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before you ask, DONT ASK FOR IT!! its buggy as krap, and its going to take me another couple days before i feel confortable to start handing this thing out.

[EDIT]
Its E3 day, and you know what that means !?!?
http://ds.darkain.com/hack/loader.zip
THERE!!! Now you can download it for yourself !!!
[/EDIT]

[EDIT2]
http://gbax.com/gbax2005/GBAX2005rr.html
A new loader can be found in the GBAX 2005 compo. Check it out, its the most feature-rich and compatible loader out there!
[/EDIT2]

[EDIT3]
http://ds.darkain.com/hack/MultiNDS.zip
The next installment of the loader, current version being 20050630. Go ahead, give it a try. :)
[/EDIT3]

what the screen shot above is for, its a multi-rom loader. itll load up multiple NDS ROM files. the code to do so is pretty much stand-alone code, and i threw a wrapper around it that interfaces w/ the DarkStar API so i had an easy way to launch the various ROM files. i'll probably start working on an actual GUI front-end for the loader tomorrow.

with the way this loader is designed, it should be possibly, and actually very easy for demos to be able to jump back to the main menu. its as simple as a single function call by the ARM7 and ARM9 at the same time, so you would have to use a modified ARM7.bin to support this tho.

there are still some issues tho right now, as not all of the NDS files im tring to load seem to be working. from what i can tell, this seems to be an issue *somewhere* (not sure where yet) in my ARM7 code. i'll continue to investigate this tho.

ok, FAQ time.. (i'll keep appending decent questions to this as they arise)

Q: How do I use it?
A: The build process is simple. Extract the ZIP file to its own folder, dump in extra .NDS files to the folder, and run the build.bat file. Once this is done, it'll build a "DarkStar.ds.gba". Flash this file on your GBA Flash Card, and you are set!

Q: Does it use a filesystem, or somehow search for the roms on the cart?
A: It uses a filesystem, and is designed so that demos may also use the same filesystem to store data.

Q: Will the loader work with PassMe, FlashMe, WifiMe, Cartless WifiMe, and Emulators?
A: Right now, itll only work with anything that loads from a flashcart. With the way things are statically compiled for their memory locations, this is about the only way to do it. If it where to be compiled as a NDS file itself and loaded over wifime, when you tried to load a ROM, it would overwrite the loading functions in RAM while loading. This would corrupt the loading as well as running software. So for now, carts only.

Q: How many demos can this loader support on a single cart?
A: I dont know. I'm currently sitting at 54, and the list keeps growing. Because sprite allocation is static, I would estimate the current limit of being around 120 or so. This, however, is a flaw of the GUI, not the loader itself.

Q: SOURCE CODE!!!
A: Maybe later... The loader itself isn't even out yet (well, it is now)... All in due time, my friend... All in due time...

Q: Is DarkStar the loader?
A: At first, yes, it was.. but I seperated out the loader from DarkStar, and now DarkStar is simply a NDS file on its own that interfaces to the loader to tell it to load other NDS files.

Q: You mentioned in IRC that DarkStar now requires a flash cart.. whats this all about?
A: This was for the short period of time (last night only) that DarkStar and the loader where one in the same. To simplify things, i seperated them out so they are individual peices that arent dependant upon each other anymore.

Q: Can games return back to the menu?
A: YES, but this will have to be implemented on a per-game basis. Am I giving out the info to do this just yet? NO... You gotta wait another build or to, as I shift some code around and fix it up first.

Q: Updates in this version of DarkStar, and whats this dspaint.exe?
A: ok... the mysterious "dspaint.exe" file... i'm already getting questions about what it is included for... dsPaint inside of DarkStar has gained some new features since the last major release. There have been some UI changes, some tool changes, some fixes here and there, and a couple new features. You can use the R/L buttons for image flipping and mirroring. You can press up/down to increase/decrese the pen size used for the drawing tool, line tool, and box tool. You can draw using an alphablended mode.... but best of all, you can now load/save images. There is no way to manually load/save currently. Loading automatically happens when you open dsPaint. Saving automatically happens when you exit dsPaint. Saves are stored on saveram. You can only store ONE image at a time (dont ask to increase this, it was hard enough to fit 1 in there). Use your flashcard tool to dump the first 64kb block of SRAM to a file, and pass this file to dspaint.exe to get a nice BMP version of your image.
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

Last edited by Darkain on Fri Jul 01, 2005 3:28 am; edited 6 times in total

i have been working on a ndsbooter for a week, and i had a lot of trouble. i guess that DS prevents bootloaders in some way. my bootloader works when it wants, and does very weird things when reading from memory. i could boot tetris with a routine written in asm, but i modified a line in arm9's main.cpp and is not working anymore. the routine is copied to 0x02002000 and then executes from here. when the copier ends, the palette is modified, but all times DS hangs. before i have changed that line, it worked. then i deleted that line in main.cpp, and not worked anymore. this does not make sense!!!

Darkain wrote:

there are still some issues tho right now, as not all of the NDS files im tring to load seem to be working. from what i can tell, this seems to be an issue *somewhere* (not sure where yet) in my ARM7 code. i'll continue to investigate this tho.

Which NDS files doesn't load ?

phantomdjp wrote:

Which NDS files doesn't load ?

ok, here is the complete list of what ive tested so far:

PandaForth: loads, but touch screen doesnt work?
Toon shading: loads, touch works, but displays on wrong screen.
Birds: seems to load and play just fine.
Reversi: seems to load and play just fine, not sure about random extra stuff on side of screen tho.
Flashme: White Screens.
Neoflash: Runs, but no touch screen (not sure if this demo uses it or not).
Nibbles: Runs and seems to play just fine.
Sphere: Runs, but no touch screen (not sure if this demo uses it or not).
Sponge: Runs, but random graphical errors.
Rotating Sprites: Runs, but appears on the wrong screen.
Teapot: White Screens.
Tetris - 2 Peoples: Seems to work just fine.
Textured Cube: Black and White screens.

_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

darkain, does tetris work well with your booter? in my booter seems to be only 2x2 square pieces at 2 screens

haruguchan wrote:

darkain, does tetris work well with your booter? in my booter seems to be only 2x2 square pieces at 2 screens

tetris seems to work perfectly. i sat there and played it for a few minutes last night and didnt notice any problems with it.

for the other demos that ARENT works, i have a strong feeling i know what is wrong, and since i just got home (was posting from away using laptop before), i can fix the theoretical problems and hope that itll all work today. :)
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

Big pat on the back for Darkain on the back for all his hard work.
_________________
www.hungrydeveloper.com
Version 2.0 now up - guaranteed at least 100% more pleasing!

updated list of things that seem to work. anything not on this list is either non-working, or untested.

Birds
Boot (stripped down version of DarkStar)
Complrex 2D
DarkStar
Drops
DS-Linux
DS-Reversi
FlashMe (the flashing utility, not the firmware itself)
Gorilla
Mines
Neoflash
Nibbles
Panda Forth
Pern MOD
Python Power
Span
Sphere (rotating sphere)
Sponge
Sprites (rotating sprites)
Tetris (2 Player version)
Toon Shading
Transformer

_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

Last edited by Darkain on Wed May 18, 2005 12:02 pm; edited 1 time in total

Nice work Darkain.
_________________
k o l a

I havent looked into the available info in the dev kits and libs for the DS yet, but I can honestly say that darkstar is looking nice, that xtendo mines was kinda addictive (see below though why I am not using it still today...)

