Hacking Making gateway 3ds support multiple Roms on 1 SD card.

[xyzmanas]

An idea popped in my mind about the Gateway 3ds cart. Could you please look into it and tell if that is possible.
Q. Could somehow a large sized microsd card say of 32Gb be divided into smaller partitons of say 2 or 4gb sizes and then if they can be used to play different games which are loaded on the different partitions.
Being an CS engg student i think this quite possible on the software part and i am not talking about the 3ds software but about the software which drives the microcontrollers (if they can be used on the flash card).
Don't know much about the hardware part but is it possible to design the Flash cart which could read those seperate partitions imagining them as different Sd cards (well its all Address Space for the controller to read maybe it can be done).
There could be a PRESET which is designed for 4-6 partitons on the 32GB sdcard and those coulde be switched by a simple sliding switch on the Flash cart which would in deed change the address space which is to be read by the Flash cart for the game ROM.
PS: This is just an idea. Maybe it was useless and can't be done or maybe it is possible theoretically
[ I have seen CAR music systems sometimes reading the 1st partiton of my USB drive and some Audio systems reading the 2nd partition just saying ]


Do reply if you guys think that something could be made out of this thing.





I sent an email to the gateway 3ds team about this and they sent me a reply in just an hour telling that they forwarded it to the Technical team, could it mean that this could be achievable??





Here is the email

 

[ilman]

Even if multiple ROMs were possible there can be only one chip to store save data and each time you switch games, your save data will be lost(unless you back up).
That kinda defeats the point.

 

[xyzmanas]

Even if multiple ROMs were possible there can be only one chip to store save data and each time you switch games, your save data will be lost(unless you back up).
That kinda defeats the point.

couldn't there be some embedded flash on the cart for that purpose, they are charging 80$ so they could provide us with something?

 

[ilman]

couldn't there be some embedded flash on the cart for that purpose, they are charging 80$ so they could provide us with something?

I don't think the chip for the save data can be switched very easily. Keeping 3 or 4 save chips in a cartridge won't leave space for anything else. And it's normal to charge 80 bucks for it. It's the first 3DS flashcart, after all.

 

[xyzmanas]

I don't think the chip for the save data can be switched very easily. Keeping 3 or 4 save chips in a cartridge won't leave space for anything else. And it's normal to charge 80 bucks for it. It's the first 3DS flashcart, after all.

No no they could very well separate the single flash memory chip in memory banks to handle different Roms that is possible ATM, just need some time and proper team to do it and as of now they are our best bet to do it.

 

[Master X]

I had the same ideas after I seen a picture of the ace3ds pro.

But my idea was slightly different - Instead of using internal memory for the saves, it would be built to use two mSD cards. One to store games, the other to store save files.

 

[elgarta]

couldn't there be some embedded flash on the cart for that purpose, they are charging 80$ so they could provide us with something?

They are 'providing' people with the first retail 3ds flash cart, of course it isn't going to be perfect. If you don't like the features (or lack of) that the first publicly available one has, then wait for different carts to be produced that might offer those features.

 

[2ndApex]

What interface would you use to switch between the partitions? Certainly not one that runs on the 3DS yet.

 

[rwn]

The most feasible way I can see this as being possible would be to add a switch to the gateway 3ds. something like a 4 stop switch that when set to which ever position changes the partition.

 

[xyzmanas]

The most feasible way I can see this as being possible would be to add a switch to the gateway 3ds. something like a 4 stop switch that when set to which ever position changes the partition.

Yeah, something like that could be feasible if implemented correctly.

 

[xyzmanas]

What interface would you use to switch between the partitions? Certainly not one that runs on the 3DS yet.

Read the Op, I mentioned nothing about using the 3ds interface. Totally external.

 

[GoldenSun3DS]

So... have they replied back to you yet?

 

[xyzmanas]

So... have they replied back to you yet?

they just replied that they will look into it and inform me if there is any progress

 

[WiiUBricker]

they just replied that they will look into it and inform me if there is any progress

Translation: Stop pestering us. It most likely won't be possible else our card would have supported it from the start.

Oh and @OP: Go here and click Tempstyle DARK.

 

[Rydian]

It most likely won't be possible else our card would have supported it from the start.

Just like the DSTwo doesn't support the GBA emulator, just like the R4i Gold doesn't have Real-Time Save, just like theAK2i doesn't have wifi loader updates, etc.?

You know, fancy features they have now that were not out upon release...

 

[GoldenSun3DS]

they just replied that they will look into it and inform me if there is any progress

No, I was asking if they emailed you again after responding to your first email

 

[WiiUBricker]

Just like the DSTwo doesn't support the GBA emulator, just like the R4i Gold doesn't have Real-Time Save, just like theAK2i doesn't have wifi loader updates, etc.?

You know, fancy features they have now that were not out upon release...

Supporting multiple roms per SD card is a basic feature that all flash cards should support from the start. Do you really think the gateway team weren't trying to support multiple roms per SD card?

 

[Rydian]

Supporting multiple roms per SD card is a basic feature that all flash cards should support from the start. Do you really think the gateway team weren't trying to support multiple roms per SD card?

Do you really think the Supercard team wasn't trying to make a GBA emulator?

It just took longer than pushing out the hardware itself.

 

[WiiUBricker]

Do you really think the Supercard team wasn't trying to make a GBA emulator?

It just took longer than pushing out the hardware itself.

Contrary to supporting multiple roms per SD card, a GBA emulator is not a basic feature a flash card should have and besides, there is no technical limitation that stops them from coding such emulator. It's just native code of their device which they can build with their own SDK.

 

[Rydian]

Contrary to supporting multiple roms per SD card, a GBA emulator is not a basic feature a flash card should have and besides, there is no technical limitation that stops them from coding such emulator. It's just native code of their device which they can build with their own SDK.

I'm just pointing out that the idea of "if a cart doesn't have it at launch it won't have it" doesn't logic.