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

[signer-ink-beast]

I have been having problems with NetHackDS on my Ace3DS X flashcards. I use this on a N3DS. I recently switched to using a 64 GB microSD for slot 1, formatted fat32 with 32k clusters (via the command "mkfs.fat -s 64 -F 32 /dev/mySDcard" on Linux). But I also have the same problem on the 4 GB card I was previously using (formatted exactly the same way). I like using Twilight Menu as my primary kernel (installed as auto-boot), having grown familiar and comfortable with it from using it on 3DS SD with no flashcard previously. For homebrews, I launch slot-1 directly from 3DS home menu.

I put NetHack folder on root of slot-1 microSD. I place NetHackDS.nds with my other homebrew games (fat:/brew/Games).

The game works with no problems, until I do anything where the game prompts to "press any key", like saving the game (create character and start a game, press L, click save, yes to confirm). It does save properly.

Then the game appears to hang and doesn't respond to any button presses, or using the touch screen. But if I press start + select, I get what looks like a runtime log for the game showing on the top screen, and I can toggle it on and off repeatedly by pressing start + select again. It'll also go to sleep on lid close and resume properly when opened.

I have no choice but to reset. My kernel's homebrew IGR works. It's configurable, and defaults to L+R ABXY. I use L+R+Start+Select.

If I launch Twilight Menu from console SD, which then auto-loads slot one, it looks like Twilight Menu incorrectly detects NetHackDS as a commercial game? Highlighting it and pressing Y shows me options I would see for commercial games rather than homebrews (and "direct boot" option is missing). Launching it shows nds-bootstrap screen with "an error occurred", even if I set loader in per-game setting to kernel with Twilight Menu 26.5.1.

With 26.5.0, launching from 3DS SD and auto boot slot-1, I get mostly the same behavior I do on flashcard. Only difference is no IGR. So I press home and reset to 3DS home menu.

I'm still fairly new to NDS homebrew. I'm guessing my card's kernel is incompatible with NetHackDS in some way. How can I use nds-bootstrap to launch the homebrew on flashcard? This is a thing now, right? I can't seem to figure it out.

 

[RocketRobz]

I have been having problems with NetHackDS on my Ace3DS X flashcards. I use this on a N3DS. I recently switched to using a 64 GB microSD for slot 1, formatted fat32 with 32k clusters (via the command "mkfs.fat -s 64 -F 32 /dev/mySDcard" on Linux). But I also have the same problem on the 4 GB card I was previously using (formatted exactly the same way). I like using Twilight Menu as my primary kernel (installed as auto-boot), having grown familiar and comfortable with it from using it on 3DS SD with no flashcard previously. For homebrews, I launch slot-1 directly from 3DS home menu.

I put NetHack folder on root of slot-1 microSD. I place NetHackDS.nds with my other homebrew games (fat:/brew/Games).

The game works with no problems, until I do anything where the game prompts to "press any key", like saving the game (create character and start a game, press L, click save, yes to confirm). It does save properly.

Then the game appears to hang and doesn't respond to any button presses, or using the touch screen. But if I press start + select, I get what looks like a runtime log for the game showing on the top screen, and I can toggle it on and off repeatedly by pressing start + select again. It'll also go to sleep on lid close and resume properly when opened.

I have no choice but to reset. My kernel's homebrew IGR works. It's configurable, and defaults to L+R ABXY. I use L+R+Start+Select.

If I launch Twilight Menu from console SD, which then auto-loads slot one, it looks like Twilight Menu incorrectly detects NetHackDS as a commercial game? Highlighting it and pressing Y shows me options I would see for commercial games rather than homebrews (and "direct boot" option is missing). Launching it shows nds-bootstrap screen with "an error occurred", even if I set loader in per-game setting to kernel with Twilight Menu 26.5.1.

With 26.5.0, launching from 3DS SD and auto boot slot-1, I get mostly the same behavior I do on flashcard. Only difference is no IGR. So I press home and reset to 3DS home menu.

I'm still fairly new to NDS homebrew. I'm guessing my card's kernel is incompatible with NetHackDS in some way. How can I use nds-bootstrap to launch the homebrew on flashcard? This is a thing now, right? I can't seem to figure it out.

No, it has never been a thing. nds-bootstrap can only be used to run homebrew on DSi/3DS SD cards.
Please post a link to NetHackDS.

 

[signer-ink-beast]

No, it has never been a thing. nds-bootstrap can only be used to run homebrew on DSi/3DS SD cards.
Please post a link to NetHackDS.

Good to know!

Link to NetHackDS: https://github.com/fancypantalons/NetHack/releases

I'm trying to play using version 3.6.6.

Edited the brain fart

 

[RocketRobz]

If I launch Twilight Menu from console SD, which then auto-loads slot one, it looks like Twilight Menu incorrectly detects NetHackDS as a commercial game? Highlighting it and pressing Y shows me options I would see for commercial games rather than homebrews (and "direct boot" option is missing). Launching it shows nds-bootstrap screen with "an error occurred", even if I set loader in per-game setting to kernel with Twilight Menu 26.5.1.

