Hacking Can 3DS Homebrews browse SDs inside a DS cart?

[easyonme]

Hi,

My apologies if this has already been asked/answer and/or the answer is common knowledge. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any answers.

So, as per subject, are SDs in DS carts accessible by homebrew written for 3DS? In other words, can I store roms for retroarch, for example, and run them from there? or use FBI to install a .cia on the internal microSD that's stored on the SD in the cart? Or are the carts completely invisible to the system unless running DS software/homebrew?

I'd also like to know if there's any benefit these days, given the newly achieved and progressing access to pre-3DS DS-flashcarts, in buying "modern" DS Carts designed for use in a 3DS as opposed to the old ones (which seem to be generally cheaper to acquire).

Lastly (I promise!), is it right to assume that getting a DS cart with an extra cpu is useless because we can leverage on the 3DS hardware instead, for those extra features (I believe those would be just GBA/SNES emulation)?

In the end, I'm trying to understand if using a cheap DS cart can be a way to feed software to be installed in the internal SD card, which is a pain to access directly to on a N3dsxl, as well as serve as a resources location for 3ds homebrew.


Cheers,

 

[xtheman]

All we can do with a ds cart as of right now is dump that full game and the save files. We can also inject saves.

Also use ftpd and filezilla to transfer small stuff (snes roms, homebrew, ect) between 3ds and computer

 

[easyonme]

@xtheman166 Thanks for your answer.

I find wifi transfer to be too slow to be tolerable for anything larger than 20MBs. Aside from freeshop, where I get 1.5MB/s, each and every local network transfer mode available gets me 500kb/s no matter what...

I though you could already run DS roms and DS homebrew when using a DS cart. Maybe I'm missing something or I'm not entirely understanding what you are saying...

 

[xtheman]

@xtheman166 Thanks for your answer.

I find wifi transfer to be too slow to be tolerable for anything larger than 20MBs. Aside from freeshop, where I get 1.5MB/s, each and every local network transfer mode available gets me 500kb/s no matter what...

I though you could already run DS roms and DS homebrew when using a DS cart. Maybe I'm missing something or I'm not entirely understanding what you are saying...

If you have a ds flashcart you can run ds roms and homebrew.

 

[easyonme]

If you have a ds flashcart you can run ds roms and homebrew.

It looks like you haven't read my OP, so I'm not sure if you don't have answers to address those questions, what exactly you are trying to contribute here

But thanks anyway, I guess

 

[dudemo]

It looks like you haven't read my OP, so I'm not sure if you don't have answers to address those questions, what exactly you are trying to contribute here

But thanks anyway, I guess

No, there isn't a 3DS homebrew app that I know of that can browse a DS flashcart SD card.

I'm not sure why you would want this. Most flashcarts also supply a file browser. I suppose it would be nice to have all my ROMS on one card and just transfer them without the use of a computer later.

 

[easyonme]

No, there isn't a 3DS homebrew app that I know of that can browse a DS flashcart SD card.

I'm not sure why you would want this. Most flashcarts also supply a file browser. I suppose it would be nice to have all my ROMS on one card and just transfer them without the use of a computer later.

Thanks for your answer!

As I said, I have a new 3ds xl, so accessing the SD card to copy files directly means unscrewing/removing the back every time. While I understand that all 3ds titles get installed in the nintendo 3ds folder on the internal SD card, I was wondering if the SD card in an old slot-1 DS cart could be used for storing:
1) software that doesn't need to be installed (like retro-roms)
2) installers of 3ds titles (like .cia files)

So the reason why I'd want this would be to avoid to ever have to remove the internal SD card while keeping any file that is not part of a 3ds title off of it (thus saving internal space), while using the "external" sd card as a more quickly accessible intermediary between the 3ds and the pc. The reason is pretty much the same you would have when getting an sd card for an Android phone that already has an internal memory. While you can't install software on it (normally, that is...), you would still want to have one to store the bulk of your data on.

I hope that makes sense.

 

[thisisallowed]

Thanks for your answer!

As I said, I have a new 3ds xl, so accessing the SD card to copy files directly means unscrewing/removing the back every time. While I understand that all 3ds titles get installed in the nintendo 3ds folder on the internal SD card, I was wondering if the SD card in an old slot-1 DS cart could be used for storing:
1) software that doesn't need to be installed (like retro-roms)
2) installers of 3ds titles (like .cia files)

So the reason why I'd want this would be to avoid to ever have to remove the internal SD card while keeping any file that is not part of a 3ds title off of it (thus saving internal space), while using the "external" sd card as a more quickly accessible intermediary between the 3ds and the pc. The reason is pretty much the same you would have when getting an sd card for an Android phone that already has an internal memory. While you can't install software on it (normally, that is...), you would still want to have one to store the bulk of your data on.

I hope that makes sense.

Use FTPd.

 

[easyonme]

Use FTPd.

thanks! that's really helpful!

 

[duffmmann]

I've been curious about this idea as well. Specifically for hypothetical homebrew. We already have a homebrew Pokemon Bank and Pokemon Bank GB. But I couldn't help but wonder if other Pokemon titles could get a similar homebrew application as well. So of course, if any of the DS Pokemon games could get that kind of support, it would be necessary for such a homebrew app to be able to read the sd card in a DS flashcard to locate the save file for that specific Pokemon title. i don't know how feasible such a thing would be, but it sure would be awesome. Of course that would still leave the GBA Pokemon titles unaccounted for. So that leads to a follow up question for me should a hombrew bank ever be made for the 3rd gen of Pokemon, can we through homebrew get access to our GBA VC save files?

