Hacking DS N5 Revolution is it a new r4?

[DjoeN]

Any url to an online store that sells it ?

Gonna get me one, just to play around with it

 

[iq_132]

Not just hacked, there are only 2 bytes different -> R4->N5 text change. Awesome.

Don't mean any disrespect, I'm just curious - how did you arrive at that conclusion? (and no, I haven't run a binary diff on them yet - I'm meant to be working

).

Winhex never lies to me. That's how.

The reason I ask is that your patcher works perfectly on the 1.16 R4 kernel, but barfs on the n5 1.16 kernel - it detects it as being for M3 hardware, then can't figure out what language it's meant to be for. If it was as simple as a two byte change I would have thought it'd work.

The reason my patcher has trouble with it is that auto-detect routine looks for the text "R4" or "M3" in the _ds_menu. It defaults to M3 if neither is found. I can post an updated patcher if you'd like. ^^

QUOTE

Also, do you have any idea what _AX_MENU.DAT in the n5 kernel file set is? Six meg - must be something pretty significant.

Honestly, no. I assume it's something the N5 rom needs (the stuff that's on the cart, not the SD card), but I could be wrong.
Either way, this is an extremely poor clone of the R4... not that I wouldn't buy one for a friend because of the ridiculously
low price, mind you, but still very poor.

 

[arsehat]

Winhex never lies to me. That's how.

Ah, fair enough. See, I said I hadn't had a chance to dig that far. I'll have a poke at it tonight with a hex editor.

The reason my patcher has trouble with it is that auto-detect routine looks for the text "R4" or "M3" in the _ds_menu. It defaults to M3 if neither is found. I can post an updated patcher if you'd like. ^^

That'd be great. I've got the source to review, and could probably throw together a mingw build environment easily enough, but it'd be nice to have confirmation that my understanding of the source is correct.



QUOTE

Honestly, no. I assume it's something the N5 rom needs (the stuff that's on the cart, not the SD card), but I could be wrong.
Either way, this is an extremely poor clone of the R4... not that I wouldn't buy one for a friend because of the ridiculously
low price, mind you, but still very poor.

Is it a clone, or another OEM deal on the basic hardware to an integrator who makes crap stickers and includes a different case? Or perhaps the contracted manufacturers have gotten greedy and corrupt and are doing off-the-books "midnight shifts" for someone else - this is China, where clones sometimes come off the same production lines as the real product.

 

[iq_132]

The reason my patcher has trouble with it is that auto-detect routine looks for the text "R4" or "M3" in the _ds_menu. It defaults to M3 if neither is found. I can post an updated patcher if you'd like. ^^

That'd be great. I've got the source to review, and could probably throw together a mingw build environment easily enough, but it'd be nice to have confirmation that my understanding of the source is correct.


I'll get on it right away.

QUOTE

Honestly, no. I assume it's something the N5 rom needs (the stuff that's on the cart, not the SD card), but I could be wrong.
Either way, this is an extremely poor clone of the R4... not that I wouldn't buy one for a friend because of the ridiculously
low price, mind you, but still very poor.

Is it a clone, or another OEM deal on the basic hardware to an integrator who makes crap stickers and includes a different case? Or perhaps the contracted manufacturers have gotten greedy and corrupt and are doing off-the-books "midnight shifts" for someone else - this is China, where clones sometimes come off the same production lines as the real product.

Almost certainly a clone. The _ds_menu is not encrypted. If it was an OEM, it would use the same hardware, ROM, etc.

 

[iq_132]

I'll get on it right away.

http://neosource.1emu.net/forums/index.php...msg7296#msg7296

 

[arsehat]

Almost certainly a clone. The _ds_menu is not encrypted. If it was an OEM, it would use the same hardware, ROM, etc.

...gah, what? Oh, of course it's not encrypted. How did I miss that? I guess I must have just assumed I'd already decrypted it...I've been throwing them at r4enc and r4dec and losing track of what's what, and can only plead lack of caffeine as mitigating circumstances.

