[DS] NDS/GBA Flashing/PassMe discussion

I'm talking about Slot 1 flash cards for running DS games. It hasn't been developed to run GBA games through Slot 1. If they do then fine but the option isn't available as of now. What's so bad about having a separate flash card for your gba games anyway? I'd rather have them separate.

As for emulation of GBA through DS hardware, they're having a tough enough time making it emulate the SNES if that gives you a good idea.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Sir VG

Weird, I have had zero problems so far with GBA on my M3. And I nailed it on the first card I tried. There is a media card compatibility list at M3Wiki.com which does list some cards to avoid for GBA stuff.

Sure, once I checked that list I found the one card I do own that works with it. It works extremely well, but 128MB isn't really enough to keep NDS games on it as well. basically, I need to keep two cards for two different purposes.

Quote:

I don't understand why it doesn't work though, but my card works fine (and I already had it before looking at the list as I got it with an old digital camera).

I have no idea what makes one card work and another not work either, but I just bought a Sandisk Ultra II 2GB card, and I'm hoping that will work. I can't try it just yet, since I'm on vacation, but the 1GB card from the same range is listed as being compatible with GBA mode, so I have high hopes. It's a high quality card, and I got it for a good price.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by AcerBandit

What's so bad about having a separate flash card for your gba games anyway? I'd rather have them separate.

Ah, I get where your coming from as far as slot one goes. Still if I can get a slot 2 that works fine and supports GBA, I'd rather get that, than buying a seperate card just for GBA.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I'd just rather have Slot 2 open in the off chance that they start using it in future games for god knows what. Maybe memory expansion or something. Who knows.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Hi there

I badly need help with this supercard/passcard thing!

We've just had a stopover in Hong Kong and planned on buying a PSP for my daughter. However, this truly awesome salesman (or bloody good conman, not sure which yet!) sold us instead a Nintendo DS lite, a Supercard SD, San Disk Mini SD with usb reader/writer adapter and a passcard for DS lite & NDS. He said the mini sd would hold up to 60 games and actually downloaded a game while we watched and played it on his ds lite; told us we didn't need to do anything to the console itself, we just needed to download the games from the net and load them onto the mini sd, also making sure the files ended in .nds

However, my daughter didn't take a note of the website and I don't know where to go to get the games. When I do a yahoo search for NDEssy (sorry, couldn't resist, that's what the guy actually said!) it brings up millions of results which all seem to go on about torrents and seeding and stuff I've never heard of. The site this guy went on had an search engine and alpha and genre lists and was in Japanese/Chinese and english. He just clicked a download now button and away it went.

Can someone please help an absolute computer idiot work out how to do this, preferably with step by mini step instructions? I really don't want to do anything to the ds lite itself as I'd end up buggering it totally.

Any help would be much appreciated

There's nowhere I can't reach.

You can find most NDS releases on Frozen Roms, if you don't know how to use torrents. The site is in English or German, so that should be easier for you to understand.

Once you get the files downloaded, just extract the archive, and put your .nds file on the Supercard. I use the M3 so I'm not sure of all the details about the Supercard, but you may need to patch the ROM files before you can use them. If you do, that software should have come with your Supercard.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

You might find what you want here. It's a directdownload site and has a large collection of roms. Just click what you'd like and you get transferred to another site. Here you usually have to wait a xx amount of seconds or click a button to request your download. Confirm the download request and point it to your desktop.

The roms you download are compressed, usually in .zip or .rar format and a file archiver is required to open these files in order to read/extract their contents. I highly recommend 7-Zip. Download 7-Zip to your desktop, execute it by double-clicking and follow the installation instructions and it should be installed in no time. After that you should go to the downloaded nds rom and double-click it, and it should open with 7-Zip. Highlight the .nds file and click extract, point to a location like your desktop and click OK.

Now with the .nds file we need to transfer it to the San Disk Mini SD. Right-click the .nds file and choose "cut" in the menu. Open "My Computer" and insert the usb reader/writer. You should notice a new drive pop out of nowhere which is our Mini SD, the target location. Double-clicking on it will change our location to the usb reader/writer. You can confirm this if you notice the name of your usb reader/writer in the address bar. Right-click in the empty space and choose "paste" in the menu. The .nds file should be transferred and we're almost set. Eject the Mini-SD from the usb reader/writer and plug it in your Supercard SD. Boot the NDS with your passcard and select the rom in the menu.

