# Moonshell v.1.5 & DPGTools v.1.2 out



## TheSpade (Dec 3, 2006)

*Moonshell v.1.5 & DPGTools v.1.2 out*

Great fixes and improvements abroad







The best homebrew application for movies, MP3s, pictures and more has come to us again with an all new version  here.  Let's look at the the information straight from the official change log:



*·* Corresponded to EZ4/DSLink. I wish to express my deep gratitude to Rudolph.

*·* The cartridge of enhancing the memory of DS browser' can be used for the cache memory.

*·* The resume item was added. (sound volume, reproduction mode, and NDSLite backlight brightness)

*·* ResumeUsingWhileMusicPlaying item was added to [System] section of global.ini. The resume is preserved while performing the tune.

*·* The DPG format was renewed. As for the DPG file made with a new encoder, seek is fast and the image doesn't fall into disorder either. Especially, it is remarkable in a long video.



The fix to the movie desync issue is a very welcome and long-awaited fix.  Try it out today!


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## Siouxsie (Dec 3, 2006)

Well, I love moonshell - I'm going to install this version on my DS-X =)


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## Verocity (Dec 3, 2006)

Wonderful! Ive been waiting!


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## squall3031 (Dec 3, 2006)

i dont understand, So does that mean you can use opera browser with moonshell??


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## Verocity (Dec 3, 2006)

QUOTE(TheSpade @ Dec 3 2006 said:


> *·* The cartridge of enhancing the memory of DS browser' can be used for the cache memory.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



No, this means if you have bought the DS Browser, you can put in the Memory Cartridge in slot 2 and if will be used as a cache memory.


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## m2pt5 (Dec 3, 2006)

QUOTE(Verocity @ Dec 3 2006 said:


> No, this means if you have bought the DS Browser, you can put in the Memory Cartridge in slot 2 and if will be used as a cache memory.


I would assume this only works if you are running Moonshell from slot-1.

Also, I hope the new player in Moonshell is backwards compatible with older DPG videos. If not, I'll probably stick with the older version I have.


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## Verocity (Dec 3, 2006)

Cool thing I just tried with the new dpgtools12 It did a .flv ,dpgtools had no errors. I tried to confirm with dpgshow but it had an error. I think it may be dpgshow though.

Someone else please try an flv.


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## [M]artin (Dec 3, 2006)

So like, what exactly is all this "Resume" stuff? Also, since I have the older version of Moonshell on my Supercard Lite, do I have to delete it from my MicroSD card and replace it with this version?


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## Hanafuda (Dec 3, 2006)

so, does this mean that dpgtools is the better conversion tool until we get an update from batchdpg?


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## yee (Dec 3, 2006)

Well, I updated my guide to reflect the unofficial update of BatchDPG by a staff of uTorrent (aka Firon)

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=35547

I haven't tried DPGTools yet, but I'll give her a go later today.


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## FAST6191 (Dec 4, 2006)

Updated video huh, just as I had finished a new matrix and finished documenting/pushing moonshells video capabilities, still improvement is very much welcomed.
A question I will answer for myself shortly but does anyone know if the video headers were changed for this update?
edit:
it seems there was some tweaking done to things: to the hex editor it would seem.


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## xlinkinpakx (Dec 4, 2006)

ya nvm i got it


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## cheesyPOOF5 (Dec 4, 2006)

OMGSWEET


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## faceless (Dec 4, 2006)

nice, ez4 write ability included!


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## cheesyPOOF5 (Dec 4, 2006)

Ooff...
MP3 playback now skips.
SCSD


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## falcon64z8 (Dec 4, 2006)

QUOTE(Verocity @ Dec 3 2006 said:


> Cool thing I just tried with the new dpgtools12 It did a .flv ,dpgtools had no errors. I tried to confirm with dpgshow but it had an error. I think it may be dpgshow though.
> 
> Someone else please try an flv.




Holey crap batman it does convert .flv on the fly!  Now I dont have to convert it into divx first or something, but the only downfall is that some .flv files work and some do, so its a hit or miss.  One more thing, I enjoyed the resume feature in that whatever song you are playing and you shut off your ds and when you go back and reboot moonshell it takes to back to where you stop listening and resume!  Now all I need is know how to customize your clock!


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## cornaljoe (Dec 4, 2006)

WOW, seek time is like 10x faster, but the quality is pretty low compared to BatchDPG.  Can't wait for the update!


