Homebrew [DS(i)/3DS] TWiLight Menu++ - GUI for DS(i) games, and DS(i) Menu replacement

[Isso_Non_Ecxiste]

Just so you know, Unlaunch gets installed to the DSi itself and not your SD card.
Also, it is not recommended to use Unlaunch's uninstall feature, as it has a high chance of bricking.

Oh! I didn't know that! Thanks for adverting me about that! I had no idea it was installed into DSi system! I tought it was inside the sd. lmao.
(Did you see, I'm a very very very noob in terms of bypassing/hacking original system through micro sd card, lol. This is a very new terrain for me...)

 

[cristmencias]

@RocketRobz

Hello friend, I think there is a problem with the Phantasy Star Zero game that the characters are wandering around and nothing can be done, it is a slightly strange bug.

 

[RocketRobz]

@RocketRobz

Hello friend, I think there is a problem with the Phantasy Star Zero game that the characters are wandering around and nothing can be done, it is a slightly strange bug.

I recall this being an AP issue. Which region of the game is it?

 

[stl25]

@RocketRobz

I am currently using and R4i (r4ultra) flashed as Acekard 2i to autoload TWiLight Menu. I would like to be able to toggle between the nds-bootstrap and the AKAIO loader without needing to restart the device. I can launch either AKAIO or TWiLight Menu from within each loader but when soft resetting whichever is functioning as primary loader will be the one loaded. Autobooting TWiLight Menu works as intended, however when launching into AKAIO when I exit a game it will reset to TWiLight Menu (by design). I would like to know if there is anyway to return to the whichever kernel is loaded unless loading the other kernel manually. I apologize in advance if my attempted explanation is confusing. I figured I would reach out as AKAIO (or any other flashcard loaders for that matter) is longer in active development. Thank you.

 

[RocketRobz]

@RocketRobz

I am currently using and R4i (r4ultra) flashed as Acekard 2i to autoload TWiLight Menu. I would like to be able to toggle between the nds-bootstrap and the AKAIO loader without needing to restart the device. I can launch either AKAIO or TWiLight Menu from within each loader but when soft resetting whichever is functioning as primary loader will be the one loaded. Autobooting TWiLight Menu works as intended, however when launching into AKAIO when I exit a game it will reset to TWiLight Menu (by design). I would like to know if there is anyway to return to the whichever kernel is loaded unless loading the other kernel manually. I apologize in advance if my attempted explanation is confusing. I figured I would reach out as AKAIO (or any other flashcard loaders for that matter) is longer in active development. Thank you.

I don't think that's possible, unless @lifehackerhansol knows something I don't.

 

[stl25]

I don't think that's possible, unless @lifehackerhansol knows something I don't.

I thought it may be a longshot, but I thought maybe the reset code for TWiLight Menu could be modified to look for either BOOT.NDS (Autoboot) or DEFAULT.NDS or something to this effect when not in autoboot config.

Hopefully @lifehackerhansol can shed some light on my inquiry. Thank you for your response.


EDIT: I have found a way to use Acekard 2i or R4i (r4ultra) flashed as Acekard 2i and enable toggling between loaders. The key is to just place the base flashcard TWiLight Menu ++ files on the microSD without utilizing autoboot. This will enable the user to boot AKAIO loader (akmenu.nds) as the primary loader and launch the TWiLight Menu ++ (BOOT.NDS) file manually. Exiting games this way will allow you to remain in either loader until the associated .nds file is manually loaded. Saves are in different locations however and I have noticed save file sizes are considerably smaller for TWiLight Menu ++ as compared to standard flashcard loaders saves. Still this will enable the user to toggle between loaders to maximize compatibility without having to shut down and restart the device.

 

[lifehackerhansol]

I thought it may be a longshot, but I thought maybe the reset code for TWiLight Menu could be modified to look for either BOOT.NDS (Autoboot) or DEFAULT.NDS or something to this effect when not in autoboot config.

Hopefully @lifehackerhansol can shed some light on my inquiry. Thank you for your response.


EDIT: I have found a way to use Acekard 2i or R4i (r4ultra) flashed as Acekard 2i and enable toggling between loaders. The key is to just place the base flashcard TWiLight Menu ++ files on the microSD without utilizing autoboot. This will enable the user to boot AKAIO loader (akmenu.nds) as the primary loader and launch the TWiLight Menu ++ (BOOT.NDS) file manually. Exiting games this way will allow you to remain in either loader until the associated .nds file is manually loaded. Saves are in different locations however and I have noticed save file sizes are considerably smaller for TWiLight Menu ++ as compared to standard flashcard loaders saves. Still this will enable the user to toggle between loaders to maximize compatibility without having to shut down and restart the device.

