Just tested it on DSi and works fine with TWL, you just need copy the folder of the vns to sd:/vnds/novels/.
So I took a look at the wiki, looks like they are from the 1.5.x version readme, except for the very first part, hence the confusion (only 1.5.x uses .novel format; 1.4.9 reads from individual folders).
Amazing, thanks for the confirmation. Last question, I've read around the internet that some VN have issues with the software, do you know anything about that?
No idea, though there was one game gave a script error (it's from the mega link but can't remember which one).
Just got my DsI, it opens VNDS but it won't open any of the files, any idea why?
Hey there. I hope it's okay to bump this thread after 3.5 years. If not, then I'll open a new thread for this. I've just completed a port of CLANNAD Side Stories, which I've added to the wiki page and to the MEGA folder linked earlier in this thread. I might eventually try to turn my script conversion code into a properly usable converter that I can link directly without including copyrighted material, but that'd take a fair bit of work, so we'll see. I haven't fully tested it yet, but I've read about half of the stories and haven't run into any major issues. The visual novel doesn't do anything weird scripting-wise, so I don't think anything should be broken.
Most of the issues that I did run into are audio-related. Long story short, the visual novel doesn't have unique audio files for voice lines, SFX and BGM. Instead, all of the audio is premixed into a single audio track. That's why the visual novel has forced-on auto mode and can't be manually advanced; the visuals have to stay tightly synchronized with the audio track for them to line up. But that's completely impossible to replicate with VNDS, so I had to somehow split these monolithic audio tracks into individual voice lines and separate out the BGM. I solved the former issue using the timestamps that are embedded into the script files to extract the VA for any given line from the sound file. Since the timestamps aren't always 100% accurate, this sometimes leads to the beginning phoneme of a given voice line being clipped. I could probably mostly fix this by using ffmeg's silence detection feature to snap the boundaries of the extracted voice lines to nearby silences, but I couldn't be bothered to implement that after already spending so much time trying to get the audio in a somewhat presentable state.
I solved the latter issue using this tool, which uses AI to split audio into separate vocal and instrumental tracks. I had reservations about using AI for this, but I couldn't think of a better solution. I tried using Audacity's vocal reduction tool, but it sounded way worse. In the end, the AI ended up doing a lot better than I expected. The voice track sounds clean and I personally can't tell the lines which had their BGM removed apart from the ones that didn't have BGM to begin with. However, two caveats. The first is that the "vocals" and "instrumental" categories unfortunately both exclude "SFX". Ideally, I'd want the sound effects to be placed in the vocal track, but some of them were placed in the instrumental track instead. I mostly didn't use the instrumental track since nearly all of the music is reused and I was able to just get the original tracks, so most sound effects that ended up in the instrumental track are gone. The second issue is that there is one music track used at the end of the final story which contains vocals. And unfortunately for me, the tool did its job and placed the vocals for that song in the vocals track. So the voice lines for the end of the final story also include the vocals for the song that's playing, which sucks, but there isn't much I can do about that.
I've also started working on a port of Tomoyo After, which is already mostly functional. I should be able to finish that in the coming week. Once it's done, I may or may not try porting some other RealLive VNs like AIR, SNOW, CLANNAD or Little Busters!. The good news is that I don't have to deal with annoying audio issues with any of these, though on the other hand the script is a lot more complicated to convert since unlike Side Stories they aren't kinetic novels.
Most of the issues that I did run into are audio-related. Long story short, the visual novel doesn't have unique audio files for voice lines, SFX and BGM. Instead, all of the audio is premixed into a single audio track. That's why the visual novel has forced-on auto mode and can't be manually advanced; the visuals have to stay tightly synchronized with the audio track for them to line up. But that's completely impossible to replicate with VNDS, so I had to somehow split these monolithic audio tracks into individual voice lines and separate out the BGM. I solved the former issue using the timestamps that are embedded into the script files to extract the VA for any given line from the sound file. Since the timestamps aren't always 100% accurate, this sometimes leads to the beginning phoneme of a given voice line being clipped. I could probably mostly fix this by using ffmeg's silence detection feature to snap the boundaries of the extracted voice lines to nearby silences, but I couldn't be bothered to implement that after already spending so much time trying to get the audio in a somewhat presentable state.
