Hacking M3 Simply arrived!

[schlub]

Wow, it seems like it works.. boots up every time no matter what I try! Thanks a lot, sorry for being such a noob lol.

 

[jelbo]

Wow, it seems like it works.. boots up every time no matter what I try! Thanks a lot, sorry for being such a noob lol.

No need to apologize, we've all learned FAT32 really isn't a good choice to format your MicroSD with in combination with an M3 Simply now.

 

[NinjaFish]

Does anyone have any information on using legacy M3 save files with the M3 Simply? I'm going to want to transfer some saves from an M3 Lite, and I'm curious as to how much work (if any) is involved.

 

[ArTiK]

Wow, it seems like it works.. boots up every time no matter what I try! Thanks a lot, sorry for being such a noob lol.

No need to apologize, we've all learned FAT32 really isn't a good choice to format your MicroSD with in combination with an M3 Simply now.

so, you say that fat 16 is better than fat 32 to format microSD with an m3 simply???

I didn't know....

 

[manomanx2]

I posted this in the M3-adapter forum, but I guess you guys can hear it too.


I ordered the M3 Simply from mod*chipstore, yet they sent me a Transcend 1gb MicroSD card for some strange reason. THEY DON'T EVEN LIST THAT ITEM ON THEIR SITE.

When I checked the shipping info and the invoice, it says that the item should be "M3 DS Simply Slot 1 (MicroSD) for Nintendo DS (Lite)", so obviously, they made a mistake. Yet, their tracking order function on their site claims the order is shipped and completed, so I've got a big problem here.

In conclusion, I got shafted and will not be getting my M3 Simply anytime soon, thanks for listening.


p.s. And yes I will be filling out a complaint, but they always answer really slowly, so =(.

 

[leoedin]

did you pay with paypal? Dispute the payment and (I believe) they can't use their account until they do something about it (I'm probably wrong

)

 

[leoedin]

Does anyone have any information on using legacy M3 save files with the M3 Simply? I'm going to want to transfer some saves from an M3 Lite, and I'm curious as to how much work (if any) is involved.

The software has a save converter included (windows only).

Give it the address of the first save, tell it where to put the second, and click OK.

It uses the standard .sav format.

 

[leetdude_007]

I got my M3 DS Simply this morning, and when it works, it works very well.. but half the time it's not working.

When I boot up the most common situation is the 'Loading...' screen forever. Maybe every 10 times it might say SD/TF card error. Re-inserting my microSD card helps sometimes, but sometimes not. When it boots up fine I can play a game with no issues for a while, but sometimes If I move the DS suddenly I'll get a freeze, usually when reboot the same 'Loading...' happens.

I have the "same" set-up as you (kingston microsd + m3 simply black), but I don't have any problems at the moment.

Please PM for discussion about the details because threads can become a mess.

 

[krdvmus]

Wow, it seems like it works.. boots up every time no matter what I try! Thanks a lot, sorry for being such a noob lol.

No need to apologize, we've all learned FAT32 really isn't a good choice to format your MicroSD with in combination with an M3 Simply now.

Well... I'm using my Apacer micro SD 1G formatted FAT32 on M3 simply without any problem although the manufacturer's recommendation is FAT16.

 

[H8TR]

Gahh. this whole save thing is getting to me. Does anyone know if you can convert R4/M3 DS Simply saves to old M3 saves. (.dat)

 

[leetdude_007]

NOTE: I'm just going to update this post instead of constantly replying for sake of easy reading.

ThaiGrocer's 1st Day with the M3 Simply by ThaiGrocer

This is the first flashcart that I have ever owned that has not been officially licensed by Nintendo. I have never owned any other piece of hardware before that has extended the abilities of my DS... until now.

This is what I currently 'own' in regards to DS Gaming/Homebrew:
*1 x Nintendo DS Lite Onyx (purchased on 12/23/2006) on Amazon.com
*A bunch of games that I purchased at toys R us during the post-Christma-hannu-ramada-kwanzamas sale.
*M3 DS Simply ('English version', as indicated on the top screen GUI)
I ordered the M3 DS Simply from realhotstuff.com. It was delivered on 1/2/2007 and I received it today, 1/3/2007. DHL/RHS combo is awesome and you are awesome for reading this!
*Kingston 1GB MicroSD card purchased at Buy.com (12 dollars after rebate, bitches) link

So I got a some questions today about the M3 Simply, thanks for all the great PMs guys:

chalupa asked: ok can u test out the patched webbrowser and see if it works? also, can you use another supercard or m3 for ram, or even the original ram cart?

4saken asked: mind running some tests for me (it would be great if you could post this as a thread seeing as these are some questions everyone wants answered).

If you have read the review for the R4, you should know that certain games run properly, yet their download play function does not. Please test this with some roms (in particular Mario Kart and New Super Mario Bros).

Also, I've heard some talk that Castlevania: POR does not allow you to use warp points. Can you please test this out with your memory card?

