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3ds/Ds capure cards
Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2020 7:46 pm
by Capitan Goomba
Hey, since katsukity stopped doing capture cards for the 3ds family, i've been wanting to make my own. But since I don't know where to find these capture boards, I want to make my own. From scratch. And I would like if someone explains me how to make a board, how it would work and where in the 3ds motherboard I would have to do that... Can someone tell me please?
Re: 3ds/Ds capure cards
Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2020 4:10 pm
by auk
Well, you're going to need to intercept the video signal, and make chips to decode it and transmit it via USB into a format that your own program on PC should be able to decode.
I don't know if you have a hardware researcher on your team, but you really should have someone who's intricate with understanding how custom-built console hardware works in order to start.
Oh, actually,
found a helpful start guide on the hardware you're going to need.
Re: 3ds/Ds capure cards
Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2020 6:56 pm
by Capitan Goomba
Ok so... Let say that in my "team" there is only one person. (Me). And that I am the one who is going to do all that... Be the hardware researcher and that i dont have much experiience... Question: The chips you are talking about are the capture cards itself, right? )And btw thanks for the website: )
Re: 3ds/Ds capure cards
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2020 7:12 am
by auk
Yes, if you're doing it from scratch, you have to take apart a 3DS and understand how it processes video in its GPU and transmits that data, then convert that 800x240 signal into something usable.
Basically, if you know what you're doing, you're looking at a few months' work assuming you're doing it full-time.
Re: 3ds/Ds capure cards
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2020 8:53 pm
by Capitan Goomba
Hi, but that's my problem. I dont understand much about the 3ds motherboard and its video signals. And even if i knew how to transfer that signal to the card, how would I be able to make the software?
Re: 3ds/Ds capure cards
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2020 10:49 pm
by auk
Have fun!
There's a reason why Katsukity went out of business and why barely anyone else does this now; it's REALLY hard to actually accomplish this from scratch, and this is exactly why I've been patiently waiting for months until Loopy opens up their doors for original 3DS mods. They know what they're doing. Apparently there is a Japanese site that still sells the boards to do this for about 9000 yen, but I saw it once months ago and haven't been able to find it since, on top of the fact that I know I'm not smart enough to make it work.
Re: 3ds/Ds capure cards
Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2020 4:56 am
by Capitan Goomba
Well... All I can say that this is gonna be tuff for me! Ill just try to get all the information from the internet and see what I can do... If I was going to do this on the old 3ds version then this would have been different. But since im planning to do this on the newer models then I know that its going to be harder. I wonder how Merki does them? Does he make the boards himself of he only installs them on the system? We'll never know........
Re: 3ds/Ds capure cards
Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2020 7:28 am
by natecc
from what I've seen from merki, avoid the newer systems. the soldering is a nightmare apparently and getting a capture board to even work for them is probably really hard.
Re: 3ds/Ds capure cards
Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2020 10:18 pm
by Capitan Goomba
well... maybe ill try from making new 2ds xl boards, ill just see to try to make the old 3ds boards more stable or just wait until someone to make a new 3ds board with a less failure rate. But i won't discard the idea of doing it by my own, maybe in the future. But for now, I will be collecting new information and testing. I asked through the forum to get details and all that. Because I cannot find anything nearly similar to what I am looking for. If you guys could do that for me, I would appreciate it a lot! If not then that's ok too! is that I am doing a lot of research on this subject and I wanted to get in comunication with those that already have experience with these capture cards. And try on doing it myself. Because nowadays is so difficult to find these capture cards and the whole world is relying on loopy for these. And if you search on ebay, they will be charging you 500+. But its hard todo the capture cards from scratch and even worse for the newer models. So i've been asking here for help on that.
Re: 3ds/Ds capure cards
Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2020 11:33 pm
by radiocaf
auk wrote: ↑Mon Aug 03, 2020 10:49 pm
Have fun!
There's a reason why Katsukity went out of business and why barely anyone else does this now; it's REALLY hard to actually accomplish this from scratch, and this is exactly why I've been patiently waiting for months until Loopy opens up their doors for original 3DS mods. They know what they're doing. Apparently there is a Japanese site that still sells the boards to do this for about 9000 yen, but I saw it once months ago and haven't been able to find it since, on top of the fact that I know I'm not smart enough to make it work.
I believe the website you're looking for is
this. Also worth noting is
this page for install instructions.