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Post by fatty on May 5, 2008 12:50:52 GMT -5
Looks like oldskoolboarder is the resident expert on all things DS homebrew. After doing some research and looking at past threads in here I'm pretty close to jumping on the DS homebrew scene but I still have so many questions. Here's what I'd be using it for (in order of usage):
DS games without a cartridge - DS games are relatively small but it would be nice to have a nice assortment to choose from on the memory card without having to worry about losing an actual game cartridge (every once in a while I'll forget to put my DS away and my little boy will open the DS case while I'm at work and proceed to wreck havoc). Is it possible to rip your DS games to the memory card like it is with hacked PSPs? I'm thinking it might be a little more difficult since you're not simply burning a disc, and there is also the issue with existing game saves as well.
GBA games without a cartridge - This is also huge because I have so many GBA games that are sitting and collecting dust because they're not as "portable" and don't fit as nicely in my DS case. Pretty much have the same questions as for the DS games. From doing a little research it appears that if I want 'perfect' emulation that I will need a slot 2 3in1 passthru cart that allows GBA emulation, rumble and extra RAM? Is the GBA emulator on the cart for slot 1 not up to par? And why the need for extra RAM?
Playing SNES, Genesis, NES games - How well do these emulators run and which are the recommended ones? The PSP is awesome but as a SNES emulator it really doesn't run that well, I'm hoping the SNES emulator for the DS is better.
Playing Homebrew - I'd like to find something that supports the majority of homebrew but currently this is my lowest priority. Right now I'd just like to find a way to play my current library in a nice and small convenient package, but I want the games to run nicely. I'm currently playing Earthbound for the first time on my PSP and it plays decent but I'm tempted to just play it on the SNES because the emulation on the PSP isn't as smooth as I would have hoped. But from reading around there are some cool homebrew games/apps that I would also definitely like to try out.
I'm guessing that I will need to get a microSD card and can't just use the extra SD card that I have. From reading an older thread, oldskool recommended Supercard but quite a bit of time has passed since then and now I'm hearing great things about Cyclos and other newer cards. I'm just so overwhelmed with all of the different programs, versions, etc. and some of the tutorials that I've been able to find are pretty outdated.
Anyone have any advice on what I should be looking at purchasing? Thanks!
By the way, if anyone has any questions about PSP homebrew I'd be more than happy to help out. I'm not an expert but I'm much more familiar with it and if you have a PSP I would definitely recommend you modding it.
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Post by Jincman on May 5, 2008 13:05:55 GMT -5
For DS homebrew/Hack . . . you can go either with the R4 card or the newer CycloDS card . . . both of these are fairly common. I actually bought my R4 card on Amazon market place.
As far as ROMs go . . . it would be easier to do a search for the game you need and the world rapidshare and see what you come up with. I don't know that there is an easy way to 'rip' your own games.
I don't have a DBA passthru card . . . so I will leave that to someone else to speak to.
As far as an SNES emu for the DS . . . they are not very good. Sorry.
You should definitely move your Earthbound game to the SNES . . . way better way to play it.
I honestly don't use much homebrew on my DS . . . I basically use it for what you stated. I just like to have a dozen or so games on one little card.
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Post by oldskoolboarder on May 5, 2008 13:17:29 GMT -5
Great, we can trade w/ PSP homebrew info. Mine is still at 1.5 f/w. I want to run "newer" firmware so that I can play some of my games that just won't work w/ 1.5. I have Katamari which needs 2.6 IIRC. I'd also like, if possible, to use some of the latest PS3 download features to play around w/ controlling the PS3 w/ my PSP. I know it's there if I have the latest updates, but I want to still be able to keep it at 1.5. I'm also open to upgrading to newer f/w if I can still go back to 1.5.
OK, now for DS suggestions. I have an R4 card. I used to have a Supercard Lite but that required patching the ROMs to work. With the R4, you don't need patching, you just use the .NDS ROM. It also can play NES ROMs. I "think" you can use the SNES but haven't tried, you may need another program to do that. I also use Moonshell to allow me to watch DPG movies, view text files (like DS walkthroughs), and play MP3 files. I also have a comic viewer but now that I started reading actual graphic novels, I haven't touched this much. The R4 uses micro SD but it has a 2GB limit, my card holds up to 40 games, depends on the size of the ROM. DS ROMs can be up to 128MB, NES are about 1MB. Sadly, the R4 doesn't support GBA.
