Nintendo DSi

References

• GBATEMP.NET Wiki — Reference for linker on DS/DSi/3DS

Linker

Acekard 2i

Links:

• Official Acekard | AK | AK+ | AK2 | AK RPG | NDS Flash Card
• Acekard2i :: Official Europe distributor
• AKAIO Forum
• Acekard 2i Review
• nds-card.com (bought here in 2018)

Linker information:

• Acekard 2i AK2, bought here (~5 days shipping time)
• HW type 81 (click Start → Help)

Installation:

• If needed, format the flash memory card as FAT or FAT32
• Install the menu on the flash card, either the official OSMenu of AK2 or the unofficial AK-AIO (see below).
• Don't do this, this is not necessary anymore!!! (see here). By default the linker only supports English. In order to support the french language:
  • Set the DSi language to English.
  • Copy the AK2i update file for EUR/US DSi - HW81 on the flash card.
  • Start the menu, run the update and follow the instructions on screen.
  • When done, reboot the DS, select French in the DSi parameters menu.
  • Start the linker menu, and select French (click Start → Sys. options).
  • Strange... Pressing start does not do anything it seems...
• (otional) Install Moonshell
  • This is needed to watch video, photos, musics on the DS (although it seems that the official menu has some built-in playback capabilities).
  • To install, just copy the directory moonshell in the flash card root directory.
  • At boot time, there is an error message saying that folder moonshll could not be found..., but the application still loads afterwards... Do we need to rename the folder or create a new one?

OSMenu of AK2

• Official OS Menu.
• To install, simply copy the files in the flash card root directory. File structure:

akmenu4.nds	(file)
__ak2	(directory)

AK-AIO

• Acekard - All-In-One.
• To install, simply copy the files in the flash card root directory. File structure:

akmenu4.nds	(file)
__aio	(directory)

Miscellaneous

• Both menus support showing/hiding hidden files/directory. To hide a file, simply set the hidden attribute. This is useful e.g. to clarify the directory structure

Cheats

• Cheat database files are named either USRCHEAT.DAT (binary format) or CHEATS.XML (text format). They are located in the folder __aio/cheats (or __ak2/cheats).
• The latest version of these database can be downloaded from http://cheats.gbatemp.net/.
• When using a cheat for a specific game, the Acekard will save a custome cheat file for that game named *.CC and located in the folder __aio/cheats/CC. From now on, this file will be used to configure the cheat for that game. This file is in text-format, and can be edited if needed with a standard text editor.
• Caution! Some cheats require that the Nintendo be set in English.
• More information at [1], [2].

DSTTi

Bought here

Installation:

• Firmware TTi 1.4 Upgrade (9 Septembre 2009)
• TTMenu OS v1.17a12 (Français) (21 décembre 2009)
• Skin: Red Samba
• Menu: Using YSMenu
  • Followed Instruction in YSMenu0903211700.zip
  • Set menu character to FRA.

Gateway 3DS

• http://www.playmods.co.uk/fr/ — Official reseller (bought there mid-april 2016, cheapest)

The first and apparently best linker out there for 3DS.

Flash Cards

To work properly, the linker needs a fast flash microSD(HC) card. Here some benchmarks (measured on Dell Latitude E6500, USB2.0 adapter, Debian, using dd if=... of=/dev/null)

Type        Brand               Size     Connection   Txfed        time        speed
----        -----               ----     ----------   -----        ----        -----
MicroSD     none                2 GB     USB2.0       256 MB       17.26 s     15.6 MB/s    (from Nokia phone)
MicroSDHC   Kingston (Class 4)  8 GB     USB2.0       256 MB       16.37 s     16.4 MB/s    (bought from dstti.com)
MicroSDHC   Kingston (Class 4)  8 GB     SD           256 MB       18.81 s     14.3 MB/s
MicroSDHC   none                8 GB     USB2.0       256 MB       27.57 s     9.7  MB/s    (bought from www.acekard2.fr)

The one with a transfer speed of 16MB/s gives good result on Band Hero, although with a few slow downs here and there. Anything slower is not playable.

NDS

• NDS files are usually prefixed with a 4-digit scene release number. Check www.advanscene.com for the official number. This site also gives the file CRC32 checksum.
• NDS CRC32 number can be checked with:

jacksum -a crc32 -E hexup file

Links

• http://the-rom-ds.blogspot.be/2011/04/jeux-ds.html — see also comments if links do not work anymore
• https://www.emuparadise.me/ (found by looking for paradiseroms on Google) — high quality links, no ads
• http://libertyvf.com/ (also offer streaming links).

