MelonDS - dragoonDorise/EmuDeck GitHub Wiki

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melonDS is a Nintendo DS emulator.

Website: https://melonds.kuribo64.net/

melonDS' FAQ: https://melonds.kuribo64.net/faq.php

Github: https://github.com/melonDS-emu/melonDS

Compatibility List: https://melonds.kuribo64.net/board/forum.php?id=3

This page is for melonDS, a standalone NDS emulator. This page is not for the melonDS RetroArch core. For more information on RetroArch and the melonDS RetroArch core, visit https://github.com/dragoonDorise/EmuDeck/wiki/Retroarch.

melonDS Table of Contents

  1. Getting Started with melonDS

  2. melonDS Tips and Tricks

Getting Started with melonDS

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melonDS is a fairly straight-forward emulator to set up. Place your ROMs in Emulation/roms/nds. No additional setup is required. Read the Configuration section to learn more about melonDS and its folder locations. BIOS are optional for both the Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSI.

To launch your ROMs in game mode, use Steam ROM Manager and use one of the following parsers to play your NDS ROMs:

  • EmulationStation-DE
  • Nintendo DS - melonDS
  • Emulators

melonDS Configuration

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  • Type of Emulator: Flatpak
  • Config Location: /home/deck/.var/app/net.kuribo64.melonDS
  • ROM Location: Emulation/roms/nds
  • BIOS Location: Emulation/bios
    • Optional BIOS (Nintendo DS): bios7.bin, bios9.bin, firmware.bin
    • Optional BIOS (Nintendo DSI): dsi_bios9.bin, dsi_bios7.bin, dsi_firmware.bin, dsi_nand.bin
  • Saves: Emulation/saves/melonds/saves
  • Savestates: Emulation/saves/melonds/states
  • Cheats Location: Emulation/storage/melonds/cheats

Note: ~/.var is an invisible folder by default. In Dolphin (file manager), click the hamburger menu in the top right, click Show hidden files to see these folders.

Works With

  • Steam ROM Manager
  • EmulationStation-DE

How to Update melonDS

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How to Update melonDS

  • Update through Discover (Shopping bag icon)
  • Through the Update your Emulators & Tools section on the Manage Emulators page in the EmuDeck application

How to Launch melonDS in Desktop Mode

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How to Launch melonDS in Desktop Mode

  • Launch melonDS from the Applications Launcher (Steam Deck icon in the bottom left of the taskbar)
  • Launch the script from Emulation/tools/launchers, melonds.sh
  • Launch the emulator from Steam after adding it via the Emulators parser in Steam ROM Manager

melonDS File Formats

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  • .nds
  • .app

melonDS Hotkeys

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melonDS comes with a Steam Input profile for Hotkeys. Activate the Steam Input profile by clicking the Game Controller icon in Game Mode, change the template to Emudeck - melonDS. The hotkeys below can only be used if you have the Steam Input profile active.

Hotkey melonDS
Full Screen Left Trackpad Radial Menu or Tilt Right Joystick Left
Save State Menu Left Trackpad Radial Menu
Load State Menu Left Trackpad Radial Menu
Pause Left Trackpad Radial Menu
Cheats Left Trackpad Radial Menu
Microphone Left Trackpad Radial Menu or R3
Close/Open Lid Left Trackpad Radial Menu or L3
Swap Screens Left Trackpad Radial Menu or R2
Reset Left Trackpad Radial Menu
Toggle FPS Limit Tilt Right Joystick Right

For a tutorial on how to select Steam Input Profiles, refer to: https://github.com/dragoonDorise/EmuDeck/wiki/hotkeys#how-to-select-a-steam-input-profile.

Steam Deck Button Layout: https://github.com/dragoonDorise/EmuDeck/wiki/Hotkeys#steam-deck-button-layout

melonDS Tips and Tricks

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How to Use Cheats

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Note: melonDS does not currently support importing cheats from a database file.

How to Enable Cheats in melonDS

  1. Open melonDS
  2. Click System at the top
  3. Check Enable cheats

How to Download the Cheats Database

  1. Open https://db.universal-team.net/ds/ndsi-cheat-databases, right click cheats.xml, and click Save As
  2. Place it in Emulation/storage/melonds/cheats
    • This folder placement is optional, you may place it wherever you want
  3. To view, right click cheats.xml, open with a text editor of your choice

How to Use the Cheats Database

Note: It's recommended you do this in Desktop mode so you can easily copy from the cheats database into MelonDS. After adding cheats, you can use MelonDS in Game Mode.

