Hacking The SuperCard DSTWO Beginner's Guide: How to Setup the DSTWO

[Terminator02]

Updated for firmware 1.16

 

[The_Man72344]

Great guide.

I just ordered mine and this will help a lot. I was wondering though if you knew of anywhere where someone could just download the setup someone else uses on their DSTWO.

Basically download a file, extract into your SD card, or drag and drop into you SD card, and there you have it, a DSTWO set up with the plugins, menus, icons, and extras that someone with WAY knowledge and experience doing this uses.

I was just curious, as this would be very beneficial for someone like me who really doesn’t want run the risk of having to do something multiple times due to mistakes.

Either way thanks for the guide.

 

[Rydian]

Some of the stuff is done on the cart itself and not kept on the MicroSD, so this guide is as close as you'll get.

If you're too lazy or confused to drag a few files around, you're not going to last long in the homebrew/piracy scene, where you often need to do complex things to work around DRM.

 

[The_Man72344]

Some of the stuff is done on the cart itself and not kept on the MicroSD, so this guide is as close as you'll get.

If you're too lazy or confused to drag a few files around, you're not going to last long in the homebrew/piracy scene, where you often need to do complex things to work around DRM.

You know what, you're right, I probably won't last long. I'm not trying to break into the homebrew/piracy scene, I got this so I could play a few gba and snes games. I found this guide while researching how to use the DSTWO I just ordered. I read some of the stuff regarding the menus and emulators and figured what could it hurt to ask if there was pre-existing setup up floating around here that I could use.

I didn't realize that made me a lazy person. Am I a little confused? Yeah, but then isn't that what these forums and this guide even is for?

I'll refrain from using this forum to ask any further question as obviously this is where all the people that know it all congregate.

 

[Rydian]

Some of the stuff is done on the cart itself and not kept on the MicroSD, so this guide is as close as you'll get.

If you're too lazy or confused to drag a few files around, you're not going to last long in the homebrew/piracy scene, where you often need to do complex things to work around DRM.

You know what, you're right, I probably won't last long. I'm not trying to break into the homebrew/piracy scene, I got this so I could play a few gba and snes games. I found this guide while researching how to use the DSTWO I just ordered. I read some of the stuff regarding the menus and emulators and figured what could it hurt to ask if there was pre-existing setup up floating around here that I could use.

I didn't realize that made me a lazy person. Am I a little confused? Yeah, but then isn't that what these forums and this guide even is for?

I'll refrain from using this forum to ask any further question as obviously this is where all the people that know it all congregate.

There's quite a difference between asking a question at all, and asking somebody to do things for you after they've given you an extremely detailed step-by-step guide on how to do it.

I mentioned both laziness and confusion because I wasn't sure which one caused you to ask such a thing.

 

[Terminator02]

The answer is no there isn't. Everybody has different things that they'd want in their installation, so a universal pre-setup archive wouldn't really do justice to everyone's desires.

The guide is fairly straightforward and quite thorough, if you have any problems following it you can tell us and we'll help you out with it.

 

[Rydian]

I just updated the bootloader from beta 1.13 to 1.16. XD I've just got a DSi and haven't been using it so I've been behind, didn't realize it was that big of a jump.

 

[sashaski]

I have a 3DS and tried updating my DStwo by renaming the files to both 'ds2update.dat', 'ds2updateb.dat' and 'dstwoupdateb.dat'. I didn't see any updating screen when loading the card and the files haven't been deleted from the SD card. How can I tell if it's been updated?

 

[Terminator02]

I have a 3DS and tried updating my DStwo by renaming the files to both 'ds2update.dat', 'ds2updateb.dat' and 'dstwoupdateb.dat'. I didn't see any updating screen when loading the card and the files haven't been deleted from the SD card. How can I tell if it's been updated?

If it starts working.

I just updated the bootloader from beta 1.13 to 1.16. XD I've just got a DSi and haven't been using it so I've been behind, didn't realize it was that big of a jump.

