melonDS 0.9.4 is out!
I know this has been a long wait, but finally, here it is: melonDS 0.9.4 is out.

It has been numbered this way because 1.0 is going to be a milestone release: we want to get local multiplayer stable for 1.0.

Anyway, what's new in melonDS 0.9.4? A bunch of improvements that should make things easier for the average end user.


Most notably, in DS mode, melonDS no longer requires you to obtain BIOS/firmware files. You can always supply these if you have them around, for a more accurate experience, but if you don't, melonDS will default to using DraStic's FreeBIOS clones. Similarly, a barebones firmware with default configuration data will be generated.

However, for now, DSi mode still requires you to provide BIOS/firmware/NAND dumps. We are studying ways to get around this requirement, but it's going to take us some work.

There is also a new dialog for firmware settings, which allows you to override the firmware settings with your own. This is intended for when using the default internal firmware, but it can also override the settings in an external firmware, and it even works in DSi mode.


DLDI support has also been upgraded: it is now possible to have melonDS generate a SD image for DLDI on its own, and it is also possible to have said SD image synced to a folder on your computer. This means that you can place files in that folder and they will show up in the emulated DLDI SD card, and conversely, any changes made to the emulated SD card will be reflected to the folder on your hard drive.

While this has been tested extensively, we still recommend that you keep a backup of any folder you intend to use with this, just in case. You can also set your DLDI SD card to be read-only if you don't need it to be writable.

All of this is also supported for the DSi SD card in DSi mode.


Support for ARM9 PU exceptions in interpreter mode has been added. For commercial games, this doesn't mean a lot, other than making certain crashes work like on hardware. But this may definitely come in handy for homebrew developers, as that means exception handlers will work as they should.


We have added a much requested feature: custom paths for saves, savestates and cheat files. The default behavior is that melonDS will place these files alongside your ROMs as it has always done, but you can specify paths where you want these files to be placed if you don't want them to pollute your ROM directory.

In the same vein, the File menu has been revamped to hopefully make the process of loading ROMs more intuitive. This post already talks about it in detail, so read it if you have any doubts.


Generic has been working on properly supporting wifi power saving. This is probably not perfect yet, but it should fix the weird issues you can encounter in Pokémon games when communications are enabled.


We also have some new fun features: Github user 2jun0 made a RAM search dialog, which may come in handy to those who want to make cheat codes. Rayyan also made a new dialog for changing the emulated battery level, which may come in handy to homebrew developers and such, and he's been remaking the input config dialog to be all fancy.


And, as usual, there's a bunch of little fixes and additions we aren't covering here, but you can find them all in this release's changelog on the downloads page (or on Github).


Enjoy!


melonDS 0.9.4, Windows x64
melonDS 0.9.4, Linux x64
melonDS 0.9.4, Linux ARM64
melonDS 0.9.4, macOS x64
melonDS 0.9.4, macOS ARM64
melonDS 0.9.4, macOS universal
JaggiesSuk says:
Mar 9th 2022
Antialiasing.
Anon says:
Mar 9th 2022
I uninstalled and re-installed the new melonDS version. Upon starting it, it worked fine but it seems that anytime I try to open a save file (.mln), it fails for some reason. Is it possible I did something wrong and it caused those files to be corrupted?
tepten2 says:
Mar 9th 2022
@Anon: savestates are only compatible between identical versions. Are you perhaps using an automatically-updating package manager for melonDS? If so, you might not actually using the identical version even if it says '0.9.4' in the new one; because there has been a 'sneak update' today which included some fixes but is still tagged 0.9.4. That could have hit you if you just uninstalled+reinstalled today. If so, you may have to: 1. build from the original 0.9.4 commit again and install that version, 2. load the savestate and make an actual save ingame (so a .sav file is created. These work across versions), 3. update to 'latest 0.9.4', 4. load the .sav file and create a new savestate, then continue from that point. The 'original 0.9.4' commit was: https://github.com/Arisotura/melonDS/commit/fe96944fc096d8a410b75cdd8273987322275510
Monika says:
Mar 10th 2022
This emulator is great but we need a full screen mode, i don´t now if the melon ds have got this with another download.
poudink says:
Mar 10th 2022
melonDS already has anti aliasing (only in software renderer) and a full screen mode (F11)
Rayyan says:
Mar 10th 2022
poudink: we don't bind fullscreen to F11 by default. The user can set their own hotkey for fullscreen in "General Hotkeys".
A dragon says:
Mar 10th 2022
No Bios needed? Nice!
lucaspltn says:
Mar 10th 2022
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHH 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩 This has to be THE COOLEST release of melonDS yet!!!! There's a GBA slot option, and it already has a default Memory Expansion Pack, which means I can finally use the DS Browser!!!!!!!

Thank y'all so much for this awesome software, melonDS deserves to be known as the best DS emulator!!
koreanturtleship says:
Mar 11th 2022
Congratulations!
kurenaidog says:
Mar 11th 2022
Ow! Awesome improvements. I'm looking forward to 1.0! Thank you for you hardwork!
poudink says:
Mar 11th 2022
oh great. alt+enter is a superior binding anyway.
JaggiesSuk says:
Mar 12th 2022
"melonDS already has anti aliasing"

Software mode only uses a primitive form of edge AA, which doesn't apply to all edges. It does next to nothing to straighten out polygon distortion\warping. Also, since software mode is locked @ 1x, it's edge AA only serves to smooth out some of the blocky edges, but does nothing to remove them. The higher internal resolutions of OpenGL mode reduce polygon distortion\warping and blocky edges, but with notable aliasing. Adding a complete AA solution to OpenGL mode would bring melonDS's graphic fidelity up to a level comparable to Dolphin.
A dragon says:
Mar 12th 2022
There's something I wanted to ask. Has launch commands to have MelonDS start with resolution/scaling, various mic, screen gap, and screen rotation settings been implemented? I ask because I know some games use the DS differently. Animal Boxing has you hold the DS upside down, for example. As a result, this would be useful for some games for a launch command.
poudink says:
Mar 12th 2022
that and/or game-specific configs
AsPika says:
Mar 13th 2022
Search CHEAT CODES oh yeah!!!! 🤩🤩🤩
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