Hacking DSTWO Skins

[R4Liam]

These are really nice!

One small question. I notive only the black skins show the full game title (without being cropped off), all the others crop the name just like the official skins so. Is there a reason for this? I'm using the blacks skini right now because I like the full game title being displayed!

Thanks!

Well the positioning and cropping of the text was altered depending on the background content to avoid inability to read such text. That being said, I did go on a rampage with these skins so rushing them meant imperfections.

 

[Spectro87]

This thread really needs a lot of work.

 

[CheatFreak47]

I know this is coming out of nowhere- but I made a new DS2 Skin based on the current GBATemp with a little creative flavor for good measure.
Here's a few images from the skin file and a eos preview:

DS2Skin File: FileTrip

 

[BORTZ]

@CheatFreak47 I like the gloss Your theme looks great!

Does anyone still come here? I would like to request a theme. I would make it myself but I cant seem to figure out the software... I would like a complete theme that looks like the DS/L classic BIOS.

 

[CheatFreak47]

For @Bortz, thanks for reminding me to get around to that.
<snipped>

Currently 70% completed, but I'm taking a break for a few days. I'm all GIMP'd out.
eOS, Plugins Menu, and Loading Screens are all complete and included.

Missing but Planned: Real Time Menu. (that's the missing 30% lol)

Not Planned: GBA, SNES, iReader, iMenu

I haven't even started the Real Time Menu because custom RTMs are a pain in the arse, there aren't any editors for it I can use to preview my skins without actually dropping the theme on the cart.

 

[CheatFreak47]

Began work on the Real Time Menu:

I wish there were a more effecient way to do skins for the real time menu other then mocking them up and then posting them or actually taking a picture of the screen. Unfortunately that seems rather difficult though.

Eyyyy more WIP, I got about 75% of the Real Time Menu done, and found out a couple things about the Real Time Menu's uisetting.ini. Lots of stuff is just totally mislabeled. ;-;
I was so confused trying to figure out what the hell meant what already and then I found out a bunch of the options don't even do anything. Rediculous. No wonder there's no skin editor for the DS2 RTM, it's outright retarded!

Anyhow, I haven't let that discourage me quite yet, I'm still working on this, and I'll finish it!

Here's a mockup I made showing that the RTM looks like as of right now (it's not pixel for pixel perfect but you'll get the idea.)

Current Progress monitor!

• Main UI [100% Complete?! Icons MAY be Changed, I don't know]
• Game Guides [90% Complete, ToDo: Fitted DS Style Background]
  
• Cheat Codes [88% Complete, ToDo: Fitted DS Style Background, Clear All Icon]
  
• RealTime Save [98% Complete, ToDo: Fix Alignment on Save Name Prompt Graphic]
  
• RealTime Load [100% Complete]
  
• Slow Motion [100% Complete]
• Free Cheat [0.5% Complete, Yeah... I didn't even really touch that noise yet, but will attempt to work on it tomorrow, I think.]
• STUPID UI TEXT BULLSHIT [90% Complete that FreeCheat will provide me with some headaches here, which is why I'm putting it off until tomorrow]

 

[CheatFreak47]

Alright!
Finally, the mess of the Real Time Menu is completed, and with that, this skin is 100% completed. All unique DSTwo UI stuff is done to the best of my ability.

http://filetrip.net/nds-downloads/flashcart-files/download-ds-firmware-ds2skin-1-0-final-f33476.html

While I made the Real Time Menu Skin, I also documented the format of the uisettings.ini.

Spoiler: documentation

VALUES
All the values are colors of course.
Colors are RGB555 it seems, but in an odd binary layout.
16 bits make up the color code, in this format, it seems.
1 RRRRR GGGGG BBBBB seems to be the color format for the DSTwo in this section.
So for Gray the binary would be 1 10110 10110 10110 which you then convert to hex to get
0xdad6. The first bit should always be 1. This means that solid black would be 0x8000, and yes, it would show up as black.

It is typically a bad idea to use pure Green or Pure Black as colors however, the UI seems to interchangeably use these as the color for transparency.

Make sure you make all LETTERS in your outputted hex are lower case or else they won't work.

If you are lazy, you can use the color picker in DSTwo Skin Editor convert the hex to binary, change the first bit to 1, then convert it back and the colors should work for your uisettings.ini.


