Hacking M3 Lite or G6 Lite

[tama_mog]

I see a lot of thoughts being thrown around here and I guess it really is all personal preference @ this point. The intro screen of m3.....that says this is not a licensed product of Nintendo or something to that effect....personally I barely notice it and it doesn't bother me. I agree with ceraphis that more space is not always good....there IS such a thing as too much space. I've never complained about 512 mbyte restriction with the g6, to me that's plenty for DS and gba games.....no one can play that many games @ once, it's just not plausible or practical unless you don't want to play any of them seriously and just have it for sakes of showing other people you have 50 games on your system @ a time. You guys are right, m3 lite/m3 series in general have next to 0 history on corruption and yet the g6 lite does......even with proper precautions.....what I fear to be true is slowly happening, more and more are popping up.....not a good sign. Like I said earlier, I love the g6 series for what it does and is....but just the g6 3rd gens since my g6 lite just took a dump. Oh and for what it's worth, I believe Phoenix Wright is funner than Mario bros too....but I feel this strange obligation to finish all the worlds of mario =P

 

[kobewan]

Just wanted to clear up a couple of points which popped up which I believe are wrong:-

- You do not have to press A to save at power-on for the M3. It saves automatically, however when you load the ROM you have to press A to confirm which save file to load.

- I don't know why anybody would end up losing their save due to the M3 system unless their battery was dead (which should take about a year). The 'save and forget it' system works for M3 as well, I have backed up saves up to a week after powering off. I imagine that the battery should be able to hold the saves for months at a time with no problem.

Anyways, the more space than 512MB is pretty much only useful if you plan on utilising the multimedia capabilities as well. If you never plan on watching any videos or listening to any MP3s, then I don't know why you would need more than 512MB.

However, if you plan on flashing your DS Lite, I would recommend an M3 Lite because flashing it without recovery is pretty hard (at least it would hvae been for me).

 

[tama_mog]

I've flashed 6 ds lites so far and with all of them I used a g6 3rd gen to do the job....0 problems. People that have problems shorting the ds lite to shut off I believe are either 1) shoving a big chunk of something conductive into the slot to short the sl1 and the chunk happens to short the connector beside sl1 or 2) not watching where they're sticking the tool and just freely wiggling around in the slot. I mean, you can see the Sl1 clearly and it's obvious what you need to short. I use a paperclip every single time wrapped with scotch or electrical tape (whatever I have handy) and has done each one in under 2 minutes (other than the first one, I think that one took a lot longer since I was "careful"). But yes, the battery of the m3 lite SHOULD (that's the keyword here) last for 1-2 years or more....so holding saves should not be an issue for awhile @ least. And the system is save and forget and you just confirm which save file you want to use like lakersfan says. And I completely concur with the multimedia part....although I do not use a ds for mp3....seems a bit bulky for that and watching videos to me is painful on the ds compared to a psp.....which is already painful because of the small screen. I prefer a laptop.

 

[mikesnickname]

will both the m3 and g6 load goomba just as well? About this internal battery, how does it get charged? when does it die?

 

[DeVS]

will both the m3 and g6 load goomba just as well? About this internal battery, how does it get charged? when does it die?

G6 and M3 will run the same homebrew. They battery recharges when you play the DS or have the G6 in it's usb U-Disk and pluged into a pc. Not sure how long it's supposed to be good for but since it is a rechargable battery my guess would be that it will last a long time. Don't mean to hijack your thread but man im glad I came to these forums. The response above to your question have been very well thought out and helpful. Seems like there are alot of good people here with mature attitudes which is a rare thing to find when dealing with game console moding these days,lol.

 

[kohkindachi]

great posts here

guess will have to spend sometime reading all. Guess will be helpful

 

[kohkindachi]

BTW can anyone tell me what they meant by "flashing ds lite "? Is it necessary to do that. I thought what i need is just a cart and passme?

Sry but the terms just complicate me

 

[tama_mog]

passme = method/device that bypasses the authentication checks the NDS makes to see if you're running a real ds game when running roms and to let the NDS run roms/programs(homebrew) from slot 2 (gba slot) in NDS mode because it's programmed to only be in NDS mode when there is a DS game inserted.

There are passme devices as you can see, passcards, passkey, ezpass, superkey, passwe, whatever, they are all forms of passme.

Flashme is a form of passme except it is not a hardware device, you actually flash (program) your ds/ds lite with firmware changes to give you the benefits of passme devices (and more) without carrying around any device except the flashcart.

It is not necessary to use flashme, but I highly suggest it.

