melonDS-emu / melonDS

DS emulator, sorta
https://melonds.kuribo64.net
GNU General Public License v3.0
2.98k stars 493 forks source link
dsi emulator nds

melonDS


DS emulator, sorta

The goal is to do things right and fast, akin to blargSNES (but hopefully better). But also to, you know, have a fun challenge :)


How to use

Firmware boot (not direct boot) requires a BIOS/firmware dump from an original DS or DS Lite. DS firmwares dumped from a DSi or 3DS aren't bootable and only contain configuration data, thus they are only suitable when booting games directly.

Possible firmware sizes

DS BIOS dumps from a DSi or 3DS can be used with no compatibility issues. DSi BIOS dumps (in DSi mode) are not compatible. Or maybe they are. I don't know.

As for the rest, the interface should be pretty straightforward. If you have a question, don't hesitate to ask, though!

How to build

Linux

  1. Install dependencies:

    • Ubuntu 22.04: sudo apt install cmake extra-cmake-modules libcurl4-gnutls-dev libpcap0.8-dev libsdl2-dev qtbase5-dev qtbase5-private-dev qtmultimedia5-dev libarchive-dev libzstd-dev
    • Older Ubuntu: sudo apt install cmake extra-cmake-modules libcurl4-gnutls-dev libpcap0.8-dev libsdl2-dev qt5-default qtbase5-private-dev qtmultimedia5-dev libarchive-dev libzstd-dev
    • Arch Linux: sudo pacman -S base-devel cmake extra-cmake-modules git libpcap sdl2 qt5-base qt5-multimedia libarchive zstd
  2. Download the melonDS repository and prepare:

    git clone https://github.com/melonDS-emu/melonDS
    cd melonDS
  3. Compile:

    cmake -B build
    cmake --build build -j$(nproc --all)

Windows

  1. Install MSYS2
  2. Open the MSYS2 MinGW 64-bit terminal
  3. Update the packages using pacman -Syu and reopen the terminal if it asks you to
  4. Install git to clone the repository
    pacman -S git
  5. Download the melonDS repository and prepare:
    git clone https://github.com/melonDS-emu/melonDS
    cd melonDS

    Dynamic builds (with DLLs)

  6. Install dependencies: pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-{cmake,SDL2,toolchain,qt5-base,qt5-svg,qt5-multimedia,qt5-tools,libarchive,zstd}
  7. Compile:
    cmake -B build
    cmake --build build
    cd build
    ../tools/msys-dist.sh

    If everything went well, melonDS and the libraries it needs should now be in the dist folder.

Static builds (without DLLs, standalone executable)

  1. Install dependencies: pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-{cmake,SDL2,toolchain,qt5-static,libarchive,zstd}
  2. Compile:
    cmake -B build -DBUILD_STATIC=ON -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/mingw64/qt5-static
    cmake --build build

    If everything went well, melonDS should now be in the build folder.

macOS

  1. Install the Homebrew Package Manager
  2. Install dependencies: brew install git pkg-config cmake sdl2 qt@6 libarchive zstd
  3. Download the melonDS repository and prepare:
    git clone https://github.com/melonDS-emu/melonDS
    cd melonDS
  4. Compile:
    cmake -B build -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH="$(brew --prefix qt@6);$(brew --prefix libarchive)" -DUSE_QT6=ON
    cmake --build build -j$(sysctl -n hw.logicalcpu)

    If everything went well, melonDS.app should now be in the build directory.

Self-contained app bundle

If you want an app bundle that can be distributed to other computers without needing to install dependencies through Homebrew, you can additionally run ../tools/mac-bundle.rb melonDS.app after the build is completed, or add -DMACOS_BUNDLE_LIBS=ON to the first CMake command.

TODO LIST

TODO LIST FOR LATER (low priority)

Credits

Licenses

GNU GPLv3 Image

melonDS is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

External