Modding my 3DS to play older games using an emulator. Questions and answers please!

[noxtheroxstar]

Hey guys,

Long time viewer first time posting...I think. Anyway, I bought a R4i card that was imported over from Hong Kong. Here's the link:
----

I wanted to know if there's anyone out there who has tried getting a Visualboy Advance to run on a 3DS/3DS XL system successfully? Or if you KNOW of a GBA emulator that's compatible.

Now If anyone is wanting to know how to get an emulator to run on a 3DS here's the instructions:

http://www.wikihow.com/Play-NES-Game...r-Nintendo-3DS

It took me just under two weeks to get this Card (I live in the USA), there IS another competitor out there and here's their link:
http://www.gateway3ds.info/Gateway-3DS-run-NDS-ROMs.htm

Now I did a search on google "visual boy advance on 3ds" and got two links, ones a VBA Link website and well you can read it for yourself:
http://www.vbalink.info/ When I click on the support forums^ it takes me to a Czech forum that apparently is broken.

The Second google search was from here:
http://www.kgbanswers.com/how-can-i-...y-3ds/22738549
Which claims it CAN but fails to explain HOW....So that's where we come in! I'm going to give it a shot tomorrow night and share my results. However, if anyone of you already know how, or want to know, this is THE topic for you.

-NoX

Updated news!

3DS firmware updated to V7.0.0-13 , R4i Gold 3DS supports directly the newest 3DS V7.0.0-13 without any patch updating needed ... (2013-12-10)

Niiice.

[MaslowK]

The Second google search was from here:
http://www.kgbanswers.com/how-can-i-...y-3ds/22738549
Which claims it CAN but fails to explain HOW....

"For emulating GBA roms on Nintendo 3DS, you need to use SuperCard DSTWO R4 3DS card."

Not sure why they call it an R4 (it isn't related afaik), but the Supercard DSTWO is the only card available right now that supports GBA emulation on the 3DS due to the extra processing power required (i.e., an extra processor on the card itself). The same goes for snes emulation on the 3DS; though they do have one or two that sort of work, they're far from playable. Unfortunately they haven't figured out how to fully utilize the 3DS hardware for emulation purposes, and all emulators run under its standard DS mode.

Hey guys,
3DS firmware updated to V7.0.0-13 , R4i Gold 3DS supports directly the newest 3DS V7.0.0-13 without any patch updating needed ... (2013-12-10)

Niiice.

Indeed I'm assuming you got the one with r4ids.cn on it? This is the best cheap one you can get aside from the emulation issues; unfortunately there are a ton of fakes that look exactly the same (with a different url on them) that don't work nearly as well & get blocked more often, and really give the brand a bad name :/

[Zorlon]

Moved

http://eng.supercard.sc/manual/dstwo/ the best DS flash kit available that works fine will all current versions of the 3DS no silly rom patching needed for AP protected games either

There are a couple of GBA emulators now for the DSTWO http://eng.supercard.sc/manual/dstwo/plugin.htm not tested the new one yet myself

Note: that the Gateway 3DS flash kit is only for older versions of the 3DS, make sure you don't update your 3DS

There are Gateway fakes but these are just cheap clone cards not worth the effort and also do not work on the latest version of the 3DS (I'm not going to link up rubbish clone cards, it's bad enough that every R4 kit is in effect a fake the R4 team died off long before the cards that are out now and was a clone of the M3 Simply anyway, though it was a high quality card, not a cheap clone)

P.S. there is a news thread for the 3DS in this section (now that your thread has been moved to the correct section ) that stuck thread is just for DS flash kits running on the 3DS, I'm not always on top of it though, depends if I spot the update or not.

[noxtheroxstar]

"For emulating GBA roms on Nintendo 3DS, you need to use SuperCard DSTWO R4 3DS card."

Not sure why they call it an R4 (it isn't related afaik), but the Supercard DSTWO is the only card available right now that supports GBA emulation on the 3DS due to the extra processing power required (i.e., an extra processor on the card itself). The same goes for snes emulation on the 3DS; though they do have one or two that sort of work, they're far from playable. Unfortunately they haven't figured out how to fully utilize the 3DS hardware for emulation purposes, and all emulators run under its standard DS mode.



