Serial Loops is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. You can get the latest release from here.

Windows

For Windows, we currently only distribute a "portable" style app in a zip file. This means there is no installer; instead, you simply extract Serial Loops to a folder and begin editing. In the future, we plan to offer a standard installer experience.

macOS

For macOS, we provide DMGs for both Intel (x64) and Apple Silicon (ARM) devices. To use these, you simply open the DMG and drag the application to the Applications folder. However, because we don't codesign Serial Loops, there is one additional step: you'll need to open your terminal and run the following command:

xattr -cr /Applications/SerialLoops.Mac.app

This command makes macOS allow the application to be run.

Linux

• On Debian-based Linux distros (e.g. Debian & Ubuntu), the application can be installed using the Debian package we distribute. Simply run sudo apt -f ./SerialLoops-{version}_amd64.deb to install it.
• On Red Hat-based Linux distros (e.g. Fedora, RHEL, and CentOS), the application can be installed using the RPM package we distribute. Simply run sudo dnf install ./SerialLoops-{version}1.fc38.x86_64.rpm to install it.
• For other Linux distros, we distribute portable binaries in a tar.gz file. After extracting the files to a location of your preference, make sure you install OpenAL through the appropriate process for your distro.

General Prerequisites

devkitARM

Before you run Serial Loops, you'll need to also install devkitARM. The devkitPro organization (which distributes devkitARM) has detailed installation instructions on their website. When deciding which workloads to install, ensure you at least install the NDS Development workload, as that's what contains devkitARM.

Make or Docker

Additionally, to apply ASM hacks, you'll need to install either Make or Docker. Make is automatically installed when using the Debian and RPM packages we distribute, so you don't need to worry about this step if you're using either of those.

Currently, the Docker path is only supported on Windows due to operating system and framework limitations. It is possible to get Docker running just fine on Linux distros by running SerialLoops as root (e.g. sudo SerialLoops), but it's easier to just use Make. On macOS, there is no known way of getting the Docker path to work, so you will have to use Make.

• Make is the software used to assemble assembly hacks. Installing Make allows you to build the hacks directly on your system.
  • To install on Windows, you will have to use a terminal and a package manager. Your options are Winget (installed by default on Win10+) or Chocolatey. Open an admin PowerShell or Terminal window (Winkey + X + A) and enter winget install GnuWin32.make for Winget or choco install make for Chocolatey. If using Winget, you will then have to go into system preferences and add Make to the path.
  • Installation on macOS can be done through Xcode or Homebrew. If using Xcode, open a terminal and type xcode-select --install. If you would rather use Homebrew, open a terminal after installing Homebrew and type brew install make.
  • Make comes preinstalled on many Linux distributions. If it is not installed on yours, you will likely be able to install it with your package as simply as [packagemanger] install make from a terminal.
  To test if make is installed properly, type make --version into a terminal and see if it produces the version of make.
• If you would rather not install Make, or if it is not working properly, you can instead run it through a Docker container. To do this, you should install Docker Desktop or the Docker Engine. Ensure the Docker engine is running and make sure to check the "Use Docker for ASM Hacks" option in Preferences. You may want to occasionally clean up containers created by Serial Loops, as it will create many of them.
  • On Windows, though, you will additionally need to install Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). From an admin PowerShell or Terminal window (Winkey + X + A), simply type wsl --install to install it.

In general, Make is recommended, but it can be more difficult to get working on Windows systems sometimes. In this case, feel free to use Docker.

A Nintendo DS Emulator

Finally, to be able to test your game, you'll want a Nintendo DS emulator installed. Our team recommends melonDS.

After you've installed Serial Loops, devkitARM, and either Docker or Make, you're ready to get started!