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***M3 DS Real Guide*** WIP
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dbird
Newbie
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17. September 2008 @ 00:56 |
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Hello All:
Please excuse if this has already been answered. I haven't read the entire thread, just several pages at the beginning and the last one.
I'm trying to put together a M3 REAL setup for my Grandson for his birthday. It's what he wants. I am pretty good at computer stuff but I don't do games so in that respect I'm a complete doofus.
Anyway, I followed the procedure in M3_DS_Real_USER_MANUAL_mar11.doc, and "How to Use an M3 Real for Nindendo Ds - wikiHow.pdf". The loader/system is v3.9a.
Here's the problem. I get the main menu at the beginning after loading as in the manual. The PDA seems to work and some of the other tools, but it doesn't see the game rom I placed in the NDS folder. It doesn't show any files anywhere even though they are there (I can see them when I look at the microSD card on the PC.) It shows all the folders OK. I tried a test file with all upper case filename; makes no diff, still invisible.
Can anyone please advise me what might be wrong or what to do to diagnose?
Thanks,
Dave
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Senior Member
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17. September 2008 @ 07:34 |
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I have set up several M3 cards without any issue, the first thing is the NDS folder it must be named NDS (all in capitals and nothing else)and sit next to (not in) the SD card window when on the computer. The game roms you have put in to the folder do they have .nds at the end, a lot of game roms are zipped into .rar files and must be unzipped by a rar unzipper, the one included with windows will not unpack it correctly. Hope that helps
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Senior Member
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17. September 2008 @ 07:37 |
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Try again - missed bits out!
I have set up several M3 cards without any issue, the first thing is the NDS folder it must be named NDS (all in capitals and nothing else)and sit next to (not in) the system folder on the SD card when you are viewing the SD card window on the PC. The game roms you have put in to the folder do they have .nds at the end, a lot of game roms are zipped into rar files and must be unzipped by a rar unzipper, the one included with windows will not unpack it correctly. try google for winrar Hope that helps
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dbird
Newbie
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17. September 2008 @ 16:02 |
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Thanks for the reply.
The folder structure on the SD card is:
/GBA
/Info
/NDS Game rom here. Filename: "Mah Jong Quest Expeditions (U).nds"
/NDS/MOVIES
/NDS/MUSIC
/NDS/PICTURES
/PDADS
/PDADS/main A few files in here.
/PDADS/shell A few files in here.
/SYSTEM Lotsa files here. Various extensions.
/SYSTEM/FONT Lotsa FONT* files here.
/SYSTEM/saverDB Two files here. A*.sav
/SYSTEM/skin1 Bunch of bmp's here.
/SYSTEM/skin2 Lotsa bmp's, skin.ini, Thumbs.db
Can't see _any_ file names from within the NDS running M3REAL.
Thanks again,
Dave
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Senior Member
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17. September 2008 @ 16:24 |
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I think from what you have put that you have opened the system file and copied its contents.
The whole of the system file should be copied!
When you open the micro sd card window you should see 2 folders one named system and the other NDS.
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dbird
Newbie
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17. September 2008 @ 17:43 |
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Yes, that is what is there. Plus the /GBA and /PDADS folders, which were added manually by me following the instructions for possible future GBA files, and the PDA files. The other notations (/SYSTEM/FONT for example) shows the subfolders with the entire path name.
Question: On a good M3REAL install, does the /SYSTEM folder have lots of files in it?
Thanks,
Dave
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dbird
Newbie
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17. September 2008 @ 17:48 |
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Um. I don't understand your comment "that you have opened the system file and copied its contents". Doesn't a good install have those subfolders in it? That is FONT, etc. I assume the system itself generated the saverDB, skin1, and skin2 subfolders, because I did not make them myself directly.
Thanks,
Dave
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Senior Member
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17. September 2008 @ 19:34 |
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When you download the software, from handheldsources.com or other mirror sites you get a zip file, you then use windows (or another program) to unzip it - you should then see a folder named "system". Right click on this and copy it whole and without opening it to your sd card, then when it is there right click in the sd window (but not on the system folder) and move the curser to NEW, Folder and name this NDS, put the ROM's in here. The system folder must be moved complete - it has many other folders inside but they remain in the folder. If the card is not set up like this it will not work!
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Senior Member
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17. September 2008 @ 19:37 |
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If this does not work - you may have a faulty card, I have only had one and that let me see the games in a menu but refused to play them, when I started looking down the list of games things on the menu started to vanish - it was a faulty M3 - luckily I had another to fault find with.
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James7877
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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17. September 2008 @ 20:25 |
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I can confirm what kitty said to be correct, if you do as kitty said and it still doesn't work then again as kitty stated it must be a faulty m3 card or sd card, you have formatted the sd card first haven't you?
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dbird
Newbie
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18. September 2008 @ 02:37 |
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OK. I did exactly as kitty said... Removed the old /SYSTEM folder, and copied the unzipped SYSTEM folder from the pc. Nothing else.
AND IT WORKED!! Hurray! Thank you, thank you.
The difference between what I did before and now are two things. Before, I unzipped the G6&M3DS-R_E30.zip file directly on the microSD card, then I copied the contents of the FONT folder that I extracted on the pc from the file FONT-English.rar into the /SYSTEM/FONT folder.
