Nds4droid Bios
Rosette Allaband
I am trying to get some footage for the nintendo ds for a project. I have the bios. It is named correct. I am using retroarch with melon ds core. I set the core to have it so it dosent boot directly into a game. It just goes to the main menu. I really want that boot up logo with the text on the bottom screen. I looked online and I only see the top screen showing the logo. Can anyone give me any advice on how to get the boot up logo to appear before it goes to the main menu? Here is an example of what I did with the gameboy. I want to do the same but with the ds
Legally, BIOS must be obtained from your console. Various emulator websites have guides on how to dump BIOS. Other methods are piracy and cannot be discussed here or on the EmuDeck Discord.
When "Optional" is written in the BIOS column, it means the emulator might have some extra functionality or will play the console's splash screen when you launch a game, but will run games without the BIOS.
For example: PSX can be played through DuckStation (Standalone), SwanStation, or Beetle PSX. If you prefer to use DuckStation (Standalone) for PSX, enable the Sony PlayStation - DuckStation parser and make sure the SwanStation and Beetle PSX parsers are disabled.
When reading a Libretro wiki article, the System directory refers to Emulation/bios. Treat the Emulation/bios folder as the System directory and either place your files directly in Emulation/bios or create a folder according to the instructions on the various Libretro wiki pages.
RetroArch: RetroArch comes with a suite of shaders, bezels, cohesive hotkeys across the cores. A lot of small general emulator enhancements with an emphasis on a cohesive experience (for better or for worse).
Standalone emulators: Standalone emulators tend to be more up to date, more bleeding edge with the latest improvements to whatever that emulator emulates. Standalone emulators tend to come with a lot of additional features for the specific console it emulates. For example, melonDS features native microphone support. In the case of systems with both RetroArch cores and standalone emulators available, the standalone emulator usually also provides better overall performance than the RetroArch core.
I thought about this today because the GBA slot on the ds can't play older original Gameboy/ color games, but the GBA can. I was wondering if this is even possible unless the 2 slots differ to each other in the amount of pins on them or if the DS would even recognize the older Gameboy games.
I believe that the DS (and DS Lite, for that matter) have some sort of software recognition in place to prevent DMG Game Boy and GBC games from being played. I might be mistaken, but I think there's a way around this but it requires some homebrewing of your DS to get it to work. If you have the parts and tools, though and you really want to play DMG and GBC games on your DS, you might as well try to swap the slot for a GBA slot. Not sure if it would work but might as well try it on a junker system or something like that if you have the chance.
A Game Boy Advance knows that a Game Boy or Game Boy Color cartridge is inserted since a physical switch is depressed by the cartridge (the reason for that notched corner of GBA cartridges is to avoid depressing said switch).
When that switch is activated the system enters backwards compatibility mode. The Z80 processor takes over, the GBA's ARM7 cpu deactivates, and even the voltage that the cartridge port operates at changes compared to GBA mode.
Backwards compatibility was eliminated to kill off the physical Z80 cpu on the DS that enabled backwards compatibility on the Game Boy Advance, reducing costs and the footprint of the internals (It's still present on the Micro, so a mod perhaps is more viable there). And since there's no Z80 processor laying in wait inside the DS (not to mention you'd need the GB bios), a cartridge port swap isn't going to do you any good.
Ultimately if you really want to enjoy GB/GBC on your DS, the answer involves homebrew emulation. And for that you'll have to research it on your own since that's not an area open for discussion here (even though GB/GBC patents are expired which leaves the physical hardware in the public domain, their bios files remain under copyright as do all commercially released software for both systems).
@Atariboy It's not a BIOS, it's a boot ROM. All it did was check that cart was authorized, and on the GBC it initialized the palette and identified what console it was. Software cannot utilize it all (that's the main distinction between a BIOS and a boot ROM, a BIOS gives use to software), that is the reason it took so long for the community to dump them, they had to find tricks.
