Android World of Goo Mod Manager - or maybe porting GooTool to android?
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About week ago I installed World of Goo for android. I discovered that the apk file contains all levels in unencrypted format so it would be trivial to install goomods. So I was suprised that there was no automated way to install mods on android version.
So I started working on something that will actually allow me to easily install mods on android World of Goo.
Currently I have something that can:
*Copy original apk to user defined place
*Replace any file in that .apk (this is where goomods installation will happen)
*Modify AndroidManifest.xml (it actually is binary xml) so that android will see it as different application (separate modded and non-modded installations)
*Sign new apk with zipsigner (so that it's possible to actually install it)
*Ask user to install the new .apk (required enabling installation from untrusted sources)
*It does NOT need root privileges
Expected limitations:
*Very slow - at first it needs to copy 50MB apk somewhere, then to change it's content - recreate it from the scratch somewhere else (this can be changed using good library, or java 7 API which isn't available for android), the sign it - again by recreating it from the scratch (done by almost completely undocumented library, and I don't think I want to touch it's code). And then it needs to install the apk - android will copy it AGAIN and then extract.
*It can't automatically install modified World of Goo (at least without root privileges)
*I have no idea what will happen if someone will attepmt to run both World of Goo versions at once
*I don't think there is any way to access World of Goo save files (again, at least without root privileges)
*It's impossible to make modded world of goo share save files with original World of Goo - I would need to sign it with the same key as original (but 2 modded installations can share save files)
For testing I added more goo balls to level "Going up".
And my question: Can I use GooTool (modified) source code to support goomod format?
As I understand the license I can do it but I can't use the name "GooTool". Am I right?
If you read that in the license, I'm sure it's alright. If you really want to be certain or maybe even work out a way to use the GooTool name, send an email to David. (davidc @ this website)
As for progress, you've done some great work. It's been known for years that the possibility was there, but nobody's bothered to do it. I'm sure if you manage to get something working that's easy to use and install, it'll be used by many users.
I think, as long as it's legal, the best solution would be to avoid requiring root at all costs. Maybe you can have an option to auto-install if the user HAPPENS to have root, but don't require it. You'll lose out on way too many users that way. I think your solution of asking the user to install a modified APK is the best one.
Keep it up!