RRC2Soft

RRC2Soft

Knytt Stories DS
FAQ - General
What do I need to play "Knytt Stories DS"?

For playing KSDS, You need a DS / DSi and a homebrew device - a flashcart.

A flashcart? Such as a R4? Aren't those things... illegal?

Only if those devices are banned in your contry. Besides, Homebrew is not illegal, and (for your information) the R4 sucks ;-)

OK, I want to play Knytt Stories DS. What should I do?

Download it and install it in your flashcart. Follow the instructions contained in the .zip file. We also strongly advise you to install the levels contained in the expansion pack - they are worth every minute of your time.

What story should I play first?

The "tutorial", and then "the machine". After that, you are free to play any story you want :-).

Is this game safe for my young children?

I honestly think so. The main character, Juni, cannot kill anyone. There is no depiction of blood or explicit violence, and Nifflas stories are very child-friendly (evil machines that have to be stopped, a daughter that must be found, and so on). For user-generated content, play the story first or ask the original creator.

Who is that "Nifflas"?

The original author of Knytt Stories for the PC, and creator of many free games. Go to http://nifflas.ni2.se/ and you will know him better :-D. What are you waiting for? Go NOW! ;-)

What do you mean with "user-generated content"?

As Nifflas released a level editor with the original game, many fans created (and are creating) levels as of 2010. Some of them have commercial-like quality. You can download these community stories at Nifflas Forum and KnyttLevels.com.

I like how that sounds! What can I do to play these community stories?

Follow the instructions contained in the .zip file of the game. Summarizing:

  • Download a story and install it in a PC version of Knytt Stories.
  • Convert the sounds to mp3 and raw if they are not already converted.
  • Copy the story to your flashcart.
  • Play.

Raw meaning WAV, or ADPCM?

RAW in PALibese means headerless PCM8 11025hz (most of the time) sound effects.
More specifically, for KSDS, raw means: headerless PCM 8 bit signed 11025hz Mono.
Thanks to fincs for helping me with this answer :-)

Which music files should I convert in mp3 and which ones in raw?

Music tracks should be converted from .ogg -> mp3, and ambiance tracks should be converted from .ogg -> .raw. Note that certain ambiance tracks (e.g. in "Don't eat the mushroom") loop, so these tracks should be converted from .ogg -> mp3.

Can you recommend me some community stories?

Better go to Nifflas Forum and search for "my favourite level" threads.
Oh, and play "Gaia" and "Don't Eat the Mushroom" :-P. "A Knytt in Time" is also a good idea ;-).

FAQ - Problems
I have a DS and I cannot play the game in my flashcart!

First, check that you have a /data/dsknytt folder in your flashcart that contains the system folders ("_RAW", "Ambiance", "Gradients",...) of KSDS. If everything is fine but the game does not load, use the "compatibility" ROM included in the .zip file of the game.

I have a DSi and I cannot play the game in my flashcart!

Use the "compatibility" ROM included in the .zip file of the game.

Sometimes, when playing a story, if I enter in a new screen the game freezes!

That's a problem in the underlying mp3 libraries. You will probably not find this error, but if you do, you have three options:

  • Reboot the DS and play again. In most cases the error will not happen anymore.
  • If the game keeps on hanging, disable the music on the "options" menu.
  • If everything else fails, use the "compatibility" ROM .

What is this "Compatibility ROM"?

A version of the game compiled with older libraries. There will be some visual glitches, but the game should be playable in all flashcarts.

Some big stories take a lot of time to load!

The game needs to parse the map in order to optimize the game. You can disable the optimizations in the "Options" menu, but the transition between screens will be much slower.

Help! The game crashed and a red screen appeared!

That's the Juni's Screen of Death (JSoD), and appears when an error forces the engine to shut down. In most cases the error will happen because of installation problems or memory problems (the story requires too much resources). Still, if the error persists, please contact us.

FAQ - Source Code
Do you realize that you are using unsupported and outdated libraries (PALib, ASLib)?

While we don't regret using these libraries, we have a small warning for developers that use the source code: the code will probably work only with the tools' versions indicated in the readme, so don't bother the toolchain developers if things do not work with new versions, bother us instead ^_-.
As for developers of new projects, if you create a program with tools (e.g. PALib, ASLib) that are unsupported by the "official" toolchain (e.g. devkitpro), your program will probably not be able to compile with the newest tools. Dot it at your own risk, and design things in a modular way so it can be easy to replace any underlying libraries (or port to other consoles! ^_-).


Last Update: July 15th, 2010