 

[Vidikron]

I've got the same decision in front of me right now. I have a DS Lite, but don't yet own any flash devices. I'm currently considering the M3 Lite vs SuperCard Mini vs G6. Here are what I would consider most important to me:

1. DS game compatibility and performance
2. Reliable save system (primarily for DS games)
3. Homebrew Support (mainly just emulators)
4. GBA game compatibility and performance

Storage isn't a big problem for me. I can live with the the limited storage space of the G6 if its overall performance is better than the other two. I also don't want price to be a factor in people's recommendations. I don't mind paying more for a device if it performs the best. I'm also open to any suggestions beyond those 3 or to any suggestions to wait for any device that maybe coming in the very near future.

[edit] One more question... I was reading about the internal batteries on these devices and have one question about the M3. When its battery does die, is it user replaceable?

Thanks!

 

[tama_mog]

I'd be looking @ a m3 lite or g6 lite with those prerequisites....although I'd personally prefer the m3 lite because of stability (personal taste). Supercard lite fits the bill other than gba compatibility (but this is a slight issue, only a handful of games not working as it should on supercard). Supercard has the most reliable save system for nds games and highest compatibility with homebrew. Thought the m3 is not far behind in homebrew.

 

[rkenshin]

Let's not forget the Supercard in terms of GBA saving is the crappiest out of any flashcart in existance and the reason for that is it has to be done manually either through the restart menu or Quick Power Cycle..

Quick Power Cycle for those games that mess up when it's patched with the restart menu feature..

 

[FifthE1ement]

I've got the same decision in front of me right now. I have a DS Lite, but don't yet own any flash devices. I'm currently considering the M3 Lite vs SuperCard Mini vs G6. Here are what I would consider most important to me:

1. DS game compatibility and performance
2. Reliable save system (primarily for DS games)
3. Homebrew Support (mainly just emulators)
4. GBA game compatibility and performance

Storage isn't a big problem for me. I can live with the the limited storage space of the G6 if its overall performance is better than the other two. I also don't want price to be a factor in people's recommendations. I don't mind paying more for a device if it performs the best. I'm also open to any suggestions beyond those 3 or to any suggestions to wait for any device that maybe coming in the very near future.

[edit] One more question... I was reading about the internal batteries on these devices and have one question about the M3. When its battery does die, is it user replaceable?

Thanks!

You'll want an M3 Lite as tama_mog said above as that would fit you best.

However, if any user wants everything in your above numbered list, and more, except GBA game compatibility and performance on 10% of the GBA library, they should consider the SuperCard Lite. The SuperCard Lite has better DS game performance with any memory, a better DS save system, its cheaper, and has the best homebrew support. Its also front loading for easy memory access but that can work against your or for you depending on how you like that feature.

It’s all up to you in the end and if GBA is your number one must have feature then you better get the EZ-Flash IV Lite Deluxe as it does GBA the best.

Check the guide in my sig and you'll find my flashcart comparison chart, but basically it breaks down into:
DS games and Homebrew: SuperCard Lite
Overall: M3/G6 Lite
GBA games: EZ Flash IV Deluxe

FifthE1ement

 

[Vidikron]

You'll want an M3 Lite as tama_mog said above as that would fit you best.

However, if any user wants everything in your above numbered list, and more, except GBA game compatibility and performance on 10% of the GBA library, they should consider the SuperCard Lite. The SuperCard Lite has better DS game performance with any memory, a better DS save system, its cheaper, and has the best homebrew support. Its also front loading for easy memory access but that can work against your or for you depending on how you like that feature.

It’s all up to you in the end and if GBA is your number one must have feature then you better get the EZ-Flash IV Lite Deluxe as it does GBA the best.

Check the guide in my sig and you'll find my flashcart comparison chart, but basically it breaks down into:
DS games and Homebrew: SuperCard Lite
Overall: M3/G6 Lite
GBA games: EZ Flash IV Deluxe

FifthE1ementÂ

Hmmm... thanks for the info. That gives me something to think about though. I do want GBA game support, but I put that list in order of importance to me and I would actually say that GBA games are somewhat unimportant compared to the top 3. I'd say that DS games and emulations are the two most important to me.

I've read through you guide and saw you brief explanation about the save systems. What disadvantage does the M3 system have? Is it that you always have to power cycle your DS after playing a game in order to have the save written to the flash card? Could you briefly explain what advantage the SC has over the M3 in terms of DS game performance? Lets say I purchase a 1 GB microSD card from the SanDisk Ultra II line for the M3 Lite... would I see much of a difference in performance compared to a SC device?

