GBA Movie Player for Homebrew
I recently got a Gameboy Advance Movie Player to use on the Nintendo DS for homebrew development.
Out of the box a GBAMP allows a compact flash card to be used to store movies, music and games to be run on the Gameboy Advance. With a third party firmware update it can also be used on the Nintendo DS to run homebrew games.
A big reason for me getting the GBAMP was that some recent homebrew titles require devices like it so they can read and write files to the compact flash card. With a standard GBA flash cartridge you don't get much storage capacity. With a GBAMP you are only limited by the size of the CF card. DSLinux for example can use the card for storage and run other linux programs from it.
Note that you still need a means of allow the Nintendo DS homebrew on the CF card to run on the DS. Either a passme, flashme or wifime. I recently used 'flashme' to update the firmware of my Nintendo DS so I no longer need a passme or wifime.
Updating the GBAMP firmware was easy. I downloaded the 2.11 version from chism's site and copied the ndsmp.gba file onto the CF card. I Put the CF card in the GBAMP and used the 'Game' menu option from the GBAMP. Following the on screen instructions I flashed the new firmware. It took only a few seconds.
Once that's done you can then copy any homebrew Nintendo DS program (the .NDS file) onto the CF card and call it _BOOT_MP.NDS. With the CF card in the GBAMP and that in the DS, turning the DS on will immediately run the homebrew program.
If you want to not run it, or use the standard GBAMP programs, hold 'select' down while turning on the DS. You can then then choose the 'Start GBA Game' option in the Nintendo DS firmware and use the GBAMP as normal.
The GBAMP is slightly different to a GBA flash cartridge so won't run all homebrew. It doesn't have SRAM for example so can't run any homebrew that reads or writes to SRAM. But supported homebrew can read and write to the CF card which makes up for it.
Categories: nintendods, gbamp
Out of the box a GBAMP allows a compact flash card to be used to store movies, music and games to be run on the Gameboy Advance. With a third party firmware update it can also be used on the Nintendo DS to run homebrew games.
A big reason for me getting the GBAMP was that some recent homebrew titles require devices like it so they can read and write files to the compact flash card. With a standard GBA flash cartridge you don't get much storage capacity. With a GBAMP you are only limited by the size of the CF card. DSLinux for example can use the card for storage and run other linux programs from it.
Note that you still need a means of allow the Nintendo DS homebrew on the CF card to run on the DS. Either a passme, flashme or wifime. I recently used 'flashme' to update the firmware of my Nintendo DS so I no longer need a passme or wifime.
Updating the GBAMP firmware was easy. I downloaded the 2.11 version from chism's site and copied the ndsmp.gba file onto the CF card. I Put the CF card in the GBAMP and used the 'Game' menu option from the GBAMP. Following the on screen instructions I flashed the new firmware. It took only a few seconds.
Once that's done you can then copy any homebrew Nintendo DS program (the .NDS file) onto the CF card and call it _BOOT_MP.NDS. With the CF card in the GBAMP and that in the DS, turning the DS on will immediately run the homebrew program.
If you want to not run it, or use the standard GBAMP programs, hold 'select' down while turning on the DS. You can then then choose the 'Start GBA Game' option in the Nintendo DS firmware and use the GBAMP as normal.
The GBAMP is slightly different to a GBA flash cartridge so won't run all homebrew. It doesn't have SRAM for example so can't run any homebrew that reads or writes to SRAM. But supported homebrew can read and write to the CF card which makes up for it.
Categories: nintendods, gbamp
posted at 8:58 PM
6 Comments:
Is there a particular reason you went with the GBAMP over something like the supercard CF or SD?
I went for the GBAMP because they were readily available locally in NZ via the online auction site Trademe and I could get one within a day or two.
I also know there is a fair bit of support for it. I went for the CF version (and had I gone for something like the supercard I would have gone for the CF) as there seems to be more support for the CF in homebrew.
Do you need anything other than the movie player to start ds dev? Eg do you need to flash your ds bios first?
Shen
You'll need to have a way of running the code off the movie player. This will either require a flashed bios or something like Wifime. I went the Wifime route which involved downloading code via a wireless connection to the DS. If you use this to flash your bios you can then run things directly off the movie player.
So short answer, yes you really need to flash your DS bios first.
Or you can use one of the passthru devices that sit in the DS slot (PassMe, PassMe2, PassCard, etc).
[plug]
I recently became the official NZ Supercard dealer, so you can now purchase Supercard devices for running homebrew from my website. I'm also offering free project hosting to homebrew developers on any platform.
[/plug]
Thanks Jasper, glad to see an NZ distributor. I'll take a look - I'm keen to try some of the supercard stuff out.
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