how to install and use MoonShell, the DS’s fabulous multimedia player. MoonShell can play music (mp3, ogg), videos (dpg converted with the bundled converter or BatchDPG), view pictures (jpg, gif, bmp, png), and text (basic txt format only). 

(MacLike skin)

Contents
[hide]
1 What you need
2 Downloads and pre-made packages
3 Customize and install MoonShell3.1 You own an ordinary flashcart (EZFA, F2A…)
3.2 You own a GBA MP, an M3 CF/SD, a SuperCard CF/SD, an EZ4…
4 MoonShell usage
5 Converting videos with BatchDPG
6 Converting videos with dpgenc
7 Image Thumbnails
[edit]
What you need
First, you’ll need a flashcart. Either a standard one with flash memory (EZFA, F2A…), or one with external memory cards such as CF/SD/miniSD… (SuperCard, M3, GBA MP, EZ4…).

You’ll also need:

A PassMe (also known as SuperKey, SuperPass 1&2, Passkey, EZpass, Max Media Launcher…), FlashMe, or WifiMe
A DS
A memory card reader

Downloads and pre-made packages
If you are in a hurry and want to get started quickly, just grab dpgtools (or BatchDPG), one of the pre-made packages below (see the pre-made packages section), and start reading from section 5 of this tutorial

MoonShell 1.41, latest version, for all flashcarts, now with Dpgtools 1.1+1 now included (tool which converts videos to MoonShell’s native format, dpg):
zip

BatchDPG, a great alternative to dpgenc (from dpgtools) that makes much higher quality encodes:
Click here and download the Full version

AviSynth, needed by BatchDPG

.NET Framework 1.1 or higher, need by BatchDPG before running

Guide to using BatchDPG

Pre-made packages

These are for those who are impatient/newbies or just plain lazy, and just want to have a functional MoonShell and a nice skin without having to go through steps 2, 3 and 4 below. Please note that they are still customizable and you can change the skin, settings, etc. anytime:

MoonShell for GBAMP/AdMovie (see notes below)

MoonShell for M3 CF

MoonShell for M3 SD

MoonShell for Max Media CF

MoonShell for EZ-Flash 4 MicroSD (see notes below)

MoonShell for flashcarts (EZFA, F2A, etc): Special instructions: unzip, put media files in files_EXFS folder, run CreateNDSROM_for_EXFS.bat, then flash the newly created .ds.gba or .nds (depends on your flashcart).

The MacLike skin is included. All you need to do is download the correct zip file for your flashcart, unzip it to the root of your CF/SD, and that’s it.

If you use one of these packages, you can ignore section 2, 3, and 4 of this tutorial and hop on to section 5: MoonShell usage.

Notes for certain versions Straight from the Moonshell program.

for GBAMP/AdMovie – When other automatic execution BOOTROM exists, it overwrites.
for EZ-Flash4 – This cannot be written. The resume and bookmark cannot be used.
for Ewin2 – Requests the firmware version 1.90.
for MagicKey2-3 – Because the transfer rate is slow, DPG cannot be performed.
for NinjaDS – Because the transfer rate is slow, DPG cannot be performed.
Note: I do not own any of the noted carts, and will not be able to answer issues with the above noted.

Also visit The Official Website for news, older versions, a SDK, and more.

[edit]
Customize and install MoonShell
Start by inserting your CF/SD in your card reader and hooking it up to your computer (you don’t have to, but it does make things a bit easier). Then go where you extracted the MoonShell zip file, and launch Setup.exe:

Choose between Japanese and English here (and check the box to save the setting so it doesn’t ask you again next time), and press OK

Then choose the letter corresponding to your CF/SD, and press OK. You can also choose one of your hard disks (C:, D: etc.), and once Setup is done, copy the newly appeared files (BOOT_MP*.nds and the “shell” folder) on your CF/SD. Choose “EXFS for FlashCart” if you own an ordinary flashcart.

After pressing OK, you’ll have this:

This is the main interface. Let’s check it out part by part:

Start by checking these 6 boxes. It’s useful, and if you change your mind later you can just delete the extra files from the “shell” folder).

Check the box if you want to activate the clock plugin. It’s a clock that appears on the top screen when the DS in inactive (just like a screen saver). Use the drop-down list to choose the type and style of the clock.