I solved the latter issue using this tool, which uses AI to split audio into separate vocal and instrumental tracks. I had reservations about using AI for this, but I couldn't think of a better solution. I tried using Audacity's vocal reduction tool, but it sounded way worse. In the end, the AI ended up doing a lot better than I expected. The voice track sounds clean and I personally can't tell the lines which had their BGM removed apart from the ones that didn't have BGM to begin with. However, two caveats. The first is that the "vocals" and "instrumental" categories unfortunately both exclude "SFX". Ideally, I'd want the sound effects to be placed in the vocal track, but some of them were placed in the instrumental track instead. I mostly didn't use the instrumental track since nearly all of the music is reused and I was able to just get the original tracks, so most sound effects that ended up in the instrumental track are gone. The second issue is that there is one music track used at the end of the final story which contains vocals. And unfortunately for me, the tool did its job and placed the vocals for that song in the vocals track. So the voice lines for the end of the final story also include the vocals for the song that's playing, which sucks, but there isn't much I can do about that.
I've also started working on a port of Tomoyo After, which is already mostly functional. I should be able to finish that in the coming week. Once it's done, I may or may not try porting some other RealLive VNs like AIR, SNOW, CLANNAD or Little Busters!. The good news is that I don't have to deal with annoying audio issues with any of these, though on the other hand the script is a lot more complicated to convert since unlike Side Stories they aren't kinetic novels.
I've added a high res (1280x960) version of CLANNAD Side Stories with higher quality audio. Now those using VNDS interpreters on platforms other than the DS who won't be stuck with 256x192 resolution and low bitrate audio. The Tomoyo After port will also be released alongside a high res version (800x600).
Speaking of which, Tomoyo After is nearly finished. The only thing left to do is implementing the credits/epilogue sequence. Unfortunately, it's looking like it'll be a right pain in the ass. It'll have to be at least partially hand-scripted, since adding support to my converter for all of the unique commands used exclusively in the ending sequence would take even longer (assuming it'd even be possible, considering the heavy reliance on timers and gosubs). I might be able to release it tomorrow, assuming I find the time to get it done.
Speaking of which, Tomoyo After is nearly finished. The only thing left to do is implementing the credits/epilogue sequence. Unfortunately, it's looking like it'll be a right pain in the ass. It'll have to be at least partially hand-scripted, since adding support to my converter for all of the unique commands used exclusively in the ending sequence would take even longer (assuming it'd even be possible, considering the heavy reliance on timers and gosubs). I might be able to release it tomorrow, assuming I find the time to get it done.
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2020
- Messages
- 2,551
- Reaction score
- 5,280
- Trophies
- 2
- Location
- Nautilus (under) Lake Como, Italy 🇮🇹
- XP
- 8,637
- Country
Thank you so much for your invaluable work. Will Tomoyo After be playable on real hardware (DS Phat/Lite/DSi) via a flashcard?
You mentioned that perhaps, you could try to port other Key novels to DS; why not start with Clannad, which is already partially ported and available on mega.nz?
Moreover, I noticed that Ef - First Tale was completed. Were you the author? If so, you're a legend! They should erect a monument to you. And Divi-Dead and other titles, to boot.
Edit: So, I've been trying out some new titles on DS Lite, via R4 Gold Pro. "Divi-Dead" and "If - First" seem to work fine, but I haven't tested them extensively. "Clannad Side Stories", however, immediately gives me errors like the one in the picture. How come?
Also, the default font was missing from all the VN archives.
Last edited by Nikokaro,
Tomoyo After will be playable on real hardware. I've personally been testing it on my DSi with Twilight Menu/nds-bootstrap and it's working quite well.
