RSL 3.0 BETA

A complete UI redesign, substantial performance improvements and enhanced functionality. Highlights include comprehensive startup optimizations, much faster game list initialization, instant list filtering, a new gallery view, modernized UI components, integrated uninstall buttons, real-time installation progress updates and numerous quality-of-life improvements throughout.

Game Gallery

• Added a custom high-performance Gallery View with smooth animations and dynamic scaling
• Toggle seamlessly between List and Gallery views, with your preference automatically saved for future launches
• Switching from List to Gallery or Gallery to List scrolls directly to the previously selected game to maintain context
• Features include smooth scrolling, hover animations, status badges, favorite borders and integrated uninstall buttons for installed apps
• For a cleaner UI and larger thumbnails, game names are now shown on hover (except for tiles that lack thumbnails), thumbnail padding and corner radius have been adjusted to increase visible image size and keep rounding consistent, and the delete button has been repositioned to match the new layout
• Supports search, filters, sorting and context menu actions (“Add to Favorites”, “Remove from Favorites”)
• Optimized LRU image caching ensures smooth performance even on low-end hardware
• Unified installed-version display: the standalone “Installed Version” column was removed and the installed version is now shown in the consolidated Versions tab

Performance Improvements

• Improved startup performance through overhaul of initialization logic, removal of splash screen, parallelized asynchronous operations, batched version retrieval, optimized metadata extraction, faster directory deletion and much faster game list initialization
• Replaced manual list-view initialization and checks with a single call to the existing RefreshGameListAsync() method to simplify refresh logic and ensure the game list is correctly refreshed when filters are active (for example, installing or updating a game while in the "Update Available" view now immediately updates the game's status)
• Instant list filtering via caching and streamlined filter logic (INSTALLED / UPDATE AVAILABLE / NEWER THAN LIST)
• Improved search responsiveness with indexed lookups and reduced debounce timers
• Reduced application size by removing unused assets and optimizing existing assets
• Implemented automatic Cloudflare DNS fallback to resolve connectivity issues

UI & UX Redesign

• Complete visual overhaul with new color scheme and refined layout for improved consistency and modernity
• Redesigned left-side navigation bar with smooth animations and clearer device information and option presentation
• Relocated and refined numerous options (mount device, select device, share app, uninstall app, pull-to-desktop, filters, etc.) for a more logical workflow
• Fine-tuned styling, sizing, positioning and color consistency across all UI components with enhanced visual polish
• Implemented modern ToggleSwitch component with animations and updated Quest and Rookie option menus to use the new toggles
• Redesigned Rookie option menu layout to reduce vertical height and improve readability
• Added status indicators in the bottom-left corner showing Rookie status, device ID, mirror status and sideloading status at a glance
• Corrected grammatical and logical issues across text, tooltips and titles throughout the application
• Added uninstall buttons directly in List and Gallery views for quicker app management
• Updated the app icon based on the VRP server icon and enabled it in the window title bar

The combination of game gallery, refined filters and integrated uninstall buttons allows Rookie to function not only as a Sideloader, but also as an efficient device app browser and manager.

Wireless ADB Enhancements

• Reworked Wireless ADB options to simplify setup and day-to-day use
• Manual mode:
  • The IP address field now automatically prefills the first three octets by using the system's local IPv4, reducing typing and input errors
• Automatic mode:
  • No longer requires a USB connection to establish a connection
  • Instead now performs a network scan to automatically find the device and connects to it
  • Includes multi-device selection support (behavior designed for multiple devices, though only tested with a single device)
• Updated the ADB button label and messages to better reflect the new logic and to provide clearer guidance during connection attempts
• Increased speed of 'Disable Wireless ADB' feature, reducing the time it takes to turn Wireless ADB off
• Note: Wireless ADB still requires a one-time USB setup to run the adb tcpip 5555 command. In testing, connections could not be established from Rookie (both in this build and in earlier 2.34) without enabling TCP/IP mode on the device

Sideloading & Install Flow

• Added a modern progress bar with improved visuals and clearer status information during installs
• Real-time progress for app installs, OBB file transfers, and ZIP extraction powered by AdvancedSharpAdbClient; progress values and callbacks (labels and progress bars) now use floating-point percentages for smoother, more responsive updates
• Added throttling to progress and status callbacks during APK installation and OBB copy operations: UI updates are limited to once every 100 ms or when the progress percentage changes to prevent UI lag from excessive updates
• Added ETA estimation for APK installation, OBB copy and file extraction by tracking elapsed time and calculating a smoothed ETA via a reusable EtaEstimator class for more accurate and stable ETA display
• Added guards to prevent brief progress-bar flashes during multi-file downloads
• Removed separate "download speed" and "ETA" labels and replaced them with a single clearer label; the label has been repositioned and slightly resized to avoid clipping
• Improved messages and prompts during and after sideloading to make actions, errors and results easier to understand
• Added a dialog asking whether to delete game files after installation when enabling sideloading from the left navigation toggle

Local Blacklist

• Added local blacklist support allowing users to permanently suppress donation prompts for specific apps
• Blacklisted apps are stored in a local blacklist.json and merged locally with the server blacklist
• This eliminates unwanted prompts immediately without waiting for server-side blacklist updates

Stability & Bug Fixes

• Fixed several startup issues that could cause false connection error messages
• Resolved zombie ADB instances preventing proper startup and reliable connections
• Fixed initialization behavior when no device is connected so the app continues in a predictable "download-only" state without a headset attached
• Refined "download-only" state logic to preserve downloaded files until installation has completed successfully
• Added automatic device detection to trigger a full UI/data refresh once a device is connected
• Fixed active filter resetting after uninstalling a game so filters remain intact while you manage your library
• Fixed YouTube trailer playback issues by moving the local player.html into a dedicated trailer directory, simplifying the YouTube player initialization script, and setting player options to hide the fullscreen toggle (fs: 0) and disable video annotations (iv_load_policy: 3). Also added per-game video ID caching and WebView2 optimizations for faster, more reliable trailer loading
• Added WebView2.dll validation to ensure required runtime dependencies are present
• Added a retry mechanism for RCLONE initialization to improve robustness and resolve startup issues
• Synced sideloading button text to correctly match the current sideloading status to avoid confusion
• Fixed update prompt when the local version exceeds the server version to avoid misleading downgrade suggestions
• Fixed rare cases where pop-up dialogs would open behind the main window
• Fixed corrupted user.config files preventing startup

Preview

Thank You!

A huge THANK YOU goes out to @jp64k for all of their work in the redesign, bug fixing, and enhancements in this version.

New Contributors

• @Ashus made their first contribution in #244
• @jp64k made their first contribution in #267

Full Changelog: v2.34.1...v3.0-beta