Related
UPDATE: found copies of older versions of Kindle Reader App (needed for a 2.2 tablet of mine - anything newer not only does not run, sometimes when it crashes it corrupts the system partition and almost-bricks the thing. but anyway...)
so I just now installed Kindle_3.4.1.1.apk, which does not use underlying amazon framework, it does its own signin. and guess what? other than being 3 years old, it works perfectly!!! I might try searching more to see if there is a latest version of old v3, or early versions of v4, that do their own signin and don't use the framework, but for now I am slightly happier (but still no thanks to amazon)
and it shows up as a completely separate device, "Yourname's 2nd Android Tablet", not "Yourname's Fire TV" - which makes sense given the two completely different forms of signin.
/UPDATE, and now back to original post...
this morning I checked and there was an updated kindle reader app on google store, dated 4/22 (I believe last time I tried was 4/8)
same result, it understands the amazon framework that's running, so already knows my account and can sign me in. but again now with this newer version, no still books show up. also noticed this time, if I go to amazon webpage of my kindle books, they all have an option for "send to device" ... I can send to my android phone, my PC, anything I installed kindle reader on. but the dropdown of devices does not ever include firetv.
I used the built-in "Send Feedback" part of the kindle app, on the firetv, to say how disappointed I was that something called "Kindle Fire TV" (that is the actual name of our device, for those unaware) was unable to read kindle books.
it was nice of Amazon to reply so quickly, however their reply mainly seems to be "we'll pass your suggestion along, but in the meantime why not buy one of our kindle tablets?"
I wish I had thought to mention how a lot of people with disabilities would very much like to be able to use a big television and firetv to read books, not some small tablet. (I also wish I had explicitly mentioned I was sending my feedback from kindle reader running on firetv)
even more funny, the "cloud reader" works perfectly fine in chrome on my firetv - of course, I had to turn on "request desktop site"... otherwise read.amazon.com says, "I see you are using an android device. you cannot use your android browser for cloud reader, but why not click on this link to the google play store and install kindle reader app?" - thanks guys, simply hilarious!
I don't know if a lot of people want to read their kindle books on firetv, but if you think you ever might, please consider writing to amazon (the feedback button in kindle reader app works great!!!) - thank you
Code:
Hello,
I'm sorry if you are not happy with the Amazon Fire TV you've bought.
Unfortunately, Fire TV won't run any Kindle application to read eBooks.
We've applications designed for other devices so that you can enjoy reading kindle books.
Amazon Fire TV can actually be used as an additional “Big Screen” option for using Second Screen and Display Mirroring features to display content from Kindle Fire 3rd Generation tablets to your TV screen.
Amazon Instant Video movies and TV shows, and Photos can be displayed with Second Screen to Amazon Fire TV.
However, using Fire TV to read Kindle books is a suggestion that can be worked upon.
I'll pass this on to our Kindle Development Team and I'm sure this will be looked into.
We'll consider your feedback as we plan further improvements.
Customer feedback like yours is always important to us.
I'll be sure to pass your message along to the appropriate department as we continue to improve the Kindle experience for our customers.
If you've any concerns/suggestions/complaints, then please let us know. We'd be more than glad to assist you.
sorry forgot to link
http://www.androiddrawer.com/10454/download-kindle-4-0-1-3-app-apk/
but on the right hand side if you click "more", it will show you 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8. and then into v4 ones.
I'll try e.g. v3.8 and see if I need to work my way up or back down...
UPDATE:
ok I did adb install -r Amazon Kindle_3.8.2.4.apk
something a little weird happened - I'm not sure if 3.8 uses the old login style or the new framework, but somehow it changed the device name of the Reader app from "blah2" (which is how I had set it) to simply "blah" (which is the same name as the firetv itself ... ??!?) - and even weirder, on amazon webpage, it shows I now have 2 devices named "blah" - one is a firetv, and one is "android".
I am now curious to push the latest kindle app and see if the weirdness continues. if it breaks it all, so what, I can start from the beginning
UPDATE 2:
latest com.amazon.kindle.apk (4.4 or something) did not work.
