I have some Questions about the DSL, Supercard and the MML

grandparagon · May 14, 2006, 03:20:23 AM

I hope my questions aren't too stupid, but if the answers to all these questions are what i want to hear, then i'll definitely be getting the Supercard MiniSD soon and the Max Media Launcher (i feel more comfortable with this than flashme). With postage costs, the Supercard and MML will be the same price, but i think that if everything is good, then the price isn't an issue. I will also add that i am getting the Australian Polar White DS Lite when it is released and its best to assume that there is no new firmware on it for these questions. Anyway, Here are my questions:

Will the DS lite go into sleep mode without causing problems (such as the sound stuttering) with the MML and Supercard inserted?

Is there any negatives to the supercard and/or Max Media Launcher that i should be aware of?

Will i be able to transfer DS saves files to the computer for safekeeping and then put them back onto the DS to play from that save later on?

How big of a card should i get? I think i heard that you can only save one game at a time, does this mean i should get a smaller card? Or is there enough spaces to save multiple games and so a 1GB card would be more appropriate than a 128MB card?

What would the battery time be with these products? Would i have a much lower battery time in comparison to a standard DS lite and game? or will i have very low battery time?

I live in australia, is the European Code Junkies website the best place for me to order the Max Media Launcher?

My last question is just this. I care most about DS game compatablity and the other things i have mentioned above and price isn't really a problem. Is there anything you can say to persaude me that these items are not a good choice to get compared to other products?

(if any of this sounds confusing to you, ill be happy to elaborate for you. thanks to anyone who provides any help or assistance).

Devil_Spawn · May 14, 2006, 03:25:47 AM

Quote from: "grandparagon"
Will i be able to transfer DS saves files to the computer for safekeeping and then put them back onto the DS to play from that save later on?

Yep

Quote from: "grandparagon"How big of a card should i get? I think i heard that you can only save one game at a time, does this mean i should get a smaller card? Or is there enough spaces to save multiple games and so a 1GB card would be more appropriate than a 128MB card?

Depends what games you put on... i would say about 20-24 ds games on 1 GB and sometimes only 1 on a 128mb card, but i would say an average of 2-3. I would definitely go for a 512, or a 1 gb, but a 2 GB card is unnecesary

Quote from: "grandparagon"My last question is just this. I care most about DS game compatablity and the other things i have mentioned above and price isn't really a problem. Is there anything you can say to persaude me that these items are not a good choice to get compared to other products?

I have only found 1 DS game that isnt fully compatible(mario and luigi), but with the newest firmware etc i would say that 99% of games are compatible

so you have no trouble there

johnny9562001 · May 14, 2006, 10:24:54 AM

yes you can have multiple saves and no, a 2gb card is not useless i have a 4gb sd card and i love. since with 4gb i can have about 20 to 80 games, have music and have videos using moonshell. heres a very good price for 4gb sd
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820211319 its only 89.99 plus shipping.

ShinaKitsune · May 14, 2006, 01:12:13 PM

From what I have read the DS does not go into sleep mode with the MML in the DS. The MML is also not compatable with alot of flash cards, but it seems to do fine with the supercard. The "bad" about the supercard is it doesn't have perfect gba compatability, otherwise... nothing really. Software/firmware updates quite often to retain supurb ds compatability etc.

m2pt5 · May 14, 2006, 01:33:32 PM

Be aware that you'll need an SD card that is 1GB or less to upgrade the Supercard's firmware with. Bigger cards just don't work.

grandparagon · May 14, 2006, 11:47:18 PM

Quote from: "m2pt5"Be aware that you'll need an SD card that is 1GB or less to upgrade the Supercard's firmware with. Bigger cards just don't work.

I will get the 1gb (20 games seems more than enough to have on it :razz: ) MiniSD card, but i am very sure that i read that you can partition the card to have a 16mb partition that allows you to upgrade and this is correct, right?

The Incompatability to go into sleep mode sounds a bit of a negative to me, but the metroid demo (or a very cheap game worth a few dollars) could easily be swapped with the MML to put the DSLite into sleep mode, right? If so, then im happy there.

