http://www.dwtechz.com/

New users guide to setting up Wood R4

（Updated as of Wood R4 1.15）

（Before anyone asks, yes Wood R4 works with Pokemon Black/ White）

Wood R4 by the yellow.wood.goblin will give your R4 the look and feel

of an Acekard, but at less than half the cost. Game compatibility is

very good, over 99% games work clean without the need for patching.

Contents

1. Buying an R4

2. Extracting from Archives.

3. Setting up your MicroSD card.

4. Installing Wood R4

5. Introduction to the Wood R4 Graphical User Interface

6. Putting games onto your MicroSD card.

7. Favorites

8. Saves

9. Cheats.

10. Soft Reset.

11. Installing Skins.

12. Links

Step 1. Buying an R4

The R4 has been out of production for sometime due to Nintendo

filling a lawsuit against the original R4 Team. Because of this

almost every R4 you see for sale today is a clone. The problem is

that while many call themselve's R4's, many are infact clones of the

Acekard, EZVI or DSTT and not the original R4. Officially Wood R4

only works on the Original R4, or 1:1 clones of the original R4. The

1:1 clones are almost impossible to identify, they are to the same

specification and use exactly the same components as the original R4.

You can identify which clones are of the original R4 from the website

address on the R4 packaging:

http://www.dwtechz.com/

The clones which work have http://www.r4ds.com, http://www.r4ds.me/

as their website and look like this:

The original R4 and it's clones are limited to using MicroSD cards

with a maximum capacity of 2GB, MicroSDHC cards are not supported. If

you want to use MicroSDHC cards, you should consider purchasing an

Acekard instead. dwtechz have the Acekard 2i for $15.50 with free

shipping, and Acekard 2.1. These R4's will also only work on the DS

Phat or DS Lite, they will not work on a DSi or DSi XL. There are

people such as Xenon++ who are working on getting R4-SDHC cards to

work with Wood R4, their thread is Here. The thread for WAIO is here

which is the Wood GUI adapted to work on other carts. I will not be

covering WAIO in this guide, it doesn't interest me.

Currently the best place to purchase an R4 from is dwtechz.com. They

guarentee the R4 they supply will be compatible with Wood R4. It also

comes with a MicroSD card reader, carry case and a strap. This can be

delivered to your door with free shipping, which is less than the

price of almost any DS game.

http://www.dwtechz.com/

Step 2. Extracting from Archives.

Most DS games/ software along with Wood R4 are compressed into a

single file to reduce their size and to make it easier to transfer

over the internet. These files will normally have the .7z/ .rar/ .zip

file extensions. You will need to install an application to

uncompress these files, you can use 7zip or WinRar .

Once installed both should give you a new 'context' menu. Right

clicking on an archive (.7z/ .rar/ .zip) will give you to the

options, "Extract Here", "Extract files..." and "Extract to Directory

[archive name].

Select the archive you wish to extract, then right click, and select

Extract Files. Select the destination to extract to and click ok. You

can select multiple archives by holding down the Ctrl key on your

keyboard and left clicking on the archives.

http://www.dwtechz.com/

• 'Directory': This is another term for Folder.• 'Root directory': This is what you will see if you double click

on your MicroSD card in Windows Explorer. The root directory is

just a single \ and is the first directory on the card. For

example if your MicroSD card is 'F:' it's root directory is

'F:\'

Step 3. Setting up your MicroSD card.

Most computer operating systems don't format MicroSD cards to the SD

Card Association's standards, this can cause problems later on. To

avoid this problem, use the official SD Association Formatter which

can be downloaded from Here. You won't be able to select the block

size or file system, as the SD formatter automatically selects those

based on your MicroSD card and the SD Card Association's standards.

• This was previously known as the Panasonic SD Formatter, but

has now been adopted by the SD Card Association as their own

When you want to remove your MicroSD card from your computer, it's

important you goto 'My Computer', right click on your MicroSD card

and select 'Eject'. This can prevent data corruption.

http://www.dwtechz.com/

You can give your MicroSD card a custom Wood R4 icon when inserted

into a PC, this allows you to easily identify your R4's MicroSD card.

This is optional and isn't required to use your R4.

To download click on each image, and extract the downloaded archive

to the root directory on your MicroSD card.

http://www.dwtechz.com/

You can change the MicroSD drive name by opening autorun.inf and

editing "Wood R4" on the second line.

Icons for other flashcarts can be found in This thread along with an

icon for the original r4 by Twiz.

