Hacking Should I get a Ace Card 2i?

[vodoochild81]

I have an original R4 running wood, and things work okay...Sometimes I will get freezes when I put it in sleep mode... I mean it is kind of annoying. I see deals for like 15 bucks for an Acecard 2i...what is the benefits of what I have vs. the AceCard? Can you play emulators and GBA games well on the ace card? I remember trying to run emulators and they were really poor on my card.

If I get an ace card will it never freeze if I put it in sleep mode? I guess that is a hinge problem with the R4 correct? Does the Ace Card drain less battery?

All my save files and roms will transfer smoothly?

Also will the Ace Card 2i work on the latest 3DS firmware? How does DS games look like on the 3ds? Do you get a bigger picture then you would on a DS lite?

 

[Rydian]

There's no major differences as far as playing games.

http://gbatemp.net/t292828-how-to-run-gba-games-on-your-ds

 

[The Catboy]

If I get an ace card will it never freeze if I put it in sleep mode? All of my roms work just fine without freezing
I guess that is a hinge problem with the R4 correct? I haven't had that problem with the latest Wood myself.
Does the Ace Card drain less battery? I haven't noticed much of a battery difference and I tested comparing the battery life from Acekard 2i, R4, Supercard DStwo, Supercard DSonei, and M3 Real.

All my save files and roms will transfer smoothly? They will working without any problems, Trust me I have one 2gig that is running on 4 different flashcards no problems

Also will the Ace Card 2i work on the latest 3DS firmware? Yes
How does DS games look like on the 3ds? I don't own a 3DS sadly
Do you get a bigger picture then you would on a DS lite? IDK

Also it's called Acekard 2i, nor Ace Card2i
Also if you want to run GBA games through slot 1, buy a supercard DStwo

 

[vodoochild81]

Thanks guys...So there is no real point in me getting a newer Acekard2i? I thought the freezing issue is a R4 specific problem, where some of them don't fit in the slot properly...or is there something wrong with my DS?

 

[saintrobyn]

There is one major plus for getting an Acekard 2i, it is more future proof and is still supported by the manufacturer. At the moment you are counting on some very talented coders to keep your R4 working, coders that are doing it because they have a passion for this hobby. If real life creeps in on them then your card is going to languish in the dust. The AK2i is supported my the team that created it and the company is still releasing updates to combat system updates that stop it from working with the DSi or 3DS. The future proof comes in the fact that if you decide to update to a DSi/XL or a 3DS you will already have a card in place that works great with those systems. At this point you need to decide if the $18 or so is worth the pluses I just pointed out.

 

[keasy]

Acekard 2i's are cheap as chips. So IMHO opinion it's worth a punt.

 

[Another World]

sort of off-topic, but if you are having sleep mode freezing issues with the wood firmware do some full debugging and then report the problem. i'd rather see the problem get fixed then have you just buy a new card and never report the problem.

http://gbatemp.net/t220061-wood-r4-bugs-and-compatibility

-another world

 

[vodoochild81]

sort of off-topic, but if you are having sleep mode freezing issues with the wood firmware do some full debugging and then report the problem. i'd rather see the problem get fixed then have you just buy a new card and never report the problem.

http://gbatemp.net/t220061-wood-r4-bugs-and-compatibility

-another world

How do you debug? It also freezes if I bump the ds while playing. I posted about this issue about a year ago and they said it's a hinge problem with the old R4 cards. They said I had to wedge a piece of paper in the card...Was this accurate? Was this a chronic problem with the R4?

 

[Rydian]

Contact issue, and while it's not normal to hear it on an original R4, it does happen with other carts (such as the AK2i).

http://gbatemp.net/t231412-solving-acekard-contact-issues

Yes they had the right idea.

 

[vodoochild81]

Yes sometimes my slot will read no card is in there. When that happens I just eject the r4 and put it back in. Usually it will read right away..So isn't that a contact issue? So even the Ace could have this issue? Idk if I want to put a piece of paper in there though...

How do I run it it in Debug mode to see if this is a software issue...

 

[Rydian]

The Acekard 2i is actually notorious for the issue. It's a physical issue dealing with the shape of the cart's plastic housing. The paper trick works fine, it's recommended.

 

[vodoochild81]

The Acekard 2i is actually notorious for the issue. It's a physical issue dealing with the shape of the cart's plastic housing. The paper trick works fine, it's recommended.

Yes but what should I do with my R4? Is this problem notorious for the R4? Should I follow the exact same tutorial to try the paper trick for my R4 card?

 

[Rydian]

It's not notorious for the original R4, but there's so many carts that use the "R4" name without permission it's hard to keep track.

That's the entire point of me linking it, so you could follow it.

 

[vodoochild81]

Yea but that must be annoying having to keep cutting paper, putting it in and out as you change the cards... I mean I would rather just buy a new AceKard 2i but what are the chances you will this get this problem with the Ace? Like is it 50/50? If like 1 out of 10 have this issue I would role that dice...

 

[serenade.63]

ive purchased 3 acekard 2i's none have had this issue, i also have several friends that have acekards that do not have this issue either. If the rumor still scares you though, i would just shell out 30 bucks for a supercard dstwo, i havent heard of ANY issues with this cart and the one i own is still running strong with 100% ds rom compatibility and very very good gba compatibility (slot 1 only)

 

[vodoochild81]

ive purchased 3 acekard 2i's none have had this issue, i also have several friends that have acekards that do not have this issue either. If the rumor still scares you though, i would just shell out 30 bucks for a supercard dstwo, i havent heard of ANY issues with this cart and the one i own is still running strong with 100% ds rom compatibility and very very good gba compatibility (slot 1 only)

You can play GBA games off the DSTWO and not have to buy anything for the other slot? Would the DSTWO work on a 3ds? I mean it sounds like this contact problem happens as the cards get older no? When my R4 was new it was totally fine, but now its going on like 4 years old s...

 

[Another World]

How do you debug?

you do things like format the msd using the panasonic formatter. put on a fresh new clean copy of the wood firmware. verify by crc that your roms are good clean dumps. then run a bunch of tests and see where it fails and where it doesn't. if you eliminate the things like corrupt msd card, corrupt firmware, bad roms, etc, then we know what are left probably are bugs with the firmware. those bugs can then be reported so that YWG can fix them.

-another world

 

[vodoochild81]

How do you debug?

you do things like format the msd using the panasonic formatter. put on a fresh new clean copy of the wood firmware. verify by crc that your roms are good clean dumps. then run a bunch of tests and see where it fails and where it doesn't. if you eliminate the things like corrupt msd card, corrupt firmware, bad roms, etc, then we know what are left probably are bugs with the firmware. those bugs can then be reported so that YWG can fix them.

-another world

I know how to do all of that, but how do I run a CRC check on Ds games? Should I be using clean non patched roms? What panasonic formatter?

 

[Rydian]

A lot of that info is in here.
http://gbatemp.net/t277771-how-to-get-new-games-to-run

But your freezing issue is almost certainly a physical one since you stated it freezes when you bump it (which is because it makes the cart lose contact). You might not WANT it to be, but it looks like it is.

 

[vodoochild81]

Thanks. I think I am going to just get a new card rather then do the paper thing. I just don't know if I should get a AceKard or a Dstwo... Is it really worth twice the price? Will my save files transfer with the dstwo?