Darkain: I do have a (somewhat silly) question - would it be possible to add in a GBA ROM into a launcher that is running on passthrough DS code (Im assuming so, sorta, since the DS itself can launch GBA carts from the DS boot screens) - now the reason I am asking is because I dislike having to erase the cart (F2AUltra 1Gb) every time I write to it //ie: want to do something DS on it, so it would just be really nice to throw on a DS FS like darkstar's, with some apps etc in there, and have the regular carts bootloader in it as well, so that the cart can boot into both DS and GBA modes...or perhaps a way to boot the first GBA rom after the FS

Im sure you will want to work out the bugs you are currently dealing with before considering looking into this (if you havent already) and Ill just continue on dreamin'

In order to have a gba rom launcher, it has to be designed for a specific flash cart. This is because gba roms run from rom, and are not loaded into memory (gba doesn't have that much memory), so you have to know the code to set the bank/offset of the flash cart in order to make the gba rom you want at the beginning.

josath wrote:

In order to have a gba rom launcher, it has to be designed for a specific flash cart. This is because gba roms run from rom, and are not loaded into memory (gba doesn't have that much memory), so you have to know the code to set the bank/offset of the flash cart in order to make the gba rom you want at the beginning.

which is exactly what i plan to do. i'm going to be working on a small flash cart driver thatll sit in IWRAM on the ARM9. this little driver will support the basic flash cart functions, such as bank switching both the Flash ROM and the SRAM.

as for loading GBA games, yes, this was the plan as well...

as for both of these ideas/featues... not right now tho. ;) i'm working on other stuff at the moment... but yes, its been thought about, ive discussed the idea w/ other developers, and ive chosen how i'm going to implement it. the only thing left now is said implementation (once i get time after the other stuff im doing)
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

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current state of the loader GUI. :)

as i stated before, the loader and the GUI are two seperate entities... there is nothing stopping anyone from writing their own GUI front end to this loader later one (when i release specs on it). i'm just writing my loader using DarkStar right now, since it already has the class structure in place to do things easily (text output, sprites, input, etc)
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

Very nice! Good job. Can't wait to get ahold of it!

I concur with Lynx! :)

Darkstar is so going to be like a standard WindowManager or whatever you like to call it.

lol, nice nice....now I am actually going to have to create logo data for my demos....argh!!
_________________
Ethos' Homepage (Demos/NDS 3D Tutorial)

Could you also make the loader scan at 1mbit intervals starting at 0x8000... looking for nds headers? This would make it compatible with neoflash loader software -- I could use your loader.ds.gba renamed to neoboot.bin, then just load .nds into the flashcart through the pc interface. This would let me add games one at a time, and remove them one at a time, without having to rebuild them all into one rom and reflashing the entire thing. This may make it compatible with other flash cart software as well, not sure if they all align to exactly 1mbit.

Chetic wrote:

Darkstar is so going to be like a standard WindowManager or whatever you like to call it.

This idea is pretty great. We should have a sort of windowmanager where we can build our aps on. And a standard multi loader, so if we make our apps on this window manager, we get some sort of os and all different apps would look the same. And if we exit our apps, then they will load the multi loader.

windowmanager? you mean like WinS http://s3.invisionfree.com/GBAWinS/index.php?act=site ? they are even working on a DS port as we speak (have it booting already, but with some problems still, and no touchscreen support)

meh... compotetion is nice n all... but instead of talking about "ya, this idea would be nice to implement"... well, here, i'll just show you.

http://ds.darkain.com/hack/loader.zip

whats contained in the zip file:

boot.nds: a version of DarkStar which contains a GUI front-end for the nds loader
build.bat: a small script to build the flashable .ds.gba file
dspaint.exe: a utility to convert dsPaint image into BMP files
gbfs.exe: file system build utility
loader.bin: the magical NDS loader

The build process is simple. Extract the ZIP file to its own folder, dump in extra .NDS files to the folder, and run the build.bat file. Once this is done, it'll build a "DarkStar.ds.gba". Flash this file on your GBA Flash Card, and you are set!

ok... the mysterious "dspaint.exe" file... i'm already getting questions about what it is included for... dsPaint inside of DarkStar has gained some new features since the last major release. There have been some UI changes, some tool changes, some fixes here and there, and a couple new features. You can use the R/L buttons for image flipping and mirroring. You can press up/down to increase/decrese the pen size used for the drawing tool, line tool, and box tool. You can draw using an alphablended mode.... but best of all, you can now load/save images. There is no way to manually load/save currently. Loading automatically happens when you open dsPaint. Saving automatically happens when you exit dsPaint. Saves are stored on saveram. You can only store ONE image at a time (dont ask to increase this, it was hard enough to fit 1 in there). Use your flashcard tool to dump the first 64kb block of SRAM to a file, and pass this file to dspaint.exe to get a nice BMP version of your image.

i'm sure this question will come up.. "can games return back to the menu?" and the answere is, "yes", but this will have to be implemented on a per-game basis. am i giving out the info to do this just yet? no... gotta wait another build or to, as i shift some code around and fix it up first.
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

I know it winS But I find it rather slow, at least that's the impression it gave me.

O_O

Very good job!!!

I will test this tool tomorrow, when i receive my neo flash kit.
_________________
http://jandujar.homelinux.com
http://www.dsrobot.com

Has anyone got the WinS GBA so i can test it out.
the link on the site is broke

Just throwing this out there, but the start-up voice... VERY CREEPY the first time.

Also, are there any sound tutorials out yet? I'm tired of only being bad with graphics.

how to do sound:
http://drunkencoders.com/documents/DS/ndslib.htm#_Sound

( btw: sorry for hijacking your thread w/ offtopic and stuff, darkain :P )

Darkain, thanks for the release and the info about your future plans with "old style" gba roms. Hopefully I can put aside more time for the app I am making to "obsolete" my particular need for gba roms...and make use of the extra screen space on the DS.

i've been experimenting w/ modifications to the loader to make it easier to work with (the loader itself, NOT the GUI). with this new experimental loader, here is the compatibility list so far:

Quote:

1 - 16bit bitmap
1 - 256color bitmap
0 - 3d.nds (possibly not setting proper addys?)
1 - bg rotation
1 - complex_2d (old)
1 - dslime
1 - display list 2
1 - double buffer
1 - dual step revolution
1 - env mapping
1 - hello world
1 - nds wins
1 - pernmod
1 - simple quad
1 - simple tri
? - sprite bitmap (old version of rotating sprites?)
1 - textured cube
? - textured quad (black and white screens)
1 - toon shading
1 - audio
1 - birds
1 - boot
1 - complex2d (new)
1 - demo
1 - drops
1 - dslinux
1 - dsreversi
1 - flashme v4
1 - gorilla
? - heli (graphical glitches?)
1 - libmad
0 - meteos (white screens)
1 - mines
1 - neoflash
1 - nibbles
1 - panda forth
0 - polarium (white screens)
1 - sphere
1 - sponge
1 - sprites
1 - tetris
1 - texture
1 - transformer
1 - tremor
0 - viewer (possibly not setting proper addys?)

