Hacking Thinking of buying a DSTWO, need some advice please

[Sephtenshi]

Hey guys, so I bought an Acekard 2i bout six moths ago thinking it would be the perfect card for the 3ds I had coming. Now that it was blocked with no hope of patching, I'm thinking of buying a DSTWO. Thing is, it's really expensive in my country so I need to make a well-thought purchase.

So here are the questions:

1. What are the chances the DStwo gets perma-blocked by Nintendo? Why? (I just bought a card and it was patched, I wouldn't like it to happen again)
2. The next ones are all about speculation, but I would like to hear your guesses. If the 3DS does get hacked and we can play backups, will it probably need a new flashcard for 3ds mode or will it probably use CFW (like the PSP)?
3. What are the chances a homebrew/card can play both 3ds/ds games or will those always need separate functions? What I want to know is if you will always need two cards/programs because they're separate functions.

I'm prepared to buy one today, so please try to help me with these questions.

Thank you very much for reading and happy new year.

 

[metroid maniac]

There is no guarantee that the DSTwo will always work on a 3DS. There is always the possibility that Nintendo will release an update that blocks all carts. The DSTwo has the best support though, so if any card is likely to survive an update it is the DSTwo.

 

[potato3334]

1. I think the SCDS2 will last quite a while against Nintendo's anti-piracy.
2. Most likely CFW or Homebrew Channel like the Wii
3. Yes 2 different programs will probably be used for DS and 3DS homebrew. As for cards, idk, cuz im pretty sure the 3DS won't be using cards for loading up backups or homebrew

 

[Chary]

I think the 3DS will run on CFW. It's just a guess though. Go ahead and get the SCDStwo. It's awesome.

 

[Sephtenshi]

I'd like to go ahead and thank everyone's answers so far, thank you very much.

Keep 'em coming tho, I'm not a hacker but I like to know how and why the systems work so I can undestand what I'm dealing with.

 

[metroid maniac]

Seeing as how the recently discovered exploit is a savegame exploit, I think that a CFW is more likely than a flash cart. DS mode software is too hard to say and might need a flash cart but playing 3DS mode software is probably easier.

 

[the_randomizer]

Good thing I found this thread! I was thinking of getting something like this in the near future (now that I have a 3DS and my DS battery is unusable). Are there any places that you can purchase them without fearing that your credit card info will get stolen (HTTPS)? I'm keeping an eye out on that Snes emulator.

 

[potato3334]

Good thing I found this thread! I was thinking of getting something like this in the near future (now that I have a 3DS and my DS battery is unusable). Are there any places that you can purchase them without fearing that your credit card info will get stolen (HTTPS)? I'm keeping an eye out on that Snes emulator.

GBAtemp's partner, Shoptemp, is a good source

 

[the_randomizer]

GBAtemp's partner, Shoptemp, is a good source

Thanks! Would you call it a pretty good device for emulation or media playback? I have my eyes on the Snes emulator, but I'm not sure how capable it really is. Don't get me wrong, it's a not a reflection on the person maintaining SFCDS.

 

[potato3334]

Thanks! Would you call it a pretty good device for emulation or media playback? I have my eyes on the Snes emulator, but I'm not sure how capable it really is. Don't get me wrong, it's a not a reflection on the person maintaining SFCDS.

SNES emulator is very.... decent. It can play a good amount of games, but some games won't fit on the screen, or certain sprites won't show up and you have to play with the settings. Of course, those games with the special chips won't run well either. I haven't played much with media playback but it runs fine.

GBA emulator is pretty good though.

 

[Rydian]

1 - Every time. Every firmware update Nintendo puts out, they block carts, and you need to wait and then update your cart to get it working on the new firmware. If you don't like that, buy a second DS unit and never update it.

2 - No clue, don't ask, nobody here knows.

3 - See number 2.

@Randomizer: The SNES emulation isn't even fullspeed. You, somebody who complains about minor sound issues, would find using the SNES emulator a nightmare. GBA's better, but still not fullspeed.
Same sort of deal with media playback. Even with the added power of the DSTwo, there's bottlenecks, screen resolution issues, etc. The DS is not a good system for emulation or media anymore.

tl;dr: The DS and flash carts are great for DS games.

 

[the_randomizer]

1 - Every time. Every firmware update Nintendo puts out, they block carts, and you need to wait and then update your cart to get it working on the new firmware. If you don't like that, buy a second DS unit and never update it.

2 - No clue, don't ask, nobody here knows.

3 - See number 2.

