedded is not windows 8...
windows 8.1 Embedded Industry Pro is the same as Windows 8.1 Pro
here is screen of my desktop
441Excelsior said:
I use Embedded edition that doesn't include preinstalled metro apps (only IE, skydrive and photo viewer are included)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's effectively what you get when you run the two commands I listed. For whatever reason, skydrive and photo viewer aren't possible to remove. In fact they don't even appear to reside in the WindowsApps folder...I'm not even sure where they reside.
ok but true reason why I use embedded edition is that I got free product key from MS DreamSpark

[GAME MOD] Asphalt 8 v.1.6.0e - graphics unlocked for cappy

Hello everyone!
I'm a fan of Asphalt series and recently I got my hands on latest game in this series, Asphalt 8: Airborne. It's awesome arcade, and it should have great graphics, but... Somewhy this game doesn't detect hardware on Samsung Captivate Glide and allows it to run only on lowest or low graphics setting. But the worse thing is that there are no traffic on the streets, no high car detail, no objects on the road to break for us... That's just ugly!
I made a config for this game that allows us to play with unlocked for all devices:
- Road and car specular,
- Skid marks and car particles,
- High car details,
- Realistic damage effects on collisions (bumpers and doors are flying off!),
- Road traffic,
- Breakable road objects.
Also, there are unlocked medium and high graphics settings for all devices (the default setting is medium).
On our Captivate Glide game's running smoothly on low gfx settings with all these additions, and when OC'd to 1300 Mhz, it can be well played on medium with all shadows and road reflections.
You should download this apk (ver. 1.6.0e) to use external config: Asphalt 8 1.6.0e - external gfx config.apk, made by Enyby from 4pda.ru
To install:
1. Backup your current game. Rename game obb folder (named "com.gameloft.android.ANMP.GloftA8HM" and located on cappy in /storage/sdcard0/Android/obb/). Delete Asphalt 8. Install this apk. Rename back game obb folder. Restore your save data from backup.
2. Download gameprofiles.txt from attachment here and place it on your device at: sdcard/Android/data/com.gameloft.android.ANMP.GloftA8HM/files/gameprofiles.txt
3. Enjoy.
I'm not sure about play over the internet, you certainly can't login with it using google+ (different apk signs), but maybe Facebook login should work.
I remeber this game, aspahlt 1&2 for ngage...good times xD...i miss my taco and my QD
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Yep, I still whistling some melodies from Asphalt 1 sometimes. Good times.
looks nice, even i was missing this..no traffic affects u on multiplayer badly
will try n report back
Makshow said:
Hello everyone!
I'm a fan of Asphalt series and recently I got my hands on latest game in this series, Asphalt 8: Airborne. It's awesome arcade, and it should have great graphics, but... Somewhy this game doesn't detect hardware on Samsung Captivate Glide and allows it to run only on lowest or low graphics setting. But the worse thing is that there are no traffic on the streets, no high car detail, no objects on the road to break for us... That's just ugly!
I looked into the apk file of Asphalt 8 v.1.3.0l and made some changes to the gameprofiles.json file I found inside.
So, here are unlocked for all devices:
- Road and car specular,
- Skid marks and car particles,
- High car details,
- Realistic damage effects on collisions (bumpers and doors are flying off!),
- Road traffic,
- Breakable road objects.
Also, there are unlocked medium and high graphics settings for all devices (the default setting is medium).
On our Captivate Glide game's running smoothly on low gfx settings with all these additions, and when OC'd to 1300 Mhz, it can be well played on medium with all shadows and road reflections.
Apk version is 1.3.0l and you will need a cache version of 13051.
To install:
Backup your current game. Rename game obb folder (named "com.gameloft.android.ANMP.GloftA8HM" and located on cappy in /storage/sdcard0/Android/obb/). Delete Asphalt 8. Install this apk. Rename back game obb folder. Restore your save data from backup. Enjoy.
Mod allows to play over the internet, but you can't login with it using google+ (different apk signs). Facebook login works fine.
I'm not responsible for any issues or bans you can encounter. But everything should be fine.
Download the apk: https://www.mediafire.com/?xkutzua2tx7n5x1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you encode and decode it...
HTC.EXPLORER said:
How do you encode and decode it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The gameprofiles.json file is encoded with MIME Base64. You can use Notepad++ or web sites like http://www.base64decode.org/
I dont have orignal version from play store. Can I directly install this or I need to download from ps first?
Sent from Galaxy Note 3 SM-N9005
I installed this file directly, everything worked fine. The game downloads cache without the need of playstore.
asphelt 8 save file for rooted androids.
i have save file with lot of mony and all stars and all cars. to contact me or how to do this in my facebook page go to facebook and type in url asphelt8
Asphalt 8 1.4.01 high graphics tutorial...
makshow,