I decided not to start with CLANNAD because it just seemed like too big of a task given my skill level. I'd never tried to do something like this before the Side Stories port and CLANNAD is huge. It has a ton of different routes, the common route has a ton of rare and complicated interactions that depend on previous choices and the whole thing is like 80 hours long. So I decided to start smaller. Planetarian was the shortest English-translated RealLive VN, but it already had a VNDS port, so I went with Side Stories, which was the next shortest. Then Tomoyo After was the next shortest after that, so it's what I did next. CLANNAD is the longest English-translated RealLive VN (at least, if you consider the fact that the fan translation of Little Busters! doesn't include the Ecstasy routes and that the official translation doesn't use RealLive). I feel like with everything I've learned doing Tomoyo After though, I might be ready to try tackling CLANNAD next. Though I'm also tempted to do SNOW, since I know next to nothing about it and it looks interesting.
As for the existing partial port, I'm well aware of it, but I don't think it's really usable for my purposes. Firstly, because the existing port was done by hand, and I don't have the kind of time required to hand-script an 80 hour long visual novel. I'm already dreading hand-scripting the six minute ending sequence of Tomoyo After. It's just much quicker and less tedious to write a converter, even if it means throwing away the existing work. Secondly, because the existing port is based on the Drama Club fan translation rather than the official Sekai Project translation. The Drama Club translation is infamously rough, especially when it comes to the After Story content. It was the only available translation at the time of the original VNDS porting attempt so I don't blame them for using it, but now we have the much better Sekai Project translation, which I would much rather use.
The wiki page lists the authors for every port. The only port I've personally created so far is the CLANNAD Side Stories port. ef_first was ported by nnb1 and Divi-Dead was ported by kakoeimon. Both ports were originally created for the Android version of VNDS, so I did manually convert the assets to work on the DS, but that's the extent of my work.
You're right about the error in Side Stories. Sorry about that, I didn't zip the script folder correctly. Thanks for pointing it out. It should be fixed now.
As for the default font being missing, is that a problem? VNDS itself comes with a default font and it just uses that for visual novels that don't provide their own. Unless the author of a given port bothered to use a custom font, there isn't a reason to include one afaik. I didn't have a custom font to use for Side Stories, so I didn't include one. The Divi Dead and ef_first ports also didn't include any custom fonts. I am using a custom font for Tomoyo After, though.
I decided not to start with CLANNAD because it just seemed like too big of a task given my skill level. I'd never tried to do something like this before the Side Stories port and CLANNAD is huge. It has a ton of different routes, the common route has a ton of rare and complicated interactions that depend on previous choices and the whole thing is like 80 hours long. So I decided to start smaller. Planetarian was the shortest English-translated RealLive VN, but it already had a VNDS port, so I went with Side Stories, which was the next shortest. Then Tomoyo After was the next shortest after that, so it's what I did next. CLANNAD is the longest English-translated RealLive VN (at least, if you consider the fact that the fan translation of Little Busters! doesn't include the Ecstasy routes and that the official translation doesn't use RealLive). I feel like with everything I've learned doing Tomoyo After though, I might be ready to try tackling CLANNAD next. Though I'm also tempted to do SNOW, since I know next to nothing about it and it looks interesting.
As for the existing partial port, I'm well aware of it, but I don't think it's really usable for my purposes. Firstly, because the existing port was done by hand, and I don't have the kind of time required to hand-script an 80 hour long visual novel. I'm already dreading hand-scripting the six minute ending sequence of Tomoyo After. It's just much quicker and less tedious to write a converter, even if it means throwing away the existing work. Secondly, because the existing port is based on the Drama Club fan translation rather than the official Sekai Project translation. The Drama Club translation is infamously rough, especially when it comes to the After Story content. It was the only available translation at the time of the original VNDS porting attempt so I don't blame them for using it, but now we have the much better Sekai Project translation, which I would much rather use.
