# Nintendo DS ROMs - Some questions



## cliche guevara (Feb 26, 2008)

What does "ROM size" refer to? It's not the file size and is always a (can't remember the name for the sequence) number - 64, or 256 or 1024 etc...

Does it matter what region they're from? Can you load a Japanese ROM on an R4 with a load of European ROMs without having to fuck about with anything?

There might be more to come at some point too...


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## Kid_Eternity (Feb 26, 2008)

All DS roms are region free, I'd stay away from the text heavy Japanese ones if you don't read the language though...rom size is the size of the file in mb.


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## cliche guevara (Feb 26, 2008)

Kid_Eternity said:


> All DS roms are region free, I'd stay away from the text heavy Japanese ones if you don't read the language though



That's good to know, cheers. Wasn't planning to play any RPGs in japanese 




			
				Kid-Eternity said:
			
		

> ...rom size is the size of the file in mb.



Don't think I explained it properly... On this website, it lists the file size in mb, then the ROM size (always a 2^x number), what's the difference?


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## Kid_Eternity (Feb 26, 2008)

cliche guevara said:


> Don't think I explained it properly... On this website, it lists the file size in mb, then the ROM size (always a 2^x number), what's the difference?



Ah yeah I see what you mean, I've no idea what that relates too. Perhaps its the size of the cart that was released and file size is how much the game took up of it if that makes any sense?


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## cliche guevara (Feb 26, 2008)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Ah yeah I see what you mean, I've no idea what that relates too. Perhaps its the size of the cart that was released and file size is how much the game took up of it if that makes any sense?



Yeah could be. Seems to be totally irrelevant anyway, so I'll choose to ignore it henceforth.


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## Kid_Eternity (Feb 26, 2008)

cliche guevara said:


> Yeah could be. Seems to be totally irrelevant anyway, so I'll choose to ignore it henceforth.



Yeah I do, only the file size affects how many games I can stuff on my 2gig micro sd card.


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## cliche guevara (Feb 26, 2008)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Yeah I do, only the file size affects how many games I can stuff on my 2gig micro sd card.



Mine is coming very shortly, and I'm getting excited. I think 2gb will be more than enough, average game size seem to be about 35mb, which means I'll get more than enough on there at once.


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## Kid_Eternity (Feb 26, 2008)

cliche guevara said:


> Mine is coming very shortly, and I'm getting excited. I think 2gb will be more than enough, average game size seem to be about 35mb, which means I'll get more than enough on there at once.



Yeah it's about right, I manage to fit between 28 and 35 on there depending on the games (only playing two RPGs and thems the buggers that take up the space I tend to find)...


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## Jambooboo (Feb 26, 2008)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Ah yeah I see what you mean, I've no idea what that relates too. Perhaps its the size of the cart that was released and file size is how much the game took up of it if that makes any sense?



KE is spot on.

The rom size is the size in *Mbit* of the actual retail cartridge.

The file size refers to the actual size of the game in *MB*. 

The numerical difference between the two is dummy data used to fill the cartridge. This dummy data can be stripped by using a tool such as NDSTokyoTrim, thus making your roms smaller.


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## cliche guevara (Feb 26, 2008)

Jambooboo said:


> KE is spot on.
> 
> The rom size is the size in *Mbit* of the actual retail cartridge.
> 
> ...



Good work! Thanks, now I know that it is completely irrelevant to my needs, although it's interesting to know that the cartridges ship as different sizes.


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## Addy (Feb 26, 2008)

The Rom trimmer (NDS TokyoTrim on disc 3) will strip out all the crap you dont want from roms without affecting functionality (well, non that I have noticed)
I tend to trim all roms I load on the the card.
1. Put roms on card
2. Start TokyoTrim and point it at folder *:Games  (* = drive letter)
3. Press trim button
Done!


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