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## faceless (Dec 4, 2006)

QUOTE(cheesyPOOF5 @ Dec 4 2006 said:


> Ooff...
> MP3 playback now skips.
> SCSD


no skipping for me on SC MiniSD or EZ4 Lite DX


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## LS5 (Dec 4, 2006)

QUOTE(FAST6191 @ Dec 4 2006 said:


> Updated video huh, just as I had finished a new matrix and finished documenting/pushing moonshells video capabilities, still improvement is very much welcomed.
> A question I will answer for myself shortly but does anyone know if the video headers were changed for this update?
> edit:
> it seems there was some tweaking done to things: to the hex editor it would seem.


Coincidentally, I picked up BatchDPG development just a few days ago, so I've already been working on implementing the new DPG2 format. If you haven't already figured out the header changes yourself, you can find them at http://www.gbatmw.net/index.php?topic=2281.0.


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## Firon (Dec 4, 2006)

QUOTE(FAST6191 @ Dec 3 2006 said:


> Updated video huh, just as I had finished a new matrix and finished documenting/pushing moonshells video capabilities, still improvement is very much welcomed.



What new matrix, might I ask?
Also, I've found a lot of what does and doesn't work with Moonshell. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




If only someone could at least optimize the MP2 decoder a little. Or at least tell Infantile what the specific problems are (damn you, language barrier). Using PAMs 1-3 cause skips if the bitrate is above 128, so that's kind of lame.


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## FAST6191 (Dec 4, 2006)

I am writing a manual DPG creation guide using QuEnc and TMPGenc (actually it was finished but I decided to add in TMPGenc and mess around with a few more options, filters and functions so it is back to still being worked on).
One of those options was a new matrix: QuEnc supports XVID type and TMPGenc can have one defined in the UI so I spent ages converting the same video which I watched, various videophiles I know and those who do not care were shown and asked to comment upon.
In the end it turns out people like something like this

```
DDDDDD
DXDDXD
DDDDDD
DXDDXD
DDDDDD
```
X is low detail and D is high(er) detail and the detail appreciated is skewed towards the right hand side of the picture slightly.


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## Firon (Dec 4, 2006)

Well, BatchDPG 1.2+ is using the KVCD matrix now, so I guess you'd have to compare yours to that one.

Also, I've tried encoding with TMPGEnc, and the quality honestly comes out quite noticeable worse than the results I get with mencoder (which BatchDPG is using). And the video came out larger to boot.


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## Elrinth (Dec 4, 2006)

here kicks off rudolphs fix for EZ4 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			




cool indeed. looking forward to see it being included in the fatlib 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




btw, does trying to run a GBA or NDS rom from moonshell still brick the EZ4?


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## ilovengage (Dec 4, 2006)

I didn't know it's already possible to access the RAM module from Opera. If it's possible for homebrew to access it it would be a great advantage for Slot-1 solutions (DS Linux, ...)


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## LS5 (Dec 4, 2006)

FAST6191, I just compared a MEncoder encode (using the Ultra profile and 2 passes in BatchDPG v1.3 beta 2) to a QuEnc encode (using -2 -hq -vbr -scene -trell -extreme) and I can only conclude that the MEncoder encode looked noticeably better (though I must say it also took a fair bit longer to complete). In any case, I'd recommend you to look into MEncoder, in my opinion it is a lot more powerful, unless the custom matrix you mentioned can perform miracles.


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## Firon (Dec 4, 2006)

ilovengage: Clearly it is possible for homebrew to do so ('cause Moonshell did it...), but the amount of RAM it has is not as good as an M3/SC, though an additional 10MB is still probably a lot for a system with only 4.

LS5: even if the matrix can perform miracles for QuEnc, applying the matrix to Mencoder should technically give even better results (since that's what I did with tmpgenc vs mencoder).


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## tisti (Dec 4, 2006)

Ah damn, why can't it use the onboard memory on M3 or SC :'(

Other than that, kickass release


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## enarky (Dec 4, 2006)

QUOTE(tisti @ Dec 4 2006 said:


> Ah damn, why can't it use the onboard memory on M3 or SC :'(


It does that for quite some time already.


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## Firon (Dec 4, 2006)

Yeah, it uses it for the rare occasion that you load some 10MB PNG or JPEG. It only uses 16MB of the PSRAM though, not all 32.