This is kind of a hack. It works because nds-bootstrap resets to BOOT.NDS, while AKAIO resets to akmenu4.nds. So it's by pure chance this actually functions right. (It probably does work for most carts, too, since pretty much no cart boots from BOOT.NDS)

The "correct" way to do it would require replacing akmenu4.nds with some custom code that automatically boots to the last menu you selected unless you hold a button. Which doesn't exactly exist.

 

[stl25]

This is kind of a hack. It works because nds-bootstrap resets to BOOT.NDS, while AKAIO resets to akmenu4.nds. So it's by pure chance this actually functions right. (It probably does work for most carts, too, since pretty much no cart boots from BOOT.NDS)

The "correct" way to do it would require replacing akmenu4.nds with some custom code that automatically boots to the last menu you selected unless you hold a button. Which doesn't exactly exist.

Thank you for your response. I figured there was no existing code to achieve this. I have been unable to get this working with YSMenu based DSTT and clone cards, but it works with r4ids.cn/r4idsn.cn cards. It works great on Acekard 2i and its clones.

Edit: I was able to get DSTT and clones working using the YSMenu.nds file from the official YSMenu release by Yasu. Not sure why it would not work with TTMenu.dat from RetroGameFan 7.06 renamed as YSmenu.nds.

@RocketRobz how does TWiLight Menu determine save type/size? I have no coding knowledge/skill and this is more just for basic understanding.

 

[stl25]

@RocketRobz,

I am trying to run TWiLight Menu on the following cart. I can load into TWiLight Menu, but the music does not cache on first run as expected and when attempting to adjust settings the Game Region appears blank. Upon setting it to USA and exiting the settings.ini file does not generate in \_nds\TWiLightMenu as expected. For this reason I am unable to enable logging or debug as the settings will not save even if I enable the option.

I am loading TWiLight Menu manually and do not have autoboot enabled. Will TWiLight Menu run on all carts? This is the only cart I have experienced problems with and I have probably 20 different carts. Thank you in advance and I appreciate your efforts and continued support of this amazing software.

 

[RocketRobz]

@RocketRobz,

I am trying to run TWiLight Menu on the following cart. I can load into TWiLight Menu, but the music does not cache on first run as expected and when attempting to adjust settings the Game Region appears blank. Upon setting it to USA and exiting the settings.ini file does not generate in \_nds\TWiLightMenu as expected. For this reason I am unable to enable logging or debug as the settings will not save even if I enable the option.

I am loading TWiLight Menu manually and do not have autoboot enabled. Will TWiLight Menu run on all carts? This is the only cart I have experienced problems with and I have probably 20 different carts. Thank you in advance and I appreciate your efforts and continued support of this amazing software.

The likely reason why settings.ini does not get created is due to a bug with the default DLDI driver.
You'll need to add the autoboot, as it contains a fixed DLDI driver for the flashcard.

 

[stl25]

The likely reason why settings.ini does not get created is due to a bug with the default DLDI driver.
You'll need to add the autoboot, as it contains a fixed DLDI driver for the flashcard.

I do not believe this card is supported for autoboot. I could not find it in the folder. Since the card is running BL2CK I used the r4ultra folder autoboot as that cart supports BL2CK as well. Unfortunately... it did not work. haha.

 

[RocketRobz]

I do not believe this card is supported for autoboot. I could not find it in the folder. Since the card is running BL2CK I used the r4ultra folder autoboot as that cart supports BL2CK as well. Unfortunately... it did not work. haha.

Huh, thought the card URL said r4i-sdhc.com.
Please post a link to the flashcard firmware you're using.

 

[stl25]

Huh, thought the card URL said r4i-sdhc.com.
Please post a link to the flashcard firmware you're using.

@RocketRobz,

Here is a link to the firmware I am running on the cart. https://github.com/DS-Homebrew/flashcard-archive-web/blob/gh-pages/BL2CK/BL2CK_1.31.0.zip

Thank you for your support

 

[stl25]

Support for the R4i.cn cart was added recently. But no games will load from the flashcart microsd. It will only boot into TWiLight Menu++ and allow me to adjust settings. Navigating to games and attempting to run them results in white screen. Tested on both DSi and DS Lite. Using the flashcart kernel I can get games to load, so I believe the flashcart is functional. Any help would be appreciated. I have enclosed a pic of the cart.

