The main version system people use for DS firmwares does not work. I'm talking about the PictoChat color test to give firmwares labels like "v1" to "v7". I think it was okay when people first started discussing it. PassME was still being used and I'd guess there wasn't much in the way of firmware dumpers. There probably wasn't any info on the firmware header either, so it makes sense to assign some arbitrary version number to a glitch color.
The problem is that the PictoChat versioning is just wrong when compared to what we know today! Nintendo never had a "v1" or a "v2". They had well defined build dates and console types/regions. While understandable at the time, versions labelled by the scene were crudely done and are horribly inaccurate.
Here are the PictoChat color test versions:
v1: PictoChat freezes
v2: two greyish blue screens
v3: two dark green screens
v4: two golden yellow screens
v5: two magenta screens
v6: two dark blue screens
v7: DS system does not crash
iQue: two dark green screens
Let's go though each of the PictoChat versions and compare to the build dates we have today. This way we can see if old versions still hold up.
Freezes: v1
Okay, there's only one version that freezes and it's the oldest known build. The "v1" label works.
- 2004-10-05 11:07 (world)
Greyish blue: v2
Looks good here too! There's only one greyish blue and it's the second oldest.
- 2004-11-26 09:51 (world)
Green: v3
Green... green firmwares... wait a minute, there are two green firmwares? How can both of these with different build dates be the same version?
- 2005-02-28 08:51 (world)
- 2005-06-09 21:15 (iQue)
Green: iQue
Uhhh, wasn't green supposed to mean v3? Anyways, the world region firmware isn't iQue, so green is not a good identifier for an iQue firmware.
- 2005-02-28 08:51 (world)
- 2005-06-09 21:15 (iQue)
Yellow: v4
Wait wait wait. This is the only yellow firmware, so it must be v4. However, the iQue firmware that detected as v3 (green) has an newer build date than this v4 firmware. Therefore the v4 label does not work chronologically.
- 2005-06-06 14:48 (DS phat)
Magenta: v5
Woah. There are 6 different versions for magenta! The two v3s earlier seemed crazy, so what is this? How is magenta in any way a valid way of telling your firmware version? Excluding the phat prototypes and menuless distribution version, there are 11 firmware versions. 6 of those being magenta makes the v5 label meaningless. Not helpful.
And fun fact, there's a prototype (X2B) in the magenta list! But according to PictoChat that's just a v5 retail. Are you seeing the problem now?
Also wait... wasn't iQue green? We have an iQue here that's magenta. This makes no sense!
- 2005-11-30 16:16 (world, proto)
- 2005-12-07 14:45
- 2006-02-05 21:33
- 2006-03-08 11:19
- 2006-04-26 15:35 (iQue)
- 2006-11-09 21:30 (Korea)
Dark blue: v6
I've collected and tested all of the known firmwares and cannot see a dark blue firmware. So huh? Has this just been lost to time? Did I miss something? Please let me know. I'm genuinely curious.
Nothing changes: v7
v7 is literally just FlashMe. With FlashMe not being an official firmware, why is it in this list? Why is it stuck along with the others without a proper declaration that it's FlashMe?
So why am I bringing this up in 2023 where firmware versions don't really matter?
Because people are STILL using the PictoChat test. Not even using it as a approximate test (only forgivable reason to use PictoChat), but actually thinking that there's only v1 to v7. I realize nobody needs to check firmware versions anymore, but people still insist on checking. If you're gonna check, check it right dammit.
If for some reason you need to check a firmware version in the future, please see this TCRF page as it explains finding the build date.
I probably seem weird getting so unreasonably worked up over firmwares, but oh well, I'm a weird person.
The problem is that the PictoChat versioning is just wrong when compared to what we know today! Nintendo never had a "v1" or a "v2". They had well defined build dates and console types/regions. While understandable at the time, versions labelled by the scene were crudely done and are horribly inaccurate.
Here are the PictoChat color test versions:
v1: PictoChat freezes
v2: two greyish blue screens
v3: two dark green screens
v4: two golden yellow screens
v5: two magenta screens
v6: two dark blue screens
v7: DS system does not crash
iQue: two dark green screens
Let's go though each of the PictoChat versions and compare to the build dates we have today. This way we can see if old versions still hold up.
Freezes: v1
Okay, there's only one version that freezes and it's the oldest known build. The "v1" label works.
- 2004-10-05 11:07 (world)
Greyish blue: v2
Looks good here too! There's only one greyish blue and it's the second oldest.
- 2004-11-26 09:51 (world)
Green: v3
Green... green firmwares... wait a minute, there are two green firmwares? How can both of these with different build dates be the same version?
- 2005-02-28 08:51 (world)
- 2005-06-09 21:15 (iQue)
Green: iQue
Uhhh, wasn't green supposed to mean v3? Anyways, the world region firmware isn't iQue, so green is not a good identifier for an iQue firmware.
- 2005-02-28 08:51 (world)
- 2005-06-09 21:15 (iQue)
Yellow: v4
Wait wait wait. This is the only yellow firmware, so it must be v4. However, the iQue firmware that detected as v3 (green) has an newer build date than this v4 firmware. Therefore the v4 label does not work chronologically.
- 2005-06-06 14:48 (DS phat)
Magenta: v5
Woah. There are 6 different versions for magenta! The two v3s earlier seemed crazy, so what is this? How is magenta in any way a valid way of telling your firmware version? Excluding the phat prototypes and menuless distribution version, there are 11 firmware versions. 6 of those being magenta makes the v5 label meaningless. Not helpful.
And fun fact, there's a prototype (X2B) in the magenta list! But according to PictoChat that's just a v5 retail. Are you seeing the problem now?
Also wait... wasn't iQue green? We have an iQue here that's magenta. This makes no sense!
- 2005-11-30 16:16 (world, proto)
- 2005-12-07 14:45
- 2006-02-05 21:33
- 2006-03-08 11:19
- 2006-04-26 15:35 (iQue)
- 2006-11-09 21:30 (Korea)
Dark blue: v6
I've collected and tested all of the known firmwares and cannot see a dark blue firmware. So huh? Has this just been lost to time? Did I miss something? Please let me know. I'm genuinely curious.
Nothing changes: v7
v7 is literally just FlashMe. With FlashMe not being an official firmware, why is it in this list? Why is it stuck along with the others without a proper declaration that it's FlashMe?
=== ===
So why am I bringing this up in 2023 where firmware versions don't really matter?
Because people are STILL using the PictoChat test. Not even using it as a approximate test (only forgivable reason to use PictoChat), but actually thinking that there's only v1 to v7. I realize nobody needs to check firmware versions anymore, but people still insist on checking. If you're gonna check, check it right dammit.
If for some reason you need to check a firmware version in the future, please see this TCRF page as it explains finding the build date.
I probably seem weird getting so unreasonably worked up over firmwares, but oh well, I'm a weird person.
