<!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><a name="guide"></a><div align="center"><b><a href="#guide">The M3 Sakura Guide</a></b></div><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
<a name="basics"></a><b><u><a href="#basics">The Basics</a></u></b>
The bare minimum you should know about using M3 Sakura.<ol type='1'><li><b>Loader Setup:</b> Format a MicroSD card (it is recommended that you use the <a href="http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2006.04.12-HDD-Low-Level-Format-Tool" target="_blank">HDD Low-Level Format Tool</a> or the <a href="http://filetrip.net/f1380-SDFormatter-Version-2-0-0-2.html" target="_blank">Panasonic SD Formatter</a>), <a href="http://filetrip.net/file.php?id=4374" target="_blank">download</a> and copy the SYSTEM folder to the root of the newly-formatted (FAT32) card, then insert the card in your M3 Real / M3i Zero flashcart. For the M3 Real, that's all you have to do! For the M3i Zero, <a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=168862" target="_blank">you have to flash it</a> before you can use it.</li><li><b>File Setup:</b> Place skins, TXTs, MP3s, DPGs, DSMs, JPGs, PNGs, GIFs, BMPs, and NDS files anywhere on the MicroSD card. You may organize folders any way you want, but if you use TouchPod as well, it is convenient to place your NDS ROMs in a folder called "NDS" and your GBA ROMs into a folder called "GBA" on the root of your MicroSD card. If you have GBA ROMs, you can only run them if you have a <a href="http://www.realhotstuff.com/expansion-pack-real-p-266.html" target="_blank">GBA Expansion Pack</a> or similar Slot-2 expansion such as the <a href="http://realhotstuff.com/-c-124_58_107.html" target="_blank">EZFlashV 3-in-1</a> (the GBA Expansion Pack is <i>highly</i> recommended over any other Slot-2 solution). It should be noted that the DSi (using an M3i Zero) does not have a Slot-2, so at this point it is impossible to load GBA ROMs on a DSi. </li><li><b>Dual-Boot:</b> The first time you run Sakura, you are presented with a <a href="http://www.gbalpha.cn/China/GBalpha_Download/UploadSoftPic/20081214175337644.jpg" target="_blank">loader selection screen</a> where you can choose between two loaders: Sakura and TouchPod (the original loader for M3 Real). Once you've selected a loader, your DS will always boot into that loader and you will not see this screen again. To access this screen again and switch back and forth between Sakura and TouchPod, hold down the A button when turning on the DS. Although TouchPod doesn't look as nice and isn't as responsive as Sakura, TouchPod tends to have better ROM and homebrew compatibility and is updated faster than Sakura. The only reason you would ever want to use TouchPod would be if you can't run certain homebrew or ROMs in Sakura.</li><li><b>Basic Controls:</b> The default skin for Sakura has button controls listed in the top screen. Many of the custom skins contain these controls as well, so make sure that you read them to learn some of the basics of navigating Sakura. Some people have posted questions asking how to show the MP3 controls, change the brightness level, etc. when all they had to do was <b><!--backgroundo:yellow--><span style="background-color:yellow"><!--/backgroundo--><!--coloro:red--><span style="color:red"><!--/coloro-->LOOK AT THE TOP SCREEN<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--><!--backgroundc--></span><!--/backgroundc--></b>. Just make sure you don't have any <a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=137545" target="_blank">custom wallpapers</a> set as the background or you won't be able to see the controls (see "Skins and Wallpaper" below for more information). </li><li><b>Files and Folders:</b> Access your files and folders by either sliding your stylus over them or highlighting them and pressing A. Pressing B will go back to the previous directory / menu. </li><li><b>NDS and GBA ROMs:</b> To load a ROM, slide a ROM to the left or highlight it and press A. To access the Sakura NDS/GBA Settings, slide a ROM to the right or highlight it and press X or Y. </li><li><b>Skins and Wallpaper:</b> To change skins, place a <a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=89197#sknen" target="_blank">.skn file</a> on your MicroSD card and simply slide it with your stylus or highlight it and press A. To set a custom wallaper, open a <a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=137545" target="_blank">wallpaper image file</a> and press START to set it as the background. To remove the wallpaper, press START from the main Sakura GUI and select <i>Restore Default Wallpaper</i>.</li><li><b>File-Specific Menus:</b> Press START while viewing a text file to access the <i>Text Display Mode Settings</i> menu. Press SELECT while viewing an image file to access the Image Display Mode Settings.</li></ol><hr /><a name="settings"></a><b><u><a href="#settings">M3 Sakura NDS/GBA Settings</a></u></b>
