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DS Flash Equipment > Confusion regarding extensions (.nds, .gba, .nds.gba...)

#91938 - UncleSporky - Mon Jul 10, 2006 6:31 pm

I originally posted this in the Flash Equipment forum but it's more appropriate here and more likely to be seen besides. :P

I've got an M3-CF coming to me in a day or two and I've been trying to sort out how to get the thing to work as well as I can ahead of time. I've read lots of guides and stickies but I'm still having a hard time figuring out the extensions: which ones I'll use on M3-CF, how to convert between extensions, and also why all this messing around is necessary anyway.

I've read this guide for getting the Supercard to work, which seems nice and thorough...do the instructions also apply to the M3? Because if so, I might be taken care of. The only thing I wonder about is the bit about a *.sav file.

Plain .gba files meant for the GBA should be fine, correct? Just write them and it runs just as it would in an emulator, for example?

What confuses me is all the goings-on with .ds.gba, .nds.gba, .ds and .nds. Apparently I need to convert between them and/or rename them to .gba? Is .ds an outdated extension compared to .nds? Do the multiple extensions really matter, or are they actually just .gba files?

If anyone could offer me any help with this I'd be grateful. I'd be fine with just knowing the basics ("make everything .nds and you're fine") or a more detailed explanation of why the various formats are used would also be nice.

#91941 - dualscreenman - Mon Jul 10, 2006 6:38 pm

Here's a nice guide:
http://ndshb.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=27
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#91965 - UncleSporky - Mon Jul 10, 2006 9:01 pm

Awesome, I thought I'd looked everywhere, but I never saw that...that's the kind of explanation I wanted. Thanks!

Now, interpreting that...with my M3, I can use .gba files for GBA apps and .ds.gba files for DS apps. Correct? And I can convert .nds files to .ds.gba files by using that program that comes with the devkit?

Quote:
Generally, you use demos in .ds.gba format only if you put only one demo onto a GBA flashcart. If you want to put more than one demo and/or are forced to use a loader (WMB, GBAMP, ...) you use demos in .nds format.

This doesn't apply to me because I have an M3...? I can put a bunch of .ds.gba files on it and select one from the M3's loader?

#91973 - Sektor - Mon Jul 10, 2006 10:11 pm

UncleSporky wrote:

This doesn't apply to me because I have an M3...? I can put a bunch of .ds.gba files on it and select one from the M3's loader?


That's correct. Some .nds homebrew doesn't work correctly on M3 when started with the A button, so try the Start button instead (it's a different launch method).

.ds.gba can just be launched with A.
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#91974 - UncleSporky - Mon Jul 10, 2006 10:20 pm

Ah, so I can basically use any extension. Thanks so much, I think I'm ready for my M3 now. This forum is so helpful.

#92059 - MrD - Tue Jul 11, 2006 11:04 am

Also:

.sc.nds is usually a .ds.gba renamed for visibility on the Supercard NDS menu.
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#92092 - Mrshlee - Tue Jul 11, 2006 3:55 pm

MrD wrote:
Also:

.sc.nds is usually a .ds.gba renamed for visibility on the Supercard NDS menu.
sc.gba are someones patched for SC... not just renamed
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#92255 - MrD - Wed Jul 12, 2006 10:09 am

From what I can tell, the Supercard program (attempts to) produce a .sci and a .gba file. I think the .sci is a intermediate file that's not used for playing games, and the .gba file is the patched game.

I tried patching Blast Arena and the software said that the patching had failed, although it seems to be working fine. Either way, it's doubtful you'd find .sc.gba files 'in the wild'.
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#92323 - Lynx - Wed Jul 12, 2006 8:01 pm

Don't know anything about patching or .sc.gba files.. but for homebrew developers.. the output from DevkitARM is .nds, .ds.gba, and a .sc.nds file.
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