Homebrew Homebrew game Issues with Nitrofox Makefile with Visual Studio Code environment setup

[Vulf]

I am quite new to Nintendo DS development and am hoping to make a game on the platform. I started my project with Programmer's Notepad as that was what tutorials said I should use, but when I started refactoring after getting used to the different NitroFox functions I decided I wanted to switch to Visual Studio Code, a platform that I was much more used to and has better syntax highlighting. Thankfully I was able to find a GitHub repository that contained a setup VSC project to make things easier. My initial tests worked fine and compiled fine but when it came to adding the NitroFox library it failed to compile. I knew it had to be the Makefile so I swapped it with the one I had been using before with my Programmer's Notepad project. This didn't cause any compiler errors which seemed like a good sign, but attempting to run the file gives a DeSmuME warning that the ROM header is invalid. The ROM clearly doesn't run after that so I think it's safe to say that particular Makefile is not compatible with my VSC setup. The only issue is although I have knowledge of C++, I have no idea how Makefiles work or even where to start to fix my Makefile so it's able to have NitroFox and compile correctly. If anybody has any resources/a tutorial/anything that can help me please let me know

Due to my new account I am unable to link the VSC project template or the Makefile but the project is made by cuibonobo and can be found by googling "cuibonobo nds vscode", and the Nitrofox Makefile comes from the Nitrofox example projects (I can't remember which example I grabbed it from but as far as I'm aware they are all the same). Sorry!

 

[godreborn]

I am quite new to Nintendo DS development and am hoping to make a game on the platform. I started my project with Programmer's Notepad as that was what tutorials said I should use, but when I started refactoring after getting used to the different NitroFox functions I decided I wanted to switch to Visual Studio Code, a platform that I was much more used to and has better syntax highlighting. Thankfully I was able to find a GitHub repository that contained a setup VSC project to make things easier. My initial tests worked fine and compiled fine but when it came to adding the NitroFox library it failed to compile. I knew it had to be the Makefile so I swapped it with the one I had been using before with my Programmer's Notepad project. This didn't cause any compiler errors which seemed like a good sign, but attempting to run the file gives a DeSmuME warning that the ROM header is invalid. The ROM clearly doesn't run after that so I think it's safe to say that particular Makefile is not compatible with my VSC setup. The only issue is although I have knowledge of C++, I have no idea how Makefiles work or even where to start to fix my Makefile so it's able to have NitroFox and compile correctly. If anybody has any resources/a tutorial/anything that can help me please let me know

Due to my new account I am unable to link the VSC project template or the Makefile but the project is made by cuibonobo and can be found by googling "cuibonobo nds vscode", and the Nitrofox Makefile comes from the Nitrofox example projects (I can't remember which example I grabbed it from but as far as I'm aware they are all the same). Sorry!

do you mean this?

 

[Vulf]

do you mean this?

View attachment 328282

Yes that looks like the template I used. Makefile works fine until I try to add Nitrofox. Once I do it doesn't compile

 

[godreborn]

Yes that looks like the template I used. Makefile works fine until I try to add Nitrofox. Once I do it doesn't compile

where is this nitrofox make file? you do mean to overwrite the original, correct?

 

[Vulf]

where is this nitrofox make file? you do mean to overwrite the original, correct?

the NitroFox Makefile can be found in the NitroFox examples, but I will upload it here too

 

[godreborn]

the NitroFox Makefile can be found in the NitroFox examples, but I will upload it here too

where do I put this? I'm not sure I understand where nitrofox is located. you said examples, what example?

 

[Vulf]

where do I put this? I'm not sure I understand where nitrofox is located. you said examples, what example?

NitroFox is a library that you can include in your devkitPro libnds projects. It includes example projects similar to the ones that devkitpro includes and those example projects have a makefile. when i started working in programmers notepad i just took the makefile from those examples, put it in my project, and used it. it would go where the normal makefile would go. however now that ive moved to VS Code it no longer compiles correctly. if you dont have nitrofox and want to see these examples that i took the file from it can be found on source forge (once again my account is too new to post links sorry!)

 

[godreborn]

do you mean nightfox? that's all I can find.

 

[Vulf]

do you mean nightfox? that's all I can find.

yeah sorry, its listed on the page as nightfox but some of the references to it in the files call it nitrofox. my mistake

 

[godreborn]

yeah sorry, its listed on the page as nightfox but some of the references to it in the files call it nitrofox. my mistake

you get this error with vs code?
lnflib: No
such file or directory

 

[Vulf]

you get this error with vs code?
lnflib: No
such file or directory

I did yes, but i added the directory to my VS Code includes which got the error squiggle to go away

 

[godreborn]

I'm sorry, but that's beyond my abilities. I've added includes, at least with vs 2022, but I can find no way with vs code. plus, I don't know which folder you're adding.

