Best budget RTS card?

[Fartorias]

Hey, so my last AliExpress buy was a bust, so I'm trying to find an alternative. Of course I would never make a thread without doing research, but the info is all over the place and even conflicting at times.

Criteria:
- works on updated DSi / 3DS
- RTS functionality

Now, my 10 year old R43DS RTS does all that, but I can't find more of them. Ace3ds x, R4 SDHC Gold Plus are the front runners, but I don't think ace supports rts and some sellers claim r4SDHC doesn't run >32gb sdhc or operate after DS firmware 1.4.1. any clarification? Thanks!

Post automatically merged: Oct 26, 2023

I would assume that they should actually work on modern firmware; my R43DS RTS certainly does, and it's pictured.

Post automatically merged: Oct 26, 2023

Edit- found the "Flashcart faq," but doesn't mention if Gold Pro actually had RTS support or not.

 

[SylverReZ]

tl;dr

Get RetroGameFan's Multi-Cart Update. Copy the files from INSIDE of the "R4-SDHC YSMenu" folder to the root of your SD card.

 

[master801]

Why do you need RTS? Do you even know what RTS does..?

As far as I'm aware, only a few flashcarts support TRUE RTS.

DSONE, DSTWO, CycloDS Evolution, R4i GOLD Pro (r4isdhc.com version - stock kernel), probably one or two more I'm forgetting about...

Note, when I'm talking about the "R4i GOLD Pro", I'm also talking about the other 2 flashcarts (R4i RTS Lite, R4i Dual-Core) as well. All three are the exact same.

R4i GOLD Pro works fine with a micro SD card over 32GB. SD cards over 32GB can't be formatted as FAT32 without external programs, so that's probably why they say "not over 32GB". The card will also work even on the latest 3DS firmware - Nintendo stopped trying to block them a while back.

If you really want RTS, your only option is the R4i GOLD Pro. It's not a good flashcart (time bomb, poor game compatibility, etc), but it's the only flashcart available right now that works on latest firmware, and that also supports RTS.

If you have a hacked console that supports older flashcarts, get a DSONE. Although they have a semi-high DOA failure rate, they're also one of the only flashcarts with the best features (RTS, in-game menu, decent game compatibility, Wii connectivity, no time bomb, etc) available right now.

 

[flanter21]

I think r4i-sdhc and r4isdhc ones with a year have RTS but not the r4 wood ones. I haven't got these myself but they reach your requiremenets. There is a v1.85b firmware that has been cracked to remove the time bomb that will expire in September 2024 so if you get one of those I reckon that might be good. It won't let me put the link here because there isn't enough activity on my account but its very easy to find if you search for it.

Though, I tend to use the DSONE SDHC clones because they work on hacked 3DS and DSi and the RTS/in game menu implementation is by far the best I have seen on any R4 card ever. I used an r4i-sdhc card a long time ago and its implementation was a lot more buggy and inconsistent.

 

[Technicmaster0]

I think r4i-sdhc and r4isdhc ones with a year have RTS but not the r4 wood ones. I haven't got these myself but they reach your requiremenets. There is a v1.85b firmware that has been cracked to remove the time bomb that will expire in September 2024 so if you get one of those I reckon that might be good. It won't let me put the link here because there isn't enough activity on my account but its very easy to find if you search for it.

rom loading is broken with the latest r4isdhc.com update that removed the timebomb (I'm not sure if it's still true but I haven't heard that they fixed it so far)

 

[SylverReZ]

Why do you need RTS? Do you even know what RTS does..?

As far as I'm aware, only a few flashcarts support TRUE RTS.

DSONE, DSTWO, CycloDS Evolution, R4i GOLD Pro (r4isdhc.com version - stock kernel), probably one or two more I'm forgetting about...

Note, when I'm talking about the "R4i GOLD Pro", I'm also talking about the other 2 flashcarts (R4i RTS Lite, R4i Dual-Core) as well. All three are the exact same.

R4i GOLD Pro works fine with a micro SD card over 32GB. SD cards over 32GB can't be formatted as FAT32 without external programs, so that's probably why they say "not over 32GB". The card will also work even on the latest 3DS firmware - Nintendo stopped trying to block them a while back.

If you really want RTS, your only option is the R4i GOLD Pro. It's not a good flashcart (time bomb, poor game compatibility, etc), but it's the only flashcart available right now that works on latest firmware, and that also supports RTS.

If you have a hacked console that supports older flashcarts, get a DSONE. Although they have a semi-high DOA failure rate, they're also one of the only flashcarts with the best features (RTS, in-game menu, decent game compatibility, Wii connectivity, no time bomb, etc) available right now.

