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[Tutorial] Editing your app.db using Bubble Studio

Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2016 10:09 am
by Sevenanths
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https://anthe.studio/bubblestudio

video tutorial

Bubble Studio is an easy to use app.db editor which runs fully in the browser. It is built entirely using HTML5 and Javascript. Bubble Studio is the result of 7 months of off and on working by myself. This is not a BETA release, however, you may run into issues. If an image is not working for you, save it again in Paint and retry.


Getting started
To get started with Bubble Studio, you need to dump your app.db. To do this on 3.51 or below, send en e-mail to the e-mail account registered on your PS Vita containing the link email:send?attach=ur0:shell/db/app.db. (dot included). This will prompt to send an e-mail with your database attached, which you can easily send to yourself and open from your computer.

It is also possible to simply grab your app.db using molecularShell and HENkaku. However, since at the time of writing HENkaku has not been released (nor do I have a Vita on the required firmware version), I do not have instructions.

The interface

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The interface consists of three major parts. First, we have the section with all available bubbles. Then, there is a toolbox pane in which editing options or instructions will appear. Lastly, there is also a menu with some core functions, such as adding bubbles, saving and an about option.

Editing bubbles
To start editing a bubble, simple click it. In the toolbox pane, editing options will appear. Here, you can change the bubble's icon, bootscreen and name. Icon and bootscreen paths are automatically generated but can be adjusted if desired.

Cropping

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When loading images into Bubble Studio, you will be presented with a cropper. To zoom in and out, use the slider or the scrollwheel. You can pan the image by dragging it. When you're happy with the result, press the button with the checkmark.

Launcher area
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The launcher area is the screen which pops up when you touch a bubble. Using Bubble Studio, you can also edit its background. To access the launcher area editor, click the corresponding button in the toolbar (lowest one in the screenshot).

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To edit the background, click the corresponding box. Please note that changing the image displayed in the startup gate is currently not enabled due to unsolvable issues. To return to the main editing pane, press button with the return arrow.

Confirming edit
When you've finished editing a bubble, make sure to press the button with the checkmark. This will write the changes to the database.

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If a bubble appears in the top row in the adjustment pane, it has been edited.
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Adding new bubbles

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To add a new bubble, press the "+ New bubble" option in the menu (top right-ish). This will open a pane on the right.

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If you wish to add the Package Installer, select it from the dropdown and press the button with the '+' sign.

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To add a "TheFlow PSone bubble", select it from the dropdown. Fill in the bubble name, title ID and settings title ID. You can also supply an image. Add the bubble using the '+' sign. If you wish to further customise the bubble, you can do so by using following the "Editing bubbles" part of this tutorial.

NOTE: I haven't been able to test this (my Vita is on 3.18, so I've got TN-X). It should work. I think?

Writing the changes back to the PS Vita

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Press the 'Save' button in the menu to launch the save screen. Bubble Studio will now generate a new app.db and a savegame which will store your custom icons, bootscreens and launcher area backgrounds.

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Database
Pressing the first button with the database icon will save the modified database to your hard disk. The name of the file is already #0 for your convenience ;).

<=3.51
To write it back to your Vita, create a new e-mail on your computer with ur0:shell/db/app.db as the subject and attach the #0 file. Then send it to the e-mail account registered on your PS Vita.

3.60
To write it back to your Vita, change the name back to app.db and transfer it using molecularShell.

Savegame
Pressing the second button with the trophy icon will save the savegame to your hard disk. To transfer it to your Vita, extract the archive and place it inside PSAVEDATA/<id>/bubblestudio. When you transfer it using CMA, the savegame will appear as PSP save data. Correct folder structure can be seen below.

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After replacing the app.db and copying the save file, reboot your Vita.

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Enjoy!

Re: [Tutorial] Editing your app.db using Bubble Studio

Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2016 1:15 pm
by PixelButts
I can't seem to get the package installer bubble to appear on the PSTV. Any ideas as to what the issue may be?
Perhaps it's that 3.60 doesn't allow said bubble to appear in the live area?


For whatever reason it placed it into a folder. It's there but why in a folder? No idea.

Re: [Tutorial] Editing your app.db using Bubble Studio

Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2016 1:46 pm
by Sevenanths
I compute the position of where to put the Bubble by taking the last entry in your database and adding 1 to its position. Since folders internally count as pages, there is no way to tell if I'm inserting it into a page or a folder. So yeah.. that can happen. Sorry!

Re: [Tutorial] Editing your app.db using Bubble Studio

Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2016 3:29 pm
by ErnieBall
This is awesome!.
Honestly i never cared about custom icons before, because it seemed like a bit too much fiddling arround for me.
With Bubblestudio it is easy enough and i got some great results allready. Finally full size bubble icons for psp and ps1 stuff! heck yeah!

Re: [Tutorial] Editing your app.db using Bubble Studio

Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2016 6:04 pm
by AlexxLopaztico02
Pls give a cookie to this man
Or 10 internet points

Re: [Tutorial] Editing your app.db using Bubble Studio

Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2016 8:14 pm
by ColonelSeamus
Doesn't matter what browser I use, it's always a network error when downloading the save file. The database downloads fine, though.
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Re: [Tutorial] Editing your app.db using Bubble Studio

Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2016 8:16 pm
by Sevenanths
I've seen that happen for me, but it's so random I can't reproduce it. Currently I still don't know what causes it unfortunately. I'll look into it.

Re: [Tutorial] Editing your app.db using Bubble Studio

Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2016 8:29 pm
by ColonelSeamus
Can you please add an option for people to save their WIP bubbles as a project file? It's just that I'm getting a bit tired of remaking them so much just to see if I'll get lucky and be able to download the save file.

Re: [Tutorial] Editing your app.db using Bubble Studio

Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2016 9:29 pm
by Bert960
Dude, this is literally a godsend. I've been waiting for a method where I can edit the Launcher Area on a ISO Bubble. Now we finally have the chance to do so. Thank you so much for this. I greatly appreciate your hard work on this. Now it'll be much easier to edit stuff now.

Re: [Tutorial] Editing your app.db using Bubble Studio

Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2016 9:50 pm
by Sevenanths
ColonelSeamus wrote:Can you please add an option for people to save their WIP bubbles as a project file? It's just that I'm getting a bit tired of remaking them so much just to see if I'll get lucky and be able to download the save file.
I just pushed a fix for the network errors. The way I was forcing the browser to download the file seems to have triggered some kind of security mechanism. I hope it works well for you now. Sorry for the inconvenience.