I was so excited when I learned that the Fire TV would play XBMC (now Kodi) that I bought two units. I followed a forum guide that I lost the link to, but the guide got me to root and mod the units, install the Xposed Framework, Google Framework and Play Store, TowelRoot, SU, etc and his modded XBMC 14.0-alpha2 apk so it was set for launcher intent, and ever since, I've been pretty happily using the boxes to just stream my mkv's from my Windows SMB shares (like the WDTV boxes did that I replaced with the AFTs) but now I can't upgrade my Kodi to the latest release, and I also can no longer run the Amazon App Store from XBMC, which means I can't the Fire TV optimized apps (Facebook, Youtube, etc). Can someone recommend a way out of this mess? I want to save my paths from xbmc, but other than that, I don't have a lot of personalization on either box to care about, so I could just factor reset and start from scratch.
My needs are:
1. Need to be able to run Kodi and update whenever available
2. Need to run the Amazon App Store
3. Need to change the boot to launch into Kodi
What's my best bet? I'm very confused about what the right direction would be.
Thanks,
Jesse
jessenj said:
I was so excited when I learned that the Fire TV would play XBMC (now Kodi) that I bought two units. I followed a forum guide that I lost the link to, but the guide got me to root and mod the units, install the Xposed Framework, Google Framework and Play Store, TowelRoot, SU, etc and his modded XBMC 14.0-alpha2 apk so it was set for launcher intent, and ever since, I've been pretty happily using the boxes to just stream my mkv's from my Windows SMB shares (like the WDTV boxes did that I replaced with the AFTs) but now I can't upgrade my Kodi to the latest release, and I also can no longer run the Amazon App Store from XBMC, which means I can't the Fire TV optimized apps (Facebook, Youtube, etc). Can someone recommend a way out of this mess? I want to save my paths from xbmc, but other than that, I don't have a lot of personalization on either box to care about, so I could just factor reset and start from scratch.
My needs are:
1. Need to be able to run Kodi and update whenever available
2. Need to run the Amazon App Store
3. Need to change the boot to launch into Kodi
What's my best bet? I'm very confused about what the right direction would be.
Thanks,
Jesse
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So what's your question? You said you rooted the device & installed Kodi etc on it.. Not sure why you are asking what direction to go with?
Unless your first paragraph is some sort of typo..
Follow this here if you need to root the device..
Update to latest rootable FW.
http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-setup-a-new-fire-tv-without-blocking-root/
Root
http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-root-the-amazon-fire-tv/
Block updates
http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-block-ota-update-for-amazon-fire-tv-and-keep-root-access/
After that point, you can install the Google play store if you want, sideload Kodi apk onto the device. Use a custom launcher to load right into Kodi and bypass the default Amazon home screen. Once you do install Kodi and a launcher you can always go back to the default Amazon screen but just launching the KFTV launcher within Kodi.. So you never really lose access to it.
All that kind of info can be found here
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Amazon_Fire_TV
DHeffernan said:
So what's your question? You said you rooted the device & installed Kodi etc on it.. Not sure why you are asking what direction to go with?
Unless your first paragraph is some sort of typo..
Follow this here if you need to root the device..
Update to latest rootable FW.
http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-setup-a-new-fire-tv-without-blocking-root/
Root
http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-root-the-amazon-fire-tv/
Block updates
http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-block-ota-update-for-amazon-fire-tv-and-keep-root-access/
After that point, you can install the Google play store if you want, sideload Kodi apk onto the device. Use a custom launcher to load right into Kodi and bypass the default Amazon home screen. Once you do install Kodi and a launcher you can always go back to the default Amazon screen but just launching the KFTV launcher within Kodi.. So you never really lose access to it.
All that kind of info can be found here
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Amazon_Fire_TV
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry if I was unclear. My issue is kinda buried in my first post. When I wrote "modded XBMC 14.0-alpha2 apk so it was set for launcher intent", I"m not using a straight vanilla Kodi release, but a modded apk which appears to the unit as a launcher, and thus replaced the launcher on the unit so that it would boot straight into Kodi. What I need to do is upgrade the version of XBMC/Kodi to the latest. Should I scrub my boxes back to stock and use a different method to launch Kodi without the Amazon launcher? What is the preferred method of running Kodi as a launcher? Is there an alternative launcher replacement that I should be using instead?
Thanks and sorry for the ambiguity.
Jesse
jessenj said:
Sorry if I was unclear. My issue is kinda buried in my first post. When I wrote "modded XBMC 14.0-alpha2 apk so it was set for launcher intent", I"m not using a straight vanilla Kodi release, but a modded apk which appears to the unit as a launcher, and thus replaced the launcher on the unit so that it would boot straight into Kodi. What I need to do is upgrade the version of XBMC/Kodi to the latest. Should I scrub my boxes back to stock and use a different method to launch Kodi without the Amazon launcher? What is the preferred method of running Kodi as a launcher? Is there an alternative launcher replacement that I should be using instead?
Thanks and sorry for the ambiguity.
