[YIRMASTER]

I am using FTV Stick to load Kodi on and use adbfire for backup/restore, etc.

I'm trying to figure out the folder mapping structure for addons. I see two addon folders, one in the kodi root folder called simply addons and another in the userdata > addon_data

If I were to manually setup adding in an addon meaning I download an addon in a zipfile and unzip it on my computer where do I put the new addon folder files on my computer before I do a restore to the ftv stick to have the new addon available.

I think when I started playing with KODI and making my own custom builds using others addons I mistakenly cleaned the KODI which deleted all the addon folders (I assume) so if you wanted to install something you'd have to reinstall the addon especially if the repo went down. Basically I tried to manually install the repo and I think I did it in both the root addon folder and the userdata > addon_data  folder

What folder would I just drop the zipped repo into?
What folder would I drop the un-zipped repo or addon into, and would that be the same place?

I need to streamline size of all the crap I have taking up space on the firetv stick and any help would be appreciated.

Oh also another question. Sometimes I come across an addon I like which is from a discontinued repo like HammerTime, I still have the folders and all the info but the repo is down so it seems the addon no longer works. Is there a way I can put this addon's folders somewhere to setup so that it would work again?

If could do this, how would I go about making my own custom repo of all my favorite working apps instead of having to install a bunch of other repos to get the apps I want. Is this something I would do with SuperFavorites addon? if so are there any good step by step tutorials around?

I do have a little programming experience and worked with computers, servers, unix, windows, ibm, emc, etc a lot so can figure things out but my time is limited and it seems like I need to learn a lot here. If anyone knows of an easier way so I don't need to recreate the wheel it would be greatly appreciated.

Oh one more thing, sorry...

I recently upgraded to Kodi 18.1 Leia and my custom menus using Aeon Nox 5 apparently are not compatible yet with the latest version of kodi but my menu structure isn't being adopted by other skins including Aeon Nox Silvo. Anyone know of a way for another Skin alike Aeon Nox Silvo or Confluence to recursively adopt my already painfully time consumed custom menu structure without having to start from scratch? One would assume this should be a basic user interface function of Kodi itself.

Thanks from a semi-new  Kodi hacker

[YIRMASTER]

I know these are some of the basic structures but don't know the details of the inner workings of them.
 

• media – A place for media files. But this is typically empty and not used. Add media sources instead.
  
• sounds – For customizing sounds. Typically empty and not used.
  
• system – For system customization. Typically empty and not used.
  
• temp – For storing temporary files such cookies, weather information, subtitles, etc. This folder may also contains Kodi logs (or one folder up). When troubleshooting make sure to check the log files located here.
  
• userdata – Customized user files such as GUI settings, addon data, media sources, databases, thumbnails, advancedsettings.xml, etc. are stored here. For tweaking you should know Kodi user data location. Below are the files and folders contained within Kodi userdata folder:
  
• addon_data – All your addon data are stored here. If you want to manually reset an addon then delete its folder located here.
  
• Database – All databases (Music, Videos, EPG, thumbnails, addon databases, etc.) are stored here. If you have a Kodi MySQL library setup then your video and music libraries won’t be stored here.
  
• Keymaps – Stores all your custom keyboard and remote mappings to customize your Kodi remote control.
  
• mediasources.xml – This XML file stores any remote folder locations (eg. NFS, SAMBA, FTP, etc) that you manually add to your Kodi.
  
• profiles.xml – In case you have multiple Kodi users with different profiles, their information will be stored in this file.
  
• sources.xml – In Kodi you add your video and music locations. Once added they are stored in this file.
  
• advancedsettings.xml – One of the most important files to control and tweak Kodi.
  
• guisettings.xml – All your skin settings are stored here.
  
• passwords.xml – Stores any usernames and passwords to media sources listed in mediasources.xml.
  
• playlists – All playlists are stored in this folder. You may manually edit if you know how.
  
• RssFeed.xml – This file contains all RSS feeds from which the scrolling news in Kodi homescreen is scraped.
  
• Thumbnails – Thumbnails folder contains cached thumbnails of all images (posters, fanart, etc.) that appear on your screen (not limited to Library items). This folder can grow several folds in size over time and may need periodic cleaning.
  

[DarrenHill]

Addons is where the addon code itself lives, and addon_data is where the addon stores its data files (configuration, any databases it uses or anything it downloads or needs locally).

In the addons folder you'll see a sub-folder for each addon, named based on the addon's ID name. Inside that is the sub-tree containing the addons code and set-up files. If you unzip your zip file into a suitably named folder you will basically manually install the addon (you can get the proper name from one of the xml files folder in the addon's zip file - I think it's addon.xml but that's from memory as I don't have a device with Kodi installed to hand).

If you do so then you should find the add-on in your My Addons section when you restart Kodi, but it will probably be disabled by default and will need to be manually enabled to run properly. You will also need to manually install any required dependencies, or at least have them available via an installed source repo.

[scott967]

Keep in mind if you just unzip an addon and drop it into the Kodi addon folder, it probably won't run.  The reason is the addon's addon.xml file probably has a bunch of dependencies (<requires>) and unless you happen to have installed all of them previously the addon won't run.

scott s.
.

[YIRMASTER]

No what I usually do is install an app or repo and then launch it and run it on a FTV stick and then make a backup using USB/wireless connected adbfire then I just do installs of apk's and restores of settings and then update the fav's file for a starting list of popular movies/series. Too much info...

Anyway no problem running it once to create the dependencies entries automatically, was just wondering where to drop the zip or unzipped files to.
I need to keep a backup of all the repos and what app was installed from what repo, sometimes they go down but the app still works and I would eventually like to create my own build using various best of's from other apps to create something custom that doesn't go down. You know the drill.

[DarrenHill]

The problem is (at least from your other posts) you're talking about banned addon (wiki) repos and addons, which aren't supported here.

Those will go down because they're illegal crap.

[YIRMASTER]

The problem is (at least from your other posts) you're talking about banned addon (wiki) repos and addons, which aren't supported here.

Those will go down because they're illegal crap.

I never talked about the content being streamed on the apps made by developers who just didn't go through any process of making their apps official and downloadable through the kodi app store so don't assume it's just illegal crap. Some of these apps stream from legal sources and the content is legal as well.

[DarrenHill]

...

this is for the StreamArmy (.Fapzone) addon

...

https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid...pid2837660

[YIRMASTER]

...

this is for the StreamArmy (.Fapzone) addon

...

https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid...pid2837660 

It is a junk addon, one of those that require you go to a website full of garbage adds popups etc to generate a code everytime you open it. I used it as an example for those that have a name that begins with a "." period. It's not a big deal, it is not an allowed app to talk about here and I don't want to give them any advertising because it is total garbage. I just don't think it should be allowed to be installed if it is something the system doesn't support in the menus based on its construct. Once again, not a big deal just a technical peeve.