Toggle sidebar

Homebrew VNDS converted novels

  • Thread starter Thread starter Zoltan
  • Start date Start date
  • Views Views 81,297
  • Replies Replies 131
VNDS supports custom skins. You can add application-wide skins to the "/vnds/skins/" folder and you can set them by adding a "skin=" line to "/vnds/config.ini". You can also add novel-specific skins to a "skin" folder in your visual novel of choice. There's also a guide for creating custom skins included in "/vnds/manual/skinning/skin_guide.html". The skinning system is decently powerful, though setting a custom background image for the text box is unfortunately not something you can do. You can however change the background color as well as the color of the text by modifying "skin.ini". My Side Stories port actually includes a custom skin, which I shamelessly copied from the unfinished CLANNAD port (because it's a pretty good skin).

As for the custom fonts, you can either add a "default.ttf" font to a VN's folder or a "font.ttf" file to a skin folder. If present, the "default.ttf" font gets priority.
Post automatically merged:

The Tomoyo After port is now out, in both DS and non-DS flavours. I've attached a few quick screenshots. Note that neither version currently works with VNDS-LOVE, since that interpreter apparently doesn't support some types of variable expansion that I'm using. I might implement a workaround later, if there's demand.
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20260330_173834.png
    Screenshot_20260330_173834.png
    66.1 KB · Views: 17
  • Screenshot_20260330_174029.png
    Screenshot_20260330_174029.png
    21.1 KB · Views: 17
  • Screenshot_20260330_173747.png
    Screenshot_20260330_173747.png
    54.9 KB · Views: 17
Last edited by Poudink,
  • Love
Reactions: Nikokaro
Poudink said:
The Tomoyo After port is now out, in both DS and non-DS flavours. I've attached a few quick screenshots. Note that neither version currently works with VNDS-LOVE, since that interpreter apparently doesn't support some types of variable expansion that I'm using. I might implement a workaround later, if there's demand.
Click to expand...
I just started reading it. As you can see in the photo, I set the text to black on a white background. Since my DS screen background is indeed a bit yellowed with age, it feels like reading an old teenage diary. 😋
Tell me something, lad: I remember a "hentai" scene right at the beginning of this title, but I haven't seen it yet; perhaps you haven't included them? If so, you did well. In this romantic novels by Key, they're truly annoying and out of place.
Anyway,I hope many other users will show their appreciation for your invaluable work and dedication. 🙏

IMG_20260331_125610.jpg
 
There are two versions of Tomoyo After. The original version has the H scenes, while the CS Edition replaces them with tamer fan-service scenes, but has a greatly expanded script and adds voice acting for Tomoya. The 2012 fan translation was based on the original, while the 2016 official translation was based on the CS Edition. I used the latter.
 
  • Like
  • Sad
Reactions: k66 and Nikokaro
Hello, I thought that I should let you guys know that I have been working on a VNDS port of Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk, which is currently around 70% complete. It’s a really short game, so it should be completed fairly soon once I have time to work on it, it’s just a little monotonous. Currently I have only worked on it with actual DS hardware and resolution in mind, but I may also include an HD version when I release it. Also, Milk outside a bag of milk is not possible (without some major creative liberties) due to its point and click elements. I can attach photos of what I have so far when I get home tonight.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: Nikokaro
I see. Well, it's fine either way. No reason why there can't be multiple ports of the same VN. Maybe yours will be better.
 
