Game cube SD Launcher problem

[jwo825]

I ordered the Action Replay sd loader kit with hoped of playing GBA games on the PVM through either swiss or GBI. I can't get the thing to read the sd card. I've tried several different ones of 2GB. All non-HC. I've tried formatting it FAT, FAT16 and FAT32 with all different allocation sizes.

I found a thread somewhere where someone put a small iece of tape under the adapter board to help it make better contact. I did that and it's really snug and still no help.

I even tried partitioning the SD card and that didn't work.

Can anyone who successfully uses Action Replay to launch swiss help me out?

[bobrocks95]

The software is booting up correctly, right? Because it's keyed for different regions, and should say what it is on the disc.

Other than that... Are you using Memory Card Slot B? I don't know if it matters, but I've only ever used it on B.

[jwo825]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I have the correct region disc. When I turn on the power it just boots to the code selection screen. It won't load from the ad card to show the files there.

[bobrocks95]

Do you have a dummy autoexec.dol on the SD Card? I just have Swiss renamed as autoexec.dol, maybe give that a try? I'm pretty much out of ideas... Try another SD card as well.

[theclaw]

What kind of Action Replay is it?
The old version, where you can enter your own codes, does not support SD cards. But it can be tricked.
http://www.gc-linux.org/wiki/SDload

You might want to try a different SD adapter just in case, Datel's isn't the best.

[jwo825]

What kind of Action Replay is it?
The old version, where you can enter your own codes, does not support SD cards. But it can be tricked.
http://www.gc-linux.org/wiki/SDload

You might want to try a different SD adapter just in case, Datel's isn't the best.

I have a new version where the codes are all I putted already and you just select the cheat by name. I tried the tape fix on the SD adapter and it still doesn't work. I ordered a better one just in case and I was able to find some older, 1 and 2 GB SD cards cheaply. Not so easy to find something that small anymore and that isnt HC or high speed or some other format that this thing won't read. By the time I get it running, it might have been better to do the damn chip. I'd and burn GBI and Swiss on a disc.

[telemetry]

It's got to be the card. I received a Datel SD launcher over the holidays for GBI (same idea), and wasn't able to get it to work with any of the non-HC SD cards I had.

Finally I found an *ancient* (1GB, 2006) SD card laying around in an older digital camera that I hadn't used it years, formatted it and worked.

I presume you have the same Datel software — the "pre-loaded cheats" menu shouldn't appear if the SD card is read correctly (it will load into the SD card launcher instead). It's a matter of finding the correct primitive SD card to work with it.

[SmokeMonster]

Yes, you need a pre-"HC" SD card like this one: http://m.ebay.com/itm/Original-Transcen ... 1968397902

This took me a while to figure out as well, and it's not well documented.

[jwo825]

Thanks for the advice everyone. When I received it I quickly found out that none of the handful of SD cards that I own worked. They were all HC. I have had hell tracking down a regular SD card. I ordered a 2 GB card and when it showed up it was different than the one in the picture and HC, of course. Sent that back. Got another one and when it showed up, no HC, but had high speed in really tiny fonts in the bottom corner. Of course that one doesn't work and I just have to eat that one as it was my error. I have another on order so hopefully, this one is right.

I've done RGB mods on the SNES mini and nes and neither was as much of a pain in the ass as finding a card this thing will read. I'm frustrated that something so simple is taking so long to track down.

[SmokeMonster]

I bought mine from that seller I linked above and it worked. That will end your problems.

[Xer Xian]

Well you could also buy the official adapter that comes bundled with a 16GB SD card - there's a currently a listing here. Quite pricey though

[jwo825]

I bought mine from that seller I linked above and it worked. That will end your problems.

Thanks for the recommendation. If the new one is still not readable, I will certainly try this one.

[SmokeMonster]

Interesting. 16MB card included though, not GB.

[jwo825]

So t seems like that took forever, but my cheap, 2GB SD card arrived from China and it works like a champ. I was able to launch the gameboy player with GBI. Then, I loaded Swiss and launched GBI through that. Looks pretty good but I need to read up on the options more as I didn't see much difference launching from Swiss.

[Ikaruga11]

What are the best GameCube SD Card Adapters?

Do people play GameCube games off the SD Card? How fast is it compared to the optical drive? Is there any issues with it?