 

[easyonme]

I've been curious about this idea as well. Specifically for hypothetical homebrew. We already have a homebrew Pokemon Bank and Pokemon Bank GB. But I couldn't help but wonder if other Pokemon titles could get a similar homebrew application as well. So of course, if any of the DS Pokemon games could get that kind of support, it would be necessary for such a homebrew app to be able to read the sd card in a DS flashcard to locate the save file for that specific Pokemon title. i don't know how feasible such a thing would be, but it sure would be awesome. Of course that would still leave the GBA Pokemon titles unaccounted for. So that leads to a follow up question for me should a hombrew bank ever be made for the 3rd gen of Pokemon, can we through homebrew get access to our GBA VC save files?

I don't see how what you are saying has anything to do with what I'm asking...

 

[easyonme]

I've been curious about this idea as well. Specifically for hypothetical homebrew. We already have a homebrew Pokemon Bank and Pokemon Bank GB. But I couldn't help but wonder if other Pokemon titles could get a similar homebrew application as well. So of course, if any of the DS Pokemon games could get that kind of support, it would be necessary for such a homebrew app to be able to read the sd card in a DS flashcard to locate the save file for that specific Pokemon title. i don't know how feasible such a thing would be, but it sure would be awesome. Of course that would still leave the GBA Pokemon titles unaccounted for. So that leads to a follow up question for me should a hombrew bank ever be made for the 3rd gen of Pokemon, can we through homebrew get access to our GBA VC save files?

I don't see how what you are saying has anything to do with what I'm asking...

 

[dudemo]

I always forget that the n3DS SD card is behind a screwed backplate. Guess I'll remember more when mine arrives.

I think at this point, FTP is your only option. There are a few decent homebrew FTP clients, but I cannot recommend any specific one because I just don't use them. Also keep in mind that the 3DS wifi card is limited in speed, so...

 

[duffmmann]

I don't see how what you are saying has anything to do with what I'm asking...

Its absolutely related, at least the first part of my question is. Let me break it down for you if you're having trouble understanding how its related: First of all, if you aren't aware, the homebrew Pokemon bank allows us to backup pokemon from our save files for X,Y,AS, and OR, as well as another homebrew app specifically for the VC Pokemon titles, yellow, red, and blue (support for the injected gen 2 vc titles with the wireless patched gold, silver, and crystal is theoretically possible, but has not yet been done yet).

Anyway, if we wanted to backup our Pokemon from Diamond/Pearl/Platinum, Heart Gold/Soul Silver, B/W/B2/W2 into a theoretical Pokemon gen 4 and/or gen 5 Bank, we'd need to be able to read the save file from our DS cartridges right into a homebrew app. Hopefully with such a hypothetical app, they'd accommodate the many of us with DS flash cards, and therefore would need to have a way for the homebrew app to locate our Pokemon DS save files on the micro SD card inside the DS flashcard.

You see? It absolutely has something to do with what your asking about, you know, "Can 3DS Homebrews browse SDs inside a DS cart?"

 

[evandixon]

I don't know if it was ever released, but I remember seeing a video of a modified version of Wood R4 that could access both the 3DS SD and the flashcart's SD. (Unfortunately, it couldn't load ROMs from the 3DS SD.)

 

[duffmmann]

I don't know if it was ever released, but I remember seeing a video of a modified version of Wood R4 that could access both the 3DS SD and the flashcart's SD. (Unfortunately, it couldn't load ROMs from the 3DS SD.)

That's kind of the backwards idea anyway. Though I'd think if it can go one way, it could probably go the other...

 

[MissingNO123]

The flashcard would have to support it, either through firmware upgrade or custom firmware for the cart.

 

[easyonme]

The flashcard would have to support it, either through firmware upgrade or custom firmware for the cart.

Thanks for your answers!

All I was asking was if the 3ds file system crates a mount point for the SD in a DS cart (which 3DS homebrew could browse to) or if instead the SD is only mounted and visible once inside a DS app.

What about 3DS flashcarts? Do they share their SDs with the system, or is their content only available once the cart launcher is loaded?

 

[MissingNO123]

Thanks for your answers!

All I was asking was if the 3ds file system crates a mount point for the SD in a DS cart (which 3DS homebrew could browse to) or if instead the SD is only mounted and visible once inside a DS app.

What about 3DS flashcarts? Do they share their SDs with the system, or is their content only available once the cart launcher is loaded?

AFAIK Gateway SD card access is managed by the Gateway card itself, which is controlled by Gateway's CFW, though LuaPlayerPlus can communicate with Gateway cards to show the currently loaded ROM, so there might be a way to access both SD cards from homebrew.

 

[easyonme]

AFAIK Gateway SD card access is managed by the Gateway card itself, which is controlled by Gateway's CFW, though LuaPlayerPlus can communicate with Gateway cards to show the currently loaded ROM, so there might be a way to access both SD cards from homebrew.

Looking at this thread, particularly at "hbmenu_DSiHybridMode_R4.rar (DSi mode hbmenu with R4 DLDI. Setup to access content from R4's MicroSD card instead of 3DS SD card. Older homebrew that requires DLDI will work with this)" sounds to be pretty much what I'm asking here. There's a glimpse of this functionality in the first video of the post. Looks like the homebrew on the 3Ds needs to be made aware of it (patched) though, somehow. I'm being ignored on that thread, so I guess all I can do is get a cart and try myself, since no one with an old cart is chiming in. If you do have a DS cart though, would you try?

Cheers,

 

[alex61194]

I don't know if it was ever released, but I remember seeing a video of a modified version of Wood R4 that could access both the 3DS SD and the flashcart's SD. (Unfortunately, it couldn't load ROMs from the 3DS SD.)

it´s was is ntrlauncher of @Apache Thunder