Enjoy

EDIT: Seems mr. Soluzar was quicker to mention Frozen Roms then me. Well if you need more detailed instructions you can always try mine.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Hi guys

Thanks for the instructions, much appreciated

I tried downloading 3 different games and managed to unzip them and save the .nds file on the minisd. However, when I start the ds and select any of them from the list - it shows the game loading ( .....k/08192k) - but when it finishes I just end up with 2 blank white screens.

Do you know what I'm doing wrong or what I'm missing?

Many TIA

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by debbie7

Do you know what I'm doing wrong or what I'm missing?

I would assume you need to patch the rom, which means to alter it in some way for use with the supercard. My M3 came with software to patch games, and the Supercard should come with something similar. You can download it from the net, and there's some information about how to use the software, and where o find it in this thread on MaxConsole forums.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Hi thanks for the link.

Just downloaded and setup. tried a game I'd already saved and it played - yay!

I still don't know what I'm doing, just crossed my fingers and closed my eyes, but at least I don't feel like I wasted my money any more which has got to be a good thing aye! More daughter's going to be over the money when she gets home today so many, many thanks.

I'll try a couple more and if they work maybe have a go at a gba game as I know pokemon are the ones she wants.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by debbie7

Just downloaded and setup. tried a game I'd already saved and it played - yay!

I still don't know what I'm doing, just crossed my fingers and closed my eyes, but at least I don't feel like I wasted my money any more which has got to be a good thing aye! More daughter's going to be over the money when she gets home today so many, many thanks.

I'm glad it works for you. All that it amounts to is that those games are in a standard format. Because a flash cartridge loads a game in a different way than the real DS, they need to be altered to work with the limitations and extra features of whatever flash cartridge you have.

There are probably a lot of options in the game manager for the Supercard, just like there are in the M3 game manager. There's a lot of information available about the M3, but I can't find much information about the Supercard. Someone who actually owns that type of cartridge will probably be able to give you more detailed info about patching games. I could tell you what you need to know if it was the M3, but I just don't know anything much about the Supercard.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Unfortunately I don't know anybody who does this sort of thing. Maybe if I had lads instead of girls some of their mates would be doing it. But I've kept the link to the you posted for the maxconsole as there seems to be a lot of info on there. I'll sit and read through it all sometime tonight. You're proving to be really helpful for me today - much appreciated thanks

Jam it back in, in the dark.

So now I'm really considering getting into this M3 and etc. scene, but having no prior experience with SD/CF/whathaveyou, I'm completely baffled by what's needed. Here's what I'm looking at:

Sandisk 2GB SD Card
M3 Lite Micro <- I'm under the assumption that does not come with a flash card.

What I'm most concerned about is if that's the right type of flash card, and all of the talk on the M3wiki about firmware compatibility. I assume that refers to the M3's firmware, so should I not worry about that until I actually receive the product?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Taco

What I'm most concerned about is if that's the right type of flash card, and all of the talk on the M3wiki about firmware compatibility. I assume that refers to the M3's firmware, so should I not worry about that until I actually receive the product?

1) You will need a MicroSD card to go with that type of M3. It is much smaller than regular SD cards.

2) It probably refers to the M3 firmware, which you can easily upgrade to the latest version as soon as you obtain one. The Passcard 3 is compatible with all known DS and DS Lite firmware versions, so don't even give that a thought. It just works.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

One more question and I think I'll be set.

Does a DS Lite need to go through the "FlashMe" process to play NDS ROMs? If so, will I need to get one of those chips that you attach a normal game to in order to perform the flash?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

The FlashMe process is required if you do not get a PassMe2 or NoPass device. Granted I've never honestly booted a NDS ROM from the GBA slot, but apparantly it's possible from what I hear.

However I hear FlashMe with the DSLite is not the best move at this point in time, because it can't be reversed. So only do it if your warranty is null.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Damnit. My new SD Card (Sandisk Ultra II 2GB) doesn't work with GBA mode.

Unless there are hidden ninja techniques to make it work...?

EDIT: Seems there are "hidden ninja techniques". Which are otherwise known as formatting the card using FAT32 instead of FAT. So yeah, the card does work with GBA mode after all. Lucky me! ^___^

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I thought I had this supercard thing sussed but I think I need some more help.

Most of the games I've loaded and tried play fine but I seem to have trouble saving them. They either won't save at all 'in game' or say they've saved but when I reload there's is no saved game file. I've tried the L, R, A + Select save and it brings the menu up but again, when I reload there's nothing.

Am I missing something really simple, doing it wrong or is there something else I need to format?

