How to Create DSi/3DS Skins


To make a TWiLight Menu++ skin, you will need an image editor capable of exporting .png files, 16 BPP .bmp files or .png files, and 4 BPP .bmp files. Ideally, it should also be able to manually rearrange image palettes. GIMP is recommended and will be used for this guide, as it’s capable of everything needed.

Part 1: Download the examples #

The first thing you should do is download the example skins. These can be used as a base for your skin and are already in the correct format, so if you have issues later on, you can compare with these.

Part 2: Editing images #

Download and install GIMP

  • Other image editors such as Photoshop may work, but GIMP is what will be used in this guide

Once installed, open GIMP and select Windows -> Dockable Dialogs -> Colormap. This opens the colormap dialog, which will be helpful when editing paletted images.

You can now open whichever image you want to edit in GIMP and continue to the section below based on which folder it’s in. Note that TWiLight Menu++ is picky about the exact format of the images and it varies by which folder they’re in, so make sure to export as the section says.

Background textures (background folder) #

These can be PNG files or 16-bit (A1 R5 G5 B5 or X1 R5 G5 B5) BMP files.

  • If using BMP files, you can set them to 16-bit under Advanced Options while exporting. You may need to do this each time you export as BMP
Texture Description
top The top screen background texture
top_photo The top screen background texture when a photo is being shown
bottom The bottom background texture when not hovering over an icon
bottom_ds For the 3DS theme, the bottom background texture when not hovering over an icon when on a DS Phat/Lite
bottom_macro For the DSi theme, the background texture when not hovering over an icon while using Macro Mode
bottom_bubble The bottom background texture when hovering over an icon
bottom_bubble_ds For the 3DS theme, the bottom background texture when hovering over an icon when on a DS Phat/Lite
bottom_bubble_macro For the DSi theme, the background texture when hovering over an icon while using Macro Mode
bottom_moving For the DSi theme, the bottom background texture when moving an icon
bottom_moving_macro For the DSi theme, the background texture when moving an icon while using Maco Mode

Battery textures (battery folder) #

These must be PNG files. Transparency is supported, however only 100% transparency will work.

Texture Description/Notes
battery0 Flashes with battery1 when the battery is very low
battery1 0-4 are used in DSi mode
battery1purple Purple icons are used when Power LED color is set to Purple in settings
battery2  
battery2purple  
battery3  
battery3purple  
battery4  
battery4purple  
batterycharge  
batterychargeblink Flashes with batterycharge while charging
batteryfull Used when in DS mode on DSi/3DS
batteryfullDS Used when on DS Phat/DS Lite
batterylow Used when in DS mode

Paletted textures (grf folder) #

These must be 4 BPP (16 color) BMP files files.

To edit these in GIMP, select Image -> Mode -> RGB to allow changing colors, then when done changing colors, select Image -> Mode -> Indexed... to convert back to paletted. When switching to indexed, ensure that Generate optimum palette is checked and Maximum number of colors is set to 16.

Note: Some images in the DSi theme have their palettes overridden based on the user’s profile color. If editing the colors of these ensure that the UserPalette option for it in the theme.ini is set to 0.

After converting to indexed, go to the colormap dialog and ensure the transparent color (#FF00FF) is color #0 in the colormap. If it isn’t, right click in the colormap and select Rearrange Colormap... then move the transparent color to be the first color in the colormap and select OK.

If there are fewer than 16 colors in your final colormap, press the + button at the bottom of the colormap dialog until you have 16 colors.

When exporting, it’s recommended to check the Do not write color space information box under the Compatibility Options dropdown.

