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[splinter98]

Ultimate SuperCard FAQ

This Article should answer most (if not all) questions about your SCDS:ONE (SDHC or not), If you question is not here, please ask in the forum and will be added to the FAQ  - This FAQ also should also compact all the long threads about certain aspects of the SuperCard so the answers to questions are easier to find. (with links to the original respective threads to ask questions if you get stuck)

The Whole FAQ is attached at the bottom.
EDIT: Now as a single text file and as a chm (zipped)

Contents:
Requirements
1. What hardware do I need to get my SCDS:ONE to work?
2. Is there any differences between MicroSD/Transflash Vendors
3. What MicroSD Card Manufacturer do you recoomend?

Version
1. Which version of SCDS:ONE do I have?
2. What is the Difference between the two?

Basic Setup/Functionality
1. How Do I setup my SuperCard?
2. How do I play games on my SuperCard?
3. Can I play music on my SuperCard?
4. Can I play videos on my SuperCard?
5. What is ndspatch.dat?
6. Can I swap the screens round?
7. What do the Patch settings mean?
8. Can I get the Loader to start in a folder Other than root?
9. What other settings can I change?
10. What is ZEP Language Patch?

Backup
1. How do I backup my games and Saves from my SuperCard?
2. Can I get my saves off any gamecarts I own to play on my SuperCard?
3. Is there any software that allows me to backup my games/saves?

Features
1. What Features does the SCDS:ONE have?
2. What is RTG (Real Time Guide) and How do I use it?
3. What is RTC (Real Time Cheats) and How do I use it?
4. What is RTS (Real Tims Save) and how do I use it?
5. How do I use MultiSave?

Game Compatibility
1. Game XXX doesn't seem to work
2. Where do I get XXX Rom?
3. Download play doesn't work, why/how can i fix it?

Homebrew
1. What is Homebrew?
2. Homebrew XXX cannot read my card?
3. What is DLDI Patching?
4. Do I need to DLDI patch my games?

GBA Games
1. Can play GBA games on my SuperCard?
2. How can I play GBA games using my Slot2 SuperCard?
3. How can I play GBA games using a EZ-Flash 3in1 (or Similar)?
4. When I try to play GBA games using a Supercard Slot2 Device I only see the Gameboy Logo

Multi-booting
1. What is Multi-Booting?
2. Can I press a button on startup to load homebrew/Game?
3. What is YSMenu/TTMenu and its pros/cons?
4. Can I get my gamesaves to work across all Loaders?

Skinning
1. What is skinning?
2. How do i change the SCDS:ONE skin?
3. What about TTMenu or YSMenu?
4. How can I create my own skin?

Other
1. What is Self Test Mode?
2. I get Psram error in Self Test Mode what do I do?

Requirements
1. What hardware do I need to get my SCDS:ONE to work?
You will require:
SCDS:ONE
MicroSD/Transflash Card
MicroSD/Transflash Reader (Supplied with you SCDS:ONE)

2. Is there any differences between MicroSD/Transflash Vendors and can that affect playability?
YES!
Some manufacturers cards, have slower read speeds than others. This means that some cards are too slow for the more intensive games, and freezes. (This usually occurs during cut scenes).

3. What MicroSD Card Manufacturer do you recomend?
Kingston Japan are the best cards, although Toshiba are almost as good.

Sandisk cards can be 5 times slower than Kingston's, (Especially their SDHC cards)

Version
1. Which version of SCDS:ONE do I have?
Generally:
If you card is WHITE then its the SDHC version
If you card is BLACK then its the non-SDHC Version

There has been a report that non-SDHC carts being white so the final check is to look at the label for the SDHC logo, if it has one its SDHC if not, its not.

2. What is the Difference between the two?
The only Difference is the the SDHC version can use MicroSD Cards upto 32GB, whereas the non-SDHC version can only go upto 2GB.

Basic Setup/Functionality

1. How Do I setup my SuperCard?
Download the OS from SuperCard.cn
SDHC: http://eng.supercard.cn/soft_scdsone_sdhc.htm
Non-SDHC: http://eng.supercard.cn/soft_scdsone.htm
Download the top link, extract and place conents on the root of your card.
Place any NDS/Music/Video files on your card
Insert MicroSD in the SuperCard
Place SuperCard in you NDS and turn on.

2. How do I play games on my SuperCard?
Find the folder where you placed your game and select it from the list

3. Can I play music on my SuperCard?
Find the Folder where you placed your music and select it from the list.
Supercard supports playing a folder of music, so there is no need to choose the next song after the first one is finished.