_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

thanx to Davr for sending me some more demos to test:

Quote:

1 - battleship
1 - carre
1 - cassebrique
1 - DSBonga
1 - duckhunt
1 - musk
1 - pong
1 - flyingshit
1 - sparx001
1 - follarium
1 - NDS_WinS_Beta_Text
1 - NDS_WinS_Beta_TicTacToe
1 - calc
1 - fakemsx
1 - mongura
1 - ndsdump
1 - paint
1 - scratch
? - duckhunt2 (graphical glitches on loading screen... poorly coded?)
1 - earth
1 - saveme
1 - shootds
1 - ticalc
1 - touchtest
1 - zirton

_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

Last edited by Darkain on Thu May 19, 2005 7:56 pm; edited 2 times in total

This program looks very promising, i cannot wait for a frontend loader, menu thing to be working.. I would like to c somthing like this used as a replacement for the DS normal load up screen.. Like a dashboard(evox on the xbox for example), that allows you to change backgrounds, boot nds and gba carts inc roms, apps.. Nice work..

Jimbeam wrote:

This program looks very promising, i cannot wait for a frontend loader, menu thing to be working.. I would like to c somthing like this used as a replacement for the DS normal load up screen.. Like a dashboard(evox on the xbox for example), that allows you to change backgrounds, boot nds and gba carts inc roms, apps.. Nice work..

there is a front-end loader... check the initial post, or the various comments. ;)
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

Anyone know where to download a selection of demos/apps to try with this?

there is a bunch of stuff available at http://www.ndshb.com/

Nice one!

You know what would be cool?
Being able to set what you've drawn as a background. :)

Chetic wrote:

You know what would be cool?
Being able to set what you've drawn as a background. :)

technically, you will be able to in future DarkStar versions. instead of having all of the resources compiled into the binary (BG, menu theme, font, sounds, etc), they are going to be files on the filesystem. this has sorta been planned for a while... and now that there is a tool to convert dsPaint images to BMPs, they could then be used as the background image. (dont ask when this will be available, as i got a couple other priorities ATM)
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

Darkain: what changes were needed to GBFS to make it work with DS? (if any at all)

cory1492 wrote:

Darkain: what changes were needed to GBFS to make it work with DS? (if any at all)

none.
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

nice, thats what I figured but the only other place it was asked told someone to go search the forum (and there wasn't a none/many answer, just theory about what could be changed)

thanks Darkain

If a CPU can access the cart, it can read a GBFS archive with zero changes. What's the register write sequence that grants one of the CPUs access to the cart?
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

WAIT_CR &= ~0x8080;
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

Quote:

WAIT_CR &= ~0x8080;

I've been using WAIT_CR &= ~0x80

From another forum posting I got that Bit 7 is for the CPU (arm7 or arm9), but what's bit 15 for? NDSTech doesn't list anything unless I'm missing something. Which I probably am :-)

doublec wrote:

Quote:

WAIT_CR &= ~0x8080;

I've been using WAIT_CR &= ~0x80

From another forum posting I got that Bit 7 is for the CPU (arm7 or arm9), but what's bit 15 for? NDSTech doesn't list anything unless I'm missing something. Which I probably am :-)

from what ive read/heard, one seems to be for saveram, while the other is for cart data. i could be wrong, i dunno. but i use both, and have access to both on the ARM9. thats bout all i know.
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

Darkain, would you accept a mock'up of a GUI for DarkStar?
I have in mind something... ;)

Mark_RC wrote:

Darkain, would you accept a mock'up of a GUI for DarkStar?
I have in mind something... ;)

i'll accept anything... doesnt mean i'll use it tho. ;)
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

Here is it:

http://www.tinet.org/~mark/darkstar.png

My idea is to maintain the same aspect as DS firmware, so it 'doesn't broke the style'. As you can see it's very simple (I love simple things :D), and the upper screen has a lot of empty space, it could be used to show the date, the user name's, etc.
If you like it, I can give you my idea for the menu too.

BTW, I'm waiting for the new version, the version I have has the screen uncalibrated (I hardly can paint with DSPaint). Great software ;)

I think Phantom had a design even more similar to the native DS interface... :)

Mark_RC wrote:

Here is it:

http://www.tinet.org/~mark/darkstar.png

My idea is to maintain the same aspect as DS firmware, so it 'doesn't broke the style'. As you can see it's very simple (I love simple things :D), and the upper screen has a lot of empty space, it could be used to show the date, the user name's, etc.
If you like it, I can give you my idea for the menu too.

BTW, I'm waiting for the new version, the version I have has the screen uncalibrated (I hardly can paint with DSPaint). Great software ;)

so, what you want is the new multi-nds loader, not DarkStar. just wait, itll be out *eventually* ;)
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

That was a mock'up of the NDSLoader. But I want calibrated DSPaint too ;)
But you didn't give me your opinion. What do you think, Darkain?

Mark_RC wrote:

That was a mock'up of the NDSLoader. But I want calibrated DSPaint too ;)
But you didn't give me your opinion. What do you think, Darkain?

i think you should go check out my entry in the GBAX 2005 Compo and tell me what YOU think. ;)

sorries... after the leak of the previous loader... ive been keeping this new one completely hush-hush until GBAX posted it. I do, however, have some ideas for improvments, but had to rush some aspects do to deadlines.
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

It's perfect! Thanks Darkain! :D
DSPaint is still uncalibrated though :(

Darkain wrote:

Mark_RC wrote:

That was a mock'up of the NDSLoader. But I want calibrated DSPaint too ;)
But you didn't give me your opinion. What do you think, Darkain?

i think you should go check out my entry in the GBAX 2005 Compo and tell me what YOU think. ;)

sorries... after the leak of the previous loader... ive been keeping this new one completely hush-hush until GBAX posted it. I do, however, have some ideas for improvments, but had to rush some aspects do to deadlines.

Fantastic! That is one nice looking polished peice of work. I was hoping you were going to add in touch support too. :)
_________________
Now with 20% More Old Man from Zelda 1 than ever before!

yeah I really like it!

did someone also make an app that lets you boot EITHER a .ds.gba file or regular .gba file if you held a button?

Please don't yell at me if this question has already been answered :)
Does the Loader require you to have passme and the like?
I ask because I have tried flashing it to my F2AUltra 512MB and it doesn't seem to be working for me. I simply get black displayed on both screens.

Cheers,

Rich

speedWh0re wrote:

Please don't yell at me if this question has already been answered :)
Does the Loader require you to have passme and the like?
I ask because I have tried flashing it to my F2AUltra 512MB and it doesn't seem to be working for me. I simply get black displayed on both screens.

Cheers,

Rich

just like *ANY* homebrew DS demo, you will need *me to run it, and this one will always require a flashcart, unlike most wich will work w/ flashme v4 + wifime ( because you cant fit multiple demos into RAM and make em work :P )
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

So I'm guessing you made sure that commercial roms won't run on this?

Don't want those neoflash users to be leeching this or the neoflash crew to make it into their own tools..

it's not like you have to stop commercial roms from loading, you'd have to do a lot of extra work to get them to run in the first place. (wifi demos are a different story)

Darkain wrote:

speedWh0re wrote:

Please don't yell at me if this question has already been answered :)
Does the Loader require you to have passme and the like?
I ask because I have tried flashing it to my F2AUltra 512MB and it doesn't seem to be working for me. I simply get black displayed on both screens.

Cheers,

Rich

just like *ANY* homebrew DS demo, you will need *me to run it, and this one will always require a flashcart, unlike most wich will work w/ flashme v4 + wifime ( because you cant fit multiple demos into RAM and make em work :P )

ah ok cool thank you. If only I had the skills to write my own wireless drivers :o) Would it be a hard thing to boot up in GBA mode then create a loader within the flashcart that would then run the NDS rom (homebrew or otherwise)? I know I should just buy a Ralink pci card but yeah...

search around the forums a bit. it isnt possible to switch from GBA back into DS mode. once in GBA mode, you are stuck there.
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

I was just wondering if you have plans of letting us develop our own skins for this, darkrain. Its a wonderful little app, and would just love to get in there and graphically tweak it...

