nds-bootstrap:

Thanks to the work of ahezard, Gericom, Apache, Robz8, _catcatcat, and shutterbug2000 and other contributors, we can now load NDS games from the SD card, without any flashcard/SLOT-1 card.

Don't expect high compatibility, but do expect many, many updates.

Compatibility listing:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LRTkXOUXraTMjg1eedz_f7b5jiuyMv2x6e_jY_nyHSc/edit#gid=0

The official Discord server for nds-bootstrap:
https://discordapp.com/invite/7bxTQfZ

The thread for the recommended loader (by Robz8):
https://gbatemp.net/threads/twloader-ctr-mode-nds-app.448375/

SRLoader for softmodded DSis (by Robz8):
https://gbatemp.net/threads/srloader-nds-app-for-dsi.472200/

If you're more of a forwarder person:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/nds-forwarder-cias-for-your-home-menu.426174/

Link to the releases page:
https://github.com/ahezard/nds-bootstrap/releases

Anti-Piracy patch list by Robz8
https://gbatemp.net/threads/ap-patch-preservation.477536/

Also, thank you to our testers:
Historian
JoshuaDoes
thejsa
Alerdy
PokeAcer

Spoiler: Videos

Also, a video thanks to Robz8:


And another thanks to Alerdy:

 

[raxadian]

How do I run Roms in DSi mode?

 

[Flame]

How do I run Roms in DSi mode?

with TWiLight Menu++ press "Y" then go to "run in" choose DSi mode

 

[RocketRobz]

How do I run Roms in DSi mode?

with TWiLight Menu++ press "Y" then go to "run in" choose DSi mode

Note that for ROMs which already support DSi mode such as DSi-Enhanced ROMs, they'll run in DSi mode by default.

 

[raxadian]

Note that for ROMs which already support DSi mode such as DSi-Enhanced ROMs, they'll run in DSi mode by default.

Unless they are dumps without the DSi parts, like the usual dump of certain DS Sonic game.

 

[VadloCarlo]

Hello there, i still cannot run anno 1701 properly, it loads but with some garbage texured on the upper screen, i have ver 1.2.2 nds bootstrap what can i do with that? maybe theres stable release where this game 100% will work fine?

 

[RocketRobz]

Hello there, i still cannot run anno 1701 properly, it loads but with some garbage texured on the upper screen, i have ver 1.2.2 nds bootstrap what can i do with that? maybe theres stable release where this game 100% will work fine?

Please post a video of the issue.

 

[VadloCarlo]

Please post a video of the issue.

seems like i figured it out myself, there not any lable on my r4 card, looks like its a cheap copy, dunno, bought it with my dsl, but none of the releases fixing my problem,whatever i can reach gameplay and saves also work, so minor graffical glitches wont stop me from enjoying the game

 

[AmandaRose]

seems like i figured it out myself, there not any lable on my r4 card, looks like its a cheap copy, dunno, bought it with my dsl, but none of the releases fixing my problem,whatever i can reach gameplay and saves also work, so minor graffical glitches wont stop me from enjoying the game

Yep I think it's your r4 card causing the issue the game runs perfectly for me.

 

[RocketRobz]

v1.3.0 & v1.3.1
v1.3.1 included in TWiLight Menu++ v26.7.0 (GBATemp thread)

What's new?​

• B4DS mode: 10 prototype builds of Shantae: Risky's Revenge are now supported on DS and DS Lite!
  • 03/06/09 build
  • Three 04/15/10 builds
  • 06/23/10 build
  • Two 10/27/10 builds
  • Ubisoft Build
  • Review Build
  • Ubisoft Review Build
• Added support for building RAM disks containing Genesis/Mega Drive ROMs with the `.md` extension.
• `SCSD` string is now checked within the DLDI name for SuperCard MiniSD support as well.
• NDMA is now used to clear RAM before booting DS homebrew.

Bug fixes​

• Fixed not being able to boot ROMs which place the arm9 binary above offset 0x4000.
  • This makes some Chinese-translated ROMs boot again.
• Fixed support for homebrew which give shared WRAM to arm9.
  • The fix will not apply to DSiWarehax users.
• B4DS mode: Fixed various bugs related to running from Slot-2 flashcards.
• Attempted to fix crashing issues in Japanese Rev A version of Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin.
• Attempted to fix HGSS crashing issues on boot on DSi/3DS by keeping cluster table cache uncompressed.
• B4DS mode: Fixed Metroid Prime Pinball not booting.
• Fixed Nintendo DS Browser not booting on 3DS consoles.

 

[RocketRobz]

v1.3.2

Bug fix​

• Fixed attempting to force-decompress Chrono Trigger's arm9 binary, which could cause certain ROM hacks and/or translations to not boot.
  • (Hopefully this doesn't break other ones which have booted prior to this version!)

 

[raxadian]

I think there is a patch that restores Frog old English speech? Should work now then.