4. Can I play videos on my SuperCard?
Yes as the SuperCard OS is built upon Moonshell, Although you need to convert your Video into DPG format. (As that is the only video format the OS supports)
To do this you need to download a DPG converter
Moonshell w/ dpgtools 1.31 (http://home.att.ne.jp/blue/moonlight/moonshell171p1_with_dpgtools131.zip)
BatchDPG (http://hheyyouguys.googlepages.com/BatchDPG_MTv3_with_all_the_files.rar)
Please read the MoonShell Tutorial (http://www.scdev.org/forum/index.php/topic,11437.0.html) for full instructions.

Note: The OS is based upon an old version of moonshell (1.5 or 6) Where as the lastest version is 1.7.1 - This later version has better video playback support, and installing this will also support the newer version of DPG format.


5. What is ndspatch.dat?
ndspatch.dat is a file used by your SuperCard to tell it what savesize s a game requires.
The SuperCard Team do not release regular updates to this file, so newer games are therefore not listed.
jmr however does maintain an unofficial ndspatch.dat which is regularly updated with the latest games. see: http://www.scdev.org/forum/index.php/topic,14557.0.html

6. Can I swap the screens round?
Yes, Just Press L+A
Or, you can edit the global.ini setting to say which way round the screens should be. (see Q9)

7. What do the Patch settings mean/do?
Defualt - Set the currently selected options as Default
Save - Save the current settings for the Selected game.

Enable patch - Allows SuperCard to patch the ROM (Must be enabled for the others to work)
Patch Speed -
Enable Cheat - Enables the RTC system (requires a scc cheat file asccociated to make it work)
Patch Saver - Patches the game to save directly to the sav file rather than moving the save on reset
Enable Reset - Allows you to press L+R+A+B+X+Y to return to the supercard menu.
Enable DMA - Enables Direct Memory Access draws more power, and often not needed
Enable Guide - Allow you to access the RTG facility, requires a scb file to make it work
Fix Downplay - Disables any Patches that affects Download play from working, and ensure that patches do not affect Download play from corrupting
Realtime Save - Enables RTS Facility.

8. Can I get the Loader to start in a folder Other than root?
Yes, you can edit the Startup location in global.ini
Just open Global.ini and scroll down, it's well documentated so just read the comments.

9. What other settings can I change?
There are many settings you can change in global.ini, like the location of the startup sound or what happens when you shut the lid of your DS. Just open up global.ini and have a read through. If you discover that everything breaks just replace it with a fresh copy from the OS download from SuperCard (See Q1)

10. What is ZEP Language Patch?
ZEP Language Patch is a version of global.ini and Language.ini files that have been properly Translated into English by an English speaker. All of the text is correctly spelt and titles are less confusing.

ZEP also adds OGG support to your SuperCard.

For More info see: http://www.scdev.org/forum/index.php/topic,12238.0.html

Backup
1. How do I backup my games and Saves from my SuperCard?
When SuperCard plays a game it creates a .sav file which contains your save data. These saves are named after the games DOS shortname (ie instead of thisisagame.sav it would be thisis~1.sav) you can see the files shortname by selecting the game and pressing X and it is listed in the popup window.

To Backup just copy these .sav files to your computer or backup media

2. Can I get my saves off any gamecarts I own to play on my SuperCard?
Yes, There are many ways to do this, however all require either a computer or a slot-2 device.
You can backup your gamesave either by using:
WiFi
This requires a computer with a WiFi connection.
See: http://www.scdev.org/forum/index.php/topic,9915.0.html
or if you can access your computer/server by FTP see: http://www009.upp.so-net.ne.jp/rudolph/nds/Backup/
(NDS Backup ToolWiFi)
EZ-Flash 3in1
This method requires a EZ-Flash 3in1 (Or similar)
just downlaod Rudolph's 3in1 tool
http://www009.upp.so-net.ne.jp/rudolph/nds/Backup/
Other Slot-2 Device
This method requires a Slot-2 GBA cart like a SuperCard Mini SD
see: http://www009.upp.so-net.ne.jp/rudolph/nds/Backup/

3. Is there any software that allows me to manage my games/saves?
Yes, there are many game managers which supports ROM renaming, trimming Backup, download Cover Art etc.

Here are just a few
Rominator: http://www.gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=44909
OfflineList: http://offlinelist.free.fr/ (Requires a Dat from: http://www.advanscene.com/html/dats.php)
RToolDS: http://www.advanscene.com/phpbb2/viewforum.php?f=13

Features
1. What Features does the SCDS:ONE have?
The SCDS:ONE has one of the most complete list of features Avaliable.
Supports Clean ROMS - The card doesnt require patching ROMs for them to play.
Real Time Cheats - Be able to Activate/Deactivate Cheats
Real Time Guide - Be able to access a walkthrough/guide of the game, ingame
Real Time Save - Be able to save Anywhere.
MultiSave - Have more than one save of your game.

