How to Setup and Use DSLua

Welcome to DSLua
CF Flavor
GBFS Flavor
Auto-start
gfx2gba
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Welcome to DSLua

DSLua is a port of the Lua scripting language to the Nintendo DS. Originally made by waruwaru, now maintained by sypherce, daltonlaffs, and me, Jeremysr. You can get it or the source code from DSLua.com, on the download page. This document will explain how to use DSLua and write programs for it.

CF Flavor

DSLua comes in two flavors: CF flavor, and GBFS flavor. This section will explain the CF flavor.

GBFS Flavor

The GBFS flavor packs your lua files (and graphics, music, sound effects, whatever you need to run your program) into a single DS executable, so you don't have to have all the lua files on your storage device, like in the CF flavor.

To pack the files, you must first put your files in the scripts directory (found in the main directory of DSLua GBFS flavor). Then, run PACK.BAT. It should put all the files from the scripts directory and pack them into bundle/DSLUA-PACK.nds (or .ds.gba or .sc.nds). Then you run whichever one is compatible with your homebrew device, and when run it will let you choose a packed file to run (lua files will be highlighted in green).

Auto-start

The Auto-start feature lets you make a DSLua file that will automatically run a certain file on the storage device (or GBFS). See auto-start.bat for instructions and an example.

gfx2gba

Currently your game sprites must be in .raw/.pal format, and your backgrounds must be in .raw/.pal/.map format. To convert them, use gfx2gba.exe which is found in the bin directory. From the command line, run this to make a sprite:

gfx2gba -poutput.pal input.bmp

The output will be a palette file (output.pal) and a raw image file with the same name as your input (in this example it would be input.raw). The input file must be a 256-colour bitmap (.bmp). Its width and height must be 16, 32, or 64 pixels. (Examples: 16x16, 32x64, 64x16...)

To make a background (tile map), you need to add -m to the command:

gfx2gba -m -poutput.pal input.bmp

With this example it will output three files: input.raw, input.map, and output.pal. Like sprites, the input bitmap must be 256 colours and the width and height must be in multiples of 8.

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