SELECTORS
---------------------------------------------------------
dirTextColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control the color of NOTHING AT ALL
What you probably think this controls is actually controlled by ??? because
IDK what this was intended to control.

---------------------------------------------------------
listTextColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control the color of the following texts:

Date/Clock in Main Real Time Menu
Non-selected text in Cheat Codes, Free Cheat
Text Color in Non-selected Boxes in Free Cheat
Text Color in Non-selected Boxes of Number Fields in Free Cheat

Note: Non 0x0000 black color must be used, as some text become INVISIBLE when it is black or nearly black,
this especially affects the free cheat section where you can't read nonselected number fields at all.
IE: Dark Gray is the only option for colors. Presumably that means deep green would be invisible as well,
but I doubt anyone wanted the color to be 0,32,00 in terms of color.

This also presents some issues in the Free Cheat menu when trying to make Black on White style themes because
this selector controls so much text in the UI, but the color behind the Boxes in Free Cheat is also very dark
and you are unable to control it's color, meaning a middle ground color that is visible on both light and dark
is necessary, this is incredibly restrictive, design wise.

---------------------------------------------------------
listTextHighLightColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control the color of the following texts:

Selected text in Game Guides, Cheat Codes, Free Cheat
Selected text of Number Fields in Free Cheat
Percentage text in Slow Motion


---------------------------------------------------------
wndListTextColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control the color of the following texts:

Non Selected Text in the Main Real Time Menu

---------------------------------------------------------
wndListTextHighLightColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control the color of the following texts:

Selected Text in the Main Real Time Menu

---------------------------------------------------------
ebookTileTextColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control the color of the following texts:

Text at top of the screen that reads "Game Guide" while reading a game guide.

---------------------------------------------------------
ebookTextColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control the color of the following texts:

Actual Guide Text when reading guides

---------------------------------------------------------
cheatTileTextColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control the color of the following texts:

Game Title and Clear All Text in Cheat Codes

---------------------------------------------------------
cheatTextColor
---------------------------------------------------------
DOESN'T DO JACK SHIT M8
What you'd probably think this controls is actually controlled by listTextColor

---------------------------------------------------------
cheatTextHighLightColor
---------------------------------------------------------
DOESN'T DO ANYTHING STILL
What you'd probably think this controls is actually controlled by listTextHighLightColor

---------------------------------------------------------
slowWndTextColor
---------------------------------------------------------
DOESN'T DO ANYTHINNNNNG.
What you'd probably think this controls is actually controlled by listTextHighLightColor

---------------------------------------------------------
rtfWndTitleColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control the color of the following texts:

Text at top of screen on Real Time Save, Real Time Load, and Game guides menus.
IE: "Real time save" "Real time load" and "Game guides"

Note:
Not to be confused with ebookTileTextColor which controls that same text on the top but
WHILE reading a Guide.

---------------------------------------------------------
rtfWndTextColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control the color of the following texts:
Non-selected text on save files in both Real Time Save and Real Time Load

---------------------------------------------------------
rtfWndTextHighLightColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control the color of the following texts:
Selected text on save files in both Real Time save and Real Time Load

---------------------------------------------------------
formFrameColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control something actually NOT text:
Frame on Bottom Portion of windows that appear throughout the UI,
typically "Warning!" and "Error!" windows.

---------------------------------------------------------
formBodyColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control something actually NOT text:
The body of the bottom portion of the windows that appear throughout the UI,
typically "Warning!" and "Error!" windows.

---------------------------------------------------------
formTextColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control the color of the following texts:
Text that appears in the bottom portion of the windows that appear throughout the UI,
typically "Warning!" and "Error!" windows.

---------------------------------------------------------
formTitleTextColor
---------------------------------------------------------
DOESN'T DO ANYTHING!
Possibly was intended to control the text color on those windows for the above two
selectors, doesn't actually work though, so you're stuck with an ugly default color forever.
Too bad.

---------------------------------------------------------
buttonTextColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control the color of the following texts:
Text that appears on buttons in the bottom portion of the windows that appear throughout the UI,
typically "Warning!" and "Error!" windows.

---------------------------------------------------------
fileHandleTextColor
---------------------------------------------------------
DOESN'T DO ANYTHING, AGAIN.
Possibly was intended to control the text color for the text you've written on the keyboard.

Hopefully that'll be helpful to someone in the future if they want to make a Real Time Menu skin.

