DS Modifications

[Anti Hacker]

Say one wanted to place freeware (definately not NES/SNES roms! *COUGH*) games upon a DS/GBA cartridge to play them on their DS, how would one go about that?

And what's all this stuff about "flashing" your DS and upgrading the firmware? I don't understand what that means or why it would ever be necessarry.

And what is an SD reader?

Thanks.

[jarl]

http://www.supercardstore.com

Flashing the DS means you can't brick it- which is good. It also means you can have a proper DS game in the top slot, instead of a passme thing, and you will still be able to run homebrew.


From that website (supercardstore), you will need either a supercard SD, a supercard CF or a supercard light. supercard SD is your best bet unless you have a DS lite, or already own a CF card.

I dislike the CF version because it leaves some of the CF card sticking out. On the SD version, it is completely encased in the supercard, so no accidents can happen. SD cards also go in the wii, which is good

I'll mail you my passme if you want, else you'll need one of them as well. Once you get it, just flash your DS and then mail it back. Then you need an SD card writer (though you can host stuff on the internet then download it with a program, so you'll only need it once). I use this one and it is fine with my 2 GB SD card.

For the SD card, get a decent make if you're storing important stuff on it, or I know someone that may still be doing cheap unbranded 256 meg cards, if you're interested. Don't expect any help when they wipe on you, though.

my setup:

DS phat, flashme ver.7, supercard SD, 2 GB kingston 50X SD card.
If you want to watch video's, you may be better of with an 80X- i get a bit of lag occassionally. I'd recommend getting something that does fat32 formatting, because then you'll be able to put insane amounts of data on it.





edit: technology seems to have moved on considerably in 6 months, I recommend doing a bit of research on the top slot micro SD things. X9 looks good, and so does the supercard DS.

[Anti Hacker]

Here's what I'm doing:

Checked my DS firmware, and my DS is one of the originals so I only needed PassMe1.

Couldn't FIND anywhere left that sells them, so bought a PassKey instead (PassMe1 clone) from a legitimate site for like $4.

Then I bought a GBA flash cart/card + cable.

I will put "flashme.nds" onto the GBA cart and insert my "Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt - Demo" into my PassKey when it arrives.

I will then place the cart and PassKey into the DS

I'll boot up the DS with the charger in (incase I drop the battery when shorting the SL1 or whatever it's called).

- Do I need to do anything special when I boot up my DS to initiate the firmware upgrade process via the cart&passkey? Do I start the DS game or the GBA cart?

With any luck then I'll be DONE and will be ready to put my SNES emu onto the GBA cart (from which I will remove "flashme.nds")

[Reigast]

If you emulate on the DS, how does the resolution hold up? For example, say I wanted to dump something like FFIII onto an SD card and run it, would I actually be able to read anything?

[Anti Hacker]

There is emulating software you download for the PC which compiles a files (including the emu and roms) which you can run ON a DS from a GBA card/cart.

IDK how the res holds up. Jarl! Is what I said above a good to go method?

[jarl]

yes. You shouldn't have to select GBA/NDS- it should flash immediately. To flash my DS i just stuck a bit of tin foil down the hole until i got a contact and left it there until it stopped. (didn't take very long, and after it's copied the first 5% or so you're fine (I THINK))

What's your SNES emu?

[Anti Hacker]

DSnes. I also have compiled a load of roms including a link to the past, super tetris 3 and FFV (also F-Zero) into the NDR file. Should be a blast!

What's the advantage of flahsing your DS over using a PassKey? Is it that when you flash your DS you don't need a re-directing device (the PassKey) inserted to use the GBA cart slot to play DS software from?

In which case I dont see why keys are coming into fassion and passes are going out. I'd rather upgrade my firmware so I could put whatever into my DS slot, thanks.

[jarl]

fashion makes no sense. Passkeys suck, use a flashed DS. But yes, the second line of your post is correct- "when you flash your DS you don't need a re-directing device (the PassKey) inserted to use the GBA cart slot to play DS software from", meaning you can have a "proper" game in slot 1.

is DSnes DS nes or D snes ? which one is it meant to be- you mentioned snes games, which i can't get to work, so now i'm curious.

[Anti Hacker]

Well my bad it's actually SnesDS. So that was a complete memory failure on my part XD they're getting worse <_<;

Look, obscure site!

http://www.eng.utah.edu/~tew/snesDS

Read the readme, and tell me if it actually works.

[jarl]

ack, it doesn't. Tried it with 3 different games, all of the froze immediately after starting (with the gameboy screen displayed), except one which i renamed .nes, which gave me a weird pink screen, then died. It didn't brick my DS, so it's all good