2. What is RTG (Real Time Guide) and How do I use it?
RTG stands for Real Time Guide, and allows you to view a guide in game by pressing L+R+START+DOWN. SuperCard uses special scb (SuperCardBook) files to view your guide, and any text document can easily be converted to this format using Supcards cht2supercard program (Avliable here: http://eng.supercard.cn/download/cht2supercardcheat_v1.02.rar)
Please see: http://eng.supercard.cn/manual/dsone/guide.html for more info
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYUU_nnm6kI

3. What is RTC (Real Time Cheats) and How do I use it?
RTC stands for Real Time Cheats and enables you to activate/deactivate Cheats while in game by pressing: L+R+START+UP
Other options are avaliable to enable/disable all cheats without entering the Cheat Menu.
Enable all cheats: L+R+START+LEFT (Usually not wise as cheats can conflict with each other and crash your game)
Disable all Cheats: L+R+START+RIGHT
Cheats are scc files (SuperCardCheat) and can be converted from Action Replay and Dipstar codes,
see: http://www.scdev.org/forum/index.php/topic,233.0.html for more info on how to convert AR Codes.
Also see: http://eng.supercard.cn/manual/dsone/cheat.html for more info
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYUU_nnm6kI

4. What is RTS (Real Tims Save) and how do I use it?
RTS Stands for Real Time Save and allows you to save at any point in any game.
You do this by pressing L+R+SELECT
This loads a menu where you can choose to Load or save your game.
When you Load a game and the graphics look borken or no sound is played, just enter and exit a room and they will be fine.
See: http://eng.supercard.cn/manual/dsone/realtime.html
Video: http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=7Xsw1UEQNUg

5. How do I use MultiSave?
You can have upto 4 saves per Game.

To use MultiSave just highlight the game you want to play and press X and select MultiSaver, and a new menu appears
From here you can select which save you want to use, add, delete or copy a save and you can also choose which savegame for the supercard to use as default.

NOTE: SuperCard store all saves in the same .sav and not as separate files.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYUU_nnm6kI

Game Compatability
1. Game XXX doesn't seem to work
There could be a number of reasons this could be:

Your MicroSD Card is too slow/speed setting is to low
Run the AutoSpeed utility under options to get SuperCard to run a speed test and set the fastest speed you card can play, if your card is still too slow (speed is <10) then buy a Faster Card (Kingston Japan)

SuperCard Patching
Try running the rom with Enable Patch Setting disabled, this will stop SuperCard from patching the rom but will stop all extra features SuperCard has. (This is Clean Rom running)

Check/Search http://www.scdev.org/forum/index.php/board,18.0.html to see if other have had problems running your game, if not post in here.

2. Where do I get XXX Rom?
(from the SCDev rules: http://www.scdev.org/forum/index.php/topic,8127.0.html)
RULE 1: NO Roms/iso/any warez links or request for such, pm or other wise.

3. Download play doesn't work, why/how can i fix it?
When SuperCard patches your game it can break the Games CRC hash (a hash of the game which changes if the file is modified), however by selecting Fix Download Play option (Press L+X to bring up patch options) should allow you to still use Download play. This will however some patch options like cheats so dont expect to see them work.

Homebrew
1. What is Homebrew?
Homebrew are NDS files that have been written by developers and are not for sale in shops, and are not certified by Nintendo. Homebrew can cover a wide range of applications and games to a varing degree of profesionality.
please see the homebrew section (http://www.scdev.org/forum/index.php/board,6.0.html) of some of the Homebrew released. Also Googling 'NDS Homebrew' will bring up many lists of applications you can get.

2. Homebrew XXX cannot read my card?
Homebrew that can read/write files from you MicroSD Card require DLDI patching, SuperCard does this automatically but if this fails you may need to manually patch your card.

3. What is DLDI?
See: http://dldi.drunkencoders.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

4. Do I need to DLDI patch my games?
Your SCDS:ONE supports Auto DLDI patching, however sometimes this may not work correctly and then you will need to DLDI patch your homebrew.

Also if you are using the MultiBoot Loader to play a HomeBrew they WILL NOT be DLDI patched, so you will need to do it manually.

GBA Games
1. Can play GBA games on my SuperCard without any other hardware?
Short Answer: No
Reason: GBA games require hardware present in the GBA gamecard, and this is not present in your Slot1 device.

