Use Your PC Wi-Fi Card to Play DS Demos!
We looked at this and thought two things. Our first thought was: this might be a lot of effort just to play a Nintendo DS demo. Our second thought was: this gives your average DS users a chance to see and try out what only journalists and a select few get to try during conventions and conferences. You see, at Nintendo demos and other conferences, demos are transmitted from servers to let the journalists and guests try out games for free. This how-to shows you how to turn your own computer into that kind of server so you can transmit your downloaded DS demos to your own DS.
A word of caution: it writes over your Wi-Fi card’s driver with something else (so you’ll need to reinstall your driver if you want to go back to “normal” things like accessing the Internet).
Don’t do these steps unless you have your original install disk for your card that has the original drivers for your card (that’s usually the CD or floppy that came with your card). These steps will replace your card’s driver with a customized driver that will let you communicate with your DS. If you want your card to go back to accessing your home network or working on the Internet, you will need to reinstall your original driver. Therefore, don’t even think about doing these next steps until you have found your card’s original disks so you can reinstall your original drivers if anything should go wrong.
Head down below for the instructions!
We looked at this and thought two things. Our first thought was: this might be a lot of effort just to play a Nintendo DS demo. Our second thought was: this gives your average DS users a chance to see and try out what only journalists and a select few get to try during conventions and conferences. You see, at Nintendo demos and other conferences, demos are transmitted from servers to let the journalists and guests try out games for free. This how-to shows you how to turn your own computer into that kind of server so you can transmit your downloaded DS demos to your own DS.
A word of caution: it writes over your Wi-Fi card’s driver with something else (so you’ll need to reinstall your driver if you want to go back to “normal” things like accessing the Internet).
Don’t do these steps unless you have your original install disk for your card that has the original drivers for your card (that’s usually the CD or floppy that came with your card). These steps will replace your card’s driver with a customized driver that will let you communicate with your DS. If you want your card to go back to accessing your home network or working on the Internet, you will need to reinstall your original driver. Therefore, don’t even think about doing these next steps until you have found your card’s original disks so you can reinstall your original drivers if anything should go wrong.
Step 1. Card Check
- You need to see if your PC or laptop wireless network card will work with the software. So, check out this list of Ralink cards. If you don’t see your card there, then you might need to borrow somebody’s card or buy a new one.
Step 2. Change the Driver (Part 1: Getting the DS Driver)
- Download the DS driver for the Ralink 2560 Device (please see the link below).
- Unzip it and save it to a folder on the desktop.
Step 3. Change the Driver (Part 2: In the Control Panel)
- Open your Control Panel (“Start” on the Task Bar, then “Settings,” then “Control Panel”).
- Double click “System.”
- Select the “Hardware” tab in the window that pops up.
- Click on “Device Manager.”
- Find and click on the plus icon next to “network adapters.”
- Find your network card on the list.
- Right click your network card and select “Update Driver…” (this starts the Hardware Update Wizard).
Step 4. Change the Driver (Part 3: In the Hardware Update Wizard)
- Choose “No, not this time” if asked to connect to Windows Update. Choose “Install from a list or specific location” on the next screen that pops out.
- Place a check on the box next to “Include this location in the search” then click on “Browse” and find the directory where you extracted the DS driver back in Step 2.
- In that directory (it should be easy to find if you just put it on the desktop and remembered the name of the folder), find and click “winxp” then “i386” then “OK.”
- Click “Next.”
- Click “Finish.”
Step 5. Download Your Demo
- Download the Wireless Multiboot Application (see download link below).
- Unzip it.
- Next, download the demos of your choice from this collection of demos.
- Save the demo of your choice as “demo.nds” in the “data” folder where you extracted the Wireless Multiboot Application.
- After it saves, you open that “data” folder.
- Right-click “wmb.exe” and click “Create Shortcut.”
- Right-click your newly-made shortcut and select “Properties.”
- Type a ” -data demo.nds” (include the space before the “-data”) at the end of whatever it says in the “Target:” box (make sure you type it after the closing quotation marks).
- Click “OK.”
- Run the shortcut (double-click it).
Step 6. Enjoy
- Turn on your DS and select “DS Download Play.” The name of your demo should appear.
- Click it to begin transfering the game to start playing.
Download: [DS driver for the Ralink 2560 Device]
Download: [RT2560 Wireless Multiboot Application]
Via Pocket Gamer