#108757 - geminiwave - Sat Nov 11, 2006 10:21 pm
So this guy has been working on making this homebrew game for DS. It promises to be a fantastic game because well...its a port. Its for Cave Story (if any of you haven't played this game, it is QUITE fun)
in any case I know my brother is going to want it like...REALLY BADLY. But heres the deal. he refuses to use a nopass device or a gba slot solution...you know basically anything that would ensure that he could play this game. He is quite paranoid (he wont get integrated wireless on his laptop because hes afraid that someone could hack the on\off switch on the wireless card and break into his computer. yes THAT paranoid).
Anyway so I thought it'd be a nice gift for him if I just wrote the game to a standard DS card. I had thought that someone figured out how to do this on the metroid prime demo cards but I can't find any info on it anymore. Is it possible to flash commercial DS cards?
#108768 - tepples - Sun Nov 12, 2006 12:01 am
There is a rewritable DS card called DS-Xtreme, but it's expensive.
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#108771 - geminiwave - Sun Nov 12, 2006 12:30 am
no I meant just rewriting a commercial card. something that doesnt have a boot loader or anything complicated. it just loads automatically.
and I dont need much memory. its just 4Mb.
I know that some people had used the metroid demo cart to flash stuff before. I just wanted to know if that was still viable.
#108774 - tepples - Sun Nov 12, 2006 12:45 am
| geminiwave wrote: |
| no I meant just rewriting a commercial card. |
You can't, for the same reason that you can't overwrite a CD-R.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#108780 - geminiwave - Sun Nov 12, 2006 1:11 am
that doesnt really make sense. they put a flash memory chip into those things. Even if it is an EEPROM thats still rewritable. CD-Rs are not rewritable because you've burned a laser into the ink on the CD-R...but that is not how silicon chips work.
Well I guess nobody here knows about this. Its possible it requires special hardware that is not widely available.
Oh well thanks for your help.
#108782 - tepples - Sun Nov 12, 2006 1:13 am
| geminiwave wrote: |
| that doesnt really make sense. they put a flash memory chip into those things. Even if it is an EEPROM thats still rewritable. |
DS Game Cards are not EEPROM. They are either mask ROM or OTP (one time programmable) memory.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#108792 - geminiwave - Sun Nov 12, 2006 3:03 am
I wonder if theres a way to construct a PCB that would work in slot 1...bah then again thats probably more work than just getting a ninjapass or something small.
#108841 - HyperHacker - Sun Nov 12, 2006 8:18 am
Official game cartridges for pretty much every game console ever are either ROM (not modifyable at all, the data is hardwired) or OTP (One-Time Programmable, only modifyable once which is used to put the game in). You could do as people often do with older consoles and build a cartridge with flash ROM or replace a game's ROM with flash, but given the DS cards' size, buying one is probably much easier.
Or just tell him to stop being so freaking paranoid.
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#108848 - geminiwave - Sun Nov 12, 2006 8:59 am
that I've already done...theres just no way to convince him.
now what do you mean about buying that card...do you mean just buy like a flash card like a ds-x or ninja pass? or is there a way of buying a vanilla DS card and write to it?
Basically if I do set something up I dont want any boot loader on it or anything...I want it to just directly load the game. Cause then if I DO get something like a ninja pass I can just stick a sticker over it and it'll look like a DS-card and he'll not whine.
#108865 - biohazard_star - Sun Nov 12, 2006 2:18 pm
Why the heck is your brother so paranoid about flashcards anyway? I mean, the only way you can get a virus that will destroy your DS is if you download commercial ROMS on unsafe PP2P2P2PP2P stuff. Homebrew does not contain virus and stuff. The chances of you getting a virus on your DS is like 1 in 100000. And once you flash the DS, a safety mechanism is installed and you can use the recovery firmware feature to reinstall your firmware. Comparing using homebrew on a DS with shopping online is a remarkably stupid thing.
If he still isn't convince then this is what I think you should do.
Buy a Supercard Lite, flash his DS, and load the game. Do not let him know that he's using a flashcard. Once he enjoys the game and stuff, reveal to him that he's using a flashcard and that it's safe. It's like pushing someone down a waterslide when they're a bit nervous and after the ride they find out it's actually fun.
If your brother is still not convinced then he's incredibly ghey. Sorry, I just had to say it. Even my father who's an online-paranoid person isn't paranoid with the use of flashcards. o_o
[minor edit by MOD]
#108866 - OOPMan - Sun Nov 12, 2006 2:23 pm
Psssst, no talk about that stuff Biohazard...
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#108874 - tepples - Sun Nov 12, 2006 3:49 pm
What you could do is start a company, get an office, sell some titles for Microsoft Windows to gain experience, get permission from the Cave Story developer, and become a Nintendo licensee. That's the legit way to get the game onto a real DS Game Card.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#108877 - Devil_Spawn - Sun Nov 12, 2006 4:23 pm
| geminiwave wrote: |
(he wont get integrated wireless on his laptop because hes afraid that someone could hack the on\off switch on the wireless card and break into his computer. yes THAT paranoid). |
the only way you could do d that is with a finger 0.o
Scenario1: guy wants to make money, so he buys 100 copys of some really cheap game, writes an expensive game to it, sticks a sticker on, then markets it for a ?20/$40 profit.
