Hacking What M3 Firmware do I download?

[jjeangi]

Hey guys, I just bought the M3. I wanted to know which drivers am I supposed to download? I bought it because of the Sakura firmware, but I'm a bit confused as to if the official firmware is the Sakura firmware... So do I download the official firmware or Sakura? Or are they the same?

 

[tj_cool]

get the newest Sakura
Official (english) firmware is called Touchpod
Not that sakura is unofficial, but its not the standard one.

 

[jjeangi]

Sakura is better than TouchPod right? Which firmware is the cool looking GUI one where you can slide the icons and stuff?

 

[tj_cool]

Sakura is the best firmware
faster and music from within the GUI

and yes, its the firmware where you drag the icons with the stylus and stuff...
http://gbatemp.net/index.php?download=4808

 

[jjeangi]

Where do I put my SAV files?

 

[DeltaBurnt]

I would suggest you put all your roms and saves in a folder called "NDS" on the root of your microsd, because for any reason you need to play a game on touchpod, touchpod only sees games in the folder "NDS".

Now Sakura can see them anywhere.

Also make sure your saves are named the exact same thing as your rom but instead of .nds at the end it's .sav (of course).

 

[Zelbano]

The reason I use M3 Sakura is that you can choose what firmware you want to use each time you start your DS. Either M3 Sakura or Touchpod since both are included with M3 Sakura. Sometimes they support different things as they are updated at different times.

The first time you boot after installing M3 Sakura you get a question if you wanna use M3 Sakura or Touchpod. If you wanna change it later all you have to do is hold down the A button when you start your DS and you'll get the same question as the first time you booted.

I wouldnt say that one is better then that other (from my perspective) so its down to your own taste, but I recommend that you try M3 Sakura since its easier to make it look/feel like you want it to be.

As for game compability, both firmware usaly go hand in hand but sometimes one firmware fix some game compability before the other.

All game files should be placed in a folder called NDS on the root of your memory card, just as DeltaBurnt said, or Touchpod wont be able to find them (doesnt matter for M3 Sakura)

Save files should be placed in the same folder as your game files (goes for both Touchpod and Sakura) and be named the same as the game file exept they should have .sav instead of .nds.

 

[Alato]

Well, TouchPod automatically detects games in the NDS folder, but you can always press start to change which directory it loads the NDS games. I have all my DS games in a folder called "Games".

Also, yeah, you can dual-boot both firmwares. I always use M3 Sakura, but sometimes I'll use TouchPod for the homebrew compatibility.

 

[Hardkaare]

Sakura is what you want.
I recommend doing these things to keep your microsd look cleaner when browsing sakura.

Make these folders:
-emulators
-extras (for skins extra cheat files etc)
-gba (if you got the expansion pack)
-photos
-music
-movies
-text
-nds
-homebrew

And if you hide the system folders homebrew system folders things will look cleaner aswell

.

 

[kobykaan]

get the newest Sakura
Official (english) firmware is called Touchpod
Not that sakura is unofficial, but its not the standard one.

Although they still release the Touchpod as a separate O.S. for the M3 REAL its now bundled as part of the DUAL Sakura/Touchpod loader 1.40 being the latest ...So you could kinda say its being standardized now

As mentioned above its Switchable so the best of BOTH worlds

check the DOWNLOADS section of the forum

 

[Zelbano]

I would recommend that you download the firmware's either from

http://www.linfoxdomain.com/nintendo/ds/

or

http://www.handheldsources.com/

Both pages usaly has the same firmware's but handheldsources.com, accordingly to my own observations, usaly have them first, then linfox and lastly gbatemp.

Touchpod is usaly updated more frequently, If that should happen then you could always download a semi new Sakura with the latest Touchpod here.