I wiped cache and data, force killed and uninstalled.
I then installed 4.0.1.3. it uses the amazon framework because I was not asked to sign in. and, like 3.8, it uses the same device name as the firetv.
it works perfectly. (well, annoyingly, the 360 controller doesn't work in the new carousel style home/library screen. but, importantly, it does still work for turning pages inside books! yay!)
so I will try going higher. it almost seems as if, at some point, amazon added something to the app to break firetv. would they really do that?
UPDATE 3:
4.1.1.1 also works. I did the install on top of 4.0, using adb install -r, if that makes any difference.
4.2.0.151 ditto.
NB: you WILL need a mouse to deal with the stupid carousel home/library page. I think even 3.8.2.4 might have changed to it from the grid. it was there starting in the v4.0 I tried, anyway. hm actually you will need a mouse even if you go to one of the subsections that let you change the display to grid/list. actually actually you will need a mouse to click the top-left 3-bar context/settings menu, to even GET to other subsections than the homepage. you will also need a mouse to click on a book to open it. neither the firetv remote nor a standard controller nor keyboard will work. well, in some of the subsections, if you hit tab on kbd, it focuses on the book list/grid and you can THEN use the remote or controller to go thru them. this could be part of why amazon killed it (hopefully temporarily) for firetv.
I may have to go back to 3.8 (I forget already if that one had this stupid ui behavior) or if not, back to 3.4 or maybe check out 3.5 etc.
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!
Dear XDA users,
Sky, Germanys biggest pay-tv provider, just released its first mobile app to watch Sky on the go. They stated that only a few devices are suppoted, but in several forums people state that all kind of devices succeed in running the sideloaded apk file.
Sadly the FireTV is left out, since app crashes after accepting some useage disclaimer after the first boot.
One user suggested, that Google Play Services are needed in order to boot the app properly, but installing those services on the FireTV didnt help either.
I tried to boot the app in portrait and landscape mode, no luck.
I tried a Xposed HDMI unlocking module, no luck.
I tried looking through the APK file for some settings to tinker around with, no luck.
I suppose that if somebody could get the app to run on the FireTV than its an XDA user.
Does somebody here maybe have an idea on how to get that app to run on the FireTV.
Any ideas on how to rum that app since it is compatible with many Android devices just not the beloves FireTV.
Sine the app is not international and only used in Germany and Austria the userbase is somewhat limited, maybe some kind soul will help us nonetheless
Links to the app / apk files: h****://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0AoE0_AolzDeVducGxveTV5ZGM/preview?pli=1
h****://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.sky.bw&hl=en
Maybe you should look at "Skycast" at github
Sky Go Germany working
We found a way to run Sky Go Germany on the german unrooted Fire TV:
aftvhacks.de/anleitung-wie-man-auf-dem-amazon-fire-tv-sky-go-installiert/
Bad coding habits of the Sky Go developers cause the app to crash - the app is not tolerant to various Resolution/DPI - an also the one of the Fire TV. An adb shell command fixes this problem and afterwards you can start the app:
am display-density 280
But you have to redo the shell command everytime you restart the fire tv (and the fire tv menu is a little bit out of shape)
Does anyone know a way how to fix this in the APK directly without using Xposed Framework or similar methods? German Fire TVs are unrootable at the moment.
Tasker is the Man
A user of our blog had the right suggestion:
The App Tasker is able to run shell commands after starting or shutting down an app.
So you create a rule to set display-density down to 280 when starting
and back to 320 when closing the app.
Everything works fine now.
Thanks, AFTVhacks. Well done, it's working perfectly. The only thing that's missing is the possibility to add the app to the home screen. Any chance you'll find a solution for that?
Could someone please extract the following apps so the community can try to use them on Android TV? Other apps have been extracted and work.
All4, ITVHub, My5, RTÉ Player, 3Player, and TG4.
Depending on your location, UK or Ireland, you may or may not be able to extract all of these due to geo-blocking, but any with which you can help would be greatly appreciated.