Step 4. Installing Wood R4

You can setup Wood R4 to be your R4's main OSMenu, or if you already

have your R4 setup with the R4 official OSMenu/ YSMENU you can setup

Wood R4 as a secondary OSMenu.

• OSMenu: This is your R4's Operating system, and is stored on

the MicroSD card. Many people refer to this as firmware, which

it isn't.

To install Wood R4 as your main OSMenu (recommended):

Download the lastest version of Wood R4 from Here (which is currently

1.15). Extract this to a folder, once extracted double left-click on

this folder. You should now see a folder called "Wood R4 v1.15",

double left-click on "Wood R4 v1.15". You should now see a folder

named _rpg, a file called _DS_MENU.DAT and two text files:

changelog.txt and readme.for.r4.users.txt. The two text files contain

information revelant to this release, you should consider reading

them before installing although it isn't necessary. Select

_DS_MENU.DAT + __rpg and copy them to the root directory of your

http://www.dwtechz.com/

MicroSD card.

Your MicroSD card should now look like:

The file _DS_MENU.DAT is Wood R4, and __RPG contains files used by

Wood R4, so don't delete them. The autorun.inf and icon file will be

only be present if you installed an icon as above.

If you have 'Auto Mode' enabled in your DS's system menu, your DS

will automatically load Wood R4 when powered on if the R4 is

inserted. You will however still get the Health and Safety screen on

power up, but you won't need to press (A) or tap the screen when it

appears.

You can hide the __rpg folder so it's won't appear in Wood. To do

this right click on __rpg, select properties, put a tick in the

hidden box and click ok.

http://www.dwtechz.com/

If you later want to view the __rpg folder to add skins or cheats

databases, you can do this put adding __rpg to the Micro SD driver

letter address in Windows Explorer

Unless you want to install Wood R4 as a secondary OSMenu,

you should now go to Step 5.

http://www.dwtechz.com/

To install Wood R4 as a secondary OSMenu:

If you already have your R4 setup with another Operating Software,

you can setup Wood R4 up as a secondary operating software. Wood R4

will peacefully coexist with both the Official R4 software and YSMenu

on the same MicroSD card, you can download the last version of the

official R4 software (v1.18) from Here. To set Wood R4 up as a

secondary operating software, create a directory called WoodR4 and

extract the downloaded Wood R4 archive to this directory. Download

and extract R4CRYPT to this same directory. Now Copy R4CRYPT.EXE into

the wood_r4_v1.XX directory. Hold down shift key and right click on

the wood_r4_v1.XX directory and select "Open command window here".

In the black box that pops up type "r4crypt.exe -d _DS_MENU.DAT

WOODR4.NDS" and press enter.

http://www.dwtechz.com/

Enter the wood_r4_v1.XX directory, delete _DS_MENU.DAT and

r4crypt.exe, now copy the entire contents of the directory to your

MicroSD card.

Alternatively a premade Wood R4 v1.15 as secondary Operating Software

can be downloaded from Here or Here

Step 5. Introduction to the Wood R4 Graphical User

Interface

• The (Up) button will select the ROM or Folder above.

• The (Down) button will select the ROM or Folder below.

• The (Right) button will select the page of ROMs/ Folders to the

right.

• The (Left) button will select the page of ROMs/ Folders to the

left.

• The (Y) button will bring up the properties for the selected

file or Folder.

• The (A) button will load a game, open a folder, or confirm

within dialog boxes.

• The (X) button will go to the favorites folder.

• The (B) button will go up a directory, or Cancel within dialog

boxes.

• The (L. Trigger) functions as Shift button while in the file

browser or use to navigate through settings pages.o Shift + (Select) Will display all files within the file

browser. Press again to go back to the previous setting.o Shift + (Y) Will display Settings. This is the same as

selecting Settings from the Start Menuo Shift + (X) Will display Cheats. This is the same as

selecting a ROM, Pressing (Y) and pressing (X). This will

only work if there are cheats for this game in the cheat

database you have installed.

• The (R. Trigger) button will change the backlight brightness,

or use to navigate through settings pages.

• The (Select) Button will change the file browser listing

layout. Modern: Filenames + Icons, 4 displayed per page >>

Internal: ROM name as taken from the ROM header + Icons, 4

displayed per page >> Old School: Filenames with no icons, 10

displayed per page

• The (Start) button will bring up the Wood R4 Start menu.

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'ROM': Read Only Memory. This is the memory inside a retail

cartridge, People use ROM to refer to the image dumped from a

cartridge.

Start Menu

• Copy -> Will copy the highlighted file, you will have to

navigate to the destination directory, press start again and

then paste to complete the copy operation.

