Nintendo DS games have an internal icon associated with them that displays in file lists on DS flashcarts. The icon or picture is predominantly what people use to instantly recognize individual games in a list before looking at the filename.
in most cases the default icon is "good enough" for a basic visual representation of the game, but other times the icon for a game is weird, gross, offensive, confusing, makes no sense, shows something unrelated to the actual game, or is just plain ugly.
luckily you can change the internal icon of any DS game, and its easy and straightforward to do.
here is what you will need:
-DS Buff v1Final
-GIMP image program
-DS Icon pack
-(optional) Cyclo DS "Evotools" v1.0beta2
i have uploaded all the stuff together in an "DS Icon Toolpack here:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/31b1dsss83sui6w/NDS_Icon_Toolkit.rar/file
The reason for CycloDS evotools program is because when installed, it creates in windows, file associations for every .nds file with its own individual DS Icon. So you can view every .nds file with its corresponding icon from within windows explorer, just at it would look on a DS Flashcart.
the first thing you need is an icon file to work with. open DSBuff and select browse at the top. select any NDS file. there is a box in the middle with 4 smaller items. Browse, Save, Restore, Download.
Save the icon somewhere. then open the PNG image in Gimp.
DS Icons are 32 x 32, 16 Colors.
its fairly simple to pull an image off the net, resize, copy, paste it into the "icon.png" tab, and maintain the 32 x 32 size. But the problem is it won't be 16 colors.
in order to convert it to 16 colors, within GIMP, go to Image > Mode > Indexed . then, Generate Optimum Palette, Maximum Number of Colors "16". then hit convert.
then go to File, Export.
now you have a compatible icon image. Open DSBuff, select the very small browse box next to the icon box, choose the icon image, then there will be a Red Box with a Floppy Disk to the right, click that to save the changes.
if you ran CycloEvotools you can view the .NDS file with the new icon from within windows.
...
ALTERNATE METHOD 2. (easier).
if you don't want to create your own icons, you can simply use a preexisting icon from a DS icon pack.
so for example, Tenchu Dark Assassin has a weird green thing for its icon. (i guess its meant to be a rice ball). If you just want a normal looking icon, then find the icon for "2108 - Ninja Reflex", a plain Shuriken. and using DSBuff, Replace Tenchu's icon with the Shuriken icon.
Sim City DS just has an "EA" logo. Lame. find the icon for "2386 - The Tower DS". since Tower DS is Japanese, and Text Heavy, you likely won't have a duplicate icon if you swap them.
"2022 - Simple DS Vol.32 - the Zombie Crisis" icon is just a gun. that icon could replace any of the Call Of Duty games Icons. and since you likely won't play that Japanese game, you won't have a duplicate icon.
the options are endless.
Last edited by superspudz2000,
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