Question: What do I need the FONT-English.rar for? Or do I?
Thanks again,
Dave
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Member
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18. September 2008 @ 13:28 |
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Fonts are used on the PDA
Get sakura.
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dbird
Newbie
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18. September 2008 @ 16:58 |
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OK on the fonts. But, what is Sakura? Seems to be a gillion google hits on sakura, hundreds of thous on sakura pda nintendo ...
Thanks,
Dave
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Member
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18. September 2008 @ 17:32 |
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Sakura is a firmware (SYSTEM folder) for M3Real, Most people who use it say it's 100% better but it's only japanese so few know about it, Google M3Sakura english translation for more info.
YouTube can give a demo.
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dbird
Newbie
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21. September 2008 @ 00:44 |
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Thanks loads unacquain. I have downloaded the latest version at:
http://gbatemp.net/index.php?download=2553
This one is full English translation. (Previous 95% English was v1.11x, this is v1.111) It seems to be quite good. Everything works great so far. I'm sure my Grandson will like it.
Another question:
I've been trying to get DSOrganize to work. I've downloaded vers 3.1129 as being supposedly the most stable. All I ever get is double white screens, no errors, no nothing. I've messed with the DLDIrc and two of the nds files with no change in response. Is this one of the homebrews that does not work yet?
Thanks again,
Dave
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dbird
Newbie
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21. September 2008 @ 01:09 |
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Never mind. I found the answer is "yes". DSO does not work with M3 Sakura.
Thanks anyway,
Dave
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Member
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22. September 2008 @ 17:51 |
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Ah, Actually DSO can work on Sakura.
Try and find a 'M3Sakura triple loader', the triple loader contains M3Real, M3Sakura and ITouchDS firmware.
To load DSO simply add the triple loader to your MicroSD and when turning on the DS instantly hold 'Y' and it will boot a firmware that can run DSO.
To boot sakura as normal don't press any buttons on startup.
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jorlain
Newbie
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22. September 2008 @ 18:33 |
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I recently purchased an M3 Real Perfect bundle. I just finally received it today after about a week, and I was quite excited to get started on it! So I went out and picked up a PNY 2GB microSD card and popped it into my computer. I tossed in the E30 SYSTEM folder after I had formatted it, and created a NDS folder. I popped the microSD card into the M3, and put it into my crimson DS Lite. I get the WARNING - HEALTH AND SAFETY screen, so I hit a button to continue. When I get to the next screen, it says "There is no DS Card inserted." It is showing that a DS Option Pak is inserted, but it's not even detecting the M3 Real.
At first I thought it was maybe the the system folder, so I tried several different ones, with no luck. Being as this is my first flash cart, I'm really unsure what to do now. Is it the M3 that's shot? I took the casing off and wedged a piece of paper under the contacts in hope that maybe it just wasn't making a good connection, to no avail. I'd really rather not RMA it if I don't have to.
If anyone has any other ideas, I sure would appreciate it.
P.S. I have tried another microSD card also, just to be on the safe side, with the same effect.
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Member
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22. September 2008 @ 18:40 |
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First unrar the E30 system folder using a program called WINRAR.
On your microSD there should be a folder called SYSTEM.
Then try it (you should have asked before dismantling it, I beleive you voided any warranty you had)
Secondly, How many times must people say that you should download Sakura?
It's been mentioned several times here so why do people still download the M3Real(E30 to you...) firmware?
M3Sakura is better, compatable with M3Real cards and can be gotten to include Sakura, Real and ITouchDS.
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jorlain
Newbie
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22. September 2008 @ 19:45 |
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I'm sorry. I guess I assumed that by saying that I placed the SYSTEM folder on my microSD, people would know I unrarred it.
And about the warranty, I didn't really figure it mattered, considering it came with replacement cases for different covers. One black, the other a translucent gray.
I went ahead and ran another format on my MicroSD. This time, I used Sakura as you had advised. Still, the same result. It does not detect the M3 Real card.
Any other ideas?
Thank you in advance.
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Member
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22. September 2008 @ 19:49 |
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You'd be surprised how many people never use WinRar.
Have you made sure that you card is english or did you try and use different region systems?
Try and download M3Sakura, That might work better than M3Real.
It's available at GBAtemp make sure you get the english translation it should look something like, M3Sakura english translation ver111.
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jorlain
Newbie
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22. September 2008 @ 19:58 |
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I tried this with same results. Unrar it, slap it on the microSD, no go.
If you insert your M3 Real into you DS, without a microSD, does it give you any errors? Or does it do like it's doing to me? Just acts like there's no card there.
I'm wondering if the firmware versions I'm testing are not compatible with my DS. Have you heard of that before?
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Member
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22. September 2008 @ 21:37 |
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The M3Real should actually say 'no SD card found' if theres no SD.
Try blowing the contacts of DS and m3Real.
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jorlain
Newbie
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22. September 2008 @ 21:44 |
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I've tried blowing it out several times now, with both compressed air and good ol' lung power. I've tried with the microSD port and the NDS port.
This is starting to look fairly bleak, and turning into a bad first experience. :)
Any other suggestions?
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Member
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23. September 2008 @ 13:28 |
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You probably have a shot card, Send it back and get a new one.
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