March
8
March
3
Demul on my Pinball
I got MAME running, but I wanted more..
So I tried loading Demul.
This didn’t go like I wanted at first needed to edit the script use a hidden command in pin popper to load the playfield “bezel”
But before I did that I needed to fit it on the screen,
I don’t know if I want to play on the playfield like I do now.
For now its ok but maybe I will change it in the future.
To make it work I needed to install windows app.
Found a good one that works, but after running it I found out that
I lost focus so I wrote a Autokey script to keep it ontop and press f3 to remove the menu bar in window view..
Script and
Here is a video how it resizes:
Here are some pictures of the 2 games I have running for now:
Made some
Wanted to use video, but found nothing fitting…
Will upload the script and tools later.
December
14
ftpd Mod
FTP Server for Switch Mod + to exit.
Most of the homebrew on switch uses + to exit I modded FTPD to do that too.
My first button press was always + so I fixed that for my self.
If you want to use it your self you can grab a copy form the download link below.
Download link: ftpd-MOD-switch.zip
Here are the changes in the code:
December
14
Wip: Syscheck 0.0.1
I am working on something else.
Just something to check what extra things are installed on your switch.
Before making this I did’t know that I have Sys-FTPD installed 😀
But its still in Dev fase need to find out how to write better to a txt.
My methode works and it doesnt work. Get output but not the correct 😀
Got it working by cheating in the code….
But it works.. SysCheck.txt gets created and holds the right information
Added ; so you could load it in as a csv..
Plus some self promotion, and the credits will be added soon.
Need to check this firs 😀 sorry guys
Will not release this at this moment because of:
Since Atmosphère 0.10.1 changed the folders for these programs.
Atmosphere will move them at start up so the user will not notice.
So its not anymore in titles like in 0.9.4 but in contents,
I need to rewrite the checks code for 0.10.0 this is a easy fix but still something to do.
And i did’t expected this move of Atmosphere..
But if you can compile, you can download it from github Dcnigma SysCheck
Owell
December
14
ULaunch 0.2 release
Two weeks ago uLaunch 0.2 came out by XorTroll
I like uLaunch a lot it suppresses a lot of warnings.
(so no accedently update to 9.1.0 Like i did when I was on 8…)
Its a bit slower then the normal dashboard but i get used to that.
What I miss is quick scroll action or so like: 10 apps in once if you press up
This way I can access the ftp app easy.
But a quick acess button
on top is also sweet.
So that is what i made if you want My modded version of uLaunch 0.2 follow the link.
Install same way as for uLaunch, in Atmosphere > titles folder.
(not for Atmosphère 0.10.1 XorTroll is still working on it.)
I also have a 
Amiibo button for quick access.
Next I could try making it more dynamic so you could load 2 custom apps of choose.
Skinners can move the icons if they use ftp_icon amiibo_icon in the json file:
"ftp_icon": {
"x": 40,
"y": 80,
},
Also there is a bug in my version for the album it will load homebrew menu in applet mode. 
But i guess this is part fault in the way I load the apps.
Need to investigate that more “more research is needed”.
Going to try and see what happens if i load album from a menu icon.
my guts says it will load hbmenu but we will see.
Cheers Dcn
November
19
uLaunch Mod (amiibo)
uLaunch is cool but it really could use a quick amiibo select button 😉
I noticed that uLaunch would let you run AAA title in background the would stay on,
while I was running homebrew. So I thought would it load amiiboswap to? And yes it does 😀
Here is a quick video I made using Shovel Knight (Treasure Trove) as example.
Working mod, for my self! 😀
Uses:
–Emuiibo
-Amiibo Swap (v1) I use (v1.1b GBAtemp account needed!)
Amiibo Swap most be in this folder: /switch/AmiiSwap/AmiiSwap.nro
If you use Amiibo’s in a game that needs to store data back to the amiibo disable Random UUID
Next thing to learn add the About button back in, i modded that to launch Amiibo Swap
Ok found out how it works:
Added something new to, easy FTPd access!
Compiling it now…
And it is working 🙂
November
17
Release: DC uLaunch Updater
My first real useful homebrew app for the Nintendo Switch.
This is what happens when you watch 2h youtube tutorials of a 4h course.
Youtube C++ Tutorial for Beginners.
Video clip showing it in action:
Uses:
- Install/update uLaunch.
- Remove uLaunch.
- Install extra Themes.
- In app update.
- Reboot to payload.
uLaunch Screenshot (icon):
. When uLaunch came out I was very excited to try it out, it looks very promising like the design.
Open source and I guess there will be loads of new features in the future.
But it's still in beta 0.1 so its not realy stable, not that I found breaking bugs.
So I wanted a easy way to remove it and re-install it without re-ftp or sdswap.
Started my journey in to Switch develepment just this month and I really like the progress I made.
