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jimbob007
May 24th, 2006, 16:09
I know you've probably been asked these kind of questions a million times before but this is driving me mad. I want to play a bunch of NDS ROMs that I've downloaded I tried all the emulators but none seem to work very well so I have decided to buy some hardware for my DS.

I have read countless reviews, forums and sites that sell the hardware and while these are really helpful it doesn’t help me a great deal when it comes to choice. They all seem very good value for money. I have narrowed it down to the G6flash and the M3 SD. From what I've read the G6flash seems better due to the fact I don’t have a memory card reader so if I wanted the M3 SD I would have to also get a memory card and a reader. There are also many different types of M3 and even though I like the SD version better I don’t want to end up with the one that sticks out of the bottom of the DS. I also read that the G6 supports SNES games. Does the M3 also support SNES games?

I also read the review on the G6 on http://iso420.pxn-os.com and it says that a con is storage size but 4 gb seems like plenty to me expecially considering I could only find a 2gd sd card. Also can I add more than one rom at a time to these cards or are they limited to one at a time.


Even more confusing is how many sites don’t offer full bundle deals and you have to buy much of the hardware separately. Also where is the best place to buy my hardware? There are so many to choose from. Which would you advise as the best option I am lost in a sea of information and confusion?

GinaWrite
May 24th, 2006, 17:45
Don't let the memory card reader stop you - a USB to every card reader/writer is only a few dollars these days. I got a free MP3 player w/ USB reader/writer with a 512Meg SD card.

If you get snesDS, you can run (some) SNES games on any of the cartridges.

Yes, you can add more than 1 ROM on a card.

Be sure to take into account that if you get a CF or SD solution, you can use multiple cards and get beyond a fixed solution. I have one 512Meg and two 1-Gig SD cards now.

IMHO, the best solution currently (which I don't have since I bought mine before these came out) is getting the Datel Max Media launcher and one of the mini-SD solutions as these won't stick out of a non-lite DS.

jimbob007
May 27th, 2006, 01:16
Firstly thanks for the help on this Gina. I got a 2 GB Mini SD card from eBay for £33.23 which includes a reader and I got the max media launcher from gameseek.co.uk for £14.98 these both include delivery. However I am now kind of stuck I am getting the feeling that the M3 Perfect MiniSD is more popular than the SuperCard Mini SD. However while the Supercard is everywhere normally much cheaper the M3 is much more hard to come by at a decent price. Everyone seems to recommend www.divineo.com but the price on there is really high I converted it to around £61.41 including delivery. Compare this to http://www.mrmodchips.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=355 where I can get the m3 plus a PASSKEY 2 for £71.71. Now the passkey 2's alone go for over £18 so this seems a much better deal even though I don’t need the passkey 2 I could sell it on eBay or maybe to a friend. I can get the m3 alone on http://www.winsunx.com/list.php?mod=671 for around £51.75 including delivery however I filled out all the forms and the site is frustrating with no clear way of making payment. This is a nightmare of information I want to get the best deal after already spending so much but its really hard to find many places that sell the m3 at a competative price. How much better is it than the supercard which would be much less confusing?

jimbob007
May 27th, 2006, 12:40
I went for the WINSUNX site as this was much cheaper. I hope everything works out. The payment options on WINSUNX are quite awkward but they have the best deal for the m3 I could find : £53.18 GBP = $96.25 USD. I'll keep you posted on my progression into true Nintendo DS freedom. :)

Mazza
May 27th, 2006, 21:53
yeah i that is about the price you should expect to pay, the m3 is expensive.

jimbob007
May 27th, 2006, 22:10
yea true it is expensive I read you got one off ebay for £45 mazza what a bargain. So will it just be a matter of putting the roms onto the mini sd and then just plug it all up or will I need to install some kind of software or updates? Also will I able be able to play wi fi enabled roms?

Mazza
May 28th, 2006, 00:38
you will get a cd with software on it to transfer the games correctly. You may need to download updated software from www.m3adapter.com but after that all games will play as if you had the real game in.

jimbob007
May 31st, 2006, 14:46
I got all the components today I couldnt belive I got all 3 the same day being as 2 of them are from overseas. I decided to download the latest versions of software but ran into a barrier almost straight away when I went to download M3_full_install_en( 3-4-06 ) from http://m3adapter.com/Download.htm the download speed is really slow and it crashes midway into the download and says something about server error I cant seem to find another site that has this file. I tried emule but I cant seem to get it on there either due to low sources of the file. Also is there anywhere that contains or could you tell me the latest versions of the software I will need? For playing ds, advance, snes and nes roms plus videos and mp3s? Thanks in advance I look forward to getting this all running.

jimbob007
May 31st, 2006, 18:03
I finally gave in and installed the software that was on the disc included with the m3 the movie converter works well. I installed m3 game manager v3.13 but got kinda confused on the trim rom section by default the settings are trim rom, - fast - boot - format, 1 x DMA and same method for all games. Should software reset be checked? Also it didnt seem to work on those setting but seems ok on no trim rom instead of trim rom and normal rather than fast - boot - format or direct copy. Also I played a game and it seemed to save like a normal game but when I opened another game and tried to go back to the other the save file was gone how do I keep my saved games?

jimbob007
May 31st, 2006, 19:56
warning! nds game save in card but cannot find atuosave backup file. backup fail! press a to continue. do I need to change the location of the saved game on the sd everytime I want to play a new game?

jimbob007
June 3rd, 2006, 00:37
I managed to find the latest version of the m3 full install. I have managed to get most ds roms working now. I am still unsure on which settings to use but I have been using no trim and normal, most work this way but some need direct copy and some wont even give the other options. The problem with the save was down to my error because I extracted the game from the game manager into my pc which when put on the m3 wont work. Make sure the destination of the file goes directly onto the sd for anyone that needs this info. Thanks for the help GinaWrite and Mazza I am very pleased to have this working. If anyone can shed any light on the options in the game manager that would be much appreciated. Thanks again!

7th-son
June 4th, 2006, 23:10
I have a special 256mb flash cartridge for the GBA, can i use this cart to put on homebrew for the DS?

GinaWrite
June 7th, 2006, 20:30
You can use (almost) any GBA cart for NDS homebrew. There are a few exceptions. I'm not sure where the list is kept for ones that do/don't work.