nds-bootstrap:

Thanks to the work of ahezard, Gericom, Apache, Robz8, _catcatcat, and shutterbug2000 and other contributors, we can now load NDS games from the SD card, without any flashcard/SLOT-1 card.

Don't expect high compatibility, but do expect many, many updates.

Compatibility listing:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LRTkXOUXraTMjg1eedz_f7b5jiuyMv2x6e_jY_nyHSc/edit#gid=0

The official Discord server for nds-bootstrap:
https://discordapp.com/invite/7bxTQfZ

The thread for the recommended loader (by Robz8):
https://gbatemp.net/threads/twloader-ctr-mode-nds-app.448375/

SRLoader for softmodded DSis (by Robz8):
https://gbatemp.net/threads/srloader-nds-app-for-dsi.472200/

If you're more of a forwarder person:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/nds-forwarder-cias-for-your-home-menu.426174/

Link to the releases page:
https://github.com/ahezard/nds-bootstrap/releases

Anti-Piracy patch list by Robz8
https://gbatemp.net/threads/ap-patch-preservation.477536/

Also, thank you to our testers:
Historian
JoshuaDoes
thejsa
Alerdy
PokeAcer

Spoiler: Videos

Also, a video thanks to Robz8:


And another thanks to Alerdy:

 

[Poketard]

Yeah, I'm also having issues with caching. As an example, in Final Fantasy 3 you can open the pause menu, but it'll have 2 loading times. Afterwards, you can open and close the menu as much as you want. Get into a single battle, though, and the menu's back to being un-cached. Unless that battle is 24 MB large, I'm not sure this is how it should be working...

 

[SaberLilly]

eh pokemon's a bit slow loading but i dont care, i mean it works this time

 

[kinder_bueno]

@Robz8 I would like to ask you a few questions:
- do you and your team see any premises for bigger (> 28 MB) roms running comparable to carts or it's not happening because there is a solid evidence that it won't be ever possible (SD card reading, memory bus speed etc, memory size constraints)?
- will it be possible for patched roms to work with nds bootloader? e. g. fire emblem heroes of light and shadow (with english patch)
- how much work do you have like writing specific fixes in the source code for specific games? in other words to what degree the source code is generic?

Anyway - thank you for the great job!

 

[MattKimura]

I can't get any games to work, even something as simple as Super Mario 64 DS. Every game gets stuck on a white screen regardless of what I try.
So I followed the troubleshooting section of 3ds.guide to install some cia files to fix TWL, and I shut down my system after. The games still white screen and I got my settings as stock as possible. I even have Mario Kart DS as the donor rom and have it "forced" on every game. I really don't know what else I can do from here, my case is just the worst.

Other info:
Roms are in SD:/roms/nds/

CPU is set to NTR

 

[RocketRobz]

I can't get any games to work, even something as simple as Super Mario 64 DS. Every game gets stuck on a white screen regardless of what I try.
So I followed the troubleshooting section of 3ds.guide to install some cia files to fix TWL, and I shut down my system after. The games still white screen and I got my settings as stock as possible. I even have Mario Kart DS as the donor rom and have it "forced" on every game. I really don't know what else I can do from here, my case is just the worst.

Other info:
Roms are in SD:/roms/nds/

CPU is set to NTR

Turn off donor ROM for SM64DS.
Try formatting your SD card to FAT32 with 32kb cluster/allocation size. Make sure the files are backed up first.

 

[Purplstuph]

Every time i boot a game, after the ds hns screen, it stays white for a few seconds and goes black saying "now booting bootstrap" but wasnt doing anything. screen returns to white.

 

[RocketRobz]

Every time i boot a game, after the ds hns screen, it stays white for a few seconds and goes black saying "now booting bootstrap" but wasnt doing anything. screen returns to white.

Try updating bootstrap in TWLoader.

 

[Purplstuph]

Try updating bootstrap in TWLoader.

official or unofficial?

 

[RocketRobz]

official or unofficial?

Both.

 

[RocketRobz]

To anyone getting white screen when booting compatible games, try setting console output to "On (with Debug)" in TWLoader, and/or "On" in SRLoader.

 

[lordkaos]

To anyone getting white screen when booting compatible games, try setting console output to "On (with Debug)" in TWLoader, and/or "On" in SRLoader.

is contra 4 supposed to be fully playable now?, cause when I launch it, I only get to see the company logos and then a black screen.

 

[RocketRobz]

is contra 4 supposed to be fully playable now?, cause when I launch it, I only get to see the company logos and then a black screen.

Nope. It's likely some patches are still missing.

 

[RocketRobz]

To those getting white screens due to compatible games not booting, try this new release.

 

[The Catboy]

This question belongs over here

Probably not that important, but flashcards don't have IR support, and nds-bootstrap supports it by using a Slot-1 cart with IR included, inserted into Slot-1, and doesn't have to be the same as the ROM running in bootstrap.

Does it work with Pokemon SS/HG? Because I have a pokewalker and I don't have the game anymore.

 

[RocketRobz]

This question belongs over here

Does it work with Pokemon SS/HG? Because I have a pokewalker and I don't have the game anymore.

Yes.

 

[The Catboy]

Yes.

That's actually worth setting this up for.

 

[SaberLilly]

Phantasy Star 0 still boots to white screen and Mechassault Phantom war still has dual black screens

 

[RocketRobz]

To those waiting for a DSiWarehax release of v0.6.0, here it is!
https://github.com/ahezard/nds-bootstrap/releases/tag/v0.6.0-rev2

 

[Enscripture]

I have a question. If you have a flashcart, do all of the games run? Or are they limited to the bootstrap compatibility list? Was thinking of getting one. Don't know which one to order for new 3ds xl

 

[RocketRobz]

I have a question. If you have a flashcart, do all of the games run? Or are they limited to the bootstrap compatibility list? Was thinking of getting one. Don't know which one to order for new 3ds xl

They're limited to bootstrap's patching of the SDK card read/write functions, which currently isn't applied to all games.