Confusing like Sam Hell; Help needed D:!!

[frosty-theaussie]

I've been trying to research flashcarts and homebrew in general for days on end now, and it still fries the mind. I've read the guides and everything, but I still need help .

I've got a DS Lite. Basically, what I want to run on the DS are SNES/NES, GG, SMS and SMD (Gens) emulators, in addition to any other nifty homebrew programs such as MSN-like applications and IRC chat programs. Do these emulators run at a fairly consistent and enjoyable speed? I'm not all that concerned with music and MP3s; I have Creative Zen for tunes and movies can wait until home :P. If it's possible, I'd also like to run some DS and GBA back-ups. One thing that confuses me a lot are the Slot-1/Slot-2 flashcart differences. So a Slot-2 flashcart can run GBA & NDS back-ups, and homebrew that has been designed to run on the GBA & NDS, while Slot-1 can only run NDS back-ups and homebrew programmed for the DS? Also, are SD cards faster than CF cards? Will this result in greater performance when running emulators? What I think I need to buy is the SuperKey, SuperCard Lite, a 1024MB microSD and a USB SDcard reader. Will these suit my needs? Thanks a lot guys, I'm sure you get a lot of these posts here :X

[DanTheManMS]

You are pretty much correct, yes. That setup should work, though note that newer Supercard Lites have different internal hardware that causes homebrew that accesses the FAT filesystem to work incorrectly. For instance, I've seen a guy with an SCLite who simply cannot get NES DS to work for him, though it works for me on my Supercard miniSD.

If you don't mind the slight stick-out, a SC miniSD doesn't have those issues, is more supported by homebrew, is slightly cheaper in most stores, and uses slightly cheaper media. Just make sure you don't get the Rumble series, as they are just as useless as slot-1 cards when it comes to GBA homebrew.

The speed of the card will usually not affect the speed of the emulators. DS programs currently load assets into RAM from the media card, so there's usually a buffer from the time it's read until the time it's needed. With NES DS for instance, I load the nesDS.nds file, browse to my NES game, and hit A. It loads the NES game into the DS's RAM and runs it from there, so the media card is no longer needed. SnezziDS on the other hand loads the entire program into the Supercard's 32 MB of RAM before loading. In both cases, the speed of the card doesn't matter.

SNES emulation on the DS is somewhat lacking, sadly. You can use SNES DS and SNEmulDS on most slot-1 cards, and the combined game compatibility is acceptable. With slot-2 cards with extra RAM however, SnezziDS is possible, which greatly increases compatibility (including games like Chrono Trigger). I would check some compatibility lists first though (wiki.pocketheaven.com has some).

For NES, the NES DS emulator should work fine for most uses, though the Supercard handles .nes files automatically through the use of PocketNES (though this limits you to the GBA resolution). If you get NES DS, make sure you get the WIP builds by emu_kidd, as they feature actual saving support and savestate support.

As for the other emulators, I'm not sure, sorry.

[frosty-theaussie]

Thanks a tonne for that! I've been looking at the M3 DS Simply, would you happen to know if the FAT problems occur on that too?

[DanTheManMS]

The M3 Simply is a slot-1 device, and it's relatively new. Some homebrew simply won't work because the homebrew doesn't know how to talk to the slot-1 card. This mostly applies to older homebrew, as newer ones can be recompiled with DLDI support so that almost all cards are supported.

Because it is a slot-1 device, you would be losing all GBA compatibility. You would also lose support for SnezziDS (like I mentioned earlier) and Goomba Color, which is the most capable GB/GBC emulator available. SnezziDS requires GBA-like access, which the RAM provides, while Goomba Color is a GBA application in and of itself. Also note that if you want to use DSLinux for any real usage, a slot-2 card with extra RAM is recommended, as DSLinux can use that extra RAM to prevent crashes that plague RAM-less versions.

[frosty-theaussie]

What about a M3 Lite + 1GB Kingston miniSD with the M3 DS Simply as a passcard? That way I'd have 1.5gb total. Would that be fine?

Thanks a lot with your help, I'm trying to find out which card combination would be best for my needs

[DanTheManMS]

the M3 Lite takes microSD cards, not miniSD. You could use the M3 DS as a passthrough, yes, but it would be cheaper to just get a NoPass device.

[frosty-theaussie]

the M3 Lite takes microSD cards, not miniSD. You could use the M3 DS as a passthrough, yes, but it would be cheaper to just get a NoPass device.

Ah yes my bad. According to BambooGaming though, NoPass devices are about $25, while the M3 DS Simply is $50 (in AUD) so there's not much of a price difference.

[DanTheManMS]

If the price difference doesn't matter to you, then by all means go for it. Both slot-1 cards and slot-2 ones have their own advantages and disadvantages, so it might be beneficial to get one of each. If you get the M3 Lite as well, then you can potentially use the same MicroSD card for both of them (though it would be difficult if you wanted to use both at the same time)

[frosty-theaussie]

If the price difference doesn't matter to you, then by all means go for it. Both slot-1 cards and slot-2 ones have their own advantages and disadvantages, so it might be beneficial to get one of each. If you get the M3 Lite as well, then you can potentially use the same MicroSD card for both of them (though it would be difficult if you wanted to use both at the same time)

Is it possible to use the M3 Simply as a passkey without it needing to have an SD disk in it?

Also, what homebrew solutions are you using, and are there any you can recommend?

[DanTheManMS]

I don't know if you can use it as a passthrough without a media card, sorry. My guess is that it isn't, but I could be wrong.

I'm personally using a slot-2 Supercard miniSD. It works well enough for my purposes. I especially use it for DSLinux and SnezziDS, so the additional RAM was a must for me. GBA compatibility isn't the greatest, but I've got an actual GBA flash cart for that, so I don't mind the issues it has. If I wanted high GBA compatibility I would have gotten an M3. Unlike the regular SD version, the miniSD sits flush inside my DS, which is nice when I want to use it as an mp3 player in my pocket.

As for recommendations, what matters is what you want to do with it. Slot-2 cards have GBA compatibility, slightly lower DS compatibility, and very good DS homebrew compatibility. Slot-1 cards have no GBA functionality at all, excellent DS compatibility, and average DS homebrew compatibility. Do you want to use DSLinux to use the DS's only two homebrew web browsers? Do you care about SNES emulation? Do you mind if it sticks out slightly from the DS?