Hacking When it comes to card features...

[Electric_Wizard]

I'm curious...

It seems to me, that there are a whole host of fantastic cards around at the moment. I change my mind about which one to get every 5 minutes!

Each card obviously has it's own set of features, but I'm wandering which of the features currently offered are powered by the hardware and which are software.

For example, Supercard recently released a loader update adding real time save support. Does this mean that potentially any card could add this feature?

I am particularly interested in the new Acecard RPG. It sounds like a great quality card, but the software is currently a bit lacking. As it is open source does this mean that potentially developers could add the best features from all the other top cards or is the hardware going to limit them.

Any thoughts?

 

[cutterjohn]

The might, but who knows. After all I ordered an Evo because it had GREAT software features and has a whole laundry list of neat ideas to be added. It was also supposed to have had great support...

So, mine come DOA (works electrically but needs a shim to make it mate with DS connectors, so I'm going to send it back after the holidays).

Then comes along Supercard the v3.0 OS which ADDS REALTIME SAVES, a feature that has ALWAYS been in the Evo menu, but greyed out. So now we get a message from Cyclops, oh yeah we had it mostly working for a while but it wasn't perfect so we didn't release it, but now we will(some day) since a competitor released that functionality.

So, now we have Supercard DS One SDHC looks good excepting for it's incredibly stupid battery save for unpatched ROMs.

M3 DS Real, which supports SDHC is fairly cheap(comparatively speaking), sporting similar functionality.

TTDS/DSTT which look good ATM, but their software needs alot of work, and almost no one sells them ATM.

AceKard RPG almost no one still sells these, they're expensive, and the open source firmware idea doesn't seem to be catching on. I'm really leery of this card, but if the open source firmware ever goes anywhere it could be killer, esp. if they dumped the onboard FLASH such that they could go for a lower price... As it is now, I wouldn't touch one.

R4DS/EZF V still look like reliable standbies and are still actually getting firmware updates and new features, but they'll be limited by their initial design specs and gradually fall far behind IMO.

 

[DanTheManMS]

Yes, the SCDS uses the battery when you don't patch the game, but you can easily open the patcher menu and tick the option to make it save directly to the cart. It patches in memory without modifying the actual rom, so the rom remains clean.

For what it's worth, the M3 Simply and R4 also patch roms in memory upon execution, though they do it more transparently, without the user realizing it's happening.

As for the original question, it depends on the feature. For instance, cheat support is something a software update can provide, and I assume that the RTS will go the same way within a few months. SDHC support on the other hand appears to be related to hardware, though I'm not entirely sure on that.

 

[golden]

Software wise everyone is saying Cyclo rules. Everyone says it is king of everything. Hardware wise, it stinks more than shit itself.

The acekard RPG is the best hardware wise but isn't too great software wise. Even if things get implemented no where reliable sells them that I know of. DEFINITELY NOT BAMBOO GAMING! I was trying to order one last night and I spent hours trying to PAY THEM MY MONEY AND IT WOULDN'T LET ME! Bamboo gaming is shit.

 

[sidneyyoung]

I don't see in any way at all that the Cyclo is king of software, I think without a doubt Mr.Romman rules the roost.

 

[golden]

I don't see in any way at all that the Cyclo is king of software, I think without a doubt Mr.Romman rules the roost.

I have said what I heard. Hence the "everyone is saying" part. You can be sure on the bamboo gaming comment as it is personal experience.

 

[sidneyyoung]

What are these unique Cyclo features ? I must admit i know of none whatsoever.

 

[golden]

What are these unique Cyclo features ? I must admit i know of none whatsoever.

Game slowdown is the only one I know of.

 

[sidneyyoung]

What are these unique Cyclo features ? I must admit i know of none whatsoever.

Game slowdown is the only one I know of.

Has a great DOA feature too.. at no extra cost to boot

 

[golden]

What are these unique Cyclo features ? I must admit i know of none whatsoever.

Game slowdown is the only one I know of.

Has a great DOA feature too.. at no extra cost to boot

Good one!

I'll remember that joke if anyone else asks for cyclo exclusive features.

 

[golden]

I don't see why people are bashing the CycloDS Evolution. It is by FAR the best cart out on the market. Just because it has a few DOA issues, it is getting criticized. They replace them, early on, they even gave out free MicroSD cards as a sorry... You can't beat customer service like that. I don't care how bad it is, customer service makes up for it.

Hadn't heard of that before. Now I kinda want to order one and hope it is DOA. lol

 

[golden]

That was pretty early on, they gave out freebies, money, etc. But now, I think they'd go bankrupt if they continued.Â

lol Are you implying they are having MASSIVE DOA outbreak as well?

 

[golden]

Ok, fine, maybe DOA isn't as big as I thought but you have to admit it is way more than other carts. Still, I am not saying cyclo is bad. I think cyclo is great and when batch 4/5 black ones come out I think they will have fixed everything.

 

[OSW]

Yes, the SCDS uses the battery when you don't patch the game, but you can easily open the patcher menu and tick the option to make it save directly to the cart. It patches in memory without modifying the actual rom, so the rom remains clean.

For what it's worth, the M3 Simply and R4 also patch roms in memory upon execution, though they do it more transparently, without the user realizing it's happening.

exactly.
it's not stupid at all to have the option to save to the battery in clean mode.

 

[golden]

Ok, fine, maybe DOA isn't as big as I thought but you have to admit it is way more than other carts. Still, I am not saying cyclo is bad. I think cyclo is great and when batch 4/5 black ones come out I think they will have fixed everything.


No I cannot admit that, R4 has had far more issues than the CycloDS Evolution...

Hmm.....

Well, R4 seems very popular still if it had this much problems.

 

[DanTheManMS]

What are these unique Cyclo features ? I must admit i know of none whatsoever.

As for features, there are quite a few, slow down, cheats, perfect integration with the EZ Flash 3 in 1, in game enhanced menu (which is more like 3 features because it is the menu for 3 features), and now real time save and real time guide is coming soon. It is safe to say that they have the most features out on the market, except perhaps the Supercard DS ONE, but that will change in a matter of days.

I think sidneyyoung's point was that he was looking for features unique solely to the CycloDS Evo. Of the ones you listed, 3in1 integration is probably the only one that the SCDS doesn't already have.

I'm not saying the CycloDS is a bad cart or anything. It's a great product, I fully admit. I'm just saying that you can't claim it to have "unique" features when other devices offer the same thing.

 

[UltraMagnus]

umm, back on topic....

Is DLDI support hardware or software? the only cards i know support it are the Cyclo and the Acekart RPG

 

[DanTheManMS]

DLDI is a software thing. Granted, sometimes the only way for homebrew to support a cart is if a homebrew coder makes a DLDI file for it, but usually the manufacturer helps out and provides its own DLDI file or enough documentation for someone else to create one. Pretty much every device out there now is supported by DLDI in that there is DLDI file written for it.

If you're referring to auto-patching, where the user doesn't need to manually patch on his/her computer, then several cards support it. R4, M3 Simply, CycloDS Evolution, Supercard DS, slot-2 Supercards, and more that I'm forgetting at the moment.