 

[RocketRobz]

Support for the R4i.cn cart was added recently. But no games will load from the flashcart microsd. It will only boot into TWiLight Menu++ and allow me to adjust settings. Navigating to games and attempting to run them results in white screen. Tested on both DSi and DS Lite. Using the flashcart kernel I can get games to load, so I believe the flashcart is functional. Any help would be appreciated. I have enclosed a pic of the cart.

Did you use the flashcard kernel by changing the game loader setting in TWLMenu++ Settings?

 

[stl25]

Did you use the flashcard kernel by changing the game loader setting in TWLMenu++ Settings?

I am trying to use nds-bootstrap. I am using autoboot.

When I mentioned kernel I mean without using Twighlight Menu the standard kernel will load some games. Although the standard kernel has horrible compatability. Haha

 

[RocketRobz]

I am trying to use nds-bootstrap. I am using autoboot.

That doesn't answer my question. I'm asking if you've used the kernel by switching the "Game Loader" setting to "Kernel" or by not using TWLMenu++'s autoboot files.

 

[stl25]

That doesn't answer my question. I'm asking if you've used the kernel by switching the "Game Loader" setting to "Kernel" or by not using TWLMenu++'s autoboot files.

I have not tried kernel yet. Will do once I return home. Thank you.

Edit: I manually boot into TWiLight Menu set "Game Loader" to kernel and get the error for unsupported flash cart

Manually booting into TWiLight Menu with "Game Loader" set to nds-bootstrap and utilizing the release version I was able to get a rom to load. However, changing only from manual to autoboot results in rom white screen.

Edit 2: I am noticing the rom takes extremely long to load in comparison to other flash carts. I will try multiple microSD and see if anything changes. I will also retry autoboot and give it plenty of time to account for the slow rom load I experienced in manual mode.

Edit 3: Tested with multiple size and speed microSD with about 3 different games. This card is terribly slow but does indeed function with TWiLight Menu++. Thank you for your patience and support.

Post automatically merged: Dec 2, 2023

The likely reason why settings.ini does not get created is due to a bug with the default DLDI driver.
You'll need to add the autoboot, as it contains a fixed DLDI driver for the flashcard.

@RocketRobz & @lifehackerhansol,

First off I want to thank the both of you for humoring my influx of inquiries. I have been trying to get TWiLight Menu++ running on all of my flashcarts (OCD much!!!) and this one proved the biggest challenge. I actually stumbled upon the correct DLDI driver that you mentioned @RocketRobz. The following URL contains the correct DLDI driver: https://web.archive.org/web/2014050...cn/r4isdhc-white/r4isdhc-whiteEnglish1.38.rar
Funny thing is the kernel itself does not run on the cart but contained the DLDI driver I needed to get BL2CK 1.31.0 and TWiLight Menu++ to work together.
Maybe @lifehackerhansol can add the r4i-3dsnew cart to the flashcard archive and TWiLight Menu++ can be updated to support the DLDI driver (perhaps autoboot will be possible now). Again thank you for all the support.

Edit: While I now have my games loading, I have noticed the save sizes are not the standard 512kb I get with most flashcarts. I will have to do some game testing and saving to ensure there are no issues there.

Edit 2: Not sure where the smaller save sizes came from. I deleted all saves, did a few loads with BL2CK and then subsequently with TWiLight Menu++. All BL2CK saves standard 512kb and save sizes very in TWiLight Menu++ which handles save detection and sizing differently. Everything looks good.

 

[stl25]

@RocketRobz I'm down to my last flash cart that seems to not want to work with TWiLight Menu. It is a R4 SDHC (the original). I have the official 1.32 kernel installed and then installed the autoboot files to overwrite the necessary files. However, the cart will load the kernel and then load the default.nds file (autoboot file) before locking up on white screens. As this cart is supported, do you have any ideas of why this might be happening? Testing done on DS Lite as this card is not supported on DSi or 3DS.

 

[RocketRobz]

@RocketRobz I'm down to my last flash cart that seems to not want to work with TWiLight Menu. It is a R4 SDHC (the original). I have the official 1.32 kernel installed and then installed the autoboot files to overwrite the necessary files. However, the cart will load the kernel and then load the default.nds file (autoboot file) before locking up on white screens. As this cart is supported, do you have any ideas of why this might be happening?

View attachment 407076

It is because of the DLDI driver being incompatible with the ARM7 CPU. This can be worked around by using a Memory Expansion Pak on a DS or DS Lite.