Hacking Nintendo DS games won't load on M3 Real

[Dadevster]

For the past while I've been frustrated with my M3 Real. I just got it and am using an 8gb micro SD card with it.

Today when I put some of my roms into the NDS folder along with the SYSTEM folder (I downloaded the newest firmware, the M3 never game with a CD) I got a problem. When I go to play the game, everyting works-it'll say it's creating a new save file. But then, it'll either go to a black screen, or a white screen, and freeze. I tried soooo many things. I've downloaded so many versions of the firmware, tried Sakura, deleted and readded the roms, all to no avail. For some reason, the game will either freeze after it says that it's making a new save file or it's loading! Graaah!

Here's what's even weirder. I downloaded SNEmulDS as a SNES emulator to play Earthbound on the DS, right? So when I went to play it, it worked fine! Sure, there were a few graphical and sound glitches, but it was completely playable! And I tried converting Earthbound Zero to .nds form, and when I went to play it, the thing screwed up, so I turned it off. My problems started after that, I hope I didn't screw up the card!

I'm using the old DS phat. I've had it since 2004 and it still works great. But if the M3 only works in the DS Lite, then I'll probably have to buy a new one.

Can anyone help?

 

[DunkrWunkah]

No the m3 works in both systems. You're fine. However, simply renaming a file won't do anything to it, except make it unusable. Unless of course, it was a .nds file to begin with.

The fact that you tried to run that file, could have resulted in corruption, or breakage, but I'm not the expert.

 

[Sportsmaniac1322]

Flashcarts work with both the Lite and the phat, so that's not the problem. Backup all of your data off your microSD card and then format it with this tool: http://gbatemp.net/index.php?download=1530. Then put all your games and firmware back on the microSD and try and launch it. Let me know if it works.

 

[DunkrWunkah]

Flashcarts work with both the Lite and the phat, so that's not the problem. Backup all of your data off your microSD card and then format it with this tool: http://gbatemp.net/index.php?download=1530. Then put all your games and firmware back on the microSD and try and launch it. Let me know if it works.

If he backs up the corrupted data, and transfers it back over, it won't help. He should just simply format and not back it up.

 

[Sportsmaniac1322]

If he backs up the corrupted data, and transfers it back over, it won't help. He should just simply format and not back it up.

When I say back it up I mean just the .nds files. Maybe I should have clarified that a little bit more.

I recommend downloading the firmware over again. While you're at it, download iSakuReal here: http://gbatemp.net/index.php?download=3938. It gives you Sakura, the original M3 Real firmware, and the iTouch DS firmware. You get the best of both worlds!

 

[DunkrWunkah]

If he backs up the corrupted data, and transfers it back over, it won't help. He should just simply format and not back it up.
When I say back it up I mean just the .nds files. Maybe I should have clarified that a little bit more.

I recommend downloading the firmware over again. While you're at it, download iSakuReal here: http://gbatemp.net/index.php?download=3938. It gives you Sakura, the original M3 Real firmware, and the iTouch DS firmware. You get the best of both worlds!


Problem.

QUOTE(Dadevster @ Jan 7 2009, 09:50 PM)

For the past while I've been frustrated with my M3 Real. I just got it and am using an 8gb micro SD card with it.

Today when I put some of my roms into the NDS folder along with the SYSTEM folder (I downloaded the newest firmware, the M3 never game with a CD) I got a problem. When I go to play the game, everyting works-it'll say it's creating a new save file. But then, it'll either go to a black screen, or a white screen, and freeze. I tried soooo many things. I've downloaded so many versions of the firmware, tried Sakura, deleted and readded the roms, all to no avail. For some reason, the game will either freeze after it says that it's making a new save file or it's loading! Graaah!

Here's what's even weirder. I downloaded SNEmulDS as a SNES emulator to play Earthbound on the DS, right? So when I went to play it, it worked fine! Sure, there were a few graphical and sound glitches, but it was completely playable! And I tried converting Earthbound Zero to .nds form, and when I went to play it, the thing screwed up, so I turned it off. My problems started after that, I hope I didn't screw up the card!

I'm using the old DS phat. I've had it since 2004 and it still works great. But if the M3 only works in the DS Lite, then I'll probably have to buy a new one.

Can anyone help?

This might imply that the .nds files are corrupt.

 

[Sportsmaniac1322]

I really doubt that just trying to load an incorrectly named file will corrupt everything on the microSD card. He could try it though.

Once you're done formatting and putting your games and firmware back on the card, try getting a new game and putting it on. If that game works but none of the other ones do then I'm wrong and Dunkr is right. That means you'll have to redownload all of your games over again.

Since I doubt this is the case, I think if you just backup your games off your microSD (the .nds files) and redownload the firmware it should work again. Be sure to format it with the tool I linked a few posts up though.

 

[Goshogun1]

Yeah, the exact same thing happened to me when I got an 8GB for my M3 Real. What I did was tried to separate my games into 2 different folders with one containing A-M, and the next with N-Z. I named them NDS, and NDS1, and instead of loading the games from the "NDS" icon like normal, I loaded them from the "MYCARD" option. Then I went into either of the two folders and selected my game.

The last 2 updates for M3Real have messed this up, so I have had to used last update from a few months ago.

Oh yeah, do some of the games on your list show up garbled, not show up at all, or appear to be 0KB in size? If so, it's the same problem I had.