I bought a GameCube SD Card Adapter from Datel (Codejunkies.com) early last year, and it was missing the circular silver sticker on the card. I want another adapter, but after receiving an incomplete product and reading about compatibility issues, I'm not sure if I should buy from Datel again.

[jwo825]

What are the best GameCube SD Card Adapters?

Do people play GameCube games off the SD Card? How fast is it compared to the optical drive? Is there any issues with it?

I bought a GameCube SD Card Adapter from Datel (Codejunkies.com) early last year, and it was missing the circular silver sticker on the card. I want another adapter, but after receiving an incomplete product and reading about compatibility issues, I'm not sure if I should buy from Datel again.

Sorry I can't be much help. I only researched enough to be able to play GBA games with a custom launcher. I got mine from Codejunkies as well. Their adapter seems to work fine, though it is very cheaply made.

[Harrumph]

Looks pretty good but I need to read up on the options more as I didn't see much difference launching from Swiss.

There is none, defaults are the same. Nice to hear you got it working finally! For more info on GBI & Swiss, you should check out the gc-forever forums.

[SmokeMonster]

I have two of the generic type and they seem well made: http://m.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sop=15&is ... sd+adapter

You can leave your smaller card in one slot to boot from, and keep a big card in the other slot with your library, if I'm remembering correctly.

[Ikaruga11]

Well you could also buy the official adapter that comes bundled with a 16GB SD card - there's a currently a listing here. Quite pricey though

If any of you guys were wondering who bought that, it was me. I was able to get $150 off the original asking asking price.

Apparently this official SD Card Adapter (DOL-019) that Nintendo made is extremely rare and was only available in Japan by mail order for a short period of time in 2003. I can't find any other listings of it on the internet.

I did some research, and supposedly the SD Card can't be used as a Memory Card. Are third party adapters capable of doing that? I also wonder if I can boot Homebrew with this using an Action Replay Disc.

Animal Crossing and Pokemon Channel are the only two games that take advantage of DOL-019, allowing you to take pictures in-game and save them to the SD Card.

[Harrumph]

I did some research, and supposedly the SD Card can't be used as a Memory Card. Are third party adapters capable of doing that?

Yes, via Swiss you can access a Memory Manager program (I forget the actual name, just google or check gc-forever).

[Ikaruga11]

I did some research, and supposedly the SD Card can't be used as a Memory Card. Are third party adapters capable of doing that?

Yes, via Swiss you can access a Memory Manager program (I forget the actual name, just google or check gc-forever).

So DOL-019 can do that via Swiss?

[Harrumph]

So DOL-019 can do that via Swiss?

I meant for SD cards in general, I have no idea if there is something special about that particular adapter/SD card.

[Extrems]

There's nothing special about it, it's an SPI passthrough like the others. But it has the highest build quality.

[bobrocks95]

$250 for a pin adapter...

[Ikaruga11]

$250 for a pin adapter...

It was actually $244.36

[Lord of Pirates]

$250 for a pin adapter...

Definition of not worth it from a practical perspective .

[Xer Xian]

Functionality is never high on the list for rare items such as that one, full-set collectors will always be interested no matter what. I'll say it may not have been particularly expensive considering its rarity - have a look at the prices fetched by the now completely useless Go Net for Mega Drive (let alone a Mega Anser, good luck finding that one)

That said, I would've never expected it was going to be snatched by a fellow shmupper of all people

[Ikaruga11]

Well, I'm a big GameCube/Wii fan and just had to get it. That was my first time seeing or even knowing about an official SD Memory Card that Nintendo themselves made. If I passed it up, I'd probably never see another one ever again.

I actually want to use it for the same reasons you guys do, and would be happy to report on what it does similarly and different from Datel's SD Media Launcher. According to Extrems though, it's exactly the same as Datel's SD Media Launcher and any other SD Memory Card, aside from being first-party and supposedly the highest build quality. I will report back with any findings I get.

[theclaw]

For official usage, SD cards and GameCube memory cards are mutually incompatible.
Nintendo's memory manager won't display the contents of an SD card or perform any file operations on them. They can't be used by commercial games in place of a memory card either (unless the game was programmed to do so).

A while ago Swiss dropped its attempted feature to have SD cards emulate memory cards.
When using a 3rd party manager to move saves to/from SD card, the save needs to reside on a memory card in the end.

[-86-]

Sorry for dragging this thread back from death, im curious to know the listed price for the official Nintendo DOL-019 SD adapter as the Ebay listing information is now dead. Anyone remember what the price was?