Here's how to emulate the DSi and DSiWare
Dec 10, 2019 10:10:46 GMT -5
Post by ReyVGM on Dec 10, 2019 10:10:46 GMT -5
I wrote a guide on how to emulate DSiWare games, my guess they would be helpful for people writing articles.
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Nocash (No$gba) is the only current emulator that emulates the specific features of the Nintendo DSi and its many digital DSiWare games. You could just drag and drop DSiWare games (in .nds format) into nocash like a regular ROM and it will load most of them, however, you won't be able to save and some games will have graphical or touchscreen issues. That's because games need to be loaded through the DSi's bios/system menu for the best compatibility (just like the real console).
However, the process to do so is a bit convoluted because you need to dump your own DSi NAND (basically a mirror copy of your DSi's innards), and you need to hack it if you want to add more games other than the games you already had in your system's memory.
So, here are all the files and steps needed, already hacked and configured so you can add any DSiWare game you want.
Bios Files
mega.nz/#!aJAyUQIb!OIOOrA_PMeTizDxnmf-5y5fekLxxZkRZfWGKEvV_Tx0
Modified NAND
mega.nz/#!qBY0DAJa!18nfxczgF-JxqyFxSogfej7G23vYSjJnQCIh_tdXUq0
2GB SD Card
mega.nz/#!vERGXCwY!GSmvL2PODesi0Vmu-atKPXxxz1UyucHZyH9bXghM0a0
Steps to boot the DSi system:
1) Download the latest No$gba emulator (http://problemkaputt.de/gba.htm). Debug version is recommended.
2) Unzip the files above and place them in the same directory Nocash is in. The NAND in this package has been modified by me, and it's no longer the same one floating around the internet. If you already have the SDCard that comes with the emulator, you can overwrite it or back it up if you have data in it.
3) Open the emulator, go to Options -> Emulator -> Reset/Startup Entrypoint and select "GBA/NDS Bios". This will make the emulator boot with the DSi's system menu.
4) Load ANY .nds game so the emulator starts in DSi mode. If you don't do it this way, the emulator will start in GBA mode.
If everything was done correctly, the emulator will load into a hacked system menu (called TWiLight Menu++) and it looks just like the real system. Right now, there are no games. You can only add games to the SD Card and not the NAND, but in the end there really isn't any difference.
Steps to add games to the SD Card:
1) Download OSFMount (https://www.osforensics.com/tools/mount-disk-images.html), a virtual drive emulator.
2) Select "Mount New". Pick Disk Image and browse for the SD Card (DSi-1.SD), click next. Select the only partition, click next. Disable "read only" and click Mount.
3) If you're using Windows, just go to "My Computer" and open the new drive that was just created.
4) Browse to Roms -> Dsiware and add your .nds games there. The DSi menu has a 40 game limit, so only add that amount and delete/add new games as necessary. Or just create more folders and put the rest of the games there.
5) Close everything, and dismount the SD Card from OSFMount.
6) Boot the emulator again and it should load right into the menu with the games you added.
Notes:
-If you want to boot the emulator to the real DSi's system menu, hold "B" when loading or resetting the emulator. There are a few games already included there (Zelda Four Swords, Shantae, Dark Void Zero, Mario vs Donkey Kong) and a lot of the games have end-game saves too.
-If you want to boot to the Unlaunch menu (one of the hacking tools), hold "A". However, don't touch this if you don't know what you're doing.
-Please understand that No$gba is still in development, so not ALL DSiWare games will work perfectly.
Here are some screens of DSiWare games (many are exclusive to the DSi):
Zelda Four Swords Anniversary Edition
Dark Void Zero
Shantae Risky's Revenge
Huge thanks to KleinesSinchen from GBATemp for the walkthrough on how to finally add games to play with no$gba. And also thanks to whoever dumped the NAND and made the SD Card.
--------
Nocash (No$gba) is the only current emulator that emulates the specific features of the Nintendo DSi and its many digital DSiWare games. You could just drag and drop DSiWare games (in .nds format) into nocash like a regular ROM and it will load most of them, however, you won't be able to save and some games will have graphical or touchscreen issues. That's because games need to be loaded through the DSi's bios/system menu for the best compatibility (just like the real console).
However, the process to do so is a bit convoluted because you need to dump your own DSi NAND (basically a mirror copy of your DSi's innards), and you need to hack it if you want to add more games other than the games you already had in your system's memory.
So, here are all the files and steps needed, already hacked and configured so you can add any DSiWare game you want.
Bios Files
mega.nz/#!aJAyUQIb!OIOOrA_PMeTizDxnmf-5y5fekLxxZkRZfWGKEvV_Tx0
Modified NAND
mega.nz/#!qBY0DAJa!18nfxczgF-JxqyFxSogfej7G23vYSjJnQCIh_tdXUq0
2GB SD Card
mega.nz/#!vERGXCwY!GSmvL2PODesi0Vmu-atKPXxxz1UyucHZyH9bXghM0a0
Steps to boot the DSi system:
1) Download the latest No$gba emulator (http://problemkaputt.de/gba.htm). Debug version is recommended.
2) Unzip the files above and place them in the same directory Nocash is in. The NAND in this package has been modified by me, and it's no longer the same one floating around the internet. If you already have the SDCard that comes with the emulator, you can overwrite it or back it up if you have data in it.
3) Open the emulator, go to Options -> Emulator -> Reset/Startup Entrypoint and select "GBA/NDS Bios". This will make the emulator boot with the DSi's system menu.
4) Load ANY .nds game so the emulator starts in DSi mode. If you don't do it this way, the emulator will start in GBA mode.
If everything was done correctly, the emulator will load into a hacked system menu (called TWiLight Menu++) and it looks just like the real system. Right now, there are no games. You can only add games to the SD Card and not the NAND, but in the end there really isn't any difference.
Steps to add games to the SD Card:
1) Download OSFMount (https://www.osforensics.com/tools/mount-disk-images.html), a virtual drive emulator.
2) Select "Mount New". Pick Disk Image and browse for the SD Card (DSi-1.SD), click next. Select the only partition, click next. Disable "read only" and click Mount.
3) If you're using Windows, just go to "My Computer" and open the new drive that was just created.
4) Browse to Roms -> Dsiware and add your .nds games there. The DSi menu has a 40 game limit, so only add that amount and delete/add new games as necessary. Or just create more folders and put the rest of the games there.
5) Close everything, and dismount the SD Card from OSFMount.
6) Boot the emulator again and it should load right into the menu with the games you added.
Notes:
-If you want to boot the emulator to the real DSi's system menu, hold "B" when loading or resetting the emulator. There are a few games already included there (Zelda Four Swords, Shantae, Dark Void Zero, Mario vs Donkey Kong) and a lot of the games have end-game saves too.
-If you want to boot to the Unlaunch menu (one of the hacking tools), hold "A". However, don't touch this if you don't know what you're doing.
-Please understand that No$gba is still in development, so not ALL DSiWare games will work perfectly.
Here are some screens of DSiWare games (many are exclusive to the DSi):
Zelda Four Swords Anniversary Edition
Dark Void Zero
Shantae Risky's Revenge
Huge thanks to KleinesSinchen from GBATemp for the walkthrough on how to finally add games to play with no$gba. And also thanks to whoever dumped the NAND and made the SD Card.