Also, one thing that won't be working is cheats, because you cannot access them via the "MYCARD" loading. But, games load way faster by loading them this way for some reason.

Hope it helps you as it did me. Oh yeah, you might want to get a DS Lite some day, the screen looks far better than the Phat.

 

[Dadevster]

Thanks for the help guys. I've tried reformatting the card with the program Sportsmaniac1322 gave me, putting new roms onto it (I tried a fresh rom off the Internet) and I downloaded the three-in-one. I still get the white screens of death.

Strangely, using the SNES emulator still works, I can play Earthbound on it just fine. It froze at the loading screen though when I used iSakuReal.

I'll have to try some more stuff tomorrow.

 

[Sportsmaniac1322]

Thanks for the help guys. I've tried reformatting the card with the program Sportsmaniac1322 gave me, putting new roms onto it (I tried a fresh rom off the Internet) and I downloaded the three-in-one. I still get the white screens of death.

Strangely, using the SNES emulator still works, I can play Earthbound on it just fine. It froze at the loading screen though when I used iSakuReal.

I'll have to try some more stuff tomorrow.

The problem is that it can't create save files for some reason. Homebrew works because it doesn't create save files when homebrew is booted. I suggest firstly trying a new SD card. If that doesn't work then you might just have a faulty unit. Try contacting the place you bought it from and see if you can get it replaced.

 

[DunkrWunkah]

Thanks for the help guys. I've tried reformatting the card with the program Sportsmaniac1322 gave me, putting new roms onto it (I tried a fresh rom off the Internet) and I downloaded the three-in-one. I still get the white screens of death.

Strangely, using the SNES emulator still works, I can play Earthbound on it just fine. It froze at the loading screen though when I used iSakuReal.

I'll have to try some more stuff tomorrow.

The problem is that it can't create save files for some reason. Homebrew works because it doesn't create save files when homebrew is booted. I suggest firstly trying a new SD card. If that doesn't work then you might just have a faulty unit. Try contacting the place you bought it from and see if you can get it replaced.

Is it possible to break the unit by running a file that was the wrong name?

 

[Dadevster]

Well, when I boot the game for the first time, it'll say "creating save file" then go to the game and white screen. When I look at the SD card on the computer, it turns out an actual save file has been created, I dunno if it's a good one or not. When I play the game again, instead of "creating save file" I get "loading..." then a white screen.

 

[Goshogun1]

There isn't anything wrong with your M3 or your roms. How many games are you trying to run on your card? If you are trying to run too many, it will mess things up, and you can't play any of them. You MUST split your games up into 2 folders and run via the file browser option. There is a thread I liked below on GBATEMP that explains what to do. Also, the last few M3 Real firmware releases mess this up for some reason, so you might want to get one from a few months ago. Good luck.

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=77369

 

[gosp]

There isn't anything wrong with your M3 or your roms. How many games are you trying to run on your card? If you are trying to run too many, it will mess things up, and you can't play any of them. You MUST split your games up into 2 folders and run via the file browser option. There is a thread I liked below on GBATEMP that explains what to do. Also, the last few M3 Real firmware releases mess this up for some reason, so you might want to get one from a few months ago. Good luck.

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=77369

Bullshit. I've got everything in one folder, NDS (well... I've got 100 or so folders inside with a rom in each). I also haven't updated in a bit.

 

[Dadevster]

Yeah, it definitely ain't that, I'm only trying to run one game now, and the most I've had on there is ten.

I'll try to run it with an older firmware sometime today.

 

[kobykaan]

Bullshit. I've got everything in one folder, NDS (well... I've got 100 or so folders inside with a rom in each). I also haven't updated in a bit.

I think wires are crossed a bit here ... it becomes a problem when there's more than 127 files in the ROOT FOLDER that can cause corruption and errors!

not hundreds of folders with roms in each

 

[Goshogun1]

There isn't anything wrong with your M3 or your roms. How many games are you trying to run on your card? If you are trying to run too many, it will mess things up, and you can't play any of them. You MUST split your games up into 2 folders and run via the file browser option. There is a thread I liked below on GBATEMP that explains what to do. Also, the last few M3 Real firmware releases mess this up for some reason, so you might want to get one from a few months ago. Good luck.

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=77369

Bullshit. I've got everything in one folder, NDS (well... I've got 100 or so folders inside with a rom in each). I also haven't updated in a bit.

Don't call it BS please, because I am just trying to help because his problem sounded similar to the one I, and others had.

Oh yeah, if you have over 128 .nds files it causes this problem. Just because it didn't happen to you, doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Read the thread I linked to, and you will hear that others have said just what I have.

Anyway, sorry to hear Dadevster hasn't gotten the problem fixed yet. Wish you luck!

 

[Dadevster]

Hmmm...I'm wondering if maybe it has something to do with what opens the program on my computer. I currently have it so that it "Opens with" the "boot" thing in the SYSTEM folder. I'm pretty technically disabled, so does this have to do anything with it?

 

[g6team]

Try using another Microsd. Delete all the .sav files and start from fresh.

 

[Dadevster]

Yeah, I'm going to contact the company that gave it to me and see if I can get a refund. Grr. I've formatted the card too, that doesn't help. I still can't get past the white or black screen, depending on the game. Earthbound still works.