Yes, the neoflash supports commercial games

[cubenoob]

This is great news for the scene. Directly from the first testers

Watch video

[=|__|=]
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(http://www.64scener.com/ds/movies/neoxg.avi)

Edit: Bad thing about it is that it does not support saving. But its sure just a matter of time until its supported.

[Z80]

Now we just need the patching software to patch dumps of commercial games to run from the passme&gba cart combo. Ofcourse that still leaves the issue of you know.. some games to play, which there is a serious lackage of currently.

[whackawookie]

im taking the impatient route on wednesday and ordering the 512kit but im still doing research on this. some people say saves are possible. others say it isnt. im looking into the action replay and maybe picking that up mainly because even if saves are possible, this will allow me to back them up anyway.

[cubenoob]

But this is just the beginning I bet that within a short period of time there will be more manufacturers that will serve us better solutions. So I´ll just wait and save for a proper solution with 1Mbit.

And I´m also curious about what will happen to emulation. My dream is to have a C64 emulator which use can use with the stylus and with a keyboard on the touchscreen and while in game mode with an oldschool joystick.

[cuberob]

HUh they are able to play commercial games with a passme 2??? :o

[whackawookie]

i think its the cart thats doing the commercial patching. i saw that in the video too.

[cubenoob]

Must be the magic key thats attached to the passme that does the trick

[gulliver]

I almost rushed out and bought a neo flash. But for around $200, it's just not worth it, considering that it'll most likely be impossible to play games that are larger than 256Mb because the GBA flash carts have 256Mb banks.

Plus, if neoflash can do it, than it'll most likely be done with a regular flash cart and a passme in the near future.

Also, we don't know if there are going to be "real" DS flash carts in the future. Of course, this would be the best option.

I got my 512Mb X-Rom yesterday and it works great. It's definitely enough to tide me over until better solutions are implemented, which we all know they will.

So I would just say to everyone, be patient. You don't wanna spend that much money on something when it might not even end up being necessary. If it becomes possible to play DS roms with a regular flash cart and a passme, then I'll have ended up saving myself quite a nice chunk of change:) And if not, then I'll still have my X-Rom for storing emus and GBA roms and I'll have another one just for DS games when a better solution is available. It's a win-win situation:)

[cubenoob]

Yeah the price is the only thing that lets me wait for something less expensive. But its more then nice that finally someone did it.

[gulliver]

I agree, it's definitely progress, but it would be well-advised to just wait. I was so so close to just buying it because I was so excited about it. I'm glad I ended up coming to my senses:)

[cubenoob]

:p I was just the same way exited as you but then I thought I rather wait until someone manages to come across something similar. The main thing I wish is a ds flash card and I´m quite sure that the sceners thought about that already. Maybe its hard to develop something like that otherwise there would be talk about it somewhere. But who knows what they are brewing right now :D

Here´s another solution for a passthrough

http://photos1.blogger.com/img/80/3523/640/pass_overview_downside_small.jpg

This is what they used for making dumps

[soccerboi]

yeah, I agree with you gulliver, I mean, if they can do it with a neoflash, in the future, most likely they will be able to do it with any supported flash card.

The passme has done wonderful things for the ds.

[Z80]

It was revealed that the NeoFlash is merely the latest XG2 flash cart and linker on sixtyfour scener's site (or something named similarly).

But ya, basically some commercial roms may need to be patched to run from the GBA cart with a passme but after that it may be possible to run games from any decent flash cart.

[gulliver]

@ cubenoob - that image you have linked is dead.

[cubenoob]

Thx seems like the whole address wasnt copied right due to the url tags. Here without the link just copy and paste it.

http://photos1.blogger.com/img/80/3523/640/pass_overview_downside_small.jpg

or visit the blog at http://natrium42.blogspot.com

[PC_Arcade]

Is there any advantage / disadvantage to a wireless passme over a wired one?

I'm thinging of getting one of the wireless cards, but want to make sure that by doing so I'm not missing out on something that a "real" passme will give me.

[whackawookie]

well theres always the chance of online play not being available if u forget to disable the passme bios. other then that, probly not

[cubenoob]

Originally posted by PC_Arcade
Is there any advantage / disadvantage to a wireless passme over a wired one?

I'm thinging of getting one of the wireless cards, but want to make sure that by doing so I'm not missing out on something that a "real" passme will give me.

I read at the dsdev forums that it isnt possible to stream games with a wireless passme as it is 1024 Bit RSA encrypted. Tim Shuerewegen managed it to get a game to run but only to the point where the encryption key is asked for and the game crashes instantly.

