What is Moonshell?
The most common questions that I get regarding the Cyclo DS Evolution are based around how to tap into the multimedia player capabilities. The answer is a multimedia player for the Nintendo DS called Moonshell. Moonshell is a hombrew application that will enable you to read text files, view images, play audio and video.
Moonshell supports DPG video files, MP3 / OGG / MOD / SPC / MDX (no PCM) / GBS / HES / NSF / XM / MIDI / low bit rate AAC audio / non-progressive JPEG / BMP / GIF / PNG images, and text files. MoonShell plays fullscreen videos at 20fps and widescreen videos at 24fps, with joint stereo sound at a sample rate of 32.768KHz.
Both screens on the DS are used, with the bottom screen allowing file selection and control via touchscreen. The integrated plug-in system provides extensibility of program features. To add a feature, the plug-in files are simply copied to the appropriate folder. In order to function as a media player, several plug-in files are distributed with the software.
How to install Moonshell on Cyclo DS Evolution
The following video will show you how to install Moonshell on to the Cyclo DS Evolution. (Please note that the video is supported by an ad which will pop up in another window when you select play. Return to this page and press play again to view the video)
In short:
- Download Moonshell from HERE
- Extract to top directory of the microSD
- Enjoy
the link is dead, buddy.
The site is down at the moment, you can also get the latest version of moonshell here:
http://gbatemp.net/index.php?download=5078
Hi i want to buy a cyclo DS but there are none left in the stock! Plus this site is the only one that includes a cyclo evolution ds, a micro sd card and a micro sd reader. Plus get some more in stock. I really want a black one. Thanks!
Hi Bob,
We are doing our best to resolve the issue. Please subscribe to our feed and we will post a blog message once they are back in stock.
All the best,
J.J.
Judging by the forums on the Cyclo DS site, I am not the only for whom moonshell just will not run, period.
Please give more detail about the installation.
One fellow said he had to edit config.xml to get it to run, but he did not give details on *how* he edited.
By extracting and placing moonshl folder in the root, it does not run. Tried putting it in CycloDS folder, tried extracting all files to root directory (without having a moonshl folder) — none of these alternatives worked, I continue to get “Moonshell is not installed”.
I am running Cyclo DS Evolution 1.55
Mine is not working i put on the update.evo and then i put it into the directory and i put the cyclods into my DS and it says “Moonshell for CycloDS Evolution has not been installed.please download and install Moonshell for CycloDS Evolution from the offial website.”
Hello Joe:
You will need to download and install the latest version of MoonShell from here:
http://www.cyclopsds.com/cgi-bin/cyclods/engine.pl?page=support
Yeah, I tried that on 5, yeah 5 different cyclo ds evos. Nada, zilch. Doesn’t work period. What the heck do we have 2 do 2 get it to run????
I put the moonshl folder from 1.71 in the root directory, and copied the moonshell.nds file to the root directory as well, now I can start moonshell from the games menu but when I try to use the media icon in the main menu I get “Moonshell for CycloDS Evolution has not been installed.please download and install Moonshell for CycloDS Evolution from the offial website.”
Joe
I just did the firmware update v1.55 for my Cyclo DS evo. Now moonshl wont work. I’ve been doing the reinstall over an over for a while now.
Im using the one off your site Moonshell v1.71 for CycloDS Evolution (Release 3)
What gives?
In case you have not figured this out yet, the configuration that comes with the CycloDS (firmware 1.55 at least) does not match the install of Moonshell.
To fix this, look at the file /CycloDS/config.xml.
In there you should see a setting under .
By default mine says “/moonshl2/moonshl2.nds”
I assume you could probably change this to the path that the moonshell defaults to, but be careful editing this file, it can cause you to need to format your card if you get it wrong.
Alternatively, you can change the path of your moonshell install.
Change the moonshl folder to moonshl2, and the file inside that folder from moonshell.nds to moonshl2.nds.
I chose this second option and it works for me, and it seems like the better option since the firmware is configured that way to begin with
Good Luck
Same here, can’t get Moonshell 1.71 to install on CycloDS 1.55
I had the same problem. Moonshell 1.71 would not load. I tested it to see if it was moonshell by renaming the directory to *test* and it worked when I ran it as a game. So I figured the problem must be the 1.55 firmware. So I downloaded 1.54 from the link J.J. gave:
http://gbatemp.net/index.php?download=5078
And it WORKED!
I dont mean to sound redundant but i am having the same issue w/ the (please install moonshell @ the start menu) im not complaining, i love your hard/software you guys rock. but i would like to get some tunes on my ds…. thanks
Chance, you are my hero! It totally works.
Chance you’re a Star! Thank you. To anyone else with this problem just follow Chance’s instructions above. I just changed the Folder Name and the .NDS name and BINGO it worked!
I’m another co-signer of Chance’s suggestion. Thanks!
“Change the moonshl folder to moonshl2, and the file inside that folder from moonshell.nds to moonshl2.nds.”
You the man/woman Chance…errr you’re awesome!!!
As chance basically said:
Just open the config.xml file in your cyclods folder with wordpad or any other word processor,
and change the line:
/moonshl2/moonshl2.nds
to whatever it is supposed to be e.g.
/moonshl/moonshell.nds
Hi guys, in my file ‘config.xml’ only shows this :
2
i’ve extracted firmware 1.55 and moonshell 1.71 to the cyclods folder.
What am i doing wrong ???
Do you have to change the moonshl.sav to moonshl2.sav?