You can access the settings menus by sliding a ROM to the right or highlighting it and pressing X or Y.<ol type='1'><li><b>Select Cheat File:</b> M3 Sakura comes with a <a href="http://cheats.gbatemp.net/" target="_blank">massive cheat database</a> maintained by <a href='http://gbatemp.net/member.php?name=Narin' target=_blank title='View profile for member Narin'}>Narin</a>. This option points to the database (cheat.db) in the SYSTEM folder by default, but if you want to <a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=116242" target="_blank">create your own</a> <a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=95774" target="_blank">custom cheat files</a> and use them in Sakura, use the <i>Select Cheat File</i> option to set a different cheat file. For GBA ROMs, you'll need to download the cheat files <a href="http://cheats.gbatemp.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=9" target="_blank">here</a> (<b>SIDE-NOTE:</b> You can create <a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=80151" target="_blank">cheat text files for NDS ROMs</a> as well).</li><li><b>Select Cheats:</b> This option allows you to select cheats to activate for a particular ROM. Place a check next to the desired cheat to activate it. As a general rule of thumb, do not activate too many cheats at once or you may introduce bugs and instability into the ROM during gameplay. If this happens, simply reboot the DS, remove some cheats and try again. </li><li><b>Cheat Switch:</b> Use the <i>On/Off[Sel+←/→]</i> to toggle cheats on and off during gameplay. <a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?s=&showtopic=188211&view=findpost&p=2359326" target="_blank">Here's an explanation of the <i>Always On</i> and <i>Instant Codes</i> options</a>. </li><li><b>NDS-GBA Link:</b> Some NDS games have unlockable features that are available only if you have the original NDS cartridge in Slot-1 and a GBA cartridge in Slot-2 that the NDS game will recognize. You can find more detailed information <a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=107629" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://nintendo.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_DS_games_with_GBA_connectivity" target="_blank">here</a>. M3 Sakura allows you to do this with NDS and GBA ROMs as well. You can only take advantage of this feature if you have a Slot-2 expansion, such as the GBA Expansion Pack. Tap the NDS-GBA Link button, navigate to the folder that contains the desired GBA ROM and select the ROM. Now you can unlock special bonus features! Currently there is no way (via the Sakura GUI) to unlink two ROMs once they have been linked, but you can unlink them by deleting the .opt file for the NDS ROM from your MicroSD card. This only applies to the DS Lite/Phat; the DSi (using an M3i Zero) can't accept a GBA Expansion Pack due to its lack of a Slot-2, and therefore can't take advantage of this feature. </li><li><b>Soft-Reset:</b> This option allows you to exit out of a game and return to the M3 Sakura GUI without having to physically turn off the DS power switch and turn it back on (known as a hard-reset). You can trigger soft-reset with a button combination that you set. Under the <i>Soft-Reset / Real-Time Save Switch</i>, select either <i>SR: LR+ABX</i> or <i>SR: LR+ABY</i> to turn on the soft-reset feature. During gameplay, press the button combination <i>LR+ABX</i> or <i>LR+ABY</i> to soft-reset back to M3 Sakura. <b>NOTE:</b> You can not enable this feature at the same time as RTS (see #6 below), <a href="#sr-rts">but you can still soft-reset if RTS is active.