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[bitblt]

I received my new Supercard DS (One) today. I will highlight some subjects I'm sure some people are dying to know about, especially those who have already pre-ordered SCDS.

Yes, SCDS appears to be THE premium-plus-nitro-uber-extreme slot1 Supercard that many of us have been waiting for. It's not perfect but it's my favorite slot 1 solution yet, followed by DSLink and then DS-X.

The SCDS feels solid and well made. The shell is constructed of durable black plastic. It doesn't feel fragile like DS-X. (but DS-X has cool LEDs) The SCDS microSD slot has a smooth spring loaded push release type lock mechanism, not the slide in slide out type used with DSLink.

The SCDS supports FAT16 and FAT32. With FAT32 support the SCDS should be ready for 8GB or larger microSD of the future. I have tested SCDS with a 512MB Kingston and 2GB Sandisk (not Ultra). I didn’t notice any performance difference between the two cards. The Castlevania intro was not bad but it wasn’t perfect. Hidden files and directories are supported.

Like some other slot 1 devices the SCDS processor pokes through the shell somewhat and is hidden under the front sticker label. I've started to notice a little wear on the label already. Note sneef reported that his SCDS was getting stuck in slot 1 with read errors. He had to return it for an exchange. I’ve tested my SCDS with several DS Lite and DS phat without issues.

There has been a rumor floating around that SCDS and several other slot 1 cards share the exact same hardware design. Speculation has been made that X9, SCDS, R4DS, EWin and M3S are all made by the same manufacturer, the only differences being the OS software. This has not been confirmed.

If you like the Moonshell interface then you will love the SCDS interface. The Supercard team has created an OS shell that is an advanced version of Moonshell. You can now launch homebrew and commercial ROMS just as easy as playing video and music. Everything is integrated together and you can use the touch screen for pull down menus and game icons. Scrolling the list seems a little sluggish with icons enabled. Like Moonshell, the SCDS OS can be skinned and customized by modifying the \shell directory.

Game compatibility appears to be very good. I did not have time to test all 774 ROMs (lol) so I picked some I know have issues with other slot1 and slot2 cards. I’ve tested the following ROMs without patching them . . .

Pokemon Dash (works)
Ultimate Spider-Man (works)
Castlevania (works) (intro was not perfect with 512MB Kingston or 2GB Sandisk)
Animal Crossing (works) (there was a little lag)
Legend of Spyro (works)
Clubhouse games (works)
Tony Hawk’s Sk8land (works)
Tony Hawk’s Downhil Jam (works) (minor graphic artifacts)
Nacho Libre (works)
Danny Phantom (works)
Nintendo DS Opera Browser (works with a RAM pack)
Opera patched (works using a slot 2 SC as a RAM pack) (minor graphic artifacts)

Note: Some ROMs will require you to manually select the save type. For example the Opera browser needs to be set to 4M save before it will run correctly.

Like most slot 1 cards the SCDS does not currently support homebrew that uses standard fatlib.  There are special versions of DSOrganize and Moonshell 1.51 available for SCDS. Romman has released SCDS FAT driver source code. Hopefully more homebrew will support SCDS FAT driver soon.

There are many features of the SCDS I haven’t even had a chance to understand yet. For example the SCDS menu has options for “GBA Union”, “Rumble mode”, and “SD speed” settings. I also haven't had a chance to experiment with the "super mode" patcher. Who knows what Romman and the Supercard team have planned next.

ADVANCED:

If your DS is NOT flashed then it will boot directly to the SCDS menu. You don’t even need to respond to the Nintendo health warning. That is a nice feature. (In contrast DS-X requires you to answer the health warning screen and then select the DS-X icon before it will boot.) After the DS boots to the SCDS menu it’s possible to run LoveLite to boot your slot 2 Supercard.  If you want to switch back to the SCDS menu (without a power cycle) you can run a patched version of the MK4 dump (sm-mk4ds.nds).

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EDIT

If your DS is flashed then you will need to hold the SELECT button to boot slot 1 instead of slot 2.
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For those of you who still have a SCCF you can do something cool. SCDS can link to content on your SCCF. You can for example run DSDoom from the SCDS menu and link to doom.wad, etc. located on the SCCF. You can also run the Supercard version of Moonshell from the SCDS menu and browse SCCF files. This link feature even works with other versions of Supercard depending on the fatlib used. For example DSLiveWeather can be run from the SCDS menu and link to content on any version Supercard.

The subjects described above are discussed in more detail (including links) in the following thread.  (works the same as DSLink) . . .