• Cut -> Will move a file, you will have to navigate to the

destination directory, press start again and then paste to

complete the move operation.

• Delete -> will delete the highlighted file.• Paste -> Will copy the file previous selected by the copy/ cut

option to this folder.

• Settings -> Will show the System settings. The L and R buttons

will change which settings page is displayed.

• Help -> Quick button reference, along with the Wood R4 version

you are using.

• File Info -> Displays the properties for the hightlighted item.

It's the same as selecting a ROM/ folder and pressing (Y).

• Tools -> Allows you to change the 3in1 expansion settings (if

installed).

File Information

http://www.dwtechz.com/

File Information -> Cheats

• A square outlined box indicates a tree list, pressing (A) on

the box will expand or collapse the branch.

• Pressing (A) will enable or disable the selected cheat. A small

filled square box indicates this cheat is enabled.

• More (Y) -> Display the key combination to activate highlighted

cheat.

• Generate (X) -> Create the CC file for the selected cheats.

Settings

Using the L and R trigger will change which settings page is

displayed. Compatibilty >> Features

File Information > Settings > Compatibilty

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• Select a save type -> Different games use different size save

files. This will allow you to choose the save size for the

game, this should normally be set to auto unless you are having

issues with a particular games saving.

• Link with GBA -> Used with the 3in1 expansion pack.

• Rumble strength -> Used with the 3in1 expansion pack.

Pressing (Y) will allow you to copy your save to another file. The

source save will be whatever save slot is selected under Features.

File Information > Settings > Features

• Cheat in Game (AR) -> Enables or Disables cheats only on this

game. 'Global' means it will use the setting from the patches

menu. AR stands for action replay, which are the same cheat

codes R4 Wood uses.

http://www.dwtechz.com/

• Reset in Game -> Enables or Disables Soft Reset only on this

game. 'Global' means it will use the setting from the patches

menu

• Choose Save Slot -> Wood R4 allows you to have upto 4 save

files for each game, this selects which one to use. The first

(default) will have the nds.sav file extension, the second will

have nds.1.sav , the third nds.2.sav and the 4th nds.3.sav

• Show icon -> Control how Wood R4 displays the game icon.

Settings

Using the L and R trigger will change which settings page is

displayed: System Settings >> Interface Settings >> File System

Settings >> Patches >> GBA settings

Start Menu > Settings > System Settings

• User Interface style -> This is your Skin selection.

http://www.dwtechz.com/

• Language -> Interface language.

• Set file list type (NDS/NDS+SAV/ALL) -> Control which file

types are displayed in Wood R4's file browser.

You can hold down the (select) button and press the (L. Trigger) to

quicklly switch between displaying all files, and the setting in 'Set

file list type'. For this reason you should have 'Set file list type'

set to 'NDS' or 'NDS+SAV'.

Interface Settings

• Scrolling Speed -> Changes the scrolling speed in Wood R4's

File browser.

• Filelist Style -> Will change the file browser listing layout.

Modern: Filenames + Icons, 4 displayed per page >> Internal:

ROM name as taken from the ROM header + Icons, 4 displayed per

page >> Old School: Filenames with no icons, 10 displayed per

page>> Filenames (10 per page). The is the same as pressing the

(select) button while in the file browser.

• Animation -> Changes wether or not the icon of the highlighted

file/ folder is animated in the file browser (The icon will

shrink/ expand)

Start Menu > Settings > File system settings

http://www.dwtechz.com/

• Show hidden files -> Controls wether or not hidden files/

folders are displayed in the file browser. Files can be hidden

by inserting the MicroSD card into a PC. From Within windows

explorer right click on the file/ folder and select properties,

put a tick in the hidden box and select ok.

• Trim rom when copy -> Controls wether or not Wood R4 will trim

the padded space from a file when copying/ pasting. It's easier

to trim these using a an external application like

NDStokyotrim.

Start Menu > Settings > Patches

• Cheat in Game(AR) -> globally enables cheats, AR = Action

replay.

• Reset in Game -> globally enables Soft Reset, pressing the (A)

+ (B) + (L) + (R) + (Down) buttons within a game/ application

will take you back to the Wood R4 file browser.

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Start Menu > Settings > GBA settings

• universal Sleep -> Requires a 3in1 expansion cart.

• Backup save at startup -> Requires a 3in1 expansion cart.

• Slot-2 mode -> Requires a 3in1 expansion cart.

Step 6. Putting games onto your MicroSD card.

Normally you should use clean ROMs, Wood will already include loaders

to circumvent any Anti Piracy methods present in all games present

before the release of the version you are using. If you use a patched

ROM, it will mean this will be applied twice, once by the patch and

once by Wood and so may cause problems.

