ULaunch

<p align="center"> <img alt="uLaunch" height="100" src="assets/Logo.png"> </p

uLaunch is an open-source, customizable and homebrew-oriented replacement for the Nintendo Switch HOME Menu:

<p align="center"> <img src="demos/uLaunch.gif"/> </p> <p align="center"> <a title="Discord" href="https://discord.gg/3KpFyaH"> <img alt="Discord" src="https://img.shields.io/discord/789833418631675954?label=Discord&logo=Discord&logoColor=fff&style=for-the-badge"> </a> <a title="Downloads" href="https://github.com/XorTroll/uLaunch/releases/latest"> <img alt="Downloads" src="https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/XorTroll/uLaunch/total?longCache=true&style=for-the-badge&label=Downloads&logoColor=fff&logo=GitHub"> </a> <a title="License" href="https://github.com/XorTroll/uLaunch/blob/master/LICENSE"> <img alt="License" src="https://img.shields.io/github/license/XorTroll/uLaunch?style=for-the-badge"> </a> </p> <p align="center"> <a title="Patreon" href="https://www.patreon.com/xortroll"> <img alt="Patreon" src="https://img.shields.io/endpoint.svg?url=https%3A%2F%2Fshieldsio-patreon.vercel.app%2Fapi%3Fusername%3DXorTroll%26type%3Dpatrons&style=for-the-badge"/> </a> <a title="GitHub sponsors" href="https://github.com/sponsors/XorTroll"> <img alt="GitHub sponsors" src="https://img.shields.io/github/sponsors/XorTroll?label=Sponsor&logo=GitHub&style=for-the-badge"/> </a> <a title="PayPal" href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=PHQKFTY9AHPUU"> <img alt="PayPal" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Donate-PayPal-green.svg?style=for-the-badge"/> </a> </p> <p align="center"> <a title="Ko-fi" href='https://ko-fi.com/xortroll' target='_blank'> <img alt="Ko-fi" height='35' style='border:0px;height:46px;' src='https://az743702.vo.msecnd.net/cdn/kofi3.png?v=0' border='0'/> </a> </p>

Want to find themes for uLaunch? Check the ulaunch-themes channel on our Discord server!

Want to make your own uLaunch themes? Check our web theme editor or the wiki!

<p align="center"> <img src="demos/uDesigner.gif"/> </p>

• Features
  • Custom features
  • Implemented base features
  • Unimplemented base features
    • Planned to be implemented
    • Not planned to be implemented (at least for now)
• Setup
  • Installing uLaunch
  • Removing uLaunch
• FAQ
• Translating
• Components
  • uSystem
  • uMenu
  • uLoader
  • uManager
  • uScreen
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Mac
  • uDesigner
• Building
• Credits

Features

Custom features

List of unique extensions that the official HOME Menu lacks:

• User login system (login once, use that user for everything)

• Grid-like main menu, deeply inspired by the 3DS menu (and partially DSi/Wii menus as well), easier than ever to navigate and customize

  • The grid can be resized like in 3DS menus

  • Entries can be moved as desired

• Folders, subfolders...

• Homebrew directly launchable straight from main menu as an applet or an application (using applications as donors)

• Extensive themeing support

  • Backgrounds, icons, etc.

  • BGM and many sound effects

• Web browser easily accessible straight from main menu

• Mii editor easily accessible straight from main menu

• Screen capture to PC support via USB

• Display system version + Atmosphère version + EmuMMC presence independently, in a nicer way

• Better display when gamecard fails to mount

• 1080p resolution

Implemented base features

List of implemented official HOME Menu features:

• Application launching, suspending and closing

• Applet launching and closing

• User page

• Controller support

• Settings (only a handful are so far implemented):

  • Console version

  • Atmosphère version

  • EmuMMC presence

  • Console nickname

  • Console timezone

  • WiFi connection name/WiFi settings

  • Console language

  • Console information upload (enable/disable)

  • Bluetooth (enable/disable)

  • NFC (enable/disable)

  • Automatic application download (enable/disable)

  • Automatic console update (enable/disable)

  • Wireless LAN (enable/disable)

  • Console serial number

  • Show console IP/MAC address

• General channel/applet messages (some of them aren't implemented yet):

