***M3 USERS: Guide to using homebrew and ROMs on the Nintendo DS and Lite***

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***M3 USERS: Guide to using homebrew and ROMs on the Nintendo DS and Lite***

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mr_hanky

Senior Member

10. July 2006 @ 11:52

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Guide to using homebrew and ROMs on the Nintendo DS and Lite with an M3

This guide was made for the Slot-2 based versions of the M3. If you have an M3 DS Simply go here or if you have an M3 DS Real go here

**This is the first guide I?ve ever written for anything, so feel free to PM me to correct grammar and spelling mistakes, or point out anything wrong, also, this is just what I thought of as I went along, so there could be large chunks of info missing, fell free to point out anything else you think should be added**

To run homebrew on your DS you need two additional pieces of hardware, a flash cart device and a pass device. I recommend getting the M3 and a Passcard3, but there are others available.
You can get these from any of the following sites:
Divineo
http://kicktrading.ca
http://www.winsunx.com
http://www.realhotstuff.com/
http://www.consolesource.com

Depending on what M3 you get you will also need a CF, SD, miniSD or microSD card, these can be purchased at http://www.newegg.com or on eBay, it is obvious what card you need by the name of the M3 (an M3 CF will obviously need a CF card) The M3 Lite uses microSD cards.
You may also need to get a card reader, these can be purchased from the same places.

Right, so far you should have the following:
DS/ DS Lite
Passcard3
M3 (CF, SD or miniSD, Lite)
CF, SD, miniSD or microSD card
Card Reader

Now before using any homebrew or ROMs, be sure to upgrade your M3 to the latest firmware, this can be downloaded from http://www.dualscene.net and is currently at V35, the download should include several files, there will be a firmware update for the CF version and a firmware update for the SD, miniSD and Lite versions. There will also be the latest Gamemanager software.
First copy the appropriate firmware update to the root of your CF/SD card and insert it into your M3, insert your M3 into the GBA port of your DS and the Passcard3 into the DS port, now turn on your DS and after a few seconds you should be prompted to update the firmware, press Start and the update should begin *It is very important that you DO NOT turn off the DS while the M3 updates* after the M3 finishes updating you will be notified. You can now turn off the DS and remove the update file from the root of the CF/SD card.
You should now install the Gamemanager onto your PC, this is just like installing any other program so should not be too hard.

Now time to get some homebrew on your DS :-)

First you need to find a site to download all your homebrew goodness, I use http://nintendo-ds.dcemu.co.uk , once you have downloaded the homebrew you want to use you should have either a ?filename.ds.gba? or ?filename.nds? file, both of these types will work on the M3 without needing any modification, so copy them over to your CF/SD card like you would with any other file. Plug in the card to the M3 and insert the M3 and Passcard3 into the DS and turn it on, the homebrew will be found under the ?Game? menu, when you have found the homebrew you want to run, highlight it and press the ?Start? button on your DS to run it.
Some homebrew applications such as Moonshell and DSorganise may not only be a ?filename.nds? file but also include a folder, these will come with instructions (or in Moonshells case a setup.exe file) on where to place the folders.
Some homebrew that I would recommend trying is NDSmail, Moonshell, No Where to Hide and DSorganise.

Playing NDS ROMs
To play DS games using the M3 you must first patch the games to work, this is done using the Gamemanager software mentioned near the beginning of the guide.
Start by connecting your CF or SD card to your computer, now load the Gamemanager (which you should of installed earlier), you will be prompted to choose what card you have, choose either CF or SD, if you have a miniSD, choose SD, you will now have the option to choose your language and the source directories for your NDS and GBA games, this seems to be optional, and you can just click OK to skip it.
You should now be in the main Gamemanager window, the first thing to do here is select your CF/SD card in the left directory, once you have done this, you may also want to select a folder in the card to place the ROMs but this is not necessary.
Now click on ?Write NDS? and find the game you wish to copy to the card, double click on the game, or select it and click OK.
You will now be prompted to choose the settings you wish to use, which are:

*Main*
Software Reset ? This option allows you to quit the game during play and return to the M3 menu, it is not compatible with all games, but most do work.
Same method for all Games ? This only applies if you are doing more than one game at a time, it applies the settings you choose to all the games, instead of prompting for the settings for each game.

*Read Methods*
Fast Boot ? This is what you will want to use for most games, it plays the game directly from the card without copying it into the M3s SRAM first, when using this you have the option to use 1xDMA or 4xDMA, this is how quickly the game is read from the card, it is usually OK to go with 1xDMA, but those with slower cards will want to choose 4xDMA.
Normal ? If the games does not work with Fast Boot you will need to use this, this method copies the entire games into the M3s SRAM before playing the game, it takes longer to load than the Fast Boot method, this method can only be used with games of 32MB and under due to the size of the M3s SRAM.
Directly Copy ? I have never used this so have no idea what it does, I?ll update this part when I find out. :P
Force R/W - This is a new feature available to the user since v26 (has always been there, just not as an option). This option enables games that block save access to Slot2 on the DS (the GBA port) to now save there. This is needed for some games that try to block saving to the GBA port (i.e the M3). It only appears as an option if transfering a scene release over 0530.

