Just when we all thought the homebrew game Lemmings DS for Nintendo's handheld wasn't going to get any more exciting, the Team LemProject emerges with Lemmings DS DLDI alpha version, or simply Lemmings DS version 5.

In this latest version of the homebrew game, the developer says that the level system works differently. There are now two level categories, Standard and Custom. The old levels won't work with this version once you've opened the compressed rar file into the root of your card. If old levels are copied into the directories, Lemmings DS will just ignore those old levels. The dev promises to make a converter so old levels will work with version 5 though.

Oh, and take note that the developer has only tried the Lemmings DS DLDI alpha with his SuperCard SD.

For those who just got their brand-spankin' new DS Lites (and Phats!) and still aren't very knowledgeable when it comes to playing homebrew games on their units, DLDI basically means Dynamically Linked Disc Interface. This will allow homebrew programs to read and write files on the memory card inserted in one of the unit's system slots. This is why the dev asks everyone to back up before running the program.

Enjoy Lemmings DS version 5. Make sure to let the developer know if you've encountered bugs and other weird things in this latest version so he can fix it for maximum enjoyment.

Download: Lemmings DS v5 DLDI binary alpha

The excellent RyanFB has today updated his vintage Sega Genesis Emulator for the DS, adding a few bug fixes and a new experimental 3MB ROM loading module which should allow you to play even more Genesis games on the go.

A lot of fans thought this emulator wasn't being updated anymore since the last time we reported about it was back in August, but there's no stopping RyanFB! If you like to play good old fashioned games when your commuting to work, then this is for you. Here's the changelog:

• Added Max Media Dock FAT support (thanks chishm/Bonic)
• Added EZ4 FAT support (thanks cory1492/Rudolph)
• Reduced memory usage, 3MB ROMs should work again
• Added EXPERIMENTAL support for using the additional RAM on SuperCard SD carts to load ROMs larger than 3MB. This comes with the standard warning that this feature may cause file corruption on your SD card. The SCSD may also keep the Genesis ROM in GBA ROM space after a reboot, causing PicoDriveDS to see it as an appended ROM and crash on startup - to fix this issue simply power down, take the SCSD out, and wait a few seconds.

Remember, take heed of the warning when using the experimental mode which runs ROMs larger than 3MB. Make sure you back up the data on your SD card before using this due to risk of corruption.

Download: [PicoDriveDS 0.1.6]

Bjoern Giesler released DSFTP v2.1, the latest update for his homebrew app. DSFTP v2.1 is a stand-alone program that you can use to run a FTP server on your DS. It also comes with a software component that makes it easy to add an FTP server to your own program with a couple lines of code.

This app will help you speed up the build process because you can upload the new version of your program to your own running program, and reboot it immediately.

DSFTP v2.1 can even automate the process via the command line so you don't need to swap flash cards again! This release contains the following changes:

• Unified bootloading should now support most cards
• Auto-generated user and pass if none specified
• More bugfixes

Bugs and limitations are as follows:

• Only passive FTP mode supported
• Booting only verified to work on Supercard CF and Supercard SD.
• Performance tested using the following clients. Performance with other clients are not known.
  
• command-line FTP
• RBrowser Lite on Mac
• Firefox

To use:

• Unzip it, copy the DSFTP.nds (or .ds.gba) file to your flash card
• For development, it's best to copy libDSFTP.a and libDSFTPd.a to your devkitpro's lib directory, and the include directory to your devkitpro's include dir

Developer's Disclaimer: "This software is provided as-is, without any express or implicit warranty. Don't expect too much, and don't blame me if it wrecks your flash cart, sets your house on fire and rapes your dog. You have been warned."

Download: [DSFTP v2.1]

To reduce the chances of the above mentioned scenarios please read the full details after the jump.

AgentQ (Neil Millstone) has updated his NDS port of ScummVM to version 0.6. Scumm is an interpreter that allows you to play some old Lucasfilms (LucasArts) text-based games. The Scumm system made it easy for the developers to create text-based adventure games with little struggle. Some of the most popular text-based games were created on Scumm such as The Curse of Monkey Island. The changes in this version add support for M3SD and other various fixes that make this download worth getting:

• New games supported: Beneath a Steel Sky, Flight of the Amazon Queen, Gobliiins, and Simon the Sorcerer 1/2
• Added support for Supercard SD and M3 SD.
• Added new DS Options menu (hit select to use it).
• Added touchscreen offset options.
• Added new touchscreen reading code from libnds.
• Fixed screen size issues in FM-TOWNS games.
• Moved to the latest ScummVM codebase from their SVN repository.
• Made on-screen keyboard work anywhere in the game.
• Fixed build issues to use the ScummVM makefiles.
• Fixed Sam & Max memory issues.
• Fixed Loom CD audio problems.

Download: [ScummVM DS v0.6]

Whenever we save homebrew on our NDS, the SuperCard SD or CF card place and organize these in the FAT structure in a somewhat random way. FatSort comes in by rebuilding the listing. Files can be re-ordered in three ways: alphabetical order, playlist order or if you still want, random order. Folders on the other hand can be arrange alphabetically or randomly as well.

A few things to keep in mind before downloading this file though. This application will change long file names to ~n. And of more import, never disconnect the SD/CF until the program has finished doing its job. Any malfunction of this program may destroy any files on your disc as it works directly on the FAT of your drive.