Also, I can now confirm that when passed through r4enc.exe, the chinese version of the N5 kernel works on chinese R4 hardware. I suppose that _AX_MENU.DAT could be loaded if and only if it's on an SDHC card (although that seems like a really dumb way to do things, separate kernels depending on memory card type), but the more I look inside it the more I think it might be a red herring - "/load/mission_brushes/mission_brushtiles.bts" and "top_linguini/top_linguini" and "kitchen_ambience" and "RemyWalk" and "RemyJump" and a whole lot of other things make me suspect it's been mangled from a game - perhaps one of the Ratatouille ones.

So, a clone that uses decrypted R4 firmware... this could be another nail in the coffin, if it displaces R4 sales enough to make the R4 team abandon development.

Or, it could be a strategic move by R4 if they do have a V3 SDHC-compatible card in the works. This would give them the ability to sell close-to-V1 hardware to compete price-wise with and maybe even undercut the other really low-priced cards like edge or dstt or EZ-V without devaluing their own brand. Make it look slightly dodgy but price it to sell ("Works just like the old R4, it's a clone"), and reap the rewards for really *no* extra development effort apart from removing encryption from the cart and adding a fake kernel file.

Edit: This thing is more complex than the R4 - higher parts count, chips on both sides of the board, it's gotta be harder and more expensive to build (leaving aside the cost of the *very* custom chip on the R4 for a moment)... I'm now betting it's someone else trying to cash in on the R4's development efforts with a work-alike, rather than Team R4 trying to extend the profitability of their old tech under a new brand.

 

[NonStopInTheMix]

maybe at this rate, R4 demand can go down and dealx can slowly begin selling them again...

took a trip to chinatown yesterday and lawl... everybody is being fooled that the DSTT is the new R4... i guess its not that bad that this is a clone, it'll at least relieve market demand for TEH ORIGINAL R4 which we all love and support =P

 

[the_skdster]

Some people I know are getting them on Sunday I think.
So no REAL word as to if this is a clone or really the next R4? Even though it sounds stupid.
SDHC is a huge boost.

 

[AndreXL]

Some people I know are getting them on Sunday I think.
So no REAL word as to if this is a clone or really the next R4? Even though it sounds stupid.
SDHC is a huge boost.

Another topic here says SDHC is broken so I suggest you tell your friends to keep away from the N5...

 

[Urza]

Essentially, its just an R4.

 

[DaMummy]

so basicially its crap no matter what?

 

[the_skdster]

so basicially its crap no matter what?

Your saying the R4 is crap? If it is indeed a cone, then for the price I'd say it is pretty good. But build quality is bad I've heard...

I'm just gonna get myself an EDGE card. Wow, I have many carts now...

 

[danieldaniel]

Any url to an online store that sells it ?

Gonna get me one, just to play around with it

I am excited I can find an online store sell it, here it is, http://www.colourful-zone.com/Store/produc...products_id=212.

I just order it and waiting for it. There are some screen shots. It is nearly same as R4. Great!

Administrator, shaunj66, I think you can contact them to get the sample to test, let us know more about it.

 

[Bri]

psxboy.com also has them. But having read this thread and a few others, I'm not sure why anyone would want one.

-Bri

 

[gratefulbuddy]

If anybody wants it DX has it: N5

 

[NeSchn]

Oh god, why would places even sell this!

 

[Xandu]

Hey I just got that from a local gameshop at Dubai, any questions you want about it, PM me

.

 

[ooh44]

I just see it today. and there has another new flashcart (may be) E7.

so N5 is the same as R4 :S??

 

[RaiDesu]

Pretty much, with a wierdo firmware.

Personally, I would not get it for myself. A gift for someone else maybe, cause their on their own.

 

[jrdehaisx]

I am curious on testing it, but if it has a springer, holy crack I dont like springers.

Just quick question maybe someone here can answer it... I have an EZ Flash 5, I know some Kernells are pretty much usable on different cards, can I use the R4 or N5 kernell on my EZFlash5?