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DS Flash Equipment > What Equipment is needed for DS/GBA Homebrews on a DS?

#50181 - NekoIncardine - Sat Aug 06, 2005 7:54 am

Basically, I've tried looking all over the place to figure out what equipment I need to play (and, possibly in the future, create) homebrew works on my Nintendo DS, and so far, no sites I have found have had consistent expenations (this has included looking through a couple different forums.)

My computer is a very nice top-of-the-line machine, but does not have wireless support available currently (our house network is wired and we have not seen a significant reason to switch). I have a standard (used but complete - including Metroid Prime Hunters demo) Nintendo DS, and don't wish to sacrifice the ability to play standard GBA and DS games (I'm not sure if this means DSLinux/WinS is not an option or if it is - using my DS as a personal organizer with these would kick ass). Other than that, the more homebrews that are compatible the better (and being able to play and backup commercial GBA ROMs would be nice as well).

That said, what equipment brands do you recommend I get?

As far as I know, I need:
* A GBA Flash Card - and there's lots of them out there, some of which are compatible with the DS and some of which aren't.
* A PassMe Adapter - near as I can tell, this (combined with a DS cartridge) validates the games stored in the GBA flash card as DS games, allowing you to run DS homebrews. Is this explenation accurate?
* A USB-based GBA cartridge reader/writer - For actually getting the games onto the Flash Cards.

Are there any other items I particularly need?

I'm on a reasonable budget (I'd rather not give specifics), so representations of a fair array of price ranges would be handy. I am not good with electrical hacking (the best I've ever done is tearing apart an old VCR to make a little race-car for a physics class, and even that only worked successfully for about ten seconds), so minimizing that would be handy. I need to be able to order online (Paypal or SECURE credit card), or at least by phone, since I live in Alaska.

Thanks for your time. I'm assuming I'm not the first or the last person to ask this question, so perhaps if some decent results come up this thread should be stickied for the convienence of others who want to get into homebrews?

#50194 - Caligo - Sat Aug 06, 2005 11:53 am

I second this thread :-)
A pure "these items work together", and facts about the latest available hardware (that works) would be very helpful to new homebrewers. reading 10k posts to find something youre not sure what is, isnt fun, so keep it nice and tidy :-)
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#50216 - signaltonoise - Sat Aug 06, 2005 5:15 pm

NekoIncardine wrote:

As far as I know, I need:
* A PassMe Adapter - near as I can tell, this (combined with a DS cartridge) validates the games stored in the GBA flash card as DS games, allowing you to run DS homebrews. Is this explenation accurate?
There are two other methods for getting past the encryption: FlashMe and WiFiMe. This Wikipedia page explains them. I'd recommend jandaman.com for purchasing the GBA flash card/linker kit. US based, fast turn around and reasonable prices.

#50250 - NekoIncardine - Sun Aug 07, 2005 12:27 am

I see that the involved components rapidly get fairly costly, and jandaman does not list yea or nea on PassMe NDS compatability (I'm going to stick with just the PassMe for now, as that feels far safer to me than FlashMe and cheaper than WiFiMe.).

Has anyone tried the NeoFlash Flash Cart sets? Those appear to include a PassMe Adapter and (weird-looking) USB transfer link.

#50261 - doublec - Sun Aug 07, 2005 4:12 am

If you are looking for a 'These items work together' then my first tutorial has that:

http://www.double.co.nz/nintendo_ds/nds_develop1.html

It lists exactly what I use, including brand of wireless card and flash cartridge.

#50315 - NekoIncardine - Mon Aug 08, 2005 1:57 am

... One answer to my question. I explained that WiFiMe isn't an option and that I don't want to risk FlashMe.

I have found two reasonable-looking sites for the EZFlash Advance III that doublec recommands: Jandaman and Linker4U. However, Linker4U also lists NeoFlash Flash Carts which include a PassMe Adapter and look to be high-quality products, but cost a lot more.

Which would you recommend buying from? Jandaman and ordering a seperate PassMe adapter, or a complete set from Linker4U?

#50319 - The 9th Sage - Mon Aug 08, 2005 2:12 am

NekoIncardine wrote:
...
Which would you recommend buying from? Jandaman and ordering a seperate PassMe adapter, or a complete set from Linker4U?


I'd recommend against the NeoFlash. There are some hacked dumps of commercial games floating about up there you can play only using it, but really you can get similar or superior hardware to the NeoFlash for less than they are trying to charge you.

I use an X-ROM cart myself...probably one of the best priced cards out there, and I bought a PassMe from dspassme.com.

Oh, and as far as FlashMe goes, I could see you being nervous about it, but it's really not difficult. I don't have any eletrical knowledge really and I did it just fine myself (and after you first update it you don't even need to do anything other than run the flashing program). The upside is that you no longer are tethered to your PassMe device to run DS homebrew....I dunno about you but I wouldn't have wanted to try to stuff a PassMe into my pocket if I wanted to take something like Darkain's Multi_NDS loader with me to work.
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#50328 - NekoIncardine - Mon Aug 08, 2005 6:30 am

Well, that isn't too much of a problem for me; I use my DS Carrying case thing that I got with a DC adapter for everything DS related except the DS itself, and there's plenty of space to fit the PassMe in.