The M3 DS Simply is also known as the R4 DS, which is exactly the same card, only with a different firmware installed.
M3 DS Simply promises you the following features:
- Boot clean dump images (so no patching required)
- No passcard or program needed to run games
- Homebrew support
- Direct watch movie, listen MP3 & read TXT on the DS via the use of Moonshell
- Support for WiFi, DS rumble pack & DS browser.
The contents of the M3 Simply box are:
M3 simply card ( same shape like original DS cart) packed into a sturdy rubber casing
Small USB connector (T-Flash) in which you can put a Micro SD cart to connect with your PC
Software CD Keychain
What is the M3 DS Simply?
The M3 DS Simply is a one-slot solution flashcart. That means that there isn’t a passcard or other device required to use this flashcart. The only thing you will need is a Micro Secure Digital card (Micro SD) on which you can put your data for the M3 Simply. The Micro SD cart goes into the M3 Simply cart and the M3 Simply cart goes into the DS (Lite). The Micro SD 512 Mb Kingston cart (Made in Japan) is used in this review. You can buy a Micro sd cart (depending on where you live) for around 12 euro’s/dollars, they aren’t expensive.
The M3 Simply is well build. It’s just like an original DS cart. The only con is that you need an Micro SD cart which is small and looks fragile.You need to get it out of your M3 cart each time you want to put something new on it. Other people see this as an advantage, because you can choose how much memory you like, you can change it too your needs by simply buying a bigger/smaller Micro SD cart.
Drag, drop, play
You’ll be playing games very soon after you’ve received the M3 Simply. This is due to the following points:
There is no software needed to put games/media on the M3 Simply. Just drag’n'drop .NDS files from your pc onto the the M3 Simply using the standard USB interface. The only thing needed are 3 files on the installation disk that need to be dragged onto the M3 Simply. This takes about 20 seconds.
The M3 Simply boots games in blazing speeds. Booting the NDS with the M3 Simply takes about 4 seconds ( way shorter than the G6 Lite!) and booting up a game takes about 6 seconds! ( timed with Tetris DS, results may vary upon game size).
The video shows the menu of the M3 Simply (version 1.01), which is simple and intuitive. On the video Game is choosed, and the person browses through his folders on the M3 Simply (which appear on the upper screen) to search for .NDS roms.
The menu has 3 buttons: Game, Multimedia and Boot Slot-2.
The first 2 options speak for themselves, but Boot Slot-2 means that you can use it as an Passcard. This way you can boot other Flashcarts with the M3 Simply. (But who would want that?)
The M3 Simply doesn’t play Gameboy advance games because it’s a one-slot flashcart. With the Boot Slot-2 option you just need another flashcart with gba roms to play them, which isn’t something that alot of people have. So this feature is nice addition but no big Pro.
The menu of the M3 Simply can be altered with skins that you can download. There are already some M3 Simply skins out there, so this is an nice little addition too, but again no big Pro.
Nintendo DS Games
he main task the M3 Simply designed for is playing Nintendo DS roms. It does his job very well. Alle tested games (Elite Beat Agents, Castlevania Portrait of Ruin, Advance Wars DS and Tetris DS) boot, play and save perfectly. Their are some reports that Download play doesn’t work in some games though. The compatibility is 100%, and because of this no patching is required until date This is really a pro over it’s main competitor, the G6 Lite. The G6 Lite often needs to be patched.
Media
Avi and MP3 files need to be converted in order to play on the M3 Simply. This is done with the free Moonshell converter that can be found on the software cd. Converting an 700 mb avi file goes quite fast. Total time will be from 5 tot 10 minutes, and the output file is only around 166 mb! Playing video is a feature that the M3 Simply does well. The video’s load fast and play without any stuttering. This feature is available on many other flashcarts these days, but it’s still a Pro.
Homebrew
The homebrew support of the M3 Simply is simply dissapointing. A lot of applications didn’t work correctly, or wouldn’t even load like SnesDS. Nes DS works though, but this is an exception. I would say that about 70% of homebrew applications/games doesn’t run on the M3 Simply, and there isn’t any sign that this will improve with new coming updates.
M3 DS Simply Guide
Where to buy
If you do not yet have an M3 DS Simply you can purchase it from one of the following stores:
The M3 DS Simply comes with the device itself, a replacement shell in white, a MicroSD reader/writer, a CD with some software on it and a small case for holding the M3 and replacement shell.
