Hacking Advice needed

[YAGB]

Hi! Currently I have a DS Lite with a M3 simply using Wood R4. Firmware-wise, it's great, all games work and skins are nice. However, my DSL is full of fail: terrible unfixable calibration, scratched screens, missing pieces (lol)...

Because of that, this Christmas I'm facing a hard decision: I can buy a new DS Lite and keep my M3 Simply, OR I can buy a DSi and order a new flashcart. Probably I'll buy a DSi, so I've been looking around some flashcarts and I think the Acekard 2i is probably the one that fits my needs the best. So I'd like to ask you if the Acekard 2i:
- Can run most of the games (especially Golden Sun, which the Wood R4 runs perfectly).
- Has a good firmware support.
- Supports future anti-piracy DSi firmware updates.

Thanks in advance!

PD: I'm sorry if this post doesn't belong here

 

[RupeeClock]

It can run most games, for Golden Sun it seems to depend on what microSD card is being used.
http://gbatemp.net/t267189-golden-sun-and-acekard
You need to enable AKAIO's anti-anti-piracy for the ROM.

The firmware support is great, an unofficial firmware called AKAIO 1.8.1 gives incredible compatibility, as well as an anti-anti-piracy system for improving rom compatibility.

The AK2i can be reflashed to circumvent DSi firmware updates, currently it can work on DSi 1.4.1, but it will need to be reflashed since they only ship compatible with DSi 1.3

 

[YAGB]

Thanks for your quick reply ^^

I have two questions:

but it will need to be reflashed since they only ship compatible with DSi 1.3

This means that if I buy a new DSi it'll need to be flashed? How is that done?

And which is the best microSD card to run Golden Sun? Can you recommend me a specific brand/model?

 

[Another World]

akaio 1.8.2 beta has fixed the ap issue and msd card speed will no longer matter. most of us who test and beta like the adata and transcend class-6 cards. i also have two 4gb kingstons and they work just fine.

flashing is a matter of putting the correct file on your msd card and running it from your ds lite. its really easy and takes about 30 seconds. you can get the files from here: http://www.acekard.com/download/ak2/ak2ifw_update_141.zip. the software will tell you what to do.

as for the ak2i, it is prone to contact issues. you may have to slip a small slice of paper behind the pcb for it to work correctly. going with something like the scds2, you won't have those issues. price wise they aren't in the same category.

akaio is pretty much the leader in firmware when it comes to compatibility and features related to compatibilty (anti-piracy, download play, etc). it is also the only firmware (that i am aware of) which can play the homebrew operation libra. i've not found another team who was as willing to fix homebrew issues.

other carts have some nice features if you need them. the scds2 has a super famicom (snes) and gba emulator that works from slot-1. it also offers real time save, in-game guide, slow-motion, and a cheat creation tool. the ismart mm is an oem of the iplayer that adds commercial rom loaders. its a pretty nice card, built well. i've recently had a serious problem with it tho, and i'm not sure how to fix it as of yet. (read about it here: http://www.ismartds.com/discussion/index.php?topic=43). ismart mm offers a gba emulator as well, and the in-game menu options that the scds2 offers. most users will not admit to this but the r4i gold (made by the .CN website team) is a great card. its based on the r4 ultra (from what i can tell, a card which was made by team acekard) and runs the wood firmware. it works great on my dsi and i haven't had any issues with it. the only draw back is that the team is porting the wood firmware, and there may come a day that they stop porting it, although they have an exclusive deal with yellow wood goblin.

so if you can over look the contact issues the ak2i is a great kit (assuming you don't purcahse a clone from a dishonest reseller)

read more here: http://www.akaio.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=410

as for the dsi, get the XL. i'm so glad i skipped the dsi for the XL. the screen size makes so much difference.

if you want to have a real time conversation join #acekard on the gbatemp irc network. we would be glad to answer your questions.

-another world

 

[Trollology]

You can flash the AceKard2i because flashing requires a DS lite (which you have)
Check the upgrade guide in one of the threads.
It's basically putting the Acekard in the DS lite and running an NDS file. That's it. Then it works on any DSi.

 

[Etalon]

most users will not admit to this but the r4i gold (made by the .CN website team) is a great card. its based on the r4 ultra (from what i can tell, a card which was made by team acekard) and runs the wood firmware. it works great on my dsi and i haven't had any issues with it. the only draw back is that the team is porting the wood firmware, and there may come a day that they stop porting it, although they have an exclusive deal with yellow wood goblin.

That's the reason why cool guys buy the R4iDSN.

Although this card currently has a bulge (this is changed in the new batch), R4iDSN gets Wood directly from YWG.

 

[RupeeClock]

They're probably not ready to admit it yet since not many users have it, and we're still waiting on an official review.
I look forward to it, actually there's a guy who sells them locally (expensively though), might look into it.

 

[Another World]

trying not to hijack this thread....

my r4i gold material was lost in a gbatemp database error. so that review won't be published until i have time to rewrite it, probably after the holidays. i was never given an r4idsn to use but i might request one. right now we are pretty swamped with the ismart mm review (its a 2 person review, the first of its kind for gbatemp). after that i'll get back to the r4i gold, then the r4 1:1 clone, then finishing up the scds2 review, then updating the acekard 2.1 review. busy busy busy... oh and its almost christamas.

-another world

 

[Trollology]

Don't mean to be so skeptic but IMO I think that the safest thing is to stay away from all R4's and clones because many of them can get confusing and will cause you to get mixed up. Also, I think that if they couldn't even make up their own name other than R4 then I doubt that they will guarantee constant updates. Who knows, one day you're favorite R4 company could die unexpectedly.
Go with something recommended and famous like AceKard, with a software (AKAIO) that has frequent updates to fix Anti-Piracy in new games.
Hope that didn't offend anyone lol

Just my opinion