MSPA-3DS

MSPA-3DS
MSPA-3DS
General
Author	Animalino5
Type	Other Apps
Version	1.0.0
License	N/A
Last Updated	2026/06/27
Links
	Download
	Website
	Source

A Homestuck (and other MSPA comics) reader for the Nintendo 3DS. It lets you read MS Paint Adventures webcomics on your 3DS.

It comes with a companion PC tool that downloads and pre-converts comic pages into a format the 3DS can display instantly. No internet connection needed on the console itself.

Fully Supported Comics:

Jailbreak
Problem Sleuth
Homestuck (all pages including [S] animations)

Also supported:

Any MSPFA (MS Paint Fan Adventures) story via mspfa.com

Installation

3DS app

Download MSPA-3DS.3dsx from the latest release.

Copy MSPA-3DS.3dsx to /3ds/MSPA-3DS/ on your SD card.

Bundle builder (PC)

Option 1. Standalone EXE:

Download MSPA-3DS-Builder.exe from the latest release and run it, it's a standalone executable, no Python needed.

Option 2. Run from source:

Requirements:

Python 3.8+
pip install requests beautifulsoup4 Pillow yt-dlp
ffmpeg (required for video/audio conversion — install via your package manager)
Java (required for SWF/Flash conversion — install JRE 11+)
yt-dlp (for YouTube videos — installed via pip above)
FFDec is auto-downloaded on first run, no manual install needed

Run python build_gui.py.

Using the bundle builder:

Pick a source tab (MSPA Mirror or MSPFA).
Enter a URL, slug, or story ID.
Set the page range and pack name.
Click Build Bundle.
Copy the generated folder to your 3DS SD card.

The builder handles everything:

Downloads pages and images from the MSPA mirror or MSPFA's JSON API.
Converts GIFs and images to 3DS-native .tex textures for instant loading.
Extracts [S] page Flash animations via FFDec → frame sequences at 6 FPS with WAV audio.
Downloads YouTube videos from MSPFA pages via yt-dlp → frame sequences.
Downloads direct video files (MP4/WebM) from MSPFA pages → frame sequences.
Extracts and resamples audio to 44100Hz stereo WAV for 3DS playback.
Splits multi-image pages into separate navigable pages.

Transferring bundles to 3DS

After building a pack, copy its folder to: sdmc:/3ds/MSPA-3DS/packs/

The folder structure looks like:

packs/
  homestuck-1-100/
    manifest.json
    bookmark.txt
    pages/
      190100.json
      190200.json
      ...
    media/
      001901_0-000.tex
      001901_0.anim
      001901.wav
      001902_0.gif
      001902_0-000.tex
      ...

File format notes

.tex - 3DS GPU texture (format 0x80 = untiled RGBA, format 0x00 = GPU-tiled)
.anim - Animation manifest: frame count + per-frame delays (ms)
.wav - PCM audio (44100Hz stereo) for [S] pages
.gif - Original GIF (fallback for on-device conversion)
.json - Page metadata (command, text, media references, next page)
manifest.json - Pack metadata (title, page range, schema version)
bookmark.txt - Last-read page number (auto-generated by 3DS app)

User guide

Run MSPA-3DS (reader) on the 3DS.

Browse your installed packs from the main menu.

Navigate with A (next page), B (previous page), X (back to menu).

Animated GIFs play automatically as frame sequences.

[S] pages play as animations with audio.

Scroll text on the bottom screen with D-Pad Up/Down.

Each pack remembers where you left off and resumes from the last-read page.

Media type support

MSPA Mirror (MSPA To Go):

Static images (GIF/PNG/JPEG) → converted to .tex textures
Flash [S] pages → SWF extracted via FFDec → frame sequences at 6 FPS + WAV audio
Multi-image pages → split into separate sub-pages

MSPFA (fan adventures):

[img] tags → converted to .tex textures
[flash] tags → SWF extracted via FFDec → frame sequences
YouTube embeds (<iframe>) → downloaded via yt-dlp → frame sequences
Direct video (<video> tags, MP4/WebM) → downloaded and converted via ffmpeg
@mspfa audio CSS → audio downloaded and resampled to WAV

Controls

A - Next page (or next image on multi-image pages)

B - Previous page

X - Return to pack selection

START - Exit app

D-Pad Up/Down - Scroll text

Limitations

[S] pages are converted to 6 FPS frame sequences. Smooth but not full video quality.
Interactive Flash pages (with ActionScript games) may not convert correctly. FFDec can only extract timeline animations, not interactive content.
Audio for [S] pages is extracted from the source; some pages may have audio sync issues.
No internet connectivity from the 3DS. all content must be pre-built on PC.
Very long animations may use significant SD card space (~1MB per 10 seconds at 6 FPS).

Changelog

v1.0.0

What's new in v1.0.0
- MSPFA support -- build packs from any fan adventure on mspfa.com via the JSON API
- SWF conversion -- [S] page Flash animations are automatically extracted to frame sequences using JPEXS FFDec (auto-downloaded on first run)
- YouTube support -- MSPFA pages with YouTube embeds are automatically downloaded via yt-dlp
- Direct video support -- MSPFA pages with <video> tags (MP4/WebM) are downloaded and converted
- Per-pack bookmarks -- the 3DS app remembers where you left off in each pack individually
- Auto-downloaded FFDec -- no manual installation needed, the builder fetches it from GitHub
- Two-column builder GUI -- compact layout that fits on smaller screens
- Builder EXE -- for those who hate python!

v0.5.0

What works
- Full comic reading -- navigate pages with A/B, scroll text with D-pad
- Animated GIFs -- pre-converted to frame sequences, play smoothly
- pages -- converted to 6 FPS frame sequences with WAV audio
- Multi-image pages -- automatically split into separate navigable pages
- Multiple comics -- Homestuck, Jailbreak, and Problem Sleuth supported
- Pack system -- each comic pack is a folder on SD, easy to add/remove
- PC bundle builder -- GUI tool downloads, converts, and packages everything
Known issues
- Audio quirks -- some [S] pages may have audio sync or playback issues
- No Bard Quest -- excluded because it has branching paths (multiple "next" links per page) which the reader doesn't support
- No Homestuck Beta -- excluded because it's flash-only with no static images
- pages are 6 FPS -- smooth enough for reading, but not full video quality
- Large [S] pages use more space -- frame sequences are bigger than video files (roughly 300KB/frame at 320x240)

v0.1.0

FEATURES PRESENT SO FAR:
- You can read most homestuck pages
- You have their gif showing up at the top screen
- You can scroll down
- You can teleport to whatever page you want
- You can save your progress
LIMITATIONS SO FAR:
- Pages with double images just render one
- Flashes are not usable
- Depending on gif complexity, FPS may fall
- Pesterlogs aren't colored

External links

GitHub - https://github.com/Animalino5/MSPA-3DS