Homebrew Memory Expansion for Emulation and Homebrew

[wariobar]

Hi all,
I have a nds lite with a R4 and lately, I have been thinking about buying a cheap Memory Expansion Pak from a Nintendo DS Browser. Would it help the ds to run better the roms in neoDS, SNEmulDS, GbaRunner2, jenesisDS, etc. or improve nds-bootstrap compatibility list? It would be great if neods roms can be run with higher FPS or SNEmulDS would work better and with more roms. I have been reading some posts about it but it is not very clear for me, as nobody can't tell more or less what are the improvements if there are any.

If yes, would it be worth it? Maybe It would make more sense to buy an EZFlash card? In the end, I just want to squeeze as much as I can my old nds lite and be able to run its emulators/homebrew in the best way possible.

Thanks in advance!!
Mario

EDIT: I'm gonna keep updating this post to have the most up to date list with your comments. Please, do not hesitate to share any kind of software that uses slot-2 memory expansion for nds which is not included in the following list. Thanks!!


List of Slot-1 & Slot-2 carts with RAM expansion (NDS and NDS lite have 4MB RAM and DSi has 16MB RAM)

• Memory Expansion Pak (Nintendo DS Browser)
  • 8MB RAM
• EZ3in1 (*)
  • 16MB RAM
• M3
  • 32MB RAM
• DStwo
  • 32MB RAM

(*) More details about EZ3in1 software can be found here


List of Homebrew/Emulators/OSs that support RAM expansion

• TWiLight Menu++
• Moonshell 2

Expansion can be used to help decoding large JPEGs

• CycloDS Evolution Firmware v1.2 and up

Firmware that integrates rumble for Nintendo DS games, memory expansion for Opera Browser without any additional ROM patching, and GBA-NDS linking.

• DSOrganize
• Mini vMac DS
• DSLinux

RAM expansion used for preventing crashing when running programs

• Nintendo DS Browser (Official one)
  
• NeoDS

For any unknown reason, only NeoDS 0.20 EZ3in1 version supports RAM expansion.

• SNEmulDS

Provides additional RAM to the emulator in order to improve large SNES ROM emulation.

• PicoDriveTWL

It uses the Memory Expansion Pak or the DSi's RAM to store ROMs larger than 3MB.

• ScummVM DS

There is a special build available (scummvm-j.nds) for running Full Throttle and The Dig with Supercard, M3, G6, and EZ Flash.

• QuakeDS

QuakeDS exram version supports RAM expansion.

• Quake2DS

Only for slot-2 flash card that contains a minimum of 16 MB.

• MemtestARM / 3in1 SRAM test http://www.pineight.com/ds/

This program makes sure that RAM pak is working fine.

• Gbaldr

GBA ROM Loader for EZ3in.

• GBA_ExpLoader (Successor to 3in1 ExpPack Tool)

GBA ROM Loader and Patcher / Hardware Enabling for multiple Slot-2 RAM expansion.

• NOR Eraser

This utility can erase the NOR on the EZ Flash 3-in-1

 

[Indy13]

I don't know for the official memory expansion pak but SNEmulDS and a modified version of neods work with the EZ Flash 3in1 expansion pak.

You can find the modified neods here :

https://gbatemp.net/threads/list-of-all-emulators-for-ds.255764/page-6#post-9049950

 

[Alexander1970]

Hello.

Hi all,
I have a nds lite with a R4 and lately, I have been thinking about buying a cheap Memory Expansion Pak from a Nintendo DS Browser. Would it help the ds to run better the roms in neoDS, SNEmulDS, GbaRunner2, jenesisDS, etc. or improve nds-bootstrap compatibility list? It would be great if neods roms can be run with higher FPS or SNEmulDS would work better and with more roms. I have been reading some posts about it but it is not very clear for me, as nobody can't tell more or less what are the improvements if there are any.

If yes, would it be worth it? Maybe It would make more sense to buy an EZFlash card? In the end, I just want to squeeze as much as I can my old nds lite and be able to run its emulators/homebrew in the best way possible.

Thanks in advance!!

Mario

It definitely helps with @Robz8 ´s TWiLight Menu and the SNES/Genesis Emulator optimized by @Robz8 (maybe it helps also with the other Emulators but I am not sure),Pokémon Games and a few other Games.

Thank you.

 

[wariobar]

Cool, thanks for the confirmation @alexander1970 @Indy13 . I believe It would be nice to have a list of emulators and homebrew which have a better performance with this hardware, I may do it if I am able to find a second hand/cheap memory expansion pak for my nds lite. Meanwhile, any comment on a specific emulator or homebrew about this topic would be veeeery welcome here

 

[thegododeath]

The quake port can take advantage of the ram expansion.
https://www.quaddicted.com/files/engines/non-pc/Nintendo DS/The Home of QuakeDS.html

 

[FAST6191]

https://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/3_in_1_Expansion_Pack_for_EZ-Flash_V#Software
has a bunch of things.

That said other than rumble and maybe browsers (though one of the things like dshobro will be better there than I imagine anything from the DS era will be) you will probably get far better results in both practice (as in can run right now) and theory (if you care to code things) by finding a DSTwo and using its internal CPU.

 

[wariobar]

https://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/3_in_1_Expansion_Pack_for_EZ-Flash_V#Software
has a bunch of things.

Thanks a lot, I will update the list with this information once a have some time.

That said other than rumble and maybe browsers (though one of the things like dshobro will be better there than I imagine anything from the DS era will be) you will probably get far better results in both practice (as in can run right now) and theory (if you care to code things) by finding a DSTwo and using its internal CPU.

I agree, but nowadays it is so hard to find a DSTwo and even if you find it, its price compared with a second hand DS is crazy. So, I think I will focus on more realistic options for the memory expansion which are easy to find and with a reasonable price as EZ3in1 or the Memory Expansion Pack from the Nintendo DS Browser.

 

[RocketRobz]

PicoDriveTWL uses the Memory Expansion Pak or the DSi's RAM to store ROMs larger than 3MB.

 

[wariobar]

After some digging here and on the internet, I have finished it for now. So, you can see in the first post an up to date list of any kind of software that uses any slot 2 memory expansion.

Feel free to tell me if you miss anything!! Thanks for your collaboration

Mario

 

[Indy13]

Maybe you can add gbaldr, GBA_ExpLoader and DSOrganize (that use Moonshell)

 

[wariobar]

Maybe you can add gbaldr, GBA_ExpLoader and DSOrganize (that use Moonshell)

Done. Thank you!

 

[Technicmaster0]

Idk if you're still active but here are a few notes:
-The EZ-Flash OMEGA Definitive Edition can work as ram expansion, too. Quake 2 detects it as 28MB.
-Other kernels that support the 3in1 directly are wood r4, akaio and of course the EZ Flash V kernel.

 

[ZiggityZeke]

Does this mean the OMEGA can be used instead of the 3 in 1?