Hacking Flash Carts and the 3DS

[Adr990]

Hopefully initially it will be hard to crack/hack it so games actually sell on the system, maybe near the end life of the system someone makes a flashcart that works. Also the 3DS carts will support up to 2GB, it won't be as convenient as with the DS if the ROM's are near 2GB so that alone would slash some of the piracy.

That's debatable.

The crucial word is upto 2GB.

Remember ROMs can be trimmed. It's likely for example that if a ROM is 1111MB, it will be on a 2GB cart.

The crucial word is upto 2GB, at launch.

To quote from Nintendo:
Nintendo 3DS Game Card:
2 GB Max. at launch.

Source:
http://e3.nintendo.com/3ds/ > Features
Though this is widely known already.

And yes, Trimming might help, but I really believe that you have to remove the 3D feature of the game to scrub it drastically. As 3D will make the game twice or trice times bigger than just plain the game.
Or Flashcards should go and support both Micro SD and SDXC. (I don't hope the will ONLY support SDXC, as these 64GB cards are 300 dollars

)

 

[tk_saturn]

My reference to the trimming was down to the cartridge size.

Logic says that they will be 64MB, 128MB, 256MB, 512MB, 1024MB or 2048MB. The larger the cart size, the more potential there is for trimming.

If a game is on a 2048MB cart, then logic says that on average the actual game size will be 1536MB. Thus trimming a 2048MB cart on average could save 512MB.

 

[Rayder]

It is entirely possible that current "i" flashcarts may work in the 3DS to play regular DS games. Not likely, but possible.

 

[DigitalDeviant]

On a similar note on the flash cart developers, who do you think will release a 3ds flash cart first? (I'm hoping for Acekard team).

 

[TM2-Megatron]

On a similar note on the flash cart developers, who do you think will release a 3ds flash cart first? (I'm hoping for Acekard team).

I'm hoping the CycloDS team... they've been sitting on their asses not releasing a DSi cart for a hell of a long time, now... personally I hope they just gave up on it and are preparing to get a head start on the 3DS, whenever they can manage to get a hold of one.

 

[tk_saturn]

On a similar note on the flash cart developers, who do you think will release a 3ds flash cart first? (I'm hoping for Acekard team).

Surely it doesn't have to be a flashcart? All 3DS consoles have a SD card slot, if an exploit gets found then there's potential to use that to store the ROMs. If Nintendo gets their act together, I imagine you may need to solder in a modchip too rather than a flashcart

 

[gamefreak94]

On a similar note on the flash cart developers, who do you think will release a 3ds flash cart first? (I'm hoping for Acekard team).

Surely it doesn't have to be a flashcart? All 3DS consoles have a SD card slot, if an exploit gets found then there's potential to use that to store the ROMs. If Nintendo gets their act together, I imagine you may need to solder in a modchip too rather than a flashcart

Yet the DSi was still not hacked yet even with the SD card slot.

 

[TM2-Megatron]

Yet the DSi was still not hacked yet even with the SD card slot.

Probably for lack of trying, and really caring. There's no advantage to hacking DSi mode... not enough of one to make it worth the effort, anyway.

 

[monkat]

On a similar note on the flash cart developers, who do you think will release a 3ds flash cart first? (I'm hoping for Acekard team).

Surely it doesn't have to be a flashcart? All 3DS consoles have a SD card slot, if an exploit gets found then there's potential to use that to store the ROMs. If Nintendo gets their act together, I imagine you may need to solder in a modchip too rather than a flashcart

Yet the DSi was still not hacked yet even with the SD card slot.

Absolutely correct

But also, you have to remember that all of these companies that produce flashcarts are also, well, companies. Their primary goal is to make money. Is it really worth all the labor (I'm sure the devs make more than minimum wage), manufacturing, and software engineering to hack the DSi in DSi-mode? Not all that many people have one that don't have a DS(L), and there haven't been many DSi-only games, and certainly none that are must-haves. They probably wouldn't make their money back, especially since the 3DS is coming out in a little bit.