They all practically do the same thing despite these being clones of other flashcarts. The PCBs are identical and its possible to convert a non-RTS cart into a RTS. Its kernel has unique features as opposed to others such as the ability to add cheats and save your game directly to the microSD card.

 

[The Catboy]

From my own experience, going cheap on a cart with RTS has almost always resulted in the RTS either being slow as fuck or broken as fuck. The last several times I tested the RTS using the R4i-SDHC kernel, my microSD cards got corrupted. Unless you are able to find a DSTWO or other higher-quality cart, I wouldn't recommend using RTS on any cheap cart.
I know some people have had better results and the fact that results do vary is what I consider a big problem.

 

[SylverReZ]

From my own experience, going cheap on a cart with RTS has almost always resulted in the RTS either being slow as fuck or broken as fuck. The last several times I tested the RTS using the R4i-SDHC kernel, my microSD cards got corrupted. Unless you are able to find a DSTWO or other higher-quality cart, I wouldn't recommend using RTS on any cheap cart.
I know some people have had better results and the fact that results do vary is what I consider a big problem.

Whats the difference between RTS and non-RTS?

 

[The Catboy]

Whats the difference between RTS and non-RTS?

Depends on the year. 2016 to 2018, the difference is just one chip. Literally the same boards, same chips, but the RTS has an extra chip for that purpose. I’ve heard that 2019+ are different but I’ve been unable to confirm if that’s true or not. I’ve heard that the 2015 and below are typically different but also can’t confirm either.
As for other carts, hardware differences that range from additional chips to batteries.

 

[Nikokaro]

Why all this emphasis on RTS (save states)? In almost all DS games it is possible to save at any point or so, and in any case save points are very common compared to 8 or 16-bit games of many years ago.
If you add to this the cheat codes, well you have ruined all the fun, taken away all the obstacles, the sense of challenge and the possibility of gradually improving through commitment and concentration. Slackers!

 

[Sanrasxz]

From my own experience, going cheap on a cart with RTS has almost always resulted in the RTS either being slow as fuck or broken as fuck. The last several times I tested the RTS using the R4i-SDHC kernel, my microSD cards got corrupted. Unless you are able to find a DSTWO or other higher-quality cart, I wouldn't recommend using RTS on any cheap cart.
I know some people have had better results and the fact that results do vary is what I consider a big problem.

I've used RTS on the 1.85b timebomb kernel and it's worked fine for me. But you're right, it's not really reliable. DSOne is the way to go for RTS support.

 

[SylverReZ]

I've used RTS on the 1.85b timebomb kernel and it's worked fine for me. But you're right, it's not really reliable. DSOne is the way to go for RTS support.

Didn't expect you to be here, Sanras. Welcome.

 

[Sanrasxz]

Didn't expect you to be here, Sanras. Welcome.

I've had this account for a while, just didn't use it a lot.

 

[SylverReZ]

I've had this account for a while, just didn't use it a lot.

I've just got my Eeveelution for DS cart yesterday. It seems to work perfectly fine with the 1.85b DEMON kernel, YSMenu and the TWLMenu++ kernels. I don't seem to have any problems with it so far. It does RTS and can even do ntrboot as well despite them being the exact same cart as the R4i-SDHC.

 

[Sanrasxz]

I've just got my Eeveelution for DS cart yesterday. It seems to work perfectly fine with the 1.85b DEMON kernel, YSMenu and the TWLMenu++ kernels. I don't seem to have any problems with it so far. It does RTS and can even do ntrboot as well despite them being the exact same cart as the R4i-SDHC.

Yeah, the Eeveelution cart is just a relabeled r4i-sdhc.com cart as we all guessed.

 

[SylverReZ]

@Sanrasxz
In relation to the DSONE cart, DSONE if you're going for RTS is a mixed bag, as there are a ton of clones out there on the market. There have been cases where some don't work whilst others are lucky, and its often down to the faulty PSRAM that has been plaging the DSONE ever since the beginning. If the PSRAM starts to become faulty, then you will not be able to access the Evolution OS to use the cart's special features, and instead, you can opt to YSMenu or TWLMenu as an alternative kernel to replace EOS. You can either use a thermal pad or reflow the PSRAM chip to see if it come back to life, its similar to one of those cases on the Xbox 360 GPU where the solder balls start to crack, causing it to overheat. If these methods of fixing the PSRAM chip does not work, then don't bother buying a bulk of these carts thinking that every one of them will work. Instead, buy a R4I-SDHC cart clone.

 

[Sanrasxz]

Buy a R4I-SDHC cart clone.

The problem is these don't have reliable RTS like DSOne does. It's a pure software-only solution.