Indeed I'm assuming you got the one with r4ids.cn on it? This is the best cheap one you can get aside from the emulation issues; unfortunately there are a ton of fakes that look exactly the same (with a different url on them) that don't work nearly as well & get blocked more often, and really give the brand a bad name :/

Have you personally tried the SuperCard DSTwo yourself? And if so, have you tried to run a GBA emulator on it?

-NoX

[Zorlon]

I don't know about MaslowK but I have it's just the latest one I have not because I didn't know it was released until I looked at there plugin page

I have 2 of those cards as my GF uses my old 3DS and I use the 3DSXL she doesn't play many GBA games but she does play a couple that run perfect, one is sonic the hedgehog that I created a cheat for her that she plays often enough, I have played a number of GBA games without issue and few that have minor sound problems but otherwise also run fine.

I would guess that MaslowK has not though as R4 has nothing to do with SupercardDSTWO Supercard have there own team rather than just another team that just stole the R4 name from a team that no longer exists anyway.

I am semi curious as to what the new GBA emu is like though and if the previous sound problem has gone (it was just spits in the sound overall it was ok but noticeable, I have heard there was a couple of games that did not work though as well, mostly because of this forum and I tested those myself for the user to verify and see if the issue was there end or the emulator, I don't remember what the games had been but they followed on from each other, not games I had an interest in so I have forggoten what they are)

[noxtheroxstar]

Update! 1.1

OK, so far I've tried jEnesisDS v0.7.4 which is running perfectly. I've used 6 games to test it. http://dl.qj.net/download/jenesisds-v074.html
By the way the emulator^ & the R41 Gold 3DS DO have a save slot options. Tested and works great. I did some digging and it's true that the SuperCardDSTWO does have a better GBA/SNES emulator. And I bought one just in case I can't find a GBA emulator to work with the R41. This card I got IS 100% legit btw. If I have time this weekend I'm going to breakdown a copy of VisualboyAdvance (for PC) and see if I can do some tinkering. I figure if I can't find one then I'll just make my own!

Update 1.2

I have successfully installed lolsnes and intend to help the author create an updated version that has save slots and be completely compatible with ANY R41 Gold 3DS card fake or real.(if he's still passionate enough to do it.) If any of you are interested in this pursuit, let me know.

Advisory Warning
Anytime you use a card ALWAYS disconnect your WiFi PRIOR to inserting your card. (R4,GW,Super) Seriously...if you know how to crack PC drm this is a no brainer....

I've started to dissect the bios codes for my spare 3dsxl. I believe, the key lies there and perhaps the OS itself.

[Zorlon]

The reason that the SupercardDSTWO can handle GBA is because it uses extra memory build into the flash kit, it is not a basic flash kit like the R4 range of kits

As the 3DS only uses DRMish protection for DLC content and the odd DS rom like Pokemon (I don't know if any 3DS game cards have any sort of protection though, not got much interest in that yet, I buy my 3DS games), the card slot does not read this sort of thing direct it has to be programmed into the game, most DS games don't have this though.

A flash kit itself has no protection apply'd at all it would then be a point of does the flash kit auto crack protection in protected roms (the DSTWO kit does the R4i does not)

I have been using DS flash kits since the first DS was released [the first method was via a GBA flash kit and a DS PassMe with and original DS game inserted into the PassMe] I have never had a problem with WiFi enabled all the time, I even play DS games via WiFi from the flash kits I have used with no issues at all.

My point about the R4 is that every currently available R4 kit/s is not a real R4 the real R4 is the same as a M3 Simply that can't be used on any 3DS or DSi it was a DS only kit and that team died off before there was a 3DS or any R4i kit

Also note that the R4 or DSTWO has no way to boot into 3DS mode so only uses resources made for the DS side not the 3DS side/the DSTWO also have extra resources over the R4i.

You are more than welcome to try and program a GBA emu for the DS, I am not trying to stop you doing that, but you are limited to what the DS side hardware can do if you do this for an R4i, there are plenty of source files to work from as well out there.



