DS Overlay for mobile (1080x2220, integer-scaling: On) - Upd 9-27-19

[GeorgeT93]

Hi all,

I edited the retropad flat overlay for use with DeSmuME on android for my Samsung S8+, so that it would no longer overlay the buttons onto the touchscreen area, and also added a background image to fill in the black area below the bottom screen. While I made it for my own use, I’m sharing it in case anyone else needs a DS overlay for use on a mobile phone with a similar resolution. Hopefully this will be helpful to someone else. The screenshot below utilizes the turquoise background, but several other colors are available in the zip.

Screenshot:

Download link: RetroArch Mobile NDS ToGo Overlay (for Android, Integer-scaling: On, 1080x2220 resolution.)

-George

[GeorgeT93]

Updated to remove L2 R2 buttons and to change L1 and R1 to L and R, respectively. Use the link in the original post.

[GeorgeT93]

Update - Complete redesign to give it a more ‘ds’ look instead of the older flat look replicated from retropad. The old design is still available, but has been moved to the nds-togo-flat folder while the new design now utilizes the nds-togo folder. Both versions are available in the original download link. Here’s a screenshot of the new style in dark turquoise. Many color variants are included.

Note that the show/hide interface button has been removed, and the quick menu is mapped to the onscreen power button. RetroArch Mobile NDS ToGo Overlays (Android, Integer-scaling is on, 1080x2220 resolution.)

Color variants: Black, blue, charcoal, dark pink (with white or black button inserts), dark yellow, green, lime, olive, orange (with white or black button inserts), pink, plum, purple, red, turquoise (with white or black button inserts), dark turquoise (pictured in screenshot), white and yellow.

[GeorgeT93]

Another update. Added microphone and close/open lid buttons. These are mapped to the default L3 (for the mic) and L2 (for the lid) mappings used for these functions in RetroArch Desmume. Also added an ice blue color variant, an NES styled “skin” and added a white button insert version of the pink overlay. As always, the latest version can be found at the original download link.

Note: When calling up the quick menu using the power button, I find it works best to hold your finger on the button for a second before releasing, otherwise it seems to jump through random quick menu options. This behavior was the same with the default retropad overlay, and is not specific to this overlay.

Ice Blue variant:

NES “Skin” variant:

Download: RetroArch mobile overlay - NDS ToGo (1080x2220, integer scaling: on)

[GeorgeT93]

Two new skin variants based on SNES and Super Famicom controllers, inspired by the 3DS special editions. Same download link as before, RetroArch mobile overlay - NDS ToGo (1080x2220, integer scaling: on)

[ShidoshiHanzo]

Great work. Do you mind sharing the layers separately? I would like to change them to different resolutions and also enhance them a little bit. A bigger screen and more hotkeys would be handy. I wont take any credit, I admire your effort and would love to customize them a little. Cheers.

[GeorgeT93]

Hi, sorry for taking so long to respond, been busy the last couple of days. I’ve uploaded a copy of the master image (a layered psp X6 file) with all the individual layers. Note that I work haphazardly, but tried to be as organized (and descriptive) as possible with the layers. Certain color variants require multiple layers to be “visible” to get the correct look that I was going for, so you may have to play around a bit with the different color layers if you want to apply your changes/additions to all color variants.

Looking forward to seeing your changes and additions.

-George

RetroArch DS Mobile Overlay Public Master (Layered PSP X6 file)

[ShidoshiHanzo]

Hi, Thank you very much for sharing the layers. Yet i must admit i have never heard of a pspimage file before. i only use gimp. How do i open it? Cheers

[GeorgeT93]

PSP is Corel’s Paint Shop Pro, and the X6 version that I’m using is now several years old, so I would guess most newer image editing apps should have some kind of support for pspimage files. I don’t use gimp, so I’m not familiar with its supported file formats, so if you can’t open it directly in Gimp, then you may possibly need a plugin to open the file, or perhaps a file converter (though that may mess with each layer’s transparency) to convert it to a format Gimp will recognize (like perhaps a psd file.)

[JST]

Can you give some info in how we should load this? I’m new to retroarch and cannot find it. I tried to load it in the overlay settings menu but only the PNG files are shown. I can see the CFR files in the configuration file menu but loading one does not seem to have any impact. Am I missing something?