I'm hoping you respond despite this threads age. I've been searching for a way to unlock high end graphics for this game forever. Some months ago I stumbled upon this XDA thread and it has truly been a life saver especially since I'm an Asphalt 8 fan as well. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with how to edit apk files to achieve what you have done with version 1.3.0l. as you can imagine, there have been several updates to this game since this threads original post. What I was wondering, if you could be so kind, is if you could post an updated version of this apk 1.4.1e with modified game profile.json file that unlocks full graphics capability for all devices. But also, and forgive my noob sensibility, could you perhaps include a brief tutorial on how you modified it. I think being able to edit apks in this manner is very interesting. In any event thanks in advance for anything you're able to do.
Editing apk file is not hard - .apk is a zip archive in it's core. So, if you wish to unlock graphics in some asphalt apk, you can do following steps:
1. Open newest Asphalt apk with some archiver such as WinRAR - you can even do it with Windows Explorer.
2. Browse inside the apk to \res\raw\gameprofiles.json and replace original file with attached gameprofiles.json.
3. Upload updated apk to your android device.
4. Install ZipSigner from Play Store, it's free. Launch ZipSigner, choose your modified apk and press the button to sign your file.
5. Install signed asphalt apk.
If you already have Asphalt installed, step 5 will be complex:
5. Backup your current game. Rename game obb folder (named "com.gameloft.android.ANMP.GloftA8HM" and located on cappy in /storage/sdcard0/Android/obb/). Uninstall current Asphalt 8. Install modified Asphalt apk. Rename back game obb folder. Restore your save data from backup.
Also, I uploaded 1.4.1e version, see updated first post or download it here: https://www.mediafire.com/?1ax12au164ersa1
Makshow,
Much obliged by this. Thank you for your detailed instructions, modified apk upload, and json profile my friend. I am always eager to learn new things. And though this process may not be difficult, I still very much appreciate you sharing your knowledge with those like myself who don't know how to do this. Especially, in a respectable manner. Many times, even in this XDA forum...simple questions like these are met with cruel responses and unwarranted criticism. Much respect and many thanks to you Makshow. God Bless You
can i edit here the starting money? instead of 1500 i'll change it to 9999999?
Asphalt 8 v.1.6.0e
Makshow,
Thank you for your instructions on how to modify the apk file. I've tried installing the modified apk 1.6.0e file several times on my device following your instructions perfectly, but unfortunately this version does not allow for the high graphics change. Do you think that the gameprofile.json file you uploaded needs to be modified or updated? I know this version 1.6.0e has a number of updates and changes included are much different than version 1.4.1e. If there is any way that you can help again I would very much appreciate it. The process you outlined for me has worked flawlessly on previous versions (I've tried). For some reason the 1.6.0e version will not take.
Any help you can provide...I would be much obliged
Darrell
Hello, Darrell! Unfortunately, currently I don't play Asphalt 8 and I don't have fast Internet connection even to download cache for this game (that's the main reason). So can't check new version.
Seems that they inserted gameprofiles config file right into the game code, so my method will no longer work. But there is russian hacker Enyby from 4pda.ru that made modded file with external config.
Download it here: Asphalt 8 1.6.0e - external gfx config.apk, install as usual, then download gameprofiles.txt file from attachment and place it on your device here: sdcard/Android/data/com.gameloft.android.ANMP.GloftA8HM/files/gameprofiles.txt
This should do the trick.
can you do this to version 1.5.0h please .
Doubt
I dont have a folder of asphalt 8 in android/obb
So shd i create a new one??
If yes,What shd i name it as??
can you do this to the 2.1.1f apk. i have tried your method but it is not working.
Need help with asphalt 8 version 2.4.0h
Hi please am having a problem with asphalt 8 version 2.4.0h, after copying the obb file to android/obb/com.game....* and then installing the apk, when I run the apk I find that the folder for the obb has been deleted, I've this several times even installing the apk and allowing it to download about 5mb once I copy the obb folder to android/obb it disappears immediately I run the application
Makshow said:
Editing apk file is not hard - .apk is a zip archive in it's core. So, if you wish to unlock graphics in some asphalt apk, you can do following steps:
1. Open newest Asphalt apk with some archiver such as WinRAR - you can even do it with Windows Explorer.
2. Browse inside the apk to \res\raw\gameprofiles.json and replace original file with attached gameprofiles.json.
3. Upload updated apk to your android device.
4. Install ZipSigner from Play Store, it's free. Launch ZipSigner, choose your modified apk and press the button to sign your file.
5. Install signed asphalt apk.
If you already have Asphalt installed, step 5 will be complex:
5. Backup your current game. Rename game obb folder (named "com.gameloft.android.ANMP.GloftA8HM" and located on cappy in /storage/sdcard0/Android/obb/). Uninstall current Asphalt 8. Install modified Asphalt apk. Rename back game obb folder. Restore your save data from backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Help
Can you make the graphics lower on LG G4 Beat some effects make the game lag on adreno 305 snapdragon 615 please make one for me

