360 Extreme Explorer Modified Version

[Humming Owl]

4 hours ago, athlonxpuser said:

I saw someone else mentioned here that this browser doesn't run on CPUs without SSE2 and I know it's not really related to the topic but I always wondered if it's possible to compile modern versions of Chromium (or Firefox too) without the SSE2 requirement so they could run on an Athlon XP or Pentium III. Probably not since otherwise someone likely would have done it already but I'm still curious...

With regards to that I found out the following link:

https://github.com/bircoph/chromium-no-sse2-patch

Apparently it is a patch that helps in the Chromium compilation process to not depend on the SSE2 instruction set (for Chromium 35/36). I do not know anything about the compilation process of Chromium or anthing like that in general but I leave this page here if it can be useful to someone capable of understanding it.

3 hours ago, ArcticFoxie said:

And I was quite pleased to discover that Google Voice does work (99%) in v11 Modified and in v12 Modified.

Technically I only dialed up my bank's automated system but that did work in v11 and v12 (but not in v9.5).

So I revisited default repack v12 and confirmed that Google Voice can not make an outgoing call on that version - so one of your under-the-hood tweaks did restore Google Voice to v11 and v12 - awesome!

That's great! However I am almost sure that the modifications I made do not relate to the functionality of Google services at all. I have a strong felling that the Google Voice problem is in the RuRepack version and because of the modifications they made. One thing that they add in the comments every time they post a new version in their page is "the vulnerabilities are closed". I do not know what they refer when they say that. That was one of the reasons that made me modify the original 360EE.

Source: https://lrepacks.ru/repaki-programm-dlya-interneta/182-360-extreme-explorer-amp-portable.html

3 hours ago, ArcticFoxie said:

Looking forward to your Modified_Notes.txt file for v13

In relation with that I have a problem. In the modification notes of v12 I had to remove a entry in the "resources.pak" file (p7.qhimg.com) and that entry relates to a chinese connection when visiting the bookmarks manager while being in the dark theme. That entry does not appear on the v13's "resources.pak" file  (13.0.2250.0) but the connection shows on the v13 while doing the same (so it is somewhere). For the things I could see the "chrome_child.dll" file is gone, the "resources.pak" file is smaller in size but the "chrome.dll" file is bigger, all in comparison to v12. I think that the "p7.qhimg.com" entry is on the "chrome.dll" file but in the compilation process got replaced by other values (not sure). I want to see if in other v13 versions the entry is still missing. If it is missing I could delete the dark theme compressed file on the "skin" folder to not being able to load the dark theme, but I am not really a fan of that option. 

 

Cheers.

[Dixel]

Good job ! Even though I do not use any of these , I took the options out of your 12th version to use with v.13 and the browser loads even faster ! Thank you ! You're are absolutely right about russians , they are incompetent , to say the least , and they broke that functionality. It was a very wise decision to make your own version from the original ! 

EDIT : You may do the same and save time when modding v.13 . Also , the skin files are swappable.

Edited July 14, 2021 by Dixel

[NotHereToPlayGames]

Excellent news on Google Voice for original versus repack.

Since your list of modifications performs the repack modifications and does so even better, then I am finally sold on sticking with modifications to the original versus the repack.

You are the first to come along that has even attempted that long list of modifications - we have some "armchair quarterbacks" but you are the first to actually "throw the ball".

I see no references to qhimg in any of the dark theme's .xml files.

I have seen references that .png files are historically known to embed malicious code, but usually a "launcher" of sorts when the .png is decoded.

Unsure if a .png can "connect" to qhimg.

I do see that amost all of the .png files in the "dark" theme (an obomination to my eyesight, but to each their own) are dated 8/10/2020 but that a very small number of them are dated 11/11/2020.

But since the skins are swappable, maybe it's easiest to just use the dark theme from v12 and run that in v13 ???

 

[Greyfox77]

Youtube works great even when 3 tabs play at the same time. I did try a test meeting with webex, it seems that it works althought i will have to try it with real meeting too!

 

@Humming OwlI think retro system revival should be notified to post your modified version at their site, so people can find it more easily.

[Humming Owl]

12 hours ago, Dixel said:

Good job ! Even though I do not use any of these , I took the options out of your 12th version to use with v.13 and the browser loads even faster ! Thank you ! You're are absolutely right about russians , they are incompetent , to say the least , and they broke that functionality. It was a very wise decision to make your own version from the original ! 

EDIT : You may do the same and save time when modding v.13 . Also , the skin files are swappable.

Thank you very much for your comment. I will take into account the compressed file.

6 hours ago, ArcticFoxie said:

Excellent news on Google Voice for original versus repack.

Since your list of modifications performs the repack modifications and does so even better, then I am finally sold on sticking with modifications to the original versus the repack.

You are the first to come along that has even attempted that long list of modifications - we have some "armchair quarterbacks" but you are the first to actually "throw the ball".

I see no references to qhimg in any of the dark theme's .xml files.

I have seen references that .png files are historically known to embed malicious code, but usually a "launcher" of sorts when the .png is decoded.

Unsure if a .png can "connect" to qhimg.

I do see that amost all of the .png files in the "dark" theme (an obomination to my eyesight, but to each their own) are dated 8/10/2020 but that a very small number of them are dated 11/11/2020.

But since the skins are swappable, maybe it's easiest to just use the dark theme from v12 and run that in v13 ???

 

I am really glad for your comment too, thank you for it. But this could not have happened remotely without the help of all those who contributed with excellent information. I hope counting on everyone to continue doing more with this browser.

I will try switching between files and if it doesn't work, I will delete all the images from the dark theme zip file to see what happens.