I saw another post on this forum in which someone said this: "SuperCard eats battery life away in around four hours on the old DS... six on GBA (maybe 6/8 in a DSLite?). M3 uses about the same energy as a real DS/GBA game. ". I play the PSP with full brightness and i am not worried about its battery life, do you think the supercard would allow about as much batter life? Or will i need the M3 if i want comparable battery time on full brightness?

Also, this may be the more difficult question to answer, but what would be the cheapest method of buying the Max Media Launcher and getting it delivered to australia? I know where to buy the Supercard MiniSD for cheap in australia, but the cheapest i can find the MML is for about the same price as a supercard MiniSD from the euro datel site (and i think thats not as cheap as it could be).

richardv · May 15, 2006, 01:02:06 AM

I did the last firmware update with a 4GB sd.
Worked fine.

m2pt5 · May 15, 2006, 02:31:53 AM

Quote from: "richardv"I did the last firmware update with a 4GB sd.
Worked fine.

Did you do it with the full SD formatted as a single partition or with the sub-partitioning trick?

And grandparagon: Yes, the 16MB partition trick is reported to work, but you'd have to repartition, reformat, and copy your games back and forth for every firmware upgrade. It's easier to just have a smaller card to use for it.

Edit: Also, I'd say the SC battery life on the DS Phat is more like 5-6 hours. Suffice it to say, I bought an extra AC adaptor so I'd have one to take to school with me, so I could recharge when the battery light goes red.

johnny9562001 · May 15, 2006, 10:25:20 AM

i did it full formated in fat with 64k cluster, no partition and upgraded perfectly to 1.62 using a 4gb sd.

Sonic · May 15, 2006, 10:29:15 AM

Romman solved this problem with the newest firmware.

ShinaKitsune · May 15, 2006, 01:32:12 PM

The battery time also depends on how much your SD card is going to eat up as well... some take more power than others, but normally the SC looks to be about 5-6 hours on the older-style DS with full volume playing a DS game... which either way is alot better than the 2 (running at 333mhz) or 3-4 you get playing a 3d game (222mhz) on the psp :p

grandparagon · May 15, 2006, 10:01:19 PM

Thankyou very much for all your help everyone.

My last biggest concern was battery time and if its longer than the PSP (both on full brightness), then i have no concerns at all. Not to mention that i'll probably never play the DS anywhere that doesn't have a powerpoint nearby anyway.

If people have the Max Media Launcher, they must have had to get it from that codejunkies site, so that is safe for me to order from.

Now unless there is any other possible negatives that i should be aware of with these products, then i think ill be ordering it very soon.

KujaDS · May 16, 2006, 04:05:22 AM

Quote from: "grandparagon"Thankyou very much for all your help everyone.

My last biggest concern was battery time and if its longer than the PSP (both on full brightness), then i have no concerns at all. Not to mention that i'll probably never play the DS anywhere that doesn't have a powerpoint nearby anyway.

If people have the Max Media Launcher, they must have had to get it from that codejunkies site, so that is safe for me to order from.

Now unless there is any other possible negatives that i should be aware of with these products, then i think ill be ordering it very soon.

I too am getting a SC miniSD equipped with a 1gb sandisk with Datal Max Media launcher. After some researching online it was the best choice for me. Because I don't have any interest in GBA games or movies. And as long as the battery will beat the PSP's 3-5 hours, it's all good.

However I do plan on flashing the DS Lite once I get it though. Good luck mate!

RowaN · May 17, 2006, 06:45:52 AM

Many homebrew apps have a sleep mode (screen turns off properly when lid closed).. DSOrganise for example. It doesn't require anything in the DS slot. I wonder if it would be feasable to see an updated supercard patcher program that can patch commercial sleep mode into homebrew style sleep mode.. ? Or maybe some kind of leet hardware mod to the MML hehe. :wink:

grandparagon · May 18, 2006, 03:48:24 AM

I have ordered both the supercard and the Max Media Launcher and i hope to god that i get them both in the time i was told by the websites. I just wanted to say thankyou again for everyone's input and help here and i look forward to posting my impressions/experiences with these items soon.