 

[RocketRobz]

v1.4.0
Included in TWiLight Menu++ v26.8.0 (GBAtemp thread)

What's new?​

• A long awaited and overdue DS homebrew compatibility update has been implemented!
  • Homebrew titles which have not booted in prior versions such as Moonshell v2.10 and Tetris: The Grand Master now boot properly!
  • SD read speeds have improved, by using 512KB of DSi WRAM (or for Memory Pit users, 96KB of Main RAM) as a LRU cache!
    • Before (Moonshell v1.71): 8 seconds
    • After (Moonshell v1.71): 2.5 seconds
  • DPG playback in Moonshell is also working properly!
• To slightly speed-up memcpy operations for LRU cache and pre-loaded ROM reads, tonccpy has been replaced with the memcpy code from BlocksDS!

Bug fix​

• Fixed where reading both the last and first parts of the save file at the same time would cause a game to crash.
  • This fixes where Gormiti: The Lords of Nature! would crash on the save initialization screen, if the save file is 64KB.

Known bugs​

• Moonshell v1.71 may crash later on for some DPG files. It is recommended to use v2.10 instead.
• Moonshell v2.10 will crash if `logbuf.txt` exists in the `moonshl2` folder.

 

[FR0ZN]

Thank you for the update!
I'm relatively new to the DSi scene and I'm currently running Twilight Menu via Unlaunch on a DSi LL.

What I noticed were "long" boot times into the Twilight Menu.

Twilights DSi boot screen comes up pretty quick after power on, but the menu itself takes over ~20 seconds to show up.

It doesn't sound like a lot, but changing settings often, quitting out of games, etc. - it adds up.

Is there anything I can to do to speed it up?

My SD card reads at around 45 MB/s which I hope is enough.

Thanks again and keep up the awesome work

 

[RocketRobz]

Thank you for the update!
I'm relatively new to the DSi scene and I'm currently running Twilight Menu via Unlaunch on a DSi LL.

What I noticed were "long" boot times into the Twilight Menu.

Twilights DSi boot screen comes up pretty quick after power on, but the menu itself takes over ~20 seconds to show up.

It doesn't sound like a lot, but changing settings often, quitting out of games, etc. - it adds up.

Is there anything I can to do to speed it up?

My SD card reads at around 45 MB/s which I hope is enough.

Thanks again and keep up the awesome work

TWiLight Menu++ is split into separate .nds/.srldr files, so that can contribute to the long load times. The font also gets reloaded each time after the .srldr file boots.

 

[CoolMe]

Twilights DSi boot screen comes up pretty quick after power on, but the menu itself takes over ~20 seconds to show up.

"Splash" screen you mean? You can disable that in TWilightMenu's settings. After disabling it it should boot ~10secs or so, not that much imo.

It doesn't sound like a lot, but changing settings often, quitting out of games, etc. - it adds up.

Are you using the in-game reset (button combo)? Because if not and you're turning the DS off & back on every time you want to switch to another game, then i feel your pain.. Fortunately the in-game reset works (most of the time), and it doesn't take long either to take you to the game select screen.
Btw, the in-game reset button combo is L+R+DOWN+B (for 2 Seconds).

My SD card reads at around 45 MB/s which I hope is enough.

That won't matter much since there's a read speed bottleneck on the sd reader anyway.

 

[ryba]

Metroid Prime Pinball on DS plays slow (I have older Twilight but last nds-bootstrap build).
This should work somehow, cause it runs OK on my R4 firmware.

 

[CoolMe]

Metroid Prime Pinball on DS plays slow (I have older Twilight but last nds-bootstrap build).
This should work somehow, cause it runs OK on my R4 firmware.

Why not update TWilightMenu too so everything'd be in order, and see if the issue persists.

 

[RocketRobz]

v1.4.1
Included in TWiLight Menu++ v26.9.0 (GBATemp thread)

Bug fix​

• Fixed attempting to decompress already-decompressed arm9 binary for certain ROM hacks, which would cause them to not boot.

Post automatically merged: Apr 2, 2024

v1.4.2

Bug fix​

• Fixed an overlooked bug which caused Shepherd's Crossing 2 DS to open with a red error screen.
  • If you're a DS/DS Lite user, the bug would only occur with an Expansion Pak inserted.

 

[RocketRobz]

v1.4.3
Included in TWiLight Menu++ v27.0.0 (GBATemp thread)

What's new? (B4DS mode)​

• Audio in Art Style: Aquia now plays on (retail) DS & DS Lite consoles!
  • This is achieved by working around a memory limitation, where the game would first allocate memory for the compressed sdat file (1.53MB), and then allocate memory for the decompressed sdat file (1.63MB), which would fail because of there being no memory left for the decompressed data, and as a result would cause the audio to not play. nds-bootstrap instead does the decompression job before boot, by only allocating memory for the decompressed sdat file, and then streaming over the compressed data into the allocated area to form the decompressed data.

Bug fixes​

• Further improved support for certain ROM hacks with compressed arm9 binaries (ex. Inazuma Eleven Undub, Pokemon BB2/VW2, etc.) in order for them to boot.
• B4DS mode: Fixed an overlooked bug which caused Shepherd's Crossing 2 DS to open with a red error screen if an Expansion Pak is inserted.

 

[Deleted member 700783]

Does this boot DSi enhanced games like Pokemon White in DS or DSi mode?