</a></li><li><b>RTS:</b> RTS stands for "Real-Time Save." This feature allows you to save at any point during gameplay, even when the game normally wouldn't allow you to save. For example, many games have save points or checkpoints that you must reach in order to save so that you can resume at the same spot at a later time. With RTS, you can save, for example, in the middle of a battle in an RPG. When you load an RTS, it will pick up at precisely the point where you saved it. To turn it on for NDS ROMs, select either <i>RTS: LR+Select</i> or <i>RTS: LR+Y</i> from the <i>Soft-Reset / Real-Time Save Switch</i>. In order to create two additional real-time save (RTS) slots, tap the <i>RTS Backup</i> button. This will generate an .is1 and .is2 file for the ROM. Each RTS backup is 4.81MB, so use this feature sparingly in order to avoid using up too much space on your MicroSD card (you can also just <a href="#delete">delete them</a> if this happens). <b>NOTE:</b> You can not use this feature at the same time as soft-reset (see #5 above). To use RTS with GBA ROMs, turn it on in the M3 Sakura GBA Settings, and while playing press A+B+L+R to call up the RTS menu.</li><li><b>Play Mode:</b> It's safe to keep this option on the <i>Standard</i> setting for the most part. If you want to play with multiple DS users, select <i>Download Play</i> if you're having connection problems. </li><li><b>Slow-Motion:</b> This option is only visible if you have Soft-Reset enabled (see #5 above). You can toggle it on and off using the button combination that you've selected (either <i>L+Select</i> or <i>R+Select</i>). Slow-Motion Level refers to the degree of slowdown, with "1" being the fastest and "5" being the slowest. Slow-motion only works with selected ROMs. </li><li><b>Universal Settings (for NDS ROMs only):</b> Also known as "Global Settings," this option allows you to apply cheats, soft-reset (SR), and real-time save (RTS) settings to every ROM on your MicroSD card, rather than having to set these options individually for each ROM. Once you have enabled the desired settings, tap <i>Set for All Games</i> to instantly apply the current settings to every ROM. <b>NOTE:</b> The <i>Set for All Games</i> option will lock your settings for every ROM so you won't be able to change the settings individually. To unlock the settings, select <i>Set for New Games Only</i>.</li></ol><hr /><a name="start"></a><b><u><a href="#start">START Menu</a></u></b>
Access this menu by pressing START from the Sakura main GUI.<ol type='1'><li><b>1-Line/2-Line Mode Toggle:</b> This toggles the display mode of your file names. 1-Line Mode is more compact and displays more files on the screen. 2-Line Mode shows the file names on two lines, and uses larger icons. </li><li><b>GUI Settings:</b> </li><li><b>Restore Default Wallpaper:</b> If you have a custom wallpaper set as the background, tap this option to remove it. </li><li><b>Language Settings:</b> Select this option to change the language of the GUI.</li></ol><hr /><p align=" " class="none"><a name="video"></a><b><a href="#video">Video Player Viewing Modes</a></b>
While watching a DPG or DSM file, you can toggle through different viewing modes. Pressing SELECT once while viewing a video will hide the video player controls. If you keep pressing SELECT, you will cycle through the different viewing modes. To display the video player controls again, simply tap the bottom screen. </p>
<p align=" " class="none"><a name="hide"></a><b><a href="#hide">How to Hide Files</a></b>
You can hide files and entire folders in Sakura so that they will be invisible and inaccessible via the GUI. To do this, you have to make the file hidden in Windows. Right-click the file on your PC, click on Properties, and under Attributes check the "Hidden" box and click OK. To un-hide a file, open any folder in Windows, click on "Tools," then "Folder Options..." and then click on the "View" tab. Scroll down to the radio button that says "Show hidden files and folders" and click on it. Typically one might want to hide the SYSTEM folder since you never have to access it from within Sakura, and hiding it serves to reduce GUI clutter. </p>
<p align=" " class="none"><a name="rtg"></a><b><a href="#rtg">Real-Time Guide (RTG)</a></b>
The basic concept of RTG is that when you're playing a game and you get stuck, you can pause the game and access a walkthrough right on your DS, then close the walkthrough and return to the game right where you left off. This feature is available in M3 Sakura (as well as TouchPod), and is simply an expanded use for RTS. Here's how to use it:
1. Place the game guide (in the form of a .txt file) in the same folder where the ROM is located. The ROM and the text file must have exactly the same name (e.g., <i>ROM Title.txt</i> and <i>ROM Title.nds</i>).
