[Tutorial] how to create custom 3ds themes (2018 edition)

This is probably better if it was in https://gbatemp.net/forums/3ds-tutorials.234/

 

Nice to see a more modern guide.

One point I have though is that I would never make wav files a lower bitrate than they absolutely need to be - and don't think that a 'down converted' mono track will necessarily take up less space than its original stereo incarnation.

If your music track is around 66 seconds or less in length it can be full whack 44100 and still be within the max 3,371,008 byte limit that the BCSTM needs to be. And I would always aim for bang on the 3,371,008 byte mark for a track longer than minute or so because it'll always sound nicer.

You only need to reduce the quality to something as low as 22050 if you're using something like a 2-minute-plus track.

 

Thank you for this tutorial. I can now make my own professional themes

 

my GIMP is paint.net

So how do i actually USE the black template.xcf file?

I have zero program capable of opening it...

Sorry i am a Novice at this type of stuff...
Like i figured out everything except the template...

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good thing the template is optional lol

 

but its all so basic . . . no explanation on folder images nor icon borders not to mention sfx from icon selection (these things would give any theme a completed feeling as well as your guide)

 

Wow yea those things would be awesome to know...

I haven't actually started my own theme yet...

 

It can be moved if OP contacts a mod

 

Paint.NET can open Gimp's xcf files if you install this plugin

 

I was hoping there would be mention of custom sound effects. I have scoured the internet for SFX do's and don'ts however the advice is contradictory and sometimes plain wrong. It's frustrating to put a lot of time into custom SFX only to have it crash the 3DS. Even when I adhere to various "rules" of length/size/audio quality they can still crash.....soooo..... if you are ever able to find definitive answers about SFX please feel free to PM me. Thanks!

 

Use bcwav for custom sound effects (don't remember where I got it though I could PM it). It converts .wavs to a usable format in Usagi but be wary of how much space you've used in the Theme Editor as it is limited.

 

I have this bcwav converter. The problem is though, after making bcwav files, and adding them to the themes, loading the themes from Anemone, returning to the home menu crashes the 3DS. The safest thing is only testing added one bcwav at a time -- then you know which the "problem one" is. However even so there doesn't seem to be any pattern or consistent rule regarding which bcwav's crash the 3DS and which ones do not.

 

Only super short sound effect wavs will be - once converted to bcwav - small enough to be used.

Sound effect wavs longer than a second or so may need to have their bit rate reduced prior to conversion.

I don't think a theme can hold much more than a total of something like 200kB of bcwav files (it might be less), so check how big these files are and reconvert any obviously huge ones.

 

https://exelix11.github.io/Yata-online/ forgot I had this bookmarked should add that to first post I mean could be handy for users who don't use a Windows system and can't run Usagi 3DS Theme Editor

 

I'm quite new to this, but I followed these steps and ended up with a bgm that only plays once; it doesn't loop (all else worked, though). Anyone got an idea on this? Much appreciated!

 

Thanks to tutorial

 

I know this comes kinda late but I have a problem getting the bgm to work

I followed every single step on this tutorial and first I thought there's no problem with the bgm because usagi did play the music just fine then I used howling theme tool to pack the theme into a cia file to put it on my 3DS but this programm didn't play the music at all and that's weird enough because it usually play it on other themes then I put it on my 3DS and tested it but instead of music I got some really nasty scratching sounds as if the speakers of my 3DS were broken or something

I checked everything but found nothing wrong the bgm is the right size and everything and usagi says there's no problem with it but I can't get it to work on my 3ds for some reason

Can anybody tell me what I possibly could've done wrong?

 

Are you *sure* the bgm.bcstm is 3,371,008 bytes or lower?

Usagi plays pretty much any size file so that in itself isn't a good indicator of whether it'll install / play correctly.

Feel free to upload the source file and I'll be happy to take a look and convert it to 3,371,008 bytes if you want.

 

I checked it a couple of times it is below 3,371,008 bytes and I also tried to convert the .mp3 file another time in case it somehow got corrupted for some reason but that didn't help either

 

That's strange.

Like I said, feel free to upload the mp3 somewhere and I'll convert it to a working bgm.bcstm file. You can then compare files and hopefully figure out why you're having a problem.