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M3i Zero

M3i Zero [GMP-Z003]

m3adapter.com

Cart Info

The M3i Zero is the last slot-1 flashcart from the M3 Adapter team. The M3 team disappeared around 2011, and the Sakura kernel hasn't been updated since then. That means some games released later on in the DS lifecycle don't actually boot in the Sakura/Touchpod kernel, due to missing compatibility patches. To fix this issue, it's recommended to run Pico-Launcher as a replacement kernel, or at least keep it around as a secondary kernel.

While this cart does support SDHC SD cards, Sakura/TouchPod has issues with cards that are 64GB or larger. The nds loader will simply refuse to load games, or load the game but crash/freeze soon after. However, Pico-Launcher handles 64GB and larger cards just fine when configured as the primary kernel.

Setup Guide:

Kernel Info

Pico-Launcher is the game menu for the DSpico (an open source DS flashcart by the LNH team) and other supported carts. Combined with Pico-Loader, it can be used as a full kernel, and supports almost all retail DS games. It features a material-inspired user interface, and an extremely fast loader.

Soft-Reset & RTS Not Supported

Note that Pico-Launcher/Loader currently does not support soft-reset or RTS. If this is important to you, consider using Sakura.

  1. Format the SD card you are using by following the formatting tutorial.

  2. Download the latest Pico Package for M3i Zero GMP-Z003.

    • Currently updated to Pico-Launcher v1.3.0 and Pico-Loader v1.7.1

  3. Extract the pico_package_G003.zip file with 7-Zip, or your native file manager app. Then, copy the contents into the root of your SD card.

  4. If you'd like to be able to use cheats on your games, download a cheat database.

  5. You will need the usrcheat.dat file from the download link in the post. Copy this file into the _pico folder on your SD card.

  6. Create a Games folder in your SD card root, and place any .nds game ROMs you'd like to play inside.

  7. The files on your SD card should now look like this:

    • M3iZero

  8. Insert the SD card back into your cart, plug the cart into your DS, and see if it boots into the menu.

Post-Setup Enhancements

Emulators

To emulate retro consoles like GBA, GB/C, NES, and others, you will need to add emulators and configure their file associations for Pico-Launcher to display retro ROMs in the menu.

Emulators Tutorial

Game Covers

Pico-Launcher supports showing game covers in cover flow layout mode, and on the top screen in icons mode. You will need to add cover images to your SD card to use this feature.

PicoCover TwilightBoxart PicoDex

To create your own custom covers for Pico-Launcher, check out the cover creator. Save each cover in the _pico/covers/user folder on your SD card, named after its ROM file plus .bmp (for example, MyGame.nds.bmp).

Cover Creator

Themes

Looking to customize your DSpico interface? Check out the Pico themes repository:

Themes Repository

To create your own custom themes for Pico-Launcher, check out the themes creator:

Themes Creator

Sakura Kernel

Sakura is the official kernel of the M3 DS Real and M3i Zero. It's based on Moonshell 2, with a custom NDS loader. It also offers a couple unique features like RTS (Real-Time-Save), not found in YSMenu. Because it's based on Moonshell2, it also provides media playback directly in the kernel menu, which can be pretty convenient. This tab will help you setup Sakura with Pico-Launcher, so that you can use Sakura as primary and fallback to Pico-Launcher when necessary, for games that don't load in Sakura.

  1. Format the SD card you are using by following the formatting tutorial.

  2. Download the Sakura 1.49a kernel.

  3. Extract the contents of the Sakura zip to your SD card's root. (It should just be a single SYSTEM folder)

  4. If you'd like to be able to use cheats on your games in Sakura, download a cheat database.

  5. You will need the cheat_EN.db file from the download link in the post. Copy it into the SYSTEM folder on your SD card.

  6. Also grab usrcheat.dat from the same source, which will be used by Pico-Launcher for game cheats.

  7. Next, we'll be adding Pico-Launcher to the setup.

  8. Download the latest Pico Package for M3i Zero GMP-Z003.

    • Currently updated to Pico-Launcher v1.3.0 and Pico-Loader v1.7.1

  9. Extract the pico_package_G003.zip file with 7-Zip, or your native file manager app.

  10. From within the extracted files, copy the following files/folders to your SD card root:

    • _pico folder

    • _picoboot.nds

  11. Download this Boot_Pico.nds nds-miniboot binary and also place it on the SD card root. (Sakura will refuse to boot _picoboot.nds directly, since it doesn't have a passme header.)

  12. Copy the usrcheat.dat file you downloaded earlier into the _pico folder on your SD card.

  13. Create a Games folder in your SD card root, and place any .nds game ROMs you'd like to play inside.

  14. The files on your SD card should now look like this:

    • M3iZero

  15. Place the SD card back into the cartridge, and boot it up. You'll be asked to select between TouchPod or Sakura, choose whichever you prefer. You can change this later. When you want to use Pico-Launcher, simply launch Boot_Pico.nds in Sakura/Touchpod.

Kernel Info

AKMenu-Next is an alternative kernel based on akmenu4 (used in Wood R4 and AKAIO) and uses Pico-Loader (and optionally nds-bootstrap) to load games. This is an option if you prefer the Wood UI and it's themes over Pico-Launcher.

Soft-Reset Not Supported for Pico-Loader

Note that Pico-Loader inside AKMenu-Next currently does not support soft-resetting to the game menu. If this is important to you, consider using Sakura or using the nds-bootstrap loader within AKMenu-Next.

