Homebrew DS(i) Mode hacking progress thread

[Apache Thunder]

NTR Launcher inching closer to a full release:



Classic DS animation nearly done. But the code that makes it work needs serious reworking. but the boot jingle now plays.

 

[undergroundmonorail]

NTR Launcher inching closer to a full release:



Classic DS animation nearly done. But the code that makes it work needs serious reworking. but the boot jingle now plays.

Are you forcing the DS to play the intro that's already there, or are you recreating the intro because it feels wrong without it?

 

[Apache Thunder]

Are you forcing the DS to play the intro that's already there, or are you recreating the intro because it feels wrong without it?

The DS logo animation is not present in 3DS or TWL_FIRM data. So there's nothing to force. it's a recreation of the animation using captured frames and audio pretty much.

I recorded the animation and audio from an emulator and coded it into the program.

 

[Gyrobax]

The DS logo animation is not present in 3DS or TWL_FIRM data. So there's nothing to force. it's a recreation of the animation using captured frames and audio pretty much.

I recorded the animation and audio from an emulator and coded it into the program.

was the animation like this during recording? or is it a bit choppy because of the coding.

 

[zetaPRIME]

Playing a prerendered video of that in particular isn't the best idea; it's just moving, scaling and fading sprites. Much more efficient to just recreate it (which should be simple enough if you don't just have to have the particle emitter do exactly the same thing frame-by-frame...)

 

[hacksn5s4]

whats the ntr launcher use ful for

 

[Mazamin]

Hopefully we can make use of that Fake GBA Slot lying around in the Memory Map (0x8000000).

I remember that there was a patch from the early ds era that lets you load nds games from gba slot (͡°͜ʖ͡°)

 

[Osakasan]

To those asking how much time will it take to load DS games from the SD card:

It's done when it's done, no more no less, it isn't simple and the only thing you guys will achieve by asking over and over again will be to make them lose interest so SHUT IT.

We should be already thankful that they are trying at all.

 

[hacksn5s4]

well ijust want to see the 3ds fully hacked like the 3ds mode of 3ds is hacked but i want ds mode hacked to its worth the wait because more people will be able to play backups of ds games on their 3ds not every one has a flash card that has a hacked 3ds

 

[Osakasan]

well ijust want to see the 3ds fully hacked like the 3ds mode of 3ds is hacked but i want ds mode hacked to its worth the wait because more people will be able to play backups of ds games on their 3ds not every one has a flash card that has a hacked 3ds

Then shut up and wait

 

[undergroundmonorail]

whats the ntr launcher use ful for

For example, launching flashcards/other cartridges that were blocked when the 3DS first came out.

This blacklist of cartridges is stored in CTR mode, and trying to boot one fails before ever reaching NTR. NTR Launcher gets around that problem by going into NTR before initializing Slot 1, so CTR never even sees what the cartridge is and can't block it.

Cartridges that Nintendo blocked with an update can be launched via CFW, but iirc this workaround is the only way to launch a cartridge that was already blocked when the 3DS was released.

 

[hacksn5s4]

For example, launching flashcards/other cartridges that were blocked when the 3DS first came out.

This blacklist of cartridges is stored in CTR mode, and trying to boot one fails before ever reaching NTR. NTR Launcher gets around that problem by going into NTR before initializing Slot 1, so CTR never even sees what the cartridge is and can't block it.

Cartridges that Nintendo blocked with an update can be launched via CFW, but iirc this workaround is the only way to launch a cartridge that was already blocked when the 3DS was released.

can it launch flash cards that only work with ds lite and ds

 

[smileyhead]

can it launch flash cards that only work with ds lite and ds

Something tells me you didn't read the answer.

 

[weegee721]

Something tells me you didn't read the answer.

He's just a shitposter don't listen to him :/

 

[Deleted member 370671]

can it launch flash cards that only work with ds lite and ds

Well, you can with some. But geez, seeing as you're literally on every damn DS thread and that it's been out for months, how can you not know that?

 

[Apache Thunder]

was the animation like this during recording? or is it a bit choppy because of the coding.

Animation is a bit choppy as a result of the coding behind it. It really just needs to be redone but waiting on someone to help me with that.

Playing a prerendered video of that in particular isn't the best idea; it's just moving, scaling and fading sprites. Much more efficient to just recreate it (which should be simple enough if you don't just have to have the particle emitter do exactly the same thing frame-by-frame...)

Yeah I'm aware that the original animation is probably just font/sprites and fade fx. I lack the coding knowledge to do that. I barely eeked out even the dumbtastic spegetticode monster that is the current boot animation. if you know how to do it, then feel free to try. My current boot splash is proof of concept anyway and I intend to replace it with something more sane and by someone who knows what they're doing.

The audio is perfectly fine though and most likely it's just about done on that front.

Definitely looking for someone to help me fix the boot animation with something better:

https://github.com/ApacheThunder/NTR_Launcher

You're free to contribute to that goal.

 

[GerbilSoft]

how did game cube isos work on the wii though did those use any patching

You really think Nintendont doesn't use any patching?

(Spoiler: It does. Lots of it.)

 

[Chaos_Therum]

You really think Nintendont doesn't use any patching?

(Spoiler: It does. Lots of it.)

I thought it didn't use patching I believe it uses what amounts to a drive emulator so the game code is exactly the same the console is doing the heavy lifting by emulating a drive.

 

[Apache Thunder]

Nintendont worked on Wii because the hardware could easily be virtuallized and not emulated. Some things like the drive emulated maybe, but for the most part it wasn't much different then a virtual machine on a PC. The hardware could be used without breaking the firmware environment as well since the Wii was basically a overlocked game cube with extra CPU cores and other extras tacked on. Nintendon't simply downlocked the game to make sure it ran like it was supposed to on a game cube. It didn't have to pull a whole lot of tricks to make it work.


It's not that easy with the 3DS though. DS games use arm9 for graphics and arm7 for security/sound/wifi/SD access. Arm7 isn't even on in CTR mode and arm9 is busy running process9 for SD/NAND/Encryption/security things for CTR mode.

Arm11 asks arm9 to handle a lot of file system tasks while in CTR mode. You can't just pull the plug on it and retask it for DS games. it would break the OS that CTR mode currently uses. Hence why it's emulated with the port of DeSmuMe instead. Perhaps eventually it can be emulated better and since the archecture isn't as different as it would be like trying to emulate it on a PC, it could be optimized to run reasonably well.

But that's a long way off and that's assuming we never get SD based rom loading working in native NTR mode.

 

[GerbilSoft]

I thought it didn't use patching I believe it uses what amounts to a drive emulator so the game code is exactly the same the console is doing the heavy lifting by emulating a drive.

Nintendont patches the DI code from the Dolphin SDK to use a virtual DI register set in memory, which is then handled by the Nintendont kernel running on the ARM CPU. (Same for EXI, i.e. memory cards.)

There's a bunch of other patches to compensate for differences in Wii vs GCN, e.g. ARAM emulation and some differences in texture handling.

Nintendont worked on Wii because the hardware could easily be virtuallized and not emulated. Some things like the drive emulated maybe, but for the most part it wasn't much different then a virtual machine on a PC.

Nintendont is *not* virtualization. It works by patching the various subsystems to add disc/card emulation and to compensate for differences in hardware.