And finally, overall compatibility. From your own usage of the M3, have there been any hiccups in loading roms?

As you can see. I have some technical limitations on what I am allowed to test. But I do have an undisclosed "assload" of backup games that I can test.

Opening the Package
The M3 came in black as the default, and the white shell was included in this light blue case coated with a hefty layer of clear plastic (that fancy iPod look that everyone wants these days... even Nintendo).

Hardware and Formatting
I refuse to use the microSD card reader that came with it... I show nearly as much affection to my microSD as I show to my adorable gold fish (happy 3rd birthday!). I will never allow my card to be in such an environment!

I formatted (no, not 'quick formatted') my microSD card using the SD card adapter that came with Kingston. The adapter was connected to the my laptops card reader. My laptop is a Compaq R3000. It is equipped with a decent card reader (manufactured by Texas Instruments, hint hint), even though it's unable to read my PQI 2GB SD card for my GP2X. Anyway, I formatted my card to FAT32 and had no problems while adding the appropriate files.

File Transfer
There is nothing special extremely special about my computer (cough): windows XP home and some bloated drivers... very typical!

I popped in the 'mini-CD' that was included. And copied the appropriate files to make the GUI start working (I'll have a picture of the highlighted files below soon).

I also copied all the games that I wanted, and they are all in their full names. For example, I copied in brain age (it's for my mom), and the file name is '0396 - Brain Age - Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! (U).nds'. I added 24 games in all, with 12 MB left for saves, and possibly one small song. I didn't change any file names. For some roms that don't have download play, I trimmed them with the enclosed software in the CD. The trimmed files were renamed with additional text '*_trim.nds'.

I also copied a new skin to the shell folder for MoonShell, but that's a totally different topic.

Turning My DS with M3 Simply for the First Time
The GUI is truly simple, as it is a touch screen interface consisting of three icons that each are options to different functions of the M3 Simply. (1) Game (2) Multimedia (3) Boot Slot-2

I tap onto (1) Game the most. (2) Multimedia... leads me to MoonShell, with that infamous error page that initially pops up and goes away (like in the SC DS(one)). The error message does not affect any multimedia play, as M3/Moonshell has provided the correct plug-ins for picture, movies, mp3/ogg/etc (it's also called music).

Anyway, here are the games I have tested so far:

(in order of release in US/Japan)
*Kirby - Canvas Curse
*Super Mario 64 DS (v1.1)
*Bomberman
*Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan..!
*Jump Super Stars
*Advance Wars - Dual Strike
*Castlevania - DoS
*Trauma Center
*Phoenix Wright
*Metroid Prime Pinball
*Mario Kart DS
*Animal Crossing:WW
*Tetris DS
*Metroid Prime Hunters
*Brain Age!
*New Super Mario Brothers
*Big Brain Academy
*Star Fox Command
*Club House Games
*Elite Beat Agents
*Bomberman Land Touch!
*Jump Ultimate Stars
*Kirby - Squeak Squad
*Castlevania - PoR


I opened all of those games and all asked for me to make a save file ONCE, and never again. They apparently run smoothly, for my eye did not catch anything peculiar (apparently... guess which games I don't own). I tried to catch the infamous Metroid Pinball sound issue and visual slow down... none. I tried to catch the glitchy videos of both Castelvania games... none. So far so good, UNDER MY OBSERVATIONS.

As for download play... I don't own another DS, but I'm guessing it will be close to the R4.. better or worse. But that's a 'wild world' for me, I guess (sorry for the bad joke.. and yes, ACWW works great so far!).

Anyway, additional questions should be PMed to me to keep this thread nice and clean. I'll answer them promptly as I have a lot of time ever since I got a sweet-ass job over winter break. Some questions weren't answered and they will be when I can (if it's hardware related, maybe not.. cos I don't have the money right now).

Happy New Year and Keep That Will Power Going if you Want More than what M3 Simply has to Offer!


Additional Notes after I 'published' my large post:

*M3 Simply boots directly to it's GUI. I don't like that because I like to use my DS as an alarm located on the far end of my room (this method of waking up has worked for me most of my life).
*M3 Simply boots very fast. I didn't even tap the Startup Screen (but that's beside the point)... it just boots fast.
*I haven't tested homebrew. Many people have already been enlightened by the fact that homebrew will not work until devs code the proper i/o goodness in their brew.
*More pictures on the way.
*I'm not sure about battery life, but the chip that the M3 simply is using looks a lot more 'efficient looking' than the supercard, for example. Will the magic of innovation finally make my DS last longer 8 hours tops? stay tuned.
*Club House games is fun. But Tetris still kicks more ass.
*Asian men have squinty eyes if you believe hard enough. I, on the other hand, do not have those damn 'almond eyes'
*Halitosis is an easily preventable disease. Floss daily, and go to your dentist at least every Six Months!
*

Small request, can you check Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam, and also, what does the filelist for games look like? Is it cluttered with folders and save files, or can you hide all that with Select like I heard with R4?

