nds-bootstrap:

Thanks to the work of ahezard, Gericom, Apache, Robz8, _catcatcat, and shutterbug2000 and other contributors, we can now load NDS games from the SD card, without any flashcard/SLOT-1 card.

Don't expect high compatibility, but do expect many, many updates.

Compatibility listing:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LRTkXOUXraTMjg1eedz_f7b5jiuyMv2x6e_jY_nyHSc/edit#gid=0

The official Discord server for nds-bootstrap:
https://discordapp.com/invite/7bxTQfZ

The thread for the recommended loader (by Robz8):
https://gbatemp.net/threads/twloader-ctr-mode-nds-app.448375/

SRLoader for softmodded DSis (by Robz8):
https://gbatemp.net/threads/srloader-nds-app-for-dsi.472200/

If you're more of a forwarder person:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/nds-forwarder-cias-for-your-home-menu.426174/

Link to the releases page:
https://github.com/ahezard/nds-bootstrap/releases

Anti-Piracy patch list by Robz8
https://gbatemp.net/threads/ap-patch-preservation.477536/

Also, thank you to our testers:
Historian
JoshuaDoes
thejsa
Alerdy
PokeAcer

Spoiler: Videos

Also, a video thanks to Robz8:


And another thanks to Alerdy:

 

[WarioTails358]

Apollo Justice:Ace Attorney now works with the latest release of bootstrap! I was able to get past the first episode intro into the gameplay segment.
However certain character sprites became glitched/garbled in certain animations.
Also i don't know if anyone else had this issue but some games just suddenly seem to "turn off" like they are in a sleep mode sort of state where the screen is just black but I can still exit to the home menu.

 

[NinelivesBobcat]

Latest bootstrap release should be named "release-bootstrap.nds".

Yep. Also figured out the lag only happens on the title screen, setting the audio to stereo fixes this as well as stuttering. The low framerate is just the game itself (dunno why Wild World always had a shoddy framerate).

BTW found a bug in Wild World where sometimes the textures for the attic and doorway in houses becomes glitched.

 

[RocketRobz]

Yep. Also figured out the lag only happens on the title screen, setting the audio to stereo fixes this as well as stuttering. The low framerate is just the game itself (dunno why Wild World always had a shoddy framerate).

BTW found a bug in Wild World where sometimes the textures for the attic and doorway in houses becomes glitched.

Yeah, the 12MB cache code is kinda broken.

 

[NinelivesBobcat]

Yeah, the 12MB cache code is kinda broken.

Well, it is pre-release so it is to be expected. Either way, the game runs almost perfectly fine after changing some settings. Also sorry if I sound a bit too pushy sometimes.

 

[Garblant]

I'm still not sure what settings I need specifically on animal crossing in order to get it to boot...

 

[RocketRobz]

I'm still not sure what settings I need specifically on animal crossing in order to get it to boot...

Did you set Mario Kart DS as donor ROM? Also make sure "Use set donor ROM" is on for AC:WW.

 

[Garblant]

Did you set Mario Kart DS as donor ROM? Also make sure "Use set donor ROM" is on for AC:WW.

Yeah, I have MKDS as the donor rom, and Use set donar rom is set to on, but...

The rom that I'm using is a dumped copy of Animal Crossing Wild World. It worked on my emulator when I tested it, at the very least.

 

[NinelivesBobcat]

Did you set Mario Kart DS as donor ROM? Also make sure "Use set donor ROM" is on for AC:WW.

Why does it need a donor ROM? It launches for me without crashing, or is this only applied to the EU version?

 

[RocketRobz]

Why does it need a donor ROM? It launches for me without crashing, or is this only applied to the EU version?

idk

 

[NinelivesBobcat]

Found another bug in Wild World: the game crashes when you enter the town gate. It just shows a red screen at the bottom.

 

[Garblant]

I found an interesting glitch that can sometimes happen with diamond & pearl. If you enter a double battle with the attack effects on, It has a chance of crashing the game (Red screen with dots in the corner).

Ran into this after facing team galactic for the first time.

 

[RocketRobz]

You'll see that in some cases, nds-bootstrap is slightly faster than a flashcard.

 

[Wuigi]

@Robz8 Yeah with everything in cache it really is fast, but until it gets there it really isn't that enjoyable right now, Last Window(great game) hangs 2 seconds per frame of animation rn.
I've got two questions if that's ok:
If the 12 MB RAM + ? other RAM is filled up, will old data be overwritten or how does it handle new data, e.g. something that is used all the time in a game should be accessible all the time.
And the last one is how the async fetching of data will affect speed, does it try to prefetch data so when it's needed loading times won't be that noticable anymore?

 

[RocketRobz]

@Robz8 Yeah with every in cache it really is fast, but until it gets there it really isn't that enjoyable right now, Last Window(great game) hangs 2 seconds per frame of animation rn.
I've got two questions if that's ok:
If the 12 MB RAM + ? other RAM is filled up, will old data be overwritten or how does it handle new data, e.g. something that is used all the time in a game should be accesible all the time.

Old data will be overwritten, but currently if it gets over 7-8 MB, corruption and/or crashes will happen.

And the last one is how the async fetching of data will affect speed, does it try to prefetch data so when it's needed loading times won't be that noticable anymore?

It should.

 

[RocketRobz]

https://github.com/ahezard/nds-bootstrap/releases/tag/V0.5.1

 

[Valery0p]

^^^^^
Guys, update, it should fix some of the crashes caused by the cache code.

I found an interesting glitch that can sometimes happen with diamond & pearl. If you enter a double battle with the attack effects on, It has a chance of crashing the game (Red screen with dots in the corner).

Ran into this after facing team galactic for the first time.

The dots on the red screen are generated by the exceptions handler, they can be useful for debugging the crash cause, so anyone, remember to post a photo here if a crash occurs

 

[RocketRobz]

Guys, update, it should fix some of the crashes caused by the cache code.

But we still need to force-use donor ROM for the broken games.

 

[Deleted member 412537]

But we still need to force-use donor for the broken games.

How do you set that?

 

[RocketRobz]

How do you set that?

Set Mario Kart DS as donor ROM, by moving to it, pressing SELECT, then "Set as donor ROM", then move to a game that worked before on v0.4.x, press SELECT, then set "Use set donor ROM" to "Force-use".

 

[Deleted member 412537]

Set Mario Kart DS as donor ROM, by moving to it, pressing SELECT, then "Set as donor ROM", then move to a game that worked before on v0.4.x, press SELECT, then set "Use set donor ROM" to "Force-use".

Thank you very much