Hacking How to make Game Guides for the in-game menu of DSTWO

[Terminator02]

I had some serious trouble figuring this out, so I thought I would post this to help anyone that was as confused as I was.

How to make game guides for viewing in the Real Time Menu

in-game menu A.K.A. Real Time Menu (using the DSTWO hotkey during games)
game guides A.K.A. Real Time Guides (accessable from within the Real Time Menu)

Just download this pack of game guides and do as FileTrip says.

You need to save one of the guides to the same folder where your ROM is located, And rename it to the exact name of your ROM. (do not include .nds in the name)

Once you boot your ROM up you should be able to go into the in-game menu using your hotkey. Then click Game Guide and you should see your guide right there.

The game guide will save your spot after you exit it, so you can go to a certain point in the guide, return to the game, and when you reload the guide, it will resume from where you were before.

If the game guide you are looking for is not in the pack, please request it, then follow this guide:

Spoiler: Guide to creating your own Real Time Guides

Where to find the Game Guides
Search for your game here(there is a searchbox at the topright of the webpage) or here. Click on one of the walkthroughs (on the Walkthroughs & Guide section on SuperCheats.com, under the FAQs section on Gamefaqs.com). Try to get one with as little art and text boxes as you can, you want them to be basic so that they can be easily viewed on your DS. (As far as I know all of the walkthroughs there are .txt, if one of them is not, then don't use it. You can see what it is by looking at the end of the url address.)

(Example: I went to the website and searched Chrono Trigger, which brought me to this page, I then click on Walkthroughs and Guides for the DS version, which brings me here. I then find the one which has the least amount of art, but is not a beta [it is version 1.0 or higher]. I select this one.)

How to put them on to your DSTWO
After you have opened up one of the walkthroughs in your browser, right-click on any white space and click "save as". You need to save that walkthrough to the same folder where your ROM is located, And rename it to the exact name of your ROM. (do not include .nds in the name)

(Example: I just got a walkthrough for Chrono Trigger and it is called chronotrigger-walkthrough04, I would rename it to the name of the ROM and save it into the same folder that has my Chrono Trigger ROM)

Result
Once you boot your ROM up you should be able to go into the in-game menu using your hotkey. Then click Game Guide and you should see your guide right there.

(For my example, once I boot up Chrono Trigger, I press my hotkey, click on gameguide, and see the guide that has the same name as my ROM. I click on it, it loads for a few seconds, and there we go. [the game guide will save your spot after you exit it, so you can go to a certain point in the guide, return to the game, and when you reload the guide, it will resume from where you were before])

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How to make images for viewing in the Real Time Menu (work in progress)

Find useful images for games at GameFaqs under the FAQs section of a game in the Maps and Charts section.

Spoiler: In Photoshop by Windaga

How to view images in DSTwo's Guide

1.Open your image up in Photo Shop.
2.Go to "File - Save As"
3. Save your file as "GameName.01.bmp"

(where "GameName" is the exact name of your .NDS file you are creating the guide for.)

4. When prompted, click "24", then "save."

Reminders:
-Make sure your image name is the EXACT name of your .NDS file.

-You can have any number of saved images and text files - there is no current limit. Just be sure to label your image files "GameName.01.bmp, GameName.02.bmp, GameName.16.bmp, etc., and your text files "GameName.01.txt, GameName.02.txt, GameName.16.txt

-You can have a mix of .txt files and .bmp files. I have 16 Text files and 16 image files for one game and they all work fine.

Spoiler: In Paint on Windows XP

You can either copy the image and paste it into Paint or Save the picture, the guide shows you how to save it. (Click on the images to enlarge them)

If you copied the image, paste it into paint and skip to step 5.

1. right click on the picture you want and click "Save As"

2. Save your picture into any folder you like (not on your DSTWO card)

3. Open Paint and press file, then open

4. Open the file you just saved from the internet

5. After you open/paste the picture, you may resize if you wish (the DS's resolution is 256 x 192), then save click "Save As"

6. Save the picture with the exact same name as your ROM and as a 24 bit BMP image in the same folder as your ROM, then click save.


Now the image should show up under the game guides in the Real Time Menu in your game

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Misc. Info (if you would like to contribute more info, please post it in this thread)

You can have as many files as you want for a particular game when you number each one by naming it *rom name here*.XX.txt/bmp, having the Xs be numbers
The guides show up in order of the numbers you placed. The .txts will always show up first (so .64.txt will show up before .23.bmp), and .00.txt/bmp also works (they show up before .01.txt/bmp)
You can have a .txt and .bmp be the same number and it will still show both seperately

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How to make high quality videos for Moonshell using BatchDPG (.avi videos only)

First, download Avisynth here
Then, download BatchDPG here


Open BatchDPG and in settings check the box to keep the aspect ratio.
Drag the video you want to convert into the blank box in BatchDPG.
Click Run
Wait
The DPG video file will have the same name and be located in the same folder.
You move it to your micro sd card where ever you wish (i suggest making a Videos folder in the root)
Watch your video in moonshell (better quality than DPGenc)!