Alright. I tried out the game. I don't know if this is bad or not, but a white screen pops up for a long time, and then a save occurs. I don't know if that is usual, or just slow. It took about 3 seconds before the game went on. I 'got owned' many times during basic training, and the game runs smoothly overall... with the exception of the possibly bad "white screen + 'saving' prompt" delay. Is that how the game usually runs?

As for using the select button on the menu... I didn't know about and gave it a try. Oh man, it wasn't as fun as downhill jam, but it was a lot easier to play... OK, jokes aside: hitting select in the main GUI menu shows/hides system files that are not important during game play. Some files extensions include *.dat, *.sys, *.sav, plus more.. I'm guessing. Good times! Some more to explore in my simply, and that is a bit of surprise.
*

Castlevania POR and Castlevania DOS works perfectly ? What about Megaman ZX and Megaman Battle Network 5 DS ? Thanks!

I always wanted to try out Megaman ZX and Rockman EXE 5 (MBN5)... so I did.
Megaman Battle Network 5 Works Great! The fluid intro was very cool. I actually want to keep this game on my gold fish... um.. MicroSD. I played as Colonel and got a nice intro, opened my PET (how silly), and walked around for a while. send a StewRec with megaman (Jack in! Mega man! Execute!). All the cut scenes are smooth, as I would expect. I fought some hard hat goons (virus busting), and that's pretty much it. It looks like fun and most importantly.. it works nicely as far as I know!!

Megaman ZX: works great... alright, it works as it should be working. Expect no less, cos you paid a lot of money for a mass produced chip. Anyway, game loads with that double capcom screen. got an intro with a girl talking via text... selected easy, and that boy... long backstory intro. Once I finally got some game play, everything went smoothly. BIOLINK! Engage!!! The cutscene videos are awesome and smooth. I recommend from the first five minutes of gameplay, that everyone should try out this game.
*

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin still freezes (using a Sandisk 512MB) when accessing a warp point. Still have to test it out using Kingston, but it seems it still needs work.

Same here. (Apacer micro SD 1G)

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin freezes when accessing a warp point.

Anyone else with the same problem?

I transported to the 'City of Haze' with out any problems. I killed that blue headed monster, had a victory laugh and went to the bathroom to celebrate. So yeah, it worked.

Also...
I tried to the tombstone transport from one part of the 'City of Haze' to another part via the tombstone-like transport (which is cool looking). Nothing froze. I was able to transport back and forth many times until I got bored... I'm STILL RUNNING FAT32.
*

I am curious..if you drag and drop 64mbit nds files in Kingston 1GB microSD then how many nds files will it be ?

My Kingston 1GB is reported to be 982 MB, which is reasonable. 64 Mb is 8MB, correct?... so you should be able to get about 120 games... but wait! There's an *issue* with the M3 simply. All save files are half a megabyte; 512KB. so you actually get about 100 games, give or take.

 

[Suphix]

wow, what a post. thanks so much for all the info, thats probly a better review than the guys over at MC did! haha, i think im definatly going with the simply. shame you couldnt check download play, anyone else want to comment on that subject?

 

[Hanafuda]

It uses the standard .sav format.

does that mean supercard .sav's would be drop-ins? they always were for the G6 ... if M3 has gone to standard .sav's, then that is very good news.

 

[leetdude_007]

Please refer back to POST 72 of this THREAD

List of Issues I have noticed so far

updated 1/3/2007 11:11PM CST

*All the .sav files are half a megabyte, no matter what game! It seems like autodetection of save size is not really true ... under my set up, at least. I have twenty-four games (soon to be 23), 12 MB of saves! ::gasp::
*My digital camera is busted, but not my DS....

Stupid DS, I wish you were busted. I miss my camera!

 

[manomanx2]

That was a kickass review, thanks.

Small request, can you check Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam, and also, what does the filelist for games look like? Is it cluttered with folders and save files, or can you hide all that with Select like I heard with R4?

 

[spotanjo3]

Castlevania POR and Castlevania DOS works perfectly ? What about Megaman ZX and Megaman Battle Network 5 DS ? Thanks!

 

[forkyfork]

I ordered my m3 simply from real hot stuff yesterday and it arrived the next day.. even though all I did was ground shipping. Sheesh - talk about fast shipping!

But, unfortunately, I can't test anything until Thursday night (when I will be home). I have two flashed DS's, and I'm going to messing around with my friend's unflashed DS lite. If anyone has any questions, let me know.

 

[Knab]

i seen some one said something about m3 real, what is that? i just ordered a m3 simply from bamboo not to long ago, did i make a mistake or something?

 

[False Hope]

Hey guys, quick question is the M3 DS Simply picky with microSD cards?

I have an A-Data MicroSD card is it compatible with it? Thanks.

 

[skfields01]

I can tell you A-Data cards have problems with SCDS1 on some game. They won't even load. I haven't tried it yet on the M3 Simply.