It is such a thing if Nintendo doesn't support "GBA Mode" on the Zelda Oracle games on NSO. Hey, Nintendo, if you want to try to deter unofficial emulation, one of the smallest things you can do is support a feature that is as simple (to the original game) as swapping a single byte of RAM. You could give people the option to boot all GB/GBC games as if they were on either console. True, this feature by itself wouldn't change much but at least supporting such simple to include features would show a sign of caring. I don't have NSO, so I can't comment, but do they STILL not support button remapping (one of the most basic of all emulator features)?
The result is a word, with the size of decompressed data in bits 8-31, and bits 0-7 are ignored. This value is also returned by the bios function, unless getResult is non-NULL and returns a negative value. This useally returns the 4 bytes that source points to.
getResult is used to provide a result for the bios function, given the source pointer after all data has been read (or if getSize < 0). Its value is only returned if negative, otherwise the typical result is used, so it is likely some sort of error-checking procedure.
Once these screws have been removed you can pry the DS case open. It is a bit of a pain, but remove the bottom first, leave it so the bottom screen is laying face down or else you risk damaging the ribbon cable.
Now you may remove the top half of the shell from the board and remove the touch screen. Feed the ribbon cable through the slit like you see below. If you have no plans of using the top screen then you could also just cut the cable.
Now that you have the board free of the shell, and the touch screen removed you must solder a 330 OHM SMD resistor to the points marked below. LEDC2 and LEDA2. Orientation does not matter. Through hole resistors will also work, but will take up more space.
I have found that the easiest way to install these resistors is to first pool solder on the points (see below), then use a pair of tweezers to hold it to the points while heating the pool of solder. The resistor will lower to the point then you can solder the next point.
If you for some reason cannot use the easy solder points at LEDA2 and LEDC2 then you can also solder the resistor at the top screen ribbon cable pins. Specifically, you can use PIN 41 & PIN 38. See below. This will be much more difficult than the previous points.
Next, flip the motherboard over and solder the speakers to the points marked below. This tutorial will only include the right speaker. But if you want to use the left as well, solder it to the point referenced.
When building your Macro you may find speaker placement to be problematic. The most common area where you would install a speaker can inadvertently activate the sleep mode on the unit. You can bypass this by removing U11 from the motherboard.
I got the resistor soldered, put the battery in, turned it on, and the green light came on and stayed on but I got no picture. Could I possibly have not put the lcd ribbon connector for the bottom screen all the way in?
Your doing great work here, I have found that if you remove the plastic touch panel from the bottom screen before you put it back together it both improves the screen clarity and also will remove all the scratches that are on there from its original intended use. It becomes a beautiful shiny screen like the top one ?
considering if i have the skills to do this or not. but sadly i wanted a phat i love the way it fits in the hands better. i was doing a little google and found this tutorial: i noticed your site did not have one up.
Hi, what a amazing page, I followed your tut and I now have a working gb macro, thank you for all your hard work, I would have never figured out the resistor placementvand values with out your hard work. I have one question, I want a power light, where on earth did you get the light plugs and what size drill bit did you use
Nevermind, no difference. I had a totaled iPhone 6 and salvaged a speaker from that into my Macro. I made 4 sideways slits like on older gameboys where game slot 1 used to be and it looks really clean. Also, the sound quality is really good. Highly recommended.
Hi! Thanks for the guide!
Is there any other place I can solder the resistor instead of the LEDC2 point? Because I accidentally damaged it while trying to solder there.
Is there anything I can do to save it? Thanks!
Excellent guide! Just wanted to mention that the resistor is only necessary for the device to retain DS functionality in my experience. If your DS is set to Auto Mode (boots into game automatically when inserted/powered on) and your GBA screen mode is set to the bottom in your settings before starting the mod, then the device will skip the DS bios check that requires the resistor and boot directly into your GBA game. You lose access to Slot 1 and device settings without the resistor though, so no R4 or adjustable brightness
b37509886e