I know this has been a long wait, but finally, here it is: melonDS 0.9.4 is out.

It has been numbered this way because 1.0 is going to be a milestone release: we want to get local multiplayer stable for 1.0.

Anyway, what's new in melonDS 0.9.4? A bunch of improvements that should make things easier for the average end user.


Most notably, in DS mode, melonDS no longer requires you to obtain BIOS/firmware files. You can always supply these if you have them around, for a more accurate experience, but if you don't, melonDS will default to using DraStic's FreeBIOS clones. Similarly, a barebones firmware with default configuration data will be generated.

However, for now, DSi mode still requires you to provide BIOS/firmware/NAND dumps. We are studying ways to get around this requirement, but it's going to take us some work.

There is also a new dialog for firmware settings, which allows you to override the firmware settings with your own. This is intended for when using the default internal firmware, but it can also override the settings in an external firmware, and it even works in DSi mode.


DLDI support has also been upgraded: it is now possible to have melonDS generate a SD image for DLDI on its own, and it is also possible to have said SD image synced to a folder on your computer. This means that you can place files in that folder and they will show up in the emulated DLDI SD card, and conversely, any changes made to the emulated SD card will be reflected to the folder on your hard drive.

While this has been tested extensively, we still recommend that you keep a backup of any folder you intend to use with this, just in case. You can also set your DLDI SD card to be read-only if you don't need it to be writable.

All of this is also supported for the DSi SD card in DSi mode.


Support for ARM9 PU exceptions in interpreter mode has been added. For commercial games, this doesn't mean a lot, other than making certain crashes work like on hardware. But this may definitely come in handy for homebrew developers, as that means exception handlers will work as they should.


We have added a much requested feature: custom paths for saves, savestates and cheat files. The default behavior is that melonDS will place these files alongside your ROMs as it has always done, but you can specify paths where you want these files to be placed if you don't want them to pollute your ROM directory.

In the same vein, the File menu has been revamped to hopefully make the process of loading ROMs more intuitive. This post already talks about it in detail, so read it if you have any doubts.


Generic has been working on properly supporting wifi power saving. This is probably not perfect yet, but it should fix the weird issues you can encounter in Pokémon games when communications are enabled.


We also have some new fun features: Github user 2jun0 made a RAM search dialog, which may come in handy to those who want to make cheat codes. Rayyan also made a new dialog for changing the emulated battery level, which may come in handy to homebrew developers and such, and he's been remaking the input config dialog to be all fancy.


And, as usual, there's a bunch of little fixes and additions we aren't covering here, but you can find them all in this release's changelog on the downloads page (or on Github).


Enjoy!


melonDS 0.9.4, Windows x64
melonDS 0.9.4, Linux x64
melonDS 0.9.4, Linux ARM64
melonDS 0.9.4, macOS x64
melonDS 0.9.4, macOS ARM64
melonDS 0.9.4, macOS universal

 

[AsPika2219]

Excuse me @Arisotura.

Thanks for the update. I'm glad things are progressing nicely. But I have a suggestion. Maybe possible to have a feature that allows for two separated windows? A good use of this is dual monitor support. (Each window/screen can get it's own monitor in full screen mode) which would be sorta like how the WII U virtual console layout can use a TV (Top screen) and gamepad (Bottom Screen)

Taken from MelonDS GitHub

TODO LIST

• better DSi emulation
• better OpenGL rendering
• better wifi
• the impossible quest of pixel-perfect 3D graphics
• support for rendering screens to separate windows
• emulating some fancy addons
• other non-core shit (debugger, graphics viewers, etc)

TODO LIST FOR LATER (low priority)

• big-endian compatibility (Wii, etc)
• LCD refresh time (used by some games for blending effects)
• any feature you can eventually ask for that isn't outright stupid

You dream comes true on future version!

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

You dream comes true on future version!

Compatibility with wii. Does that mean real wii or the dolphin emulator?

 

[AsPika2219]

Compatibility with wii. Does that mean real wii or the dolphin emulator?

I don't know.... ask someone at MelonDS forum.

 

[Arisotura]

that means making the melonDS codebase endian-safe, so that it could run on big-endian platforms (currently most if not all the code assumes a little-endian platform).

in practice, this is a low-priority item. melonDS might run on the WiiU at acceptable speeds with a specific JIT and other optimizations, but there's no way it's gonna run on the Wii-- that console would pretty much need an emulator written specifically for it, with more optimizations/shortcuts and less focus on accuracy and taking advantage of the Wii's hardware as much as possible.

and outside of the Wii/WiiU, pretty much everything is little-endian these days, so there's little point to this.

 

[Takokeshi]

Imagine playing DS games on the Wii... that would have been the dream back then.

 

[Deleted member 587857]

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[Emperor_Norton]

Is this the best DS emulator out there? Would it allow me to play my DS games that are 3D at a higher resolution than was possible natively?

Edit: I see that a BIOS dump is needed. Since I was hoping to play DS games I had dumped from my Wii U VC, I guess I can't use melonDS.

MelonDS is capable of running games at much higher resolutions than natively, as long as your hardware can handle it. Makes a big difference on some games.

A BIOS dump is no longer needed for normal DS roms, but I'm presuming that WiiU VC dumps are DSi which still need a BIOS. As per the OP, it seems they're still trying to figure out a way past that limitation. Perhaps in version 1.0?

 

[Deleted member 587857]

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[Arisotura]

Edit: Maybe they aren't normal DS ROMs. I downloaded MelonDS and tried loading some of my dumped ROMs, and just got a blank white screen.

You still need original BIOS files for encrypted ROMs. VC dumps are encrypted.

I could make melonDS detect these situations, I guess.

 

[Deleted member 587857]

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[Arisotura]

melonDS does this, but with the DraStic 'FreeBIOS', which is basically a drop-in BIOS replacement.

DeSmuME's default BIOS is minimalistic, it's just the IRQ handler, and BIOS SWI functions are handled in HLE.

I doubt DeSmuME can handle encrypted ROMs without original BIOS files, unless they directly included the decryption keys in DeSmuME itself. That would work, but it might be problematic from a legal standpoint.

 

[Deleted member 587857]

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[bqsantanatwo]

If you use it, reshade will provide an even better experience.

 

[Arisotura]

Well... looks like DeSmuME just went and embedded the decryption keys in the emulator.

 

[Deleted member 587857]

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[CrazyOrbitz]

maybe some time, I'm just too lazy, also my right joy con is currently broken.

@catlover007 Any updates on a new Switch release since this message?