@Randomizer: The SNES emulation isn't even fullspeed. You, somebody who complains about minor sound issues, would find using the SNES emulator a nightmare. GBA's better, but still not fullspeed.
Same sort of deal with media playback. Even with the added power of the DSTwo, there's bottlenecks, screen resolution issues, etc. The DS is not a good system for emulation or media anymore.

tl;dr: The DS and flash carts are great for DS games.

Gotcha, I've plenty of DS games that, uh, could be backed up on this flash cart. And seeing as the Snes emulator is based off Snes9x 1.43 yeah, it's pretty bad sound-wise. Perhaps if/when emulators are ported to the 3DS, maybe we could see one with better SPC700 emulation. I was just wondering about the DSTwo is all.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Hey guys, so I bought an Acekard 2i bout six moths ago thinking it would be the perfect card for the 3ds I had coming. Now that it was blocked with no hope of patching, I'm thinking of buying a DSTWO. Thing is, it's really expensive in my country so I need to make a well-thought purchase.

So here are the questions:

1. What are the chances the DStwo gets blocked by Nintendo? Why? (I just bought a card and it was patched, I wouldn't like it to happen again)
2. The next ones are all about speculation, but I would like to hear your guesses. If the 3DS does get hacked and we can play backups, will it probably need a new flashcard for 3ds mode or will it probably use CFW (like the PSP)?
3. What are the chances a homebrew/card can play both 3ds/ds games or will those always need separate functions? What I want to know is if you will always need two cards/programs because they're separate functions.

I'm prepared to buy one today, so please try to help me with these questions.

Thank you very much for reading and happy new year.

1. Cards get blocked all the time, but SuperCard always update within a day, and even in the event that you accidentally update your 3DS, the DSTWO can be updated without actually being able to run the cart. I doubt it will ever be permanently blocked, unless Nintendo figure out something they haven't yet.
2. I'm guessing both will be available, but you may need a flashcart in order to install CFW (like it was on the DS) unless a savegame exploit or similar can be used (which it seems it can)
3. There will be a cart that can do both, but most likely no existing DS cart will be updated with 3DS ROM support. Not because it's impossible, as firmware updates are already possible, so it's plausible, but because the makers want to make more money by requiring you to buy a new flashcart for 3DS mode.

Also, you can order it from China/Hong Kong and get a low price and free shipping (the sites on shoptemp.net are reliable), there are also US/UK and probably AU based sites that aren't too expensive but they're considerably more so. Just be careful not to order from random sites you find without checking that they're reliable.

 

[Sephtenshi]

1. Cards get blocked all the time, but SuperCard always update within a day, and even in the event that you accidentally update your 3DS, the DSTWO can be updated without actually being able to run the cart. I doubt it will ever be permanently blocked, unless Nintendo figure out something they haven't yet.
2. I'm guessing both will be available, but you may need a flashcart in order to install CFW (like it was on the DS) unless a savegame exploit or similar can be used (which it seems it can)
3. There will be a cart that can do both, but most likely no existing DS cart will be updated with 3DS ROM support. Not because it's impossible, as firmware updates are already possible, so it's plausible, but because the makers want to make more money by requiring you to buy a new flashcart for 3DS mode.

Also, you can order it from China/Hong Kong and get a low price and free shipping (the sites on shoptemp.net are reliable), there are also US/UK and probably AU based sites that aren't too expensive but they're considerably more so. Just be careful not to order from random sites you find without checking that they're reliable.

Thank you very much! great answer!

 

[GamerzHell9137]

Battery Life on 3DS?
The R4ids.cn card runs roughly 5 hours on my XL and i know the DSTWO has an CPU and it uses lot more power.
Am i gonna get 4 hours with it?

 

[apollooo]

i've been using DS2 since the day it comes out. i think i got 4-5 hours of battery life in DS mode, but shorter in emulators when i turn the CPU frequency to 4 in SNES or GBA

 

[chyyran]

A DSTWO is great, but the chance of a 3DS mode hack rendering all DS mode flashcarts (partially) obsolete are high. For now, get a DSTWO, it gets the best support, as well, you can run Dingux on it, so that's an added bonus. However, the future is near.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Thank you very much! great answer!

Another thing to note is that, to my knowledge, the DSTWO is still the only flashcart that can be updated even if you're unable to run it due to accidentally updating the 3DS.
But it's always best to update the DSTWO first, the alternate method isn't recommended if you can avoid it.

 

[Rydian]

Other flash carts used to be able to do that with things like special cables and hardware... but they all died off.

 

[Deltaechoe]

The supercard team has the best track record for support of any card out there right now asnd it is indeed the best choice and probably will remain so.