v0.7.0-alpha

ES-DE Companion v0.7.0-alpha

This is a ground-up rebuild of ES-DE Companion — new architecture, new integration mechanism, and a new feature set. It replaces the 0.6.x line entirely rather than extending it.

⚠️ Read this before updating

• This is an alpha — core functionality works end-to-end, but expect rough edges and treat it as a testing release.
• Nothing carries over automatically. Settings, widget layouts, and folder paths from a 0.6.x install are not migrated — you'll go through the onboarding wizard again on first launch.
• The old script-based integration is gone. Previous versions wrote shell scripts into ES-DE's scripts/ folder for ES-DE to call. This version doesn't — it reads es_log.txt, which ES-DE already writes on its own. If you're updating from 0.6.x, the app will offer to clean up leftover script files during onboarding which will provide better performance.
• You'll need to (re-)enable three settings in ES-DE: Main Menu → Other Settings → Custom Event Scripts, Browsing Custom Event Scripts, and Debug Mode (one more than previous versions required — Debug Mode is now needed too).

What's new

Log integration, rebuilt — the app now tails ES-DE's own es_log.txt directly instead of generating and managing its own scripts.

Widget system, rebuilt — two independent canvases (System View, Game View), up to 12 widget types per canvas (marquees, box art, screenshots, fanart, system logos/images, a game description widget, custom images, solid color panels), drag-and-drop grid placement, independent per-edge resizing, layering, and per-widget blur/darken effects. Fully re-editable in a dedicated edit mode, lockable to prevent accidental changes.

App Dock (new) — an optional persistent row of pinned apps at the bottom of the screen, alongside the existing App Drawer. Off by default; 2–5 slots, three sizes.

Video playback — plays automatically while browsing a game (never during actual gameplay or the screensaver), with a configurable start delay and audio toggle. Off by default.

Background music — context-aware playback (system browsing, game browsing, optional during the screensaver), with volume ducking or pause during video. Off by default, and requires a music folder to be set before it'll play anything.

Guided onboarding — a step-by-step wizard that auto-detects your ES-DE and media folders where possible, checks the required ES-DE settings live, and skips any step it doesn't need to show you.

Full details on every setting and feature: see USERGUIDE.md. Troubleshooting: see FAQ.md.

Requirements

• Android 10+ (API 29)
• ES-DE installed with downloaded/scraped media
• "All files access" storage permission

Known limitations (alpha)

• Some rough edges are still being smoothed out — please file issues for anything that looks broken rather than assuming it's intentional.

Feedback

Please report bugs and rough edges on GitHub Issues — device model, app version, and steps to reproduce are the most useful things to include.