Here are some screenshots:
Main Menu:
Download:
Nice progress menu.
Install complete!
Like the screenshot says use Reboot Payload to do restart in to uLaunch.
De-Intsall!
De-Install complete:
This will only De-Install the Titles, not the users information at ”/uLaunch/” Themes will not be deleted.
Like the screenshot says use Reboot Payload to do restart in to uLaunch.
Install Extra Themes!
Themes will appeare directly after closing app in uLauch theme selector.
You need to restart uLaunch to apply the theme.
Use Reboot Payload to do so.
Disable or Enable uLaunch!
Disable or Enable uLaunch without deleting it. Title folders will be moved except for 0100000000001000 only the exefs.nsp file will be moved.
And as bonus Included all Themes that are in the Showcase.
In App Update!
Just restart after download and if there is a new version this one will be started.
Reboot to Payload!
Homebrew Menu launch icon corrupt.
Like you can see the Icon shows “!” because I used a icon.png and not icon.jpg.
In uLauch my png icon is showing correct but not in Homebrew Menu
Installation:
This is very simple just download the DC-uLaunch_Updater.nro
and create and place in your /switch/Ulaunch-update/ folder.
And then your done launch from HBmenu or uLaunch.
Themes:
Some example screenshots of KarmicBacklash Themes.
Red.
Minty Green.
Warning this is only for Atmosphere CFW!
Install will not work on other CFW! Only tested it on my Switch so I don’t take responsibility if something happens to your switch.
Todo:
- Remove /SDout/ folder after installation. (folder is empty) just need to remove the folder.
- Give names of references a logic name in the code.
- Decide if will use a png icon or not.
- Give propper credits to everyone in README.md
- Clean up MACOS_ folders that are created by unzipping. (or upload only cleaned zips)
November
3
DC-Switch Updater v 0.0.5
OK I couldn’t resist, I made another app.
Base on the Atmosphere Updater.
And this one looks more like a App:
Install
Download the the latest release from here.
If you want the source get it here.
Move the downloaded .nro onto you nintendo switch sd card
inside the folder /switch/DC-Switch/
That’s it!
Usage
The app currently has 5 main options.
Get Dcnigma’s Pong Game:
- Downloads the latest binary release of my modded pong game.
Get Ebooks:
- Downloads the latest Ebook Pack.
- For now this is a template file unpacks 3 dummyfiles: dcnigma.pub dcnigma.pdf dcnigma.cbr
Get Dcnigma’s Amiibo dump 3/11/2019:
- Installs my latest converted Amiibo’s to use with Emuiibo mod
- There are 179 Amiibo’s in this pack for now.
Update App:
- Downloads the latest version of this app straight from github!
- Deletes the previous old version.
Reboot (reboot to payload): Kept it in because its always handy to have 😀
- Reboots the switch, loading the payload from /atmosphere/reboot_payload.bin.
Special Thanks!
totaljustice for the initial version so I could make this!
November
2
My First Switch Homebrew.
Today I played some more with the Switch Devkit
aka Devkitpro.
I din’t expect to write homebrew for my Switch this early but it happen quite fast.
Have set a goal for my self to make some homebrew for al my modded consoles.
So I found my self installing DevKitPro on my OSX 10.14.6 Mac.
The installation was not that easy, but in the end I got the example files compiled.
Look at that nice build log:
What would borat say?
Just need to install everything by pacman -Sy ….
Check this pastbin to check what i have installed:
https://pastebin.com/Ncrb349n
So after that, it was time for some “hello world” testing.
is it not a beauty 😀
Real “Hello World” screenshot (made in Vakantie park Aqua Delta I was bored)
After a few hours of copy and past work.
I made a hello world combining audio sdl and time example:
Used some of my own music Bartclub: music for the mind (freak sounds)
“Music for the Mind aka Helloween”
In “game” screenshot:
Binary download. (New Icon)
Now after some more googling and searching and I found a few homebrew sources to compile.
But sadly there where some broken Makefiles and because
I just started my journey into Switch develpement these things made my progress halt.
But in the end i made a nice small demo in SDL 2 to get me started.
I wanted graphics in my demo so i guessed I needed to learn some SDL2
Made a Icon 😀 for it
Here is a 30 second preview captured by the Switch of the Demo:
Like i said it’s just a few examples thrown together.
Audio SDL2 and SDL2 PNG example (not include in switch example pack link below)
And my own music again Electragazan sounds a bit 8 bit (a bit) 🙂
Binary Download build version for your Switch.
(Place .nro in new folder on you SD:/Switch/ folder)
My source code of the demo: my github page
But i need to give credit to Chris Karcz my version is a pimped up verion of his version.
You can find his demo on github too.
