Hacking Making gateway 3ds support multiple Roms on 1 SD card.

[PsyBlade]

...and for heaven's sake can we please move on to NTFS already? FAT isn't even gonna support ROMs bigger than 4GB.

I expect some minimalistic home-grown stuff like wbfs
maybe something easy like fat32 with split files or ext2 at best
but nobody wants to do ntfs on embedded systems

 

[xyzmanas]

i was talking about knowledge of hadware systems (microcontrollers and logic gates) not about the 3ds and i am sure people have it.

 

[DiabloStorm]

Someone should merge all of these threads into a Gateway 3DS speculation thread

 

[Thulinma]

Does it really need all that partition hell? They could just put a button that cycles through the ROMs alphabetically when pressed. Hell, I have a Gameboy multicart that can do that. We have no problem running code on a flashcart, just running it through the 3DS CPU. As long as the cart gets power from the 3DS, it can run its own processor that manages and serves the selected ROM at the push of a button like xyzmanas suggested. The only problem is the interface(and lack thereof) since everything the cart does it has to do on its own without the 3DS' participation.

...and for heaven's sake can we please move on to NTFS already? FAT isn't even gonna support ROMs bigger than 4GB.

Actually... you just made me think of a method that wouldn't require a button or other hardware switching method at all.
The card could simply load the next file stored on it, every time you re-insert it.
The icon it displays would show your selected game and if you want to play something else just eject and re-insert until the correct one shows up.
Troublesome? Yes, but it would allow putting multiple games on one SD card without any hardware modifications - assuming they can detect card insertion (which they probably can - since the 3DS would request card headers etc right away)...

Eh, just my idle thoughts. Make of it what you will - not saying they should/will do this, just that it's one of the possible ways they could "fix" this.

 

[Saturosias]

Actually... you just made me think of a method that wouldn't require a button or other hardware switching method at all.
The card could simply load the next file stored on it, every time you re-insert it.

If it acts as a 1:1 clone and can't run unsigned code, I don't see any method to allow for multiple files running except for a hardware solution -- as executing a configuration file wouldn't be 1:1 communication, and it doesn't have a CPU (i.e. SCDS2) to do work away from the 3DS.

 

[PsyBlade]

it doesn't have a CPU to do work away from the 3DS.

Do you have a source for that?

 

[Saturosias]

Do you have a source for that?

The fact that it's... a 1:1 hardware clone, excluding the storage media for the [rom]?

 

[PsyBlade]

the fact that it looks 1:1 from the outside does not necessitate a 1:1 inside

 

[Saturosias]

the fact that it looks 1:1 from the outside does not necessitate a 1:1 inside

"From the outside"? I didn't mean it just looks like a 3DS cart, do you even know what the term 1:1 means?

Edit: Also, the cart has no need for a CPU and they wouldn't waste costs on it even if they could implement it -- it has no homebrew capabilities and they obviously can't enhance existing roms at the moment, this cart is solely for piracy (no matter what "backup" claims people here desperately try to use)... and if there were a CPU, it would be quite easy for them to implement bootloader updates using it similar to the DSTwo, and they wouldn't be panicking for people to not update their consoles.

 

[PsyBlade]

"From the outside"? I didn't mean it just looks like a 3DS cart, do you even know what the term 1:1 means?

DOH!
man blackbox

 

[PsyBlade]

Edit: Also, the cart has no need for a CPU and they wouldn't waste costs on it even if they could implement it -- it has no homebrew capabilities and they obviously can't enhance existing roms at the moment, this cart is solely for piracy (no matter what "backup" claims people here desperately try to use)... and if there were a CPU, it would be quite easy for them to implement bootloader updates using it similar to the DSTwo, and they wouldn't be panicking for people to not update their consoles.

I doubt that it could even be done without some CPU.
And did claim partial updateability.
But not every method of detection could be necessarily beaten by a software upgrade alone.
E.g. if the 3DS hw is capable of such things I would try to analyse the more analouge properties of the carts signal.
Depending on the gateways hw a hw upgrade might be needed.

 

[xyzmanas]

I still doubt that there would be a CPU in under 80$, which would mean some effiecient code and proper RAM to run. But if something like that is present then supporting multiple ROM's shouldn't be much of a problem in later updates.

 

[Rydian]

I still doubt that there would be a CPU in under 80$

http://nds-card.com/ProShow.asp?ProID=135
*cough*

 

[TheNintendoEnthusiast]

I like the OPs idea, it makes alot of sense, I would imagine this would be feasible after the devs fully understand how to properly make a good flash card. We still have to see how Saves will be handled.

 

[fidrocka]

I like the OPs idea, it makes alot of sense, I would imagine this would be feasible after the devs fully understand how to properly make a good flash card. We still have to see how Saves will be handled.

plus how long it will take to get patched

 

[PsyBlade]

Even my cheap www.r4ids.cn has a cpu.
And so I think does every other similar cart.

I assume its doing the whole IO translation (flash/fs) so that the DS gets the game data the usual way.
Much simpler that running some custom code on the DS for that.

The reason that the sc2 advertises it's cpu is only that it's much more powerful.

 

[KazoWAR]

Its very simple!


You make a DS Homebrew that you boot with a dstwo or some other flashcart.
it backups the save file from the gateway to the SD.
it moves/renames a 3ds ROM to the correct location/name so it will be booted by the gateway.
it then uploads the save file for the game onto the gateway.
then you swap sd in to gateway and have FUN!


edit oh darnit

 

[Saturosias]

Even my cheap www.r4ids.cn has a cpu.
And so I think does every other similar cart.

http://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/Flashcart_Comparison_Chart

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=r4ids+flash+cart+cpu

Uh, no.
Everything you've said in this thread is now invalidated.

Edit: Also, I don't recall any other flash cart even being "strong" enough to update its bootloader while blocked.
http://gbatemp.net/threads/does-the-r4igold-have-backdoor-updating.349735/

 

[Rydian]

Uh, no.
Everything you've said in this thread is now invalidated.

The chart is only concerned with a "CPU" in the sense that you can run custom homebrew on the cart itself, opposed to the homebrew running on the DS.

All modern flash carts have a CPU of sorts in the form of the FPGA, most of them just will not run user code, which is the distinction.

The chart was made well before this became a concern.

 

[PsyBlade]

Uh, no.
Everything you've said in this thread is now invalidated.
Edit: Also, I don't recall any other flash cart even being "strong" enough to update its bootloader while blocked.

Here's a picture of the cart in question: http://gbatemp.net/uploads/gallery/album_245/gallery_746_245_3049140.png
(Open one up yourself if you don't believe me.)
You might notice that big chip in there.
It says Actel ProASIC3 A3P250
You can find more about it here: http://www.actel.com/products/pa3/

And just that it is there does not mean that it can upgrade itself.
Might or might not be, I haven't checked.
And even if can in principle upgrade itself does not mean that the carts developers have to make use of that ability.