Spoiler: Recommended Settings

Fullscreen
FPS: 20
Video bitrate: 386
Max bitrate: 512
Passes: 3
Profile: Ultra
Resizer - Spline16
Width: 256
Height: 192
Audio bitrate: 128
Samplerate: 32768
Mode: Joint Stereo
Normalize: On

Widescreen
FPS: 22
Video bitrate: 386
Max bitrate: 512
Passes: 3
Profile: Ultra
Resizer - Spline16
Width: 256
Height: 144
Audio bitrate: 128
Samplerate: 32768
Mode: Joint Stereo
Normalize: On

* If you guys want, you can lower the amount of passes to reduce encoding time at the possible expense of quality.
* Those are the recommended settings, remember that you can always play around and make your own settings : )

stolen from here

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Misc. Info(if you find anything to be incorrect, or would like to contribute more info, please post it in this thread)

approximately 50 MB for 20 minutes of video
If you want to have your microsd card appear as Supercard DSTWO with the picture like in the video, (coming soon [eventually (never)]) look in this thread.

 

[Overlord Nadrian]

Looks detailed enough, xcdjy might want to add this to the DSTWO FAQ, nice work mate!

 

[Terminator02]

Looks detailed enough, xcdjy might want to add this to the DSTWO FAQ, nice work mate!

we have a DSTWO FAQ?

 

[Boozie]

It's a WIP, hasn't been posted yet.

 

[Terminator02]

This post has been removed by a moderator.
Reason: has no significant reason for existance

 

[Overlord Nadrian]

Yeah, we can just quote the first post and get everything from that, no need to post it again.

And as said, it is still work in progress, because there just is a lot to say about the DSTWO and xcdjy still has exams.

 

[DeltaBurnt]

You can also have a bmp file for the in game guide as well. Just name it the same as the NDS file and make sure it's saved as a 256 color bitmap.

 

[Terminator02]

You can also have a bmp file for the in game guide as well. Just name it the same as the NDS file and make sure it's saved as a 256 color bitmap.

yes, but I don't know where to get bmp guides...

 

[DeltaBurnt]

You can also have a bmp file for the in game guide as well. Just name it the same as the NDS file and make sure it's saved as a 256 color bitmap.

yes, but I don't know where to get bmp guides...

There are no bmp guides. Bmp files are more for maps and comparison charts.

Like this:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/ds/959019-the-lege...acks/faqs/58651

 

[Terminator02]

so they are a picture format, can they have text with the pictures too? and if so you said there are no guides in bmp anyway... what's the point of it

 

[DeltaBurnt]

so they are a picture format, can they have text with the pictures too? and if so you said there are no guides in bmp anyway... what's the point of it

It's so you can look at the picture for reference while you play. It "guides" you in the game.

Yes you can have a text guide and a picture "guide" for one game at once, it'll just be added to the list. Just make sure you save it as a 256 color bmp (go into paint and load the bmp, then click save-as, goto the file format and click 256 Color Bitmap).

 

[nl255]

so they are a picture format, can they have text with the pictures too? and if so you said there are no guides in bmp anyway... what's the point of it

Actually, you can have up to 9 guides (I think). Just name them Romname.1.txt, Romname.2.txt and so on.

 

[DeltaBurnt]

so they are a picture format, can they have text with the pictures too? and if so you said there are no guides in bmp anyway... what's the point of it

Actually, you can have up to 9 guides (I think). Just name them Romname.1.txt, Romname.2.txt and so on.

Wow that's cool, I didn't know that.

EDIT: It works but it only works up to 7 guides (txt and bmp add up to the same total).

 

[Tekkin88]

Yay! This means I won't have to refer to the browser on my phone every five seconds!

 

[Spartan117H3]

/me needs a massive Game Guide Compilation

Eh, would be helpful, just like our Massive Cheat Compilation. Sadly, you can't always get what you want.

 

[KingAsix]

This was a really useful thread....Answer the question I was gonna ask

 

[Terminator02]

/me needs a massive Game Guide Compilation

Eh, would be helpful, just like our Massive Cheat Compilation. Sadly, you can't always get what you want.

This isn't really that possible because the games have to be the exact name of your rom, which can differ in name depending on where you download it from. I could try to make some with popular games and let you name them, but that's it.

And if I can find a good site to get .bmp maps and etc. I'll add that to the guide on the first post.

 

[KingAsix]

Just go to Gamefaqs.com. Most of there walkthroughs are .txt and you can download them. Some games have some maps and guides that are images. Just download and convert those. I don't think a walkthrough compilation would be necessary.

 

[DeltaBurnt]

Just go to Gamefaqs.com. Most of there walkthroughs are .txt and you can download them. Some games have some maps and guides that are images. Just download and convert those. I don't think a walkthrough compilation would be necessary.

Well I think it's more for the lazy.

Like for cheats you could always just google "gamename cheats" but then you have to manually add all of them, etc.

It's just the convenience of having everything there. And seeing as they're all txt files it wouldn't take up that much.

 

[Terminator02]

/me needs a massive Game Guide Compilation

Eh, would be helpful, just like our Massive Cheat Compilation. Sadly, you can't always get what you want.
Check my first post, just updated it with a pack of guides. Your welcome mate, if you think i should add another, just say so in this thread, this is the discussion thread for it. Also, make sure to read the description, as you need to rename it and such.

QUOTE(Terminator02 @ Jun 18 2010, 06:24 AM) so they are a picture format, can they have text with the pictures too? and if so you said there are no guides in bmp anyway... what's the point of it

Actually, you can have up to 9 guides (I think). Just name them Romname.1.txt, Romname.2.txt and so on.

Wow that's cool, I didn't know that.

EDIT: It works but it only works up to 7 guides (txt and bmp add up to the same total).

just wondering if you tried .0.txt as well as 1-7, Just wanted to make sure before I redo my guide