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:

 

[Dracari]

Wait 5-10 minutes.

been well past 30 mins , till blackscreen.

 

[DeslotlCL]

EU does same thing as US one did, freezes after going into castle.
Blue rescue team took 4 mins to get to company logos,another 3 mins to get to animation before title screen, 2 mins to title screen music but nothing after that. Using US version if that too.

There are two revisions for the us rom, maybe the v01 one could work

 

[TheArcadeStriker]

Yep, inserted SB Yellow Avenger cart, and with it inserted it Point Blank DS does load!
It takes like 1 minute to get to the menu from the title screen, and less than that to get to the title screen itself.
Apparently choosing a mode in the menu, and then selecting "No" makes it stay for a while (The background still moves) but later gives you control again (Or a unexpected delay), but choosing "Yes" goes to the mode as normal (With loading of course). Also, the menu BGM doesn't seem to loop for some reason.

 

[DarkenedMatter]

I forgot the Mario64 Mini Games save to cart and wiped my FF3 save looool. RIP. Thanks for the update though.

 

[Svaethier]

There are two revisions for the us rom, maybe the v01 one could work

The v01 does the same as well

 

[ianolivia]

The THQ Tetris DS prototype boots and is playable on the most recent unofficial version

 

[RocketRobz]

The THQ Tetris DS prototype boots and is playable on the most recent unofficial version

Which is also the official release.

 

[TheArcadeStriker]

EDIT: okay then Tetris DS proto works in card.v2 official version

 

[DeslotlCL]

The v01 does the same as well

what about the (J) and (K) roms?

 

[Svaethier]

what about the (J) and (K) roms?

Pretty sure they all do the same thing at this point.

 

[DeslotlCL]

Pretty sure they all do the same thing at this point.

The jap and us versions have their little differences (mostly bugs or glitches) so don't be sure about that...

 

[FriendoDependo]

I have a few unique entries. I'd like to request access to the Google Doc.

 

[Elaugaufein]

I'm still getting a black screen and Power Button error for everything. Using both Release and Unofficial in TWL loader (TWL-loader downloads card for both settings but dldi is downloaded on official only). Setting Console output to Debug doesn't actually produce anything so no help there.

As I said before a genuine Pokemon White card and my Supercard DStwo work so it shouldn't be a TWL issue (nor should they be patched since Luma would kill the TWL launch for the other stuff in that case).

Any ideas what's going wrong ?

 

[RocketRobz]

I'm still getting a black screen and Power Button error for everything. Using both Release and Unofficial in TWL loader (TWL-loader downloads card for both settings but dldi is downloaded on official only). Setting Console output to Debug doesn't actually produce anything so no help there.

As I said before a genuine Pokemon White card and my Supercard DStwo work so it shouldn't be a TWL issue (nor should they be patched since Luma would kill the TWL launch for the other stuff in that case).

Any ideas what's going wrong ?

Did you install the TWLNAND side CIA (found in "sdmc:/_nds/twloader/cia/")?

 

[Elaugaufein]

Did you install the TWLNAND side CIA (found in "sdmc:/_nds/twloader/cia/")?

No. Wasn't sure what it was for. Could you let me know what it does ? Does it patch TWL Firm ?

 

[RocketRobz]

No. Wasn't sure what it was for. Could you let me know what it does ? Does it patch TWL Firm ?

No. It's a DSiWare app only launched by the GUI. The TWLNAND side has the bootscreen, and starts up bootstrap for loading the ROMs.

 

[Elaugaufein]

No. It's a DSiWare app only launched by the GUI. The TWLNAND side has the bootscreen, and starts up bootstrap for loading the ROMs.

Ahh k. I'll install that then. Thanks. You might want to put that somewhere in the TWL loader readme, since it isn't immediately obvious.

ETA - Yes, that was the issue alright. Bomberman now runs happily. I can actually do some testing for the compatability list now.

ETA2 - I see a problem with my logic. I don't have a card who's save I'm willing to sacrifice and I mainly play RPGs. Eg Mageknight - Destiny's Soldier appears to load fine but falls over when it tries to write to the card after selecting a character.

ETA3 - No, I'm wrong. Its Actually running just unplayably slow on the intro bit (which is weird it's not a super cutscene just one of the ones that looks in engine). And now it seems to have frozen at the end of the cutscene.

 

[GerbilSoft]

No they don't. What they actually did was reverse engineer Max Overload (which patches NDS roms to run from Slot-2) and then rewrite/reimplement them so that they read from the SD slot rather than the GBA slot. If they had to reverse engineer the Slot-1 access code from scratch it would have taken much longer. Still much harder than just porting an emulator over.

No, this isn't reverse-engineered from Max Overload. For one thing, patching a DS ROM to run from Slot-2 is completely different than patching it to read from the SD card (which isn't accessible from the ARM9 CPU). Secondly, Slot 2 is directly addressable in memory, so the game can simply read memory and the data is there. SD cards are block devices; the data has to be loaded from the card into memory first.

 

[einstein95]

No they don't. What they actually did was reverse engineer Max Overload (which patches NDS roms to run from Slot-2) and then rewrite/reimplement them so that they read from the SD slot rather than the GBA slot. If they had to reverse engineer the Slot-1 access code from scratch it would have taken much longer. Still much harder than just porting an emulator over.

Just quoting this because this is the most bullshittiest thing I have ever come across on gbatemp.

 

[Chaos_Therum]

Ahh k. I'll install that then. Thanks. You might want to put that somewhere in the TWL loader readme, since it isn't immediately obvious.

ETA - Yes, that was the issue alright. Bomberman now runs happily. I can actually do some testing for the compatability list now.

ETA2 - I see a problem with my logic. I don't have a card who's save I'm willing to sacrifice and I mainly play RPGs. Eg Mageknight - Destiny's Soldier appears to load fine but falls over when it tries to write to the card after selecting a character.

ETA3 - No, I'm wrong. Its Actually running just unplayably slow on the intro bit (which is weird it's not a super cutscene just one of the ones that looks in engine). And now it seems to have frozen at the end of the cutscene.

You could backup the saves then use them for saving.