Regarding being able to save in GBA games: I haven't done extensive testing on this but here is what I've observed: if I load up a GBA game and save it, then restart the DS, I can't get the save data back. If I then start the GBA game again and save that data will be saved. Based on this I have two theories. 1. The first time you save it just sets up the save file but wont save to it properly until subsequent saves. 2. Maybe there is an internal battery in the GBA expansion card that needs to be charged. The multiple saves have nothing to do with it. The GBA card just needs to have the DS on for a while to charge the battery so that's why the second save works. My workaround is to start the GBA game, save at the first available opportunity, then restart(from the beginning since I have to) and this time saves will work.
So if I understand what you are saying... The first time you save it won't work. However subsequent saves will work? I should test this out myself. Are you shutting off the NDS after saving and reloading the game? I'll give this a go and report back if I find this works.
Wow nice find mikecraft. I found that this works for at least one game, Advanced Wars. I'm not going to count my chickens before they hatch but I think that this is probably the solution we have been looking for. So the rule is that if you have issue with GBA saves to make a throw away save first and make your second save be your real first save.
wait, how did you guys get those games to work? do i have to downgrade my firmware possibly? Most fo the GBA ROMs i try halt the DS just after the GAMEBOY splash screen. The only two i got to work are super mario world, and klonoa. yoshis island wont load cos it says "SVAE DATA CORRUPTED" and actually SMB 3 does the same.. are you saying you can get the Final Fantasy Advance games working? how? - thanks in advance - trev
tr3velyn, The issue that we were having is that our game ROMs would load properly and the save file would be created properly, but once you turn the DS off and start the game back up...the save file would not be function as a save file is expected to. We received no error messages or stoppages of the program. We just saw the end result; the saves not loading. Mikecraft found that the saves, for at least the games we have tested so far, would load properly after the second save. To be more clear: -Think of the first time you save as the moment in time where the save file is just created. None of the data is saved. The firmware/ROM only creates the save file. -The second time you save will be the first time the firmware/ROM actually saves your game data. -Haven't tested saving twice during the same load. Meaning, I haven't tested starting a game for the first time, saving the file and then saving a second time immediately after without shutting the NDS off. I hope you understand that. I have also left the NDS off overnight with the blank GBA cartridge that comes with the NDS. (aka the placeholder colorful thingy.) I put the GBA expansion cartridge back in and attempted to load the game. The save loaded perfectly again. In your case trev, I don't know what the issue is. I haven't tried the games you listed. So far all the games I have tried have not displayed that error message or had any hang ups. (I haven't tried a whole lot.) I am using firmware 2.9. I did see the save file error once with a NDS game. I keep on going however and once I had played the game a bit and the save file was created. I did not get the error the next time I started the program.
This is my first post here so first of all hi all. had my M3Real for about a week or two and am having a few problems. -does the ds browser need the rumble ram pak or will gba expansion pak or rumble pak work -is there any way to save .bmp files as 8bit or 24bit depth i think these are the skin requirements but adobe cs3 doesnt save in this format -does a nintendo wifi usb adaptor work with homebrew? -can hidden files and folders be hidden in the M3real? thanks mrhanky this topic was very usefull i have found most homebrew through this and the dsbrowser patcher. im new to the scene so I might seem dumb
mine must be defective then, i tried about 30 ROMs today none worked but 2. The DS just crashes right at the last second of the "GAMEBOY *dig ding*" splash screen. That sucks im sure im not gonna get a refund for it either or it will set me back at least a month. I have the M3 Real + the RAM rumble pack. Ive formatted it, upgraded, downgraded firmware etc.. I put all my GBA games into the /GBA folder and after the crash i see theres two new files created associated with the title name. So, I am not goign to even try sending it back, i mean i came from using a Max Media Dock which was so horrible compared to the M3. I had to unpack the nds files and swap ARM7 files them patch the game usually 3 different ways until i got it working, and that only proved successful about %25 of the time. well... EVERY NDS ROM i have tried (with the M3) worked flawlessly. So i really dont care about the GBA games anymore. thanks for your help, i didn't mean to confuse you, mine is simply defective. Also its fatter than other DS Cartridges and i need to almost pry it out oft the DS Slot 1. Very strange, but I just figured theres a lot of stuff in that cartridge.
