ROM Hack Things we should know: Underrated Homebrew

[joebloe738]

There are some hombrew programs out there that I think that just does not get enough love. I also think there are a lot of tricks or ways to utilize your DS, that I think are quite useful but are not well known. If you think you know any such things then please divulge.

-NewDict DS:
This homebrew is certainly underrated. I use this thing for Dictionarys and Translators and Encyclopedias I even got a Wikipedia dump, if that is not useful I don't know what is.


download package:NewDictS LINK
guide:
http://www.palib.info/forum/modules/newbb/...&mode=0&start=0



-Image Viewer:
http://mdxonline.dyndns.org/archives/2007/...wer_ver07.shtml

Well this is more of a tip than a underrated homebrew.
The main thing about Image Viewer is that it can support big picture files. Well what kind of image would you want that is big? Umm...maps? I use this thing and it is great for maps. I have the whole entire SF map on here. And with the ability to zoom in at 200% it is extremely effective.
The hardest part is finding a decent map. Well just use google to find a pdf version for your city map (use advance search)
And then use this to convert it to JPEG. http://www.verypdf.com/pdf2tif/index.htm You will have to convert again using Image Viewers own tool. (the program has its own format like dpg) And then presto! You have a map of your city.



-Any text reader.
I just realized this recently and I am surprised that I never thought of it before. I never thought of putting guides on my DS. It is quite convenient especially when I get stuck. All I do is go to gamefaqs for the guide and then I use Notepad ++ to make it the right size, so it will fit normally on my DS screen. Here I got this from moonbooks.net

"First, I create a directory using the author name, then the file using the book name within it.

    Upon opening the file in Notepad++ I do the following steps.

     1. type 38, highlight 38, select copy, delete 38

    this lets Notepad++ know that 38 is the default width for the output file in characters.
    i do this because the version of moonshell i use does not support wordwrapping. the
    newest version may support wordwrapping, but i am assuming loading the text files
    in as straight ascii without wordwrapping is why everything loads, and us scrollable
    so quickly.

     2. under the edit menu, select the 'select all' option.

    this basically selects all text in the document

     3. under the textfx menu, select the textfx submenu, and then re-wrap the text to (clipboard of 72) width.

     this is where the copying 38 comes into use. textfx basically re-wraps all the selected text to the width stored in the clipboard."

There you go it is quite easy. If you want to hold your DS like you do in Brain Age then just type 32 instead.



Well those are my own little secrets. I wrote a lot more than I expected, but oh well .
I hope I get to hear some interesting things from you guys.

 

[test84]

very good topic, thnx.
The only homebrews I thought were underrated were DScent and NitroTracker.

 

[mushoo22]

hey great I will try some of these out.

I think constellations ds is not so much underrated but is certainly unappreciated. thats a great homebrew.

TabBed is great. it has all the chords, and you can read song sheets with its text reader.

-also i have a tip but i am not certain if it is true:
it works if you have m3 real with the gba expansion i think if you download the gba file instead of the nds file for homebrew things will be faster. it will take longer to load up but the programs will be faster. I did this with treasures of gaia and there is a difference.
now I could be wrong and it could just be my imagination. But i dont think so


Oh yeah also that reminds me!! People have been complaining that with there M3 Real that the Moonshell program is not responsive to touch controls and is even a little buggy. Well just upload it with slot 2 and it works great! Keep the nds file ( dont download the gba file) but when it asks how you want to boot it . Select slot-2 not slot-1. Of course this only works if you have the gba expansion pak. I think they did this on purpose to take advantage of the extra memory

 

[ZlleH]

Only problem I have with NewDict and the guide is when they state:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Aoi file of each dictionary
?".aoi" can be converted from ".idx"
?Please use irwin's convert program "Aoi Trans (ToAoi.exe)." (need .net framework v2.0) [Thanks Irwin!]
http://tvgame360.com.tw/viewthread.php?tid...age=1#pid176503
Run idxToaou.exe point it to the index file of the dictionary you would like to use. It will ask you for the name of the aoi-file and the wrd-file it will create. The name should match the name of the other dictionary files.
The wrd-file is just a listing of all the words of your dictionary. Copy the *.aoi file with the *.ifo, *.dic and the *.idx file in folder root:\NewDicts\Dict\ as stated above.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

No idea how to get this ToAoi.exe. and the idxTran1.zip you link to contains an .rb file with no hint of explaining what it is or how to run it.

