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The State of DS Homebrew (hint: It rocks. Seriously)

Mejilan said:
RHS is legit. They're a site based out of NJ and ship damn fast.
Deal Extreme is one of the worst. Avoid.
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Indeed, Deal Extreme's shipping times are pretty horrible ( 1.5 months for an offbrand R4i! ), but they've never 'lost' anything of ours. We stick to buy cheap stuff (>$20) from them though, because I always get an uneasy feeling..
 
I just got a DSi and was planning to get a cart for it. I'm thinking about choosing between the iplayer and the acekard2i. The acekard is cheaper, but I hear the iplayer is further along with gba emulation. Which would you recommend?
 
Anybody have opinions of the M3i Zero?

I need Colors on my DSi dammit!

I can't believe they just haven't fuckin' released it on DSiware. A sad testament to the failure of console download services. . . :|
 
Calcaneus said:
I just got a DSi and was planning to get a cart for it. I'm thinking about choosing between the iplayer and the acekard2i. The acekard is cheaper, but I hear the iplayer is further along with gba emulation. Which would you recommend?
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I have an Acekard2i and have been very content with it, as long as you run the AKAIO firmware on it. I don't really care about GBA emulation since I have a Micro, so I'm the wrong person to ask about the iPlayer.
 
The Take Out Bandit said:
Anybody have opinions of the M3i Zero?

I need Colors on my DSi dammit!

I can't believe they just haven't fuckin' released it on DSiware. A sad testament to the failure of console download services. . . :|
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I have an M3i Zero. Anything you want to know specifically about it?

I will say that there are 2 different firmwares, M3 Sakura and Touckpod, that each have advantages and disadvantages. In short, Sakura is based on Moonshell and has a very nice interface, while Touchpod has better homebrew compatibility. When booting the card, you can switch between the two firmwares, so if you get that pesky homebrew that doesn't work in Sakura, you can boot up Touchpod to use it.

I think both have 100% backup ROM compatibility, though.

Also, M3 Sakura is based on Moonshell 1, so it can't play file formats Moonshell 2 supports. However, Sakura can play Moonshell's DPG videos, but it can also play some Sakura-specific video format, which looks better, seeks faster, and isn't that much bigger in file size.

The two firmwares together is a little over 100 MB, though.

One more thing... DSi doesn't support pressure sensitivity for Colors!... The line will gradually thicken or become opaque as you draw, so you can still draw thin lines, but it isn't exactly the same.

One very last thing... While I normally like them, I've read that Deal Extreme apparently sells fake M3i cards, so don't get it from there.

Any other questions?
 
Why would you do that? said:
I have an M3i Zero. Anything you want to know specifically about it?

I will say that there are 2 different firmwares, M3 Sakura and Touckpod, that each have advantages and disadvantages. In short, Sakura is based on Moonshell and has a very nice interface, while Touchpod has better homebrew compatibility. When booting the card, you can switch between the two firmwares, so if you get that pesky homebrew that doesn't work in Sakura, you can boot up Touchpod to use it.

I think both have 100% backup ROM compatibility, though.

Also, M3 Sakura is based on Moonshell 1, so it can't play file formats Moonshell 2 supports. However, Sakura can play Moonshell's DPG videos, but it can also play some Sakura-specific video format, which looks better, seeks faster, and isn't that much bigger in file size.

The two firmwares together is a little over 100 MB, though.

One more thing... DSi doesn't support pressure sensitivity for Colors!... The line will gradually thicken or become opaque as you draw, so you can still draw thin lines, but it isn't exactly the same.

One very last thing... While I normally like them, I've read that Deal Extreme apparently sells fake M3i cards, so don't get it from there.

Any other questions?
Click to expand...

Wait, Colors on DSlite was pressure sensitive?! I did not know this. :X

Check PM please.
 
The Take Out Bandit said:
Wait, Colors on DSlite was pressure sensitive?! I did not know this. :X

Check PM please.
Click to expand...
Responded. Sorry for the wait, had to research.

Also, one of the main features about Colors! was the pressure sensitive drawing, but since you didn't know about that feature in the first place, I guess it's no big loss if you use it on a DSi...
 
Received my DSone-i today and uh, now I notice the lack of pressure sensitivity! D:

Well I checked their site, and they're working on a new version 1.1 IIRC. So hopefully that comes out soon.

Also, does anybody have pointers on the extended functions of the DSone-i?