Instructions on how to extract the APKs can be found here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=64124593&postcount=3
and/or at the following link, skipping the final step 8:
http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-transfer-amazon-fire-tv-apps-to-a-fire-tv-stick/
dusf said:
Could someone please extract the following apps so the community can try to use them on Android TV? Other apps have been extracted and work.
All4, ITVHub, My5, RTÉ Player, 3Player, and TG4.
Depending on your location, UK or Ireland, you may or may not be able to extract all of these due to geo-blocking, but any with which you can help would be greatly appreciated.
Instructions on how to extract the APKs can be found here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=64124593&postcount=3
and/or at the following link, skipping the final step 8:
http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-transfer-amazon-fire-tv-apps-to-a-fire-tv-stick/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i searched for these but couldn't find any, perhaps like you said it's location-based and I'm in the USA.
d3adpool said:
i searched for these but couldn't find any, perhaps like you said it's location-based and I'm in the USA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much for your efforts all the same
The first three definitely exist, they are the UK apps, the last three, the Irish apps, I am unsure of.
really need this!!!!
dusf said:
Thank you very much for your efforts all the same
The first three definitely exist, they are the UK apps, the last three, the Irish apps, I am unsure of.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok I did with a little effort manage to download and extract 3 of them from my firetv. 2 of them are attached and there's a link for the My 5 below.
https://mega.nz/#!8IxWEBjC!c88wn4dSoh9C8XaPXB_NTAd6ATNfHb56QXzuzvr1n_I
d3adpool said:
Ok I did with a little effort manage to download and extract 3 of them from my firetv. 2 of them are attached and there's a link for the My 5 below.
https://mega.nz/#!8IxWEBjC!c88wn4dSoh9C8XaPXB_NTAd6ATNfHb56QXzuzvr1n_I
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great, good job, thanks!!
I will try them this morning on Android TV and update this thread!
dusf said:
Great, good job, thanks!!
I will try them this morning on Android TV and update this thread!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool I hope it works out for you
d3adpool said:
Cool I hope it works out for you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, so these install fine, but when they launch they give an error about no Amazon App Store found. I first mistakenly downloaded a version of Amazon Underground from Aptpoide, which also crashed after running, but on googling I found an official Amazon link which does work.
After logging into Amazon Underground, the apps no longer gave that error, but instead a new one about not having 'bought' these apps. I then tried to 'buy' them using the Amazon Underground app but they do not appear for me because I am in the Republic of Ireland.
I am sure I can get around this with some VPN trickery, just doing some when on our living room, mounting new TV etc, so have not gotten to it just yet.
In case you are wondering why I did not just set up a VPN in the first place and try to 'buy' the apps with an Android device, that is because I do not think this will give me a version compatible with a remote control, whereas we know the versions you have uploaded is.
I will update thread when I've set up VPN and tried all of this.
Has anyone else had any success?
dusf said:
Okay, so these install fine, but when they launch they give an error about no Amazon App Store found. I first mistakenly downloaded a version of Amazon Underground from Aptpoide, which also crashed after running, but on googling I found an official Amazon link which does work.
After logging into Amazon Underground, the apps no longer gave that error, but instead a new one about not having 'bought' these apps. I then tried to 'buy' them using the Amazon Underground app but they do not appear for me because I am in the Republic of Ireland.
I am sure I can get around this with some VPN trickery, just doing some when on our living room, mounting new TV etc, so have not gotten to it just yet.
In case you are wondering why I did not just set up a VPN in the first place and try to 'buy' the apps with an Android device, that is because I do not think this will give me a version compatible with a remote control, whereas we know the versions you have uploaded is.
I will update thread when I've set up VPN and tried all of this.
Has anyone else had any success?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I figured exactly what you mentioned, it's a shame that we have to sometimes jump thru all these hoops to get things working....keep us updated
..
JJ-KwiK said:
I can try to patch out the Amazon dependencies. It's worked for a few apps that I've dumped from my fire tv to use with my shield.
No promises, but I'll give it a shot.
Sent from my SM-G925W8 using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would be great too, thanks.
I will still try it from my end.
By the way, which apps have you extracted for your shield already, and is there a centralised place anyone is collating fire extracted apks?
