New nintendo ds lite

[scribblec]

i was looking on ebay and saw this package

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-NDS-NINTEN...QQcmdZViewItem

it comes with an adapter memory card thing and i was wondering how that worked, im guessing he will provide a cd with 60 games and something to connect it to the computer and ds and then play it as normal, the card is 512mb in size

does this mean we can fit as many games as we like onto the cartdrige and then get a select menu when you load up or are you only allowed one game at a time?

just say i bought this and they did fit many games onto one cartdridge, roughly how big is each game?

[3RA1N1AC]

here's what the auction is selling:

one Nintendo DS Lite.
one Datel Max Media Launcher, a DS cartridge which allows DS ROMs to operate from the GBA slot.
one Supercard SD, a GBA cartridge which adapts SD cards to the GBA slot.
one SD memory card, like the ones used with digital cameras.
one disc full of DS ROMs.

you must buy an SD card reader/writer (for your PC) separately, in order to copy the DS ROMs onto the SD card via the Supercard SD software (downloadable from www.supercard.cn). then you insert the SD card into the Supercard SD, insert the Supercard SD into the GBA slot and the Datel Max Media cartridge into the DS slot, and turn the DS power on. from the DS's built-in menu, choose the Datel Max Media cartridge.

the Datel cartridge does nothing more than say to the DS: "HELLO I AM A DS CARTRIDGE, BUT I DON'T CONTAIN A DS GAME, PLEASE REFER TO THE GBA CARTRIDGE INSTEAD." then the DS looks to the GBA cartridge to see if it has any DS games. it's a simple trick, but a good one nevertheless.

the upper screen will display the Datel Max Media logo, then it should change to the Supercard SD's simple built-in menu allowing you to select the ROM you wish to play.

DS ROMs vary wildly in size, from 5MB-10MB to 100MB-150MB. average size is approx 32MB-64MB, but it's really impossible to give a good estimate of how many DS ROMs will fit in a 512MB card. could hold as many as 70 or 80 games, could be filled up completely by as few as 4 games. so, on average, you should expect a 512MB card to be able to hold several games that you are seriously playing and with room for several more that you are just trying out, but don't expect it to hold a vast collection because it simply will not.

i dunno what's the largest capacity SD card that the Supercard SD cartridge can use. i have a 2GB SD card and it works fine, though.

[Rip The Jacker]

Thanks for the helpful explanation 3RA1N1AC....

I want to buy a DS Lite and a flash rom cartridge... but there are sooo many to choose from, it's kinda confusing... M3, G6... and all this stuff about a passkey.... eh. I gotta do a ton of research...

It's too bad that seller doesn't have any more of those "packages."

[3RA1N1AC]

no probbo.

yes, the pass device idea can be kind of a puzzler. you might wanna investigate whether that Datel cartridge is actually good for u.s.a. DS Lites, 'cause i think i may have seen complaints of the recent DS firmware being resistant to whatever specific loophole the Datel cartridge exploits.

but there are other devices (PassMe 2? SuperKey?) which accomplish the same thing and there should still be something available that works with the latest DS Lites. once you're able to boot the GBA flashcart (or one of the memcard adapters like M3/Supercard) in DS mode (rather than GBA mode, of course), you can run a program called Flashme to replace the DS firmware and eliminate the need for the pass device. with the Flashme firmware installed, the DS automatically boots the GBA flashcart (if present) in DS mode, unless you hold down the Select button when you Power On (then it will go to the normal DS Start Menu thing, allowing you to boot a DS cartridge or boot the GBA flashcart in GBA mode).

only tricky thing about flashing the firmware, really, is that there is a bronze-looking part that you need to bridge (by touching the gap with a small screwdriver or similar) while you run Flashme. it's alright to interrupt contact (most people are unable to maintain the connection long enough to go straight to 100% without a bit of wiggling), Flashme will just pause until you re-establish the bridge. just as long as you do not POWER OFF while it's flashing, and keep at it until it says "complete, you may turn the power off now," it'll be fine. UNLIKE THE PSP, there have been no DS games that require/install firmware updates... it doesn't seem that there ever will be, so in all likelihood you'll only ever need to do this ONE TIME.

and some knuckleheads have apparently managed to brick their Lites by accidentally touching a nearby part that causes the Lite to reboot. YEAH. OOPS. it sounds scary and dangerous to read about it, but when you see a picture, it really is mindboggling how clumsy a person would need to be in order to make that mistake.

save this illustration for reference?:


if (for whatever reason) you end up choosing to get an "original" DS rather than a Lite, the original DS either does not have the BAD PART or it's somewhere that you can't easily touch it, so the danger is pretty much nill. but if you use this picture as reference, remain calm & steady, you should have no problem with overwriting the Lite's firmware.

(oh and, on the original DS, the GOOD PART is hidden under a tiny polkadot sticker, while the Lite has no such sticker. just a bit of extra info for whoever may be interested.)

[scribblec]

done quite a bit of research after my post and got a ds lite ready flashed with an m3 adaptor

http://m3wiki.emuparadise.org/index.php/M3

is a useful site with lots of information but 3RA1N1ACs post pretty much sums everything up

[3RA1N1AC]

mistakenly posted this in a different thread when i meant to post it HERE:

i got a DS Lite and used a SuperKey DS cartridge to boot my GBA flashcart. ran Flashme to flash the firmware (hacked V7). will not require the SuperKey cartridge again (unless i need to flash the firmware on another DS), but i think it was well worth the price (approx $30 USD) as it booted the GBA flashcart with no fuss... much easier than the older Passme devices which required the user to perform a fairly complex boot procedure.

seems that the SL1 point in the Lite doesn't respond to being touched by a screwdriver (which worked on the older DS). with a screwdriver i could not get the SL1 to bridge so that the firmware update would proceed. i had to use a toothpick covered with an aluminum-foil candy wrapper, instead. from there, it was smooth sailing and no brickage (now that i've done it, i still can't see how someone could be clumsy enough to ruin their DS Lite, as the stories go...).

[scribblec]

yea my setup is perfect, the 2 gb card is useful i have lots of music and games and everything works perfectly

one thing that annoys me is the fact that the movies i convert are 99 percent of the time out of sync, like the file will play but the sound will be like half a second to 2 seconds out and it annoys me like fuck, any way to sort this out?

otherwise the ds lite + m3 is perfect and im glad i got it instead of a psp

[3RA1N1AC]

sorry, have never tried playing movies on a DS. i'm happy enough with the games!

just taking a wild guess: maybe the DS can't handle a full 23, 25, or 30 frames per second and you need to reduce the frame-rate slightly to something like 15 or 20 in order to have smooth & in-sync playback?

btw, anyone who has a DS, try Trauma Center. wonderful surgery game that takes good advantage of the stylus input, with overwrought dramatic cut-scenes and a story that veers into complete madness after you perform abt 10 surgeries.

[scribblec]

lol i got to the third training mission in that game and gave up went back to playing advance wars, i also cant seem to get picodriveds (sega emulator) to work on the ds which is also annoying

[plexcess]

Thank you 3RA1N1AC for your post. I just went and bought a DS lite over a PSP yesterday just because the games seem to be more fun. I've already been itching to try some of the homebrew stuff but was confused as heck as to how to make sense of everything. Now at least I know where to start. Thanks again!