But the makefile is’t updated so I gotten compile errors in my version it’s fixed or replace this:
LIBS := -lSDL2_mixer -lSDL2 \
-lpng -lz -ljpeg -lglad -lEGL -lglapi -ldrm_nouveau \
-lmikmod -lvorbisidec -logg -lmpg123 -lmodplug -lstdc++ \
-lnx -lm -lfreetype -lbz2 `aarch64-none-elf-pkg-config SDL2_ttf SDL2_image SDL2_gfx –libs SDL2_mixer`
Next Up Pong 😀
I founda nice SDL2 Switch version of Pong on Github
by 
His Final Release V 1.0 released this on 6 Jun 2018
This is the final release.
Now has scores for player 1 and 2.
2 Player support.
New Splash screen.
If you find bugs create a new issue and ill try to fix them.
Release.zip1.14 MB
So remade in memory of my old
a new version for the Nintendo Switch. (more info on Wii Pong Game)
Switch Pong!
Just A Splash screen 😀 #needsasplashscreen
Need to dig up the original graphics to make a true remake,
but this is the first demo game I made for my switch.
Only one game type best of 10
maybe I will add more in the future when i revisid this.
my Binary download & Source code if you like to check it out.
This is heavy modded version of the I-EAT-CHEEZE-YO version
follow the link to the original source code.
Now it’s time to think up a real Swich app that is usefull. LoL
Cheers. Dc
May
26
NES-Pi + Custom Amiibo (sort of)
New weekend project that I made:
Last year I a got a NES case of a co-worker, I did’t know what to do with it, until now…
Empty case, only the top and bottom and the buttons. perfect for a Raspberry pi project….
The last weekend I started printing heavy on my Anycubric Photon.
And it felt if i was making Amiibo’s
After seeing the second picture above I got inspired to make a new RetroPie console.
Needed to be RFID and controller…
Left the NES case and the semi setup Right a working setup only no working code at that point.
Even the RFID would’t read the cards because of the SPI-PY its sort of broken.
How to connect?
First install SPI-PY (git clone https://github.com/lthiery/SPI-Py.git) then rolle back:
git clone https://github.com/lthiery/SPI-Py.git
git checkout 8cce26b9ee6e69eb041e9d5665944b88688fca68
sudo python setup.py install
If you do that! Then and only then, you can get the RFID-RC533 working under latest Jessy or RetroPie latest build.
Then you can install the MFRC522 Library and start reading some card data.
To get it working the way I wanted was a pain in the @ss. There is some info on runcommand:
example:
/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh','0', '_SYS_', 'gb', '/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/gb/Tetris (JUE) (V1.0) [!].gb'
But no info on Scummvm and i wanted to launch Monkey Island 1 SE talkie version I made back in the day.
When the Talkie Mod came out.. Been looking for a console that could play those 2 new Talkie versions.
And ScummVM is vers 2.0 on Raspberry so it would work.
Here is a Video showing off how it works and change between Monkey Island and EmulationStation.
More detailed view of how it works: Look at the LED LOL
Some close up photo’s
A almost done, want to mount the RFID on top. I want to keep the opening to load maybe custom NES cartridges.
Made also new printed USB controller ports:
How to Script it?
I made 2 bash scripts and 1 pyton script (reworked its the RFID reader):
The Time.sleep(15) needs to be removed to boot the game quicker but left it in because want to try loading splach screen or something. The Led is to indicate if the game is stopt or not. Then it will boot EmulationStation again.
The python program stops but is been rebooted with EmulationStation.
The bash scripts:
And to make it boot at run you need to make this change:
And for the skin i used the NES-Mini theme.
But it was missing 2 themes, i used ScummVM and the Oric emulator on my Pi.
So i made them download link below:
ScummVM:
Download link: ScummVM.
Oric Atmos :
Download link: Oric Atoms.
The RFID fits perfect in the box that i made, now i can insert real NES cartridges 😀
So if i buy empty nes cartridges i could insert a rfid tag and load that game
(cartridges and RFID tag)
Things to do:
Mount RFID on top case, make everything more durable.
Optimise the code, use some sort of database to use more UID’s and game titles.
Get more RFID tag’s, print more modes of old games… (open source Amiibo’s)
Sources needed to make this happen:
https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-rfid-rc522/
RC522 RFID lezer aansluiten op een Raspberry Pi en uitlezen met Python
https://github.com/mxgxw/MFRC522-python/issues/69
https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/FAQ
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/2211/questions-about-runcommand-sh/2
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/8230/start-game-from-command-line
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/18937/runcommand-usage-from-python-script-not-working
https://github.com/Aloshi/EmulationStation/issues/236
https://www.codingepiphany.com/2013/06/23/running-gog-com-scummvm-games-on-raspberry-pi/
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/13482/using-runcommand-from-the-terminal/3|
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/5307/command-line-command-works-but-doesn-t-work-if-i-put-it-into-a-script
