Homebrew what is a flashcard time bomb and how do i stop it?

[Technicmaster0]

As for me, I would recommend an Ace3DS+ clone: you will easily find it on Amazon, eBay and Aliexpress as a 208in1 (or 408in1) cartridge. Very cheap, it uses Wood kernel (so very compatible and working with demanding titles like Ni No Kuni eng patched) already included inside a micro SD along with various roms that you can eventually delete and replace. Also very good is the r4 gold pro, perhaps the most advertised in Europe, but you will have to use YSMenu instead of its own kernel.
Your choice.

Another good option is a DSONE SDHC card if it's for DS/DS Lite only. They have more features.

 

[Memedew]

title pretty much explains it all

Either change your menu (ie: YSMENU, or TWLMenu aka TwilightMenu++)
or just put the date of your 3DS/DS to like 2000 cause its kind of a timebomb, but they give you access to change when it detonate

 

[The Real Jdbye]

As for me, I would recommend an Ace3DS+ clone: you will easily find it on Amazon, eBay and Aliexpress as a 208in1 (or 408in1) cartridge. Very cheap, it uses Wood kernel (so very compatible and working with demanding titles like Ni No Kuni eng patched) already included inside a micro SD along with various roms that you can eventually delete and replace. Also very good is the r4 gold pro, perhaps the most advertised in Europe, but you will have to use YSMenu instead of its own kernel.
Your choice.

I would not trust any MicroSD bundled with a flashcart. Probably some noname brand with a high chance of being a fake card.

 

[Nikokaro]

I would not trust any MicroSD bundled with a flashcart. Probably some noname brand with a high chance of being a fake card

While not built with quality materials, they are efficient, up-to-date, and do their duty with "dignity and grace".....
Besides, fake card means nothing: the underlying technology is the same, but only the materials of these ones are quite shoddy.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

While not built with quality materials, they are efficient, up-to-date, and do their duty with "dignity and grace".....
Besides, fake card means nothing: the underlying technology is the same, but only the materials of these ones are quite shoddy.

Fake SD is short for "Fake memory capacity SD".

It is a form of fraud: You buy an SD, it reports to have 128GB or more, but the memory chip only has 32GB (earlier fakes even less… the scammers buy the cheapest chips available at a time). By modifying the reported capacity they can sell their fakes for higher prices. When the end o the real capacity is reached, the memory is usually mirrored, means byte Nummer "32GB"+1 is really byte 1 again (simplified). Filling the SD over the actual capacity will delete previous data.

That is why it is a good idea to run h2testw or F3 (fff fight flash fraud) on any new flash memory device; A bad SD will give the user a headache at some point. Example topic

Spoiler: result of 16GB memory pretending to be 128GB

Even worse: Those SDs are fully useless. It is hard to determine the point when and where data will overflow, so even a limited partition near the actual limit is risky and will probably lead to data loss at some point.

If these "xxx in 1" have fake capacity SDs is another question. They know exactly how big their ROMs are, can chose a moderate size and even tape over the SD slot to give the impression it is some actual game and not a flashcart.

Sometimes it is hard convincing people in checking their SDs… I have been preaching this so often in vain. "It only happens to other people. Mine will be okay."

 

[The Real Jdbye]

While not built with quality materials, they are efficient, up-to-date, and do their duty with "dignity and grace".....
Besides, fake card means nothing: the underlying technology is the same, but only the materials of these ones are quite shoddy.

Fake card means the capacity is fake and if you try to fill up the card the data gets corrupted. So yes, it absolutely means a lot.
Even if it isn't a fake card, there is a whole other issue with low quality noname cards using QC rejects from other brands, or just not having any QC to begin with so low read/write speeds and random corruption are other likely things.
The general rule is don't buy memory cards from flashcart sellers and stick to known online stores or buy local.

 

[Technicmaster0]

While I also suggest that you don't trust no-name SD companies with important data (make backups of the important files!), I've been using like 4 different no brand SD cards without any problems for years.

 

[haxorhs]

So i just got this from a used DS Lite, from this thread It's recommended to get YSmenu instead of firmware from the 'official' website?

 

[Nikokaro]

So i just got this from a used DS Lite, from this thread It's recommended to get YSmenu instead of firmware from the 'official' website?

You can keep its own software and move the console date back a few years. Before using YSMenu you need to check if the  exact name of your card (and its website) is mentioned in the compatibility list.

 

[haxorhs]

You can keep its own software and move the console date back a few years. Before using YSMenu you need to check if the  exact name of your card (and its website) is mentioned in the compatibility list.

Which is the better option?

Some mentioned that ysmenu had worse game compatibility? Others said it was good

Would I encounter game compatibility issues with its own software?

 

[SylverReZ]

which is the better option?

Pick up a R4 SDHC Gold Pro/Dual-Core or the cheap Ace3DS+ clones and get either the Wood kernel or TWiLight Menu++.

 

[Nikokaro]

Which is the better option?

Some mentioned that ysmenu had worse game compatibility? Others said it was good

Would I encounter game compatibility issues with its own software?

I would recommend for now to use its software, try the games that interest you and see how it goes. If you have problems with roms, use YSMenu, but only if your r4 is explicitly named in the compatibility list, otherwise you risk to brick It.

Post automatically merged: Dec 25, 2022

Actually a few titles on YSMenu don't work, or have problems, or get stuck by anti-piracy system (e.g. some non-english language games, Inazuma 11, Lufia, Call of Duty series, Ni No Kuni-eng patched, etc.).
Regarding its own software, I cannot say; maybe it is worse...