Hey everyone, been away from afterdawn for a few days. Anyhows, I'll try and catch up on the posts. Starting with tr3velyn: Do you have the GBA Expansion? That's the bit needed to play GBA games (as the name suggests), if you don't have it then there is the reason you cannot load many GBA games, chances are the games that do work are very small games that can fit in the RAM onboard the Rumble/RAM pack you have. --------------------------------------------------------------------- You need some form of RAM, so either the GBA expansion or rumble/ram pack (not just 'rumble pack') or any other available ram pack. No idea, i don't do skins :-( As it comes I don't think so, but you can hack the Nintendo USB Wifi adapter to act as a normal access point, it should work with homebrew then (there is guide on afterdawn how to do it, but i've never read it) Good question, i've never tried, you could with the M3 Simply but i'm not sure about the Real, when I get my DS back i'll try it.
ahh i googled that device, no mine doesn't say GBA expansion - it says "Rumble RAM pack" "For DS Lite Only" do i have to buy another device? what is it exactly more RAM than what the RAM pck offers? or storage?
The GBA Expansion has alot more memory than the rumble/ram pack, so it can load any size GBA game from the M3 Real onto it. The rumble/ram pack has memory only for the nintendo internet browser, it was not designed for GBA games. So basically if you want to play GBA games you'll need the GBA Expansion.
hrmm okay, i was using dsorganize browser even without the ram pack when i had a max media dock, i didn't know that was what it was for. can i buy the GBA Exp separately?
I never said the dsorganize browser, i said the Nintendo internet browser. The Nintendo internet browser was designed to use additional RAM, it refuses to work without it. DSorganize was designed by dragonminded to not need any additional ram, hence why it is still limited in what it can do. As for buying the GBA expansion, I have seen some places selling it seperately but cannot think of anywhere without checking all the sites.
thanks mr.hanky I have looked on the guide here but its awfully comlicated and I got stuck at step one (drivers) he doesn't explain it for people who are new like myself ill give it another bash and ask a few questions when I have time. I have troed pressing select at the main menu of m3real which I believe worked for m3simply? And im going to try editing and saving the backup skins although the layers are locked you may not understand if you dont use photoshop but its a way of protecting an image(like write protected disks) but the only way round it involves wiping the bit depth.
yes to godslayer the roms are the same and can be seen at kangrus' website google "kangrus rom list" which also states it is to help a very thorough rom downlad site (I'm not sure about the rules here so I wont link)
Hey mr_hanky, welcome back. With transferring saved gba files over to the M3 Real to continue play on it, is there anything I have to do to make it work? I tried just a straight drag it into the GBA folder keeping the same name and I've tried renaming the saved file. But neither seem to work. Any ideas? Thanks
I have not tried it but cannot think of any reason for you to not be able to do it, if your transferring the save from another device/emulator it could need converting. Also try loading a different GBA game to the one you are using the save of (to clear the save from the GBA expansion and thus preventing it overwriting the new save), once you have loaded that game you can turn off then copy over the save for the game you want.
I have found some things out for GBA file saves, If you just transferring them from 1 m3ds real to the next. It is easy, copy and past save file and then name it the exact same thing as you rom, except instead of .nds use a .0 of course. If you are trying using a save file from somewhere else it starts to become a pain real fast. Try and find a converter tool and pray it works, I did it about a month ago since my brother insisted on keeping his final fantasy tactics file. I eventually got it to work but can't remember steps used and I believe the tool I used was G6 Save converter v0.33 by outphase. Best of luck on that one. I havn't bothered to do another save since I would rather just start a new game anyway.
Hey there, I recently purchased the M3 DS Real and gave my M3 DS Simply to my brother. So, with my luck, after making myself a skin, I became excited as to what games I should play first. I followed the guide that Mr. Hanky generously made and for some reason... I could not select my .nds games. I put the 'NDS Folder' in the SYSTEM folder and added a couple of .nds games (Phantom Hourglass, Tetris, etc.) Then when I saw their game icons on the screen, I tapped it with my stylus, but nothing happened. I continued tapping and then moved on to pressing the 'A' button, but still - nothing. I tried to select the other games as well, but nothing. I was wondering 'what is going on?' This time I moved the 'NDS' folder out of the 'SYSTEM' folder and put it on my MicroSD. The same thing happened. You can highlight it, but can't select it. I'm not sure what is going on. I am used to the M3 Simply and just drag and drop. I figured it would be the same for the M3 DS Real since it is an upgraded version of the M3 Simply. Any ideas of on why it is not working? Is there some way I can format the game to work? Please help me out.
