Hacking DS games for benchmarking

[RupeeClock]

Just for interest's sake, I'd like to see a list of benchmarks.
Some DS games when run on a flashcart run differently to how they may do on a regular cartridge, things may run marginally slower, things may even glitch and break without anti-piracy measures. Performance is also factorised by the microSD the roms are being run from.

I think that building such a list would help determine how well a flashcart runs, here are a few particular games I notice.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
This game is well known for causing problems, even with good microSDs and good flashcarts.
Castlevania: POR is known to crash on flashcarts at random, not due to anti-piracy but seemingly because of how music is loaded.
A sufficient crash-test is to run inbetween the screens featuring "Wind" (missions guy) and Vincent (shopkeeper).
Although thanks to Yellow Wood Goblin's fix, which has been implemented in AKAIO and CycloDS, this game cannot be used for benchmarking.

Pokémon Platinum
On Flashcarts, this game is known to have slowdown when scrolling through items in the bag's inventory.
A good flashcart and fast microSD should be able to scroll through the list seemlessly.
A slight repetitive delay is caused by the item's information being loaded repeatedly. (Moving items by pressing select is very fast for this reason)

Sonic Rush Adventure
The intro to this game is known to slow down when Tails and Marine appear onscreen, riding dolphins.
The slowdown causes audio-desync, ending the audio track before the animation.
A good flashcart should theoretically be able to run this intro perfectly.

QUOTE

Wario Ware D.I.Y.
This game uses a special NAND memory to save its data, which generates a 32mb gamesave.
A good flashcart should be able to create the gamesave, and be able to save the game normally.

Can you think of any other games that can be used for benchmarks?

 

[Fel]

The World Ends With You, the intro doesn't work if the MS card is too slow. At least that's what I've been hearing, though some people say it works with the same MS card on one flashcart but not on the other.

 

[RupeeClock]

The World Ends With You, the intro doesn't work if the MS card is too slow. At least that's what I've been hearing, though some people say it works with the same MS card on one flashcart but not on the other.

Sounds like when I used my Acekard 2i's microSD in my old M3i Zero.
It had a lot of problems with everything, namely that in Megaman battle network 5 the jack-in video animation was veeeery slow, and that closing the lid on the DS would shut it down.

 

[The Pi]

Can't add anything to the topic, but this is a very good idea... should be stickied if it gets enough attention.

i agree

 

[tk_saturn]

Why don't you just use http://www.pineight.com/gba/#cf_bench ?

 

[RupeeClock]

Why don't you just use http://www.pineight.com/gba/#cf_bench ?

Benchmarking goes beyond simple speed tests, but also measure a flashcart's own performance, compatibility and reliability.
For example, AKAIO received a significant performance increase with the release of 1.6RC1, noticeable in pokémon platinum.
Additionally, a simple libfat test program may not work the same way a game does, but then I'm not sure myself.
I suppose benchmark might not be the right term, but you get the idea.

That tool looks useful though, thanks.

Edit: Well it runs fine but there's no point of reference.
I see numbers, but can't tell if it's fast or slow.

 

[9th_Sage]

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow's intro video is an oldie but goodie as far as testing. It can lag quite a bit...can be caused by a slow SD card, or a slow loader (I've seen both).

 

[tk_saturn]

Why don't you just use http://www.pineight.com/gba/#cf_bench ?

Benchmarking goes beyond simple speed tests, but also measure a flashcart's own performance, compatibility and reliability.
For example, AKAIO received a significant performance increase with the release of 1.6RC1, noticeable in pokémon platinum.

That tool looks useful though, thanks.

Edit: Well it runs fine but there's no point of reference.
I see numbers, but can't tell if it's fast or slow.

You can work out the MB/s from it. B=Bytes, KiB=KiloBytes, µs=Micro Seconds.

But it atleast it gives you some numbers that everyone can compare.

The problem is asking people to compare games is always subjective. What you want is something that will push the DS and then display the FPS or frames dropped. I imagine it's possible for someone to do with homebrew...