[kronik k. budz]

i was reading about the neoflash basically being a XG2 flash cart and from what i understood on 64sceener's review the XG2 when flashed with the neoflash software reads as a neoflash and plays DS games.

if i read it wrong plz let me know cuz the XG2 1gig card is only like $150 where the 1gig neoflash is $260 and if it works ill just get the XG@ cart.

and do you still need a pass me if you have the DS firmware upgraded to run DS code on GBA w/o a pass me to play DS games on the neoflash?

thanxs, peace...

[Z80]

cubenoob, someone has already hacked the firmwire to disable the RSA encryption/athentication I believe.

kronik, no you don't need the passme if you upgrade/update/hack your firmwire on your DS.

About the NeoFlash, it's just a repackaged XG2Flash or something like that. You are better of trying to find a large but cheaper cartridge of good quality, such as the X-Rom 512mbit. Also remember the DS will never have access to more than 256mbits of data from the GBA port due to addressing limitations. Overcoming them would require specific flash cart memory banking hacking of some sort I think. So ultimately if any DS game exceeds 256mbit you'll probably need to wait for a DS flash card.

[PC_Arcade]

Thanks for the reply Z80, I'm quite happy flashing the firmware, which I assume would negate the no streaming problem anyway, is that correct?

[cubenoob]

Well if the RSA encryption can be disabled thats great news. So streaming the games wirelessly would be no problem. But if you stream the games wirelessly does the whole game stay in ds memory or is it saved to the flashcard? Also where is the hacked firmware stored? I heard that you need to update the firmware everytime you turn on the ds? And if the streaming works, is there also a possibility to save the game wirelessly to a PC?

[Z80]

If you flash the firmwire, it is a permanent change. That is, until you flash it again. No matter of turning it on and off will erase the firmwire changes.

Streaming games is not practical because the DS only has 4mbytes of ram. Ofcourse, software could potentially be written to have the streamed game request game data wirelessly and such. But it sounds like a pain in the ass to me. If anything this is more useful for something like an emulator.

[PC_Arcade]

Ah, sorry I may not have made myself clear, I meant in conjunction with a GBA flash cart :)

[Z80]

You could hijack the WiFi download software to download a small code block which simply would start DS software that was prehacked to run off a GBA Flashcart. But you could also WiFi to flash your firmwire and boot DS things that way..

[PC_Arcade]

Originally posted by Z80
But you could also WiFi to flash your firmwire and boot DS things that way..

It's that that I think would be the easiest, is there a hacked firmware that allows you to boot comercial games yet? or is it a question of patience until someone figures out the Neokey?

[cubenoob]

You mean that use dont have to use the passme anymore and that a hacked firmware would do the job? That would be really great. But theres still the 256Mbit restriction with a gba cart. Still there are only the two dumped games and we dont know how to handle this but I think in a few months there will be a real scene.

[whackawookie]

im sure in due time there will be another bios to fix all problems, it will just take a little time. the ds has pretty much just come out a short while ago

[gulliver]

Originally posted by whackawookie
im sure in due time there will be another bios to fix all problems, it will just take a little time. the ds has pretty much just come out a short while ago

The simple fact that it has been out only a short time and so much progress has already been made with it shows that great things are gonna happen with the DS in the not-so-distant future:)

[Z80]

I'd like to see a NES, SNES, and GBC emulator for NDS personally. That would certainly make the "scene" very appealing to me. I still love pocketnes for gba.

[gulliver]

Originally posted by Z80
I'd like to see a NES, SNES, and GBC emulator for NDS personally. That would certainly make the "scene" very appealing to me. I still love pocketnes for gba.

I can see an snes emulator being cool, but what would be the point of an nes or gbc emulator for DS when there's already ones that run at 100% with the gba flash carts on a DS?

[cubenoob]

The emulator for DS I would most desire if it was a C64 emu with a keyboard as touchscreen and while in game mode with an old joystick. Also an Atari ST or Amiga would be nice. The touchscreen is perfect for such homecomputer emus.

[Z80]

You should seriously take a look at the NES SNES and GB (not GBC) emulators then, as many games DON'T run full speed. This is not as common with Pocketnes as it is with Goomba, and ofcourse most common likely with SNES.

Besides extra cpu power, resolution, resolution, resolution. With a significantly taller and somewhat wider screen, scaling requirements are greatly reduced offering a potentially much nicer scaled image.