This drop-down list determines the type of character encoding MoonShell uses. Especially useful if you listen to music with tags in other languages, such as Japanese, Korean, Chinese… Leave the default setting if you don’t know what this is for.

Here, check the box corresponding to your linker in the “Rom image” section, and uncheck the others. This should be straightforward.

When you’re done, click the Setup button.

An nds file and a “shell” folder will appear on your CF/SD. Before closing itself, setup will ask you if you want to edit the global.ini file. See below for more details on this file.

– shell: This folder contains a file called global.ini. This file is used to pass configuration options to MoonShell, and you should have a look at it. The file is self-explanatory, just open it up in a text editor, and everything is explained inside.

In the directory where you extracted the MoonShell zip, there is a folder called misc, which contains another folder called “skins”.

– skins: As you might have guessed, this folder contains skins for MoonShell. Each folder corresponds to a different skin. Look at the preview.png file (which is in each skin’s folder) to see what the skin looks like. Once you chose one, copy everything that’s in the folder and paste in the “shell” folder of your CF/SD. If you did things correctly, you should get a message asking you if you want to overwrite some files. Say Yes.

If you downloaded a skin from the Internet, the procedure is the same. Copy all the .bmp and skin.ini to the shell folder.

Now, let’s feed some media to MoonShell.

You own an ordinary flashcart (EZFA, F2A…)
With this kind of flashcart, you are limited to 30Mb of data (mp3/dpg/jpg…). Once MoonShell is extracted and customized ( see 2- ) put your media files in the files_EXFS folder (if you can’t find it, it means you haven’t run Setup.exe yet), then run CreateNDSROM_for_EXFS.bat. This batch file will create a _BOOT_MP_EXFS.ds.gba. Just flash it and use it.

[edit]
You own a GBA MP, an M3 CF/SD, a SuperCard CF/SD, an EZ4…
Once MoonShell is extracted and customized ( see 2- ), just copy your mp3, dpg, jpg and other files to your CF/SD, and run MoonShell on your DS. As opposed to an ordinary flashcart, there is no limit to the total size of the media (except the size of your CF/SD).

[edit]MoonShell usage

(BlueMoon skin)

In the current version 1.41 (at least on the SuperCard) it is normal to see an error screen, but don’t worry it goes away.

Once MoonShell is launched, on the bottom screen you’ll see the date and time (or even more, depending on your skin and global.ini), and on the top screen, there will be a file navigator. Using MoonShell is pretty straightforward: choose the file you want to read with the D-pad, press A to read it, and B to stop/go upwards in the folder tree.

X raises the volume, Y lowers it (0% to 400%), L pauses the video/song, and R is used to play the next song/video/picture. The D-Pad and stylus are used for the rest.

If you touch the bottom screen, it will exit full screen and switch to the touch screen and play the scene with a menu in which you can seek the frame to watch.

[edit]Converting videos with BatchDPG
BatchDPG is a much better alternative to dpgenc. Among other enhancements, we have the possibility to create a list of videos to convert, significantly better video and audio quality, and the ability to add external subtitles to the video.

See this guide for how to use it.

[edit]Converting videos with dpgenc
BatchDPG is a good alternative to dpgenc. See section 7 for more information.

Note: I currently use BatchDPG, and do not have many answers for dpgenc (dpgtools).

Run the dpgenc.exe executable from where you extracted dpgenc. You’ll have this:

The first thing you will want to do is change to the desire language (In this photo, I have already done this step). Click on the Language tab.

Next you will want to adjust your Options to your desired settings. Click on the Option tab.

Let’s see this part by part:

– Drop-down menu: Method of video detection. Three choices here, auto detect. If that doesn’t work, try the other two.

– Sampling rate: Sound quality. The higher the better, but only one setting is available: 32000.

– Bitrate: As above, sound quality. The higher the better. 128kbps or 96kbps seem to be a good setting.

– Volume: Lets you add some sound volume.

– Drop-down menu: Method used to extract the sound track of the video. Many methods are available: mencoder, ffmpeg, extractwave or emuxed file. Use mencoder or ffmpeg.

– Pixel format: Four choices. RGB18 default, RGB15 for speed, RGB21 for quality, and RGB24 old version default.

– Video width: Self-explanatory. The maximum setting is 256 (horizontal resolution of the DS screen). The lower the setting, the smaller the video, and the uglier the video when stretched out to fill the whole screen. Use 256!