DarkStar? yes
Multi-NDS Loader? no
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

Darkain wrote:

search around the forums a bit. it isnt possible to switch from GBA back into DS mode. once in GBA mode, you are stuck there.

Has anyone been able to boot GBA mode stuff from a DS app? (switch back into GBA mode should, theory of course, be workable as it does it from the startup menu (I think)...)

At any rate I dont see why it wouldnt be possible to boot the bootloader.bin (renamed to bootloader.gba) from a loader to access regular functions of the flash cart like bank switching and gba roms with their saves....

All I can say is nice loader Darkain and thanks! (I just realized the GBAx compo site had content on it last night so I got to try the loader)

I have a homebrew app that uses data stored in a gbfs filesystem appended to the .nds. This doesn't work form the multi boot loader. I'm looking for the gbfs filesystem by passing the cartridge address space 0x08000000 to the gbfs find function. I'm guessing that's the problem and it's maybe finding another gbfs filesystem - from another application in the loader perhaps.

Is there an approach I can take to get it working with the multi loader?

doublec, isnt it going to put the address at the wrong place and start looking for the first FS entry as early in the cart as possible, when you start at the beginning of the cart like that, resulting in the first file that is in the darkstar FS wrather than looking at the FS you are placing inside of the FS?

not sure how darkains loader loads the ds roms, but Im going to guess if you can get the value it uses to find your app inside the FS you should be able to use that point to start looking for your FS.

Have you tried seeing the filename it returns when it does find a file, that should tell you right away what its seeing...

I'm pretty sure that the multiloader just uses gbfs. So you could probably do a two step gbfs load. First load the file system you get from the first call with the address 0x08000000. And use that and look for game.nds (where game is your game) and then that should return an address (I think that's how gbfs works) and from there you call gbfs again with that address to get your game's file system.

the problem is if the user renames your .nds (like i often do :P)
so you'd probably want to look for the title embedded in the nds or something else not as likely to change.

GBFS looks on 256 byte strides for an archive. If your .nds is not loaded to a 256 byte boundary, then GBFS won't find the archive. For a build designed for a multicart, you might want to make the GBFS file, then use bin2s to convert it into assembly for linking into the ARM9 binary, unless that would put the size of the .nds file plus the size of the .sbss segment over 4 MB.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

I've tried to make a multiboot rom using your nift tool, Darkain, but it doesn't work.

If I take the multiboot rom made from a buncha demos (the one before you released the multiboot loader from the E3 demos) and use a hex editor to truncate it (I only have a 64Mb cart... all I thought I needed for homebrew at the time), it works just fine (well, the first few demos do). But using your tool, all I get is a white screen when I choose a demo.

Is there something I'm doing horribly wrong? It all looks so easy! I just copy the NDS files from the demos into the directory, run build.bat, then flash the resulting ds.gba file onto my cart and pop into my DS. DarkStar loads up just fine, and it sees the demos complete with names, descriptions and pictures, so as far as I can tell it SHOULD work...

well, from this entire thread, its been mentioned that those demos where compiled together using a leaked version of my multi-nds loader which is no longer supported. get the latest loader from gbax 2005 compo, as it is by FAR the best loader out there now. :)
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

Huh? thats what I have been using darkain ;-) its truly nifty

Darkain wrote:

well, from this entire thread, its been mentioned that those demos where compiled together using a leaked version of my multi-nds loader which is no longer supported. get the latest loader from gbax 2005 compo, as it is by FAR the best loader out there now. :)

Er... is this the same thing at the following link?

http://ds.darkain.com/hack/loader.zip

'Cause that's what I used. And I know about the compilation made with the leaked loader, but it's far too big for me to hold on my dinky 64 Mb cart.

But if that ISN'T the loader you were referring to, then could you point me in the right direction? I've looked though gbax.com, but couldn't find any links there. Thanks!

the gbax version is the only place the latest loader is released. its in the gbax2005 compo section listed as "multi-nds loader", and they decided to use a really old screen shot so it looks like the old one even tho it isnt. when you get the new loader, you will know, as it ISNT based off of DarkStar at all.
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

Okay, but...

Quote:

But if that ISN'T the loader you were referring to, then could you point me in the right direction? I've looked though gbax.com, but couldn't find any links there. Thanks!

And I'm looking again, but with no luck.

I go to gbax.com, and I see the link to the gbax 2005 at the top of the news, so I go there. Then...?

I scroll to the bottom, and I see "Useful Links", and under the DS section I see a few different sites and links to the 3 main emulators and nothing else. What I meant by "could you point me in the right direction" is maybe a little more help on where on this site I'm supposed to find it, 'cause it sure isn't as obvious to me as it may be to you. Thanks!

(And if I'm just being incredibly stupid, maybe just pm me... :)

next time, try going to the compo entries page, instead of the compo info page... or, on the other hand, go to the first post on page one of this thread which directly links to that page so its easier to find.....
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

Acutally, I put the updated version on ndshb.com as well. Do you want me to take it down?

And I plan on putting it on mymateo.com also... Do you want me not to?

Multi-NDS Loader Info wrote:

NDS with "new" firmware + FlashMe v4

is FlashMe v4 the one hosted on this site? http://ds.gcdev.com/dsfirmware/

by way of GBAX Compo Rules, i dont think you can? but im not entirely sure. ASK THEM! :)
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

I thought the rules just asked not to post before they released the comp entries.

no posting before the RESULTS, AFAIK
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

Ah. You are correct sir. after results.

Darkain's also entering it in the neoflash compo. I just hope he won't beat me in it coz I'm in it aswell:P

Extreme Coder wrote:

Darkain's also entering it in the neoflash compo. I just hope he won't beat me in it coz I'm in it aswell:P

dont put words into my mouth. ;) i havnt officialy declaired what is going into the neo compo yet, much like i ever told anyone what i put into the gbax compo until the deadline day.
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

Sorry sir, its just that the neo guy told me you're entering with your multi-loader.

sorry for the dumb question, just asking apart from homebrew stuff is there anything else this loader can load at prresent?
also any emulators for the DS?

no, the loader just loads
there's 3 emus i know of for ds...the ti calc emu i ported http://ds.rorexrobots.com/calc the space invaders emulator, and a gb/gbc emulator (not released)

There are now other commerical nds releases, and they're real nds files(not done by GST). I tried them with your loader, but it only shows its icon, when I run it, white screens.

we do not support pirating commercial games here

edit: the GBC emu has been sorta released, but just a taste. Worked great for me on Wifi, but didn't work in Darkain's loader.

meh, if commercial games dont work... they *dont* work. i wont say why either, because its just bullshit. if you wanna play games, buy them, like the rest of us.

as for non-working demos? i'll tend to that later. i know of some very odd bugs in my loader which may be race conditions of the two CPUs... its been taking some time to debug. i'll keep at it tho.
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

I must admit I have to second Darkain on that one... Demos are great to test out the games, if you like them, you can always buy them... It would be nice to have more demos then :p

Its not that I want to play commercial games, and I DO BUY THEM( although I have a neoflash!). Its just that they're REAL nds files, so if yor loader truly supports nds files, then it should run them. And I was not asking "pleaz get comercial roms runing so i can play warez games cuz i cant buy games".

