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[The Faceless Master]

well, before today, you needed special proprietary flashcarts from certain companies and specially hacked roms from their associates to pirate DS games...

not any more...

NDS Patcher v0.1 by ]{ain
-------------------------
This program will patch a normal (ie. not a GST release) rom to allow it to load from a GBA flash cart instead of the usual NDS card. It also attempts to patch the saving functions so that it can save on the flash cart's SRAM instead of using the NDS card's SRAM.

Usage :
ndspatch.exe [options]

If the programs doesn't fail (sometimes it can't find the code to patch on some older releases), you will have a new file with .gba appended to it. Just flash this file on a GBA flash cart and you're all set. Looking through the text on the console will also tell you if it patched the saving code. If it did not patch it, be warned that if you save your game, it will overwrite any game that you currently have in your NDS card slot.

Currently the only option available is -nosave, which will skip the save function patching. This is only present because some games do not work properly with it.

Note 1 : If you don't have a NDS card in your DS when you close the lid, it will start to rapidly go in and out of sleep mode. I believe it has todo with the card removal interrupt but haven't had time to fix it yet.

Note 2 : Some of the first generation of GBA flash cart are not fast enough and will result in your gaming crashing at random.

Castlevania note : This is the main reason I made this patcher. The game works flawlessy, I've played it completely without any glitches. For 32 megs card owners, it is possible to cut the file to exactly 32 megs. This will only cut part of the intro, so simply do not allow it to play wholly or the game will crash.

Source: uhh, dunno if i can actually link to the source, so i won't!

and apparently, you don't even need a Passme, the patcher works via Flashme too...

looks like Nintendo is back in the boat they were in with GBA...

well, okay, not the same boat, no emulators yet like GBA...

 

[Wario64]

looks like I'm buying a Nintendo DS tomorrow.

Spoiler

yeah right

 

[The Faceless Master]

looks like I'm buying a Nintendo DS tomorrow.

Spoiler

yeah right

you should already own one!

 

[Stryder]

This along with working ScummVM almost has me picking up one of these flash cart thingamajiggies.

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

I hope the PSP has another dry spell mid next year and the DS drops in price so I can pick one up. Then again, I might still be playing catch-up on PSP releases

But yeah, this is good news for those who cannot buy every single DS game, or would like to try imports.

 

[SantaC]

looks like I'm buying a Nintendo DS tomorrow.

Spoiler

yeah right

Spoiler

I know you will

 

[Juice]

looks like I'm buying a Nintendo DS tomorrow.

Spoiler

yeah right

Who the fuck doesn't have one yet?

 

[Ecrofirt]

Why don't they just work on releasing DS flash carts?

Or is that way too expensive to do?

 

[Stryder]

Well, this is a good solution for those that already have a GBA flash cart and don't want to fork out the money for a new NDS one.

 

[DDayton]

Hmm... I just got a GBA Flash cart and a PassMe cart from a local guy -- I was using it to play with homebrew stuff. Now I'm curious as to whether or not this thing would work. However, I'd need illegal files to test it, and that's a bit out of my bounds.

At least piracy on the GBA (user, not company level) is still a bit more unusual than it is on some consoles.

 

[Matlock]

At least piracy on the GBA (user, not company level) is still a bit more unusual than it is on some consoles.

:lol

 

[DDayton]

:lol

Eh. Do you think there have been more GBA Flash carts sold or PS2/Xbox systems "chipped"? I'm always hearing about guys that are modding their systems for piracy... GBA flash carts seem much more niche.

 

[Vennt]

Who the fuck doesn't have one yet?

Me.

 

[Jewbacca]

That pirate has a ghetto booty... man thats hot.

 

[antispin]

Eh. Do you think there have been more GBA Flash carts sold or PS2/Xbox systems "chipped"? I'm always hearing about guys that are modding their systems for piracy... GBA flash carts seem much more niche.

Where I come from, it is impossible to find an original GBA cart. IMPOSSIBLE. Which is why I was glad that the DS hadn't been cracked yet. But this isn't as bad as piracy on the GBA, because of physical cart differences -- i.e. it is still impossible to use a DS size cart carrying a ROM downloaded from the net, with a DS.

 

[poppin fresh]

What format is the DS cart?
Is it infact an SD or something?
And what is the general capacity on them so far?

 

[isamu]

This is really cool. By the way, what is the status on the DS emu?


Also....any word on a "DS player" type gadget for your TV?

 

[antispin]

What format is the DS cart?
Is it infact an SD or something?
And what is the general capacity on them so far?

It's a proprietary solid-state card, flash memory.

 

[dark10x]

For 32 megs card owners, it is possible to cut the file to exactly 32 megs. This will only cut part of the intro, so simply do not allow it to play wholly or the game will crash.

Wha? That pixelated intro video takes up THAT much space? :\

I appreciated them including such a thing, but to suck up half of the available memory...

 

[Scrow]

Who the fuck doesn't have one yet?

*raises hand*



Waiting for the inevitable DS upgrade that Nintendo will bring out. Sleeker and smaller.

I'm expecting it next year anywhere between August to October.

