2017-11-16, 23:33
Updates since 1.13.1
Installation Instructions
Q&A
- Fix GameFAQs, MobyGames, TheGamesDB, arcadeHITS, and Google scrapers.
- Update Google scraper to use new Google image sizes.
- Remove AllGame (RIP), HTBackdrops (RIP), and ComicVine (bad API, quick bans) scrapers.
- Add message when GameFAQs has blocked your account for excessive searches.
- Updated script compatibility for Krypton+.
Installation Instructions
- Create a backup of your Advanced Launcher plugin and userdata folders to be safe.
- Go to the github page
- Click the "Clone or download" button on the upper right of the screen and select "Download Zip"
- Install Zip file into Kodi using the Addon Browser's "Install from Zip file" functionality.
- You may need to change your Kodi settings to allow installing from unknown sources before you see the option to "Install from Zip File"
- You may need to change your Kodi settings to allow installing from unknown sources before you see the option to "Install from Zip File"
- Note that if you have assigned links/favorites to locations within Advanced Launcher they may not work with this build. To fix this, access Advanced Launcher through the Kodi Addon Browser and recreate your favorites/assign links.
Q&A
- Q: What is this?
- A: An unofficial update to the original Advanced Launcher plugin by Angelscry. My goal was only to replicate/restore functionality in the plugin that had become unusable due to API or scraper site changes. Be aware that this is irrespective of any scraper site policy changes that may have occurred since AL launched, so if site scraping gets you banned from GameFAQs or Google that is not my concern.
- Q: Are you going to maintain/support Advanced Launcher from now on?
- A: No, I unfortunately don't have enough time to maintain or support this plugin. I had a couple of weeks free which let me fix the extant issues and this plugin is important enough to my setup to justify using that time, but normally I'm lucky if I have an hour available to split to my other projects. I'm hoping someone else can maintain/support the plugin but if not, we'll have to rely on the occasional person coming through to fix the issues.
- Q: What happened to ComicVine?
- A: The API used to access ComicVine in the past has been discontinued by Google so we would have needed to directly scrape their site to make it work. While I tried to make this work, the site proved to be incredibly quick to ban automatic scrapers and the results I was getting from the site weren't that great to begin with (hundreds of results of minimal relevance). Instead of trying to work around the bans and put together a mediocre scraper, I thought it would be better to release the plugin sooner without it. I don't intend to create a ComicVine/other comic site scraper in the future, but if someone does put one together please send me a PR and I'll get it in the plugin.