Simple GBA Mode Switcher
With Slot-1 DS flash carts, you sometimes want to boot a GBA cart in Slot-2. There’s probably something already out there for this, but I couldn’t find one so I made a small and simple GBA mode switcher. It uses the setting you’ve selected in your DS firmware to determine which screen to run on. This is probably the shortest DS code I’ll ever write, so source is included in this post.
ARM7:
#include <nds.h>
int main(void) {
uint8 current, backlight;
if(((PERSONAL_DATA *)0x023FFC80)->gbaScreen) {
backlight = ~PM_BACKLIGHT_TOP;
}
else {
backlight = ~PM_BACKLIGHT_BOTTOM;
}
// Reset the clock if needed
rtcReset();
//enable sound
powerON(POWER_SOUND);
SOUND_CR = SOUND_ENABLE | SOUND_VOL(0x7F);
REG_SPICNT = SPI_ENABLE | SPI_DEVICE_POWER | SPI_BAUD_1MHz | SPI_CONTINUOUS;
REG_SPIDATA = 0x80;
SerialWaitBusy();
REG_SPICNT = SPI_ENABLE | SPI_DEVICE_POWER | SPI_BAUD_1MHz ;
REG_SPIDATA = 0;
SerialWaitBusy();
current = REG_SPIDATA & 0xff;
current = current & backlight;
SerialWaitBusy();
REG_SPICNT = SPI_ENABLE | SPI_DEVICE_POWER | SPI_BAUD_1MHZ | SPI_CONTINUOUS;
REG_SPIDATA = 0;
SerialWaitBusy();
REG_SPICNT = SPI_ENABLE | SPI_DEVICE_POWER | SPI_BAUD_1MHZ;
REG_SPIDATA = current;
SerialWaitBusy();
swiSwitchToGBAMode();
return 0;
}
ARM9:
#include <nds.h>
int main(void) {
if(((PERSONAL_DATA *)0x023FFC80)->gbaScreen) {
POWER_CR &= ~POWER_SWAP_LCDS;
}
else {
POWER_CR |= POWER_SWAP_LCDS;
}
return 0;
}
thats kool, hmm.. what if you make it vice versa? i mean like instead of a nds file switching to gba mode, make a gba. file that switched into nintendo ds mode for ds users.
wangtang
25 Jan 07 at 3:45 pm
One problem I had is that the DS doesn’t always keep the most recent personal settings at that one location (it uses two that I have seen in my own firmware dumps, at any rate).
Here is the code I used to get around that:
http://l33t.spod.org/~cory1492/EZDStoGBA_V2.zip
(also EZDStoGBA_V4.zip, EZDStoGBA_V3_Framed.zip, EZDStoGBA.zip at that same base url).
Not nearly as tidy as yours, mind, and with ez4 specifically in mind for a couple things (bankswitching OS NOR for the reboot).
Any rate, thanks for the goodies; I’m sure alot of people will indeed appreciate the tiny util
cory1492
28 Jan 07 at 9:32 pm
This is a very nice piece of software…. I was really looking for something like this I have an M3 Simply + EZ2 PS, so for me this is a great software.
Thanks a lot!!!
Caco
1 Feb 07 at 12:54 pm
wangtang: I don’t know of any way to switch back to DS mode once the GBA BIOS has been loaded and the DS is in GBA mode, so I’m not sure that’s possible.
cory1492: Thanks for the tip and the code, I’ll have to have a look at it. I was going off the information in the NDSTech wiki as to where the copy of the personal settings was stored, and it seemed to work on my DS’s (then again they both have FlashMe V7 installed).
ryanfb
1 Feb 07 at 8:42 pm
How to replace black border of GBA games on DS with an image.
http://scdev.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5192&start=60
GAA-GSG
6 Feb 07 at 4:21 am
Have you perhaps heard of cartreset? It allows you to boot a slot-2 and is in the form of an nds rom. Works seamlessly on my DS-x w/ a G6 Lite. It was a bit hard to find, but if you search for ‘cartreset.zip’ you should be able to find it in the DS-x forums. I recall the coder also created LoveLite.
mboehm
15 Feb 07 at 8:59 pm
Hi, nice mini-app
Do you have any idea how to switch back to the NDS main menu from an NDS app ?
The (slot1) flash cart I use boots straight into its loader rather than allowing the option to go to the main NDS menu, and I’d like an app to load via the loader but make it return to the main NDS menu (with pictochat/download-play etc available).
Hiryu
21 Feb 07 at 3:35 pm
wangtang: If that was possible then there would be no market for pass-card devices (or the various new Slot1 carts). Any slot2 flash cart would be able to boot in GBA mode, switch to DS mode, and load NDS games from a Slot2 cart. It’s something that Nintendo protected fairly well, and as far as I know noone has been able to work around it (except for by booting from Slot1 using either a passcard device or a slot1 card, or re-flashing their DS bios)
Hiryu
27 Feb 07 at 1:19 am
could you some how have a border injecter so when we use your gba switch we can use a nice border instead of seeing the black space around the games?
Shadow
3 Apr 07 at 3:44 am
This is great! I was looking for something like this. What release of DKA does this work on?
TeenDev
6 Apr 07 at 8:25 pm
[...] Here’s the newest build of GBAMP Multiboot . It adds the ability to boot the GBAMP in to GBA mode. The GBA booting code I was using was outdated and didn’t compile with my environment so you must use a 3rd party GBA booter such as HyperHacker’s or RyanFB’s and rename it gbaboot.nds and put it at the root of your card. The program is pretty self explanitory when you load it up. [...]
TeenDev » Blog Archive » GBAMP Multiboot Selector v1.2
9 Apr 07 at 5:39 pm
This is a very useful little program… thanks! I agree with Shadow, though… being able to use ‘frames’ for GBA mode would make this utility perfect!
Banjo
10 Apr 07 at 10:24 pm
Can anyone compile this in PALib? I’m using PALib for an app, and I would like to add a ‘Boot GBA’ option.
Spinal
19 May 07 at 4:36 am
I’ve updated this code to work with the latest devkitARM & libnds, get it here:
ARM7
http://paste.uni.cc/16216
ARM9
http://paste.uni.cc/16217
chuckstudios
10 Jun 07 at 10:12 am
I’m betting I sound like a complete idiot when I say this but
can you run GBA roms like this?
(I have a slot-1 R4/M3 simply)
fuzoid
1 Jul 07 at 4:36 pm
Chuckstudios I can’t compile that code with the lastest Devkit.
Can you give me an advice for it ? What is the template for this code ? My attempts always failed. Thanks
Dumb
12 Jul 07 at 3:14 am
im having the same issue as Hiryu posted a few months back. ive seen other people with m3 perfects and their nds’ load into the normal nds start screen but my passcard loads straight into m3. id really like to be able to start off with the option of choosing whether to load m3 or play with the settings, pictochat etc without having to eject the passcard every time. any suggestions?
kiyo
19 Sep 07 at 10:04 am
Thank you for this great app!
i have a problem with using this with my m3 real
I put the downloaded nds file with the code in the root
when this code/nds file is launched it loads which ever gba rom was recently played / stored in the gba expansion ram and says “loading…” on the screen
Petervenkman
2 Feb 08 at 10:38 am
fuzoid: i highly doubt that you would be able to use roms, but its possible
sWiTcHmE
15 Mar 08 at 11:10 am