R4DS starter pack

Sleepy

Anyone know of a better media player for the DS lite?

I'm using an R4 card with Moonshell but the lack of a fast forward function and the ease with which you can exit the movie you're watching accidently is making it a tad frustrating!

o1s1n

There has been a homebrew Internet browser in production for a while now called Okiwi. (Might be finished, I don't know...I haven't had the need to check up on the project as Opera works fine for me)

http://www.dsfanboy.com/2006/10/02/homebrew-okiwi-web-browser/

I'm not sure if it uses RAM expansion or not. Would be kind of pointless to make if it did.

The 3 in 1 ezflash witnessmenow linked is brilliant. It was designed to fit the DS lite though, so anyone with a phat will have to do a modification to get it to fit.

(Just for witnessmenow)
You store the GBA files on the r4 card, boot up the ezflash program and that will write the files to the ezflash rom for you.

Or you can patch the gba files before putting them onto the r4 and run them off that without going near the ezflash program...this takes a little more effort before hand as you have to patch every file, but it is much less of a headache in the long run.

ShiverinEskimo

o1s1n wrote: »

The 3 in 1 ezflash witnessmenow linked is brilliant.

+1

Use it to play GBA ROMS. Especially when combined with NDStation

witnessmenow

Thats cool, but how would it work with a different card?

I will order one, but not before my exams! Its hard to justify buying things when you have no money! I already managed to justify getting a DS Lite, a PSP + loadsa accessories (including a GPS reciever!) . Its especially hard to justify buying that GPS reciever when your after telling your girlfriend you have no money to get her anything for Vday..... some how i managed it though! (I hope to god she doesn't read boards, but then again if she did what would she be doing in the nintendo section!)

ShiverinEskimo

As long as the different card has an option to boot Slot 2 then it'll work.

The 3-in-1 has a feature that turns on the PSRam and then soft-resets the NDS bringing you back to your Slot 1 device's menu. From there run the GBA Rom you repacked using NDStation and when it runs it'll load to PSRam on the 3-in-1 without you having to do anything more but wait about 10 seconds.

Its the business - and using GBA Roms only uses one screen so almost doubles life. I flew from LA to Dublin and the battery didn't flutter in 12 hours. Thank God let me tell you.

witnessmenow

o1s1n wrote: »

There has been a homebrew Internet browser in production for a while now called Okiwi. (Might be finished, I don't know...I haven't had the need to check up on the project as Opera works fine for me)

http://www.dsfanboy.com/2006/10/02/homebrew-okiwi-web-browser/

I'm not sure if it uses RAM expansion or not. Would be kind of pointless to make if it did.

It doesn't need the ram expansion anyways(not sure if it can use it). When I tried it a few moths back DS Organizes web browser was far superior. I dont think Okiwi supported pictures(i cant really remember though).

EDIT: so is it possible to use the card with any slot 1 card? sorry i just did understand that second bit fully?

stop trying to tempt me with it!

ShiverinEskimo

Well the 3-in-1 was designed to work with the EZ Flash slot 1 (DS Cart slot) device. But it works with my R4.

I see no reason why it wouldn't work with any others.

Step 1.>When you load up the R4 you can see an option saying boot slot 2 - ie. The GBA slot.

Step 2.> With the 3-in-1 plugged into the GBA slot it is this that is booted. From here you activate its RAM for use with the GBA rom and then you are brought back to the R4 menu.

Step 3.>From here you load your GBA rom. Only You've previously used NDStation to convert your GBA Rom to the .nds extention so your R4 will load it as a normal .nds rom.

Step 4.>The ROM then loads and begins to transfer the files it needs onto the 3-in-1's memory in Slot 2. This memory is available because you loaded it in step 2.

I think i'm actually making it sound complicated. But it really isn't. If you find my original post that recommended NDStation on this thread I linked to a you tube video. Shows it all.

EDIT> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gPJr25R7BE

o1s1n

ShiverinEskimo wrote: »

Well the 3-in-1 was designed to work with the EZ Flash slot 1 (DS Cart slot) device. But it works with my R4.

I see no reason why it wouldn't work with any others.

Step 1.>When you load up the R4 you can see an option saying boot slot 2 - ie. The GBA slot.

Step 2.> With the 3-in-1 plugged into the GBA slot it is this that is booted. From here you activate its RAM for use with the GBA rom and then you are brought back to the R4 menu.

Step 3.>From here you load your GBA rom. Only You've previously used NDStation to convert your GBA Rom to the .nds extention so your R4 will load it as a normal .nds rom.

Step 4.>The ROM then loads and begins to transfer the files it needs onto the 3-in-1's memory in Slot 2. This memory is available because you loaded it in step 2.

I think i'm actually making it sound complicated. But it really isn't. If you find my original post that recommended NDStation on this thread I linked to a you tube video. Shows it all.

EDIT> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gPJr25R7BE

You don't need steps one and two! The ezflash expansion RAM isn't needed to play gba files. That's just for the internet browser.

If you've converted your GBA files to .nds all you have to do is start up your r4 as usual and run a game as usual. It's exactly the same as playing a standard DS file. The only difference is the screen goes black for about 3 or 4 seconds while it writes it to the ez flash in slot 2. When it's done the ezflash automatically boots the game. You don't really have to do anything extra.

witnessmenow

Does that mean it will work with any card? Or is ndsstation just for R4s?

I'm a plank, i've no kop on!

ShiverinEskimo

Oh right
There you go. You dont even have to boot the 3-in-1.

Its something I just always did. I should question myself more often.