You can copy your nds files to the root directory, or place them in

subdirectories. For example you could have a directory for each game

genre (Adventure, RPG, racing etc), by alphabetical (A-C,D-F,G-I etc)

or just put them all in a 'games' directory.

• You can use This batch file to quickly create alphabetical

directories inside a games directory. Download and extract to

the root directory of your MicroSD card, then double click on

makedir.

http://www.dwtechz.com/

• You can use This batch file to quickly create genre directories

inside a games directory. Download and extract to the root

directory of your MicroSD card, then double click on makedir.

Do not ask for or post links to commercial ROMs on here,

you will be banned.

http://www.dwtechz.com/

Wood R4 cannot load games from archives, you must place the nds files

themselves on the MicroSD card. ROMs can be reduced in size by using

trimmer such as NDSTokyoTrim, these remove the padded space from the

ROMs. If you trim a DSi enchanced game, you will end up with a bad

ROM so don't do it until the trimming tools have been updated.

NDSTokyoTrim will be updated shortly and will no longer suffer from

this issue. An alternative trimmer which is also very popular is

TinyTrimmer which you can download Here

You can use software such as RToolDS or Rominator to manage your ROMs

and copy them to your MicroSD card, you can also use software such as

NdsCRC or OfflineList to rename/ repackage your ROMs (into archives).

RtoolDS:

Homebrew should normally be placed in the root directory, as there

are one or two that expect that to be their location.

• Homebrew is software people have created at home using

flashcarts such as the Acekard and R4. It's normally free to

use.

Step 7. Favorites

Wood R4 has a favorites folder in it's root menu. You can place

shortcuts to your favorites games within here. You can quickly jump

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to the favorites folder by pressing the (X) button. To add a game to

the favorites folder, highlight your game, press (start) and select

'Copy'. Now press the (X) button, press (Start) and select 'paste'.

You game should now appear in the favorites folder. It doesn't copy

the ROM, only a shortcut to the ROM.

Step 8. Saves

Wood R4 uses the *.nds.sav file extension for it's save files. The

save files need to be located in the same directory and have the same

filename as the game ROM they refer to.

Other R4 OSMenu's may use the *.sav file extension instead, the same

applies to the OSMenu's of many other carts. If you have saves from

these and which to use them with Wood R4, you will have to rename

them. You can download a tool Here which will quickly do that for

you. To use download and extract to the root directory of your

MicroSD card, then double click on SaveManager and select option 5.

It will rename all the saves on the MicroSD card, including those in

subdirectories. If you want to rename them back again, you can do so

by selecting option 4.

Data on MicroSD cards can often become corrupted, which could cause

you to lose all your save files. For this reason it's a good idea to

regularly backup your save files. You can do this by using the same

tool and selecting option 1, it will copy all your save files to My

Documents\DS-Saves\[date]\[time] or option 2 will back them up to a

backup directory on your MicroSD card.

http://www.dwtechz.com/

Step 9. Cheats.

Before using cheats you will have to install a cheat database,

GBAtemp provides an upto date cheat database for you to use. The NEW

massive CHEAT DataBase maintained by Narin , elixirdream and the

Cheat Code Crew. Currently it's normally updated 1-2 times per week,

so will normally contain the latest cheats, you can find out more by

visting the Cheats forum. To install, download This file and extract

to the __RPG/Cheats directory on your MicroSD card.

Cheats can be enabled globally for all games, or just for individual

games. To enable cheats globally, from within Wood R4 press (start),

select 'Settings', press the (R) button 3 times and next to 'Cheat In

Game (AR)' select 'on'. Now Press (A) to confirm.

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To enable cheats for an individual game, highlight a game and press

(Y) to bring up the properties. Now press (Y) again, press the (R)

button, next to 'Cheat in Game (AR)' select 'On', press (A) to

confirm the changes. This will override the setting under the patches

menu, By default it will be 'Global' which means it will use what

ever setting is present in the 'Patches' menu. 'Off' will disable

cheats overriding the setting in the 'Patches' menu.

Now you have to select which cheats you want to enable for your game.

To do this this highlight your ROM, press the (Y) button to bring up

the properties, Now press the (X) button. Press (A) to select the

http://www.dwtechz.com/

cheats to enable, and when you are done press (X) to confirm.

As of Wood 1.10, a shortcut has been added which allow you to quickly

view the cheats for a game. Simply highlight a ROM, hold down (L) and

press (Y).

