Homebrew DSReader Help

Arkenath · Jul 31, 2008

Hey there,
I recently discovered the DSReader Homebrew Application. It seems quite nice, and I'd love to give it a try, but I'm worried about a couple of things I hope I could get help with. For starters, can anyone give me a more or less decent tutorial or lesson on how to use it? I've tried searching over google but haven't had much luck with anything...to be more specific, I'm not too good with notepad so I don't know if I need certain dimensions in my .txt document, nor do I know how to work notepad very well...Hell, if there's an alternative where I can just copy and paste something right into a template, it'd be great. If worse comes to worse and I'm simply too stupid to fully comprehend how this works (which I hope is NOT the case), then if I could give someone what I want to be correctly formatted/modified and they could do it for me, then as a last case scenario that'd be great. Thanks much for any information you can give me on this amazing looking app. Cheers.

- Ark

P.S. What is the best encoding to use? Unicode is what it says I need or it will erase stuff or something...again not sure how this works :/

DanTheManMS · Jul 31, 2008

DSReader is pretty simple, so perhaps you're overthinking it a bit. Here's a quick guide to getting it working:

1. Create a folder on the root of your card called "DSReader"
2. Copy (NOT move) fonts from "C:\Windows\fonts" to the DSReader folder. I mostly use Arial, but you're free to use whichever font you wish.
3. Copy and paste your *.txt files directly to your card. They can go anywhere on your card, not just the DSReader folder.

That should be all there is to it. Launch DSReader.nds, press A (or drag up on the touchscreen) to open the menu, and load your *.txt file from there.

The only other thing to keep in mind is that bookmarks only work if the filename of the *.txt file has no spaces in it.

If you get strange characters when reading (for quote marks or other symbols), then open the *.txt file in Wordpad, do a File - Save As, and for the "Save As Type" option box use "text document - MS-DOS format"

I'm assuming your ebooks are in *.txt format already. If not, we'll need to know what format they're currently in so we can convert correctly.

Poring · Aug 14, 2008

First, thank you for your quick guide. It really helped, as there is (?) no readme, or I'm just blind.

Anyways, now, I got a question myself.
Yes, my ebooks already are already .txt's, but is there a way to format it as in the "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" example?
It would really make it easier to read.

DanTheManMS · Aug 14, 2008

If you mean the word-wrapping after a certain number of characters, I've heard the Linebreaker program can do it.

Poring · Aug 14, 2008

DanTheManMS said:
If you mean the word-wrapping after a certain number of characters, I've heard the Linebreaker program can do it.

Again, thanks.
There are some empty spaces at some ridiculous places now, but it still helped.

SkidR0we1 · Aug 16, 2008

I have recently started using DSReader and think its great. I don't want to hijack this thread, but I think my questions are related and might help others use the app better.

I have tried the program linebreaker but unlike the OP it did absolutely nothing. My text files remain one big wall of text. Is there a good program out there for converting PDF eBooks into properly formatted text files? I'd love if someone could provide a link to it ( free programs of course ). Or perhaps there is a way to copy and paste the text in a PDF into notepad? I have tried but wasn't able to highlight the text. I have had some success copying and pasting from a word file to text, but not PDF.

Thanks in advance for the help!

DanTheManMS · Aug 16, 2008

Some PDF files are made deliberately to prevent you from selecting text. I don't know exactly how you'd go about converting to TXT format then, though you could try using a tool like Paperless Printer to convert to a series of JPEGs and use ComicBookDS to read them. This would be more hassle, but it might work.

amxxs · Aug 7, 2009

Ok i went into the C:/Windows/Fonts and I tried to copy Arial but when I right click on it Copy doesnt come up and I've tried it with a few other fonts but I cant find the copy command?

Briankealing · Aug 7, 2009

I think you need to be administrator.

kasek · Feb 19, 2010

sry to bump this but im having troubles with this app if i put the .nds file into a folder call DSReader then the file doesnt appear if i have it on the root of my card and try and load the arial font it says the font cant be loaded ive tried other fonts as well but none will work can anyone help

Masked Ranger · Feb 19, 2010

First off, mix in some punctuation in your message. Second, what cart are you using? Third, you are able to see the program to run it since you get an error message so what's your problem there? Fourth, are you selecting the font? Fifth, are you copying over the .ttf to the same folder as DSReader.nds?

kasek · Feb 19, 2010

Masked Ranger said:
First off, mix in some punctuation in your message. Second, what cart are you using? Third, you are able to see the program to run it since you get an error message so what's your problem there? Fourth, are you selecting the font? Fifth, are you copying over the .ttf to the same folder as DSReader.nds?

1. Ok
2. R4
3. I am able to run it but then it says to load a font but when I try and load one it says "unable to load font"
4. Yes I am
5. Yes I am

Masked Ranger · Feb 19, 2010

[semi-rant]Thank you for the punctuation. I know it might seem petty, but if I can't understand what someone is saying, any willlingness to help goes right down the toilet.[/semi-rant]
From my root folder I do have a folder named DSReader which contains the program file as well as arial.ttf. Do you have the gara.ttf file in the same folder?