Texture Description
bips The bips displayed on the bottom of the scrollbar (DSi Theme)
box The box texture, containing both full and empty textures (DSi Theme)
box_empty The texture displayed for an empty box (3DS Theme)
box_full The texture displayed for a box with an icon (3DS Theme)
brace The brace texture shown past the first and last icon (DSi Theme)
bubble The bottom bit of the bubble that draws over the start border or icon box
button_arrow The textures for the arrows on either side of bottom scrollbar (DSi Theme)
cornerbutton The buttons that are displayed on the SELECT menu (DSi Theme) (The name is based on an old use)
cursor The border with animation frames that indicate the selected icon (3DS Theme)
dialogbox The background of the dialog box that slides down
folder The icon for folders
icon_a26 The icon for Atari 2600 games
icon_col The icon for Colecovision games
icon_gb The icon for Game Boy games
icon_gba The icon for GBA games
icon_gbamode The icon for native GBA Mode
icon_gg The icon for Game Gear games
icon_img The icon for BMP, GIF, and PNG images
icon_int The icon for Intellivision games
icon_m5 The icon for Sord M5 games
icon_manual The icon for the manual
icon_md The icon for Mega Drive games
icon_nes The icon for NES games
icon_ngp The icon for Neo Geo Pocket games
icon_pce The icon for PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 games
icon_plg The icon for DSTWO plugins
icon_settings The icon for Nintendo DSi Settings
icon_sg The icon for Sega SG-1000 games
icon_sms The icon for Sega Master System games
icon_snes The icon for SNES games
icon_unk The icon displayed when a game is missing an icon
icon_ws The icon for WonderSwan games
launch_dot The dots displayed when a game is launched (DSi Theme)
moving_arrow The arrow displayed when a game is being moved (DSi Theme)
progress The progress loading animation with 8 frames
scroll_window The part of the scrollbar that indicates the icons that are in view
small_cart The icons displayed along the top (3DS Theme) and in the SELECT menu (DSi Theme)
start_border The border with animation frames that indicates the selected icon (DSi Theme)
start_text The text displayed on the start border (DSi Theme)
wirelessicons The icons displayed to indicate a game has wireless support

DS Classic Menu textures (quickmenu folder) #

These must be PNG files.

Texture Description
bottombg Background for the bottom screen
phat_topbg Background for the top screen on DS Phat
topbg Background for the top screen on any other DS model

UI textures (ui folder) #

These must be PNG files. Transparency is supported, however only 100% transparency will work. Any pixel that is transparent in one texture should be transparent in all of them, so that it’s properly overwritten on change.

Texture Description
Lshoulder The left shoulder
Lshoulder_greyed The left shoulder when there are no pages to the left
Lshoulder_photo The left shoulder when there is a photo being shown
Lshoulder_photo_greyed The left shoulder with no pages to the left and a photo showing
Rshoulder The right shoulder
Rshoulder_greyed The right shoulder when there are no pages to the right
Rshoulder_photo The right shoulder when there is a photo being shown
Rshoulder_photo_greyed The right shoulder with no pages to the left and a photo showing

Video texture (video folder) #

Only used for the 3DS theme, 3dsRotatingCubes.rvid is a Rocket Video file. For more information on converting videos to rvid, read Converting a video to .rvid on the Vid2RVID wiki. If you don’t want this to be drawn you can simply delete it.

Volume textures (volume folder) #

Volume textures are only displayed in DSi Mode.

These must be PNG files. Transparency is supported, however only 100% transparency will work.

Texture Description/Notes
volume0 0 is muted, 4 is full volume
volume1  
volume2  
volume3  
volume4  

Theme configuration (theme.ini file) #

You may configure various options on how the theme is drawn in the theme.ini to accommodate larger graphics or different layouts. For true/false options, 0 is false, and 1 is true. Options with a blank default value for a theme are unused in that theme.