2. Enter the ROM settings and turn on RT Save using either L+R+Select or L+R+Y.
3. Load the ROM, then press the button combo you chose for RT Save.
4. At the RTS Menu, select "VIEW GUIDE" to load the text file.
5. When you're done viewing the text, press B to go back to the RTS Menu, then B once more to go back to the game.
When formatting the text file, you can save it either as ANSI (the default format) or as Unicode. Press the X button in the RTS menu to switch viewing between ANSI and Unicode.
The Real-Time Game Guide displays up to 43 characters on a line:
*******************************************<--43 Characters
Parsing the text accordingly allows for optimal viewing of the text file. Use this <a href="http://mytexttools.com/Add-Remove-Line-Breaks.html" target="_blank">online tool</a> to format your game guides. Some general instructions:
1. Paste your game guide in the top box, then remove all line breaks. The text will appear in the bottom box with all line breaks removed.
2. Paste the formatted text from the bottom box back into the top box. Set it to Wordwrap Line Breaks every 43 characters, and click the button.
3. Your game guide is now formatted for viewing in Sakura.
You may have to tweak some settings in the text tool depending on how the game guide is originally formatted. For obvious reasons, formatting text in this way is not recommended for ASCII art (e.g., maps and other walkthrough diagrams drawn in ASCII).</p>
<p align=" " class="none"><a name="delete"></a><b><a href="#delete">How to Delete Files in Sakura</a></b>
As of v1.41, you can delete files from within Sakura. While navigating the GUI, highlight a file and press L+Select. You'll get a dialog asking if you want to delete the file, at which point you can either confirm or cancel the file deletion. At this time there are no other file management options available (cutting, copying, pasting, moving files) in Sakura; however, you can back up save files in TouchPod by highlighting a ROM and pressing SELECT. <b>NOTE:</b> Some files are hidden in the Sakura GUI by default. If you want to view them, press START to access the <a href="#start">START Menu</a>, go into the <i>GUI Settings</i> and un-check the box that says "Hide unsupported files."</p>
<p align=" " class="none"><a name="backup"></a><b><a href="#backup">How to Create Backup Save Files (TouchPod Only)</a></b>
This can't be done in Sakura, but it can be done in TouchPod. To switch from Sakura to TouchPod, hold the A button down when you turn on the DS. Then highlight the ROM for which you want to back up your save, and press SELECT. You'll see some choices:
<i><b>Default->1</b></i>: Make a backup for the current .sav file. This will create an .sa1 file containing your backed up data.
<i><b>Default->2</b></i>: Make a backup for the current .sav file. This will create an .sa2 file containing your backed up data.
<i><b>1->Default</b></i>: Restore a .sav file from the .sa1 file.
<i><b>2->Default</b></i>: Restore a .sav file from the .sa2 file.
<i><b>Blank</b></i>: Erase your save data from the current .sav file.
<i><b>Create is1</b></i>: Create an RTS file. This will create an .is1 file containing your RTS data.
<i><b>Create is2</b></i>: Create an RTS file. This will create an .is2 file containing your RTS data.</p>
<p align=" " class="none"><a name="saverestore"></a><b><a href="#saverestore">How to Restore Old Saves (Sakura Only)</a></b>
<b>NOTE:</b> This only works with Sakura v1.47 (1st Edition) and below. <b><!--coloro:red--><span style="color:red"><!--/coloro-->It no longer works with v1.47 (2nd Edition)<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></b>.
