Hacking Just how well does the SCminiSD do nds?

[mr_saturn]

I've noticed minimal battery drain with my SC on my lite. Considering a supercard can be had for 29 at winsunx, I'm not going to complain.

 

[shtonkalot]

I generally sit there (yeah, I know..), but if not I use a webcam + timer.

You sit there

Well I guess that explains the name Qrayzie

Any particular recording software you use for the webcam? I'm using a PS2 Eyetoy camera as a webcam so I have to get software.
Something that will do low framerate recoding would be great.

 

[Madrigal]

I keep hearing about GBA slowdowns, incompatibility, ect.. with the Supercard, but I've never come accross any games that won't run, or have slowdown. Now I haven't tried a HUGE ammount of games, like I'm sure a lot of you have. But I think the Supercard works great for GBA. I'm sure there are better solutions for GBA, but if you just want to play the odd GBA game, in addition to all the NDS and homebrew stuff, the Supercard works awesome. Who is buying flashcarts just for GBA roms these days anyway?



well, one thing I've noticed (and if you've read this whole thread you know I don't own a SC yet) just from reading here is that some people expect to be able to apply every patch there is to a game and then gripe about it when they get a slowdown. Stacking RTS, soft reset, and some cheat patch on some GBA rom isn't the way to test what a card is capable of doing. First, test it clean, then test with patches incrementally applied. This same problem has gotten the G6 a bad rep for GBA also, but I've had a couple G6 owners tell me that GBA runs great so long as you don't patch the roms with gimmick functions.

Maybe you are using all those patches too, Madrigal, so if youre patching GBA and still getting good performance then great. But whether its G6, M3, SC, or EZ, before anyone complains about how a flashcart does with GBA they need to test the games without "feature" patches, because some people don't want to use them anyway.

Nope. I didn't use any patches. If people are complaining because of slowdowns from patches, then it's not really the Supercards fault. The patch is slowing it down. The Supercard does what it was designed to do, run unpatched, unhacked GBA roms.

 

[CatScam]

When I did my SC, M3 battery test, it was on a old SD-Fat
so I just hooked up a camcorder with the clock option on.
But now with the Lite having considerable more battery life,
this method will no longer work. Plus now we have to deal
with the brightness factor. Level 2 brightness seems to be
what everyone is using so that’s what I would test it at.

 

[shtonkalot]

When I did my SC, M3 battery test, it was on a old SD-Fat
so I just hooked up a camcorder with the clock option on.
But now with the Lite having considerable more battery life,
this method will no longer work. Plus now we have to deal
with the brightness factor. Level 2 brightness seems to be
what everyone is using so that’s what I would test it at.

I was planning to use full brightness to stress out the battery and make the test faster.
I wasn't looking to give people an idea how long their DS should last with a particular card as different DS's or (probably more to the point) different batteries in Ds's are going to affect the outcome.
I don't have a camcorder available so I'm hoping the webcam idea will pan out with some decent software.
Still got a little while till my SC comes though, so I'm open to more suggestions.

Perhaps it's time to start a new thread?

 

[KidIce]

That's funny because on my old Phat DS the MiniSD SC runs for @5 and 1/2 hours. With an original DS game in it I also get @ 5 and 1/2 hours, possibly very slightly more.

I have a MiniSD SC and a CF SC and a EZIV(miniSD) and they all have around the same battery life, the SC CF is possibly very slightly not quite as good .

I find it strange the claims of 10 hrs + on M3 products on the old phat DS running DS games when nintendo themselves claim absolutely no where near that. Does the M3 create power somehow to feed the DS ? no wonder it costs so much... what technologyÂ

Nintendo claims 10 hours on a DS battery and 19 on a DS lite battery. I've left my DS on all day at work (9 hours) w/ more time (a lot more)

spent w/ my DS being awake and me playing a game on it then it being put to sleep because I have to actually do some work and not even gotten a red lite.. Playing from my EZ4. The only way I could see getting only 5 hours out of my DS battery is if I were using the battery sucking pig that is the EZ Pass. Unless you using a passme device it sounds to me like you something is wrong w/ your battery or you are not starting from a full charge.

I'm making no claims about the other products, though.

 

[Lily]

I generally sit there (yeah, I know..), but if not I use a webcam + timer.


You sit there

Well I guess that explains the name Qrayzie

Any particular recording software you use for the webcam? I'm using a PS2 Eyetoy camera as a webcam so I have to get software.
Something that will do low framerate recoding would be great.

Recording software: here. I have no experience with a PS2 EyeToy though.

 

[shtonkalot]

Thanks for the software link Qrayzie.
I got the eyetoy figured out. Works just like any other webcam.

Here is the other thread about battery testing I've made. Maybe we should give Hanafuda his thread back

 

[WickEd]

I will testify to the poor battery performance when using a SuperPass. It's definitely shorter. How much shorter I don't know.

Who cares? You're going to flash it anyway.

I own an M3 and everything I run goes on the M3 unless there is some specific reason (using multi-cart multiplayer) I want to use the SC. The M3 handles GBA games prolifically well and has a better build quality. As a trade off, you have a user interface that is pretty and skinnable, but feels like crap to navigate. The SuperCard menu is ugly but it's fast, streamlined and arguably just as effective. But you won't want to use this cart for every GBA because, quite frankly, some of them are unplayably slow.

My 0.2c

 

[Lily]

I have purchased a whole new set of SuperCards (CF, SD & SD Mini) to see if I have indeed been playing with defective carts, or what have you. I'll try and remember to keep this thread updated with my results..even though the original question has certainly been answered I think. Sorry Hanafuda.

 

[Hanafuda]

Well, I hear ya WickEd, but the thread was about how the SC does NDS, not GBA. Everyone pretty much knows the M3 beats SC by some undefinite margin when it comes to GBA. But I wanted to know how it compares at running NDS games.

And thanks, shtonkalot, but the battery testing will be of as much interest to me as anyone, so I don't mind.

 

[shtonkalot]

I have purchased a whole new set of SuperCards (CF, SD & SD Mini) to see if I have indeed been playing with defective carts, or what have you. I'll try and remember to keep this thread updated with my results..even though the original question has certainly been answered I think. Sorry Hanafuda.

Man you earn your name! I can't believe the dedication.
I think we are going to have some real answers about SC and Battery soon.
I'll be very interested to see how your carts fair.
Thanks for going the extra mile Qrayzie.

 

[FifthE1ement]

Ok, just tested my SuperCard Mini-SD on a non-flashed DS Phat with a PassCard3. I used a stopwatch and came up with 5 hours 10 mins until it turned off. It went 4 hours 55 mins until the red light came on. This test was done playing Sims 2, Mario Basket 3 on 3 and Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. The stop watch was stopped each time I stopped playing at the same time as the DS and vice versa. I didn't play with any Wifi to keep the results fair and I plan on doing a Wifi version of the test on my next charge.

So far:

SuperCard miniSD, PassCard3, ATP ProMax 150X 2GB miniSD = 5 hours 10 mins (Turned red at: 4 hours 55 mins)

Hope this helps with anyone who is willing to test another flashcard.

FifthE1ement

 

[meangreenie]

Yep that's roughly what I have experienced too with our phat DS's with my SC MiniSD and my EZ4. Though my EZ4 struggles to get the past the 5 hour mark and the SC can get up to 5 and half hours. All the DS's are flashme'd.


edit.. I wonder what happened to 'Hanafuda' , he posted he got his kit and then nothing ??

 

[FifthE1ement]

He is still playing it! LOL, he never came back its so good!

FifthE1ement