The Noobs Guide to DS Homebrew

[Quay Cur]

Very helpful guide. My main interest is in running SNES roms, and a few original Gameboy ones. I think I'm pretty clear on the hardware I need, but would I need additional software on the Movie Player to run roms other than DS or GBA? If so where can I find it? Or am I going to have to convert the files? I've been having a burning desire to play the Seiken Densetsu series on my DS...

The roms I want to run are .gb and .smc for the most part, .gbc and .nes would be cool too. Also, I only have Macs, though I don't think that would matter if all I'm doing is transferring files.

And as if I didn't have enough in this post, has anyone heard of Genesis .bin or .smd files working on a DS?

If none of this works I suppose I could just buy a controller for my computer.

[Quay Cur]

This is probably a stupid question, but which screen would all of this play on? I would imagine it would be the GBA screen you set in the preferences.

[MutantMooBunny]

Sorry I ment will I also have to convert a homebrew app like DS Wolfenstien to get it to play?

I don't think so... I'm not sure. Check the manual that comes with your supercard, or check on the supercard website. They give pretty good documentation about this kind of stuff.

[MutantMooBunny]

Very helpful guide. My main interest is in running SNES roms, and a few original Gameboy ones. I think I'm pretty clear on the haòdware I need, but would I need additional software on the Movie Player to run roms other than DS or GBA? If so where can I find it? Or am I going to have to convert the files? I've been having a burning desire to play the Seiken Densetsu series on my DS...

The roms I want to run are .gb and .smc for the most part, .gbc and .nes would be cool too. Also, I only have Macs, though I don't think that would matter if all I'm doing is transferring files.

And as if I didn't have enough in this post, has anyone heard of Genesis .bin or .smd files working on a DS?

If none of this works I suppose I could just buy a controller for my computer.

Okay, for the M3 Perfect (the updated version of the GBA Movie Player), it can run most roms. Let me just direct you to the m3faq. www.m3adapter.com/faq.htm.
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An excerpt from it pertaining to your problem:

11 Does M3 support NES, GB , SMS GG, PCE roms ? Is there a better way to make SNES games work well?
M3 Adapter can run NES,GB,GBC, SMS,GG,PCE rom properly, pls using our M3 manager to patch the roms & you may put it in the CF/SD card to run directly.
And M3 can run SNES. But effect & the compatibility is bad ..The reason is that SNES emulator has problem. It is not concerned about M3’s . Everybody ask us about the SNES emulator , we don’t recommend use that. We recommend that using the SNES DS emulator .
Some people successfully played MegaMan 7 on M3 perfect with sound .
You may try it & find the result .
http://home.utah.edu/~u0422123/snesDS/ - A video of SnesDS running MegaMan 7 - http://media.putfile.com/snesds
http://home.utah.edu/%7Eu0422123/snesDS/
http://luffy.free.fr/nds/snesds_compat/index.php
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Also from the faq:
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9. What's Emulator Games? How M3 Adapter run the game of Emulator Games directly?
Emulator Games means every kinds of game in every game console can run on a PC in the most early time. Emulator games at present can have run at GBA / NDS already. In general, there are only two kinds of methods for these games that can be run on the Flash Card.
Method 1: Convert the different kind of emulator games such as, FC, GC, GG etc into standard GBA format (.gba) through the conversion software.
Method 2: Directly run those FC, GC, GG etc Emulator Games through starting up the GBA program with some emulator functions (such as Pogoshell).
Since M3 Adapter has already been built-in emulator function, it can run these Emulator Games directly. For instance: FC, NES, SNES, GB, GBC, PCE, SEGA-MS & GG etc. It's very convenient to the user. For instance, it has function of running Emulator Games, and it is equal to have many game consoles and games with different popular styles in the past.
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This faq will hold true only for the M3. You'll notice the english is a little bad, though they know what they're talking about, it's not bullsh*t. Just bad grammer . If you use any other flash cart solution (Supercard, G6, whatever), you'll need emulator software. Get emulator software for the DS on the front page of www.dcemu.co.uk. The emulators will most probably come w/instructions on how to load them and name them properly and stuff.

As for your other question about the screen, for the M3 it will play on the bottom screen. The screenshots of the M3 indicate this.

[Quay Cur]

Cool, thanks for all the help. All this homebrew stuff seemed rather foggy, but you managed to set it straight.

So the G6 doesn't have any built in emulators like the M3 despite being made by the same company? Has this been confirmed by anyone? I guess it isn't too big a deal, just not as easy.

My aesthetic impulse is to get a G6, but it sounds like the M3 is more idiot friendly. I guess I'll just wait until the G6 ships to see if I can dig up more info, that or pester the M3 site.

[threefingeredlord]

I would just like to verify that this will work with the super key and play ds/gba homebrew games. Is it the same thing as the M3? If not i'll just get the super card, that movie player thing is a lot cheaper though .

[MutantMooBunny]

In response to threefingeredlord, the GBA Movie Player is not the same thing as the M3 Perfect. The GBA Movie Player has a different firmware and will not run DS homebrews out of the box. You need to update the firmware with the firmware from this guy's site.

Now, if you go to his website, you'll notice he says "screw you" if you ask about commericial ROMs. So whether or not one may run backups using his firmware on the GBA Movie Player is debatable. I have not personally tried it, and I don't know anyone who has.

Also, one more thing. His firmware only works if you have the Compact Flash version of the GBA Movie Player. I'd go with the supercard, if I were you.

[threefingeredlord]

Thank you, that was a very usefull and fast reply. I used to have the cf version of it, but i sold it to a freind because i managed to break my gba sp. Now i have a black ds lite and am looking for homebrew solutions. Im skint, o it will be a while before i am able to afford the super card, but at least now my friend can play ds homebrew on his ds, thank you .

[threefingeredlord]

Now, if you go to his website, you'll notice he says "screw you" if you ask about commericial ROMs. So whether or not one may run backups using his firmware on the GBA Movie Player is debatable. I have not personally tried it, and I don't know anyone who has.

I can now testify that it definitely does not work with backed up roms. My friend has the gbamp v2 cf version and i got a super key for him, but using the hack he can only play homebrew.

[vampireghost9]

well to tell you the truth i am new to the nds homebrew scene, and i just bought a nds lite(black) today 10/08/2006. i have been working with the psp scene since it came out last year march. anyway the ds homebrew does'nt look to difficult and i look forward to working with the nds just as soon as i figure out what i need exactly. things here on this page seems a little confusing.??? if any one can answer this question....do i need a flash card for the gba part of the ds and a card for the ds part along with software that i can either buy online or get from best buy. you guys got me confused. i already have the emulators and roms for the ds. i just need a little clarification on the hardware needed. the psp only needed a mem card and a little c++ knowledge to program. someone help me so i can get crackin on the ds lite. thankfully yours..... ds (lite) noob.