Extreme Coder wrote:

Its not that I want to play commercial games, and I DO BUY THEM( although I have a neoflash!). Its just that they're REAL nds files, so if yor loader truly supports nds files, then it should run them. And I was not asking "pleaz get comercial roms runing so i can play warez games cuz i cant buy games".

its not the fact that they are nds files that prevents them from running, its other reasons. its the same reason why you cant WMB them, or use the small nds loader. again tho, im not gonna get into detail here.
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

A .nds file designed for WMB has ARM7 part and an ARM9 part, both of which get loaded into the 4 MB EWRAM. A .nds file designed to run from a DS card has those two parts and a larger asset data area, which may contain a Nintendo filesystem, a GBFS file, a tar file, a zip file, or whatever other data structure the developer chooses to use.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

I would like to put some homebrew stuff and some E3 demos along with the polarium demo on my flash cart for use with passme. What loader can do this? And what format should all of my stuff be in, .ds.gba? Is there a converter I need?

Thanks for any help

kennyk wrote:

I would like to put some homebrew stuff and some E3 demos along with the polarium demo on my flash cart for use with passme. What loader can do this? And what format should all of my stuff be in, .ds.gba? Is there a converter I need?

Thanks for any help

ummm... try reading this thread... it answeres your question. in fact, try looking at the first post in the thread, i try to keep that maintained w/ latest info.
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

Ah I see, thanks. I can't wait to try it out.

DAMNIT... grr..

i wont be posting any of the updates to the multi-nds loader anytime in the next week or three... damn desktop HDD just died. no, nothing was lost (yay external source repository), however, i dont have an active dev system at the moment.

boo-hoo... no neoflash compo for the loader or anything else i was working on :(
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

Quote:

DAMNIT... grr..

i wont be posting any of the updates to the multi-nds loader anytime in the next week or three... damn desktop HDD just died. no, nothing was lost (yay external source repository), however, i dont have an active dev system at the moment.

boo-hoo... no neoflash compo for the loader or anything else i was working on :(

Don't think I wished or made that happen! :P

i just linked to the non-logod version in the main post of this thread... check it out.
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

Hey Darkain, I have some problems with the latest version (the one you uploaded yesterday). Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't work, it depends on the number of NDS I put (I think). And also, sometimes doesn't work, but if I take off my DS cart, it works perfect.
I use FlashMe.

Mark_RC wrote:

Hey Darkain, I have some problems with the latest version (the one you uploaded yesterday). Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't work, it depends on the number of NDS I put (I think). And also, sometimes doesn't work, but if I take off my DS cart, it works perfect.
I use FlashMe.

umm... this is a very helpful description of the problem.... heh... heh..

really tho, what about it "doesnt work"? and which roms are you trying to throw onto it? can you easily reproduce the problem? perhaps you had a bad flash?

you arent using NeoFlash, ARE YOU? that thing is a peice of krap when it comes to the my Multi-NDS loader. its a flaw in their software, not mine. :(
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

Darkain wrote:

Mark_RC wrote:

Hey Darkain, I have some problems with the latest version (the one you uploaded yesterday). Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't work, it depends on the number of NDS I put (I think). And also, sometimes doesn't work, but if I take off my DS cart, it works perfect.
I use FlashMe.

umm... this is a very helpful description of the problem.... heh... heh..

really tho, what about it "doesnt work"? and which roms are you trying to throw onto it? can you easily reproduce the problem? perhaps you had a bad flash?

you arent using NeoFlash, ARE YOU? that thing is a peice of krap when it comes to the my Multi-NDS loader. its a flaw in their software, not mine. :(

hmm. when i start my ds i have only the white screen. if i use the older version it works -,-"

It's the same to me

I've got a xg2 512 and as you said in the previous version I've got a limit of around 16MB but with the latest version is even less, around 8MB.

If I pass the limit I've got white screens

Darkain wrote:

Mark_RC wrote:

Hey Darkain, I have some problems with the latest version (the one you uploaded yesterday). Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't work, it depends on the number of NDS I put (I think). And also, sometimes doesn't work, but if I take off my DS cart, it works perfect.
I use FlashMe.

umm... this is a very helpful description of the problem.... heh... heh..

really tho, what about it "doesnt work"? and which roms are you trying to throw onto it? can you easily reproduce the problem? perhaps you had a bad flash?

you arent using NeoFlash, ARE YOU? that thing is a peice of krap when it comes to the my Multi-NDS loader. its a flaw in their software, not mine. :(

I use F2A 256MB.
The problem is that I get white screens when I turn on my DS.

taichi wrote:

hmm. when i start my ds i have only the white screen. if i use the older version it works -,-"

i had the same problem. it doesn't seem to depend on the type or the number of roms though. with a ds cartridge (metroid) inserted i got only white screens, but the loader started and worked flawlessly after i removed it and rebooted the ds.

[edit]
my setup: flashed ds, efa 256
_________________
'DS Watch': DS-Homebrew-News (German)

ya, some nice theories there...

what the problem REALLY is, which is something i've known this entire time.... there is a timing issue. since there are two CPUs, its hard to get them to load in sync in such a way that they wont over-write each others code in RAM. things like having a cart in the other slot WILL effect this, because the firmware makes checks on both cart slots before booting, therefor it will take so many cycles longer on one CPU than the other, throwing things slighting out of sync in my loader.

any time a ROM doesnt load from within my loader, well, its the exact same issue. the issue is always ROM filesize, because one CPU does all the copying (which will soon be changing) while the other is in an infinite loop. i have had issues at times w/ one CPU loader way too early comparied to the other when doing this.

the problem was more or less fixed, i just hadnt realized that it effected the main boot.nds (the menu) as well. but these theories you have presented me has shown me new ways to cause the loader to fail, which i just tested, and worked. seee, i ALWAYS keep my DS in the same state in terms of what games are in it, as its used strictly for developping on, so i never thought about the other cart slot before.

but yes, all in all, its a timing issue, and i just have to stall the two CPUs to the same point in time in the boot loader as well now, which is really easy to do.
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

So when we can expect the new hot-fix release?

whenever i feel like getting off my lazy a....... i... umm... mean.... soon. :)
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

Darkain wrote:

ya, some nice theories there...

what the problem REALLY is, which is something i've known this entire time.... there is a timing issue. since there are two CPUs, its hard to get them to load in sync in such a way that they wont over-write each others code in RAM. things like having a cart in the other slot WILL effect this, because the firmware makes checks on both cart slots before booting, therefor it will take so many cycles longer on one CPU than the other, throwing things slighting out of sync in my loader.

any time a ROM doesnt load from within my loader, well, its the exact same issue. the issue is always ROM filesize, because one CPU does all the copying (which will soon be changing) while the other is in an infinite loop. i have had issues at times w/ one CPU loader way too early comparied to the other when doing this.

the problem was more or less fixed, i just hadnt realized that it effected the main boot.nds (the menu) as well. but these theories you have presented me has shown me new ways to cause the loader to fail, which i just tested, and worked. seee, i ALWAYS keep my DS in the same state in terms of what games are in it, as its used strictly for developping on, so i never thought about the other cart slot before.

but yes, all in all, its a timing issue, and i just have to stall the two CPUs to the same point in time in the boot loader as well now, which is really easy to do.

How are you stalling the two CPUs to the same point in time? I think I am running into the same problem with the GBAMP CF loader. I am using the ARM7 for all the copies, with the ARM9 staying stalled in the loop created by the pass through. This works sometimes, but not others. Do you have any advice?

i sync them based off of vcount/vblank, as that will always fire at the same time on both CPUs. it seems to have worked so far for all of the areas i've applied it to, i just need to add it to one more area now.
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

Thanks for the reply. I think that is too much code (I only have ~100 bytes left) to work for me. However, I have managed to get it working for Flashme now.