 

[Rayven]

*raises hand*
Waiting for the inevitable DS upgrade that Nintendo will bring out. Sleeker and smaller.
I'm expecting it next year anywhere between August to October.

it's your perogative if you want to wait, but first of all, it's only $100 and by the time a DS-SP comes out (which won't be till holiday 2006 at the earliest) you'll have missed out on well over a dozen fun games.

Back on topic, I'm eager to get in on some of the homebrew gearing up on the DS. That SCUMM emu project is killer.

BTW, for the record, I agree that the DS is a brick ergonomically and aesthetically.

 

[blahness]

looks like it will be doing flash me on my second DS tonight if SCUMMVM is working off of flashcarts

 

[Bigfonzie]

the pirates never lose arggh!

 

[shuri]

I think you still need to flash your firmware for this to work

 

[Vennt]

it's your perogative if you want to wait, but first of all, it's only $100 and by the time a DS-SP comes out (which won't be till holiday 2006 at the earliest) you'll have missed out on well over a dozen fun games.

Back on topic, I'm eager to get in on some of the homebrew gearing up on the DS. That SCUMM emu project is killer.

BTW, for the record, I agree that the DS is a brick ergonomically and aesthetically.

How can you "miss out" on games by buying a piece of hardware later?

I only bought a GBA:SP just before the summer and have managed to pick up just about every title I was interested in from it's back catalogue, and most at a bargain price too. (Some new but at clearnce prices, some used.)

I can't see why Scrow won't be able to the same with the DS.

 

[Scrow]

it's your perogative if you want to wait, but first of all, it's only $100

it's $180 AUD here in Australia. That's actually a really good price and I can afford it, I just wanted to make the correction ;P

by the time a DS-SP comes out (which won't be till holiday 2006 at the earliest)

The space between the GBA and GBASP coming out was close to 21 months. If the trend was to repeat itself for the DS that would put a DS upgrade anywhere between August to October.

you'll have missed out on well over a dozen fun games.

Most will still be sold in stores brand new or second hand. Getting any of those games wont be a problem.

Which brings me to my next point. There's currently nothing on the DS that I absolutely must have. There are a few that'd be nice to have right now, but I can wait. If Metroid Dread came out tomorrow however... I'd buy a DS in a snap.

 

[Rayven]

How can you "miss out" on games by buying a piece of hardware later?

I only bought a GBA:SP just before the summer and have managed to pick up just about every title I was interested in from it's back catalogue, and most at a bargain price too. (Some new but at clearnce prices, some used.)

I can't see why Scrow won't be able to the same with the DS.

I didnt mean he'd miss out on them indefinately. That doesn't make any sense. ;P
I was talking about him not playing games till they've been out for a year or so.

Which brings me to my next point. There's currently nothing on the DS that I absolutely must have.

That's an argument I understand. I intend to have a lot of fun with the DS this Fall into next year, but I spose not everyone will dig those titles.

As for the August-Oct release, I'm sure you're right re: the time between GBA and GBA SP, but I see them using the DS SP as a stop gap release during a slow time and not during the Rev launch, but I could be wrong.

 

[Danj]

Who the fuck doesn't have one yet?

Me. I'm waiting for this European price drop that's supposedly happening this month (Australia got one, so we ought to be getting one too).

 

[Kiriku]

This is really cool. By the way, what is the status on the DS emu?


Also....any word on a "DS player" type gadget for your TV?

Heh, I dunno...how are you going to use the touchscreen if you play it on a TV? I mean, you need to see where you're pointing the stylus to actually play, right?
But maybe you could use the Rev controller instead though.

 

[Scrow]

As for the August-Oct release, I'm sure you're right re: the time between GBA and GBA SP, but I see them using the DS SP as a stop gap release during a slow time and not during the Rev launch, but I could be wrong.

Rev will probably launch at some point in November, so it makes sense to release the DS-SP several months before the Rev's launch so that it doesn't eat into its sales. With that in mind the DS-SP could even come out before August, but somehow I doubt it. My birthday is in July so it'd be perfect ^_^

 

[Stevek211]

Can anyone hook me up with a link for this?

 

[Ecrofirt]

Where I come from, it is impossible to find an original GBA cart. IMPOSSIBLE. Which is why I was glad that the DS hadn't been cracked yet. But this isn't as bad as piracy on the GBA, because of physical cart differences -- i.e. it is still impossible to use a DS size cart carrying a ROM downloaded from the net, with a DS.

so why is it impossible?

 

[Matlock]

Eh. Do you think there have been more GBA Flash carts sold or PS2/Xbox systems "chipped"? I'm always hearing about guys that are modding their systems for piracy... GBA flash carts seem much more niche.

Piracy of GBA is far more widespread than that of consoles due to the fact that PC emulation iof them is possible on most modern PCs, so then you're dealing with not only flashcarts (which are almost impossible to track) but also a piracy scene that rivals that of the 8-16 bit consoles.

 

[The Faceless Master]

so why is it impossible?

probably because all the stores there sell bootlegs... some places are like that...

 

[krypt0nian]

so why is it impossible?

He lives in Booty Bay. Fucking Goblins!