#36931 - dmgice - Thu Mar 03, 2005 10:47 pm
I own a website that deals with handhelds and I recently put up an article on the Nintendo DS Option Paks. It's essentially a bit on concepts and some of the known (or leaked) technical information. I was wondering if anyone had anything related to the Option Paks that I did not include in this editorial so I may be able to use it in the future, should I focus on Option Paks after I finish the current Editorial series. Any thoughts on my speculation? Also.. has anyone figured out the second header that tells the DS what KIND of Option Pak is inserted?
http://www.dmgice.com/library/iceblock/038.html
If anyone has any corrections on the technical part of it, please tell me. It is based a bit on what I have been able to gather about the Option Paks.
The previous two in that series dealt with DS games, and a little bit on the PSP/DS launches. There are other editorials up and some of them pre-date the DS revealing at E3 to the point that they are ironic. In fact, looking at Meteos, the Wario Ware Demo, and Jam with the Band.. this one is down right creepy.
http://www.dmgice.com/library/iceblock/025.html
Anyhow, please give me an opinion on the Option Pak article. Also, I think we need a sticky (something other than this post) to address information and speculation on Option Paks. I think that Option Paks are how Nintendo will seperate the DS from the GB line... and we need to band together our efforts to know how they work. I think that learning the Option Paks will be the final key to completely understanding the Nintendo DS. Nifi study is good, developing pass throughs and flash cards are also good; but I think Option Paks are where we should focus a little more effort currently.
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#36933 - tepples - Thu Mar 03, 2005 11:25 pm
I don't think Option Pak detection . I've read reports of flash carts returning "GBA game" after a good write and "Option Pak" after a bad write. Here's how I think the detection goes:
Open bus: no cart. GBC games would appear as "open bus" because they use a cart bus protocol similar to that used by GBA SRAM save and GBA flash save, not GBA ROM.
Valid header: GBA game.
Invalid header: DS option pak.
If you get the "option pak" message, try putting the card in the GBA and seeing whether the "Niиtendo" logo below GAME BOY is corrupted.
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#36939 - dmgice - Fri Mar 04, 2005 12:26 am
I thought it may have to do with the amount of power it drained.
I figured that the first thing the DS was looking for would be the energy output. When I put the Action Replay in my DS, it always detects it as an Option Pak, regardless of if a game is attached to it, if the game has SRAM, or if the Action Replay is switched to on or off. Putting a GBC or GB game on the Action Replay still keeps it as an Option Pak. However, putting a GBC or GB game with a removed case into the DS means the DS detects it as nothing.
If the AR is put in a normal GBA without a game, the GBA does not detect it. It has to have a GBA Pak attached to it to validate it. Attaching a GBC or GB game to it still is not enough to validate the AR to the GBA. (Well, because it's not putting out enough power to properly run GBC/GB games.)
My GBA Movie Player has only been detected as an Option Pak once. It turned out that it was not in the DS all the way. I have not been able to replicate the message on the DS with my GBA Movie Player since that one instance.
I have not run into any games that have been detected as Option Paks. If it is just the header, theoretically, a used game with dirty connectors would be detected as an Option Pak as well. If it is the header, we may need to try and replicate that by soiling or harming the connectors on a normal GBA Game Pak and then putting it in a DS. That would completely disprove that the DS is looking for a slightly increased power drain first. Thanks for the input though. :-) I want to increase discussion of the Option Paks. We need to do more experimenting!
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#36952 - RueGorE - Fri Mar 04, 2005 3:57 am
If you have a version 1 Movie Player Advance, insert it into a DS, set it to MOVIE, but do not insert a GBA pak to the Movie Player. The DS will detect it as an Option Pak.
Depending on how fast you power your DS off then back on, you should be able to boot the Movie Player without a GBA pak inserted!
So far, I have not been able to replicate the "rumble with alarm?" message...
#36955 - netdroid9 - Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:50 am
| RueGorE wrote: |
| So far, I have not been able to replicate the "rumble with alarm?" message... |
You do realise you need to wire a N64 rumble pak to the GBA slot to get that message :P
If someone with a passthrough wanted to try inserting a garbled header, and it was detected as a DS optione pak that would prove that option paks are detected via header. Even better, if that header enables the rumble-on-alarm setting then a logging program on the passthrough chip would probably turn out some very interesting results, possibly allowing development of rumble option paks... *Thinks of what whoever-runs-nintendo-now would think if option paks were developed before they were actually released*
#36961 - Sebbo - Fri Mar 04, 2005 7:28 am
| RueGorE wrote: |
| Depending on how fast you power your DS off then back on, you should be able to boot the Movie Player without a GBA pak inserted! |
that sounds like it detects power drain instead of the header to determin if its an option pack.
i achieved the "rumble with alarm" with my GBA Movie Player (version 2) as seen on www.movieadvance.com, but sadly i haven't replicated it yet :-(
#37012 - dmgice - Sat Mar 05, 2005 1:26 am
My theory is that it detects power drain first and then the headers.
I think the Option Paks may require more power drain for a reason.. like.. running a rumble motor through the power supply of the Nintendo DS instead of a seperate battery. Which would be strange... but it might be accurate.
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#37021 - dagamer34 - Sat Mar 05, 2005 3:20 am
| dmgice wrote: |
My theory is that it detects power drain first and then the headers.
I think the Option Paks may require more power drain for a reason.. like.. running a rumble motor through the power supply of the Nintendo DS instead of a seperate battery. Which would be strange... but it might be accurate. |
Most option packs would probably require more power, although I doubt it is constant like a flash cartridge.
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#37111 - eyeball226 - Mon Mar 07, 2005 12:30 pm
| Quote: |
| i haven't replicated it yet |
I get the Rumble with alarm message every time without fail with my trusty EZflash II PS.
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#37117 - dmgice - Mon Mar 07, 2005 3:39 pm
| Quote: |
| I get the Rumble with alarm message every time without fail with my trusty EZflash II PS. |
Does anyone else with this card get that specific message without fail as well? If not, could we ask you what you currently have on your card?
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#37122 - sandymac - Mon Mar 07, 2005 5:56 pm
| dmgice wrote: |
| Quote: | | I get the Rumble with alarm message every time without fail with my trusty EZflash II PS. |
Does anyone else with this card get that specific message without fail as well? If not, could we ask you what you currently have on your card? |
I get the rumble message every time with my 512Mb EZ-Flash II PowerStar. I have turned off the loader's boot image to speed time to the game list, other than that everything is the default setting.
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#37178 - eyeball226 - Tue Mar 08, 2005 2:21 pm
Same here. Extra words!
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