[Q] Best working Emulator Frontend?

Hey guys,
I've been trying to find the best way to put my games collection on my fire TV and so far all of them dont work well.
I even tried to use XBMC with the config information here: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=183527
No need to make any changes to the Rom Collection Browser since its been updated recently.
Rom Collection Browser(XBMC): Works but doesn't resolve misnamed files well at all. Gameboy Advance and PSX games collection buttons do nothing. Cant use because all images and videos are stored onto local drive maxing out the box space. I even made a Advancedsettings.xml file to move the cached items from xbmc to the usb drive and it doesnt allow my xbmc to run.
Advanced Launcher(XBMC): Requires much more configuration than Rom Browser. I keep getting a launcher.xml error when it tries to write to the plugin folder so it doesnt save any roms or changes.
Gamesome: Works, fantastic file identification but you have to input 100 games at a time or it will crash on new file scans. Also no way to remove previously scanned items that have moved or been deleted.
Any Input or ideas anyone?
If you have the choice to delete games through the Gamesome app,do so to properly remove them from the list.
If you have lingering game names,you will have to clear the data of the app in order to remove them,but will have to customize all of your settings again if you do clear the data.
retroben said:
If you have the choice to delete games through the Gamesome app,do so to properly remove them from the list.
If you have lingering game names,you will have to clear the data of the app in order to remove them,but will have to customize all of your settings again if you do clear the data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I figured that and thats a deal breaker because im not trying to redo my 23,000 nes roms 100 at a time again. and i have a collection of everything.
Are those from something "good" at a "paradise" for the animal known as "emu"?
retroben said:
Are those from something "good" at a "paradise" for the animal known as "emu"?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol yes
Here is an awesome place I once forgot the name of,but eventually found once again.
It has unlicensed and pirated nes game dumps for nes.
I wish that the large compilation pack was still available so you would only have to download one file.
cah4e3.shedevr.org.ru/
There's things like Zelda SNES port for NES,Toy Story partially ported from Genesis,and Pokemon Diamond 2 on NES.
It says FAMI Dumping Project,but they are in .nes format for easy playback.
Just use retroarch's FCEUmm core to play them all,as some are using difficult mappers.
Surprisingly,it is still ongoing with new dumps since the last one was June 21st this year.
HAVE FUN!

Categories

Resources