Getting Started

You’ll hopefully find DSmaps very easy to use. The only thing that might trip you up is the Wi-Fi configuration.

• Supported Platforms – I’m now developing and testing DSmaps using two different slot-1 devices. I started off with an R4 and I’ve since added a CycloDS for good measure. I know from feedback that it also runs on a bunch of other devices, and judging from screenshots that have been posted on various homebrew portals, it seems to work on at least some of the software emulators too. In theory it should work on any device that supports libfat+DLDI. However users of certain devices (e.g. the M3 Lite Perfect slot-2 card) have reported corrupt file systems, which I strongly suspect to be due to bugs in libfat, the DLDI driver for the card, or some combination of both. So beware!
• DLDI Patching – Like any homebrew application that uses the flash card, DSmaps must use the appropriate DLDI driver for your particular hardware device. If you are using one of the more modern devices (e.g. the R4, CycloDS, M3 DS Simply, etc.), the device will automatically patch (modify) DSmaps so that this is the case. If you are using an older, non-autopatching device you will need to do this yourself. See the DLDI wiki for the more details.
• Wi-Fi Configuration – DSmaps uses the Wi-Fi connection when it needs to download a map tile that is not in its cache. Because the cache will be completely empty the first time you use DSmaps, you will realistically need Wi-Fi to be available for this first use if you want to see anything at all! DSmaps does not yet provide a capability to configure whatever Wi-Fi access point(s) you use, so you must do this outside of DSmaps using another Wi-Fi aware application. You can use either a homebrew or commercial app to do this – I used Mario Kart but I could just as easily have used DSOrganizer. If you are using Mario Kart, go into “Nintendo WFC” from the main screen, and from there into “Nintendo WFC Settings”. Somebody else has written a short guide here on what to do and a quick search should find many more similar guides if you’re having problems.
• Initial start-up – DSmaps goes straight to your personal ‘home location’ on start-up. If you haven’t set a home location (see below), it will default to a map of the World at the minimum zoom level. The speed with which the map downloads depends on the quality of your Wi-Fi connection, and the quality of the Internet connection that the Wi-Fi access point is using. The second and subsequent times that DSmaps starts will be much faster because the map displayed will be in the DSmaps cache.
• Panning – Use the arrow keys to pan (move) the map. If you pan into an area for which the necessary tiles are not cached, there will be a short delay while DSmaps downloads the tiles from the Google keyhole server. A normal pan operation shifts the map by 1/4 screen width. If the left shoulder key is held while pressing the arrow keys, the result is a ‘small pan’ of just 1/16 the screen width. Holding the right shoulder key results in a ‘large pan’ of an entire screenful at a time.
• Zooming – Use the A key to zoom in and the B key to zoom out. If you zoom to a detail level for which the necessary tiles are not cached, there will be a short delay while DSmaps downloads the tiles from the Google keyhole server.
• Home Location – As mentioned above, the home location is the map view displayed when DSmaps starts up. Having panned and zoomed to a location of your choosing, you can set it as your home location by pressing the SELECT key. To return to your home location at any time when using DSmaps, press the START key.