It's actually just 2 versions later, they don't release every .xx update that they make for the firmware.

 

[The_Man72344]

I got my DSTWO and followed you instructions. I got it set up and working except I have a few question.

First:
I got Jenesis and NesterDS, and extracted them into the root, but I have to launch my DS emulator then navigate back to the root folder to launch them. Is this how it is supposed to work, and if not how do I fix it?

Second:
I actually can’t seem to get NesterDS to work. When I launch it, it doesn’t give me any options to select games. I think it tells me it can't locate any roms, I'm at work and can't remember exactly what the screen said. Also your tutorial recommends NesDS, but the wiki says not to use it with a DSi, which I have, so I’m not sure which I should use.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Terminator02]

I got my DSTWO and followed you instructions. I got it set up and working except I have a few question.

First:
I got Jenesis and NesterDS, and extracted them into the root, but I have to launch my DS emulator then navigate back to the root folder to launch them. Is this how it is supposed to work, and if not how do I fix it?

Second:
I actually can’t seem to get NesterDS to work. When I launch it, it doesn’t give me any options to select games. I think it tells me it can't locate any roms, I'm at work and can't remember exactly what the screen said. Also your tutorial recommends NesDS, but the wiki says not to use it with a DSi, which I have, so I’m not sure which I should use.

Thanks for any help.

That warning was specifically for the DSi XL, and was a rumor created by a guy who left his DS on for a few days at the same screen and got some burn-in. Use NesDS.

You're supposed to have plugins for them in the _dstwoplug (.bmp and .ini linking to the image and the .nds file).

Edit: Updated the USRCheat.dat to 09-07-2012

 

[Fudge]

has anyone gotten dstwo ndsl load.nds working?? I can't get it to work on a DSTWO I have, Fish Tycoon header. Does it matter that I'm using a 3DS with another DS2 to load it??

 

[Terminator02]

has anyone gotten dstwo ndsl load.nds working?? I can't get it to work on a DSTWO I have, Fish Tycoon header. Does it matter that I'm using a 3DS with another DS2 to load it??

What is "dstwo ndsl load.nds"?

 

[Fudge]

1, download latest EOS and dstwoupdate.dat file which from the latest fireware of DSTWO
2, Run dstwo_load_NDSL.nds

dstwo_load_NDSL.rar (21.91 KB) with working flashcart, then u should see this screen:

3, insert DSTWO you wish to update (without microsd card!!!)
4, insert the microsd card which stores latest EOS and dstwoupdate.dat file into DSTWO
5, Press B

Not working, just seeing if anyone got it to update!

 

[Terminator02]

That's for fixing a bricked DSTWO, not updating firmware. I'm not sure but it might require a NDS or NDS Lite.

 

[EvilSakray]

Hey, I recently got my own DSTwo card and have a bunch of question:

I only own a 3DS (well thought I had my old friend DSLite but seems my slot1 is dead (tried all the trick to fix it.. none worked (cleaning the slot, adding some stuffs to make sure the card is well plugged and so on)
It's under version 4.1.0-8E and detects my DSTwo (and works, i can boot it, run games and so on).

I have few questions:

How can I know my current DSTwo firmware (Only information I have is that it's at least the oldest supporting 3DS 4.1 firmware)
Am I stuck with the risky way of updating it ?
What's so risky about it ? If it's only the fact you can't see what's going on and have to wait at least 3 minutes, I'd call that fine to me o;

Any recommendation for the plugins ? OS ?

Thanks for answering

 

[CannonFoddr]

I have few questions:

How can I know my current DSTwo firmware (Only information I have is that it's at least the oldest supporting 3DS 4.1 firmware)
Am I stuck with the risky way of updating it ?