I'm not saying that the 3DS has a huge chance of being hacked with only the SD card, but who knows, right?

 

[Nollog]

look at ff13, the size of that game is approx 50gigs and they selling it for £35-40. Id expect the 3ds game price to be £30
A BD would be a little cheaper than a 2GB cartridge.
Unfortunately, I think they'll be expensive.

On a similar note on the flash cart developers, who do you think will release a 3ds flash cart first? (I'm hoping for Acekard team).

Surely it doesn't have to be a flashcart? All 3DS consoles have a SD card slot, if an exploit gets found then there's potential to use that to store the ROMs. If Nintendo gets their act together, I imagine you may need to solder in a modchip too rather than a flashcart

Flashcart manufacturers don't make money from software hacks.

QUOTE(gamefreak94 @ Jun 19 2010, 01:06 AM)

Yet the DSi was still not hacked yet even with the SD card slot.

It was, by team twiizers.
It was released, and very little was done with it.
1 or 2 games I think.

Check dsibrew.org
Maybe there's limitations I'm unaware of, but dsibrew say "dsi-mode".

 

[DeltaBurnt]

Yet the DSi was still not hacked yet even with the SD card slot.

Probably for lack of trying, and really caring. There's no advantage to hacking DSi mode... not enough of one to make it worth the effort, anyway.

You're kidding right? Team Twiizers is trying really hard to hack the DSi and you say they're not trying hard enough? That's kind of a kick to the nuts dude.

There's a lot of obstacles that get in the way of hacking a console.

 

[TM2-Megatron]

You're kidding right? Team Twiizers is trying really hard to hack the DSi and you say they're not trying hard enough? That's kind of a kick to the nuts dude.

There's a lot of obstacles that get in the way of hacking a console.

If they are, then it's only for the bragging rights. I still maintain there's really no advantage to cracking DSi mode... therefore, little (if any) money to be made = little motivation to actually get it done.

1. Better homebrew?
Will soon be possible with the DSTWO's publicly-released SDK, if homebrew programmers are so inclined.

2. DSi-exclusive cartridges?
There are only 2; one of them is a POS shovelware title (and Europe exclusive), and the other is a Japan exclusive. If someone really wants to play them, it's easy enough to buy 2 games.

3. DSi-enhanced games?
Can already be played on the current range of DSi flashcarts, and the so-called "enhanced" features are neither essential nor important for actual gameplay... Nintendo made sure of that.

4. DSi Ware?
You can already carry around multiple titles without needing a flashcart... unlocking DSi mode for this purpose would only encourage piracy, and would only serve to hurt the argument that flashcarts ensure a consumer's fair use rights (what I, personally use the technology for).

There's really no reason to crack DSi mode. The 3DS, on the other hand, will be worth cracking. People will work their asses off to do that, and it will get done.

 

[jhazicalization]

3DS will likely print tons of money for nintendo for its first few years before a successfull hack will be produced in flashcarts or by modchips. I will save lots of cash this time to play games once i have this console..XD
i hope the games will be quite affordable though..

 

[davidsl_128]

Well a flashcart will probably made with time, but I for one will try NOT to get one. The reason I use flashcarts is mostly to 1) carry all my games with me and 2) play crappy games I wouldn't normally buy but seem interesting (never played much homebrew to be honest, just Moonshell to listen to music). It seems the 3DS may have an install feature (at least IGN says so) so having many games won't be a problem, and I can spare the shovelware games, so I'll *try* to buy games for the 3DS.

This year's E3 was like every gamer's dream come true. I have to show Nintendo some love!

 

[DeltaBurnt]

You're kidding right? Team Twiizers is trying really hard to hack the DSi and you say they're not trying hard enough? That's kind of a kick to the nuts dude.

There's a lot of obstacles that get in the way of hacking a console.

If they are, then it's only for the bragging rights. I still maintain there's really no advantage to cracking DSi mode... therefore, little (if any) money to be made = little motivation to actually get it done.

1. Better homebrew?
Will soon be possible with the DSTWO's publicly-released SDK, if homebrew programmers are so inclined.