2. How can I play GBA games using my Slot2 SuperCard?
By Plugging in your Slot2 Device you can select your GBA game and your SCDS:ONE will copy the game onto your device and play it.

3. How can I play GBA games using a EZ-Flash 3in1 (or Similar)?
To use you 3in1 with the SuperCard OS you will need to use a 3in1 manager:
http://www009.upp.so-net.ne.jp/rudolph/nds/ExpLoader/
To play GBA games:
Run ExpLoader
Press L/R untill you are on the GBA LOAD option
Find your GBA Game and run it
Your GBA game will now be flashed onto your 3in1
Now your 3in1 will behave just as if it was a real GBA Game.
Your savegame is stored on the 3in1 so you will need to use ExpLoader to back them up.

NOTE: ExpLoader has SRAM Patching so you do not need to worry about that.

See: http://www009.upp.so-net.ne.jp/rudolph/nds/ExpLoader/Readme_EN_UTF-16.zip

4. When I try to play GBA games using a Supercard Slot2 Device I only see the Gameboy Logo
Make sure your GBA games are clean and are not patched with the Supercard patcher.  If you still get the problem, try opening the file up in GBATA and fixing the header.

Multi-booting
1. What is Multi-Booting?
MultiBooting is a tool developed by Blissy that allows you to have more than one Loader, Such as the TTDS loader or YSMenu (Homebrew Game Loader for SC). You boot other loaders by pressing X or Y.

More Info: http://www.scdev.org/forum/index.php/topic,12509.msg93835.html#msg93835
Download: http://bliss.hanirc.org/blog/downloads

2. Can I press a button on startup to load homebrew/Game?
Yes, you can either setup YSMenu to autoLoad a game/homebrew, or (using Bliss's multibooter) rename the NDS file to YSmenu.nds, TTMenu.nds, SCDSONE.nds (the game will replace that loader and probably won't play ROMs)

3. What is YSMenu/TTMenu and its pros/cons?
TTMenu is the Menu used by DSTT/TTDS cards. Some people prefer this loader, to its layout.

YSMenu is based upon TTMenu, but has folder support (unlike TTMenu) and also has builtin support for 3in1 functions, for Rumble and Expansion, (Thus not requiring Rudolphs' ExpLoader)

4. Can I get my gamesaves to work across all Loaders?
Play your game first in TTMenu or YSMenu and SuperCard will be able to read them, OR rename the .SAV file to the same name as the .NDS

eg: "this is a game.NDS"
"thisis~1.SAV" becomes "this is a game.SAV"

Skinning
1. What is skinning?
Skinning Allows you to change Icons/Backgrounds of the SC OS, changing the look and feel of the loader.

2. How do i change the SCDS:ONE skin?
Requires OS SP4 or later (older verstions are skinable but neater from SP4)
Download a skin. (see: http://www.scdev.org/forum/index.php/board,21.0.html for some)
Extract the skins and place in a folder (or rename folder if called SCSHELL)
Copy Folder to ./SCSHELL/Skins (where ./ is the root of your MicroSD)
Goto Option -> Skin -> <Skin Title> to change your skin.
More Info: http://forum.supercard.cn/viewthread.php?tid=3024&extra=page%3D1

3. What about TTMenu or YSMenu?
These are also Skinnble for TTMenu visit the TTDS website: http://www.ndstt.com/english/download_en.htm#4

YsMenu is skinable although there are not many skins avaliable but there is one on the forum at: http://www.scdev.org/forum/index.php/topic,12509.msg94667.html#msg94667 (by JMR)

4. How can I create my own skin?
See: http://forum.supercard.cn/viewthread.php?tid=562&extra=page%3D1

Other
1. What is Self Test Mode?
Self Test Mode is a series of tests that the SCDS:ONE can perform to check if it's functioning properly.

To enter Self Test Mode Press L+R when booting up your DS.

2. I get Psram error in Self Test Mode what do I do?
This Indicates you (may) have a faulty unit, easiest option is to return it and request a new one.

If however you are feeling brave you can try this fixing this as posted by romman HERE

[dantheman]

Awesome, thanks for taking the time to compile all that information.  I'll read over it more fully later when I've got more free time, but for now I'm going to sticky this.

[splinter98]

Yeah no problem, didn't take long but thought it would be beneficial as then we can use this as reference for questions that are repeatedly asked, also some bits may need to be checked/edited as I wrote this half blind as I don't have access to my card atm, so there may be bugs but hopefully not many

Steve

[onekelly]

Nice work on this SCDS1 FAQ!