Games

The Legends of Zelda - Spirit Tracks

• Save game on the original cartridge are 8Mb/1MB in size, not 4Mb/512kB. Playing with a linker that only supports 4MB/512kB means that there is a huge risk of savegame corruption later in the game.
  • Note that Rudolph's WIFI backup tool, or savreceiver's tool correctly generates a 1MB save file.
• Play zelda on Acekard 2i.
  • One of the best linker to play zelda (see here)
  • Requires menu AKAIO 1.5 or above. Before starting the game, set savegame size to 8Mb/1MB (button Y). This is done automatically since AKAIO 1.5.1.
  • No crack/patch required!!! We can play the usual EUR Multi5 version, yes!!!
• Play zelda on DSTTi
  • The ROM file must be patched (train fix + savegame fix).
  • Use YSMenu to be able to play game with 8Mb/1MB savegame.
  • The default TTMenu does not support 8Mb/1MB savegame, only 4Mb/512kB ones.
  • It seems that the only french crack version is the Canadian verison, with different translation.

Backing up SAV

Two tools are available for making back-ups of savegame from original cartridges:

• Using SavSender / SavReceiver
• Using NDS Backup Tool - WiFi and a FTP Server

These tools only works on a DS Lite. They do not work on the DSi. Both tools require first to setup the WiFi connection on the DS Lite.

Setting WiFi on DS Lite

To setup WiFi on the DS Lite, you need to configure the WiFi Router, and then configure WiFi in a game that requires WiFi connection (eg. Mario Kart).

• Configure the WiFi Router
  • Enable channel B.
  • Broadcast the SSID
  • Disable security on the WiFi network (no WEP, no WPA, etc).
• Configure the Nintendo DS Lite
  • Start a game that requires WiFI (eg. Mario Kart)
  • Go in WiFi settings, and choose/configure accordingly.

Using SavSender / SavReceiver

This requires to run SavSender on the DS Lite and SavReceiver on the PC.

Configure SavSender:

• SavSender needs to be installed on the Linker in the following folder structure:

/DATA
/DATA/savsender-1.1b.nds
/DATA/Settings/savsender.conf

! IMPORTANT: follow this structure exactly. Same letter case, same extension, same everything !

• Content of file savsender.conf:

 www.xxx.yyy.zzz<CR>
 5000

www.xxx.yyy.zzz is the IP address of the receiving PC.

! IMPORTANT: Only one Carriage Return (explicitly indicated above by <CR>). So no Carriage Return after the second line. Use port 5000 (tried port 12345 but with a 2nd CR, and got Connected to AP and then error Error opening config file).

Configure SavReceiver

• Enter IP address (of current PC!) and listening port

Finally start SavReceiver, follows the tutorial and you'll get the .sav files on the PC (note that you might need to disable the Windows Firewall on the PC). These files must be copied back on the Linker but with a filename that match exactly the name of the corresponding ROM. So if for instance the ROM is called Super Mario Bros (EU).nds, then the .sav file must be renamed to Super Mario Bros (EU).sav.

NDS Backup Tool - WiFi

Also known as Rudolph's tool.

The procedure is explained in details here

Here my configuration files:

• file ftpd.ini (on the FTP Server, in same folder as smallftpd)
• file NDS_Backup_Tool_Wifi.ini (on the DS, in same folder as NDS_Backup_Tool_Wifi.nds)

If needed, change the server IP address and port number.

./ftpd.ini ([{{#filelink: ftpd.ini}} download])

{{#fileanchor: ftpd.ini}}

[application]
left=242
top=244
[server]
port=8080
max_connections=10
auto_run=0
[passive_mode]
pasv_min_port=5000
pasv_max_port=5010
use_pasv_url=1
pasv_url=account.dyndns.org
[user_0]
user_Login=test
user_Password=test
user_Simultaneous_Connections=3
user_Inactivity_Timeout=120
permission_Path_0=/
permission_Type_0=LRW
directory_Virtual_0=/
directory_Physical_0=C:\TEMP\SAV

./NDS_Backup_Tool_Wifi.ini ([{{#filelink: NDS_Backup_Tool_Wifi.ini}} download])

{{#fileanchor: NDS_Backup_Tool_Wifi.ini}}

#
# NDS_Backup_Tool_Wifi.ini
#

ServerIP	172.19.3.4		! FTPd IP address
ServerPort	8080			! FTPd Service Port
#FileDir	/NDS_Backup		! Home Directory

FTPUser		test		! FTPd Logon User name
FTPPassword	test	! FTPd Logon password

SaveFile	0			! Saving size : 0:auto, nnn:Save File Size(KB)

#Trim					! Rom Triming Backup

Note that the file are not rounded to 512kB when saved, but the linker will normally pad it as necessary. If not you'll need to pad the file yourself manually.