– Video Aspect ratio: Self-explanatory: 16/9 (movie), 4/3 (TV), 1:2.35(CinemaScope) or auto detect.

– Video Bitrate: Self-explanatory. The higher the setting, the better the quality, and the larger the video. Avoid using high settings, or else the video won’t be smooth (with a sort of black fuzz when a character is moving) and the video might even stop for a few seconds if there is too much action on the screen.

– Video Framerate: Same advice as above. 18fps seems to be a good setting for some anime or a TV show (4/3). You can use higher settings for a movie (16/9), with 24 or 25fps (keep in mind that it’s useless to put a higher framerate than the original video). If you get some black blur when there is lots of action on the video, lower this setting.

– Video Brightness: Self-explanatory. The higher the brighter. Only use if your videos are too dark or bright on your DS.

– Blur: The more the cursor is on the left, the blurrier the video. 95% is a good setting, as it removes most visible image compression.

– Flip video: What’s this for? I don’t really know. Maybe it’s useful if you have a matrox G400, or if you want to watch movies with the DS upside-down

– The last line: Lets you customize mencoder’s commands and switches. You shouldn’t modify this, unless you want to add some filters or switches. If you’re interested in this, first read mencoder’s manual.

Once you’re done adjusting your settings, press Apply.

Next you will want to adjust the output path.

ow you are ready to drop in videos to convert. Once you drop in the videos, the conversion process starts.

Here are TheSticks suggestions on settings for Dpgtools:

– Anime (4:3) ~23min, AVI (Xvid+MP3): The conversion speed is about 23fps on my Pentium M 1.3GHz. I get a 55Mb dpg with good quality (sound and video), no black blur when there’s motion. However, when there’s lots of action on the screen, the video freezes for 1 or 2 seconds.

– Movie (16:9), live action, ~2h, AVI (Xvid+AC3): The conversion speed is about 35fps on my Pentium M 1.3GHz. I get a 266Mb dpg with good quality (sound and video), no black blur when there’s motion. No video freezing here.

[edit]Image Thumbnails
Version 1.3 introduced a thumbnails system:

To use this, first put the images you want to see on your DS (and that you want thumbnails for) in an empty folder. Then go to the folder where you extracted MoonShell, and you’ll find an executable called CreateThumbnail.exe. Run it, choose an image from the folder you just created, and press OK. The program will create thumbnails for all the images in the folder in a _THUMBNL.MSL file. Just copy the folder on your CF/SD, and you’re done.

You may also modify the options in CreateThumbnail.ini (which appears after the first time you run the CreateThumbnail program) and global.ini to tweak the color depth and miniature sizes.

(I personally have not tried this thumbnail feature yet)

Solution
converting videos to .DPG format with BatchDPG for view using Moonshell. The parts input and buttons are based on the documentation part of LS5’s BatchDPG site. I just simply made it simpler for those that did not get it in the first place.
What is needed:

AviSynth
.NET Framework 1.1
BatchDPG 1.2
Any sort of video
You can download BatchDPG 1.2 (an improved version made by Firon) at http://utorrent.com/BatchDPG_v1.2.7z

If you used an old BatchDPG version, make sure that you delete BatchDPG.ini before running!

Download it, extract it to any folder (WinRAR can open 7-zip files), and run BatchDPG_v1.2.exe. You’ll be greeted by a nice and simple menu.

Input

Media file: Where you pick the file to convert to watch.
Subtitle file: If your video has an external subtitle file, BatchDPG can also incorporate it. But at the moment, it only takes SRT, SSA and ASS files (No, not that type of ass).
Helpful tip: If you have embedded subtitles in an MKV or OGM, you’ll need to extract them by using VirtualDubMod, opening a video in it, clicking on Streams -> Streams List, clicking the text stream, and hitting Demux. Save it somewhere.

Output

Temp dir: This is where all the temporary files during converting are placed. I recommend making a folder called “temp” in your BatchDPG installation path and selecting that. If nothing is input, the source folder will be the temp folder by default.
Output file: Where the converted .DPG file sits in wait once it is done converting.