Kits I have owned are

While I had a DS

GBA EZFlash 256Mbit + SuperCard DS PassMe not the EZFA range that started off as a clone but ended up being nice little kits (all the Pass Me's at the time worked the same, at the time there was a couple of games for DS that used 512Mbit so I ripped one of those games into to two 256Mbit roms and still managed to play the that game start to end (nothing was removed except for other language files))

While I had the DS Lite (I still have one)

GBA M3 Lite + SuperCard DS PassMe (the M3 Lite used a Micro SD slot so I had more space for games the previous GBA kit only had that small amount of internal memory)
GBA M3 Lite + R4 (The original R4 that was the same as a M3 Simply but had been the best available kits) [GBA M3 Lite was used only for GBA games by then, the DS-Lite was stolen so the next kit I got when I replaced the DS-Lite]
M3 Real + GBA expansion + Rumble (GBA expansion is just for GBA games (though the games are stored on the DS M3 Real card)/extra memory used by emulation and by the DS web browser rom/Rumble was used for the odd DS game that supported it, DS side this was the best at the time, but GBA side the M3-Lite was still the better option, including rom link up features between DS&GBA)

I skipped the DSi (I still think that was a good call there are only 5 or so DSi exclusive games and a bunch that have optional DSi features)

While I have the 3DS&3DSXL (I still have them and use them)

Acekard2i (this was blocked by 3DS firmware updates otherwise it was the best kit at the time, up until the SupercardDSTWO)
Supercard DSTWO (I have one for the 3DS and one for the 3DSXL and is the best DS side kit to date)

The better cards tended to have higher compat without patches to fix anything, cheaper cards require patching for some games, some games also would not work at all at first unless a 3rd party patch was made, some cheap kits never got some of the games working, but mostly obscure games so most users could put up with it, with a big thanks to the WooD team and a couple of other 3rd party teams (these have nothing to do with any R4i teams, they just created kernals such as WooD to make these cheaper cards work alot better) the compat for the cheaper cards are very much improved to what the original teams for each card could provide them selves to the point that none of these flash kits have there own teams making kernals or updates now




I can test the newer GBA emu myself if you like, the older one worked very well anyway though except for the slight sound distortion in some games, no games had slow downs that I tested/played though, now I tend to play GBA more on my XBOX, obviously via emulation.

The DSTWO although has that extra resource will not use that unless it is told to do so via the programming of whatever might use it, for example the GBA emulators are programmed to use the extra resource built into the flash kit, that is why the emulator is only for the SuperCardDSTWO, otherwise it would just not run very well if at all without the extra resource.



The 3DS itself is more than capable of running GBA via emulation though on it's own and does so anyway via officially released games on the shop that are stored on the SD but these are linked to the account/system, these can be transfured over via software on the 3DS to another 3DS, but it does this wireless, done this myself when I got the 3DSXL so I kept all my products (I got those free as it happens) to the new 3DS I got, that included a bunch of NES and GBA games plus a couple of others, those should work on a DSi as well, but even the DSi has higher specs to the DS and has 2 modes DS mode and DSi mode

[noxtheroxstar]

Update 1.3

I have successfully broken down the visual boy advance's bios. Incorporated with the R4I 3ds gold card (which btw is more than capable of emulating a SNES or GBA device), the only thing left for me to do is alter some lines of code and get the authors OK on it. I believe with some patience, I can build my very own Emulator! BTW Zorlon, that link I initially posted for the R4I card is official. Since you deleted my link, I'll just make it copy and paste for those who missed it.




Please Admin do not remove that link. This is my 4th purchase from them this fiscal year and every single item I bought was legit, as I stated in my opening statement.



EDIT by Zorlon

Do not post store links

[Zorlon]

If you must know I deleted nothing in your posts

Last edited by Cookie Monster; 11th-December-2013 at 11:25. Reason: link removed, no ads!

the link was removed as we do not allow store links, plus it will not be the only official retailer, so saying it's official is just silly, the online store I get my kits from are official Supercard retailers, as are a few other sites.

I will remove this one myself, please do not insist on breaking our rules.

You can link official sites though as much as you like but what you linked is not a site for the R4i flash kit.

You are still not getting my point, there is no such thing as a real R4 kit that has i in the name, the real R4 team are long dead long before the R4i I have no questions about it being a legit R4i Gold

http://www.r4ids.cn/ is the homepage for your kit
http://www.r4idsn.com/ is the homepage of the other well known R4 kit that still works with the 3DS

Neither one is the first R4 kit homepage

Most the homepages have online store lists anyway including local online stores, i.e. US, EU & Japan ect... stores.

I was not trying to say the R4 simply can't I was saying that the SuperCard DSTWO does have extra memory that is used for GBA emulation, if you can get full speed GBA emulation without that just using the DS side hardware then that is great for those that own the cheap cards and will let any DS owner play GBA games without needing an expensive card or GBA flash kit or even a GBA expansion kit/GBA 3 in 1

You are arguing with yourself.

