spmn / gta.android.asiloader

PoC shared library (.so) loader for Android apps

GTA.Android.ASILoader

Proof of concept shared library (.so) loader for GTA III/VC/SA/LCS

Quick info

Android provides two locations for apps to store files into:

1. internal storage: no permissions needed, only the owning app can access the files (not even the user!)
2. external storage: permissions needed, any app can access the files (including the user)

For security reasons, Android apps can load shared libraries from these locations only:

1. APK (hard/time consuming to patch)
2. system directories (not writable by the user/app)
3. internal storage (readable/writable by the app only)

Usually, mods circumvent this loader restriction by packing the .so files directly into the APK. However, this approach comes with a big downside: you have to rebuild and reinstall the APK every time you make a change to the mod.

Solution

A master mod (ASI Loader) is packed into the APK like a normal mod. Everytime the app starts, the ASI Loader scans Android/data/<appid>/files/ASI/ directory for .asi files, copies them to internal storage then loads them into the process.

This way libs can be updated with a simple adb push to the app external directory.

Requirements

• GTA .apk file (preferably the latest version, otherwise the .patch file might fail)
• Android NDK
• apktool
• uber-apk-signer

Installation

1. Unpack the APK (apktool)
2. Apply: (patch)
   • src/patches/WarMedia.patch for GTA III/VC/SA
   • src/patches/GTAActivityBase.patch for GTA LCS
3. Build the ASI Loader (ndk-build)
4. Copy libASILoader.so to <unpack>/lib/armeabi-v7a/
5. Rebuild the APK (apktool)
6. Sign the APK (uber-apk-signer)
7. Copy and install the signed APK

If everything went good, you should see a message in logcat from the ASI Loader at game startup. You can also build and load the example mod.

gta.android.asiloader's Issues

Can You Make Video On Coordinates Manager Android Save Location in other specify file

No pc users

What about people that dont have pc how are we gonna build the lib?

Bc some plugins have builders inside github

Need more information

Hello spmn . I am Hand101 . I just want to let you know that the readme doesn't provide much information on how this could be installed. Thanks to ChatGPT i was able to figure that out. You have only mentioned GTA III , GTA VC , GTA SA , GTA LCS. This asi loader does also work for Bully Anniversary Edition. Most important factor is you have to tell that to install this. You need Android-ndk.cmd as environment variable. then actual command for ndk-build and the process of patch you have to have WarMedia.smali on the folder smali/com/wardrumstudios and run the command -- patch -p1 < WarMedia.patch . Also if possible message me on discord . I need some more help in developing some more mods. Apart form that it is a really nice modification. I even though is unable to understand what half of the codes does. I asked ChatGPT how exactly does your rainbow hud works. it told me its not like it directly messes with the hud colors it does something else i can't remember. You are such a great modder. you should be able to help me right . I wanna make more ASI mods.

I need the libASILoader.so file

Hi, i am trying to make a mod for gta 3 android, but unfortunately i don't have a pc, so i can't build the library, can someone please give me libASILoader.so? My discord is hackerusuprem