I'll direct you to a post I did a while back that will help you find out which firmware you currently have
I'm not sure what you mean by 'risky way of doing it' - as long as you DON'T press 'OK(A)' BUT press 'Cancel(B)' - [on the update firmware screen] - you will stay at the current DStwo firmware

What's so risky about it ? If it's only the fact you can't see what's going on and have to wait at least 3 minutes, I'd call that fine to me o;

I'm guessing you're worried about actually updating the firmware & how it might be risky in doing so (not sure where you actually read that though)

You do 'see' something on updating (the progress bar goes across) so you know something is asctually happening

I've updated the firmware on my DS2 since it first came out ( I was one of the luck few that got one of the first batches) & have had no trouble with it, (unlike the DSTTi & AK2i I've had - the AK2i is a HW44 so is really 'unsupported' now, so that's stuck in my DSLite)

There is ALWAYS a small risk when updating ANY flashcard, but as long as you take care, read & follow the instructions carefully you should be OK

Any recommendation for the plugins ? OS ?

As for plugins - it really depends on what you want...you could stick all the official plugins on if you like & that covers most of what the card can do (media/GBA emulation etc), or any of the un-official ones (alternative link) (these are just normal DS homebrew - most are not specially developed for the DSTwo)....the choice is yours

As for OS - I guess you mean either stick with the offical 'plugin' menu, 'Bagplug' or 'iMenu',
Well, I prefer 'iMenu' but can be a little 'tricky' setting up the icons, while I'm sure many like 'Bagplug' for it's ARG() suppport/Game cover display etc (I personally don't like the covers showing)... Some may even still like the 'official plugin' menu (although it IS limited)

I would say try them all - If you're lucky to have a few microSD cards lying around - set up 1 MSD card for each OS & try each out for a while... see which YOU prefer
If you have any problems with Bagplug or iMenu - you can just ask & us 'Tempers will try & help in any way possible

 

[EvilSakray]

Hey,
Thanks for your quick reply.

Well i'm not that woried about updating the firmware of the card itself (I've been flashing my PSP, PS3 so I'm kinda 'used' to that kind of thing) but I read on various website that it was not recommandated to update your DSTwo card on a 3DS that has been updated. (which is the case for me)

I kinda translated the "not recommandated" by "higher risks of brick" maybe that's a wrong vision of things

About updating then, I noticed in the first post spoilers that there is 2 ways of updating ?
So basically the one with the update file name kept as "dstwoupdate.dat" and used through the plugin menu is the "regular" way should still work on my 3DS ?
But it it fails you have the other way requiring to rename the file to "dstwoupdateb.dat" with the error screen and so on ?

Last question about it: First post refers a lot to firmware 1.16, is it because at the time it was written, it was the last available ?
Because I think I saw that 1.17 was now released.


About the plugins, thanks I didn't know about this page, I'll make sure to take a look at it (I actually already started )

As for the OS, at the moment I won't go into that, since it'd be definitly be more a gadget than anything else to me for now since I'm not even familiar with the card itself.

(Sorry If i'm not really clear, especially about the update thingy, I blame it on the fact of being french and having a poor english =D )

 

[Terminator02]

The guide's been updated for firmware 1.17.

The risky upgrading method is in the "How to update your DSTWO's firmware on a 3DS" spoiler, because you have no feedback on when it's finished or if anything went wrong. Although the thing that used to be more prevalent was that it just didn't work, since that upgrade method was not functional unless you were already on a certain firmware or higher (1.12 or 1.13 I believe).

You can still use the regular firmware upgrading method if you upgrade the DSTWO's firmware before you update the 3DS', which is always the recommended course of action (update flashcart THEN update DS).

The only case in which you would need to use the "riskier" method is if you cannot get into the DSTWO's plugin menu (or iMenu/BAGPLUG if you have those installed) because the latest DS firmware upgrade broke compatibility with the DSTWO.

 

[EvilSakray]

I see now
So in the end being on 3DS doesn't change one bit the upgrade process from being on a normal DS or DSi.
It only requires to make sure latest DSTwo firmware will support any Firmware you wish to upgrade to on your 3DS and to install it before updating your 3DS.

Well I'm out of question for now,

Thanks a lot