On a DPG1/DPG2 related note, I've been having a problem with DPGPlay that I can't figure out how to fix. DPG1 files come out way too dark (DPG2 too probably), and I can only assume that it's related to the pixel format. However, I don't know how to get mplayer to handle the different pixel format.
Does anyone have any ideas? I'd appreciate some help.

I also wish people would stop using dpgenc and use BatchDPG only, 'cause dpgenc's quality sucks.


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## cmonster (Dec 4, 2006)

Could anyone tell me if the window is supposed to look frozen when I use the DPG tool? It looks frozen when it goes into the "Encode Videostream" mode.

How long does it usually take for it to finish converting a 18 mb movie file at default settings? My video's been at the same place for about 20 minutes now without any hint of progression. Also tried it on different videos and got the same results.


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## Firon (Dec 4, 2006)

That's not normal at all. It shouldn't be frozen like that. If it's been frozen for 20m, it's probably not encoding at all.


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## wolssiloa (Dec 4, 2006)

QUOTE(cheesyPOOF5 @ Dec 4 2006 said:


> Ooff...
> MP3 playback now skips.
> SCSD


I'm getting the same problem on my mp3 files on my SCSD too. The song skips every few seconds for like a second.
Videos don't skip though. This is very annoying, do I need to downgrade? 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	



I reinstalled Moonshell 3 times, with the same problem each time.


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## LS5 (Dec 4, 2006)

Try setting ResumeUsingWhileMusicPlaying in global.ini to 0. The documentation states it saves the progress every 5 seconds so that might be the cause.


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## Verocity (Dec 4, 2006)

QUOTE(Elrinth @ Dec 4 2006 said:


> btw, does trying to run a GBA or NDS rom from moonshell still brick the EZ4?



You can't load games off of Moonshell with your EZ4 Deluxe? I just got mine today in the mail not completley sure...you do load games off of it dont you. Someone explain please


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## Smuff (Dec 4, 2006)

QUOTE(Verocity @ Dec 4 2006 said:


> QUOTE(Elrinth @ Dec 4 2006 said:
> 
> 
> > btw, does trying to run a GBA or NDS rom from moonshell still brick the EZ4?
> ...


*DO NOT BOOT NDS CODE FROM WITHIN MOONSHELL*




If you do, you will almost certainly have a brick on your hands !!!
corey was working on a failsafe check, but why would you want to risk it anyway ??


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## Verocity (Dec 4, 2006)

QUOTE(rambozotheclown @ Dec 4 2006 said:


> QUOTE(Verocity @ Dec 4 2006 said:
> 
> 
> > QUOTE(Elrinth @ Dec 4 2006 said:
> ...



Then what is moonshell for then...only music, movies?

How do I boot the nds and gba games then?

feel like such a n00b.

I am a EZFlashIVLite user just like you ?? what do i do.


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## wolssiloa (Dec 4, 2006)

QUOTE(LS5 @ Dec 5 2006 said:


> Try setting ResumeUsingWhileMusicPlaying in global.ini to 0. The documentation states it saves the progress every 5 seconds so that might be the cause.


Wow thanks LS5, that solved the problem! This should be disabled by default. I know the Setup has this option, but it shouldn't be on by default.


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## cmonster (Dec 5, 2006)

I guess I'll stick with BatchDPG for now since this is giving me problems. :/

Anyone know if I'm supposed to install any video codec? Everything works fine with the DGPTool until it gets to the Encode videostream part and it just freezes.


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## Firon (Dec 5, 2006)

dpgenc does not use your system's codecs, I think.

Anyway, we might just be able to implement DPG2 support into BatchDPG.


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## yee (Dec 5, 2006)

Hey Firon, what's the difference between DPG/DPG2?

And awesome job on updating BatchDPG to 1.2, I really love it.


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## HugeCock (Dec 5, 2006)

I normally don't use these features but I am giving a friend one of my kits. What's the best way to use Moonshell 1.5 on a G6 or M3? Curious about the extend version...I'm assuming that's only updatable by M3 or G6 team therefore I would just have to run this version like it says it the readme....correct?


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## Firon (Dec 5, 2006)

QUOTE(yee @ Dec 4 2006 said:


> Hey Firon, what's the difference between DPG/DPG2?
> 
> And awesome job on updating BatchDPG to 1.2, I really love it.