  1. Format the SD card you are using by following the formatting tutorial.

  2. Download the latest release of AKMenu-Next Flashcart Edition.

  3. Extract the downloaded akmenu-next-flashcart.zip file with 7-Zip.

  4. From within the akmenu-next files, copy the following files/folders to your SD card root:

    • _nds folder
    • _pico folder
    • BOOT.NDS

  5. Go into the Autoboot folder and then go into the M3i Zero GMP-Z003 folder. Copy its contents to your SD card root.

  6. Download the latest release of Pico-Loader for M3DS Real.

  7. Extract the downloaded Pico_Loader_M3DS.zip file with 7-Zip.

  8. Copy the contents of the files from the extracted Pico_Loader_M3DS.zip file to the _pico folder on your SD card.

  9. If you'd like to be able to use cheats on your games, download a cheat database.

  10. You will need the usrcheat.dat file from the download link in the post. Copy this file to _nds/akmenunext/cheats/ on your SD card. (Create the cheats folder if it doesn't exist)

  11. Create a Games folder in your SD card root, and place your .nds game ROMs inside. You can also create additional folders to help with organizing/categorizing your ROMs.

  12. Insert the SD card back into your cart, plug the cart into your DS, and see if it boots into the menu.

nds-bootstrap installation (Optional)

  1. Download the latest release of nds-bootstrap.

  2. Extract the downloaded nds-bootstrap.zip file with 7-Zip.

  3. Copy the contents of the files from the extracted nds-bootstrap.zip file to the _nds folder on your SD card.

  4. In AKMenu-Next, press Start and go to Settings. Go to the Other Settings tab and change the Game Loader to nds-bootstrap.

Post-Setup Enhancements

Plugins

To emulate retro consoles like GBA, GB/C, NES, and others or to play media such as videos, you will need to add plugins to AKMenu-Next:

Plugins Tutorial

Game Covers

AKMenu-Next can show game covers on the top screen. To use them, select one of the included cover themes: Blue Skies Game Covers, DSpico Game Covers or Starlight Covers. Then add cover images to your SD card. Covers made for Pico-Launcher work too.

PicoCover

To create your own custom covers, check out the cover creator. Save each cover in the _nds/covers_name folder on your SD card, named after its ROM file without .nds (for example, MyGame.bmp).

Cover Creator

Themes

Looking to customize your AKMenu-Next interface? Check out the AKMenu themes repository:

Themes Repository

Kernel Info

TWiLight Menu++ is an alternative kernel that can load DS games with Pico-Loader or nds-bootstrap. It features a Nintendo DSi style interface and it has rich customisation features. It does however take longer to start up compared to other menus such as AKMenu-Next or Pico-Launcher.

Soft-Reset Not Supported for Pico-Loader

Note that Pico-Loader inside TWiLight Menu++ currently does not support soft-resetting to the game menu. If this is important to you, consider using Sakura or using the nds-bootstrap loader within TWiLight Menu++.

  1. Format the SD card you are using by following the formatting tutorial.

  2. Download the latest release of TWiLight Menu++ Flashcard Edition.

  3. Extract the downloaded TWiLightMenu-Flashcard.7z file with 7-Zip.

  4. From within the TWiLight files, copy the following files/folders to your SD card root:

    • _nds folder
    • roms folder
    • BOOT.NDS

  5. Open the Autoboot folder, then open the M3i Zero (GMP-Z003) folder and copy its contents to your SD card root.

  6. Download the latest release of Pico-Loader for M3DS Real.

  7. Extract the downloaded Pico_Loader_M3DS.zip file with 7-Zip.

  8. Create a folder on the SD card root called _pico if it does not already exist. Copy the .bin files from the extracted Pico-Loader files into the _pico folder on your SD card root.

  9. If you'd like to be able to use cheats on your games, download a cheat database.

  10. You will need the usrcheat.dat file from the download link in the post. Copy this file to _nds/TWiLightmenu/extras/ on your SD card.

  11. Place any .nds game ROMs you'd like to play into /roms/nds on your SD card.

  12. Insert the SD card back into your cart, plug the cart into your DS, and boot into TWiLight Menu++.

  13. Open TWiLight Menu++ DS Classic Menu by pressing SELECT and then pressing the settings icon on the bottom to enter TWiLight Menu++ settings, go to the Games and Apps settings page, and set Game Loader to pico.

nds-bootstrap (Alternative Game Loader)

If you would prefer to use nds-bootstrap, TWiLight Menu++ includes nds-bootstrap, so no additional files are needed to use it.

  1. Open TWiLight Menu++ DS Classic Menu by pressing SELECT and then pressing the settings icon on the bottom to enter TWiLight Menu++ settings.

  2. Set Game Loader to nds-bootstrap to use it for all games. You can also press Y on a selected game and change its Game Loader setting to use nds-bootstrap only for that game.

Post-Setup Enhancements

Plugins

While GBA game support is already included in TWiLight Menu++, to emulate retro consoles like GB/C, NES, and others or to play media such as videos, you will need to install addons to TWiLight Menu++:

Addons Tutorial

Game Covers

TWiLight Menu++ supports showing game box art. DS-Homebrew details multiple options to download and install covers for your games.

TWiLight Menu++ box art

Themes

Looking to customize your TWiLight Menu++ interface? Check out the DS-Homebrew themes repository:

Themes Repository

Theme installation instructions