*ROM Trim*
This removes any garbage data not needed in the ROM therefore decreasing it?s filesize, it can take anywhere from 1MB to 12MB depending on the game.

*Cheat Code*
Enable ? This allows for the game to use the cheat code you select below.
Cheat Code ? This is where you find the cheat file you have downloaded for the game, the M3 utilises the Dipstar cheat system, unfortunately I cannot give any help on how this works as I have never used it.
Once you have selected all your options, click OK and it writes the game to your card which you can then put in your M3 and play :-)

Playing GBA ROMs
The M3 has the ability to play GBA ROMs without the need to patch them first, however, this can cause problems with saving if you use more than one game at a time on the M3, to remove this problem it is best to use the Gamemanager to patch the ROM and create a save file for it to use.
Patching a GBA game is basically the same as a DS game, however instead of selecting Write NDS from the Gamemanager, it is now ?Write GBA? after selecting your game, you again need to choose the settings for the ROM:
Real Time Save ? This allows you to use a button combination in-game that lets you save whenever you want at that exact location, this works with almost all GBA games and can be a very useful feature.
ROM Patch ? This is how the game will be patched, ?Hardware + Software? should be the default option, and has worked for every game I have used. If this setting does not, try using one of the others.
Cheat Code - This allows you to add cheat codes you have downloaded form the internet, I have not used this so cannot give any info on how it is used (perhaps someone can fill me in?)
IPS Patch ? This patches the game with an IPS patch, these can be anything from bug fixes in games, to language translations or even trainers. Simply select the patch and click OK.
Once on your card you can plug the M3 into your DS and start in GBA mode to play, or insert the M3 into your GBA/SP/Micro and play.

Playing Retro Games on the M3
There are many ways this can be done, and will briefly cover three of them, these are; using the Gamemanager, using standalone GBA mode emulators, and using DS mode emulators.

Using the Gamemanager is probably the easiest way of playing retro games on your DS.
To do this, simply open the Gamemanager and use the ?Write GBA? function, however instead of selecting a GBA game choose a retro game, the Gamemanager can use the following file types; .gg, .gb, .sms, .nes, and .pce
What the Gamemanager does when you use this method is fuse the game with the appropriate emulator and creates a .gba file, which can then be run on the M3 in GBA mode, this method does have it?s drawbacks, the created file is usually much larger than the original ROM, it creates a *huge* 1MB save file, the emulators are usually out-of-date, and it can only be run in GBA mode (cropped screen).

Using standalone GBA mode emulators is almost the same as the above method, but removes a majority of the problems associated with using the Gamemanager.
To use this method you must first download the appropriate emulator for the type of console you wish to play, I will use a Gameboy emulator as an example.
As I want to play Gameboy games, I first need the emulator to play them, a simple Google search and you will find ?Goomba? is what I need, simply download this and place the goomba.gba file in the root of the CF/SD card, *it is important for the file to be in the root of the card for this to work*.
I can now copy over all my gameboy.gb files to wherever I want on the CF/SD card, start the M3 in GBA mode and simply select a Gameboy game and the M3 will automatically load the goomba.gba emulator to play the game.
The advantages this has over using the Gamemanager is that the filesize of the ROMs does not increase, there are no huge save files created and you can easily update the emulator, the only disadvantages being that it is still GBA mode so still has a cropped screen on the DS, and you have to download the emulator.

Now DS mode emulators,
Using DS emulators is probably the most annoying, but is also the best way to play the games :-)
This time I will use a NES emulator as the example on how to play the games.
Again, a quick search on Google comes up with nesDS as the emulator I need to play NES games, so download this and stick it anywhere on your CF/SD card, the M3 does not automatically boot the DS emulators so it is not important for the file to be in the root of the card like the GBA versions.
Now copy over all your NES games and load the M3 in DS mode, now instead of selecting the NES game you wish to play, you must first load nesDS.nds, so find this and press Start on your DS to load it, you can now browse to your game and pres A to play it.
The disadvantages of this method is that not all emulators available to GBA mode have fully working counterparts in DS mode, and the fact the emulator must be loaded before the game.

Well, this is all I can think to add to the guide at the moment, I may add pictures later on if need be, and will be happy to include any extra information you think should be here. I hope this clears up any problems people are having and will help any n00bs wanting to know what else they can do with their DS :-)


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