Something I want to ask @ArcticFoxie: I know you downloaded several v13 files, From which of them did the developer tools started loading in chinese? I would also like to ask you if you can look in the "resources.pak" file of each one of those v13 versions (if you still have them of course), if the "qhimg" entry is present.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers.

[NotHereToPlayGames]

I still have every version I could get my hands on.

v2206 was the LAST version before the developer tools started loading in Chinese (I base this on the Russian Repack because that was my best starting point at the time).

Granted, you can go into the Chinese settings of the newer versions and select English - but you have to know where to find it.

I'll take a look at the resources.pak file for presence of qhimg and will report back.

[NotHereToPlayGames]

Extended testing on Modified v11 shows crashes not of the browser but of the Basemark Web 3.0 test - https://web.basemark.com/

This is one of several benchmark tests I use to compare versions (I never rely on "gut feeling" or "placebo effect" and want to see quantitative and repeatable measurements).

This is also the only benchmark (that I'm aware of) that will give one result with the "swiftshader" folder and the "libglesv2.dll" file versus another result after deleting these files.

I delete this files for my everyday use (and also use a command switch to disable wasm).

I've never encountered any website that requires "swifthshader" and "libglesv2.dll" so I'm not sure if we need to keep them or not.

Granted, everything higher than official Chromium v49 seems to have that "switfshader" stuff and will give a Basemark score of 210 to 250 or so but the score drops to 60 to 80 or so once they are removed.

But my standard practice has become along the lines that if Basemark Web 3.0 crashes, then I delete the files so that whatever crashed Basemark won't crash my normal browsing session.

Like I say, I'm not sure if we really need it or not, I suspect it's targeted more for the "gaming" crowd than for the "browsing" crowd.

[NotHereToPlayGames]

Another Modified v11 observation - the Download Manager title bar has the Thunder acceleration comment that normally is a "tooltip" (ie, popup box when you hover over somehing).

 

edit - though I guess that might be something that was fixed by the time v13 came around

Edited July 14, 2021 by ArcticFoxie

[NotHereToPlayGames]

Another Modified v11 observation - both the Minimize tooltip and the Restore tooltip for the main window title bar icons both say Minimize.

The Restore for the address bar (next to back and forward) still has the Cilck typo versus Click.

What I found when doing a lot of my translation work was that the Russian Repack was better to translate from than the Chinese Original.

I used Google Translate and I often encountered that pasting the exact Chinese one day would give one translation, but the same exact Chinese pasted another day would translate to slightly different wording.

But Google Translate was consistent from day to day when translating Russian.

I'll post my browser_strings.xml file once completed.

Edited July 14, 2021 by ArcticFoxie

[XPerceniol]

@Humming Owl ... Hello and nice to meet you

I will report with feedback with v11 when I can.

Thanks for your contribution!

EDIT: OMG I can't even type today without a million edits Sorry guys.

Edited July 15, 2021 by XPerceniol

[NotHereToPlayGames]

@Humming Owl - fyi, I found something that is a flaw in the original Chinese v11 but that the Russians fixed in their Repack v11 (but not 100%).

When you open the Download Manager, the dialog box title is "supposed to" come from the below entry in browser_strings.xml -

<item name="DOWNLOAD_MGR_TITLE" id="1366510761">Download</item>

The label name="title" text="Download" in en_skin -> iframe -> download's download_mgr_dlg.xml seems to NEVER BE USED (it is these types of redundancies that I plan on removing completely "one of these days").

The Download Manager's dialog box title is coming from the below entry in browser_strings.xml -

<item name="DOWNLOAD_MGR_THUND_TITLE" id="494006349">Download - Cloud acceleration is powered by Thunder</item>

I think this title is supposed to change whether or not you have Thunder enabled or disabled (it doesn't, but I think that was the original intent).

In the Russian Repack, the Download Manager's title is coming from DOWNLOAD_MGR_TITLE

In the original Chinese v11 and in the Modived v11, the Download Manager's title is coming from DOWNLOAD_MGR_THUND_TITLE

 

[NotHereToPlayGames]

<edit:  overwrote previous entry - skin-related "convolutions" that kind of need to remain because not all of us use the same theme>

 

@Humming Owl - one item I reverted back to semi-original in Modified v11 is one of the buttons in the Download Manager.

The button by default will say "Open" (originally was with a lowercase o and you changed this to "Open when completed" [from memory, can't have it open and type this in my other 360Chrome at the same time]).

This particular button, with the original v11, will say "open" when downloading a .7z and if you change that .7z extension to .exe, the button will automatically change from "open" to "run" (both lowercase with original v11).

You fixed the lowercase "open" with "Open when completed" (and changed the width of the button) but it will still say lowercase "run" if you are downloading an .exe.

It's all a matter of personal preference, I myself prefer "Open" and "Run" and the smaller button since "Open" and "Run" are small text strings.

My reasoning being is that I prefer the drop-down context menu and the button to say the same exact thing, not "Open" in the drop-down then "Open when completed" for the button.

At any rate, I figure you'd be interested in an fyi for the lowercase "run" when downloading an .exe at the very least.

Edited July 15, 2021 by ArcticFoxie

[NotHereToPlayGames]

@Humming Owl

The "Use a prediction service" does not deactivate in Modified v11 nor in Chinese v11.

You can uncheck the checkbox and the Changes have taken effect box appears, but when you close and relaunch, the checkbox is checked again.

In the Russian v11, this checkbox at least remains deactivated when you close and relaunch.

I am unsure if this service actually "works" regardless of checkbox or not.

[Dixel]

8 hours ago, ArcticFoxie said:

Use a prediction service

Really ? And why would anyone want to activate it ? Do you even know what that is ? I'm just curious.

[Dixel]

@Humming Owl, you're welcome ! I wanted to ask , were you able to switch off the annoying login suggestion popup ?