melonPrimeDS

Modded version of melonDS emulator to play Metroid Prime Hunters.

It's a bit of a hack but the goal is to make the game as fun as possible using mouse and keyboard.

I originally made this for controller but because there's no lock-on, it wasn't really fun to play.

Please read the instructions carefully.

melonPrimeDS.webm

Download

Releases for Windows, Linux and macOS here!

⚠️🖱️ Warning if using mouse acceleration!
Please disable mouse acceleration or it will feel strange.
Find a guide for Windows here and use SteerMouse if on macOS
Wasn't able to get raw mouse input unfortunately.

⚠️ Warning for macOS users!
Once you start the program, you're going to have to go into macOS settings:
> Privacy & Security > Accessibility, and ensure melonPrimeDS is enabled.

Instructions

• Fyi. the emulator hack uses a different config path than melonDS, so this won't conflict

• Aquire a copy of the USA 1.1 rom of Metroid Prime Hunters
  Other regions don't work because memory injection is used

• Make sure to set all DS bindings to None in
  Config → Input and hotkeys → DS keypad
  Defaults should already be empty
  (click binding and press backspace)

• Find Metroid related Keyboard mappings in
  Metroid → Input settings
  Recommended defaults have already been set, but feel free to change them if you want to

  Notes:

  • Focusing the window will capture your mouse. Use ESC to release.
  • The stylus gets placed in the middle of the DS screen for aiming which can cause accidental presses
  • Whilst holding the virtual stylus button Tab, use your mouse to click around on the touchscreen
  • UI OK F will press "OK" on the touch screen, which will also jump and briefly break aiming
  • UI left Q and right E will also press on the touch screen, for scan visor messages
  • When in map view, press Shift to zoom out and LMB to zoom in

• Find Metroid sensitivity settings in
  Metroid → Other settings
  
  When in-game, make sure to set the aim sensitivty to the lowest!
  The DS touchscreen isn't very precise, so setting it to lowest helps
  

• Also recommended to set audio settings in-game to headphones

Default settings changed from melonDS

• Fullscreen toggle set to F11
• Screen layout set to horizontal
• Screen sizing set to emphasize top
• Screen filter set to false
• 3D renderer set to OpenGL
• 3D scale factor set to 8x for 1440p
• JIT recompiler set to enabled (helps with performance)

VSync was already disabled but keeping it off also helps with performance

Build

I modified melonDS and played Hunters on Linux. Building is straightforward

mkdir build
cd build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -GNinja
ninja

Downloadable builds were made using GitHub actions

Todo

• Change controls when map is open. Need to find memory location
• Update to latest melonDS
• Would be really nice if weapon switching was done through the memory

Livetek Release

There was an update trying to improve multiplayer, but it broke lots of other things.

Find code here: https://github.com/makinori/melonPrimeDS/tree/livetek

Download here: https://github.com/makinori/melonPrimeDS/releases/tag/livetek-release