 

[Naendow]

Could someone patch me a DSTwo-Menu with the last skin? I have a mac and can't patch with the plugin

 

[CheatFreak47]

Could someone patch me a DSTwo-Menu with the last skin? I have a mac and can't patch with the plugin

ds2skin files can be explored and extracted like Zip files if you rename them.

 

[sonictopfan]

I made a Sonic Skin in case anyone was interested http://www.mediafire.com/download/jh3bqn0uocgwnch/Sonic.zip

 

[VGamer1991]

Quick, but stupid, question - With the latest EOS, I have TONS of skins all nice and ready to roll, but they are in zip files. Where the heck do they need to be extracted to so they can be used?

 

[sonictopfan]

I made a Sonic Skin in case anyone was interested http://www.mediafire.com/download/jh3bqn0uocgwnch/Sonic.zip

I went ahead and did some updates to the Sonic theme I made...

-Sonic Theme: www.mediafire.com/download/jh3bqn0uocgwnch/Sonic.zip
-Loading-Screen: http://www.mediafire.com/file/78ul862ac19lrcs/Sonic+Loading-Screen.rar
-Plug Menu: http://www.mediafire.com/file/2dbvw743z5g5iu4/Sonic+Menu.rar

I rushed a little with the Sonic Plug menu which explains the arrows and other icons not being changed.

 

[sonictopfan]

How can I change the background in the cheats menu btw? I realized today I never really changed that in the Sonic theme I did, any and every help is appreciated to improve it, thank you.

Also is there a software I can use to create icons for the emulators?

Edit: I meant the "real time" menu.

 

[einhuman197]

Hi Guys.
I made this Theme today. It's a mixture of the orginal theme, the LEDS2-Orange theme and the Yellow DSTwo Theme Fork by CannonFoddr. It only mods the EOS. This theme gives you much orange, my favorite color, but keeps the orginal DSTwo Look^^
Enjoy
https://mega.nz/#!NlUW1JDY!WOuzcuIA5IH9BD7MX_oPH8sp2qx7rOppJrfQQrj1tRw

 

[BORTZ]

Dstwo themes still going strong. What a time to be alive. Long live the dstwo.

 

[gemliu]

Here ist another one, if you want to add it. I made an extra thread too, but I think it fits in here as well

https://github.com/gembutterfly/nds_flashcard_theme_opends/

 

[romevi]

Here ist another one, if you want to add it. I made an extra thread too, but I think it fits in here as well

https://github.com/gembutterfly/nds_flashcard_theme_opends/

Love it! Downloaded and will tinker with tonight. Everything is great, but the changes I'll make are to the bottom screen (since I use Text mode). Also, is there a way to change the loading screen?

EDIT:
Never mind; I can't read. I found the all-caps memo in the download on how to change the loading screen...

 

[CheatFreak47]

Quickly gonna repost my DSTwo skins as an attachment so they don't get lost again. Sorry to anyone who couldn't find them!

 

[MetoMeto]

Alright!
Finally, the mess of the Real Time Menu is completed, and with that, this skin is 100% completed. All unique DSTwo UI stuff is done to the best of my ability.

http://filetrip.net/nds-downloads/flashcart-files/download-ds-firmware-ds2skin-1-0-final-f33476.html

While I made the Real Time Menu Skin, I also documented the format of the uisettings.ini.

Spoiler: documentation

VALUES
All the values are colors of course.
Colors are RGB555 it seems, but in an odd binary layout.
16 bits make up the color code, in this format, it seems.
1 RRRRR GGGGG BBBBB seems to be the color format for the DSTwo in this section.
So for Gray the binary would be 1 10110 10110 10110 which you then convert to hex to get
0xdad6. The first bit should always be 1. This means that solid black would be 0x8000, and yes, it would show up as black.

It is typically a bad idea to use pure Green or Pure Black as colors however, the UI seems to interchangeably use these as the color for transparency.

Make sure you make all LETTERS in your outputted hex are lower case or else they won't work.

If you are lazy, you can use the color picker in DSTwo Skin Editor convert the hex to binary, change the first bit to 1, then convert it back and the colors should work for your uisettings.ini.


SELECTORS
---------------------------------------------------------
dirTextColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control the color of NOTHING AT ALL
What you probably think this controls is actually controlled by ??? because
IDK what this was intended to control.

