Hacking Looking to get into flashcarts...

Lurunar

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Hey guys, I've been thinking about getting a flashcart for a while, but I don't know too much about them. I've been looking for an R4 on the internet for a while, but just about everyone seems to be out of stock. I spotted the TTDS and it looks like a decent cart, has all the features I want and stuff, but I don't know too much about these things, and was hoping someone could help a novice out.
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First, what kind of microSD card should I buy? I keep seeing all this stuff about japanese Kingston 1GB cards being the best, but does it really matter? I'm looking to get a cheap, but reliable 2GB card. Does it really make a difference what kind I get?

Second, can this play NES and SNES roms? Do I have to put an NES and/or SNES emulator on the card for the games to work? And when it says "root of the card" in the reviews and stuff, does that mean the base folder of the card?

Third, what is "moonshell" and how does it work? From my understanding, moonshell is a homebrew app that allows you to play music and movies on flashcarts. Can you just drag MP3s and MP4s onto the SD card after you install moonshield and watch/listen? Or do the files have to go through some sort of process first?

Thanks in advance guys, I still don't understand a lot about these things so I'll be making more posts in the future, I'm sure. But I really appreciate it, thanks again.
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NeSchn

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1. Yes it does make a difference, some microSD's are cheaply made and can lag down some games. Stick with Kingston. (Japan Made.)

2. Yes it can play NES and SNES roms, Yes you need an emulator for NES use NesDS for SNES use SNEmulDS. You don't need to put in the root of the card for DSTT I have them in my Homebrew folder.

3. Moonshell is just a file browser that can play music and videos, on some cards it can also boots games and homebrew. You can drag and drop music files but you have to convert the video files to .dpg first. Moonshell comes with a converter so its all good and its easy to use.

If you want to buy the DSTT get it from Gameyeeeah.com they are really good and GBATemp's affilate.

Hope I helped you out!
 

Lurunar

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Listen, thanks a lot for that reply man, I appreciate it. Also, the site you reccomended looks pretty solid.

http://www.gameyeeeah.com/ndsndsl-dstt-kin...card-p-739.html

How does that look?
It says this in the features: "Free SDHC high-speed reader, Ultimate copy documents."

So does that mean I don't need to buy a reader? So I buy that and I'm all set? Or do I need a reader? Thanks again in advance!
 

Bri

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Lurunar,

Some people have problems with the readers that come with the DSTT. For $15.99 you can get a Kingston micro reader and 2GB Japanese Kingston microSD card here (free shipping).

If you want to play GBA games stored on the microSD card, you'll also need a slot2 expansion cart such as the Ewin 2in1.

-Bri
 
J

Jackreyes

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The reader works fine for me.
You could even say great. Also its nice and small
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Bri

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Jackreyes,

It works great for some people, others have a lot of problems with them. I think it's a quality control issue. The Kingston one is a lot more reliable (and it's the same size -- tiny). In this case, it adds maybe $1 to the price of the microSD card by itself, so it's well worth it.

-Bri
 

NeSchn

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Listen, thanks a lot for that reply man, I appreciate it. Also, the site you reccomended looks pretty solid.

http://www.gameyeeeah.com/ndsndsl-dstt-kin...card-p-739.html

How does that look?
It says this in the features: "Free SDHC high-speed reader, Ultimate copy documents."

So does that mean I don't need to buy a reader? So I buy that and I'm all set? Or do I need a reader? Thanks again in advance!
Yeah it comes with a reader, some people have problems but mine works fine.
 

Lurunar

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NeSchn

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Yeah that looks good, I checked the rating for meritline and they have a gold rating on Reseller Ratings. I did a double take though because the reader that comes with that 2 gb card is basically the same one that comes with the DSTT. (Just my thought.)

Yeah you should be ready to go, if you have anymore questions we will be happy to answer them!

Good luck!
 

Sinkhead

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The TTDS is a good flashcart, you will be very happy with it
smile.gif


The best memory cards are the ones with a serial number of 'SD-C01G' or 'SD-C02G' which are made by Toshiba, you can also find them branded as Kingston cards. You want the ones that are made in JAPAN, not TAIWAN. The Taiwanese ones are slower and will lag in Tony Hawks and Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. Those are the only games worth playing (at the moment) that need a fast memory card.
 

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myuusmeow

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My Japanese Kingston 1gB still lags in all Tony Hawk games when there are more than 2 players on screen, but that isn't all that often anyway.
 

ojsinnerz.

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This is the image from the meritline link : http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/m...e_1990_23212789

So in the image it's clearly made in Japan, but that doesn't necessarily mean what I order will be made in Japan?

This is on the deal extreme site : http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2396

The only problem there is it doesn't come with a reader, and people say the reader that comes with the DSTT can be unreliable....so what to do?

Well, even though some people did have some difficulties with it, others didn't. DX sells card readers for cheap as well. Just search Micro Sd on the product search part, and there' a few card readers. http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.7506. Like this one.
 

DespizingU

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I wouldn't get the microsd through Meritline. You don't know if it'll be Taiwan or Japanese. Mine showed up as Taiwan. I was pretty pissed.
And you'll be wating two to four weeks from dealextreme for your microsd to arrive.

I recommend getting the 2gb Kingston Japan from DZTech. It says right on the product page that the microsd is Japan made. And you'll only have wait two to three days for it to arrive. I've ordered two 2gb microsd's from there. Both Japan made, and both arrived very quickly. It's a very reliable site.
 

Bri

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This is the image from the meritline link : http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/m...e_1990_23212789

So in the image it's clearly made in Japan, but that doesn't necessarily mean what I order will be made in Japan?

Like I said, I ordered this from meritline, and it's exactly as the picture shows -- the card is made in Japan. It's all prepackaged and sealed by Kingston and the photograph they show is exactly what I got. So I'd say there is little chance that the card included in this package won't be a Japanese one.

-Bri
 

Bri

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Yeah that looks good, I checked the rating for meritline and they have a gold rating on Reseller Ratings. I did a double take though because the reader that comes with that 2 gb card is basically the same one that comes with the DSTT. (Just my thought.)

Yeah you should be ready to go, if you have anymore questions we will be happy to answer them!

Good luck!

The Kingston reader that is packaged with the card is similar but not the same as the reader that comes with the DSTT. The Kingston one is sturdier, and more importantly since it has the Kingston name on it I imagine that it undergoes more thorough quality control.

-Bri
 

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