[GeorgeT93]

1. Start Retroarch.
2. Load up a DS game.
3. Open the Retroarch quick menu.
4. Tap the Onscreen Overlay option.
5. Tap the Overlay Preset option.
6. Browse to the folder your overlays are stored in, and choose the .cfg file for the overlay you wish to use.
7. Hit the ‘back’ arrow at the top left of Retroarch.
8. Tap the Overrides option.
9. Tap either Save Core Overrides to apply the overlay to the core (so it will be used for all games using that core), or Save Game Overrides to apply the overlay to the currently running game only.

Good luck. Hope this helps.

[JST]

Thanks for the reply. If I follow your instructions than I only see PNG files in my overlay folder.

Do I need a specific smartphone? Specific core? Do the overlay need to be in a specific folder? I’ve just unzipped them on my smartphone.

[GeorgeT93]

Hmm. Not really sure what’s going on there. When I have a DS game running, and use Retroarch’s quick menu to access the Overlay Preset browser, then when I browse to the folder my overlays are in on my phone (Samsung S8+), all I see are the cfg files. I don’t see the png files at all in the Overlay Preset browser, so I’m not really sure why you’re seeing the png files and not the cfg files. If you have a file manager on your phone, try browsing the folder you extracted the overlays to, and make sure the cfg files are there. If not, you may need to extract them again from the zip file. The thing that’s confusing to me is the fact that you’re seeing the png files in the Overlay Preset browser at all, but maybe someone more knowledgeable about Retroarch could chime in. I’ve only been using it a few months myself, so maybe there’s a setting or something I’m unaware of that’s causing the png files to appear instead of the cfg files. Sorry I can’t be of more help.

[nullNOVA]

Please revive the links! These look great and I’m struggling to find DS overlays for mobile which look these good.

Cheers.

[GeorgeT93]

Hi all, apparently the links to my Dropbox are no longer working, despite the files existing there and the share links still being exactly the same, but I can only see the files if I’m logged in to my account. I’m guessing maybe I hit some kind of a bandwidth limit or something. In any case, I’ve uploaded copies of the files to my google drive, so if the above links to my dropbox aren’t working, try the ones on google drive in this post. The filenames have remained the same, so just choose the link for the same filename below to download from my google drive instead of my dropbox.

RA-mobile-overlay-nds-togo.zip: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DFLD7NGV1CV-sTmLzAjeD--psSWHEddV/view?usp=sharing

RA-overlays-nds-abst-blu01.zip: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zmqbRyjQq2Uq0SdWcUAYSksJwidSOQiG/view?usp=sharing

RA-overlays-nds-abst-pnkpur.zip: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aZzQAKnJ6Oul0w8mqhg_UAUvKOecaIEO/view?usp=sharing

RA-overlays-nds-marioluigi.zip: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1637x2TnBVasJZoBIAy60v-n_KiZ-dKId/view?usp=sharing

RA-overlays-nds-SxS-toptrump-drwho.zip: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hQzsGsKv4Z7r-uzmSXY7GEpzpDXAMtHt/view?usp=sharing

RA-overlays-nds-zelda.zip: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EZXphmXaJakafjY7gGqaIuls14wBgRFl/view?usp=sharing

[jayden8923]

Is there a working rewind button on this overlay?

[jayden8923]

I mean speed up as a button

[ABeezy1388]

Love these! Thanks for the hard work!! For some reason tho on iPhone 12 Pro Max the entire .png overlay is shifted up a little cutting off a a little bit of the bottom screen. I turned the opacity down to 75% as shown below so you can see what’s going on. Is there a way to fix this? Also the borders on the top screen seem to cut off a little bit. I opened the config file but I admit I have no idea what I’m doing lol. Otherwise this is epic!

Could you also reshare your photoshop file? Would be cool to make custom colors

[AnonymousAndy]

This is just what i need! But I have a couple of questions…

Will it work for melonDS? Do you plan on having them be officially included in RetroArch?

[PoetG]

I’m having the same problem too, hoping I can just change the resolution. Unless you’ve found the solution?