Video

FPS: The framerate of the video. You can only use whole numbers meaning no decimels are allowed. By default, it is set to “auto.” Auto picks bad framerates for some content, so I suggest manually changing the FPS depending on the Width and Height.
Suggested FPS settings:
256×192: 15
256×144: 18
256×112: 20
256×96: 22
Profile: If you pick VeryHigh, it will give you the absolute highest quality, and significantly smaller filesizes than all the other profile. If you pick the Low, it will give roughly the same quality as DPGTools.
Width & Height: Basically, you can set the width and height of the outputted video in pixels. BatchDPG automatically finds these numbers, except in a few cases where it doesn’t and asks for a manual input.
Bitrate & Max Bitrate: A higher number results in a better quality video at the cost of size. The bitrate is variable so you will often the encoder will use more or less bits for scenes that need it to improve overall quality. I recommend setting the bitrate to 256 if using the VeryHigh profile for all types of encodes, since you will typically end up with actual average bitrates much lower than that (160-180). Set max bitrate to 384. Try not to set Max bitrate higher than 384, since higher than that may cause skipping and won’t really improve quality.
Passes: This option lets you use multiple encoding passes to potentially improve video quality. However, this typically does not improve quality and simply makes encoding take longer, and make the video somewhat larger. This CAN help to improve quality (and possibly reduce skipping) in videos that have extremely high amounts of motion and skip in Moonshell. It may also help in very low-bitrate encodes.
KVCD Matrix: This option will reduce filesizes and improve quality slightly with little to no cost in encoding time. This should always be checked.

Audio

Bitrate: Everything about video bitrate applies here in audio as well except for the fact that the bitrate you choose for audio is constant, not variable.
Samplerate: The DS can only take on 48000Hz in Mono, so use 48000Hz for Mono and 32000Hz for Stereo.
Mono: It helps to lower filesize by letting you use a smaller audio bitrate without sacrificing much quality.
Joint Stereo: Improves quality significantly for stereo mode, allowing you to keep the bitrate low without sacrifing quality. This is preferred over Mono.
Normalize: Normalizing raises the volume of the audio to the highest possible level without losing quality. I recommend using this option.
Helpful tip: If your file has multiple audio tracks, install Haali Media Splitter with MKV, OGM and MP4 support, open Haali’s properties (Start -> Haali Media Splitter, Media Splitter settings), click Options -> Languages -> Audio language priority, and input the preferred language in the box: eng for English and jpn for Japanese.

Other

After encoding: Self-explanatory
Process priority: It only affects Mencoder if you decide to use it. Basically, if you set it to low, it will use less of the computer resources so other programs do not lag as much, and vice-versa. Note that this option will not work if using multi-pass encoding.

Buttons

Add, delete, clear and run: Self-explanatory.
About: Display version information.

Steps to Watch Video With Moonshell

1. Convert video
2. Place anywhere in your SD card. ( I made a folder called Media )
3. Open up Moonshell and browse to the folder you made with the video.

Helpful Moonshell Video Buttons

1. Pressing Y will lower the volume, pressing X will raise it. Volume ranges from 0% to 400%. Raising this too high beyond 100% may make it sound bad.
2. Pressing R will skip to the next video, or if you have just one video, reset it to the start.
3. Pressing L will pause the video.
4. Holding Pause will give you a debug menu.
5. If you touch the bottom screen, it will exit full screen and switch to the touch screen and play the scene with a menu in which you can seek the frame to watch.

FAQ

Conversion errors:

If you ever have any conversion errors, I would recommend getting a few extra codecs for both the audio and video. I recommend getting the K-Lite Full Codec pack and picking the default settings as that seems to fix most of the conversion problems.

Video skips slightly:

Open your “global.ini” in the Shell folder of MoonShell with Notepad and edit the following – Dithering=1 / GOPSkip=1 and replace the 1’s with 0’s. Also, if the video bitrate and frame rate is too high, it may cause more in-video skips. You can also play around with the AdaptiveDelayControl. What it does if set to 1 is focus mainly on video and sound sync and if set to 0, focus solely on video. I recommend setting it to 0 if you watch animation and 1 if you watch normal shows.

Recommend settings

FPS: For width & height of 256×192: 15, 256×144: 18, 256×112: 20, 256×96: 22
Video bitrate: 256
Max bitrate: 384
Passes: 1
KVCD Matrix: On
Profile: VeryHigh
Width: (let BatchDPG choose this)
Height: (let BatchDPG choose this)
Audio bitrate: 128
Samplerate: 32000
Joint Stereo: On
Normalize: On

I tested these settings with various movies and TV shows. 22 minute TV shows and anime tend to come out at around 55MB with the above settings, with excellent video and audio quality.