Unfortunately, commercial wifi demos don't work. Is there anything they do differently that would explain this?

does this mean i can now flash my ds using GBAMP - and i neednt of ordered that flash cart? *beats head against wall heh*

i dont mind tho - infact kinda happy if thats true, and major congrats are due i feel if thats the case - gbamps are more widely owned i think and certainly a lot cheaper - will open the ds homebrew scene to a whole new bunch of people (who hopefully wont be as retarded as 99% of the trolls that the PSP 1.5 kxploit have introduced to the psp homebrew scene)

Personally, I'd love to see a tool which would also support .nds.gba files, seeing as some authors don't distribute their works in .nds format. Even if it meant bankswitching the flash cartridge and jumping to the beginning.
_________________
"We are merely sprites that dance at the beck and call of our button pressing overlord."

chishm wrote:

Thanks for the reply. I think that is too much code (I only have ~100 bytes left) to work for me. However, I have managed to get it working for Flashme now.

Unfortunately, commercial wifi demos don't work. Is there anything they do differently that would explain this?

what you need to do is just replace your boot.ds with darkains loader (with his help of course) then you will only need to ever get that one file to load properly...he can deal with all the other fun details ;)
_________________
www.drunkencoders.com

dovoto wrote:

what you need to do is just replace your boot.ds with darkains loader (with his help of course) then you will only need to ever get that one file to load properly...he can deal with all the other fun details ;)

That's the plan. However Darkain's loader doesn't currently work with the GBAMP. When (if) it does it will be very useful.

Can this loader work with .ds.gba files? Can I just rename it to .nds, or will that not work?

Most often, a *ds.gba file is one or more *.nds files with a GBA loader prepended. If you can strip off the GBA loader somehow, and the Nintendo DS program doesn't depend on assets stored on the GBA cart, then yes you can make a *.nds file.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

tepples wrote:

Most often, a *ds.gba file is one or more *.nds files with a GBA loader prepended. If you can strip off the GBA loader somehow, and the Nintendo DS program doesn't depend on assets stored on the GBA cart, then yes you can make a *.nds file.

There's a programm writen by Josath named "PME2NDS" which is able to do that.
It's very easy to use(just drop the ds.gba file on the pme2nds exe and it will create a nds file).
Get it HERE (scroll down).

Note:

Quote:

A quick tool to convert .nds.gba to .nds. Only works with .nds files generated with ndstool, that are aligned to 16bytes (which happens to be the way the template works). Won't work on commercial demos, or things that were never .nds in the first place.

_________________
Abusing Cube and DS with all sorts of homebrew and hacks.

Hey, now that the GBA MP can play .nds files, an output format of .nds would be cool.. Or, is the "magic" of the loader in the header? I tried to use the pme2nds.exe tool to remove the header so that it would work on the GBA MP, but then it just loaded the first ROM in the multiboot image. I guess for the GBA MP, we'd really only need a directory reader and loader. That way, you could copy .nds files into a directory and then launch them using the loader..

http://ds.darkain.com/hack/build.zip

ok, hurry up and test it. only bug fixes. shouldnt need to insert/remove cart, or what ever tricks you where doing. the default setup in the ZIP file (loader + darkstar) works perfectly, so shove other demos at it, and let me know how well it loads in FlashMe (with and without a DS cart inserted) as well as on PassMe.

if for some reason it DOESNT work, please give me the complete list of demos that you are attempting to load and your configuration (passme vs flashme, etc) so i can reproduce errors and FiX0R THEMZ!!!
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

Looks like all the E3 demos actually run now!
Will the source code ever be released? I'd like to see something that can load files off a movie player.
_________________
"We are merely sprites that dance at the beck and call of our button pressing overlord."

Nothing major, but maybe you should change copy command in the .bat file to:

Code:

copy /B loader.bin+boot.gbfs MultiNDS.ds.gba

so it works on Win9x machines.
_________________
I probably suck, my not is a programmer.

FluBBa wrote:

Nothing major, but maybe you should change copy command in the .bat file to:

Code:

copy /B loader.bin+boot.gbfs MultiNDS.ds.gba

so it works on Win9x machines.

meh, i'm not too worried about it. i've already switched it over to a makefile in the latest build, since the loader is designed to be a development tool anyways.
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

All DS Demos I tried work with this bugfix release.
Nice work!

(Would be cool if I could disable or change the sounds of the menu, though o.o)

I tried running it on the gbamp and all I got was a white checker-patterned background. Is this the most I can expect from using a gbamp versus a true flashcard?

tk wrote:

I tried running it on the gbamp and all I got was a white checker-patterned background. Is this the most I can expect from using a gbamp versus a true flashcard?

there is no GBA-MP support yet
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

Dang... I still get the white screens when burning more than one demo. I won't name a list of what combinations I tried 'cause it simply doesn't matter how many or few I use. Even just Boot and only two demos together refuse to start. The only thing that works is burning only one demo on the cart (tested Meteos and Tetris).

And the stupid thing is: at the first few tries (still with the previous multi loader) it did work a few times, even with 6 demos at once. But after a few times it got worse and worse, and now I can use only 1 demo at a time.

(Btw, I use a Flash2Advance 256Mbit cart.)

ABrugman wrote:

at the first few tries (still with the previous multi loader) it did work a few times, even with 6 demos at once. But after a few times it got worse and worse, and now I can use only 1 demo at a time.

(Btw, I use a Flash2Advance 256Mbit cart.)

Sounds like a problem with your cart to me. (Or maybe the linker or your PC)

Just noticed that the source to both the multinds loader and darkstar is now in ndslib cvs!

Hi !

I have a problem with the loader. When I put one of my roms in it (nDoS.nds, which works prefectly well normally) and try to load it, The backgrounds are messed up (some parts show as blank black spots), and the sprites don't seem to show.
The rom also hangs when loading some functions (always the same, but no idea why).

Do you have an idea to make it work with the loader ? Could this come from a difference in devkitarm ? (I use version r12)

Thanks :)
Mol

Actually I can't even start the loader if I put anything on it... maybe this is something to care about?
_________________
Packin':
Grey DS with FlashMe v7
1Gbit XG2T 2005 (Neoflash compatible)
GBAMP, Supercard CF, 512Mb Magic Key 3 and EZFA 256Mbit

Did you leave boot.nds in there Chetic? That has to be in there.

IxthusTiger wrote:

Did you leave boot.nds in there Chetic? That has to be in there.

damn right, I did
_________________
Packin':
Grey DS with FlashMe v7
1Gbit XG2T 2005 (Neoflash compatible)
GBAMP, Supercard CF, 512Mb Magic Key 3 and EZFA 256Mbit

I'm just wondering if this is compatible with my flash card. Do I have to do anything special to my DS?
I'm using the EZA Flash 256 card.

I pretty much extracted the files to its own folder and put some demos into the same folder. Jump Super Stars, that Trauma game, and the brain game.

I ran the build and it made the multiNDS.ds.gba file and I flashed it onto my gba. Am I forgetting something?

I loaded up my DS and tried to run the gba side and load up the NDS rom, but the top screen turns white while the bottom screen remains dark.

Basically theres nothing on the screen...Am I doing something wrong??
can anyone help? thanks so much

You need a PassMe to run DS stuff from a GBA cartridge.

Is PassMe that mod chip for the ds?

What else can it be used for? Only playing demos?