Scenario2: ingame bug gets through beta testing stage, which isntead of saving writes to the ds game card, massive amount of recalls and game company makes huge losses on game
this is why they are ds ROMS [READ ONLY memory]
#108884 - geminiwave - Sun Nov 12, 2006 5:23 pm
Sorry. First scenario is unlikely because the more expensive games are usually much larger. buying a cheaper game really wouldn't help you out much.
The second scenario is also not really likely because it'd be easy to make the DS not be able to write to the sector where the game is written. You'd need a DS card burner of sorts...
Anyway the point is that I am unable to write to a DS card which is what I was hoping for. My next best options are trying to build one myself (somehow i'm betting this is extremely difficult and not the best idea) or buy a really cheap slot one solution (cheap in the relative sense. probably go with the low-memory ninjapass) and figure out how to force Cave Story DS to auto boot instead of going to the ninja pass's OS.
Thanks for your help guys!
edit: and biohazard...i know for a fact hes not flashing his DS. I havent flashed mine yet either (good thing too since the hinge cracked...that suckers going back to nintendo next week). I actually have some concerns about flashing so I KNOW he will have tons of concerns. Fact is that he is very much a game nazi. Everything has to be pure. the game must be in pure commercial format. Now if this was all about supporting the companies and such then I would say thats a noble and fair way to be...but no. He has little care for such things. No his fear is that l33t h4x0rz will find a way to destroy his precious things. its paranoia. unreasonable and inconsolable. All I can do is find something that looks legitimate.
The sad thing is that if I write it to a commercial card, he says thats okay. Whats the difference?!?!? Bah.
and yes hes kinda a dumbass.. though I wouldnt go so far as to insult the "ghey" community by pigeonholing him into that group.
#108886 - Devil_Spawn - Sun Nov 12, 2006 5:38 pm
it doesnt matter what you think of the scenarios, it is enough to convince nintendo to make their carts read only, plus what reason would nintendo have of them no being read only
the fact is they are read only and you cant change that
also teh only auto-booting device is a hacked gbamp
either: he gets a flashcart/flashlinker, or he doesnt play the game he wants to
#108890 - Dwedit - Sun Nov 12, 2006 6:35 pm
| geminiwave wrote: |
| So this guy has been working on making this homebrew game for DS. It promises to be a fantastic game because well...its a port. Its for Cave Story |
As far as I know, the only developer with Pixel's permission to port Cave Story is the guy who's working on a GBA port, not a DS port. This was started in march, and it's a free-time homebrew thing, so I don't expect to see lots of progress.
Edit: DAH, the project switched to DS while I wasn't looking :)
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#108912 - Sektor - Mon Nov 13, 2006 12:30 am
| Devil_Spawn wrote: |
also teh only auto-booting device is a hacked gbamp
|
The DS-X has an option to instant boot the last .nds file you ran (can be skipped by holding A during boot). At around $120 though, the guy better seriously like Cave Story.
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#108915 - HyperHacker - Mon Nov 13, 2006 12:56 am
Nintendo uses mask ROMs because they're cheaper than any rewriteable solution, plain and simple.
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I'm a PSP hacker now, but I still <3 DS.
#108935 - geminiwave - Mon Nov 13, 2006 9:17 am
| Devil_Spawn wrote: |
it doesnt matter what you think of the scenarios, it is enough to convince nintendo to make their carts read only, plus what reason would nintendo have of them no being read only
the fact is they are read only and you cant change that
also teh only auto-booting device is a hacked gbamp
either: he gets a flashcart/flashlinker, or he doesnt play the game he wants to |
hey hey no need to be touchy. I already said that its moot. if I cant write to them I cant write to them. plain as that.
| Dwedit wrote: |
| geminiwave wrote: | | So this guy has been working on making this homebrew game for DS. It promises to be a fantastic game because well...its a port. Its for Cave Story |
As far as I know, the only developer with Pixel's permission to port Cave Story is the guy who's working on a GBA port, not a DS port. This was started in march, and it's a free-time homebrew thing, so I don't expect to see lots of progress.
Edit: DAH, the project switched to DS while I wasn't looking :) |
yea and his progress is pretty good. Last I heard the game should be finished pretty soon. though it seems like not much has been done (just maps and music stuff written) my understanding is that most of the hard stuff is done. theres just some tedious stuff left to do.
oh and theres one other authorized port. The one done by Variant turns out to be legit. I guess the rumors flew around cause someone emailed Pixel about it, and since Pixel's English isn't so good he basically said he had no idea what the guy was talking about...in the literal sense. big misunderstanding.
its pretty cool that an indie game designer is getting his game published.
#108950 - biohazard_star - Mon Nov 13, 2006 12:33 pm
Nintendo doesn't actually run tests to see if your firmware is authentic. You can go ahead and flash your ds with flashme stealth and they won't even notice! :D
#108980 - geminiwave - Mon Nov 13, 2006 8:57 pm
| biohazard_star wrote: |
| Nintendo doesn't actually run tests to see if your firmware is authentic. You can go ahead and flash your ds with flashme stealth and they won't even notice! :D |
I'm a tad nervous about doing that. what if they DO start checking firmware?
besides the passme device works just fine. Though if I see a rash of bricked DSes I will seriously consider flashing mine.