The R4 seems hard to get now, even in China/Taiwan. The new solution is the TT though I don't know much about it. You might want to research that one just to make sure you are future proofed. I've heard of Cyclos but don't know much about it.
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Post by fatty on May 5, 2008 13:18:13 GMT -5
Thanks for the help, Jincman. Just came across a link that shows how to dump your DS games: www.teamcyclops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1942Supposed to be pretty easy but it takes forever. You'll probably right about just finding the games by alternative methods. That's disappointing to read about the SNES emulation. It's just soooo much more convenient to sneak in a few minutes of gametime laying on the bed at the end of the night, and 'save states' are my new friends. (BTW, I wonder if my battery still works on that Earthbound SNES cart?)
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Post by oldskoolboarder on May 5, 2008 13:19:29 GMT -5
BTW, you can PM/email me for other info. I don't trust the trolls that might be working for the "man", if you catch my drift.
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Post by fatty on May 5, 2008 13:42:34 GMT -5
Great, we can trade w/ PSP homebrew info. Mine is still at 1.5 f/w. I want to run "newer" firmware so that I can play some of my games that just won't work w/ 1.5. I have Katamari which needs 2.6 IIRC. I'd also like, if possible, to use some of the latest PS3 download features to play around w/ controlling the PS3 w/ my PSP. I know it's there if I have the latest updates, but I want to still be able to keep it at 1.5. I'm also open to upgrading to newer f/w if I can still go back to 1.5. OK, now for DS suggestions. I have an R4 card. I used to have a Supercard Lite but that required patching the ROMs to work. With the R4, you don't need patching, you just use the .NDS ROM. It also can play NES ROMs. I "think" you can use the SNES but haven't tried, you may need another program to do that. I also use Moonshell to allow me to watch DPG movies, view text files (like DS walkthroughs), and play MP3 files. I also have a comic viewer but now that I started reading actual graphic novels, I haven't touched this much. The R4 uses micro SD but it has a 2GB limit, my card holds up to 40 games, depends on the size of the ROM. DS ROMs can be up to 128MB, NES are about 1MB. Sadly, the R4 doesn't support GBA. The R4 seems hard to get now, even in China/Taiwan. The new solution is the TT though I don't know much about it. You might want to research that one just to make sure you are future proofed. I've heard of Cyclos but don't know much about it. Cool! I'll need to do a little more research at home (that's where all of my bookmarked links are) but I'm 99.999% sure that you'll be able to downgrade to 1.5 if you ever need to. I know that is the case with my version but I want to confirm it is with the latest one as well. With the current custom firmwares (CFW), there are two folders that you can run programs under. One for your current CFW homebrew and a folder for CFW 1.5 homebrew, but a lot of homebrew written previously for 1.5 has been revised and now works with updated CFW so there's really no reason to need to switch to 1.5 anymore, but it's still there if you need it. When I upgraded to CFW 2.71 M33-4, I had to install a small patch to make Remote Play work but I believe it is now standard with the latest CFW, I'll make sure to check. Since you're at 1.5 it is going to be super easy to upgrade you. There's just so much info out there in so many different places, it took me a while to gather it all when I was upgrading way back when. ----- Oh and I got ya.
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Post by oldskoolboarder on May 5, 2008 15:32:04 GMT -5
Wow, interesting that it's much easier to backup your NDS carts. You used to have buy a special reader. Good link.