PassMe could be referred to as an external "mod chip". Right now it can run official DS Download Play demos and homebrew games.

(If you want to run backups of DS game cards, please take it to another forum.)
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

the jump superstars demo doesn't seem to be working for me with the version of the loader you released on page 8.

it gets to the main menu and everything, where i can pick "unintelligible japanese" or "vs.", but either option results in a very snesds-esque crash where the music keeps playing, only not quite right, and the screen goes black.

anybody else having this problem?

Apparently, this one only runs with wmb.exe (wifi method)[/quote]

ethoscapade wrote:

the jump superstars demo doesn't seem to be working for me with the version of the loader you released on page 8.

it gets to the main menu and everything, where i can pick "unintelligible japanese" or "vs.", but either option results in a very snesds-esque crash where the music keeps playing, only not quite right, and the screen goes black.

anybody else having this problem?

Yep, having this happen as well. Very odd...you'd think that if it loaded fine you would be good to go since it's loading fully into RAM AFAIK. I've noticed snesDS Wifi compatible NDS ROMs don't work either...heh, I figured I had some extra space, and I hadn't played with a recent version of the bin version of snesDS so why not throw a few on there and see how they work?
_________________
Now with 20% More Old Man from Zelda 1 than ever before!

Try changing your DS game. JSS demo works only with specific DS inserted games.

!! you're right.

meteos and kirby didn't have any luck, but i put in warioware and it worked fine.

ethoscapade wrote:

!! you're right.

meteos and kirby didn't have any luck, but i put in warioware and it worked fine.

NFSU2 also works.

I'm having the same problem with the JSS demo, with the music-hanging crash. I've tried using Metroid Hunters: First Hunt, Super Mario 64 DS, Yoshi Touch & Go, and Kirby Canvas Curse (all the DS carts I have available) with no success. I have a FlashMe'd DS with a F2A Ultra 128M.

Can anyone else post what games they've tried booting it with, and whether or not they worked? So far I have:

Works
NFSU2
Warioware

Doesn't work
Metroid demo
Super Mario 64 DS
Yoshi Touch & Go
Kirby Canvas Curse
Meteos

Last edited by Cleon I on Tue Aug 09, 2005 2:03 am; edited 1 time in total

you can add that meteos doesn't work, as that's what i was using the entire time before i knew this weird glitch existed.

it doesnt matter what works or doesnt work anymore. thats already been fixed and dealt with. use the july 25th build of the loader.
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

it's been fixed and dealt with, except in the case of jump superstars.

i'm using the 7/25 build, and it still crashes after its own main menu if warioware isn't in the DS slot.

well, someone send me the demo. and as for working or not working w/ games in the slot, i see no difference at all here with my copy.

also, if things dont work, the project is OPEN SOURCE, so anyone can just go grab it and fix it on their systems. i cant fix bugs that i cannot reproduce.
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

Quote:

project is OPEN SOURCE

You're the man Darkain. :D
_________________
"no offense, but this is the gayest game ever"

Quote:

use the july 25th build of the loader

Hmm, I never saw anything about a release newer than v20050630 so I went back through this thread and found it. Maybe you should put something on your website so others will be aware of the new (test?) build.

http://ds.darkain.com/hack/build.zip

- Aaron Rogers
http://www.aaronrogers.com/nintendods/

Ah, you're right, I may have been using the 6/30 build. I downloaded the file linked from the first post (which I assumed was up to date). The file itself has no version information in it that I can tell, so it's tough to determine which build you have. Maybe consider throwing a quick & dirty Readme.txt in there with version info and simple usage instructions?

Also, I'd like to take the opportunity to second this statement:

Quote:

You're the man Darkain. :D

Edit:
Alright, I'm using the updated version with no success. Can anyone who's gotten the Jump Superstars demo to work post what flashcard/DS card combination they're using?

Cleon I wrote:

Ah, you're right, I may have been using the 6/30 build. I downloaded the file linked from the first post (which I assumed was up to date). The file itself has no version information in it that I can tell, so it's tough to determine which build you have. Maybe consider throwing a quick & dirty Readme.txt in there with version info and simple usage instructions?

Also, I'd like to take the opportunity to second this statement:

Quote:

You're the man Darkain. :D

If it's like the build before this one, it gives version info and GUI version info on the top screen in the corners.
_________________
Now with 20% More Old Man from Zelda 1 than ever before!

zubiac wrote:

tepples wrote:

Most often, a *ds.gba file is one or more *.nds files with a GBA loader prepended. If you can strip off the GBA loader somehow, and the Nintendo DS program doesn't depend on assets stored on the GBA cart, then yes you can make a *.nds file.

There's a programm writen by Josath named "PME2NDS" which is able to do that.
It's very easy to use(just drop the ds.gba file on the pme2nds exe and it will create a nds file).
Get it HERE (scroll down).

PME2NDS is no longer on that site. Can someone host the program, or e-mail it to me please?

Cleon I wrote:

Quote:

Alright, I'm using the updated version with no success. Can anyone who's gotten the Jump Superstars demo to work post what flashcard/DS card combination they're using?

Jump Superstars demo works fine when using http://ds.darkain.com/hack/build.zip on FlashAdvance Pro 256MB with Flashme and NO GAME IN DS SLOT.

If Metroid Demo is inserted, the game BLACKS OUT when choose the first option(TRAINING), and it works fine on 2nd option. Wondered WHY!

gardevor wrote:

Cleon I wrote:

Quote:

Alright, I'm using the updated version with no success. Can anyone who's gotten the Jump Superstars demo to work post what flashcard/DS card combination they're using?

Jump Superstars demo works fine when using http://ds.darkain.com/hack/build.zip on FlashAdvance Pro 256MB with Flashme and NO GAME IN DS SLOT.

If Metroid Demo is inserted, the game BLACKS OUT when choose the first option(TRAINING), and it works fine on 2nd option. Wondered WHY!

That's funny, because I have the same flashcart and the same build and yet it doesn't work as you say. Though it does work with Puyo Puyo Fever (J) int he slot :)

Quote:

Jump Superstars demo works fine when using http://ds.darkain.com/hack/build.zip on FlashAdvance Pro 256MB with Flashme and NO GAME IN DS SLOT.
If Metroid Demo is inserted, the game BLACKS OUT when choose the first option(TRAINING), and it works fine on 2nd option. Wondered WHY!"

After further testings, sometimes it works sometimes it don't. Is there gonna be a new MultiLoader build coming out soon Darkain?

jojjy wrote:

PME2NDS is no longer on [the creator's] site. Can someone host the program, or e-mail it to me please?

Anyone?

i'll send to you.. what's your address?

just put your cursor over "me" in the above quote

Sent. hope that helps

I need that too - I've looked a bit but haven't found it anywhere.

dsmnemonic@mail.com if you have the time - thanks in advance!
_________________
Time flies when you throw a clock.

sent! hope that helps

PME2NDS can be found here: http://davr.drunkencoders.com/pme2nds.zip

ya, it was just reconnected after i already sent it to those guys

It doesn't work for me with FlashMe neither. White screen :(
If I go "around" FlashMe and use the normal WiFiMe (wmb.exe), it works just fine.
I have an old Visoly 256 Pro flashcard.

The things I try to flash:
boot.nds (yeah :P)
DarkStar.nds
drugwars.nds
flux.nds
hexends_wad.nds
JWPoolDS.nds
scummvm.nds

What I also mentioned: Hexen DS won't even run with WiFiMe and the loader -> Black screen
The others work fine.

tried it on the MP

If you don't add anything to it it displays the background for the loader and locks up. If you do add something you get whitescreens

Just found out....it works now :)

I kicked Hexen DS and now it works!

