melonDS-android v0.5.0 Black Lines Fix (Pokémon, etc.)
Version 0.5.0 is now available.
Download here: https://github.com/SapphireRhodonite/melonDS-android/releases/tag/0.5.0
This release is mainly focused on fixing rendering issues, especially the black lines / gaps that many of you reported in games like Pokémon HeartGold and similar titles.
This was one of the most requested visual fixes, and I’m really happy with how stable it turned out.
This fix comes mainly from my side, with a few additional quality-of-life improvements from contributors.
Black Lines Rendering Fix, How to Enable It:
To enable the fix:
Go to Settings
Open Video
Scroll down to Video Hacks
Enable Conservative coverage fix
Set Coverage expand to 150 (this is the most stable value)
Make sure:
Apply to repeat → enabled
Apply to clamp → disabled
Notes about Coverage Expand
150 is the recommended and most stable value.
If you still notice black lines:
Try 200 (increase)
Or 100 (decrease)
If you are using high Internal Resolution (for example 8x), lower values work better.
In that case, I recommend Coverage expand = 100.
This significantly improves visual stability in Pokémon games and other titles that were affected by these gaps.
I attached before/after screenshots in the GitHub release so you can clearly see the difference.
Improvements in This Release
Contributions from @rafaelvcaetano
Allow DSiWare titles to be launched directly from the ROM list.
Reduce RetroAchievements game hash cache size to 1 day.
Merge internal and external layouts into a single unified system.
Contribution from @Dicot0721
Use a password-type keyboard for the RetroAchievements login dialog.
Notes
I’ll keep iterating on rendering improvements, performance, and other experimental things (like Vulkan exploration, this will take time, months to get is stable) in future versions.
Thank you all for testing, reporting issues, and supporting my work.
Your feedback directly helps push these fixes forward.
- Sapphire 💙
Comments (16)
can anyone help me? I have installed this but dont see the option for the video settings to remove the lines for pokemon games? I am playing soul silver
I'm confused as to how to apply this fix. There is no "Video Hacks" section in the "Video" tab of Settings within MelonDS...
were you able to sort this out ? I cant find this option too
Also having a major issue with shadows of almia, shame the fix doesn't work
Can you share me a screenshot to see the problem please?
Hey Sapphire, the black line fix does not work for Pokemon Ranger rangers shadows of almia. Setting it to 200% does make the lines not as thick, but the issue is all over the place. https://imgur.com/a/6wOFVM6
Thanks I will take a look at it!
Will this works on latest nightly build? I cannot see the option under video
It seems there are some RetroAchievement improvements with the latest nightly of the emulator. Do you plan to integrate these changes also into your fork? https://github.com/rafaelvcaetano/melonDS-android/discussions/1117#discussioncomment-15530908
Yup!!, will update the emulator later in the week!
Is there any chance of having, again, the possibility to add a background/ambient blur under both displays? It was kind of working in the 0.4.1 release, but now there is no way to customize the layouts. (Its to avoid OLED burnin). Example: https://ibb.co/39x1QxjQ (I placed a gray background under, with the extended screen above, on both screens, while maintaining the correct aspect ratio for each screen). EDIT: NVM, its possibile in 0.5 too. Didnt notice you can customize layout from commands 😄
I think I found a bug in the latest version. The bottom screen stays black with some games, and to turn it on, you have to slide the left menu open and close.
In which game? To test it, please!
Are there plans to make retroachievements work with dsiware? Thank you for making dsiware easy to launch! Edit: nevermind I see that you fixed that as well, whether intentional or not! 😂😂
Nice! Btw the Post to let people join the Discord is for people in the Patreon who are paying so does that mean you can only join if you pay
Thanks for that; it's to get a role in the Discord server for supporting the project. Anyone can join the iiSU Discord; I will update the post to reflect that. Thanks!