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Post by fatty on May 5, 2008 23:08:31 GMT -5
If anyone is interested in modding their PSP and wanted to find out a little more about the different terms and what's involved I recommend: Blast Processing's PSP Hacking GuideIt pulls a lot of the information from different websites into one place and does a good job of explaining it in easy to understand terms. I wish I had something like this when I was first modding my PSP. One thing to note is that it says you'll need a "Pandora" battery (a battery modified to act as a Sony Service Battery) but you'll only need this if you have the newer slim model PSPs (or some of the higher f/w phats). Guide for installing custom firmware on a fat PSP with official Sony 1.5 firmwareIf anyone has any questions feel free to ask them here or send me a PM. As a quick summary, the steps that will be taken are: Official 1.5 firmware flashed to 3.52 M33 custom firmware 3.52 M33 upgraded to 3.52 M33-4 (version 4 of the CFW) 3.52 M33-4 flashed to 3.90 M33 3.90 M33 upgraded to 3.90 M33-3 (version 3 is the latest) Install 1.5v2 kernel (for playing 1.5 homebrew) Install fatmspatch.zip (improves memory stick performance) It might seem like a quite a bit of work but it's pretty easy. The reason why you can't go straight to 3.90 M33 is that 3.52 M33 is needed as a starting spot for the later M33 custom firmwares. You'll also notice that you can just install the latest update to the custom firmware as the latest revision includes all of the previous ones. (i.e. 3.52 M33-4 includes updates from 3.52 M33-2 and 3.52 M33-3) Now on to actually installing the firmware. I'd recommend using the following website links for reference: M33 Firmwares for noobs by Demonchild BCMan's Quick Guide for New UsersThe first link has a nice easy installer that makes upgrading to 2.52 M33 a piece of cake. It also goes into great detail about the features of the firmware but for upgrading you'll only need the first section. I'll basically just copy and paste the applicable parts for upgrading from a 1.5 firmware but I recommend reading over them beforehand to make sure it makes sense.
Note:You will need the Sony update Eboots to install any custom firmware. Get them 'here' (not needed for 3.52 M33 since the easy installer link has the eboot included -fatty)A. To get on M33 firmware, you must be currently on either 1.50, 2.71, any OE/SE/LE firmwares, or previous M33 firmwares. If you aren't on these firmwares, you must downgrade/upgrade to any of these firmwares. That is another story. If you need help, SEARCH!!
Note:If you are installing any firmware past 3.60 M33 you MUST UPGRADE first to 3.52 M33, and then 3.52 M33-3 to be allowed to upgrade. The only way to bypass this is to use Despertar Cementerio which requires a Pandora battery. (There is no Pandora-style install for 3.90 M33 yet.)Now installing M33 firmware is another story. It is easy if you know what you're doing. Thanks to Calo, you can give yourself, and the rest of us some peace. Download his easy installers for 3.52 M33 (Phat Only), and install it onto that mobo of yours. If you are on 2.71, you will need an unpatched GTA:LCS UMD to run HEN-D. (not applicable to 1.5 -fatty)Download3.52 M33 Update 4Read the 'readme.txt' in each of these archives. It has clear-cut instructions on how to get the 3.52 M33 Installer on your PSP.[/blockquote] Make sure to read the readme.txt and run 'kxploitpatcher' since you are on 1.5. Also very important: Do not turn the PSP off or take the memory stick out while flashing is in progress. The M33 Update 4 is pretty simple, just take a look at the readme.txt. No need to worry about bricking since you are just updating and not flashing. Now you should be at 3.52 M33-4. I'm going to take a break right here as I want to make sure I know about all of the changes since 3.71 M33-4 (which I am currently on) and 3.90 M33-3 (the latest out there). That and it's pretty late but I'll keep updating this thread.
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Post by oldskoolboarder on May 6, 2008 0:30:36 GMT -5
Suhweet. Damn you, you just committed a few hours of my life, possibly even this week to this...
Couple of questions. You listed several revs from his thread. Does that mean I have flash each of these in order to get 3.9 on my 1.5 f/w or can I just jump to Step 4?
Step 1: Official 1.5 firmware flashed to 3.52 M33 custom firmware Step 2: 3.52 M33 upgraded to 3.52 M33-4 (version 4 of the CFW) Step 3: 3.52 M33-4 flashed to 3.90 M33 Step 4: 3.90 M33 upgraded to 3.90 M33-3 (version 3 is the latest)
Will I be able to go back to 1.5 or does this method just allow me to have a 1.5 "mode"?