DPG2 is SLIGHTLY less compressible (you probably won't notice), but it has near instant seeking, and no longer shows a bunch of garbage whenever you fast forward/rewind.

And thanks.


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## Phrostay (Dec 5, 2006)

Wow is it just me or does the new 1.5 version sound better when playing back mp3s & movie files? or maybe I just converted my files properly this time. I was listening on my Sennheiser HD 212Pro headphones


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## Firon (Dec 5, 2006)

You don't convert MP3s to use with Moonshell, and DPGs do sound better, better than Extend, that is. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 It's been like that since 1.4 or something.


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## HugeCock (Dec 5, 2006)

I'm running the setup file now...anybody know why there is no G6 option? (My other cards are full)


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## Firon (Dec 5, 2006)

Because there is no G6 support. The one built into the G6 was done by the G6 team themselves.


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## yee (Dec 6, 2006)

Only DPGTools can convert to DPG2 currently right?

So are you saying with DPGTools and DPG2, it's better than BatchDPG and normal DPG?


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## Firon (Dec 6, 2006)

No. With DPGTools, you get fast seeking, but awful video and audio quality.

Stick to BatchDPG.


I was thinking, if the Resume function for music is writing to your SD card every 5 seconds, then you'll end up with an astronomical amount of writes to your card after a few hours. It's a very easy way to kill your SD card. What was Infantile thinking? He needs to make it write to SRAM instead, though this would require him either creating the save file for each device, or requiring users to run it through the GM/patcher for the card.


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## [M]artin (Dec 7, 2006)

Could someone help a very confused member out? I have a Supercard Lite and on my MicroSD card is the old version of Moonshell. That was pretty simple, only one folder, drag and dropped it onto the MicroSD and Moonshell worked. This new version however has more folders and files then I can count in it's download. I need to know if I have to delete the old version of my MicroSD first, and also what folders I actually need to run this new version of Moonshell (I think most of the files are plugins?). 

Also, what's that custom clock plugin thingy? Sounds cool!


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## hobotent (Dec 7, 2006)

ok im new to this, but I have an Ezflash IV (regular/minisd version) and i would like to put this on my flash cart..
now i understand i have to put some sort of EXFS version on it?

but isn't exfs for flashcarts with built in memory?

if so, why did i get an error (when moonshell starts up) the first time when i used the ez4 file option?
and if i did it right the first time (^), why do the recomended settings for batchdpg not work properly? for me the videos work flawlessly for 1 or 2 mins, then have the video lag more and more and more as time goes by. seems like noone but me has this problem.

i am so confused


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## FAST6191 (Dec 7, 2006)

Building moonshell for the EZ4 (sub in a few other blatant options and it will do for other carts too).
You have two options
build an EXFS version and include the EZ4 read/write options or add it in as a directory and some files
EXFS version
advantages: one file is all that is needed
disadvantages: slightly bigger than the other way meaning a couple more seconds will taken loading
You will have to bust out a hex editor to change options.
Other way
advantages: smaller file
easier to change options

The methods EXFS is a bit more complex so here goes
grab moonshell and extract it, in the first directory there will be a setup.exe run this.
Under select setup target drive choose EXFS for flashcart.
Choose your options (fonts etc) and finally hit setup
in the same directory there will appear some new files and a batch file, leave it all alone for now unless you want to tweak the global.ini.

Run setup.exe again and choose target drive (I made mine C:\ but whatever you need)
This time check the cards you need to support as well as the options you want.
Hit setup and some files will appear on the root of whatever drive you set it to.
You can copy these files to your memory card and have it work or you can take the .bin file it creates (for the EZ4 will be called something like _BOOT_MP_EZSD_EZ-Flash4_SD.nds.bin ) and replace the _BOOT_MP.nds in the moonshell folder with this one (naturally you are going to want to rename it to _BOOT_MP.nds) run the batch file and a new file will appear about 2.5 megs in size, burn this to your cart (if on the EZ4 use the nds.gba one).


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## canvasch (Dec 12, 2006)

i'm just waiting for dpgtools to get better video/audio quality.... till then i'll stick with batchdpg.... i can deal with the slow seeking....


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## HugeCock (Dec 24, 2006)

Just curious....whats the differences with Moonshell 1.5 and the version included on my M3? Thanks in advance


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