Also what's a good repository for DS Homebrew software? The one site I have bookmarked hasn't updated in years. I can't believe things have been dead in the water for two years now. :|
 
Calcaneus said:
I just got a DSi and was planning to get a cart for it. I'm thinking about choosing between the iplayer and the acekard2i. The acekard is cheaper, but I hear the iplayer is further along with gba emulation. Which would you recommend?
Click to expand...
Probably too late now, but if you're willing to wait Supercard is releasing the DSTWO, which includes all of the features of the iplayer, plus a fully featured GBA emulator and a SNES emulator done through hardware.
 
I assume this is okay to talk about, what with the wii homebrew thread talk about the Wii USB loaders and all.

Is it possible for me to rip my games using just a DSi and a flash cart of some kind? I have going on 60 DS games and they are taking up too much space. I'd like to be able to rip all of my games and put them all away in a closet.

right now I have all the cases put away, and have all of my game cards in a bunch of those hori 16-card cases, but I don't want to risk losing them. Plus I'm anal about keeping my games in alphabetical order, so every time I get a new DS game I have to spend about half an hour pulling and moving cards over one by one.

bonus question someone might know the answer to: I also have 50ish gba games. Is there any way I can rip GBA games direct to my PC with just a gba/gbasp/gbmicro? I don't have access to a DS/DSLite. I'd be willing to buy some additional hardware, if there is any available.
 
JodyAnthony said:
Is it possible for me to rip my games using just a DSi and a flash cart of some kind? I have going on 60 DS games and they are taking up too much space. I'd like to be able to rip all of my games and put them all away in a closet.

right now I have all the cases put away, and have all of my game cards in a bunch of those hori 16-card cases, but I don't want to risk losing them.
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You're in the position I was about half a year ago. It is possible to rip games over WiFi. Here's the full guide, but the gist is you load a homebrew rip program, switch out the card for your DS game card, and it then interfaces with an FTP program on your PC. You copy your saves this way, too. The downside is it's slooooow; about a megabyte per minute. So it was a bit of a long-term project copying all my games. As a guy with multiple systems I left a DS Lite plugged in near my PC and switched games over once in a while. As I said it took a while, but since I started with the ones I was currently playing it became useful far before I was finished.
 
Is there a legal homebrew version of Frogger available? (I read that there was in another thread but I can't see to find anything) I believe there is one for lemmings. Any other classic homebrew titles available for download legally?
 
Did a quick scan but didn't see it mentioned...
I have a TT DSi (or is it TTi DS), and I want to buy a new DSi Ware game, but it's saying I need to update my firmware. I have read some time ago that the TT DSi stopped working after the firmware upgrade but has this since been circumvented?
 
i also had a DS TTi (...?) and yeah, the most recent firmware update stopped it working. i made the executive decision that i'd get more out of facebook photo uploads and DSiware than homebrew, plus i still have an old DS kicking around.

the wisdom at the time was that the TTi couldn't be updated, unlike some other cards, so i guess there's not really any solution.
 
JodyAnthony said:
so would it be best to wait for like the DSTwo card, or get something like an acekard2i?
Click to expand...
I'm pretty happy with the 2i, but some of those DSTwo features do sound pretty cool. Do we know how soon they'll be around?

I don't know what sort of price the DSTwo will be either, but I got the AceKard for under $20. So while it's not like I want to suggest throwing money away, if I upgrade I won't feel I've let too much go to waste.
 
DSTwo still doesn't have a release date. But it's expected to be within the next couple of month. The Acekard 2i is wonderful if you install AKAIO.
 
Damn, just hosed my DSTTi with some kernel upgrade that was supposed to fix it for 1.4 firmware.
Guess I will be getting an Acekard then!
 
Okay I have the "Phantomcard" fix on my acekard 2i for back when 1.4 hit. Apparently DSi Firmware 1.5 hit recently, can I upgrade or do I need to wait for another fix?
 
I heard of DSi fw 1.5 a few months ago, but it doesn't seem to be up in NA yet.
At least, I connected to the store 2 days ago to download Aura-Aura Climber without getting prompted to update.
 
Zerokku said:
Okay I have the "Phantomcard" fix on my acekard 2i for back when 1.4 hit. Apparently DSi Firmware 1.5 hit recently, can I upgrade or do I need to wait for another fix?
Click to expand...

I don't think 1.5 exists yet in any region.
 