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Post by fatty on May 6, 2008 8:52:11 GMT -5
You will have to do all four steps. With the latest M33 custom firmwares, you'll need to at least start from 3.52 M33-3/4 (in this case we are using update 4) as a foundation before you can get the latest ones. But as soon as you get 3.52 M33-4 you can make the jump to any M33 CFW higher than it.
Just a note, you will only actually be flashing your PSP two times (3.52 M33 and 3.90 M33). The update to each of these firmwares is just an easy install, no flashing required. I know there is quite a bit to read but I just want to be thorough (probably too much so). The actual download and install time to get to 3.52 M33-4 as mentioned in the post above will probably only take about 10 minutes.
Yes, you are able to get back to 1.50 but it depends on which CFW you have installed:
There's a recovery file for 3.71 M33 CFW and there is a recovery file for 3.52 M33 and below (both of these are only for the fat PSPs as the slims can't go to 1.50). There are not recovery files for 3.80 M33 and 3.90 M33...yet. If you're curious for more info check the BCMan link, about 3/4 down the first post, or it might be a bit easier to do a search in the thread for "RECOVERY FILES:".
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Post by oldskoolboarder on May 6, 2008 16:08:48 GMT -5
So I run these in this order?
1) M33 3.52 Installation Noob Proof installing from SE-OE-m33.exe.zip 2) CFW3.52-M33-Update-4.zip
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Post by fatty on May 6, 2008 16:45:49 GMT -5
Yep. I believe it says it on the readme.txt but make sure the PSP is charged up all the way and plugged in when flashing.
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Post by fatty on May 7, 2008 13:48:07 GMT -5
Well, decided to take the plunge. Purchased a CycloDS Evolution along with a 3 in 1 expansion pack to play GBA games. Total for both along with shipping was $80. (Ouch) I'll post impressions when I get it.
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Post by Jincman on May 7, 2008 13:58:07 GMT -5
Very nice!!
I'm sure you will enjoy it as much as I do . . . so no worries.
Jay
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Post by oldskoolboarder on May 7, 2008 15:38:23 GMT -5
Crap, I misstated. I have 2.00 installed. What should I do now?
I actually did the 3.52 M33 Full Installation. I couldn't see where the kxploitpatcher was so I looked at my f/w version. I noticed it was 2.00. Somehow I recall that I may have done that because I wanted to stop before 2.01.
Do I have to downgrade to 1.5 first then upgrade? I can upgrade from here? If so, what method should I use? Hope you're not wishing I asked now...
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Post by oldskoolboarder on May 7, 2008 15:59:45 GMT -5
I found some downgraders. I'll get it to 1.5 first and go from there.
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Post by oldskoolboarder on May 7, 2008 16:00:07 GMT -5
suffice to say, aint shit getting done at work today...
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Post by oldskoolboarder on May 7, 2008 17:17:17 GMT -5
Crap. I tried the downgrader w/ MPH but the tiff doesn't run. I don't get the garbage screen before getting to the 1.5 f/w downgrade part.
PLUS, the tiff wouldn't copy on my Windows Parallels file because my damn IT dept locked the virus checker and it recognizes the TIF file. Gotta love OSX...
Then I tried a full downgrader that copies everything. Of course the virus checker stopped that. DAMMIT. Now I have to dig out my old laptop w/ no virus protection to even get this started.
Oh why did I ask this in the first place...
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Post by fatty on May 7, 2008 19:05:16 GMT -5
Whew, I'm glad you found the downgrader instead of going straight to 3.52 M33 since you're at 2.00. Which fulldowngrader (and from which link) are you using?
I'll look into how to get you down to 1.5 from 2.0. I think my brother was around the same firmware and we had to go the Lumines route but I'll check into it.
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Post by oldskoolboarder on May 7, 2008 19:25:36 GMT -5
I'm gonna start with the 2.00-1.50 Downgrader I found on psp-hacks. I still can't the .TIFF to blank the screen, it just sits there. W/o that, I can't run the 1.5 downgrader.
If that doesn't work, I may need to find some other, more intense/manual methods. OR, upgrade to 2.x and then go back again. Sheesh...
Not familiar with the Lumines trick.
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