ROM Hack Swapping display for ds games from upper to lower screen

[Butterbean]

Hello! Newbie to this site here, but I was wondering:

Is there a program or homebrew program that makes it easy to swap the screen display for ds roms from the upper screen to the lower screen? If anyone has any resources for this, please let me know! Also open to emulators that allow you to screen swap as well.

The reason I ask is because there are custom Gameboys on IG that utilize the parts from the DS lite (almost like a Macro) where the bottom screen of the DS lite is placed inside a DMG shell. It is used primarily for GBA gameplay, but I thought it would be cool to be able to play more DS lite games than just Castlevania (where gameplay is displayed on the bottom).

If there is a way to toggle this, or if anyone has any resources, please let me know! Thank you

Jenny

 

[FAST6191]

Easy in hardware swap? No, doubt there will really ever be one either.

If however you feel like getting into hacking it is not the hardest thing out there to do.
https://gbatemp.net/threads/action-replay-code-to-switch-screens.355486/

 

[Butterbean]

@FAST6191: Thank you for the reply! That thread does help, although the hacking part is way over my head, and I also don't own a PC (Mac user).

That one emulator you mentioned, does that sound like the easiest route to display the game on the bottom screen? I'm guessing I still have to use the cheat codes, unless that is built in. Also, as a newbie, I'm not sure if the emulator would work directly on the DS. Pardon my total ignorance to emulation on the DS, I'm very new to it.

 

[FAST6191]

You don't tend to emulate the device you are running on the device itself. Most people will bypass whatever protections and run it natively when it comes to hacking consoles. In the case of the DS we tend to use flash carts, though for the link above you can also use a cheat device like the action replay to launch the code. Flash carts tend to come with cheat support (and there are other ways if they don't) as well.
It is a common enough mistake though if you are not already into it all.

Mac wise... you can stick things on a SD card which is all a lot of things need these days but you are going to want a real computer (or dual boot windows, compatibility layers might work in a pinch) before too terribly long if you are planning to get into hacking.

As you asked about the emulator if you were wanting to do it on a computer then desmume pictured there is available for OSX. http://desmume.org/download/
Not sure if it has all the same features as the PC version that was made with.

It is easy on the emulator there because it is just software running and it can do what it likes. If you have to work within the constraints of the original hardware (like you would with a flash cart and the example from the opening post) then it gets harder. The theory is simple enough but you have to do it individually for each game which is where it gets tedious.

 

[Butterbean]

Thank you for explaining all of that. I figured we wouldn’t be running an emulator for the device we are actually using, but I wasn’t 100% sure. I noticed he installed a .nds file on there directly in the root of the micro SD card, which I believe came from the R4 gold that he gave me. So assuming that is running all of the emulators, as well as any .nds files.

In using the R4 Gold, did you say there is a cheat for that which supports doing the screen swap for nds games?

Thank yo so much for the explanation on everything, that really helps!

Jenny

 

[FAST6191]

The cheat in the later posts of the thread linked should work on hardware for that exact version (region, bug fix level...) of that game.

For a new game* then you get to repeat the process to fiddle with the part of hardware I mentioned in the early reply on that thread. Easy enough to do for a hacker already versed in such matters** but I can't see a path to there being an automated or even semi automated generator for such things if what cracker said in later posts is the case. The earlier simplistic stuff I was doing only worked in the emulator because the emulator is not as accurate as it could be.

*or another region or say a v1.1 of that game, though you may have a few shortcuts available to you in that case as most things don't change that much between regions or bugfix versions.

**there are things which will necessarily/inevitably take any hacker a lot of time and effort. I imagine if you get two or three of these under your belt you can probably do just about any other game in a couple of hours. At that point only the better part of 7000 other games to go.

 

[Butterbean]

Thank you @FAST6191 - I think I'll pass on learning how to hack, especially given that I don't have a PC, and probably won't be acquiring one anytime soon.

If you or anyone else is interested in helping, let me know and please leave me your info to contact you. Thank you again for all the information!

 

[FAST6191]

By and large paid for hacks are not encouraged around here -- we walk a mighty fine line as it is and when money gets involved it only makes the lawyers perk up that much more.

 

[Butterbean]

@FAST6191 - I rephrased. If interested, feel free to leave your contact info. Thank you again for all the help and info!