Gaming Modchip for DSi XL?

[superspudz2000]

i was wondering, is it technically possible for someone to make a
MOD CHIP for DSi / DSi xl / 3DS? imagine having .nds and .bin
on a SD Card.

and why hasn't anybody at least attempted it?

honestly the only reason i ask is because of "Zelda: Four Swords" on DSiware.
it was removed and is no longer available anywhere. AND cant be transferred
between systems. even if i had downloaded it, a post-Phat DS system doesn't last forever.
PLUS the fact that you need 4 DSi's and 4 copies of Zelda FS for multiplayer.

so i believe in this case its ethically ok to hack and pirate the DSi ware out of existance.
especially considering the Gamecube "Four Swords" required a mess of Gba's & link cables.

 

[Wiip™]

The 3DS/DSi(XL) has not been hacked yet.

 

[Foxi4]

The 3DS/DSi(XL) has not been hacked yet.

Wait, what? What do you mean by "DSi hasn't been hacked", there's the iEvo, it runs DSi software just fine, there's the DSi exploitable games, there's tons of ways to run unsigned code on a DSi. Only DSiWare is sort of inaccessible and I doubt it ever will be - lack of interest.

As for modchips, the only "mod" I've seen that went commercial was the overclocker mod for the DS, really. Everything else was in form of cartridges.

 

[superspudz2000]

i always thought Modchips were better than software hacks.
it seems to me that the DSi is just too hard to software hack,
not like PSP at all. so why not develop a Modchip instead.

i would much rather solder a few wires, than wait 40 years
for a software hack that may not be possible anyway.

 

[Janthran]

The 3DS/DSi(XL) has not been hacked yet.

Wait, what? What do you mean by "DSi hasn't been hacked", there's the iEvo, it runs DSi software just fine, there's the DSi exploitable games, there's tons of ways to run unsigned code on a DSi. Only DSiWare is sort of inaccessible and I doubt it ever will be - lack of interest.

As for modchips, the only "mod" I've seen that went commercial was the overclocker mod for the DS, really. Everything else was in form of cartridges.

Well, if there's no homebrew channel open to everyone, it's technically not "hacked".

 

[Foxi4]

i always thought Modchips were better than software hacks.
it seems to me that the DSi is just too hard to software hack,
not like PSP at all. so why not develop a Modchip instead.

i would much rather solder a few wires, than wait 40 years
for a software hack that may not be possible anyway.

Flashcarts *are* hardware hacks - they pretend to be an original cartridge and use a loophole in the system to run unsigned code (or don't and just feed the console with signed code like a normal cartridge would - GBC flashcarts do that, for example), there is no other way of doing this, you need a system exploit to run the menu, otherwise you end up playing only one game at a time.

The 3DS/DSi(XL) has not been hacked yet.

Wait, what? What do you mean by "DSi hasn't been hacked", there's the iEvo, it runs DSi software just fine, there's the DSi exploitable games, there's tons of ways to run unsigned code on a DSi. Only DSiWare is sort of inaccessible and I doubt it ever will be - lack of interest.

As for modchips, the only "mod" I've seen that went commercial was the overclocker mod for the DS, really. Everything else was in form of cartridges.

Well, if there's no homebrew channel open to everyone, it's technically not "hacked".

It runs unsigned code in DSi Mode - it's hacked. The difficulty curve is irrelevant here.

 

[superspudz2000]

The 3DS/DSi(XL) has not been hacked yet.

Wait, what? What do you mean by "DSi hasn't been hacked", there's the iEvo, it runs DSi software just fine, there's the DSi exploitable games, there's tons of ways to run unsigned code on a DSi. Only DSiWare is sort of inaccessible and I doubt it ever will be - lack of interest.

thats a bad example, the Cyclo iEvo has been discontinued and dosent work on 1.4.3 firmware, AND dosent play DSi ware anyway.

and any Exploits have been removed from DSi ware by nintendo.

 

[Foxi4]

The 3DS/DSi(XL) has not been hacked yet.