I put the homebrew on the console SD, and it's detected fine as homebrew on my side. Are you using this release?
Also, is the SDK ver. text displayed on your side after pressing Y button (which opens the per-game settings menu)?

 

[signer-ink-beast]

I put the homebrew on the console SD, and it's detected fine as homebrew on my side. Are you using this release?
Also, is the SDK ver. text displayed on your side after pressing Y button (which opens the per-game settings menu)?

I haven't tried checking it on console SD. Just flashcard SD, so I'll take a look. Yes, I'm using version 3.6.6. And no, SDK version shows as 3 question marks.

It's properly detected as homebrew when I launch the card directly from 3DS home menu, without launching console-side Twilight Menu beforehand.

Edit: I checked the game on console SD. It's properly detected as homebrew on console SD.

 

[RocketRobz]

I haven't tried checking it on console SD. Just flashcard SD, so I'll take a look. Yes, I'm using version 3.6.6. And no, SDK version shows as 3 question marks.

It's properly detected as homebrew when I launch the card directly from 3DS home menu, without launching console-side Twilight Menu beforehand.

Edit: I checked the game on console SD. It's properly detected as homebrew on console SD.

This make no sense then. There is nothing in the source code that would make homebrew get detected as commercial games when running with SCFG access enabled for Slot-1.
Is the banner icon for the homebrew displayed properly?

 

[signer-ink-beast]

This make no sense then. There is nothing in the source code that would make homebrew get detected as commercial games when running with SCFG access enabled for Slot-1.
Is the banner icon for the homebrew displayed properly?

If you mean the icon I'd see on some files, I thought NetHackDS didn't have one. There's a couple of homebrews I use that didn't seem to have one, like Lemmings DS.

I attach pictures just in case, showing the game on console SD, and on slot-1 SD. Twilight Menu is launched from console SD, and I can switch between the 2 SD cards.

I already checked if it was possible for the file to be corrupted. I downloaded them again and replaced the files, but they are the same. I even delete the ini file that gets created when it is detected like commercial game in fat:/_nds/TWiLightMenu/gamesettings.

If I launch my flashcard directly after that ini file is created, it will still show up like a commercial game until I delete that ini file. Then it shows up like homebrew again when the card is launched directly.

Post automatically merged: Jan 19, 2024

Actually, this time it's detected wrong on flashcard, launching it from 3DS home menu directly after deleting that ini file.

This is very weird.

26.5.0 would detect it as homebrew after deleting ini. Apparently not in 26.5.1.

 

[Obey_giant]

Trying to play Pokemon sterling silver (a rom hack of HGSS) through twilight menu and cannot get rid of the anti piracy which crashes the game every 10-15 minutes unfortunately. There’s a warning pop up that it contains the AP upon game launch, and it turns into the red screen with the error: data abort and all the letters.

Not sure if it needs to be manually patched bc it doesn’t recognize it to do it automatically bc it’s a rom hack not a vanilla game. I found a rom tool which can patch the game (DS Scene Rom Tool) , but it only runs on windows unfortunately and I have a Mac. Does anyone have an alternative that would work for me on Mac possibly?

I upgraded my twilight version and reformatted the sd card, before I did that I would get the just red screen with white pixels crash. I’ve tried playing it in DS mode and that doesn’t fix the issue. Any help would be greatly appreciated, It’s driving me crazy I just want to play

Post automatically merged: Jan 21, 2024

Just to clarify, I tried updating twilight though universal updater multiple times and it always failed, so I followed a guide I saw you post somewhere else on here, I downloaded the latest twilight zip and merged the _nds folder and replaced the other one (I can’t remember that file name off the top of my head rn but it was on the guide.) also followed the steps on a guide you forwarded someone else to to reformat my sd card to fat32.

 

[signer-ink-beast]

For game patching, try Flips. It should work on macOS. I haven't used it on Pokemon games, but I've used it to patch ACWW in the past on Linux.

 

[stl25]

@RocketRobz, I have a r4dspro cart which previously had dldi issues preventing it from working with TWiLight Menu. @lifehackerhansol has updated the dldi and the cart will now load TWiLight Menu and allow adjusting and writing settings to the microSD. However, in light of this there is a problem accessing the in game menu. When pressing the hotkey combo the device resets (game screens go white and DSL/DSi home menu loads). If you have this cart could you test this to see if you can replicate it. Thank you.

Edit (24 Jan 2024): I did some more extensive testing with various microSD sizes (2GB through 128 GB) and brands (Sandisk, Silicon Power and PNY) and the problem is no longer occurring. It so weird I tested multiple 64 GB microSD on all my BL2CK (R4DS Pro) carts a couple days ago and it reset the DSL/DSi every time. That being said I’m sorry for the false alarm. Thank you for your continued support.

 

[YoungK]

getting that same red screen crash with dragon monsters 2 joker

 

[AmandaRose]

getting that same red screen crash with dragon monsters 2 joker

Something must be wrong with your setup as I was just playing that very game today using the latest version of twighlight.