Any suggestions greatly appreciated

FELIPE NO

Hey, just wanted to say that the DS-X is now out and reviews thus far have been very positive. Almost 100% DS ROM compatibility (Pokémon Diamond = white screen o' doom, boo fucking-hoo it's Pokémon, shrugs). Plays almost all homebrew software as well. It has a neat LED seizure dance mode to sync with your iPod music list funkytron.

Really the only repeated negative is that they wished it had more space than 512 MB. I'd totally buy this in a heartbeat if it had a slot for micro-SD cards. Other than that it's a fast little hummer that will do all your DS needs with the amount of space that it does give you which since it's really great plug'n'play is practical for most everyone.


Here, read some reviews yourself:

http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/335/C10069/
http://www.eurasia.nu/modules.php?na...ticle&sid=1769
http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=38174


Oh btw, all multiplayer modes work on flashed and unflashed DSs. Noone has said if nintendo wifi works yet or not. I hope it does.

DjMeas, you said earlier that you have ordered a DS-X. If it's arrived I really would appreciate it if you could give us your thoughts.


Also, here's a bunch of youtube vids for you guys:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzArPAgQiqw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLa_5N_HwW4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnT3obt1XTA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWDxRuLqKEY (dancing leds)

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Still waiting on mine to ship as i said in my PM to you Acer ^_^

But from what i read around~ The only downside to Micro-SD is that
there is lag when playing certain games since it has to read from the
SD card (I remember reading an article comparing all the mSD cards to
one another on how well it held up while playing a graphic heavy game).

I'm still very new to DS carts/homebrew, but the DSX seems like the
right choice since it's very simple to use. I know the 512mb isn't
all that great, but i don't really plan on holding any mp3s with me
and just a few DS games that i'll actually plan on playing ^_^ haha

How ya doing, buddy?

You should give some of the homebrew stuff a shot too if you got the time. Some of it is really interesting stuff. =)

Also, about micro-SD, I've heard that it's only the cheap ones that are slower. The best ones are excellent and the micro-SD flash cards have the best access time out of the SD bunch. In fact I bet if they were able to get a micro-SD card in a slot 1 configuration it would be much faster in accessing than through slot 2. I've got no proof for that but Castlevania's animated intro runs flawlessly on DS-X and I've heard that always gives Slot 2 cards trouble.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Yea, i read about the Castlevania intro as well~ So how does
it look from a slot 2 alternative? Choppy? Or does it not play at all?

So far, the buzz on the DSX is that it runs games perfectly (except
Pokemon), but the OS itself is rather sluggish when it comes to
navigating and playing mp3s.

Oh, and i'll definitely check out some homebrew once i get it~
Have any suggestions or reccomendations?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

DoomDS, any SNES and NES emu, nitrotracker, moonshell, ds organize, scummvm ds, and just about any fun thing you can think of.

Slot 2 Castlevania is supposed to be sluggish from what I remember reading. Since it's skippable it doesn't really matter but it's just showing one way how slot 1 is better.

Yeah, I've heard OS response is a bit slower than expected but from the videos I've seen it doesn't seem that bad.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Got the DSX, and everything is running great!

Yes, the OS is a little sluggish and the mp3 playback is a little
glitchy (i don't think it can handle 320kbps). It actually froze on me
3 times when i tried to play them back.

I've tested out Jump Super Stars and the anime intro runs fine
without any skipping. I also tried out Kirby's Canvas Curse and that
ran perfectly as well.

There is one thing i don't like about the DSX though... It feels
so CHEAP! Like it's about to break on me or something.
Putting in the USB cable into the DSX and pulling it out
worried me because it feels like it's going to yank out
the port on the DSX itself. I wish it felt a little more sturdy.
Plugging the DSX into the NDS also feels a little wierd.
It doesn't go in perfectly smooth (though it does fit fine),
it kind of scratches its way in. I guess it's not a big deal though.

Though it might not have much space compared to other products,
and feels a little flimsy i'd say this is a great buy for a NDS newbie like myself.

-update-

Just tried out Mario Kart playing WiFi~ Works GREAT!

I was speaking idiomatically.

Some stuff.

I found a nice site that has lots of news in Chinese about the DS scene and also it has a really cool forum that has info, coverart, and ftp hosted clean nds roms. Pretty slow though but if you have patience it's worth it.

http://bbs.yyjoy.com/forum-15-1.html

Enjoy!


Also, new Slot-1 devices are in the works from SuperCard, G6, and EWIN. Most will be using micro-SD cards and apparantly the SuperCard has been in the works for a while now and will be something extra special that'll definitely put some pressure on competitors.

http://forums.maxconsole.net/showthread.php?t=33349

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?