Wait, what? What do you mean by "DSi hasn't been hacked", there's the iEvo, it runs DSi software just fine, there's the DSi exploitable games, there's tons of ways to run unsigned code on a DSi. Only DSiWare is sort of inaccessible and I doubt it ever will be - lack of interest.

thats a bad example, the Cyclo iEvo has been discontinued and dosent work on 1.4.3 firmware, AND dosent play DSi ware anyway.

and any Exploits have been removed from DSi ware by nintendo.

There *were* exploits available and everybody had a chance to download them, the iEvo didn't play DSi Ware, this is not what I was saying, what I was saying was that it ran in DSi Mode and in fact it can still run in DSi Mode provided you didn't update. Point still stands.

 

[Skelletonike]

The 3DS/DSi(XL) has not been hacked yet.

Wait, what? What do you mean by "DSi hasn't been hacked", there's the iEvo, it runs DSi software just fine, there's the DSi exploitable games, there's tons of ways to run unsigned code on a DSi. Only DSiWare is sort of inaccessible and I doubt it ever will be - lack of interest.

thats a bad example, the Cyclo iEvo has been discontinued and dosent work on 1.4.3 firmware, AND dosent play DSi ware anyway.

and any Exploits have been removed from DSi ware by nintendo.

There's not much interest in hacking the DSi ware, also, most games there are 2€/5€ in average, cheap and small games for the most part, not many are that interesting except for a few.
Only interesting reason to hack the DSi would be for the extra ram to use in homebrew, however there are already some flashcarts that run in DSi mode, but then again, it's not very interesting, especially with the 3DS released now.

Also, regarding that Zelda thing, it was a limited offer, and I hope it remains that way.
I've always loved stuff that are like "limited ammount produced" or "only availiable until", if they became stuff you could suddenly get whenever you wanted, that would make Limited Edition games and the like pretty much pointless.
That game was to celebrate Zelda's 25th anniversary and it stayed on the eshop for quite a while.

 

[superspudz2000]

.

.

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There *were* exploits available and everybody had a chance to download them, the iEvo didn't play DSi Ware, this is not what I was saying, what I was saying was that it ran in DSi Mode and in fact it can still run in DSi Mode provided you didn't update. Point still stands.

saying "dont update", is little consolation to the thousands of people who did Update.
the allure of a free zelda game for updating is too hard to resist.
now, maybe if there was an "easy" way to obtain and play said Zelda game forever,
people wouldent update.

you see the point im making?

 

[Foxi4]

There's not much interest in hacking the DSi ware, also, most games there are 2€/5€ in average, cheap and small games for the most part, not many are that interesting except for a few.
Only interesting reason to hack the DSi would be for the extra ram to use in homebrew, however there are already some flashcarts that run in DSi mode, but then again, it's not very interesting, especially with the 3DS released now.

From the Scene perspective in which we should be interested the most it is "worth" to hack DSiWare simply to archive it - many apps have been recalled by Nintendo and are no longer availabe, which is a shame because it is likely that we will never be able to categorize and store them now. Other then that, yeah, no point. DSiWare applications are more limited then DSi apps, there are certain file size constraints that DSiWare has to follow hence it's not of interest to homebrew programmers.

saying "dont update", is little consolation to the thousands of people who did Update.
the allure of a free zelda game for updating is too hard to resist.
now, maybe if there was an "easy" way to obtain and play said Zelda game forever,
people wouldent update.

Free Zelda game for updating or access to DSi Mode, thus access to any DSi ROM out there and all DSi Homebrew. HUM! Tough to pick indeed.

 

[superspudz2000]

the point is; once a DSi Ware game is gone, its gone forever!!
there should be a way to archive and collect the games,
Regardless if they are "any good" or not.

- games with "exploits"
- Japanese games
- Europe only games
- limited time offers
- Zelda four Swords
- ETC, ETC.

anyway, if you could install a mod chip you might, theoretically,
be able to use the SD card Slot to store games, and load .NDS
directly from DSi main menu without any flashcart.

And transfer Rare DSiware from system to system.

 

[Janthran]

Personally I think the Four Swords should go for sale, but probably at a ridiculous price.

 

[Foxi4]

Personally I think the Four Swords should go for sale, but probably at a ridiculous price.

You can always just... get the GBA one... right?