Jesse
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just upgrade the current version you got using the below instructions. After that, just do the launcher mod from the wiki page I linked up top. No need to wipe your box, might as well maintain some of your XBMC config/setup.
For the cleanest launcher.. use Xposed and rbox module (Requires root). Which is described in the wiki page I linked.
XBMC can be upgraded through ADB without losing your settings. To do this, you must use a newer version of the package already installed on the machine.
Download the package to your machine
Make sure ADB is connected to the Fire TV
Run adb install -r <apk-file-name>
Installation is complete when it reports the message "Success"
XBMC will still go through the "first run" screen the first time it is launched but your settings will remain intact.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DHeffernan said:
Just upgrade the current version you got using the below instructions. After that, just do the launcher mod from the wiki page I linked up top. No need to wipe your box, might as well maintain some of your XBMC config/setup.
For the cleanest launcher.. use Xposed and rbox module (Requires root). Which is described in the wiki page I linked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey guy's im haveing trouple finding 14.0 apk and above can you please help...
So I side-loaded the 14.0a3 and restored KFTV Launcher. After that, I side loaded the FiredLauncher and rbox module and now it boots straight into the updated Kodi release without losing settings so I guess this is as good as its gonna get but I'm a little confused. It looks like the KFTV launcher is still launching first before the FiredLauncher, which means KFTV is still using a ton of memory before Kodi starts. Can I prevent that from happening and boot directly to Fired?
I finally managed to get spmc to show up on the home screen of my fire tv stick and it will open the app when i click the icon. But if I click information it still acts as if i did not purchase it and when I try to purchase it says this app is not compatible with my device. It also does not show up in the app menu so if it ever disappears from the main screen i have to go all the way to settings etc. Is this how it is supposed to behave and will it still get auto updates?
This depends on how you did this, there's a variety of options I've seen on getting SPMC on the homescreen, using llama or even the deregister/register method. But in either case, no sideloaded apps will not be auto updated, you will have to manually update them. infact SPMC released an update yesterday 13.4.0.
Amazon has yet to officially mark SPMC as compatible with FTV, and at this point it looks like they may not ever do it. So if you used the deregister/register trick, it showing incompatible is what I would expect to see as normal.
I just updated to the new version I was worried I would have to restore my whole xbmc backup but when I installed the latest apk it just overwrote the current one, cleared the cache and did the initial first time run thing. Then it loaded straight back to my setup. Out of curiosity I have just been installing the launcher version on all my devices ftv or stick, does it make a difference?
danknasty said:
I just updated to the new version I was worried I would have to restore my whole xbmc backup but when I installed the latest apk it just overwrote the current one, cleared the cache and did the initial first time run thing. Then it loaded straight back to my setup. Out of curiosity I have just been installing the launcher version on all my devices ftv or stick, does it make a difference?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The launcher version is made to function as the default launcher if you wanted that option. However it requires root and rbox's xposed module to make it work on fire TV. So you're just not see'ing any difference in it, if/when you gain root it will make a difference depending on how you want it set up.
Skater4599 said:
The launcher version is made to function as the default launcher if you wanted that option. However it requires root and rbox's xposed module to make it work on fire TV. So you're just not see'ing any difference in it, if/when you gain root it will make a difference depending on how you want it set up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea I have it on all my rooted aftvs and just out it on my ftv sticks as we. Just making sure there's no disadvantage to having it on a non rooted device.
I have Kodi Jarvis, Firestarter and Fusion loaded. As I was powering down and went back the the Fire Starter home everything checked for updates. It prompted me to update Firestarter to version 4.0. When I click yes to update it tells me there is no link to download. I'm am new at all this. Can anyone help me understand how to do the update?
the developer has changed the application due to Amazon's blacklisting. The new version 4.0 is called AppStarter, but it's a very different app (won't autolaunch on boot, nor does it have Home button detection, for example. AFTVnews has a good description). You'll have to manually install the new app rather than relying on the update feature.
Hi guys,
I have an aftv2 rooted and using rbox pre-rooted 5.0.5 rom. I also tried pre-rooted 5.2.1 rom, and I would like to stay on this latest version, however I want to have the ability to click the home button and go directly to the homepage on SPMC.
As of right now, I tried pre-rooted rom 5.0.5 with firestarter but when pressing the home button it brings me SPMC but not on the homepage. (and it is glitchy, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't). So my understanding is that in order to achieve this, I have to setup SPMC as launcher. How can I do this? I already downloaded SPMC launcher apk, and read a lot of threads with no concrete answer. Right now it seems that the only option is to install xposed and rbox mods. Is this correct? or is there any other option?
And I assume the rbox mods to set up an alternative launcher still works on pre-rooted 5.2.1 rom?
cheers
After long time without updating yesterday I updated my rooted FireTV1 to discover that Rbox's Xposed modules no longer works with latest version of the OS. I only need to set up SPMC as default launcher and I read about multiple Xposed modules but I don't know which one is the way to go.
Thank you!
I'm trying Launcherhijack and it seems to do the job.
https://github.com/BaronKiko/LauncherHijack/releases