Hacking Custom _DS_MENU.DATs

D-Trogh · May 18, 2007

Well.. when you know R4Crypt, you know what I'm talking about.
You can share your edited _DS_MENU.DAT files here !
But, be sure to tell what you've edited + eventually some screens..

Here is my first (well not really) edited _DS_MENU.DAT
In this .DAT these strings where deleted:
- R4DS English Version
- Game
- Multimedia
- Boot Slot-2
- New revise: *date* *date*
And I edited this string:
- Cheat (Y) is now CHEATS
I also deleted the brightness icon.

+ I have a question.. I can't find the bytes where it displays the filename on the bottom screen.

[D-Trogh]

Maikel Steneker · May 18, 2007

As soon as I discovered r4crypt I made some. Here they are:

DSOrganize (tested on M3 Simply, didn't work on R4

)
LMP (to play music ipod-style, tested on M3 Simply)

R1C3 N1NJA · May 18, 2007

does the ipod thing work on r4? =]

Maikel Steneker · May 18, 2007

QUOTE(R1C3 N1NJA @ May 18 2007 said:
does the ipod thing work on r4? =]

I don't know, I only have a M3 Simply. Why don't you try it

QUOTE(D-Trogh @ May 18 2007, 10:19 PM)I don't really understand your _DS_MENU.DAT files..
What will they do ? Maybe put it in the topic

_DS_MENU.DAT is the first thing the M3 Simply / R4 boots after initializing some basic things like reading the file system on the MicroSD / Transflash card.
When chrism wrote r4crypt, he discovered that _DS_MENU.DAT was nothing more than an encrypted NDS-file. So I just took some homebrew (LMP and DSOrganize) and encrypted them with r4crypt. I renamed them to _DS_MENU.DAT, copied them to my MicroSD-card, and it worked!

I'll explain more. Normally, when you have your M3 Simply / R4 in your DS, you first see the health and safety warning. Then you see "Loading...". The M3 Simply / R4 is now reading the filesystem, checking if _DS_MENU.DAT is encrypted in the right way and booting it. You now see the menu.
When you replace your normal _DS_MENU.DAT with the DSOrganize one or the LMP (iPod clone) one, it doesn't show the menu after the loading, but it boots the homebrew I packed in the file! So without any M3 Simply / R4 menu you get the homebrew (unlike with the original firmware and a file named default.nds),

So if you, for instance, play a lot of music on your NDS (I do!), you can buy an extra SD-/TF-card, put some MP3-files on it and copy my _DS_MENU.DAT file to it. That's it, you can use your M3 Simply / R4 as an iPod, without scrolling through any menu!!!

R1C3 N1NJA · May 18, 2007

lol ill try it =]

D-Trogh · May 18, 2007

QUOTE(maikelsteneker @ May 18 2007 said:
_DS_MENU.DAT is the first thing the M3 Simply / R4 boots after initializing some basic things like reading the file system on the MicroSD / Transflash card.
When chrism wrote r4crypt, he discovered that _DS_MENU.DAT was nothing more than an encrypted NDS-file. So I just took some homebrew (LMP and DSOrganize) and encrypted them with r4crypt. I renamed them to _DS_MENU.DAT, copied them to my MicroSD-card, and it worked!

I'll explain more. Normally, when you have your M3 Simply / R4 in your DS, you first see the health and safety warning. Then you see "Loading...". The M3 Simply / R4 is now reading the filesystem, checking if _DS_MENU.DAT is encrypted in the right way and booting it. You now see the menu.
When you replace your normal _DS_MENU.DAT with the DSOrganize one or the LMP (iPod clone) one, it doesn't show the menu after the loading, but it boots the homebrew I packed in the file! So without any M3 Simply / R4 menu you get the homebrew (unlike with the original firmware and a file named default.nds),

So if you, for instance, play a lot of music on your NDS (I do!), you can buy an extra SD-/TF-card, put some MP3-files on it and copy my _DS_MENU.DAT file to it. That's it, you can use your M3 Simply / R4 as an iPod, without scrolling through any menu!!!

I thought it was something like that

Well.. It'll be handy for some people

arctic_flame · May 18, 2007

Here's All 4 versions of FlashMe (Version 8a) as the R4 menu doesn't seem to boot from recovery mode.