 

[Janthran]

Personally I think the Four Swords should go for sale, but probably at a ridiculous price.

You can always just... get the GBA one... right?

It doesn't multiplay with the DSi one, and it doesn't have a singleplayer mode.
That leaves me stuck. It's part of the reason I bought a 3DS. (Well, not really, but it was a nice perk.)

 

[superspudz2000]

Personally I think the Four Swords should go for sale, but probably at a ridiculous price.

You can always just... get the GBA one... right?

the GBA version requires; 4 GBA SP, 4copies of zelda cartridge, 4 Link cables.
the Gamecube version is even worse, it requires 4 GBAtoGC Cables, plus GBA's, plus Cartridges, plus Disc.

anyway thats not the only reason to want DSiware transfer.
many games are released only in Japan or Europe, and
you cant exactly import them from playasia.

 

[Foxi4]

Personally I think the Four Swords should go for sale, but probably at a ridiculous price.

You can always just... get the GBA one... right?

the GBA version requires; 4 GBA SP, 4copies of zelda cartridge, 4 Link cables.
the Gamecube version is even worse, it requires 4 GBAtoGC Cables, plus GBA's, plus Cartridges, plus Disc.

anyway thats not the only reason to want DSiware transfer.
many games are released only in Japan or Europe, and
you cant exactly import them from playasia.

The DSi is Region Locked, you wouldn't be able to play them even with a modchip.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Four_Swords_Adventures

The Gamecube game, Four Swords Adventures has a single player campaign, Y'know.

 

[superspudz2000]

P

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The DSi is Region Locked, you wouldn't be able to play them even with a modchip.

http://en.wikipedia....ords_Adventures

The Gamecube game, Four Swords Adventures has a single player campaign, Y'know.

forgot to mention the DSi zelda FS anniversary edition has many more levels and extra content

oh, and a modchip might prevent region lock like the gamecube and PS2 modchips do.

 

[Luigi2012SM64DS]

its never been attepted becuase we are either too busy in life or we don't have full specs

 

[Rydian]

and why hasn't anybody at least attempted it?

Without bypassing the encryption and hacking/tricking the OS, all a modchip will do is boot unverified media. There's limitations with that though.

• For game carts? Well unlike with CDs and DVDs, the technology to write onto fake carts isn't easily-accessible. While it's feasible for any normal person to burn a DVD, it's NOT feasible for any normal person to grab a 3DS game cart and program it. The tools and materials are just not available, so why have a modchip? It'd be cheaper to just buy the damn games (up to a point). And no, simply telling it to read ROMs off of an SD instead won't work, there's all sorts of encryption and anti-piracy code that would need to be bypassed for that, and to get past that crap we need to be able to run unlimited custom code on the DSi/3DS in the first place that can interact with the OS (like how PSP hacks can run virtual device drivers to run ISOs off the memory stick).
  
• DSiware/3DSware? This runs straight into the whole issue of having to hack the OS first.

there's tons of ways to run unsigned code on a DSi

The only way to run unsigned code in DSi-mode is with the iEvo, which has serious limitations (such as no wifi, no SD access, and more) and doesn't look to even be supported anymore.

Calling the iEvo "hacking the DSi" is like calling the VHBL release for the Vita "hacking the vita". In the strict technical sense of being able to run unsigned code with a lot of limitations, yeah, but it's far from having control over the system.

i always thought Modchips were better than software hacks.
it seems to me that the DSi is just too hard to software hack,
not like PSP at all. so why not develop a Modchip instead.

i would much rather solder a few wires, than wait 40 years
for a software hack that may not be possible anyway.

Modchips do software hacks too. They're just generally used when hacks are available, but starting the hacking process has some barriers. There was a modchip for the PSP as well, but then various methods were found to start the hack install processes without it (generally through game exploits), so it lost favor.

And like Foxi said, flash carts are a hardware hack. Many of them are quite a bit more complex than a normal DS game cart with a microSD slot glued on. The reason they work is because exploits that have been found in the DS (and thus continue to work on the DSi and 3DS in their DS compatibility modes). Without those exploits, they would not boot and be able to run unsigned code.