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The Complete R4 Guide!
The Complete R4 Guide!
This is for all those other members who are sick of reading new posts all asking the same thing... For those of you asking the questions, here are the answers about the R4! I'm writing this for just the R4, because that's all I have and it's probably the most popular on the market.
What is the R4?
The R4 is a hardware solution for playing games and other media that you have downloaded on you Nintendo DS/DS-Lite. Yes it works for BOTH....On any firmware version
What else do I need?
If you buy the retail version of the R4, the only other thing you need to buy is a MicroSD card. Google "MicroSD" if you don't know what a MicroSD transflash card is. Which MicroSD card is the best you might ask? The best/most popular card seems to be the Japanese Kingston 1GB. You can decide for yourself which card is best for your money using this list: Compatibility List. At the bottom of that page is a list of different brands of MicroSD cards, and any problems that people have encountered with them. Currently, they sell MicroSD cards up to 2GB, although they are working on 4GB versions.
How does the R4 Work? (Setting up your R4).
Inside the R4 is a slot in which a MicroSD transflash card fits (not included). The R4 comes with an adapter which allows you to connect this MicroSD card to your computer via USB. Once connected to your computer, you can copy and paste files onto the MicroSD card, as if it were a USB flashdrive. Once these files are on the MicroSD card, you can put the MicroSD card into the R4. The R4 fits into your DS (in the slot known as "Slot-1", which is why the R4 is called a "Slot-1 Solution".) That's it. It's that simple!
Before continuing i suggest you format your micro SD card to FAT16, Although it is not a necessity it runs slightly faster than FAT32. You may also find it useful to give you micro SD card a volume label when formatting. This makes it easier to identify your card. I called mine NDS
There are required files that you need to put on the card in order to run the R4. This is called the Kernel. Think of it as your R4's operating system. The CD that comes with your R4 contains an older version of this Kernel. I suggest downloading the newest version from R4's download page: R4DS Webpage. You're looking for the download link with the name "R4 v1.12 (or similar) kernel.....". If you are ever asked which version of R4 you are running, these files are what you should refer to. (This version is "v1.12"). Regardless if you downloaded the newest version or opted to use the version that came with your R4, the setup is the same. Highlight the files (2 folders and 2 files) from the CD/RAR-file, right click on them, then click 'send to', then select your MicroSD card from the list, they will automatically go into the root directory of your MicroSD card. [The "root" of any storage media is just the first window that pops up when you open the disk drive.] Included in these files is a folder called "moonshl". This is moonshell. Think of it as a free add-on. Don't worry about moonshell just yet, but copy it to your card anyway. You should now have the two folders ("_system_" and "moonshl") and the two files ("_DS_MENU.DAT" and "_DS_MSHL.nds") on your MicroSD card. That is all you have to do for setup.
LATEST FIRMWARE
You can eject your MicroSD card from your computer, put it in your R4, and boot up R4 in you DS. When the screen loads, you will see the welcome screen, which has three options to choose from.
[1] Play Games,
[2] Play Media (audio/video/text),
[3] Play Slot-2 Device (Slot-2 is the GBA slot on your DS).
What can I play on my R4?
Your R4 with moonshell installed can play NintendoDS games, videos (MUST BE .DPG format), .mp3's, .txt files, and some "Homebrew" applications.
How many games can my R4 hold?
Your R4DS can hold as many games/videos/MP3s as your MicroSD can hold!
So obviously, the larger your MicroSD card, the more games you can play! I have a 2GB MicroSD card for my R4DS, and it is currently holding 42 games. REMEMBER! Not all games are the same size. Some games are as small as 4MB, while others can reach around 128MB! If you feel that you could use some extra room for games on your R4, check out the trimming section at the end of this guide.
NDS Games:
NDS games have the ".nds" file extension. To install these games, just right click on them, then click 'send to', then select your MicroSD card from the list (root directory works just fine). When you boot your R4 and click the "Play Games" button, any games you copied to your card will now show up. Simply select the game you want to play, and hit the "A" button. If this is the first time you have played that particular game, a prompt will ask you to create a save file. Just hit "A" again to continue (you won't be asked again).
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MAJOR NOTE: Some games do not have full compatibility with the R4DS. What does this mean for you? It means that some games won't run, some games will run slow, and others don't work with the Nintendo WiFi or Download play. To see the problem-some games, refer back to the R4 compatibility list: Compatibility List
But don't worry, because 99% of the games will work just fine.