2. DSi-exclusive cartridges?
There are only 2; one of them is a POS shovelware title (and Europe exclusive), and the other is a Japan exclusive. If someone really wants to play them, it's easy enough to buy 2 games.

3. DSi-enhanced games?
Can already be played on the current range of DSi flashcarts, and the so-called "enhanced" features are neither essential nor important for actual gameplay... Nintendo made sure of that.

4. DSi Ware?
You can already carry around multiple titles without needing a flashcart... unlocking DSi mode for this purpose would only encourage piracy, and would only serve to hurt the argument that flashcarts ensure a consumer's fair use rights (what I, personally use the technology for).

There's really no reason to crack DSi mode. The 3DS, on the other hand, will be worth cracking. People will work their asses off to do that, and it will get done.

You can do the same stuff with an embedded CPU that you can with a camera my good friend. The hacking of a console is almost always done for the homebrew, and I cannot imagine the awesome type of homebrew people would make with the cameras and extra power in the DSi.

Plus I really made my original post not to justify that they need motivation to had the DSi but you seemed to imply that they were just laying around on their asses doing nothing.

Oh and I doubt they'd just want to finish to bragging rights, it's so they don't feel like they didn't waste all their time and let down the people actually wanting homebrew.

 

[TM2-Megatron]

You can do the same stuff with an embedded CPU that you can with a camera my good friend. The hacking of a console is almost always done for the homebrew, and I cannot imagine the awesome type of homebrew people would make with the cameras and extra power in the DSi.

Seriously? A cheapo little camera? Twice the clockspeed and 4x the RAM, and the f#!$*&! camera always gets the first mention, lol. Nintendo can shove the camera; and the DSi, too, at this point. The lack of a proper DSi crack is due in part to the same reason why there've only been two DSi-exclusive cartridges.... there are just too many Phat/Lite users in the market; tons and tons more than there are DSi. Nintendo doesn't want to alienate the massive numbers of older DS owners by releasing actual good games as DSi-exclusives, and not nearly as many people care about cracking DSi as did the origingal DS. It's just not a priority, and I doubt it will be accomplished before the 3DS comes out; if ever. Perhaps if DSi mode is unlocked on the 3DS, that crack can be used to create some kind of equivalent for use on regular DSi's.

QUOTE(DeltaBurnt @ Jun 19 2010, 12:55 AM) Oh and I doubt they'd just want to finish to bragging rights, it's so they don't feel like they didn't waste all their time and let down the people actually wanting homebrew.

It's a bit late to hope for DSi homebrew at this point. If it hasn't been done by the time the first 3DS units are available at retail, then they should abandon it and start trying to (first) unlock DS and DSi mode on the 3DS (which would be better than just cracking the DSi), and then moving on to 3DS mode and games.

 

[Zetta_x]

The only way to completely block flash carts 100% is to completely block every DS game cartridge. Some way, some how, there should always be an exploit that Nintendo hasn't thought patching.

 

[monkat]

The only way to completely block flash carts 100% is to completely block every DS game cartridge. Some way, some how, there should always be an exploit that Nintendo hasn't thought patching.

Well, of course any hardware is hackable, it's just...a lot of work, I mean look at the PS3! It was just cracked a few months ago, and it was then presumably shut down by Sony. Also, Ninty mentioned it will have a service similar to connect24 that updates the 3DS...presumably to prevent flashcarts in particular.

 

[CJL18]

I think in a few months after release 3DS will be hacked. the reason i think the ps3 hasnt been hacked beucase not that many people really care think about it most games on ps3 are on 360. I think if the 360 was never hacked more people would try to hack the ps3. NOTHING IS UNHACKABLE!!

 

[Drag0nflamez]

The DSi has been hacked, but the save file space is limited (did they already try some Wii code to access the SD Card?)

Why didn't flashcart teams try to use a DSi-enhanced game header so we can have a flashcart running at 4x speed (then we need to make some sort of emulator that slows it down like dosbox for the pc)