I’ll take a look at it, if I think mine could be better, I’ll probably finish it real quick, otherwise I’ll get started on a way bigger novel that I’m more passionate about and have been considering trying to port for quite a while now
 
  • Like
Reactions: Poudink
Nikokaro said:
Hi. Could we know what title this is? Or is it top secret? 😎
Click to expand...
The title is Chaos;Head (probably the original 2008 version), this would be a pretty big undertaking and might just end up as a proof of concept, and if I really do wanna do the full game, it will likely not start making any good progress until after my Chaos;Head psp patch is finished (assuming I can get it working properly)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nikokaro
Poudink said:
There are two versions of Tomoyo After. The original version has the H scenes, while the CS Edition replaces them with tamer fan-service scenes, but has a greatly expanded script and adds voice acting for Tomoya. The 2012 fan translation was based on the original, while the 2016 official translation was based on the CS Edition. I used the latter.
Click to expand...
Well, your port of Tomoyo After is truly excellent, in every way. Just one small thing: with your font, the g, y, and q are cut off at the bottom. Admittedly, a minor issue, for a great port. 🙂

It's a shame that another Key title, Kanon, wasn't ported with the same care. The voice acting tracks are often skipped or very, very low. Other times, the bgm cuts out when scrolling each new line of text. Ultimately, it's seriously flawed. 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
The font issue goes away if you open and close the menu. I'm not sure what causes it, since the CLANNAD I'm working on right now is using the exact same font just with a larger character set and it doesn't have that issue at all.

As for the Kanon port, yeah. That one was originally created for Android and I sloppily converted the assets for the DS years ago. I recently tried reconverting the assets a little better and it fixed the voice issues, but not the other issues. I'm sure it works a lot better on Android, but it's pretty rough on the DS. I think a lot of that might just be due to the larger size of the game, because my CLANNAD port is getting a lot of the same issues the Kanon port has and I'm really not sure how to deal with them.

The biggest one is that it's pretty much impossible to create or load save files, because VNDS crashes 90% of the time when you try. I'm pretty sure it's because I'm using too many variables, but it's super frustrating because this really shouldn't be a problem. The save files really aren't that big, they're like 4KB. The PNG thumbnails that VNDS creates for the save files are bigger than that, but it's still causing issues for some reason. There's definitely something broken in VNDS's saving code.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nikokaro
Poudink said:
The biggest one is that it's pretty much impossible to create or load save files, because VNDS crashes 90% of the time when you try. I'm pretty sure it's because I'm using too many variables, but it's super frustrating because this really shouldn't be a problem.
Click to expand...
I see. The exact same problem with Umineko on DS: it crashes 90% of the time, both when saving and loading. You could use the same solution: put a table of contents with the various chapters at the game start (the beginning of each day, in this case), so you can start directly from them, without having to save. I proceeded this way with Umineko, chapter by chapter. 🙂
 
That works for Umineko because it's a kinetic novel. There are no choices and only a single ending. It won't work for CLANNAD because it has a ton of branches and the game needs to be able to remember all of the flags you've triggered, which won't happen if you're just jumping to the start of a given day. But the fact that Umineko has saving issues is interesting, because again, it's a kinetic novel, so it probably isn't setting that many variables. I also considered script size a potential cause, but the only script that's really big is s.3.scr, which is 727.4KB, which is extremely big by VNDS standards, but it doesn't seem to contain any of the actual scenario, so you probably wouldn't be saving within that script anyway. So now I really wonder what causes saving to break. Is it really just size after all? Umineko is probably the biggest VN that's been ported to VNDS.
 
  • Sad
Reactions: Nikokaro
Poudink said:
That works for Umineko because it's a kinetic novel. There are no choices and only a single ending. It won't work for CLANNAD because it has a ton of branches and the game needs to be able to remember all of the flags you've triggered, which won't happen if you're just jumping to the start of a given day. But the fact that Umineko has saving issues is interesting, because again, it's a kinetic novel, so it probably isn't setting that many variables. I also considered script size a potential cause, but the only script that's really big is s.3.scr, which is 727.4KB, which is extremely big by VNDS standards, but it doesn't seem to contain any of the actual scenario, so you probably wouldn't be saving within that script anyway. So now I really wonder what causes saving to break. Is it really just size after all? Umineko is probably the biggest VN that's been ported to VNDS.
Click to expand...
Fate Stay Night is also very large, with a lot of choices and bad endings, but I never had any saving or loading problems. This too is perplexing.
🤔
I finished the first route without any issues. From what I've seen, it's an excellent port.
 