HOW TO use Supercard and DSLink at the same time
http://scdev.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7514

[Devil_Spawn]

with the SCCF thing, does this also work with an SCSD?

[bitblt]

with the SCCF thing, does this also work with an SCSD?

Not usually.  Only if the homebrew in question uses the same fatlib Lick used with DSLiveWeather.

This link feature even works with other versions of Supercard depending on the fatlib used. For example DSLiveWeather can be run from the SCDS menu and link to content on any version Supercard.

[onekelly]

bitblt, thanks for the update and the detailed descriptions! I don't have a sc cf but that is very interesting, but i do not understand the advantage of that feature, can you explain?

[sWampy]

I hope they will sometime add the ability to list files on the slot 2 card from the slot 1 card, so you can easily carry around 2 gigs of stuff while using cheap 1 gig cards.   Or very soon carry around 4 gigs with 2 cheap 2 gig cards instead of one very expensive 4 gig card.

[Joey Ravn]

I hope they will sometime add the ability to list files on the slot 2 card from the slot 1 card, so you can easily carry around 2 gigs of stuff while using cheap 1 gig cards.   Or very soon carry around 4 gigs with 2 cheap 2 gig cards instead of one very expensive 4 gig card.

That would be the awesomeness. I think GBA Union should be working like this, reading GBA roms from slot2, like real carts. Besides, like you're saying, we'll be able to save a lot of money this way  :lol:

[moviecouple]

bitblt, since you are saying that

The Opera browser needs to be set to 4M save before it will run correctly.

do you have to do this everytime you run the program... or does it retain it in memory after you do it the 1st time?

Also can we use the sm-mk4ds.nds (boots into Slot 2 then use) like we did with the DSLink... or do we have to use the unpatcher? Not quite sure what you meant.

You actually took the chance and ran the unptacher from the DSOne?

[onneeye]

Where do you get the supercard unpatcher? My comings next week.

Sorry, find the topic on it.

[Devil_Spawn]

with the SCCF thing, does this also work with an SCSD?

Not usually.  Only if the homebrew in question uses the same fatlib Lick used with DSLiveWeather.

This link feature even works with other versions of Supercard depending on the fatlib used. For example DSLiveWeather can be run from the SCDS menu and link to content on any version Supercard.

so what about the sc:sd build of moonshell? do you mean it only works with fat libs that supports the scsd??

[bagster]

I hope they will sometime add the ability to list files on the slot 2 card from the slot 1 card, so you can easily carry around 2 gigs of stuff while using cheap 1 gig cards.   Or very soon carry around 4 gigs with 2 cheap 2 gig cards instead of one very expensive 4 gig card.

Yeah, that can be nice if we can copy stuff from CF to microSD.  We can have a small (256M) microsd, and carry a large CF.  We plug it in, copy the game and remove the CF

[sneef]

bitblt, since you are saying that

The Opera browser needs to be set to 4M save before it will run correctly.

do you have to do this everytime you run the program... or does it retain it in memory after you do it the 1st time?

it saves your save size selection.  in fact, there's a nice little window (at first I was annoyed because it sort of blocks the main window, and I kept closing it) that shows the details of whichever .nds file you have highlighted, and it has a "change" or "edit" button (can't remember which) with which you can change the save size, and save your choice.

Its a very very nice interface.  can't wait for my replacement!

[sneef]

bitblt, thanks for the update and the detailed descriptions! I don't have a sc cf but that is very interesting, but i do not understand the advantage of that feature, can you explain?

normally slot-1 only accesses slot-1 for data (except for the ram pack used by opera).  using the method bitblt is describing, you can run homebrew such as dsdoom (or is it doomds?)  from SCDS, and store the .wad file in your SCCF, which it can link to.  This way the bulky data is in the CF, but you can boot from the nice SCDS menu, and only have to insert the ugly SCCF when you want to use such data linking functions.

I'll let bitblt explain it better..  you'll understand more by following the link at the bottom of the first post.

[gamesphere]

Big question Bit bit please answer!!!

i have a sc lite and i have my game files plus .sav

Since scds plays clean roms, If i put the clean rom on scds and the .sav from my games on the sc lite will it still work? Meaning, Can i use the saves from my sc lite with clean roms? :oops:  :oops:  :oops:

*holds breath*

[jbullfrog]

bitbit,

Is the Castlevania you are talking about, Castlevania POR?

[onekelly]

I see alot of info on sav sizes, how do you know what size the save file has to be when using the sc dsONE?