Brand new to this, need help. Loads of questions.

[Falseblue]

I am brand new to the homebrew and emulating scene on the DS. So, I am asking for some help.

1) I need to be able to get the devices for Emulating in a BEst Buy or Circuit City.

So, which would be the best value for emulating;
Max Media Dock/Launcher/Player ( I do not nknow the difference) or the Games N Music?

2) How hard is it to enable or install the programs on the devices?

3) What exactly does DLDI do?

I think that is all.

[DanTheManMS]

While the Datel products are the only ones available offline, they are also among the worst homebrew devices available. If you absolutely must go with them however, get a Max Media Dock (the one where you supply your own CF card). The GnM does not have a DLDI file made for it at the moment, making it utterly useless for a large percentage of homebrew.

Again though, I'd highly recommend looking at the devices you can buy online.

Installing programs is as simple as plugging the media card into a card reader and copying files to it.

DLDI is basically a dynamic "filesystem access code" thing. Developers reserve a 32 kb segment in the program for filesystem access code, and you patch in the code for your specific device. This allows for the same homebrew program to run on any device that has DLDI support. As the GnM has no DLDI file, only homebrew that does not access the filesystem will work with it.

[Falseblue]

SO, Most likely I will be getting the Media dock. I see several variations of this from Datel. WHich do I need? The one with the Game Card that has the NoPass feature? Or just the dock that goes into slot 2?
Since SD cards are going down in price, that will be my best bet.

Now, my question is now, is there a NES, GB, and possibly a SNES emulator that can run on it?

Thanks for your help so far :thumbup:

Ill see how I like the whole idea of homebrew and such first, then maybe later get the R4.

[DanTheManMS]

You'll want the slot-2 Dock, which should come with a slot-1 NoPass device that may be labeled either "Max Media Player" or "Max Media Launcher". Both are the same device with different stickers, and it is needed to launch the MMD in DS mode.

You can use NES DS for NES, Lameboy for GB/GBC, and SNEmulDS for SNES. All three support DLDI, so they should work with the MMD.

[Falseblue]

You'll want the slot-2 Dock, which should come with a slot-1 NoPass device that may be labeled either "Max Media Player" or "Max Media Launcher". Both are the same device with different stickers, and it is needed to launch the MMD in DS mode.

You can use NES DS for NES, Lameboy for GB/GBC, and SNEmulDS for SNES. All three support DLDI, so they should work with the MMD.

Can I get one of them without any SD card or HDD in them, since I have already purchased a 2gig SD card. And, do I need the slot one card? Because If not, I will just get the dock for $20.

And, do the emulators support a rom select feature?

[DanTheManMS]

The SD card is gonna be worthless, as the MMD takes CF cards. The MMD itself should come without a CF card, while the Max Media Player (I know, conflicting name with the slot-1 card) has a built-in one, but I've heard that homebrew works better on the Dock where you supply the CF card yourself.

And yes, you need the slot-1 card in order to launch it in DS mode. The MMD can do absolutely nothing in GBA mode.

All three emulators I mentioned have a rom selection menu where you can browse to the *.nes or *.gb or *.gbc or *.smc file on your card (though in the case of SNEmulDS they must all be in a certain directory).

[Falseblue]

Meh. I will have to look into an R4 or M3.

Which is a good cheap one to get?

edit - >

Looks like the R4 is the better one, price and so. But now several questions...

1) It can run just about all the programs and emulators?

2) Can run DS backups natively?

3) Is it better to buy a flash cart for slot 2 and card, or just a microsd card? Does it matter?

[DanTheManMS]

1. It will run most homebrew that doesn't require GBA compatibility. You should be fine with most emulators though, as most have DLDI support.

2. We can't really talk about that on DCemu, sorry.

3. I'd suggest getting a slot-1 card for ease of use. You can still get a slot-2 card if you want, though you will need a slot-1 NoPass device to boot it into DS mode.

[Falseblue]

:thumbup: 1) Thanks.

2) I didnt say the "R" word

3) Alright, I will probably be picking up the R4 on Amazon then. And Ill stick with Slot 1 stuff for awhile.

OH, and I wasted $20 on the SD. Oh well, no big deal.

Two more questions before I make my purchase.

1) I dont need to flash my DS, right?

2) Will it affect my DS in anyway?

As you can tell, I like to know everything before I throw down around $70 for something

[DanTheManMS]

You don't need to flash, no. Flashing is a convenience for slot-2 users, as you no longer have to use the slot-1 NoPass device (except in the case of the MMD, which FlashMe cannot boot, so you must use the MML every time). With a slot-1 device, the only reasons to flash would be if you want to get rid of the health and safety warning screen and if you want protection from DS firmware brickers (which are extremely rare).

If you don't flash, it should not affect your DS in any way.