Download: [FATSort]

Amadeus reported to the world a few days ago that the "long journey has come to its end" and that "we have a running Linux for all supercards." Amadeus said that some bugs are to be expected, but basically, "the work is done."

We're in awe of what Amadeus and the DSLinux scene has accomplished. And in so short a time!

We've reported earlier that Amadeus from DSLinux has added a SuperCard SD driver because he wanted to demonstrate 8bit writing to GBA space with the SuperCard. This was around the first week of July. In the middle of July, the project went on to fixing bugs with the driver. And on the 6th of August, he released this statement: "Big news: the whole DSLinux (supercard SD) compiles without 8bit writes. Now I am changing the kernel to avoid 8bit writes in the assembler functions."

So far we've been happy with the functionality of the Supercard SD (it's what we use when we play our homebrew games). With the completion of this Linux project, maybe we'll be seeing a growing interest for the creation of Linux devices and applications for the Supercard SD or miniSD. Just hoping here, folks.

Homebrew developer for the Nintendo DS, Davr, is back after quite some time. Actually, he is back with some minor yet important updates for his DS homebrew creation Draw that functions just like MS Paint in DS. The only change from the last version is that if you'll be using this one, you'll be testing with the new alpha version of libfat. Since this is a work in progress, for now loading is disabled since the libfat does not support directory listing yet.

Davr mentioned that he had tested saving on GBAMP snd SUPERCARD CF. He urges you, future users, to let him know through your comments if it is saving correctly so as he could easily provide an update. Here are some of the dev's notes:

-Tested, working: GBAMP, Supercard CF
-Tested, seems to create 0kb files? M3 SD
-Untested, but should work on: M3 CF, Supercard SD, Neoflash MK2/3
-Untested, may or may not work: Max Media Player/Dock, EFA2

And with that, don't hesitate to hook us up with your constructive suggestions, criticisms, opinions and other what-nots through your comments. Not only would you help him in the perfection of this app, but you would also have a hand in making Davr a more experienced and polished homebrew developer. So with that, feel free to speak out in the comments section.

Download: [Draw Test with new libfat NDS Version]
Download: [Draw Test with new libfat .DS.GBA Version]

Those of you who were already caught up in the DS homebrew development scene last year, may have remembered one of the active developers then, cory1492. But the brilliant mind of cory1492 has been silent for quite some time and I'm sure most of you who followed his works last year are wondering what has happened. Well, I don't have an answer to that - but I do know that cory1942 is back! Yey!

Updating his website, he gives us some of the new things he has for all DS users out there. First on the list is the EZ4 version of his ETool3.13. This new app from cory1492 will now work with EZ4 as it's pre-patched with .sav file already.

Next for cory1492's new servings is the sixth revision of his simple skinner application EZ4Skin. To change the skin on the EZ4 menus of your handheld Ninty console, just add the latest updates and name it ezfla_up.bin, go into the folders and alter the images, then double click on Skin_it.bat. Remember that it is important to NOT change the image size or depth, or you'll surely encounter some problems.

Last (hopefully just for now) on the cory1492 updates is the DS Book Public Release 2, which includes a pre-patched EZ4 version. Currently, the amazing developer is learning about SDL to add TTF font support and a sort of touch interface in future releases of this application. Meanwhile, he gives us these new things for DSBook:

• Loads the file "book.txt" (can be any text file) from the root dir of the media card.
• Automatically saves current position to SRAM. (supercard users take note - you will have to manually write the SRAM)
• Word wrapping enabled.
• Cleaned up the font a tiny bit.
• Temporarily shows page/line on the bottom of the screen.
• Debug text added on second screen.
• EZ4 SD added from moonshell (read only) to chishm's FAT lib

The DS Book is compiled with Neoflash MK MMC Card support, M3 Perfect CF support, M3 Perfect SD support, Supercard CF support, Supercard SD support, and EZ4 SD support. DSBook has been tested and is working on EZ4SD, SuperCard SD, and M3-SD - although the last one has issues with font renderers on M3.

With these three updates, cory1492 proved that we never unlearn what we know. Hopefully, these updates mean that he's back on the DS development scene for good. Meanwhile, let him know what you think of his comeback - try out his new applications and give your suggestions and constructive criticisms.

Download: [EZ4 version of ETool 3.13]
Download: [EZ4skin R6]
Download: [DSBook Public Release 2]

The PicoDriveDS is the latest project of Ryan FB. This is a Sega Genesis Emulator ported to the Nintendo DS.

The Sega Genesis was considered one of the greatest 16-bit system, with Super Nintendo claiming the other title. The console had the 32-bit extension (32X) and the CD-ROM drive (Mega CD) as its two major add-ons.

There were a lot of games released for the Genesis that will now be playable with this emulator. The developer has only tried the PicoDriveDS Genesis Emulator with his SuperCard SD so issues that might appear regarding the emulator running on CF-based carts will have to be addressed later.

He built two versions of this, one built against SaTa's modified FAT libraries from REIN (for SD users) and one built against chishm's FAT libraries for CF cards.

You have to copy this to the media and then copy over the Genesis ROMs you intend to play (.BIN, .SMD, and .GEN extensions). Sound is still not available but it will still run well. Downscaling is still a bit slow as scaling is done in-software. Controls A/B/C in the original Genesis will be equivalent to Y/B/A.

Download: [PicoDriveDS SD]
Download: [PicoDriveDS CF]