Settings

Open the settings with START > Settings, or press L + Y from the file browser.

Getting around the settings menu:

L / R switch between tabs
Up / Down pick an option
Left / Right change it
A saves (it'll ask you to confirm)
B backs out without saving anything

Some options only show up on certain setups. For example, Game Loader only appears on flashcarts and the DSpico, since the DSi and 3DS versions only use nds-bootstrap. If you can't see something listed here, that's probably why.

All of these get saved to _nds/akmenunext/globalsettings.ini.

System settings

Option	Choices	What it does
Language	Any installed language	Press `A` on it to choose the menu language. AKMenu-Next restarts to apply it.
Menu Hotkey	`L-↓-SELECT`, `L-R-START`, `L-R-SELECT`, `L-R-A-B-↓`, `L-R-B-Y-↓`, `L-R-A-B-X-Y`, Custom	The button combo nds-bootstrap uses to soft-reset back to AKMenu-Next while you're in a game. See custom hotkeys below.
Slot-2 mode	ask, gba, nds	What happens when you open `Slot 2 Card`. `ask` gives you a choice each time.

Custom hotkey

If none of the preset combos suit you, set Menu Hotkey to Custom and put your own combo in _nds/akmenunext/ndsbs.ini:

[ndsbs]
hotkey=284

The value is a hex number made by adding together the buttons you want:

Button	Value	Button	Value
A	`1`	Right	`10`
B	`2`	Left	`20`
SELECT	`4`	Up	`40`
START	`8`	Down	`80`
R	`100`	X	`400`
L	`200`	Y	`800`

So L + Down + SELECT is 200 + 80 + 4 = 284. Remember it's hex, so L + R + START is 200 + 100 + 8 = 308. If hotkey= is left empty, nds-bootstrap just uses its own default.

Warning

Don't delete ndsbs.ini, even if you never use a custom hotkey. nds-bootstrap won't launch without it and you'll get an "INI error" message.

Interface settings

Option	Choices	What it does
Filelist style	Old school, Modern, Internal, Small Icons	How the file list looks. You can also cycle through these with `SELECT`. See file list styles.
Scrolling speed	Fast, Medium, Slow	How fast the list scrolls when you hold a direction.
Icon source	Theme Icons, Global Icons, Built-in icons	Where folder, save and other file icons come from. `Theme Icons` uses the theme's own `icons` folder first, then falls back to `_nds/akmenunext/icons`. `Global Icons` skips the theme and uses `_nds/akmenunext/icons`. `Built-in icons` ignores both.
Animation	on, off	Animated game icons and other little bits of motion.
12-hour clock	on, off	Show the clock as 11:45 PM instead of 23:45.
Game covers	on, off	Show box art on the top screen, if your theme supports it. See game covers.
Theme music	on, off	Play the theme's background music, if it has any.

File system settings

Option	Choices	What it does
Set file list type	NDS, NDS + SAV, ALL	Which files show up in the browser. `NDS` shows games, GBA ROMs and anything you have a plugin for. `NDS + SAV` adds save files. `ALL` shows everything.
Show hidden files	on, off	Show files and folders that have the hidden attribute set.
Save extension	`.nds.sav`, `.sav`	Whether saves are named `Game.sav` or `Game.nds.sav`.
Use 'saves' folder	yes, no	Put saves in a `saves` folder next to the ROM instead of right beside it.
Sort by	Name, Game Title, Date Asc, Date Desc	How files are ordered in each folder.

Have a look at Saves for a table of where save files end up with each combination.

Warning

Changing Save extension or Use 'saves' folder doesn't move your existing saves. If you change either of them, move your save files to match, or your games will start from a fresh save.

Game loader settings

Option	Choices	What it does
Game Loader	nds-bootstrap, Pico-Loader	Which loader runs your DS games. Flashcart & DSpico only.
nds-bootstrap version	release, nightly	Which nds-bootstrap build to use. Nightly needs `_nds/nds-bootstrap-nightly.nds`.
DS-Only Mode	on, off	Run games in DS mode, even on a DSi or 3DS. Can help with games that misbehave in DSi mode.
TWL CPU Speed	on, off	Run DS games at the DSi's faster CPU speed. Can reduce lag in some games, but break others. DSi & 3DS only.
Card Read DMA	Auto, on, off	nds-bootstrap's card read DMA. Leave it on `Auto` unless you've been told a specific game needs it changed.
Language Override	System, Japanese, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Korean	Make games start in a different language than your console is set to. Only works for games that actually include that language.
DS Phat Colors	on, off	Mimic the slightly different colours of the original DS screen. DSi mode only.
DSiWare booter	nds-bootstrap, Unlaunch	What to launch DSiWare with on a DSi. `Unlaunch` also works if you have Astronaut installed instead. See Running DSiWare. DSi mode only.
Homebrew Loader	AKMenu-Next, nds-bootstrap-hb, Pico-Loader	What to launch homebrew with. See below.

Most of these settings are only for nds-bootstrap. If you're using Pico-Loader they won't make a difference.

Homebrew Loader

AKMenu-Next (the default) boots homebrew directly. This is what you want most of the time.
nds-bootstrap-hb runs homebrew through nds-bootstrap's homebrew build. Useful on a DSi or 3DS SD card for homebrew that was only ever meant to run from a flashcart and won't work otherwise. Needs _nds/nds-bootstrap-hb-release.nds.
Pico-Loader runs homebrew through Pico-Loader instead. Needs Pico-Loader in _pico.

Other Settings

Option	Choices	What it does
Ignore CRC16 Errors	on, off	Some ROM hacks and translations have a broken checksum on their icon, so they show a generic icon. Turn this on to show the icon anyway.
Cheat in Game(AR)	on, off	The global switch for cheats. Games can override this in their per-game settings.
Save Slot Override	off, 0, 1, 2, 3	Force every game onto the same save slot. `0` is the default slot.
Autorun Last ROM	on, off	Launch the last game you played as soon as AKMenu-Next starts. Hold `B` while booting to skip it.
Override plugin defaults	on, off	Always use your `Homebrew Loader` setting for plugins, even if the plugin asks for nds-bootstrap-hb. See Plugins.

Resetting your settings

If you've got yourself into a mess, you can put everything back to default:

Delete _nds/akmenunext/globalsettings.ini.
Copy _nds/akmenunext/globalsettings-init.ini from a fresh download of AKMenu-Next (the same edition you're using) into _nds/akmenunext on your SD card.
Boot AKMenu-Next. It'll pick up the fresh settings and ask you for your language again.

If you skip step 2 it still works, but you'll get AKMenu-Next's built-in defaults rather than the ones tuned for your edition.

There are a few other files in _nds/akmenunext you can delete to reset other things:

File	What it holds
`favorites.ini`	Your favourites
`recent.ini`	Recently Played
`lastsave.ini`	The last game you played (used by autorun and to remember your folder)
`gamedata.bin`	Per-game settings and save types
`backlight.ini`	Screen brightness