Yeah, that is way smaller than my CLANNAD save files. The problem with CLANNAD and seemingly most other RealLive VN is that they aren't very economical with their use of variables, since they assume whatever they're running on isn't going to have trouble with a couple of kilobytes. So my biggest CLANNAD save files are 4.2KB and they'd probably get bigger if I was actually able to get to the end of a route. I have Kanon save files that are 6.7KB. Even my Tomoyo After save files get to like 2KB near the end of the game. But modifying my converter to optimize variable use would be extremely difficult. I mean, I'm writing a converter, not an optimizing compiler. Fixing VNDS's saving system directly would probably be an easier task.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nikokaro
For comparison, I'm posting here the save file values for Umineko, which practically always crashes when saving. Since you mentioned Kanon, aside from the mentioned sound issues, it doesn't seem to crash when saving in my case. 🤔

IMG_20260402_215317.jpg


Edit: Changing topic, "Ef-First Tale" always crashes at this point, for some reason.

IMG_20260402_222305.jpg

Post automatically merged:

Technical question: savings issues are due to insufficient available RAM, right?
Does VNDS use the Expansion Pack in the GBA-slot? I have an additional 32MB of RAM (Supercard SD), but the software doesn't seem to take advantage of its potential. 🤔
 
Last edited by Nikokaro,
I doubt it's RAM-related, but I guess it could be. But like, it's only a problem when creating and loading saves. VNDS is able to cope with having all of these variables loaded in memory, it's only when you try putting them in a file that it shits itself. Plus, save files are pretty much the smallest type of file VNDS deals with. Like I said, even the thumbnails for the save files are bigger than the save files. So if it's out of RAM, save files probably aren't the reason. I can already tell you that VNDS doesn't support RAM expansions, though.

As for Kanon, it only gets bad once you get far enough into it. It's fine at the start. Once you hit like January 12 or January 13 is where it starts struggling.

As for ef, I just looked into it and apparently it's trying to load a huge (1024x192) image at that point in the script. I think just cropping it to 256x192 would fix it. I'll upload a fixed version to the MEGA folder later.

Anyway, I've tested a couple of forks of VNDS and the good news is that they both fix saving. The bad news is that they both have their own unique deal-breaking issues. So the first fork I tried was this one, which guts out the MP3 and AAC support and replaces it with WavPack support. I figured that wouldn't be a big deal, so I converted my audio files to WavPack using the provided the script and tested it out. I've attached an audio file of what that sounded like. It's unlistenable. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here, since I seriously doubt the audio is supposed to be this bad, but unless I figure that out, I can't use this.

The second fork I tried was this one, which is based on the first fork but adds back MP3 and AAC support. It also makes a bunch of questionable "improvements", like aligning the messages to the top of the screen (which breaks multi-line messages) and playing sound effects while skipping (which slows skipping to a crawl, since it constantly has to wait for voice lines to load). But none of that is a deal-breaker. What is a deal-breaker is that it crashes every 5 minutes, especially during scene transitions.

So it looks like I can either have good audio and stability, working saves and stability, or working saves and good audio. But I can't have all three. So now I'm even more frustrated.

EDIT: Fixed version of ef is up.
 

Attachments

Last edited by Poudink,
  • Like
Reactions: Nikokaro

Site & Scene News

Go to forum More news

Popular threads in this forum

Tutorial  Build DSi NAND from scratch

Homebrew app  A-Pix DS 0.4 – Pixel art editor for Nintendo DS/DSi!

Hardware Misc  JIS or Phillips: What to use on a DSi?

If someone is interested in something, let me know :)

Hardware  After teardown nintendo dsi doesn't fit in its housing

Hacking  Save File corruptes:(

using the ds's mic as a practical one?

Pokemon White