In my world wide travels I just stumbled upon an R4i Gold for around 40 bucks (looked kinda like this, maybe have been a bootleg, don't remember if it came with a 4GB card or not):
http://www.r4ds-r4i.com/product_images/u/r4i_gold_kingston_4g__98855.jpg
I also saw one in a black box without the i for a tad less. I haven't been in the DS homebrew scene since you used Wi-Fi to boot off of a GBA flash cart from an Ralink card, heh. Is this something I should pick up? I think I saw a bunch of good things like Moonshell and such on the back. Is an R4i able to do whatever is required of the latest homebrew and such apps? What limitations and advantages does it have? I think I read a few pages back aboot someone getting one for $17 and others being better, so maybe I'm at error here, heh. Thanks for any advice!
 
Okay my brother is buying an acekard 2i. He bought a used DSi that already had 1.4u on it. What does he need to do to get it to work? I was able to update my acekard back before I updated my dsi to 1.4u, but his is already there.
 
So I have a DSi and want to play a few old school SNES and GBA games.

What cart is the best to do this with? I really can't make sense of the easiest way. A cart I could keep in the SD slot would be ideal, but so far I'm not seeing anything that would do that.
 
SNES emulation isn't really any good, but supposedly the up-and-coming Supercard DSTWO (with an extra on-board CPU like that of the iPlayer) is set on tackling that and GBA emulation.

Pending reviews, I might finally drop my beloved CycloDS Evolution. I love their card, OS, and support, but am increasingly frustrated that they aren't even attempting to release something for the DSi, and DSiWare is finally getting sufficiently mature that I'd like to start carrying mine around instead of the DSL.

We'll see how this new Supercard pans out, I guess.
 
The always amazing Flubba's working on this TurboGraphx-16/PC Engine emulator for the DS. As of the time of this writing, the newest version is NitroGraphx 0.5. It seems to feature shockingly good CD-ROM and CD audio support, and even at this early stage, runs Ys Book I & II better than any of the many PSP solutions I've tried over the years. Going to rip and patch Ys IV to see how it handles the English fan translation of that one...
 
Due to the IR thing on the card itself to connect to the Pokéwalker, Pokémon SoulSilver is one of the only DS games I've actually been running from the original card rather than Acekard 2i. For sake of fullness I went today to transfer the ROM and save using the NDS Backup Tool Wifi, but while it can transfer the ROM it just said the save type was "Unknown" and wouldn't allow it to be copied. Any other tools that can handle it?
 
Anyone here have a favorite Book reader for the DS? I know there are many but I'm not quite sure which to use.
 
My M3 Simply has died and I really need a new flashcart to run some homebrew samplers for my band.

What are the best options for a DS Lite? The Cyclos seems to be a good option I think, is there anything else that trumps it in usage & compatibility?
 
alright, maybe you guys can help me out here? i'm kinda lost...

first off: i don't have a flash cart or anything, i'm not doing any homebrew and i don't know much about ds homebrew.

here's my question: is there a way to get game saves off a retail ds cart so i can transfer them to my computer? i'd like to make a video of some of the wario ware diy games i made. but off-screen it's kinda shitty, from my pc i could make a direct feed video, that'd be cool. i've tried out the wario ware dyi wii channel but i can't record anything from my tv, so that's kinda pointless. you can send the mini games from ds to ds even, so if there was a way to use an emulator to receive my games from my ds, that'd work too...

anything?
 
JoshuaJSlone said:
A USB device Sheik790 mentioned above is supposed to do that: http://www.goldenshop.com.hk/AI-trad/nds/ndsadapterplus.htm

There's homebrew that can connect your DS to an FTP program running on your PC through WiFi if you've got the hardware for it, which will allow you to transfer saves back and forth. For whatever reason it doesn't seem to connect properly using my DSi, but Lite and Phat do fine.
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that works with an unmodified ds? that device or the homebrew? i have a dsi, dsi xl, ds lite and a phat. any link to that ftp tool?

edit: read about that nds adapter plus. ok so you insert the cart directly into that thing. makes sense. i wonder about that wifi ftp solution though...?
 
I don't know anything about the USB tool, but the FTP software will need some way of executing homebrew on a DS, which means a flashcart.
 
Mejilan said:
I don't know anything about the USB tool, but the FTP software will need some way of executing homebrew on a DS, which means a flashcart.
Click to expand...
ah :/

shame. thanks for the help, though, guys! appreciated
 
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