Value Description/Notes Default (3DS) Default (DSi)
StartBorderRenderY The initial Y position of the Start Border 92 81
StartBorderSpriteW The width of the start border sprite. Note that the start border texture is exactly half of the full border 32 32
StartBorderSpriteH The height of the start border sprite 64 80
StartTextRenderY The initial Y position of the Start text 143 143
BubbleTipRenderX The X position of the tip of the bubble that is drawn over the start border 125 122
BubbleTipRenderY The Y position of the tip of the bubble that is drawn over the start border 98 80
BubbleTipSpriteW The width of the bubble tip sprite 7 11
BubbleTipSpriteH The height of the bubble tip sprite 7 8
TitleboxRenderY The initial Y position of the title text box 96 85
TitleboxTextY The initial Y position of the title text 55 30
TitleboxTextW The maximum width of the title text 200 240
TitleboxTextLarge Whether to use the large font for the title text 0 1
TitleboxMaxLines The maximum lines of text to show of the title 3 4
VolumeRenderX The X position on the top screen to draw the volume icon 4 4
VolumeRenderY The Y position on the top screen to draw the volume icon 5 5
ShoulderLRenderX The X position on the top screen to draw the left shoulder 0 0
ShoulderLRenderY The Y position on the top screen to draw the left shoulder 172 172
ShoulderRRenderX The X position on the top screen to draw the right shoulder 178 178
ShoulderRRenderY The Y position on the top screen to draw the right shoulder 172 172
BatteryRenderX The X position on the top screen to draw the battery icon 235 235
BatteryRenderY The Y position on the top screen to draw the battery icon 5 5
UsernameRenderX The X position on the top screen to draw the username text 28 28
UsernameRenderY The Y position on the top screen to draw the username text 15 15
UsernameRenderXDS The X position on the top screen to draw the username text, when on a DS Phat/Lite 4 4
DateRenderX The X postion on the top screen to draw the date text 162 162
DateRenderY The Y postion on the top screen to draw the date text 7 7
TimeRenderX The X positon on the top screen to draw the time text 200 200
TimeRenderY The Y positon on the top screen to draw the time text 7 7
PurpleBatteryAvailable Whether or not to use the purple battery icons when Power LED color is set to Purple in settings 1 1
FontPalette1 The transparent color of the font, unused for default fonts 0x0000 0x0000
FontPalette2 The colors of the font, use this site to convert 0xDEF7 0xDEF7
FontPalette3   0xC631 0xC631
FontPalette4   0xA108 0xA108
FontPaletteDateTime1 The override transparent color of the font for the date and time 0x0000 0x0000
FontPaletteDateTime2 The override color of the font for the date and time 0xDEF7 0xA529
FontPaletteDateTime3   0xC631 0xBDEF
FontPaletteDateTime4   0xA108 0xD6B5
FontPaletteTitlebox1 The override transparent color of the font for the ROM title box 0x0000 0x0000
FontPaletteTitlebox2 The override color of the font for the ROM title box 0xDEF7 0xDEF7
FontPaletteTitlebox3   0xC631 0xC631
FontPaletteTitlebox4   0xA108 0xA108
FontPaletteDialog1 The override transparent color of the font for dialogs 0x0000 0x0000
FontPaletteDialog2 The override color of the font for dialogs 0xDEF7 0xDEF7
FontPaletteDialog3   0xC631 0xC631
FontPaletteDialog4   0xA108 0xA108
FontPaletteOverlay1 The override transparent color of the font for overlayed text 0x0000 0x0000
FontPaletteOverlay2 The override color of the font for overlayed text 0xDEF7 0xDEF7
FontPaletteOverlay3   0xC631 0xC631
FontPaletteOverlay4   0xA108 0xA108
FontPaletteUsername1 The override transparent color of the font for the username 0x0000 0x0000
FontPaletteUsername2 The override color of the font for the username 0xDEF7 0xDEF7
FontPaletteUsername3   0xC631 0xC631
FontPaletteUsername4   0xA108 0xA108
BipsUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the bips on the scrollbar   0
BoxUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the boxes containing the game icons in the DSi Theme   0
BoxEmptyUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of empty boxes in the 3DS Theme 0  
BoxFullUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the boxes containing the game icons in the 3DS Theme 0  
BraceUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the brace at the start and end of the game list   0
BubbleUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the tip of the title bubble 0 0
ButtonArrowUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the arrow buttons on the bottom of the screen   1
CornerButtonUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the DSi Menu and Settings icons in the SELECT menu   0
CursorUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the cursor 0  
DialogBoxUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the dialog box 0 1
FolderUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of folders 0 0
LaunchDotsUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the launch dots   1
MovingArrowUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the arrow shown when moving icons   1
ProgressUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the loading progress spinner 1 1
ScrollWindowUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the background to the scroll window on the scrollbar   0
SmallCartUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the cartridge icons 0 0
StartBorderUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the start border   1
StartTextUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the start text   1
WirelessIconsUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the wireless icons 0 0
IconA26UserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the Atari 2600 icon 0 0
IconCOLUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the ColecoVision icon 0 0
IconGBUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the Game Boy icon 0 0
IconGBAUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the Game Boy Advance icon 0 0
IconGBAModeUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the native GBA Mode icon 0 0
IconGGUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the Game Gear icon 0 0
IconIMGUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the image icon 0 0
IconINTUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the Intellivision icon 0 0
IconM5UserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the Sord M5 icon 0 0
IconManualUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the manual icon 0 0
IconMDUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the Genesis/Mega Drive icon 0 0
IconNESUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the NES/Famicom icon 0 0
IconNGPUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the Neo Geo Pocket icon 0 0
IconPCEUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 icon 0 0
IconPLGUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the DSTWO plugin icon 0 0
IconSettingsUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the DSi Settings icon 0 0
IconSGUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the SG-1000 icon 0 0
IconSMSUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the Master System icon 0 0
IconSNESUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the SNES icon 0 0
IconUnknownUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the unknown (missing) icon 0 0
IconWSUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the WonderSwan icon 0 0
UsernameUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color for the palette of the username 1 1
ProgressBarUserPalette Whether or not to use the DS Profile color as the color of the progress bar 1 1
ProgressBarColor The color of the progress bar if ProgressBarUserPalette is disabled 0x7C00 0x7C00
UseAlphaBlend Whether or not to blend the colors of the top screen text (the date/time and username) with the colors of the background 1 1
DarkLoading Whether or not to fade to black instead of white during loading screens 0 0
RenderPhoto Whether or not to draw a photo on the top screen 0 1
RotatingCubesRenderY The Y position on the top screen to draw the rotating cubes 78  
PlayStartupJingle Whether or not to use the startup sound before the main BGM. See the custom SFX page for more information 1 0
StartupJingleDelayAdjust The amount of samples early in the startup sound the BGM should start at 0 0