 

[godreborn]

where is lnflib? can't even run normal make due to missing that, and I've tried googling and nothing is found.

 

[Vulf]

where is lnflib? can't even run normal make due to missing that, and I've tried googling and nothing is found.

ive sent over 5 posts with this account so i should be able to send links now
https://github.com/Wolftr/ds-game/
this is the github repository with my setup. the makefile that is currently in the repository is the one that came with the template, and ive given you the one that came with night fox. remember to change the files in the .vscode folder so the filepaths work with your setup, and you can compile it with one of the tasks or with the ccr.bat included in the repository

 

[godreborn]

ive sent over 5 posts with this account so i should be able to send links now
https://github.com/Wolftr/ds-game/
this is the github repository with my setup. the makefile that is currently in the repository is the one that came with the template, and ive given you the one that came with night fox. remember to change the files in the .vscode folder so the filepaths work with your setup, and you can compile it with one of the tasks or with the ccr.bat included in the repository

well, this is what happened in vs code terminal:

PS C:\Users\GODREBORN\Desktop\nflib\makefiles\NitroFS> make
linking NitroFS.elf
c:/devkitpro/devkitarm/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/12.1.0/../../../../arm-none-eabi/bin/ld.exe: c:/devkitpro/devkitarm/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/12.1.0/../../../../arm-none-eabi/lib/thumb/ds_arm9_crt0.o: in function `IPCSync':
(.crt0+0x2f0): undefined reference to `main'
collect2.exe: error: ld returned 1 exit status
make[1]: *** [/home/GODREBORN/Desktop/nflib/makefiles/NitroFS/Makefile:56: /home/GODREBORN/Desktop/nflib/makefiles/NitroFS/NitroFS.elf] Error 1
make: *** [Makefile:162: build] Error 2
PS C:\Users\GODREBORN\Desktop\nflib\makefiles\NitroFS>

 

[Vulf]

well, this is what happened in vs code terminal:

PS C:\Users\GODREBORN\Desktop\nflib\makefiles\NitroFS> make
linking NitroFS.elf
c:/devkitpro/devkitarm/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/12.1.0/../../../../arm-none-eabi/bin/ld.exe: c:/devkitpro/devkitarm/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/12.1.0/../../../../arm-none-eabi/lib/thumb/ds_arm9_crt0.o: in function `IPCSync':
(.crt0+0x2f0): undefined reference to `main'
collect2.exe: error: ld returned 1 exit status
make[1]: *** [/home/GODREBORN/Desktop/nflib/makefiles/NitroFS/Makefile:56: /home/GODREBORN/Desktop/nflib/makefiles/NitroFS/NitroFS.elf] Error 1
make: *** [Makefile:162: build] Error 2
PS C:\Users\GODREBORN\Desktop\nflib\makefiles\NitroFS>

im not sure why youre getting errors when it comes to main
when using the makefile in the nflib\makefiles\NitroFS the program does compile a working rom oddly enough, i guess the file is slightly different then the one in the examples. there is still an issue of the file system not working properly but i can look into that on my own, thanks anyways

 

[godreborn]

im not sure why youre getting errors when it comes to main
when using the makefile in the nflib\makefiles\NitroFS the program does compile a working rom oddly enough, i guess the file is slightly different then the one in the examples. there is still an issue of the file system not working properly but i can look into that on my own, thanks anyways

did you put those files in nds-lib or something else, then used an environmental variable to point to it? I'm trying to have the same setup as you.

 

[Vulf]

did you put those files in nds-lib or something else, then used an environmental variable to point to it? I'm trying to have the same setup as you.

if you mean the makefile it should put be at the root of your project. the other files are exactly as i have them in the github. ive also updated the github to include the icon.bmp (fails to compile without) and put files in the nitrofiles folder (NFLib fails to set the directory when it is empty)

 

[godreborn]

if you mean the makefile it should put be at the root of your project. the other files are exactly as i have them in the github. ive also updated the github to include the icon.bmp (fails to compile without) and put files in the nitrofiles folder (NFLib fails to set the directory when it is empty)

I'm talking about this: lnflib.a and it's corresponding include folder. there's no make install, so I don't even know where they're supposed to go in devkitPro.

 

[Vulf]

those go in the project directory. it should look like this (project directory)/nflib/lib/libnflib.a (and /nflib/include)