---------------------------------------------------------
listTextColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control the color of the following texts:

Date/Clock in Main Real Time Menu
Non-selected text in Cheat Codes, Free Cheat
Text Color in Non-selected Boxes in Free Cheat
Text Color in Non-selected Boxes of Number Fields in Free Cheat

Note: Non 0x0000 black color must be used, as some text become INVISIBLE when it is black or nearly black,
this especially affects the free cheat section where you can't read nonselected number fields at all.
IE: Dark Gray is the only option for colors. Presumably that means deep green would be invisible as well,
but I doubt anyone wanted the color to be 0,32,00 in terms of color.

This also presents some issues in the Free Cheat menu when trying to make Black on White style themes because
this selector controls so much text in the UI, but the color behind the Boxes in Free Cheat is also very dark
and you are unable to control it's color, meaning a middle ground color that is visible on both light and dark
is necessary, this is incredibly restrictive, design wise.

---------------------------------------------------------
listTextHighLightColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control the color of the following texts:

Selected text in Game Guides, Cheat Codes, Free Cheat
Selected text of Number Fields in Free Cheat
Percentage text in Slow Motion


---------------------------------------------------------
wndListTextColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control the color of the following texts:

Non Selected Text in the Main Real Time Menu

---------------------------------------------------------
wndListTextHighLightColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control the color of the following texts:

Selected Text in the Main Real Time Menu

---------------------------------------------------------
ebookTileTextColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control the color of the following texts:

Text at top of the screen that reads "Game Guide" while reading a game guide.

---------------------------------------------------------
ebookTextColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control the color of the following texts:

Actual Guide Text when reading guides

---------------------------------------------------------
cheatTileTextColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control the color of the following texts:

Game Title and Clear All Text in Cheat Codes

---------------------------------------------------------
cheatTextColor
---------------------------------------------------------
DOESN'T DO JACK SHIT M8
What you'd probably think this controls is actually controlled by listTextColor

---------------------------------------------------------
cheatTextHighLightColor
---------------------------------------------------------
DOESN'T DO ANYTHING STILL
What you'd probably think this controls is actually controlled by listTextHighLightColor

---------------------------------------------------------
slowWndTextColor
---------------------------------------------------------
DOESN'T DO ANYTHINNNNNG.
What you'd probably think this controls is actually controlled by listTextHighLightColor

---------------------------------------------------------
rtfWndTitleColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control the color of the following texts:

Text at top of screen on Real Time Save, Real Time Load, and Game guides menus.
IE: "Real time save" "Real time load" and "Game guides"

Note:
Not to be confused with ebookTileTextColor which controls that same text on the top but
WHILE reading a Guide.

---------------------------------------------------------
rtfWndTextColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control the color of the following texts:
Non-selected text on save files in both Real Time Save and Real Time Load

---------------------------------------------------------
rtfWndTextHighLightColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control the color of the following texts:
Selected text on save files in both Real Time save and Real Time Load

---------------------------------------------------------
formFrameColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control something actually NOT text:
Frame on Bottom Portion of windows that appear throughout the UI,
typically "Warning!" and "Error!" windows.

---------------------------------------------------------
formBodyColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control something actually NOT text:
The body of the bottom portion of the windows that appear throughout the UI,
typically "Warning!" and "Error!" windows.

---------------------------------------------------------
formTextColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control the color of the following texts:
Text that appears in the bottom portion of the windows that appear throughout the UI,
typically "Warning!" and "Error!" windows.

---------------------------------------------------------
formTitleTextColor
---------------------------------------------------------
DOESN'T DO ANYTHING!
Possibly was intended to control the text color on those windows for the above two
selectors, doesn't actually work though, so you're stuck with an ugly default color forever.
Too bad.

---------------------------------------------------------
buttonTextColor
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems to control the color of the following texts:
Text that appears on buttons in the bottom portion of the windows that appear throughout the UI,
typically "Warning!" and "Error!" windows.

---------------------------------------------------------
fileHandleTextColor
---------------------------------------------------------
DOESN'T DO ANYTHING, AGAIN.
Possibly was intended to control the text color for the text you've written on the keyboard.

Hopefully that'll be helpful to someone in the future if they want to make a Real Time Menu skin.

can you please reupload this skin?

 

[romevi]

can you please reupload this skin?

It's this one here:

Quickly gonna repost my DSTwo skins as an attachment so they don't get lost again. Sorry to anyone who couldn't find them!