Nah NDStation should work on any of them because it just repacks it as a .nds. Your card won't know anything more about it and will just boot it as normal.

o1s1n

witnessmenow wrote: »

Does that mean it will work with any card? Or is ndsstation just for R4s?

I'm a plank, i've no kop on!

As shiverinEskimo said, it just repacks the GBA files to a format your DS will recognize.The program doesnt have to run on the ds like an emulator or anything.

As for cross compatibility of programs, all these cards are more or less the same. (As far as I know, the r4 and m3 are EXACTLY the same) If a program isnt functioning on a particular one, thats when you patch it with that cards specific DLDI. The good thing about having an M3 or R4 is due to the popularity of these two cards, most programs are pre patched to run on them.

At least thats how I think it works anyway.

ShiverinEskimo

You're bang on O1s1n from what I've read up on it.

The DLDI just provides a directx style interface between the software roms and the hardware flash carts. So patch the rom with the appropriate DLDI tool and Robert is your Father's Brother.

If you get me.

witnessmenow

DLDI patching is for when your rom needs to access your memory card... i think

ShiverinEskimo

Exactly - when you boot a rom it needs to write data to your card to load. Before DLDI roms had to be compiled for each cart type but now they are compiled to a standard set of protocols which your carts DLDI then patches to suit your card.

This says it better:

wikipedia wrote:

Due to the fact that there are so many different flash carts available for the NDS, and they all write to their flash card differently, a unified architecture was needed so programmers would not have to recompile their program for each flash cart that was released. A programmer called Chishm solved this by creating DLDI(Dynamically Linked Device Interface), which allowed users to "patch" homebrew with a cart-specific version of the patch.

ProjectColossus

Just downloaded this, you've done a great job with it

teflon

can you copy games to a normal sd card if you have a card similar to this card already?

witnessmenow

Thanks:)

teflon: I'm not quite sure what you mean? All these cards play the exact same file type so i'd imagine the answer to your question is yes, although as i said i didnt fully understand the question:p

EDIT: BTW a major overhaul of the site is in the pipe works, am going to try move away from concentrating on r4s and bring as many different types as possible into it. R4s are apparently no longer being made.

Trx

Check this out....

Does anybody have one .. or have any opinions on it. It seems to be a replacement for the R4


http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12026

machiavellianme

Trx wrote: »

Check this out....

Does anybody have one .. or have any opinions on it. It seems to be a replacement for the R4


http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12026

It appears to be a TTDS clone with SDHC compatibility. The gold version has a built in gyro but only a handful of homebrew games support this. The silver version is better value for money considering.

witnessmenow

Just to update this.

I'm going to move the site to somewhere thats not googlepages even if it is so easy to use though!

It wont be called r4starterpack.com or anything of the sort.

I'll have a new starter pack out by the end of next week, i doubt the new site will be up before that but sure thats life.

Anyone have any recomendations for homebrew to include?

I'll be putting in the latest version of all emus currently on it, and the neo geo emu.
DS organize will also be on it
I'll include nds station

There will be a DSTT version of the pack

Any other suggestions

_____________

As for cards, I currently recomend DSTT from Dealextreme.com. ~€16 , you cant go wrong.

DO NOT get the N5 or whatever its called, POS R4 clone. Its more expensive than the DSTT so dont even consider it

Ekancone

I havent looked this up in a while now, whats been going on lately in the world of homebrew DS? Any unreal apps out?

witnessmenow

Not as far as i can tell, but i need to dig about too!

New versions of SNES and Megadrive Emus. Nothing major
Neo geo emu is ment to be tasty enough too.

I hopefully I will start writting homebrew this summer, anyone have any genius ideas they want to sahre/suggest fire ahead:p

Star Lord

Card wise, I could not recommend the CycloDS enough, it's truely excellent.

Must have a look around for more homebrew, not found anything better than "Colours" yet.

Mr E

Need to look a bit harder, Damo.

NeoDS 0.1.1 came out today, and I had a damn good game of Flashback on JenesisDS last night.

Ekancone

Mr E wrote: »

Need to look a bit harder, Damo.

NeoDS 0.1.1 came out today, and I had a damn good game of Flashback on JenesisDS last night.

Great game.

o1s1n

daithifleming wrote: »

I havent looked this up in a while now, whats been going on lately in the world of homebrew DS? Any unreal apps out?

NeoDS! NeoDS! NEODS!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry. It's the best emulator to come out on the DS so far. Bit rough around the edges at the moment, but when it works - woah!.

Ekancone

o1s1n wrote: »

NeoDS! NeoDS! NEODS!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry. It's the best emulator to come out on the DS so far. Bit rough around the edges at the moment, but when it works - woah!.

That plays neogeo games, right? Sounds cool.

:rolleyes: <

---

cool smiley!

o1s1n

daithifleming wrote: »

That plays neogeo games, right? Sounds cool.

:rolleyes: <

---

cool smiley!

Indeed it does. Something I never thought I'd see on a DS. I really can't wait for future releases.

Be warned though - I read something about there being a bug that could possibly corrupt an sd card. (May have been DCemu forums, I'll have a look) So if you're giving it a go you might want to try it on a separate micro sd.

Ekancone

I only have one! Best give it a miss then!

machiavellianme

witnessmenow wrote: »

Not as far as i can tell, but i need to dig about too!

New versions of SNES and Megadrive Emus. Nothing major
Neo geo emu is ment to be tasty enough too.

I hopefully I will start writting homebrew this summer, anyone have any genius ideas they want to sahre/suggest fire ahead:p

A pdf reader. All the ebook readers seem to overlook the most common document format.