[Cookie Monster]

Please Admin do not remove that link. This is my 4th purchase from them this fiscal year and every single item I bought was legit, as I stated in my opening statement.

Zorlon already said it, but I'd like to clarify something. If I deleted it is not because I personally think the site isn't legit, that's something I don't know. It's only that new members can't post any kind of link that could be considered as advertisement, regardless of how legit the site is.

[Zorlon]

http://ichfly.github.io/gbaemu4DS/

it's a GBA emu for DS Flash kits, it is aimed at the R4i Gold kit, but I have a feeling it will work with others

Personal interest is none to be honest, but it looks like it has had big progress since it started, still no idea how well it will run myself, if I feel I have time I may do a couple of play tests with it.

[noxtheroxstar]

I just wanted to say TY to the Admins for setting me straight. As for Zorlon, this is interesting indeed. I'll have to check that out. ^

Update 1.4/1.5

I have started my first 30 or more runs at an alpha build. (GBA/NES/SEGA/SNES - EMU) for the 3DS. The R4i Gold 3DS Christmas Edition is a very powerful device, indeed.
My success was limited the first two dozen times until I realized that the reason the majority of these so called EMU's are failing is not because the programming of the author it's because of the power consumption! 3D mode, having your screen on max light settings, wifi, and needless other shit gimmicks are what is causing a drag in programs. It is my firm belief that as of February of 2014 I will have a very solid beta for everyone!
Gateway, SuperCardDStwo, R4i, users etc. Stay tuned....

[Zorlon]

Well I certainly do wish you luck with this and look forward to seeing some of your results.

If you want someone to test things for you, I am more than willing to help out, I used to test for a few Dreamcast coders (NEC PC Engine was the last one I was helping with) and GBA coders (emulators for GBA not of, that was a mastersystem/gamegear emu I helped with last), sadly long dead projects now.

There are usually coders compo's around this time of year that might be of interest, though no idea of where to look for those nower days, just google coder competition or something, there is usually emulators for consoles included in the ones I used to keep an eye on.

[noxtheroxstar]

Update 1.6

Well it's been about 3 months now since my last update. (My mum died in January, so everything has been on the back burner so to speak..) Anyway. Concerning my, what I shall call "Multi-Emu" things have been looking up, I managed to make a NES/SNES alpha emulator. I got on the boards to ask anyone if they think it's possible to incorporate a ISO/CD mount on a 3DS device? (My hopes are limited) Does anyone know why exactly it could or could not be possible? Anyway, I'll be back in April with a Beta release and give links, etc.

BTW, my (GBA/NES/SEGA/SNES - EMU) wasn't so good. I've scratched this in favour on focusing on Nintendo-esque vibe. This of course might change if I actually had help.

Later Mates!

[Zorlon]

That sucks can't blame you for taking a time out.

We are not really a coders forum but yes that should be very possible but not as a separate operation but as part of an emulator, not looked at picodrive in ages but the PSP ports of that support CD games (That's Sega CD by the way), not sure if the DS port does also though, think there is possibly a PCE CD emu and maybe even a Neo-Geo CD emu for the DS

DCEmu.co.uk might be more of interest for you (they do, do DS stuff, they just started out a Dreamcast only to start with, I have met some interesting coders there in the past and helped out with there projects)

I tend to use bigger and better consoles for home system emulation though and use portable consoles to emulate portable system GB to GBA, GameGear, Lynx ect

Multi systems is a nice idea but sometimes it is best to stick to a single system at a time and get that optimized

Kega Fusion is a classic Sega emulation to CD32X Kega because it's a play on Sega and Fusion because it is a multi Sega system emulator

You could just call it Nintendos as it is the consoles that had been known simply as Nintendo (even the Super variation was commonly called Nintendo) or Nintwodo because there are 2 nintendo machines emulated

Names I'm not so good at I lost my imagination a long time ago

As you are as far as I know still just working with DS side hardware there are still those limitations, but CD drive emulation should not be an issue on it, but if this is for emulation of a CD system you are better off looking at direct CD loading and preferably with compress audio like mp3 to keep it as small as possible

While you look at DCEmu it is worth looking to see what else has already been done for the DS there, there is plenty for it