UPDATE: The new batch of M3 DS Simply do NOT come with the replacement white shell.
MicroSD Card
The only other thing you will need to buy is a MicroSD card (aka Transflash) these can be bought from most online electronics stores, or eBay. They currently go up to 4GB in size, what size you get is up to you, but I would recommend at least 1GB.
Formatting
Now you have everything you need to first prepare the MicroSD card for use in the M3. So start by plugging the MicroSD into the card reader and connect the card reader to your computer. Although the M3 supports FAT32 I would recommend using FAT16 as it seemed a better option to choose for the older M3 slot-2 device, to format to FAT16 in Windows go to My Computer and right click on the MicroSD card (will show as a Removable Drive) and choose ‘Format’ in the format Window choose FAT as the file system. I would also recommend labelling the card ‘M3 Simply’ or similar so it is easily identifiable when connected to your PC, leave any other options blank then click format, once done you can copy the firmware files onto the card.
Firmware
Latest Firmware is ‘v1.06′
The firmware files are what are needed by the M3 to work, these are what come on the CD, but chances are they are out dated, so throw the CD away and download the latest firmware files from http://www.kiwiclx.com/nds/ . Once downloaded simply extract the contents to the root of your MicroSD card, you can delete the .txt file.
Ready!
Your M3 is now ready to play backed up NDS games and run Moonshell (to play videos, MP3’s and view pictures) so you can now drag and drop any games/homebrew/MP3’s/pictures you want to play/watch on your DS. Files can go anywhere, but I usually use seperate folders, such as Games/Videos/Music etc.
Note: Videos need to be converted to .dpg format, I use BatchDPG however there are other tools available.
Trimming ROMs
Trimming ROMs can save room on your MicroSD card so obviously is a good thing to do.
To trim a ROM you must simply run the program ‘M3DSS ROM Trimmer.exe’ this can be downloaded from the M3 website.
Run the program and find your DS ROM you want to trim, and if you want choose a different location to save the game. The trimmer by default saves to the same folder the original is in but adds ‘trim’ to the filename.
Trimming takes only a second, once done you can copy the trimmed game to the MicroSD card like you would with any other game.
Converting Saves
Converting saves from your old M3/Supercard/etc. is just as easy as trimming, simply run the program ‘M3DSS SAVE Transformer.exe’ (also found on the M3 website) choose your old save, and choose the destination to save the converted save, by default this is in the same folder as the original save.
Once converted copy the save file to the same directory as your game, this is very important, as otherwise the M3 will not see the save, also you will need to rename the save to match the name of the game e.g. ‘game.nds’ needs a save called ‘game.sav’, again this is very important or the M3 will not know the save goes with the game.
Updating Action Replay codes
Newer versions of the M3 DS Simply firmware have built in support for using Action Replay codes on your roms. To access this you highlight the game and press ‘Y’ or touch the “Cheat(Y)” box on the touch screen.
See this guide created by DVDBack23 on how to add the latest codes to your M3DSS without having to wait for the M3 or R4 team to update their own list.
Extra
Extra things I thought should be included in the guide.
Load homebrew using the media icon
By default the M3 DS Simply loads Moonshell when you choose the middle icon, however this does not need to be the case, simply connect your microSD card to your computer and find the file ‘_DS_MSHL.NDS’ this is Moonshell, rename ths to anything you like (e.g. Moonshell.nds) also find ‘_DS_MSHL.SAV’ and rename this the same way (e.g. Moonshell.sav).
Now find your homebrew and copy this to the root of your microSD card, i’ve used DSOrganize. Rename this file to ‘_DS_MSHL.NDS’
Plug your microSD card back into yor M3 and now choose the middle icon, your choosen homebrew game/application loads 
You can still load Moonshell by going to Game and loading your renamed Moonshell file.
Using the R4 Firmware and/or different language firmware on the M3 DS Simply
This section is replacing the very outdated hardware method to the new software mod.
Start by downloading this file: [Link broken, will be fixed soon]
Once downloaded extract the two files to your hard drive, now get the firmware file you would like to use (can be any R4 or M3 firmware in any language) and copy the _DS_MENU.DAT file to the same folder.
Now run the patch.exe program and follow the on-screen instructions (pressing either Y/N/1/2 then enter for the appropriate answers)
you can now copy this onto your M3 and run it.
[from afterdawn.com]
