Hacking Just got my M3 - Questions to get me started.

[xDRONEx]

I just got my M3 - and Im about to format it - I heard Fat 16 64k - how should I format it?

I need to go to the device manager to do that?

Thats my main question - I looked through some other topics an the M3 wikipedia site and I couldn't find any information to do this.

Im pretty sure how to do it - but I just want to make sure so I don't **** up or anything since I want to be careful.

All/further questions I have concerning my new m3 will be placed in this topic for convenience.


Also, I can update [place the m3 firmware on the sd card] the m3 firmware with the GBA/NDS games written on the SD card right?


Anyways im going to dinner - hopefully someone can help me by the time I get back. Thanks.

 

[iza]

just find it in my computer and right click on the card...it should have a format button.

 

[Strokemouth]

Also, I can update [place the m3 firmware on the sd card] the m3 firmware with the GBA/NDS games written on the SD card right?

Yep. Just put the update file on the root of your memory card.

 

[alvina]

To format to a FAT16 with 64k,
in WinXP, go to control panel -> administrative tools -> computer management -> disk management -> right-click the drive of your memory card -> format.. ->
and select FAT (which is FAT16) for the file system,
and select 64K for the allocation unit size

 

[Strokemouth]

To format to a FAT16 with 64k,
in WinXP, go to control panel -> administrative tools -> computer management -> disk management -> right-click the drive of your memory card -> format.. ->
and select FAT (which is FAT16) for the file system,
and select 64K for the allocation unit size

Or just go to My Computer, right-click on the memory card, and choose format. Same dialog.

 

[xDRONEx]

Another question

when writing the nintendo ds roms to my sd card, do i need to create a folder for the ds roms?

because the drive is just empty and im pretty sure i dont just copy them to the root directory - or do i?

also, what is the difference between making the game play at 1x or 4x DMA or whatever?

and whats the difference between Normal Copy and Directly Copy? Which should I be using?

 

[xDRONEx]

it appears i can only choose between 1x, 4x, normal copy, or directly copy - i can combine any of the options.. so which one should i be looking at?

it doesnt explain this on the m3 wiki at all - im not seeing it at least =/

 

[xDRONEx]

Alright I got it up and running. Tried Castlevania: DoS and the intro movie runs good... I'd give it a 5/5 I guess.

Anyways, it looks like I do just dump the games in the root directory.. although Im sure I coud make some folder or something if I wanted and put them in there and could still run it all ok... but it doesn't matter.

Anyways, I'm assuming 4x is better than 1x - but some games have some incompatibilities/stability issues with 4x - so sometimes you have to use 1x.

If Im wrong, please correct me.

Anyways, only issue note I gotta make...

putting and taking out the SD card from the M3 is good [the M3 is certainly a tight fit... but thats ok] .. my main "issue" is with the SD card in the damn SD card adaptor [which is then put in the SD usb reader thing]... the thing slides in alright... but taking the sd card out of the sd adapter is freaking hard. Hard to grip it and pull - and my fingers slip off and seemingly scratch the sd card trying to grip what little there is to grip - to get it out of the sd adapter... any tips or is it just going to be like that?

oh well off to try out some games... thanks

 

[Topsy]

my main "issue" is with the SD card in the damn SD card adaptor [which is then put in the SD usb reader thing]... the thing slides in alright... but taking the sd card out of the sd adapter is freaking hard. Hard to grip it and pull - and my fingers slip off and seemingly scratch the sd card trying to grip what little there is to grip - to get it out of the sd adapter... any tips or is it just going to be like that?

I had this same trouble with my Sandisk 2GB micro's SD adapter too. HELLA hard to get the micro out of it. I think if you look at the SD adapter you'll see a tiny ridge on the bottom lip of its opening where the micro SD goes. File down the ridge and the card should go in and out much easier. I had another micro to SD adapter that is identical except no ridge and the card comes out easily.

 

[tama_mog]

actually the m3 lite is not a tight fit @ all, just slightly tighter than the g6 lite. If you used a supercard lite, then you will know what is a tight fit. As to the sandisk card readers, for some reason the regular card adapters work great for me (ones that came with vanilla sandisk) in respect to taking the micro sd in and out but the damn ultra adapter is where it gets tough, but I did find after taking things in and out a couple times, it gets easier everytime. What I do is clam my fingernails on the small ridge toward the bottom of the sd card through my shirt (can pull harder comfortably this way) and pull like hell and it comes out ok.

 

[tama_mog]

it appears i can only choose between 1x, 4x, normal copy, or directly copy - i can combine any of the options.. so which one should i be looking at?

it doesnt explain this on the m3 wiki at all - im not seeing it at least =/

Follow the compatibility list on m3wiki and you'll be fine. Yes technically 1x is a slower reading method but on games that need this, you won't notice a difference running the games nehow for the most part.

 

[tantalus]

Has anyone got gba games working with a fat16 formatted memory card? I had to reformat my card to fat32 to get any gba roms to work. Consequently, some things, like the C: DoS intro run choppy. I haven't tried fat16 with firmware v28, but I haven't heard any mention of it fixing this issue, so I'm not too hopeful.

 

[tama_mog]

others have reported you start the game using "start" instead of "A" and it runs fine although initially it might load longer to start the game.

 

[solojerry]

With fat16 I have to hit start to get GBA to start up.

I recently reformatted to fat32 and it sped up GBA load times a lot since I can hit A on them (which is about 2x as fast).

CoS shouldn't slow down for you - just make sure you're loader / game manager are the most recent.

 

[Jasafar]

I never formatted my 1gb Sandisk and just started using it. I wonder what it is formatted at coming straight from the manufacturer.

 

[Samutz]

Probably FAT16. You can find out by plugging it in to your computer and opening Disk Management.
Control Panel -> Admin Tools -> Computer Management, or Start -> Run -> "diskmgmt.msc".
If it says "FAT" then it's FAT16.