The wiki page lists the authors for every port. The only port I've personally created so far is the CLANNAD Side Stories port. ef_first was ported by nnb1 and Divi-Dead was ported by kakoeimon. Both ports were originally created for the Android version of VNDS, so I did manually convert the assets to work on the DS, but that's the extent of my work.
You're right about the error in Side Stories. Sorry about that, I didn't zip the script folder correctly. Thanks for pointing it out. It should be fixed now.
As for the default font being missing, is that a problem? VNDS itself comes with a default font and it just uses that for visual novels that don't provide their own. Unless the author of a given port bothered to use a custom font, there isn't a reason to include one afaik. I didn't have a custom font to use for Side Stories, so I didn't include one. The Divi Dead and ef_first ports also didn't include any custom fonts. I am using a custom font for Tomoyo After, though.
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2020
- Messages
- 2,551
- Reaction score
- 5,280
- Trophies
- 2
- Location
- Nautilus (under) Lake Como, Italy 🇮🇹
- XP
- 8,637
- Country
Thanks for the reply. Could you post the correct script folder here or in a PM so I don't have to redownload the entire VN?
The problem with it is that the scripts are supposed to be inside of a script folder within the ZIP, while I accidentally placed them at the root of the ZIP. So you can just extract the ZIP and re-archive it with the scripts within a "script" subfolder. Just make sure not to use any compression, since VNDS doesn't support that.
Or if that's too difficult, you can just extract the scripts to a regular script folder. VNDS is able to load files from regular folders, it's just that ZIPs supposedly improve load times somewhat (though I haven't personally noticed much of a difference).
Or if that's too difficult, you can just extract the scripts to a regular script folder. VNDS is able to load files from regular folders, it's just that ZIPs supposedly improve load times somewhat (though I haven't personally noticed much of a difference).
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2020
- Messages
- 2,551
- Reaction score
- 5,280
- Trophies
- 2
- Location
- Nautilus (under) Lake Como, Italy 🇮🇹
- XP
- 8,637
- Country
You're right. This title is also very beautiful. It would be an excellent choice!
My mistake. I thought it was required in each VN folder.
Perfect. Nothing could be simpler. Thank you so much.
Post automatically merged:
Hey @Poudink , when I play that game I get a series of errors like the ones in the pictures. Also, the characters aren't there: in fact, in this case the "foreground" folder is completely missing. Is this normal?
Last edited by Nikokaro,
The lack of characters/foreground folder is totally normal. CLANNAD Side Stories doesn't use any character sprites, it only uses backgrounds and CGs. If you check the game on VNDB you'll see that it has the "No Character Sprites" tag. Side Stories was originally a light novel, so it seems they just colorized the illustrations from that novel and combined them with reused CLANNAD backgrounds and audio from the existing Drama-CD adaptation to make a quick VN adaptation without having to create new assets.
Those script errors are extremely weird. I've searched through the scripts and no "trypoint001" command is used at any point. However, the third line of the third episode's script (SEEN0003.scr) is "label entrypoint001", which just a bog-standard label command. So I guess VNDS is somehow skipping over the first eight characters of that line?
No "his" command is used either, but the third line of the menu script (main.scr) is "text @this product is a work of fiction. There is no relation between real people, groups, places, incidents or occupations.", which is just a normal text command, so I guess in that case it somehow skipped over the first seven characters and interpreted the "his" as the command.
Have you tried deleting the cache folder? It's possible that recreating the ZIP caused the cache to become outdated. If VNDS fails to detect this (which can sometimes happen), it won't rebuild the cache and will carry on using the outdated cache, which usually causes things to break very badly. If that doesn't fix it, can you send me your script folder? Maybe something got corrupted somehow.
Those script errors are extremely weird. I've searched through the scripts and no "trypoint001" command is used at any point. However, the third line of the third episode's script (SEEN0003.scr) is "label entrypoint001", which just a bog-standard label command. So I guess VNDS is somehow skipping over the first eight characters of that line?