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JJ-KwiK said:
I've extracted Spotify and WatchESPN. However, official Android TV versions of those apps have since been released. I've also extracted Flappy Birds Family. I don't know of any centralized area where all the exracted FireTV apps are being posted though.
I do have a post on the Wetek forums with Android TV and FireTV app mods, modified to work with regular android.
http://www.wetekforums.com/v/index.php?p=/discussion/27564
Anywho...
Here are the modded APKs. I've removed any Amazon checks. They install fine. I can't check if the video's play as I don't live in the proper geographical area.
All 4 - https://mega.nz/#!K4QlmBTK!PBWAbaGIPFh9Fx92_Oqxv_RKKlpQLtfCyWGX-H6hRpw
Demand 5 - https://mega.nz/#!7pJHmaIR!zfLnhoBG1CeyFpZVHpyjYamADqDq8AYHuLKJlrarZTI
ITV Hub - https://mega.nz/#!C0ZykJSb!IxOYC1w7CLCgkRGshT2VEdZ_j3fBU4BJQLbZsTXkjWg
Please let me know if they work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good work. I have a question: Do you do the reverse of this and remove checks from google play apks? Reason I ask is I've been trying to get Watch NFL network sideloaded on my firetvs, and they install but launching gives a can't launch from phone error and closes out. It works fine on my Minix neo x8 plus.
JJ-KwiK said:
I've extracted Spotify and WatchESPN. However, official Android TV versions of those apps have since been released. I've also extracted Flappy Birds Family. I don't know of any centralized area where all the exracted FireTV apps are being posted though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I have just uninstalled Emma+ and installed Spotify, I was not aware they released a native app.
JJ-KwiK said:
Anywho...
Here are the modded APKs. I've removed any Amazon checks. They install fine. I can't check if the video's play as I don't live in the proper geographical area.
All 4 - https://mega.nz/#!K4QlmBTK!PBWAbaGIPFh9Fx92_Oqxv_RKKlpQLtfCyWGX-H6hRpw
Demand 5 - https://mega.nz/#!7pJHmaIR!zfLnhoBG1CeyFpZVHpyjYamADqDq8AYHuLKJlrarZTI
ITV Hub - https://mega.nz/#!C0ZykJSb!IxOYC1w7CLCgkRGshT2VEdZ_j3fBU4BJQLbZsTXkjWg
Please let me know if they work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice work, thanks! :good:
Okay so I just cleared data, storage, reset defaults and (not sure if necessary since I then...) uninstalled the older versions and reinstalled your uploaded versions.
ITV Hub works perfectly :highfive: only issue I can see with it is that when you press back it displays a dialogoue asking 'Do you want to exit the ITV Hub' with the options Okay and Cancel. Pressing cancel does nothing, not a huge deal just thought I would mention it in case it is a quick fix.
Demand 5 loads their splashscreen, then for an instant a progress disc, and then prints the following error:
Code:
Whoops!
An error has occured and the application will now shut down.
<Exit button>
(FTVD5-500)
All 4 loads their splashscreen, and then the screen goes black and stays black. Please note this is the same behaviour as before you modified it, that is to say, unmodified Demand 5 and ITV Hub did load but gave errors about Amazon Underground, whereas All 4 never got that far.
- d3adpool, do you think it possible the apk you uploaded could have become corrupt, or could we rule that out as if it were we would not even see the All 4 splashscreen?
Is there anything you could try?
JJ-KwiK said:
I do have a post on the Wetek forums with Android TV and FireTV app mods, modified to work with regular android.
http://www.wetekforums.com/v/index.php?p=/discussion/27564.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool, I had a look at the thread and I can see you have been busy - and are taking requests.
