Hacking Slowdown on my Acekard 2i

[cloudskipa]

Hi. Just wanted to post this topic as I'm noticing a few problems with my Acekard 2i. I recently bought a Nintendo DSi XL and an AceKard 2i to go with mainly for the super Spectrum emulator ZX DS (which looks amazing on the big screens BTW). However when I run certain DS software on it I am encountering slowdown. Metal Slug 7 is the prime suspect here.. For some reason when the screen gets packed it really chugs. So I initially looked this up on the internet and didn't really find much info other than learning about Micro SD Card speeds. I noticed that mine were all class 2 so I though this was the problem.

So i go onto Ebay and buy a class 6 8gb Micro SDHC and yet the same thing happens. I find it bizarre that games like Sonic and Sega All stars Racing is very fast 60fps, and that other games like Geometry Wars Galaxies which is also pretty hectic is the exact same as my original cart.

What could be going on here guys? Can anyone help me?

Many thanks.

 

[EyeZ]

If you have a load of games on your micrSD card that can cause slowdowns, so seperating into different folders may help, i.e genres

 

[cloudskipa]

OK thanks for the reply, I have about 50 games on the card at the moment, I'll try and break them up into genres but I suspect that won't work. Could there be any other reason why it has slowdown? I mean I just read the review of the Acekard 2i here on this suite and it says that no game has any slowdown at all, so something isn't right. Could it be a bad ROM? but how is that likely?

Is there an option I'm missing? I was reading a review for the older Acekard as it said there were options to change the speed of the SD card, is this not applicable on the Acekard 2i?

Thanks again peeps

 

[EyeZ]

Also having a good brand of microSD card helps, i always buy Transcend myself.

 

[DeMoN]

Are you using AKAIO 1.6 RC2? Try turning download play off, that's pretty much the only option that can possibly speed up the game.

 

[cloudskipa]

Hi. I have to disable download play to even get Metal Slug 7 to boot anyway. I also tried to put it in it's own folder and it's still the same. The slowdown you can even notice as soon as you start the first level.

I am using an Acekard 2i that I bought only the other week, you cannot feel or see the chip through the label (I was told that if you can then it's an earlier card) and I am running on Akaio Release 1.6. I also haven't updated the actual firmware on the DSi, there is an option in the main Nintendo menu but I've just left it be. Does brand of SD card really make that much difference, I don't want to waste another £20 only to find out it's the same. I mean going from a class 2 to a class 6 has made NO difference so why should brand name?

Again, thanks a lot for your trouble

 

[tk_saturn]

I mean I just read the review of the Acekard 2i here on this suite and it says that no game has any slowdown at all, so something isn't right. Could it be a bad ROM? but how is that likely?

Is there an option I'm missing? I was reading a review for the older Acekard as it said there were options to change the speed of the SD card, is this not applicable on the Acekard 2i?

Thanks again peeps

You're misinterpreting the reviews. It doesn't mean there will be no slowdowns in 100% of games, it just means there were no slowdowns in the games they tested.

Why don't you run HDtach on your card to get the MB/s read speed?

 

[DeMoN]

I did a search and found out that other people have had the same problem, for example here:
http://gbatemp.net/index.php?s=&showto...t&p=2269434

There's nothing you can do about this then (short of getting a different flash cart).

 

[cloudskipa]

DeMoN, thank you! Not the news I wanted to hear but at least I now have an answer. Fell like a fool for wasting my money on a higher class card though. It must be a strange bug as all the other games which are demanding (including any Castlevania game) run perfect. At least I know now, so thanks again.

Just one question though, are there any other cards on the market that work with the DSi XL? When I had a DS Lite before I had a Cyclo DS and that was an AMAZAING card, a shame it's not compatible with the XL (from what I know). Is there another card you would recommend?

Cheers

 

[Jakob95]

Acekard 2i is currently the best cart for the DSi. Try going to RED DMA mode. Old DMA(red) makes games run faster if that doesn't help then try out no DMA mode. Hold X to go to old DMA mode.

 

[DeMoN]

Any card that works with the DSi will also work with the DSi XL. I suggest getting the Supercard DS Two, but it's not released yet and you can only pre-order them now. I have no clue how good of a flash cart it will be, but the features it has completely blows every other flash cart away.
If you absolutely can not wait, then I suggest buying an M3i Zero.

 

[cloudskipa]

Acekard 2i is currently the best cart for the DSi. Try going to RED DMA mode. Old DMA(red) makes games run faster if that doesn't help then try out no DMA mode. Hold X to go to old DMA mode.

Interesting thanks, I didn't even know about that feature. I have just tried old DMA mode by holding X while booting but it's the same. How do I run with no DMA please?

Thanks for the advice on cars DeMoN.

 

[Whipple]

DMA stand for Direct Memory Access
I don't think that running without DMA would be helpful as then everything would have to read from you SDHC chip.
(Wonder if going to a microSD chip (2GB or less) would speed things up with faster searches due to the smaller capacity.)

Any comments on this? (It is similar in theory to the suggestion to segregate the games into folders.)

 

[kineticUk]

I think it is a per game thing and very strange. Certain games I had noticed problems with have improved a lot with akaio updates eg animal crossing. But I have the same problem too... you hear about castlevania video lagging for some older cards but that plays perfect. Avalon code though, try watching the intro movie and wait it gets choppy as fuc* during that...probably worst offender I have noticed (though I had not known about metal slug 7).

I think switching to smaller capacity will make a difference.. but will not fix the problem. I would be willing to put money on there being a big difference between SDHC and normal SD cards (read/write speeds faster etc). Inside games I doubt it would fix all the issues though. Could be patches etc.

 

[sn0wfish]

I had this lagging problem with another game, people suggested to reformat the card with panasonic formatter. maybe you might wanna give it a go

 

[joe_gamer]

You're rolling the dice if you buy a MicroSD from ebay.....SO many fakes floating around.

 

[cloudskipa]

OK cheers for that. I have tried a smaller card of 1gb and 2gb and they are all the same. They are all Sandisk.

The most recent card I bought was an 8gb unbranded class 6 as |I didn't think the brand would matter and to get a top branded one it costs about 3x the amount.

One very strange thing is that Tony Hawks is running in slow motion on my class 6 for some reason. God knows what's going on but I'm gonna reformat with the new Panasonic formatter, which format do I use? Fat 32 or ExFat?

Cheers

 

[tk_saturn]

You leave the Panasonic formatter to decide that, it formats it according to the SD assocations specifications.

The Acekard doesn't support the exFAT file system, nor does SDHC if you wish to stay within the SDHC standards.

Besides, V2 of the Panasonic formatter doesn't support exFAT either.

 

[cloudskipa]

Hi, yeah I just formatted the card with the beta version and it didn't give me an option like you say. I'll post my results but I'll also be sure not to put too many games on the card, Thanks

edit: Didn't work, card is still slow, my 8gb card must be a cheap knock off as even though it's a class 6 it runs Tony Hawks American Sk8land in slowmotion compared to my Sandisk class 2.

 

[cloudskipa]

A kind member here has PM'ed me a link to a shop on Ebay that sells good quality Transcend SD cards so I'll try one of them out and report my findings

Thanks again for all your help.