Macro Mode options #

You may add specific override options to theme.ini for use in Macro Mode. To do this, add [MACRO] to a blank line at the bottom of the configuration file, then add any specified configurations below it.

Custom background music and sound effects #

The DSi and 3DS themes also support custom music. See DSi/3DS skins - Custom SFX for more details.

Custom fonts #

You may put Custom Fonts in the font folder for use in the skin. You can also add override fonts for the date & time using date_time.nftr, and the console username with username.nftr.

Custom palettes #

For the paletted textures (grf folder), you can optionally add override palette sets which are used when the corresponding UserPalette setting is enabled. Palette set files can be created using this editor. When using the editor, import the image you would like to work with, then create a palette for each of the 16 DS Profile colors. You can use this example palette file as a starting point.

The 16 rows of the palette collection correspond to each profile color and should be in the following order:

  1. Gray-Blue
  2. Brown
  3. Red
  4. Pink
  5. Orange
  6. Yellow
  7. Lime Green
  8. Green
  9. Dark Green
  10. Turquoise
  11. Cyan/Light Blue
  12. Blue
  13. Dark Blue/Indigo
  14. Violet/Dark Purple
  15. Purple
  16. Magenta

Once you’ve created a palette file, place it in the palettes folder. The name of the palette file should match the name of its image but with a .bin extension instead (ex. start_border.bin will be applied to start_border.bmp).

You may also put a username.bin palette file to change the palettes of the username font. Make sure to set the palette editor to Font Mode when creating this file.

Part 3: Adding to TWiLight Menu++ #

Once you’ve edited some graphics and would like to test your skin, simply copy your skin folder (the folder containing the background, battery, etc folders) to sd:/_nds/TWiLightMenu/3dsmenu/themes/ or sd:/_nds/TWiLightMenu/dsimenu/themes/ for 3DS and DSi theme skins respectively.

Part 4: Sharing your skin #

Once you’ve completed your skin, you can share it with the community by creating a Pull Request adding it to the DS-Homebrew/twlmenu-extras GitHub repository in a .7z file. If you’re unfamiliar with using git you can also simply create an issue on that repository with a zip file of your skin requesting it be added.