No "his" command is used either, but the third line of the menu script (main.scr) is "text @this product is a work of fiction. There is no relation between real people, groups, places, incidents or occupations.", which is just a normal text command, so I guess in that case it somehow skipped over the first seven characters and interpreted the "his" as the command.
Have you tried deleting the cache folder? It's possible that recreating the ZIP caused the cache to become outdated. If VNDS fails to detect this (which can sometimes happen), it won't rebuild the cache and will carry on using the outdated cache, which usually causes things to break very badly. If that doesn't fix it, can you send me your script folder? Maybe something got corrupted somehow.
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2020
- Messages
- 2,551
- Reaction score
- 5,280
- Trophies
- 2
- Location
- Nautilus (under) Lake Como, Italy 🇮🇹
- XP
- 8,637
- Country
Okay. As soon as I have time, I'll do what you suggested. If it works normally in your case, then the issue only concerns me. I'll let you know if everything went smoothly. 
2) I deleted the entire folder and reinstalled the whole game, but the error is still there.
3) I'll post my version of the compressed script.
Post automatically merged:
1) I cleared the cache, but the error persists.
2) I deleted the entire folder and reinstalled the whole game, but the error is still there.
3) I'll post my version of the compressed script.
Last edited by Nikokaro,
Well, this is odd. I do indeed have the same issue you do if I use your ZIP. However, the one from the MEGA folder works fine, and it also works fine if I extract your ZIP to a regular folder. When you say you tried reinstalling the whole game I assume you meant redownloading from the MEGA folder? I guess there might be something about your archiver program that VNDS doesn't like, but that wouldn't explain why installing the updated version from the MEGA folder didn't fix the issue for you.
I think giving up on the ZIP and using a regular folder instead would probably be the best solution, then. There's only 17 scripts total, so I can't imagine zipping them really makes much of a difference.
I think giving up on the ZIP and using a regular folder instead would probably be the best solution, then. There's only 17 scripts total, so I can't imagine zipping them really makes much of a difference.
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2020
- Messages
- 2,551
- Reaction score
- 5,280
- Trophies
- 2
- Location
- Nautilus (under) Lake Como, Italy 🇮🇹
- XP
- 8,637
- Country
I'll try using the uncompressed script folder, then I'll let you know. Thanks for everything. Anyway I'm eagerly awaiting Tomoyo After. Are there any other titles for Android VNDS that can easily be converted for DS consoles?
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2020
- Messages
- 2,551
- Reaction score
- 5,280
- Trophies
- 2
- Location
- Nautilus (under) Lake Como, Italy 🇮🇹
- XP
- 8,637
- Country
With the uncompressed folder, it works perfectly. I wonder why.
Anyway It's's fantastic that after so many years, you're interested in porting VNs to this old console. Plus, you're very young. Nowadays, you can easily play VNs on Android using Kirikiroid2, Exagear, Xsystem4, and others, but playing on NDS consoles has a special charm, that never fades as the years go by.
Post automatically merged:
I wanted to ask you guys something. I'd like to play these school-themed VNs with black cursive text, on a white sheet of lined or squared paper (school-style paper),or a white sheet of paper yellowed at the corners (like a old, childhood diary) as a textbox. How should I proceed? Can anyone help me?