 

[RocketRobz]

v26.6.0
Includes nds-bootstrap v1.2.2 (GBATemp thread)

What's new?​

• @lifehackerhansol: Added autoboot support for r4dspro.com flashcards.
• Slightly sped up boot times when booting a GBA ROM using the native mode on DS or DS Lite.

Bug fixes​

• Tried again to fix the bug where the Unlaunch installer wouldn't boot with the 3DS theme.
• Fixed A5200DS not booting on DSi/3DS consoles in DSi mode.

 

[SylverReZ]

@RocketRobz, I have a r4dspro cart which previously had dldi issues preventing it from working with TWiLight Menu. @lifehackerhansol has updated the dldi and the cart will now load TWiLight Menu and allow adjusting and writing settings to the microSD. However, in light of this there is a problem accessing the in game menu. When pressing the hotkey combo the device resets (game screens go white and DSL/DSi home menu loads). If you have this cart could you test this to see if you can replicate it. Thank you.

Edit (24 Jan 2024): I did some more extensive testing with various microSD sizes (2GB through 128 GB) and brands (Sandisk, Silicon Power and PNY) and the problem is no longer occurring. It so weird I tested multiple 64 GB microSD on all my BL2CK (R4DS Pro) carts a couple days ago and it reset the DSL/DSi every time. That being said I’m sorry for the false alarm. Thank you for your continued support.

https://github.com/DS-Homebrew/TWiLightMenu/releases/tag/v26.6.0
Now support R4DS Pro cards for autoboot.

 

[ichig0]

Hello Robz, just to say, I Feel legitimately lucky that we still get support for TWLmenu. Really appreciate all your work.

Anyways, I had a question, (ofc) -- would there any way to get Twilight Menu to display larger than 128x115 images? Doesn't have to be the whole screen I guess just specifically the size of the default image area, would be really neat to have title screens displayed up there. Well the top half of the title screen anyway. Is that something doable?

 

[RocketRobz]

Hello Robz, just to say, I Feel legitimately lucky that we still get support for TWLmenu. Really appreciate all your work.

Anyways, I had a question, (ofc) -- would there any way to get Twilight Menu to display larger than 128x115 images? Doesn't have to be the whole screen I guess just specifically the size of the default image area, would be really neat to have title screens displayed up there. Well the top half of the title screen anyway. Is that something doable?

Yes, it's already possible.

 

[ichig0]

Yes, it's already possible.

Okay, I see the wiki does say a max of 208x143. Missed that the first time, oops. Still having some trouble though - It looks like 208x143 doesn't quite cover the blank area in the top screen and 208x156 (which is the actual size for that bit) seems to glitch and not display properly, is there no way to get past 208x143?

I also needed a bit of help with getting custom icons to display for the folders, currently I have them as 32x32 pngs stored with the game filename in the icons folder, but they also are glitched out and just display a smattering of pixels, nothing close to the actual image. I couldn't really find any directions beyond 32x32 and png format, is there something else Im missing with this?

Thanks

 

[RocketRobz]

I also needed a bit of help with getting custom icons to display for the folders, currently I have them as 32x32 pngs stored with the game filename in the icons folder, but they also are glitched out and just display a smattering of pixels, nothing close to the actual image. I couldn't really find any directions beyond 32x32 and png format, is there something else Im missing with this?

Thanks

The .png file needs to have 15 colors.

Post automatically merged: Feb 2, 2024

Okay, I see the wiki does say a max of 208x143. Missed that the first time, oops. Still having some trouble though - It looks like 208x143 doesn't quite cover the blank area in the top screen and 208x156 (which is the actual size for that bit) seems to glitch and not display properly, is there no way to get past 208x143?

There is no way to get past 208x143 because of the other images being rendered such as the top text and shoulder buttons.

 

[ichig0]

The .png file needs to have 15 colors.

Post automatically merged: Feb 2, 2024

There is no way to get past 208x143 because of the other images being rendered such as the top text and shoulder buttons.

Okay, I can fix the icons then, awesome.

I do have one more question though - In some of the themes on the home-brew wiki show the top screen with a solid background, and the previews are captioned "with photo," some are "without photo," and inside the theme folder there are "top" and "top with photo" backgrounds; I thought there was no way to remove the top bit that shows the "no photo" thing am I wrong? Would love just to remove the thing all together if possible.

EDIT: Okay, I just renamed the bg images so it displays the one without the transparent box in it and it actually works! I must have done something wrong trying to do this in the past; I'm dumb. For some reason I thought you weren't able to "hot swap" theme images but I guess I was wrong and this works? Or do they also need to have the limited color palette?

 

[RocketRobz]

EDIT: Okay, I just renamed the bg images so it displays the one without the transparent box in it and it actually works! I must have done something wrong trying to do this in the past; I'm dumb. For some reason I thought you weren't able to "hot swap" theme images but I guess I was wrong and this works? Or do they also need to have the limited color palette?

I think it depends on the images if they need the limited color palette.