Nintendo DS/DS Lite and the R4

Curly

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Having seen many posts and received PM’s regarding the R4, I thought I’d bring some information together in one place.

There are other variants of the R4 card, i.e. the M3 simply, the G6 and the DS one.
As the R4's are usually cheaper and appear to be more popular I’m going to concentrate on this, although the concept is similar on the other cards.

Some members ask if the DS can be “hacked” or “chipped”. The basic answer to this is there is no need to, as when used with an R4 they can play downloaded games without the need to make any alterations to the DS’s firmware. This is also very easy to do, as I shall attempt to explain.

To play downloaded games ( called roms ) on the DS you’ll need 2 things.
An R4 and a micro sd memory card. The manufacturers of the R4 claim that it will support memory cards up to 4Gb. Having read posts reporting problems with using such cards, I personally stick with 2Gb cards.
A 2Gb card will hold around 50 roms ( depending on size of each rom ) and the system folders.
The R4 is basically an adaptor which will allow the micro sd card to be plugged into slot 1 on the DS. The R4 fits flush inside the DS just the same as a standard game would.
The micro sd card then has a small operating system on it so that the DS can play the roms. The system files come with the R4 on a small cd or the latest files can be found here. http://www.r4ds.com/download-en.htm
The system files are dragged and dropped into the root of the micro sd card, followed by the roms.

Many members ask where to get the roms from. The download sites are too many to mention ( plus it’s a grey area whether I’m allowed to post links to them here ) so my advice is to go on google and type nds roms.
The roms are listed by using a file number and then the game title. The file number is standard across the many download sites so if one isn’t downloading try a different site. The roms are usually in rar or zip format so it’s a good idea to have winrar on your pc to unrar them.
After downloading your rom, unrar it to a new folder on your pc ( called DS Games or something ). You should end up with a file with a .nds file type. This is then simply copied over to the root of the micro sd card, i.e. don’t put it in another folder on the sd card.
Your micro sd should look something like this when all the games are on.
Ignore the .sav files in the screenshot for now.

Screenshot here.

Now put the micro sd card in the R4 making sure to get it the right way round.
Put the R4 in the DS and turn it on. You will see the health and safety warning screen and then 3 options, 1 - boot from R4, 2 – multimedia and 3 – boot from slot 2 for GBA games.
Tapping the first icon will boot to the R4 so you can play your roms. These are listed on the top screen in alphabetical order. At the top of the screen you will also see the total number of roms on the R4.
Pressing the left fire button at this stage changes the screen brightness.
Pressing the right fire button changes the reset mode. If you see the R in a green circle top right of the bottom screen, you will be able to soft reset during a game back to the main R4 boot screen. If the symbol is red the only way is to turn the power off.
To do a soft reset, press the left fire, right fire, X, Y, A and B all at the same time.
To play a game, use the down button to scroll through the list of roms and the A button to select it. If this is the first time you’ve played the game, you are given the option to create a .sav save file on the R4. These save files are 512kb each, so care must be taken to leave sufficient room on the micro sd card when loading the rom .nds files.

Enjoy :)


Curly
 
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Great post, I was thinking about getting one of these DS things, Only good game I have seen is thoes brain teaser things what other AAA games are out?
 
Fair play to you Curly Id say your fingers were hurting after that thanks mate.
 
Yip, thanks for that Curly. Should help cut down any confusion for anybody investing in an R4.
Cheers.
 
Great post Cur1y.. makes it easy to print out and give to the young uns......:Cheers:
 
If you google R4DS there is a youtube entry for setting it all up. Helped me alot.
 
Having seen many posts and received PM’s regarding the R4, I thought I’d bring some information together in one place.


Some members ask if the DS can be “hacked” or “chipped”. The basic answer to this is no, but there is no need to, as they can play downloaded games without the need to make any alterations to the DS’s firmware. This is also very easy to do, as I shall attempt to explain.


Curly

Thats stricted not true they can and have been "hacked" see flashme previously used for the older slot 2 cards to be used without the passme device, but as the slot 1 R4DS's donot need passme the need isnt there.

http://www.dspassme.com/FlashMe.shtml

http://www.natrium42.com/
 
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Thanks for the info Curly :Cheers: I never knew it would be this easy.
 
Thanks for all the info above. I read through them and brought a card M3 from www.memorybits.co.uk. Followed the instructions above, but it didn't work. I've actually got a DS lite and i thought i was going to have to flash my DS, however, they emailed the instruction and zip file below and it works prefectly.

M3 Adapter Simple Guide
Insert micro SD card in to the card reader and plug in to the usb port wait for a few seconds for windows to find it and automatically install the correct drivers for a usb device.

Go to START and then my computer the usb +micro SD will have been given a drive name i.e. e: f: g: .a, b, c, d, are normally used for standard pc use. If you do not know which the new one is unplug it and watch which drive number goes and it should reappear when you plug it back in.

Right Click on the device and select FAT from the drop down box which should say FAT32 and then format the card, a 2 GB card takes around 10 seconds you can name, label the card if you want.

Download the m3101.zip folder and unzip it then you will have a rar file you need to unzip as well, drag and drop it on to the desktop, then drag and drop it on to the drive which is the micro sd . When done it can take up to 2 minutes remove the micro sd and plug it in to the m3 adaptor plug in to ds and power up. You will have the m3 ds logos on the top screen.

Now you just drag and drop you’re backed up ds roms onto the micro SD card.
Do one rom folder at a time as this is quicker than copying 20 at once .on a 2gb micro I have had 46 full roms all work well with no lag or speed issues

On some roms you may get a no sav file question continue and the m3 will create one for you, these are progress points or high scores.
 
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excellent devices

i have brought both the r4 and one called a ttds
the r4 is easier user interface but i would say the ttds is the sturdiest build

both software (new)are here in english
 
hello
i have just received one of the r4 cards , i didn't receive a cd in the box ,having read the above post got on to the r4 site and was just wondering which kernal file i need to download
what do i do after i have downloaded that file
thanks in advance dave
 
hello
i have just received one of the r4 cards , i didn't receive a cd in the box ,having read the above post got on to the r4 site and was just wondering which kernal file i need to download
what do i do after i have downloaded that file
thanks in advance dave

Read Curly's 1st post in this thread. If you follow it step by step you'll have your R4 up & running in no time. Then you say thanks to that nice man Curly for helping you.
Re your kernal, was there any clue on your paperwork which version to load? If not (& this is my understanding, don't blame me if it frazzles yer DS), if it's an original R4 put v1.18 on it, if it's a clone put v1.20 or v1.21.
Good luck,
HH.
 
thanks for that
i read the invoice i got with it and it said that some cards come preloaded with the software which it did lucky me
so i have already down loaded 6 games , saved a few quid there
dead easy to do
dead happy with my self so is my son
all thanks to you guys
 
the N5 is exactly the same user interface as the R4, and at the moment are easier to get hold of, there was a few reports about them blowing the main fuse in some DS lites, but ive now bought a few and had no problems

for ease of use, especially for kids (my 3 year old boy can use one) id recommend the R4 or N5 followed by the DSTT then the M3

the R4 and N5 are also very easily skinable to make your menu screens unique for your DS, my girls is all pink with her name right on the main menu screen
 
Original R4 if you can get one.
HH.
 
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