However, these do, making flashing from the R4 as safe as flashing from a slot-2

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QRIK3NEZ

111111111 · May 18, 2007

QUOTE(maikelsteneker @ May 18 2007 said:
As soon as I discovered r4crypt I made some.

They aren't really custom menu's though - they are just other apps booting in place of the menu.

D-Trogh's seem to be custom edited menus.

D-Trogh · May 18, 2007

QUOTE(111111111 @ May 18 2007 said:
QUOTE(maikelsteneker @ May 18 2007 said:

As soon as I discovered r4crypt I made some.

They aren't really custom menu's though - they are just other apps booting in place of the menu.

D-Trogh's seem to be custom edited menus.

Click to expand...

Yeah.. your right..
I think it's OK to post _DS_MENU.DAT files like those DSOrganize and LMP, but normaly this was for customization

I have a new one.. well.. It's the same as the one in the first post only with new SoftReset icons..
Here is the download. The icons will look like this:

[The best I can do for now... will try other things soon]

sylux92 · May 19, 2007

Could you put a game backup as _DS_Menu.dat? And if you could would it patch it?

darksavior · May 19, 2007

hmm what's the point of taking out the brightness icon? it's needed heh..

overall I'm sure it'll inspire some very unique menus or ports of other flashcart's menus. i can't hex edit worth a damn

felix123 · May 19, 2007

Anyone want to hack in support for EZ3in1 rumble?

Gene98 · May 19, 2007

3in1 works fine with r4 withous any fw hack... /=

crazysim · May 19, 2007

QUOTE(darksavior @ May 18 2007 said:
hmm what's the point of taking out the brightness icon? it's needed heh..

overall I'm sure it'll inspire some very unique menus or ports of other flashcart's menus. i can't hex edit worth a damn

For most Phat DS users, the brightness icon doesn't work. Maybe someone ought to take out the grey icon but leave the yellow icon for Lites.

Maikel Steneker · May 19, 2007

QUOTE(sylux92 @ May 19 2007 said:
Could you put a game backup as _DS_Menu.dat? And if you could would it patch it?

Nope. I tried. I encrypted the hacked Nintendo DS Browser and renamed it to _DS_MENU.DAT and it didn't do anything.

Not that strange, because I believe the menu actually patches the roms on the fly. So while you don't have to patch anything on the PC, the R4 / M3 Simply does on the DS. But without the menu, it is not possible to do so (unless someone can make an already patched rom... don't know if that's possible though).

If you want a game backup to run when you start the DS, just rename it to default.nds and use the original firmware. You will see the menu for a few seconds, and it has to load, but without any user interaction it boots the game, whether it's homebrew or commercial.

D-Trogh · May 19, 2007

QUOTE(darksavior @ May 19 2007 said:
hmm what's the point of taking out the brightness icon? it's needed heh..

Well.. no.. I just deleted the icon.. the function is still intact.. Just press L
When you know the R4, you don't need that icon.. and pressing L is quicker (for me) then pussing the touchscreen..
(I don't use my styles that much in the R4 menus..)

marth989 · May 19, 2007

i think its a good idea to play with the menu,

to try and discover new things but removing icons

is just silly, theres no need for it unless your going

to replace them with something better like me and takam

did with the brightness icons of our skins,

hope someone will be able to do that

Gene98 · May 19, 2007

can anyone post here DS_Menu with just button "cheat(Y)" deleted?

chuckstudios · May 19, 2007

QUOTE(Gene98 @ May 19 2007 said:
can anyone post here DS_Menu with just button "cheat(Y)" deleted?

While I would like this as well, it is going to be rather hard as there is a button behind the text. (This is beyond a simple text/graphics hack, in other words)

D-Trogh · May 19, 2007

QUOTE(chuckstudios @ May 19 2007 said:
QUOTE(Gene98 @ May 19 2007 said:

can anyone post here DS_Menu with just button "cheat(Y)" deleted?

While I would like this as well, it is going to be rather hard as there is a button behind the text. (This is beyond a simple text/graphics hack, in other words)

Click to expand...

Well.. this is simpler than you think !
Just delete the usrcheat.dat file if you have any, decrypt the cheat.dat file.. edit it with the cheat editor (delete all cheats) and encrypt it again..
Or maybe you can just delete the cheat.dat as well (if the R4 doesn't ask for it)
Then there will be no cheat button

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