Now I have:
boot.nds
DarkStar.nds
DrugWars.nds
Electroplankton Demo.nds
Meteos Demo E3.nds
ScummVM.nds
Submarine Tech Demo E3.nds
Table Hockey Tech Demo.nds
Zelda Gallery E3.nds
Zelda Preview Trailer E3.nds

Everything works, you rock, Darkain :)

PS: I used the "build.zip"

i don't know if anybody ever pointed out that nesds works beautifully with this; it does.

what doesn't seem to work is grid challenge. i'm using the non- neoflash version, as a whopping none of those seem to work with the loader.. white screens. any advice?

What's with the annoying voice clip at the beginning? I have no clue what it says, and it's gotten pretty old.

present day present time HAHAHAHA!
yes it is really annoying a v random? An explanation Darkain?

Go watch the Anime "Serial Experiments Lain" and find out.
_________________
"We are merely sprites that dance at the beck and call of our button pressing overlord."

jojjy wrote:

What's with the annoying voice clip at the beginning? I have no clue what it says, and it's gotten pretty old.

Are you using an old version of the loader (the one built into Darkstar?)? The newer versions are more compatible.
_________________
Now with 20% More Old Man from Zelda 1 than ever before!

has anybody been working on a .nds/.gba loader? i remember once somebody asked if such a thing was possible, and when i assured them that it wasn't, i was immediately corrected, but none have appeared yet.

Anything that can load more than one .gba file needs to have knowledge of the hardware registers of the ASIC of the individual flash cart make and model. Some flash cart makers *cough*Borden*cough* have been notoriously not forthcoming with such documentation.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

why is this thread now in DS-Misc instead of DS-Development? since when does a tool to load homebrew demos count as "misc" and not as "development"? the project was designed and geared towards easier mass-testing of all of the NDSLIB/LIBNDS demos all at once (which i need to work on when i return home next week..)

oh ya, that side note: i've been out of town, hence the lack of updates from me on anything. i have word that there has been some work done to port my Multi-NDS loader over to the GBA-MP. when i get home, i'm going to jump in on this project as well. i beleive that i have all the tools that i need, now its just a matter of finding the time to get it done! :)
_________________
-=- Darkain Dragoon -=-
http://www.darkain.com
DarkStar for Nintendo DS

Cool, we are all here waiting for you! :D Mighty Max and Chishm (just an example) have released GBA MP multi-rom loaders, but nothing that looks as nice as yours yet.

awesome, good luck!

yeah i have no idea what going on with this forum, it seems the actual developement threads are now counted as misc?

tepples wrote:

Anything that can load more than one .gba file needs to have knowledge of the hardware registers of the ASIC of the individual flash cart make and model. Some flash cart makers *cough*Borden*cough* have been notoriously not forthcoming with such documentation.

Is it really that hard to load a multirom into a debugger and find the sequence to bankswitch pages?
_________________
"We are merely sprites that dance at the beck and call of our button pressing overlord."

Lynx wrote:

Cool, we are all here waiting for you! :D Mighty Max and Chishm (just an example) have released GBA MP multi-rom loaders, but nothing that looks as nice as yours yet.

My v2 firmware is actually based around Darkain's loader (the back end part). Hopefully with Darkain's help I can get better compatibility with NDS files.

Is there anyway of loading JumpSuperStar's demo with multi-loader??? or with anything else??? (no wifime, I mean)

El Hobito wrote:

yeah i have no idea what going on with this forum, it seems the actual developement threads are now counted as misc?

Apparently DS Misc is the Nintendo DS counterpart to GBA Announcements And Comments.

Dwedit wrote:

Is it really that hard to load a multirom into a debugger and find the sequence to bankswitch pages?

It is when you can't afford to buy a decent debugger. It is when you can't afford to buy every single make and model of flash card and debug the loader, especially when (say) XG2 changes its ASIC annually. It is when you're not an asm expert. It is when you don't know what values the loader is looking for when it does a POST (power-on self-test) on the cart circuitry. It is when you live in a jurisdiction without strong statutory protection for reverse engineering.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

I've got a little problem using this loader.
Sorry if it has already been said ...

Everytime I start the flashme'd DS without a DS cart inserted I get two white screens. And if I insert a game, I come into the menu - but there's no sound an if I want to start a game/app I get two white screens too.
BUT: If I start it via Wifime everything works perfectly. I don't get white screens (what means that I don't have incompatible files).

Why? What to do?

I've got a F2A Pro, but that shouldn't be the problem because it works with Wifime ...
_________________
The future of gaming is mobile Handheld Gaming.

Ilomoga wrote:

I've got a little problem using this loader.
Sorry if it has already been said ...

Everytime I start the flashme'd DS without a DS cart inserted I get two white screens. And if I insert a game, I come into the menu - but there's no sound an if I want to start a game/app I get two white screens too.
BUT: If I start it via Wifime everything works perfectly. I don't get white screens (what means that I don't have incompatible files).

Why? What to do?

I've got a F2A Pro, but that shouldn't be the problem because it works with Wifime ...

Well, I have tried it too, and I think I have the exact same problem. I load the latest version of the Multi-NDS loader on an "EZ-flash II Powerstar" cartridge and run it using a FlashMe'd DS. I see the menu and I can navigate it using the keys, but the touchscreen doesn't work and everything just gives two white screens when I try to load it. I have tried putting 3 different carts in the DS slot, but it still won't work. I haven't been able to test it using WifiMe though, as I haven't got a wireless setup.

I tried the 20050630 build (latest) on a blue ds with new firmware using a passme2 and I get white screen.
I then tried the GBAX2005 version and it work fine :)

If you don't want the gbax2005 background, just take the loader.bin of the gbax2005 release, and the boot.nds of the latest release, and it work fine on new firmware nds :)

Tried it with this loader but I had exactly the same problem :-(

Maybe it works after reflashing to the Mario Kart DS supporting firmware.
_________________
The future of gaming is mobile Handheld Gaming.

it doesn't =/ i'm in the same situation as thomas, and i know this worked for me with flashme v3. i updated to v5 for mario kart, and i think that broke something with this loader (though i can't imagine what). i don't know what our chances of an update are, either.

Thomas wrote:

Ilomoga wrote:

I've got a little problem using this loader.
Sorry if it has already been said ...

Everytime I start the flashme'd DS without a DS cart inserted I get two white screens. And if I insert a game, I come into the menu - but there's no sound an if I want to start a game/app I get two white screens too.
BUT: If I start it via Wifime everything works perfectly. I don't get white screens (what means that I don't have incompatible files).

Why? What to do?

I've got a F2A Pro, but that shouldn't be the problem because it works with Wifime ...

Well, I have tried it too, and I think I have the exact same problem. I load the latest version of the Multi-NDS loader on an "EZ-flash II Powerstar" cartridge and run it using a FlashMe'd DS. I see the menu and I can navigate it using the keys, but the touchscreen doesn't work and everything just gives two white screens when I try to load it. I have tried putting 3 different carts in the DS slot, but it still won't work. I haven't been able to test it using WifiMe though, as I haven't got a wireless setup.

Sorry for the bump, I'm having exactly the same problems as above, does it look like multiboot won't get updated again?

MultiNDS now works correctly in FlashMe v6. Update if you haven't already, works fine for me.

gbadev.org forum archive

DS Misc > Multi-NDS Loader - RELEASED!

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