If you are able to modify an Android TV app to work on regular Android, does that mean you can also do the reverse? If so could you please modify regular Android versions of RTÉ Player, 3Player, and TG4 so that they will work on Android TV with a remote? 3Player is giving me some bogus error at the moment so I have posted in an Irish forum to see if anyone else is experiencing it, and TG4 only comes up for me on Google Search showing a compatibility issue, and not in Play Store on either of my Android devices, so I have asked about that also, I just want to check they are working okay before I upload them for you. RTÉ Player does work and I have attached it below:
I'm not sure if they got corrupted or not. They did load for me on my ftv. Previous experience with sideloading ftv apps on other android devices tells me that usually it won't work. I have a MXIII and a Minix neo x8plus and on both I've attempted to sideload ftv apps and none of them have actually loaded. Either I would get a parsing error, sitting on a loading screen when trying to play a video, HDCP error (HBOGO), or some other random error. Most times you're better off installing apks from the google play store.
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JJ-KwiK said:
@d3adpool - Send me the watch NFL apk and I'll see what I can do.
@dusf - I believe there is an issue with the all 4 apk. Hopefully we can find a fresh apk. The demand 5 app works fine on my end, but won't play video due to geographical location. What device are you testing it on?
I can't add remote functionality to touch apps though. Sorry.
Sent from my SM-G925W8 using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use an Nvidia Shield Android TV.
Real shame about All4 and Demand 5 not working, but great work with ITV Hub
..
JJ-KwiK said:
@dusf - Hey man, I just tested Demand 5 on my Wetek Core, nVidia Shield TV and Amazon Fire Stick. The app works on all 3 devices. I think the issue may be on your end? Can anyone else confirm if the app works for them? Can you try the updated version I posted below?
I also don't run into the, "press back displays a dialogue asking 'Do you want to exit the ITV Hub' with the options Okay and Cancel. Pressing cancel does nothing", issue. What controller/remote are you testing it with? I tried ITV Hub on my shield with the nVidia controller, nVidia remote and FireTV remote, and all worked fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have all three, Nvidia Controller, Nvidia remote, and Amazon Fire TV Voice remote, so I will try all three again with the updated versions you posted. I also have to Nvidia Shield TVs, so I will try both if they do not work on one.
JJ-KwiK said:
Anywho... Since I tested ITV Hub and Demand 5 on my Android TV, and they both seemed to work fine, I added a banner and the proper intent to the manifest so they now show up in the Leanback Launcher. However, I can't check if videos play because I don't live in the proper geographical area.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice, having access to them from the launcher is a nice feature, and it did cross my mind when testing the last time but I was very happy to have ITV Hub in the first place
JJ-KwiK said:
If anyone can get their hands on a clean copy of the All 4 apk, I could try to modify that as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you define clean version? d3adpool has been a great help so far, perhaps if he is still willing, there is something he could do to make sure his version is not dirty?
About not being able to add remote functionality to the regular Android app, RTÉ Player app, is this something that would be possible if someone put enough time into it, or is it just set up in such a way that it would never work? I just know a bit of C and C++ at the moment, but perhaps when I learn a few more languages I could help with this. Would having access to the source code of Samsung Smart TV apps for the same channels help? This is something I could provide. I appreciate they are probably in a completely different language.
JJ-KwiK said:
@dusf - Hey man, I just tested Demand 5 on my Wetek Core, nVidia Shield TV and Amazon Fire Stick. The app works on all 3 devices. I think the issue may be on your end? Can anyone else confirm if the app works for them? Can you try the updated version I posted below?
I also don't run into the, "press back displays a dialogue asking 'Do you want to exit the ITV Hub' with the options Okay and Cancel. Pressing cancel does nothing", issue. What controller/remote are you testing it with? I tried ITV Hub on my shield with the nVidia controller, nVidia remote and FireTV remote, and all worked fine.
Anywho... Since I tested ITV Hub and Demand 5 on my Android TV, and they both seemed to work fine, I added a banner and the proper intent to the manifest so they now show up in the Leanback Launcher. However, I can't check if videos play because I don't live in the proper geographical area.
Amazon dependancies have been removed and the apps have been modified to work on Android TV devices.
ITV Hub -
Demand 5 -
If anyone can get their hands on a clean copy of the All 4 apk, I could try to modify that as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi thanks for sharing those, I tried Demand 5 on my nvidia shield tv, The app works fine apart from when you go to play a video. I just get the loading icon top right spinning continuously.
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.