 

[RupeeClock]

You can work out the MB/s from it.

But it atleast it gives you some numbers that everyone can compare.

The problem is asking people to compare games is always subjective. What you want is something that will push the DS and then display the FPS or frames dropped. I imagine it's possible for someone to do with homebrew...

Of course it's subjective, that's partially the idea.
You can identify the minor or major flaws of your current flashcart+microSD combo.
It is kind of a look+feel method though.

I would like to see a proper benchmarking tool, one that provides .log output and rates performance.

 

[DeltaBurnt]

Most of these problems are the microsd being too slow, not the flashcart itself.

Technically the flashcart dev teams could fix these problems, but there's quite a bit of microsd models out there to test. I imagine it wouldn't be the simplest thing to do in the world.

 

[Normmatt]

It would be nice to have more games that I can test and fix the lag in so keep them coming

 

[RupeeClock]

It would be nice to have more games that I can test and fix the lag in so keep them coming

Actually, I was thinking.
Have you heard of Nintendo's own flashcart, the DS vision?
I have one myself and I dumped the rom, doesn't work at all even though the flashcart, and the retail cart accept microSDs.

It would actually be awesome if AKAIO could make DSVision work, even if just for novelty value.
It's just an idea to be honest, lol.

 

[DeltaBurnt]

It would be nice to have more games that I can test and fix the lag in so keep them coming

Actually, I was thinking.
Have you heard of Nintendo's own flashcart, the DS vision?
I have one myself and I dumped the rom, doesn't work at all even though the flashcart, and the retail cart accept microSDs.
*snip*
It would actually be awesome if AKAIO could make DSVision work, even if just for novelty value.
It's just an idea to be honest, lol.

How much are those DSVisions?

 

[CannonFoddr]

So let me get this right -
What's being proposed is a testing benchmark that allows people to do the test(s) on their particular combo - & post results on how good/bad their combo is - compared to other combos and the origianl cartridge..... A bit like how computer magazines benchmark PC's

Well I can see a problem with this.
Usually what's used for Magazine benchmarks are programs that have benchmark testing built into them (things like 'Frame-per-sec' data) - which IIRC no NDS game actually has - but IIRC some Homebrew does.

What is needed is a dedicated 'benchmark' program made that does numerous tests like fast scrolling/page flipping/music changing/save file creation(read/write)/Intro movie playing etc (just like the OP has mentioned that certain games have 'trouble' with) - & that actually measure and displays the results ( a bit like 'Diagnose' for testing perhaps)- Then people can post their results (with their Combo details) & that way we can compare what's the better combo's

The problem with using games is that what one person might consider 'scrolling through seemlessly' another might consider 'a little bit jumpy'

 

[RupeeClock]

How much are those DSVisions?

The one I bought from play-asia.com was $42.
http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-zvy-71...-j-70-2xo1.html

It comes bundled with a microSD, preloaded with some software and Pokémon: Lucario and the mystery of mew.

Apparently you can buy further downloads for the DSvision from dsvision.jp, but you need a japanese credit card.

 

[DeltaBurnt]

How much are those DSVisions?

The one I bought from play-asia.com was $42.
http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-zvy-71...-j-70-2xo1.html

It comes bundled with a microSD, preloaded with some software and Pokémon: Lucario and the mystery of mew.

Apparently you can buy further downloads for the DSvision from dsvision.jp, but you need a japanese credit card.

Oh. It'd probably be worth putting AKAIO on there if it was cheaper, but at such a high price you might as well get an Acekard :\

 

[rockstar99]

I think he meant making DSVision working on akAIo

 

[Normmatt]

DSVision has extra hardware in it to decode videos iirc so it wont work on any other flashcart even if I or someone else bothered to make it be able to read/write to the cart.

 

[RupeeClock]

DSVision has extra hardware in it to decode videos iirc so it wont work on any other flashcart even if I or someone else bothered to make it be able to read/write to the cart.

Ah, that's a shame, never mind then.