JredX · Mar 20, 2010

I'm on a completely different level of problems as everyone else and I too apologize, but i've been scouring for an answer to this for quite sometime. I have DS iPlayer on my DSi and updated it accordingly. I can get every app I downloaded to work, disregarding this one. iPlayer has an auto-DLDI patch on the card, so I have had no reason to patch anything so far. I followed the instructions exactly minus the patching process. Should be simple, right? Wrong! I even decided to try and find a patch for the app using iPlayer, but to no avail. I don't think one exists seeing as it auto-patches everything. I really like to read and this app would be unfathomably useful, but after everything I've tried the app just starts as a plain white screen and stays that way no matter how long I wait. Any suggestions? This seems like a great app and i'd hate to give up on getting it. Please help!

wiiLike2Hacks · Mar 26, 2010

JredX said:
I'm on a completely different level of problems as everyone else and I too apologize, but i've been scouring for an answer to this for quite sometime. I have DS iPlayer on my DSi and updated it accordingly. I can get every app I downloaded to work, disregarding this one. iPlayer has an auto-DLDI patch on the card, so I have had no reason to patch anything so far. I followed the instructions exactly minus the patching process. Should be simple, right? Wrong! I even decided to try and find a patch for the app using iPlayer, but to no avail. I don't think one exists seeing as it auto-patches everything. I really like to read and this app would be unfathomably useful, but after everything I've tried the app just starts as a plain white screen and stays that way no matter how long I wait. Any suggestions? This seems like a great app and i'd hate to give up on getting it. Please help!

I'm in the same boat as you, bud. I love the iPlayer, but this is the only app I have trouble running. White screen of death. No idea what to do. I'll try looking for another eReader app.

JredX · Mar 28, 2010

If I figure it out i'll post a solution. Sad day, huh? Watch this Jurassic guy have something to say. He always does.

jurassicplayer · Mar 28, 2010

JredX said:
If I figure it out i'll post a solution. Sad day, huh? Watch this Jurassic guy have something to say. He always does.

After prolonging my reply to read manga, I have finally come to grab the bait xD (then I'm going back to my manga, I still haven't caught up in Kure-nai yet). Technically I would say that I don't always have something to say (I want to have a high post count, but its not all that great if all of my posts are completely worthless xD)

Yes, the iPlayer has auto-dldi patching, but you could possibly try manually dldi patching it (who knows if the iPlayer is really auto-patching DSReader unless you check).
The only real steps that anybody can give you follow these lines.

Check any and all forums about your specific card and see if anyone else has had the same problem and lurk on their thread (this is why my posts are usually not questions...though I do get lazy at times xD). -I don't think the iPlayer has an official forum though so that might pose a problem in this case.
Check any and all posts regarding ______ and become an expert (or at least you could tell 3/4 of the population what is wrong with their setup), and then reassess your problem.
Check if _______ has been dldi patched (not just "should be", but you manually patched it so you know it very well is patched).
Check if you have correctly set up ______ and anything that comes with it. (In this case its by putting the DSReader folder in the root of the MicroSD, but you could always try putting it elsewhere to make sure)
Think along the lines that your copy of _______ is corrupt and redownload it.
If ______ doesn't work (but theoretically should), attempt backing up and reformatting the MicroSD.
If all steps above do absolutely nothing, then ______ probably doesn't work for what you have.

Possible solutions to this would be:
Wait in hopes of someone creating a viable fix for _____.
Attempt loading ______ through a homebrew loader like DSKiosk, Dsision (I THINK all three of them have homebrew loading support), HelloWorld OS, FlashCartOS, Moonshell2, Homebrew Menu, TextOS, DSOrganize, etc.
Ask your flashcart team if they could look into the problem (should be dead last resort).

At the moment there are a couple things to note (defending my posts is always an almost enjoyable experience, though its almost like flaming).
If nobody else replies to a thread, then generally that means that nobody has figured out how to solve the problem.
It is kind of rude to specifically call out people, especially when you have like 4 posts and have not checked all of the opposing sides posts to validate for ethos (though I do give you credit that at least you didn't use some strange spelling error or anything).

Oh and welcome to GBAtemp, the place segregated by the number of posts you have and productiveness of the posts you make (this does not apply to the top GBAtempers or moderators because the ones that I have seen so far are pretty cool).

JredX · Apr 4, 2010

I appreciate the response and the step-by-step, though I have already tried everything you said. I still think it rather kind of you not to take my previous post to heart and still make an effort to aid my quest in getting this damn program to work. Another member told me about a homebrew called "ReadMore" and it loads well, but much to my dismay, the touch screen controls do not work and are essential to loading any text files. I had this same problem with DSOrganize and after extensive research I found out from the creator that the touch controls flat out don't work on DSi. I'm hoping it is not the same situation with this program as well.

DocKlokMan · Apr 4, 2010

JredX said:
I appreciate the response and the step-by-step, though I have already tried everything you said. I still think it rather kind of you not to take my previous post to heart and still make an effort to aid my quest in getting this damn program to work. Another member told me about a homebrew called "ReadMore" and it loads well, but much to my dismay, the touch screen controls do not work and are essential to loading any text files. I had this same problem with DSOrganize and after extensive research I found out from the creator that the touch controls flat out don't work on DSi. I'm hoping it is not the same situation with this program as well.

If you turn off the WIFI in the settings menu on your DSi the screen will work again in DSO. Also, I use dslibris on my DSi (http://sourceforge.net/projects/ndslibris/) It handles EPUB books directly, as well as XHTML. You can use the free software Calibre to convert almost anything at all into EPUB. Many books online are also already in EPUB format.

valyr · Apr 4, 2010

dsreader doesnt work on any card patched to work on a 1.4 firmware dsi afaik
not sure why it seems to be something to do with the 1.4update patch
(dont take this as gospel, this seems to be the case from everything ive read so far)

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