Thanks!

 

[FifthE1ement]

Hmmm... thanks for the info. That gives me something to think about though. I do want GBA game support, but I put that list in order of importance to me and I would actually say that GBA games are somewhat unimportant compared to the top 3. I'd say that DS games and emulations are the two most important to me.Â

I've read through you guide and saw you brief explanation about the save systems. What disadvantage does the M3 system have? Is it that you always have to power cycle your DS after playing a game in order to have the save written to the flash card? Could you briefly explain what advantage the SC has over the M3 in terms of DS game performance? Lets say I purchase a 1 GB microSD card from the SanDisk Ultra II line for the M3 Lite... would I see much of a difference in performance compared to a SC device?

Thanks!

As per my SuperCard Lite review:

"The SuperCard Lite saves directly to the flash media unlike other solutions, like the M3, which store them temporarily in memory to be written the next time the DS Lite is powered on. The SuperCard uses a save system exactly like a regular DS game cart in which you set it and forget it! The SuperCard Lite also uses the highly compatible “.sav” format and there is even a homebrew program which allows you to manage multiple saves for one game!"

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=35982

The reason the SuperCard Lite performs so well it that it has the best memory bandwidth of any flashcart and it can take any flash media card and run it as if it were the fastest rated microSD on the market with no slowdown or lag. A combination of the SuperCard Lite and the SanDisk Ultra II makes for an experience as if you had a DS gamecart with every game on it. You won't be able to tell that you have a SuperCard Lite in the GBA slot as the DS game performance is that good.

And to answer your final question: In the end it’s all about the hardware and that’s where the SuperCard has the advantage in DS games just as the M3 has the advantage in GBA games. In the end the SuperCard Lite can run a regular 12x microSD with as good as performance as a M3 Lite and EZ with a 80X microSD. Its all in the hardware and until the next round of flashcarts comes out this can't be changed.

I hope you have enjoyed my explanation but like I said above I am not trying to push you either way and in the end its all up to you.

FifthE1ement

 

[rkenshin]

Isn't it wrong with the MicroSD comparison.. M3 Lite has already rectified that problem with the lower speed cards with the introduction of 8x DMA (hidden as 4x for some reason which only works for games that need it)

 

[FifthE1ement]

Nope, even on the M3 Lites's fastest settings with the fastest microSD on the market it still can't compete with the SuperCard Lite and the regular SanDisk 12X vanilla microSD. The M3 Lite with the fastest settings and fastest microSD runs about the same as the SCL and the regular microSD performance wise. This is only for the Lite models as other model M3's and SuperCards have different performance.

FifthE1ement

 

[kobewan]

Just wanted to add my opinion on the save system issue.

I own an M3 minSD only, never have had a SuperCard. However, I think that I can imagine how it saves. While I do agree with FifthE1ement that the SuperCard's save system is slightly superior, I also believe that the difference is not enough to even be an issue. I think that most users will not care in the least. Essentially, for almost all users, the disadvantage of the M3 save system is only speed. It works just as well as the SuperCard's, but takes an extra ~1.5 seconds or so right after power on to write the saves to the cart.

The other issue that might concern people is that the .sav format versus the .dat format. The .sav format is clearly superior due to its compatibilty, but again it shouldn't be an issue. There are some excellent programs for converting to and from both formats (the official M3 Game Manager also does it), so if you have some saves from VBA or somewhere else it is not a problem at all.

In summary : The save system of the SC is better than M3 for DS games, but the difference is small enough to be negligible for 98+% of users. For the other issues, listen to FifthE1ement since I don't have a SuperCard and can't say one way or another while he has a most excellent guide.

 

[rkenshin]

So you're saying that from tama_mog's M3 Lite impression where he compared a 1gb ultra2 vs a 2gb regular microsd and both came out working the same to be false?

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=36791

 

[kobewan]

So you're saying that from tama_mog's M3 Lite impression where he compared a 1gb ultra2 vs a 2gb regular microsd and both came out working the same to be false?

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=36791

 

[FifthE1ement]

I can't speak for him but I have tested the 2GB microSD and it has slowdown in the Castlevania intro. He probably also doesn't test things quite like I do as he is giving you a general appearance of things while I give you actual performance. Kind of like doing a test by dropping a ball from a roof to test gravity while I go all out and test it from an airplane, lol.

Also I know the regular SanDisk 1GB has some lag in the Castlevania intro so I know the 2GB must have more due to the slow access times.

FifthE1ement