# Making my R4 work for Christmas...



## TopCat (Dec 23, 2008)

I have R4 chips. I have lickle kiddies who will want to play with these on Christmas day. I need to ensure it all goes seamless to avoid their lickle tears.

So.....

I put the DVD in the PC. 

Er what next?


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## Addy (Dec 23, 2008)

The carts should already have the system files on the root of the MicroSD (these will have hidden & read only attributes)
Pop the MicroSD card out of the R4 and into the USB stick provided.
Navigate to the 'GAMES' folder on the card and there you will see the _'game'_.NDS files.
To add more games, put the dvd in the drive and navigate to it... here you will see all the games (normally in a zip or rar file) . double click the game you want ( or Right click - Explore) and you should then see the _'Game'_.NDS file.
Now just copy and paste (or drag and drop) into the MicroSD GAMES folder.


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## TopCat (Dec 23, 2008)

Thanks Addy, much appreciated.


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## TopCat (Dec 25, 2008)

Awesome. The kids are gobsmacked.


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## Addy (Dec 25, 2008)

...now to sell all their original games to fund the R4's


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## Kid_Eternity (Dec 25, 2008)

TopCat said:


> Awesome. The kids are gobsmacked.



Heh I made the mistake of showing two kids my mum looks after the R4 recently, they haven't left me alone since. Every time I go round they're asking about, where I can get one, have I got the DS with me etc...it's like pure magic to them!


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## TopCat (Dec 25, 2008)

An amazing gift. Awesome.


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## TopCat (Dec 25, 2008)

....


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## fogbat (Dec 25, 2008)

Bah. Still can't get mine working *mutters*


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## Addy (Dec 25, 2008)

fogbat said:


> Bah. Still can't get mine working *mutters*


 
Whats the problem?


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## fogbat (Dec 25, 2008)

Addy said:


> Whats the problem?



I have the two files, _DS_MENU and _DS_MSHL.NDS, as well as the two directories, _system_ and moonshl, which I understand comprise the kernel.

I've copied these onto the newly formatted SD card, in the USB key thing, along with a couple of .nds game files. 

After transferring the SD card to the R4 unit, I pop it into the DS and switch it on. I briefly get the loading screen that you get when you pop a proper game in, but before it gets to the point where it tells you to touch the screen, it switches to a black screen with the word "Loading..." on it, and gets no further.

Googling seems to suggest that the SD card is screwed, but I'm quite willing to accept that I'm an idiot doing something completely wrong


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## Addy (Dec 25, 2008)

It does sound like either:
The games are NEW games and the firmware wont let them load due to Copyrights (arm7.bin file replacement)
or
You have the wrong firmware installed on the R4
(is it a genuine R4 rev.2 or a clone R4?)

What is the firmware on the cart?
A genuine R4 rev.2 runs on v1.18 firmware

We can get this sorted for you


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## fogbat (Dec 25, 2008)

The firmware on the cart is 1.18, by which I mean I downloaded the rar file from http://r4ds.cn/download/r4_v1.18_kernel.html, extracted it, and put the two files and dirs on the root directory of the card.

The games are all .nds files that have worked on another R4 on another DS (tomorrow I'm planning on swapping round SD cards and R4s to see if one or other of the hardware bits don't work).

I'm not sure how to tell whether it's a genuine or a clone, sorry. It all came in a box looking like this:







Your help is enormously appreciated, by the way


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## Addy (Dec 25, 2008)

Is there a number 2 in a circle stamped on either end on the white card insert/box/tray?

For a full list of possible firmwares look here.... http://linfoxdomain.com/nintendo/ds/


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## fogbat (Dec 25, 2008)

Addy said:


> Is there a number 2 in a circle stamped on either end on the white card insert/box/tray?



Nope, tis an all-white box apart from "R4" printed in a light grey colour.


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## Addy (Dec 25, 2008)

Did your R4 ship with a mini cd with firmware on?


Try each 1 in turn from the list below

*R4 SDHC* Latest: v1.25

Official Site 1, Official Site 2
Another R4 Clone. Obviously supports SDHC. May also be known as 'NDSL R4'.

*R4SDHC_v1.25_English.zip* 7.59 MB
 
*R4 Pro* Latest: v1.50

Official Site
The R4 Pro is part R4 Clone, and part AceKard RPG clone (the loader is apparently a copy of the RPG's).

*R4Pro_v1.50.zip* 4.51 MB
*R4-III* Latest: v3.07

Official Site 1, Official Site 2
The 'R4-III' or 'R4 Upgrade' is yet another poor R4 clone. It supports SDHC.

*R4III_v3.07_English.zip* 8.46 MB


Official Site
The 'R4 III SDHC' is another clone. It is different from both the R4-III and the R4 SDHC.

*R4IIISDHC_v3.07_English.zip* 4.60 MB
 
*R4 Advance* Latest: v1.22

Official Site
'R4 Advance'. Just another clone.

*R4Advance_v1.22_English.zip* 9.65 MB
 
*R4 Deluxe* Latest: v1.20

Official Site
The 'R4 Deluxe' is just another clone. Might be the same as the 'R4 Advance'.

*R4Deluxe_v1.20_English.zip* 8.13 MB
 
*R4 Ultra* Latest: v1.51

Official Site
The R4 Ultra is part R4 Clone, and part AceKard RPG clone (the loader is apparently a copy of the RPG's).

*R4Ultra_v1.51_English.zip* 4.50 MB


Official Site
The 'R4 New' (possibly the R4 SDHC or 'R4 SDHC New' or something like that) is yet another clone.

*R4New_v1.50.zip* 4.51 MB
 
None will harm the R4 or the DS, they will just fail to load / freeze


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## fogbat (Dec 27, 2008)

Right, just to catch up - it turns out it was the microSD  card. Either it doesn't work properly with the R4, or the R4 can't cope with a 4 gig card. 

Borrowed my dad's 2GB card, stuck the same files on, and it works fine. 

Cheers for all your help, Addy


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## Addy (Dec 27, 2008)

If your R4 is Genuine it will only support up to 2GB MicroSD, not SDHC cards.


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## Jambooboo (Dec 27, 2008)

I haven't followed the R4/M3 Simply happenings in ages. I understand that the manufacturers have stopped developing firmwares for them but there are user created ones, including some hybrid one - YsMenu.

Haven't downloaded any games for the DS in ages, other than Chrono Trigger, which I had to get a patched version of.


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## fogbat (Dec 27, 2008)

Addy said:


> If your R4 is Genuine it will only support up to 2GB MicroSD, not SDHC cards.



Think that'll be it, then 

Thanks again


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