A git patch to remove ads and startup animation from gdlauncher. it uses the ability to compile the app.asar file without loosing functionality (no api key needed) to generate a new one with the react components for showing ads stripped out

adsbegone-gdlauncher-carbon.patch

diff --git a/apps/desktop/packages/main/adSize.ts b/apps/desktop/packages/main/adSize.ts
index 8ab38784..bdf2777a 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/packages/main/adSize.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/packages/main/adSize.ts
@@ -17,8 +17,8 @@ export default function getAdSize(display?: Display) {
       adSize: {
         useFallbackAd,
         useVertical: true,
-        width: 160,
-        height: 600
+        width: 0,
+        height: 0
       }
     };
   } else {
@@ -30,9 +30,9 @@ export default function getAdSize(display?: Display) {
       adSize: {
         useFallbackAd,
         useVertical: false,
-        width: 400,
-        height: 600
+        width: 0,
+        height: 0
       }
     };
   }
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/apps/desktop/packages/mainWindow/src/components/AdBanner.tsx b/apps/desktop/packages/mainWindow/src/components/AdBanner.tsx
index 657870ca..5231cbd0 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/packages/mainWindow/src/components/AdBanner.tsx
+++ b/apps/desktop/packages/mainWindow/src/components/AdBanner.tsx
@@ -2,13 +2,7 @@ import adSize from "@/utils/adhelper";
 
 export const AdsBanner = () => {
   return (
-    <div
-      style={{
-        height: `${adSize.height}px`,
-        width: `${adSize.width}px`
-      }}
-    >
-      <owadview class="relative z-100" />
+    <div>
     </div>
   );
 };
diff --git a/apps/desktop/packages/mainWindow/src/global.d.ts b/apps/desktop/packages/mainWindow/src/global.d.ts
index 8a25b565..17f1b75e 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/packages/mainWindow/src/global.d.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/packages/mainWindow/src/global.d.ts
@@ -56,9 +56,9 @@ declare global {
 
 declare module "solid-js" {
   namespace JSX {
-    interface IntrinsicElements {
+    /*interface IntrinsicElements {
       owadview: any;
-    }
+    }*/
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/apps/desktop/packages/mainWindow/src/pages/withAds.tsx b/apps/desktop/packages/mainWindow/src/pages/withAds.tsx
index 50c6462a..c19b7699 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/packages/mainWindow/src/pages/withAds.tsx
+++ b/apps/desktop/packages/mainWindow/src/pages/withAds.tsx
@@ -69,35 +69,7 @@ function withAdsLayout() {
               <Outlet />
             </div>
             <div class="flex flex-col justify-between h-[calc(100vh-100px)]">
-              <div
-                class="bg-darkSlate-800 py-4"
-                style={{
-                  width: `${adSize.width}px`,
-                  height: `${adSize.height}px`
-                }}
-              >
-                <Show when={adSize.shouldShow}>
-                  <Switch>
-                    <Match when={adSize.useFallbackAd}>
-                      <BisectBanner />
-                    </Match>
-                    <Match when={!adSize.useFallbackAd}>
-                      <AdsBanner />
-                    </Match>
-                  </Switch>
-                </Show>
-              </div>
               <div class="flex justify-center">
-                <div
-                  class="text-center hover:text-darkSlate-50 transition-colors duration-200 text-darkSlate-200"
-                  onClick={() => {
-                    modalContext?.openModal({
-                      name: "whyAreAdsNeeded"
-                    });
-                  }}
-                >
-                  <Trans key="why_are_ads_needed" />
-                </div>
               </div>
             </div>
             <div class="absolute top-0 left-0 right-0 bottom-0 bg-image-gdlauncher_pattern.svg -z-10" />

theres a .yml file next to the asar in the resources folder (of the installed launcher)... Changing that should work better...

@RhapsodySL that's not significantly different from what I did except that I set my version to 999.999.999 just to be extreme about it. It should have still worked the same. GameTec is right of course. The best answer is to edit and disable the updater altogether. I didn't post the contents directly because I knew it was a hacky trick, but it was relatively easy to find and mess with. It's worth repeating that this is the active source we're using. They're doing edits there every couple days that could cause as many bugs as they're fixing until they build and release it themselves.