[splinter98]

Thanks onekelly,

Just added the Answer to Basic Setup/Functionality Question 7: What do the Patch settings mean/do? As I missed it out when writing it.

Also moved the 2nd half of the multi-save info as Game compatibility was pasted in between.

Hopefully (for the time being) there shouldn't be any more edits until new features come out or I've missed something.

Steve

[myBlue]

Hi splinter
nice job u've done here. but Im just asking a few question :p

why did you say that the SDHC can support up to 32Gb? is that true? ALAIK its only up to 8Gb, but if Im wrong, Im very glad. we're not lose to EDGE cart.

and why did you say the non SDHC can only goes up to 2Gb? if it's only because they're not support micro SDHC, well its wrong. I have found myself a 4Gb Micro SD (not SDHC). here on Indonesia, some of my friend were using a 4Gb micro SD with their non SDHC cart such as R4.

btw, can you explain (maybe with help from mods) about the use of ndsinfo.dat? what's the different with ndspatch.dat? Im still troubled explaining it to my friends so I cant help either..

Thanks

cheers

[Zorlin]

Hi splinter
nice job u've done here. but Im just asking a few question :p

why did you say that the SDHC can support up to 32Gb? is that true? ALAIK its only up to 8Gb, but if Im wrong, Im very glad. we're not lose to EDGE cart.

and why did you say the non SDHC can only goes up to 2Gb? if it's only because they're not support micro SDHC, well its wrong. I have found myself a 4Gb Micro SD (not SDHC). here on Indonesia, some of my friend were using a 4Gb micro SD with their non SDHC cart such as R4.

btw, can you explain (maybe with help from mods) about the use of ndsinfo.dat? what's the different with ndspatch.dat? Im still troubled explaining it to my friends so I cant help either..

Thanks

cheers

SDHC is a standard that supports cards of up to 32GiB. Both the Supercard DSOne [SDHC] and the EDGE use SDHC, which is why they can support 32GB cards.

[splinter98]

SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity, SD 2.0) is an extension of the SD standard that appeared in June 2006.[16] SDHC allows standard-compliant capacities in excess of 2 GB.

Anything that is 4GB or more is (usually) classed as SDHC you may get some non SDHC 4GB cards but these days they are unusual.

Also 8GB is the highest SDHC you can get at the moment although the specification allows it to go up to 32GB hence 32GB in my FAQ

[dantheman]

There are 4 GB non-SDHC cards out there, but they are non-standard and as such there is no guarantee that they will work properly.

[bitblt]

(belated)


Nice work splinter98. 

[splinter98]

Thanks bitblt it should help reduce the amount of similar questions being repeatedly asked (but also provides a place to say where they are rather than having to search the forum).

EDIT: Just updated the FAQ to include Self Test Mode and Romman's Psram fix.
EDIT2: Just inserted links to Video's produced Supercard for the '4 Dream Functions'

[Dudu.exe]

just a fix.. there is white SCDS non SDHC too

[splinter98]

really? the site only shows 2 carts for non SDHC and they only differ in label - will update tho

[Dudu.exe]

My SCone v1 was black ( i sold it ), my V2 is White ( is dead by a book droped on it ), and my V3(sdhc) is Black ( i cheated, i painted it with a CD marker )


Supercard One V1 is Main Black\white (red PCB Without Screws )
Supercard One V2 is Main White\Black (Green PCB Without Screws)
Supercard One V3 (SDHC) Main White\(black? never seen) (Green PCB with Screws)

you should just look for the SDHC logo on the sticker, if it do not have a SDHC logo, check the PCB color in the uSD port to check if it is the V1 or V2 ( V1 may need a bootstrap update to fix some fat32 issues )


Ps.. please make a version of this post on forum.supercard.cn too i will fix it, its a great faq, it will be very usefull there

[splinter98]

My SCone v1 was black ( i sold it ), my V2 is White ( is dead by a book droped on it ), and my V3(sdhc) is Black ( i cheated, i painted it with a CD marker )


Supercard One V1 is Main Black\white (red PCB Without Screws )
Supercard One V2 is Main White\Black (Green PCB Without Screws)
Supercard One V3 (SDHC) Main White\(black? never seen) (Green PCB with Screws)


you should just look for the SDHC logo on the sticker, if it do not have a SDHC logo, check the PCB color in the uSD port to check if it is the V1 or V2 ( V1 may need a bootstrap update to fix some fat32 issues )

I will Edit that later, thanks for the info

Ps.. please make a version of this post on forum.supercard.cn too i will fix it, its a great faq, it will be very usefull there

Done