I am considering buying a modchip (R4DS or M3) to try playing imports. So, my question, are NDS games Region-free?
Yes, absolutely. You can play games from any country as they are all region free.
DPG Videos:
DPG is a special video format that your NDS can handle with the help of moonshell. You can convert your own videos into DPG format using a free program called "BatchDPG". Find a video tutorial somewhere else if this interests you.
You can also download DPG format videos from some online communities. People share their converted media to slackers like you =) If this is the path you choose, I suggest the forums at http://gbatmw.net/. (You have to register, but it's free).
To run these videos, copy and paste them on to your MicroSD card. The root directory will work, but you can also place all your videos into a separate folder for organizational reasons. Create a new folder in your root directory (any name will do, but I suggest "VIDEOS"), and place all your DPG videos into this folder. When R4 boots up, select the second option "Play Media", and moonshell will load. Once moonshell is loaded, you can navigate to your videos, and play them!
MP3s:
Similar to playing videos...
Copy and Paste MP3s from your PC to a desired location on your MicroSD card. You can create an "Audio" folder if you like.
Boot up moonshell (second option at the welcome screen), navigate to your MP3s, and play them!
How's the sound quality when playing MP3's on the R4DS?
MP3 quality is perfect! The NDS speakers suck though. Grab some nice headphones/earbuds, and you'll be very pleased.
TXT Files:
You can read TXT files on your DS using moonshell. The method is identical to the videos and the mp3s above.
Homebrew:
Homebrew is something that you may hear about when talking about the R4DS. Homebrew applications are programs/scripts that have been created by the Nintendo DS fans (not by the game companies or Nintendo). Often times, Homebrew applications are simple utilities, however, there exist some complex software and game that may further enhance your DS experience. The most popular Homebrew programs are the emulators. Emulators allow you to play games from older systems, such as the Sega Genesis, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, and even the C64/Amiga.
The downer about NDS Homebrew is that it has very poor compatibility with Slot-1 Devices such as the R4. You can check out some of the Homebrew on our infamous Compatibility List. You'll come across things such as "DLDI" patching, which may confuse you. Perhaps someone will create a specialized Homebrew guide to touch on these topics with a little more depth.
Ultimately, when it comes to Homebrew (and emulation), Slot-2 devices work with much more success.
Hey Can you play gba roms on the R4. mine has 1.10 firmware on it.
Most simple and direct answer is, NO. Get a slot-2 device if GBA is important to you.
Anything else cool?
R4 Functionality - A couple things worth pointing out about the R4 interface is the fact that you can change the LCD brightness in the main menu by tapping on the sun icon (top left), or by hitting the left trigger. You may also notice a little red or green "R" in the top right corner. This is called the "soft reset". When activate (green) you can press (L+R+A+B+X+Y) while playing a game to reset back to the R4 menu.
Cheats - Another cool feature (found in the newer versions of R4) is the built in cheats. You'll notice that many games will allow you to enter cheats from the R4 menu. Quite nifty if that sort of thing interests you.
Skins - The R4 is also skinnable (newer versions only). You'll notice in the "_system_" folder that there exists a "themes" directory. You can replace the existing themes with skins of your own!
Google around and you can find some R4 skin sites such as: The Official R4DS Forums.
You can have 12 different themes at once. You cycle through the themes at the R4 welcome screen by hitting the select button. I highly suggest checking grabbing some cool skins!
Rom Trimming - If you have ever purchased memory, or looked at the size of your NDS backups. you've probably noticed that you can only have sizes in increments of 16Mb, such as 128Mb, 256Mb, 512Mb and 1Gb etc. Because of this, say for example, a game was 300Mb., the game producers would be forced to put it on a 512MB cart. So what about that extra 212Mb? They fill it with fluff! Information the game doesn't need to run! By removing this fluff, you can make room for more games!
This requires a tool called a ROM Trimmer.
You can download it from R4's website: R4DS Trimmer Download and Guide.
This utility is a straight forward use. There should be no confusion. You select the game you want to trim as the "input filename", and the destination and name of your desired trimmed ROM in the "output filename". [Note - The output name will automatically be assigned when you select an input file, but you can change it to whatever filename you desire.] Follow the instruction on the download page and you should be just fine.
Previously I stated that I fit 42 games on my 2GB MicroSD card. All these games were trimmed!
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Last edited by AndY on 06-12-2007; edited 2 times in total
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We need to prune PMs please save any you want to keep over one month old - STeALtH 
winzip/winrar to unpack them onto the micro card