Sakura keeps a log of the last several times you saved for every game, even if a game normally only allows you to have just one save file.
1. From Sakura's main GUI, press SELECT. This takes you to the File Launcher.
2. While in the Recent Applications tab, select the ROM for which you want to restore an old save (do not tap the ROM, just highlight it by pressing Up/Down).
3. Press START to enter the Save File Restore menu.
Using this feature, you can return to any time that you saved in the game (up to the last several times), even though you wouldn't be able to access the saves normally through the game itself. This is a great feature for doing emergency save restorations. Note that the most current save data (accessible in-game) will be lost if you restore an old save.</p>
<p align=" " class="none"><a name="sr-rts"></a><b><a href="#sr-rts">Soft-Reset and Real-Time Save</a></b>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=182018#f5" target="_blank">The official GBAtemp.net review of M3i Zero</a> states that you can't select Soft-Reset and Real-Time Save at the same time. While it is true that you can't use the button combination to soft-reset back to the Sakura main menu, it is possible to soft-reset with RTS active. If you enable RTS, you can soft-reset by accessing the RTS menu and selecting the MAIN MENU option.</p>
<p align=" " class="none"><a name="diskcheck"></a><b><a href="#diskcheck">How to Disable Sakura's DiskCheck on your PC</a></b>
Usually you can disable DiskCheck through the firmware via the GUI Settings in the <a href="#start">START Menu</a>, but what happens when the check freezes before reaching 100% and you're locked out of the firmware? When this happens, it usually means there's something wrong with your files (corrupt files, too many files in one folder, etc.). The solution is to disable DiskCheck via your PC:
1. Download and extract <a href="http://filetrip.net/f9164-M3-Sakura-Disk-Check-Disabler-1-0.html" target="_blank">this file</a>.
2. Copy the SYSTEM folder to the root of your MicroSD card and overwrite the existing file when asked. This disables DiskCheck.
Although this file allows you to bypass DiskCheck, you shouldn't leave the corrupt files sitting on your MicroSD card. <a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=89197&st=600&p=1763665#20" target="_blank">Follow these steps</a> to find and remove the file(s).
If you can't find any corrupt files, then you probably have too many files (perhaps hundreds of them) in one folder. In this case you'll have to remove some of the files, or just create additional folders on your card and break the files into more manageable numbers.</p>
<p align=" " class="none"><a name="cheat"></a><b><a href="#cheat">Updating the Cheat Database</a></b>
The <a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?download=4808" target="_blank">firmware download on the first post</a> will always have the latest <a href="http://cheats.gbatemp.net/" target="_blank">cheat database</a> released by <a href='http://gbatemp.net/member.php?name=Narin' target=_blank title='View profile for member Narin'}>Narin</a> and the Cheat Code Crew (updated about once every month), but there's also a temporary cheat database that's updated more often by <a href='http://gbatemp.net/member.php?name=elixirdream' target=_blank title='View profile for member elixirdream'}>elixirdream</a>. It's only posted to the main cheat database when the CCC decides it's ready. <a href="http://cheats.gbatemp.net/Temp/" target="_blank">You can (sometimes) download it here</a>. Just replace/overwrite the current cheat.db file in your SYSTEM folder with the one you get from the temporary cheat database.</p>
<p align=" " class="none"><a name="application"></a><b><a href="#application">How to Customize the Application Menu</a></b>
Pressing SELECT while using Sakura will take you to the Recent Applications and Accessories menus. Press L or R to toggle between the menus. By default, the Accessories menu contains "Check disk for NDS ver0.4" and "Morning timer Ver1.2." You can customize this list by dragging any .nds file into the "SYSTEM\m3sakura\launch" folder on your MicroSD card. This folder should not contain any more than 5 .nds files. Any additional files after the first 5 simply will not show up in the Accessories menu. You may delete all of the contents of the "launch" folder, but do not delete the folder itself.</p>