  • HOME button detection

  • Power off, sleep, reboot

  • SD card removal

  • Gamecard failing to mount

Unimplemented base features

List of not implemented official HOME Menu features:

Planned to be implemented

• Auto-sleep after a certain amount of time

• Several unimplemented settings

• Several unimplemented general channel/applet messages

• Console updating

Not planned to be implemented (at least for now)

• eShop functionality

• Parental control

• Application (game) updates

Note that a lot of features could be considered in principle (savedata support, title removing, user management, activity log stuff...), but uLaunch's philosophy is to mainly avoid considering this features or, more generally, features already provided by existing homebrews or potentially providable by them. uLaunch is a custom HOME Menu, whose aim partially is to be extended with mostly HOME-menu-related features.

Setup

Installing uLaunch

1. Download the latest release ZIP.

Note: this project is released and meant to be used with Atmosphère, so use it with different CFWs at your own risk.

2. Copy everything inside the ZIP to the root of your SD card.

   • If you have never used uLaunch or any kind of HOME Menu replacement (NXThemes don't count) you wouldn't need to overwrite any files.

   • You don't need to remove your normal HOME Menu themes (NXThemes) in order to install uLaunch. Those themes are at a romfs dir inside contents/0100000000001000, while uLaunch's only file in that folder is contents/0100000000001000/exefs.nsp.

3. Launch your CFW (using emuMMC or sysMMC shouldn't make a difference) and enjoy your new HOME Menu!

Removing uLaunch

Important: make sure you don't remove anything else but the stuff mentioned here, in order to avoid any potential trouble!

1. If you'd like to keep your custom themes, menu entries, config, etc. then just use the uManager tool to disable uLaunch. This doesn't remove any data, allowing you to re-enable it back any moment.

2. If you'd like to remove everything permanently, then you will have to remove atmosphere/contents/0100000000001000 and ulaunch folders on the SD card. If you also wish to remove uManager, then remove switch/uManager.nro.

Note: if you use any HOME Menu modification - like NXThemes - make sure you do not delete the entire 0100000000001000 folder, just the exefs.nsp file!

FAQ

• uLaunch gives me a blackscreen. How can I fix it?

  • First of all, make sure you're using the latest release of uLaunch.

  • If new firmware updates or new Atmosphère versions have been released, you might need to wait for a new release to be dropped, and in the meantime you might be able to use dev/testing builds from our Discord server.

  • The log files uLaunch's components generate inside ulaunch folder can be really helpful when sharing your issue in Discord or GitHub. Make sure you don't reboot again into uLaunch, since the log files will be overwritten! Otherwise, just replicate the bug and share/copy the log files before reloading anything.

  • In more extreme cases, uLaunch's blackscreens might also be caused due bad handling of invalid theme/entry JSON files. The JSONs might have been corrupted (due to ExFAT, other homebrews...) so try deleting them.

• uLaunch is crashing. How can I fix it?

  • Check log_uSystem.log inside /ulaunch for any information on the crash, as well as recent Atmosphère crash reports containing title ID 0100000000001000 or 010000000000100d in their name. The particular error code 2128-0100 means that uSystem crashed, so on those the problematic title ID is 0100000000001000.

• Why can't I access the usual system settings, while I can access other normal system menus like the album, mii editor, user page, etc.?

  • This is an unfortunate technical issue. While the web browser, user page, album... are separate applets (separate programs, independent from the HOME Menu itself) system settings are actually part of HOME Menu itself. Therefore, we have to implement manually all of them... which requires its effort, so only a bunch of the available settings (plus a few extras) are currently available here, while the remaining settings are being reversed and implemented.

• Will using uLaunch get me banned online?

  • There have been some cases where using uLaunch has caused bans. Keep in mind that replacing the official HOME Menu's functionality is never a completely safe idea, so always use it at your own risk. Since uLaunch doesn't perform any telemetry or communications with Nintendo servers, they might be able to notice you are running something different from the original HOME Menu.

• Why does uLaunch (sometimes) feel slower than the official HOME Menu?

  • There are several possible reasons:

    • uLaunch loads more content than the official HOME Menu when loading. Most of the official HOME Menu's UI are solid colors, while uLaunch loads several images, etc. Being customizable comes with minor drawbacks, like this one.

    • Icons are lazily loaded, so for menus with many entries (essentially for people having a ton of games) navigating through the menu will be slightl