  1. Open the cheats.xml you downloaded from the How to Download the Cheats Database section
  2. CTRL + F the game you are adding cheats to
  3. Copy the blocks of alphanumerical strings between the two <codes> <codes> for your respective cheat
    • Example:
  4. Open MelonDS
  5. Open a ROM
  6. Click System at the top
  7. Click Setup cheat codes
  8. Create a New Category, you may name it whatever you would like
  9. Click New AR Code
  10. Match the name of the AR Code to the cheat you located in Step 3
  • The name is flexible, you may name it whatever you would like
  1. Paste the code you copied from Step 3, it will appear as red text
  2. Format the cheat so there are two blocks of code per line
  • Original:
  • Corrected:
  1. Some cheats are automatically activated, others will require a button combo. Look at the cheats.xml file to see if a button combo is required to activate your cheat

How to Set Up DSIWare

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  1. If you have a game that when extracted is just "00000000", change the extension to ".app" so it becomes "00000000.app". This makes the game recognizable in melonDS.
  2. Place your DSI BIOS in Emulation/bios.
    • Read: #getting-started-with-melonds for additional detail
  3. Open melonDS. At the main screen, select Config -> Emu Settings
  4. In General: Console type -> DSi (experimental)
  5. In DSi-mode: Point the ARM9 BIOS, ARM7 BIOS, Firmware, and NAND to the files you acquired
  6. At the main screen, select System -> Manage DSi titles
  7. In DSi Title Manager: Import title
  8. Select your 00000000.app as the Executable, then for Metadata select "Download from NUS"
  9. At the main screen, select File -> Boot Firmware
  10. Select your newly-installed DSiWare game and start playing

Steam ROM Manager and EmulationStation-DE

  • You can rename the ROM file from 00000000.app to GAMENAME.app so it can be parsed by Steam ROM Manager and EmulationStation-DE
    • SteamGridDB (Steam ROM Manager's source) may not have a game page available for your respective DSIWare game, you can request to create a page here: https://www.steamgriddb.com/request-game
      • You will need to login to view this page
    • TheGamesDB and ScreenScraper (EmulationStation-DE's sources) may not have a game page available for your respective DSIWare game. You may sign up for either website to create a page

How to Play Nintendo DS Games in Book Mode

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A handful of Nintendo DS games require portrait orientation. For these games, you will need to rotate the Steam Deck screen in order to play them. Fortunately, it's a simple process.

Here's How

  1. In Game Mode, select the EmuDeck - MelonDS profile if you are playing a game directly from Game Mode or the EmuDeck - EmulationStation-DE profile if you are playing through EmulationStation-DE
  2. Open the game, use the Steam Input profile and select the Fullscreen hotkey
  3. At the top, press Config, Screen Rotation, 270

Original:

Rotated:

How to Customize the Screen Layout

By default, EmuDeck configures melonDS' screens to use a hybrid layout, meaning there is a large top screen on the left side of the screen and a mini top and bottom screen of the Nintendo DS on the right. If you would rather a different layout, it is fairly easy to customize.

Here's How

  1. In Game Mode, select the EmuDeck - MelonDS profile if you are playing a game directly from Game Mode or the EmuDeck - EmulationStation-DE profile if you are playing through EmulationStation-DE
  2. Open the game, use the Steam Input profile and select the Fullscreen hotkey
  3. At the top, press Config, and use Screen size, Screen rotation, Screen layout, Screen sizing, and Aspect Ratio to customize your layout

The Screen layout is where you can find the Hybrid layout option. Here, you can swap to Natural, Vertical, Horizontal, and Hybrid.

How to Reset to EmuDeck Defaults

If you configured the settings and you decide you would like to reset to EmuDeck's defaults, you can do so by following the below:

  1. Open the EmuDeck application in Desktop Mode
  2. Click the Manage Emulators page
  3. Click melonDS and click Reset Configurations

How to Back Up your Screen Layout Configuration

  1. In Desktop Mode, open /home/deck/.var/app/net.kuribo64.melonDS/config/melonDS
    • ~/.var is an invisible folder by default. In Dolphin (file manager), click the hamburger menu in the top right, click Show hidden files to see these folders
  2. Open melonDS.ini in Kate or a text editor of your choice
  3. Copy the following section to another file:
    • For example: 
      •     WindowWidth=1280
    WindowHeight=771
    WindowMax=0
    ScreenRotation=0
    ScreenGap=0
    ScreenLayout=3
    ScreenSwap=0
    ScreenSizing=3
    IntegerScaling=0
    ScreenAspectTop=4
    ScreenAspectBot=4           
    ```
  4. Back up this file to a secure location. If/when your melonDS configs are reset on an EmuDeck update, you may paste this section into the melonDS.ini to restore your custom layout
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