Last edited by Nikokaro,
Similar threads
Site & Scene News
New Hot Discussed
-
-
19K views
Pokemon Platinum PC port gets a surprise release
Seemingly out of nowhere a PC port for Pokemon Platinum has surfaced online, bundled alongside the source code for those interested in building and developing it for... -
12K views
Steam Deck gets a major price bump, more than 40% increase for US buyers
With very little in the way of announcement, Valve has today increased the price of the Steam Deck but some fairly considerable margins. Both of the available models... -
10K views
Sony announces PlayStation Plus price increase for new customers starting May 20
Earlier this year, Sony announced major price increases for the PS5, PS5 Pro, and PlayStation Portal. Now the company is raising prices again, this time for... -
9K views
Nintendo Direct June 9, 2026 roundup - Ocarina of Time remake announced, Kingdom Hearts IV trailer
Nintendo's expected Summer showcase is here, offering up plenty of new announcements and exciting reveals. Let's see what they have in store in the latest Nintendo... -
8K views
Pokémon Crystal gets a PC port titled "suiCune" based on C/C++ language
Continuing with the great news of Pokémon Platinum getting a native unofficial PC port just a few days ago, today, yet another classic title from the franchise has... -
8K views
Paper Mario PC recompilation "ReCut" gets its first pre-release build
The latest in a growing number of native PC ports, Paper Mario ReCut got its first pre-release build earlier this week. Based on the N64 recompilation toolchain, the... -
7K views
Low-level 3DS emulator 3Beans released alongside setup tutorial video
When you talk about 3DS emulation, most people would jump to Citra. As the defacto choice since its first release it's seen tremendous success, and even after its... -
6K views
PlayStation State of Play June 2, 2026 broadcast - new God of War announced
A whole hour of PlayStation content is on the way, thanks to the latest State of Play showcase. Headlining the stream will be Marvel's Wolverine, alongside a... -
5K views
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 to launch on Nintendo Switch 2 in October
For the first time in 13 years, the Call of Duty series will again return to Nintendo's consoles. Set to launch on the 23rd of October, the latest release, Modern... -
5K views
RAManimator adds animated graphics to emulated games with no ROM editing
Back in April we covered the ROM hacking efforts to add fifth-generation animated sprites to third generation Pokemon games. It remains a thoroughly impressive...
-
-
-
171 replies
Steam Deck gets a major price bump, more than 40% increase for US buyers
With very little in the way of announcement, Valve has today increased the price of the Steam Deck but some fairly considerable margins. Both of the available models... -
141 replies
Nintendo Direct June 9, 2026 roundup - Ocarina of Time remake announced, Kingdom Hearts IV trailer
Nintendo's expected Summer showcase is here, offering up plenty of new announcements and exciting reveals. Let's see what they have in store in the latest Nintendo... -
102 replies
Pokemon Platinum PC port gets a surprise release
Seemingly out of nowhere a PC port for Pokemon Platinum has surfaced online, bundled alongside the source code for those interested in building and developing it for... -
92 replies
Sony announces PlayStation Plus price increase for new customers starting May 20
Earlier this year, Sony announced major price increases for the PS5, PS5 Pro, and PlayStation Portal. Now the company is raising prices again, this time for... -
91 replies
What do you want to see in the next Nintendo Direct?
With rumours circulating about a Nintendo Direct in the coming days and weeks, fans are left speculating and hoping as to what might be included. At the centre of all... -
76 replies
Paper Mario PC recompilation "ReCut" gets its first pre-release build
The latest in a growing number of native PC ports, Paper Mario ReCut got its first pre-release build earlier this week. Based on the N64 recompilation toolchain, the... -
71 replies
PlayStation State of Play June 2, 2026 broadcast - new God of War announced
A whole hour of PlayStation content is on the way, thanks to the latest State of Play showcase. Headlining the stream will be Marvel's Wolverine, alongside a... -
71 replies
Nintendo Direct to air on the 9th of June, set to feature 50 minutes of Switch and Switch 2 games launching this year
After much speculation and rumour, the fabled Nintendo Direct is upon us. Set to go live tomorrow, the 9th of June, at 3pm in the UK, it'll feature 50 minutes of... -
63 replies
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 to launch on Nintendo Switch 2 in October
For the first time in 13 years, the Call of Duty series will again return to Nintendo's consoles. Set to launch on the 23rd of October, the latest release, Modern... -
55 replies
Nintendo fined 35 million euros by the French government due to Switch 1 Joycon malfunctions
Following an investigation over misleading commercial practices, today Nintendo has been imposed a fine of 35 million euros related to the controller malfunctions...
-