-NewDict DS:Â
  This homebrew is certainly underrated. I use this thing for Dictionarys and Translators and Encyclopedias I even got a Wikipedia dump, if that is not useful I don't know what is.

latest version:Â http://www.mediafire.com/?9mjmvzvmtz1
tools:Â http://palib.info/forum/modules/newbb/dl_a...5&post_id=22389
guide:Â
http://www.palib.info/forum/modules/newbb/...&mode=0&start=0

 

[joebloe738]

sorry about I dont know what was up with that link. Try this one instead.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WPDB5KUT

 

[Mewgia]

sorry about I dont know what was up with that link. Try this one instead.Â

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WPDB5KUT

thanks, but in the future just up homebrew and related items to the GBAtemp download center. That way people don't have to go through megaupload's shitty waiting game to grab the file.

 

[ZlleH]

Thanks for the reply, I finally got a chance to try this thing.

But I'm afraid it won't make me change to it, this application misses one thing I really like seeing in other dictionary application, and that is separation of syllables. example: stale·mate, in·dict·ment, etc.

Also, I was hoping this dictionary app would have a "search" feature for when I don't know how to spell the word.

Thanks though.

sorry about I dont know what was up with that link. Try this one instead.Â

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WPDB5KUT

 

[psycoblaster]

very good topic, thnx.
The only homebrews I thought were underrated were DScent and NitroTracker.

I don't think NitroTracker was underrated...

 

[Psyfira]

Nice tip on Notepad++ for GameFAQ's guides. Moonshell does wrap text properly, but most of the guides on GameFAQ's have some kind of forced fixed-width fake wrapping where they've put newline characters in the text (try opening one in Notepad and changing the width of the window, you'll see Notepad can't wrap it properly either). I haven't tried it yet but if this fixes it it'll save loads of time deleting them out by hand

(now I've said it deleting them out by hand sounds rather daft anyway compared to writing a script, why on earth didn't I think of that sooner?)

 

[Son of Science]

A dictionary for the DS?

 

[Chrono_Tata]

The dictionary homebrew is very cool. Thanks.

How did you get the Wiki dumps to work though? I got a couple (aawiki and enwikiquote) and neither seems to work for me.

 

[joebloe738]

The dictionary homebrew is very cool. Thanks.

How did you get the Wiki dumps to work though? I got a couple (aawiki and enwikiquote) and neither seems to work for me.Thats weird. did you make sure to get the aoi file and to 7zip the dz file? It really is just the same process as getting the dictionaries. You also have to put them in the "dict" file.





QUOTEOh yeah also that reminds me!! People have been complaining that with there M3 Real that the Moonshell program is not responsive to touch controls and is even a little buggy. Well just upload it with slot 2 and it works great! Keep the nds file ( dont download the gba file) but when it asks how you want to boot it . Select slot-2 not slot-1. Of course this only works if you have the gba expansion pak. I think they did this on purpose to take advantage of the extra memory

Oh wow I never knew that. I tried it and it works great now. Thanks!

 

[Chrono_Tata]

The dictionary homebrew is very cool. Thanks.

How did you get the Wiki dumps to work though? I got a couple (aawiki and enwikiquote) and neither seems to work for me.Thats weird. did you make sure to get the aoi file and to 7zip the dz file? It really is just the same process as getting the dictionaries. You also have to put them in the "dict" file.

Yeah, I got a few other dictionaries and they work fine. I did the same things (extracted the .dz and get the .aoi and .wrd) with the Wiki dumps and they don't work. The dictionary and words show up in the list, but no definitions/description.

 

[joebloe738]

I uploaded a package for here on gbatemp:NewDictS Link


So try to go from here instead. It has a better aoi tool. ect. If that does not work I really dont know what to tell you. I know some files from stardict dont work perfectly for the program but I have yet to see one myself.

ps: I had problems with 8.7 so I stuck with 8.5. But I heard 8.7 works fine from others. So you make your choice.

 

[Chrono_Tata]

Ah! Using Version 8.5 and it works fine. I must have been using an old version. Thanks.

One more noobish question. Are there any way to get the English Wikipedia dump? The website says the file is too big to be supported, but maybe there are smaller versions or something?

Just found out that the aawiki file is the Afar Wikipedia. I haven't even heard of Afar before.

 

[joebloe738]

if you are using 8.5 then it should work fine