Hacking Questions about N Card

[Raestloz]

So in short, my sis' (well, not hers, her boyfriend lent her) N-Card doesn't work with newer games. As new as newer than Imagine "Fashion" (seriously, I was surprised when I found out it's there, who in the world would actually download it?)

Since compatibility issues usually related to outdated firmware, I was about to download the firmware, but I realized I now nothing about this N-Card

So, what I need to know is:
1. Terms about N-Card (like, EDGE called its firmware OS, R4 called it kernel, stuff like that)
2. File structure of N-Card
3. How to update N-Card's firmware, what's the latest firmware available, or custom firmwares (like YSMenu, if such a ting exists), and where to find them
4. Manual compatibility fixes that I should know (like, maybe there's arm7.bin solution for N-card? Or is there other kind of solution?)
5. What I should not do regarding N-Card system files

To make matters worse, I don't actually have the N-Card in question at hand, it's at my sis' place, and it's not safe to go out to a girls' dorm at 01:00 A.M.

Other things that I might have to note:
1. I've seen the N-Card and know how to connect it to PC via USB Cable
2. I do have the USB Cable (apparently, it's for PSP) and that doesn't make things better
3. I've put some new games in that N-Card (hence I know the exact latest game that works)
4. The common problem is "File cannot be written" screen or some such, since she told me via phone, and my room somehow has this magnetic shield that prevents signals to pass clearly
5. Professor Layton and Curious Village (that I assume should be newer than Imagine fashion) hangs in-game (don't know if this is what happens, or does it hang rigt at the main menu

Well, thanks in advance then, for any helping posts

 

[Kniteshade]

I'm currently using a DSLinker (NCard clone here), loaded with XMENU 2.55 Firmware 1.45 (which is monthhhss old) and I've been able to play most of the games the other flashcards are playing (exceptions being the same as the others, like Guitar Hero OT, recent Chrono Trigger problem etc). The newest title I've put on my card is Skate It and it works perfectly. So I'm not sure about your compatibility issue there.

1. N-Card calls it XMENU I guess.

2. Generic folder hierarchy. You have your ROMs on the top most tier, the 'OS folder' in a seperate folder, and then any other folders you might have created.

3. The latest XMENU is v2.55 (and latest firmware is 1.45) but I've heard of v2.56 (from NeoFlash). I'm not touching that v2.56 with a 25m pole (I just don't trust NeoFlash stuffs anymore).

I can't remember how to upgrade the firmware off the top of my head (been ages since I had to upgrade) but there's a readme.txt included with the firmware download and it's simple to follow.

4. There's no arm7fix sort of thing. Usually, to fix ROM problems, either the N-Card guys/clones release a new firmware or the ROM gets patched with a fix. Examples being the Zelda Phantom Hourglass, FFIV, and FFCC games. The first two had firmware fixes, and the latter had a ROM patched.

5. Err...just don't touch them out of curiosity?

Other notes:

- I've played Professor and the Curious Village on mine, it works fine, and the only problem I've had with it is when I don't play it for a while, the video codec gets corrupted and it freezes ingame whenever cutscenes come on. To easily remedy it, just needed transfer a fresh copy of the ROM over again.

- I've never seen 'file cannot be written' come up before. If it's a ROM then it's slightly weird, but if it's not a ROM then it really is that..."file cannot be written".