ROM Hack Password protection on loader?

[bajibbles]

hi, i've been thinking of this for a while but being a casual gamer with no programming experience i doubt it will go anywhere. Throwing the idea out there to those who DO know this stuff... how hard would it be to have the r4 (or any flashcart) loader start with a password screen... or make the cart boot the password rom first which then loads the flashcart main menu? Using the touchscreen to input the password of course.

i was just thinking that this would be useful for people with siblings who don't really care about preserving your touchscreen

. Although theoretically they could just plug it into your PC and rewrite loader data..... nothing stops you hiding those files on your HD or password protecting your PC, whereas i for one am finding it rather annoying coming home and finding my DS battery flat after leaving it charging. So while it's at the moment a rather selfish plea, if anyone else shares my problem or thinks its a good idea, how easy would it be? Has it been done?

 

[Destructobot]

If your siblings are clueless, or they don't have access to a computer, it should be fairly easy to keep them from using the card. You could put all of your games in a folder on the card and mark that folder hidden. If they don't know that pressing select will show the hidden files they probably won't think to try it.

It would be possible to password protect the loader now that the R4 encryption has been cracked, but it would probably take considerable programming/hacking skill to do it.

Your best bet is to make the R4, the microSD cards, or the DS itself unavailable to these siblings. Any measures you take will be trivial to overcome if they know anything about using the flashcart. If they can't get their hands on the hardware in the first place, they can't mess with it. MicroSD cards are tiny, they should be easy to hide.