NESbag | distribute your NES game as a standalone Windows program
A downloadable tool for Windows
NESbag is a pun on NES and bagpack. It’s like a backpack in the form of a Windows program into which you pack a self-developed NES game and then distribute this complete package as a stand-alone application.
The player only has to double-click on an .exe file to use it, just as he knows it.
It supports a developer-supplied config file with keymappings and allows the end user to change these mappings using its built-in menu (open it by press ESCAPE while the emulator is running).
FAQ
WHAT’S THE SOURCE
It’s public on Github here: https://github.com/faktor73/nesbag
It’s a fork based on the original work of Lowtek Games (http://lowtek.co.uk), named NESTEK.
Development work was carried out by Kilgariff Technologies (https://kilgariff.tech) and commissioned by Lowtek Games as a useful tool for the NES homebrew community.
Forked from FCEUX (a very mature and accurate emulator), NESbag loads a single ROM (game.nes) from the same directory as the NESbag executable. It can also load a custom icon file (icon.ico) and a 256×224 splash image (splash.png).
WHAT’S ABOUT
NESbag is a pun on NES and bagpack. It’s like a backpack in the form of a Windows program into which you pack a self-developed NES game and then distribute this complete package as a stand-alone application.
The player only has to double-click on an .exe file to use it, just as he knows it.
It supports a developer-supplied config file with keymappings and allows the end user to change these mappings using its built-in menu (open it by press ESCAPE while the emulator is running).
WHAT YOU GET
The NESbag.exe file, a sample splashscreen (splash.png) and a sample-configuration file.
LICENSING NOTICE
This repository and its parents https://github.com/TASVideos/fceux and https://github.com/kilgariff/nestek are licensed under GPLv2 and as such require that the source code is made available to users with details of any modifications made. If you are using NESbag unmodified, please include links to this repositories along with your game’s distributable.
LICENSING & STEAMWORKS
Integrating NESbag with the Steamworks SDK (Online save games, other Steam based online features) is not possible due to licensing restrictions outlined here: https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/sdk/uploading/distributing_opensource.
QUESTIONS?
If there are any questions or issues surrounding this tool, please get in touch with Christian @ EASTPIXEL via Discord (https://discord.com/invite/NUXuNfyWe2) or the Contact page of the EASTPIXEL website.
Download
Install instructions
Changelog
Version 1.1.2
- ICO and Splashscreen added
Developer tips:
- a) You can rename the "nesbag.exe" file as you like. Please let the name of the other files as they are to make it all work properly.
- b) You also can make a new icon.ico file for your application. Please be aware that it is the correct file format. The .ico supports all styles from 16x16 px up to 512x512 px in one file.
- c) You can swap out the splash.png with your own version (it has to be 256x224 px)
Version 1.1.0
1. Fixed “window resize bug” The bug (the window disappeared and only the title bar remained visible) occurred when trying to drag the program window larger or smaller with the mouse.
2. Pre-configured keyboard layout
- D-Pad: W-A-S-D
- Select button: K
- Start button: L
- B button: ,
- A button: .
If you like to use another configuration, press ESCAPE while the game is running and select “Remap buttons” from the menu.
Version 1.0.0
Initial release.
Development log
- NESbag 1.1.2 is here!May 04, 2024
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Any way to encrypt your NES ROM to make unlicensed reproductions a little bit harder?
Hey, it would be cool if you come around on discord (Link on www.eastpixel.de) to discuss this in person. I have some ideas to implement such a thing but as the code of this is opensource I am not able to make such secure-the-ROM code public because anyone could read about how it would be done.