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Guide: melonDS

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Where to put the games

NDS games should be put under the retrodeck/roms/nds/ directory.

What file formats are supported?

.nds
.app

Does MelonDS require BIOS or Firmware?

There exists several optional BIOS and FIrmware:

Nintendo DS: 

bios7.bin
bios9.bin
firmware.bin

Nintendo DSI: 

dsi_bios9.bin
dsi_bios7.bin
dsi_firmware.bin
dsi_nand.bin

Where to put the BIOS and Firmware?

Directly into the folder

retrodeck/bios/

Example:

retrodeck/bios/bios9.bin

Folder structure

Type Folder Comment
Saves Folder retrodeck/saves/nds/melonds/
States Folder retrodeck/states/nds/melonds/
Config Folder ~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/config/melonDS/ melonDS.ini
BIOS Folder retrodeck/bios/

Change Language in games

Requirements:

  • Check if the game has multiple language support over at this link GamesTDB: DS.
  • You need to have your bios ion the retrodeck/bios/ folder.

Instructions:

  1. Open Configurator -> MelonDS
  2. Click Config -> Emu settings -> DS-Mode -> Enable Use external BIOS/firmware files
  3. Click File -> Boot firmware -> DS icon (bottom of the screen) -> ⚙️ -> 🌍 -> Set language.