Wood R4 will then save these cheats to a file which has the same

filename as the ROM, but with a .CC file extension. The .CC file will

be in the same location as the ROM. Most cheats will require a key

combination to be pressed for them to activated within the game. To

view the key combination select the cheat and press the (Y) button.

Step 10. Soft Reset.

Soft Reset allows you to use a key combination to go back to the Wood

R4 file browser from within a game. This saves you having to power

off/ on the DS. The Soft Reset button combination is: (L. Trigger)+

(R. Trigger) +(B)+(A)+(Down), these need to be pressed at the same

time.

This can either be enabled gloablly, or on a per game basis. To

enable Soft Reset globally, from within Wood R4 press (start), select

'Settings', press the (R) button 3 times and next to 'Reset in Game'

select 'on'. Now Press (A) to confirm.

http://www.dwtechz.com/

To enable Soft Reset for an individual game, highlight a game and

press (Y) to bring up the properties. Now press (Y) again, press the

(R) button, next to 'Reset in Game' select 'On'. This will override

the setting under the patches menu, By default it will be 'Global'

which means it will use what ever setting is present in the patches

menu.'Off' will disable Soft Reset, overriding the setting in the

'patches' menu.

Step 11. Installing Skins.

http://www.dwtechz.com/

Skins completely change how Wood R4 looks and feels. Because of it's

Acekard background, Wood R4 uses Acekard skins and not R4 skins. You

can download skins from places such as NDSthemes. To install,

download and extract the akin archive to the __RPG/UI folder on your

MicroSD card. Each skin needs to be in it's own folder. Wood will use

the folder name to identify the skin within the Wood interface.

If it's not already done so in your skins archive, The files:

clock_colon.bmp, clock_numbers.bmp, day_numbers.bmp, year_numbers.bmp

will need to be placed into a folder named "calendar" within the

skin's folder. Take notice of the spelling of "calendar", as it's

easily misspelt.

http://www.dwtechz.com/

To change your skin from within Wood R4 press (start), goto settings,

next to 'User Interface style' select your skin. Now press (A) to

confirm the changes.

Sometimes the skins you install may be corrupted or missing required

elements which can cause problems. When you select the skin, it may

prevent the GUI appearing which means you can't change the skin back.

Fortunately this is very easy to fix, to do this insert the MicroSD

card into your PC and open the globalsettings.ini file which is

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located in the __rpg directory on your MicroSD card. Near the top of

the file you will find the line:

Which will change the skin back to the Zelda skin which is one of the

skins included in the Wood R4 installation archive.

Step 12. GBA.

Wood R4 natively supports the EZFlash 3-in-1 slot-2 expansion for GBA

compatibilty. No other slot-2 GBA devices are natively supported,

this includes 3in1+, ewin, Super Card Slot 2 and M3 Perfect. If you

have one of these and want support added to Wood R4, you will have to

mail the device to the yellow.wood.goblin.

If you have a 3in1+, there is a thread Here by qwertymodo which is

testing a patch which adds native support for the 3in1+ with the

intention of getting this added to the main Wood code if it proves to

be sucessful.

GBA frames should be supported, each skin will normally include a

gbaframe as gbaframe.bmp. If you have a skin which is missing one,

you can copy it from another skin. AKAIO also allows you to have a

skin for each game, this should also apply to Wood. Place the

gbaframe.bmp in the __rpg/frames directory and then rename

gbaframe.bmp to the GameID of the game. Next time you load that game,

Wood will use this frame overriding any frame present in the skin. To

find out the GameID you can use switch the file browser listing

layout to Internal.

12. Links.

DWT

http://www.dwtechz.com/

R4DS

yellow.wood.goblin, Wood R4 Developer

Another World, Wood R4 Announcer

Wood 1.15 Download

Wood 1.14.2 Download

Wood 1.14 Download

Wood 1.13 Download

Wood 1.12 Download

Wood 1.11 Download

Wood 1.10 Download

Wood 1.09 Download

Wood 1.08 Download

Wood 1.07 Download

Wood 1.06 Download

Wood 1.05 Download

Wood 1.04 Download

Wood R4 Source

Wood R4 Sources Thread

Wood R4 1.15 thread

Wood R4 1.14.2 thread

Wood R4 1.14 thread

Wood R4 1.13 thread

Wood R4 1.12 thread

Wood R4 1.11 thread

Wood R4 1.10 thread

Wood R4 1.09 thread

Wood R4 1.08 thread

Wood R4 1.07 thread

Wood R4 1.06 thread

Wood R4 1.05 thread

Wood R4 1.04 thread

Wood R4 FAQ thread

Wood R4 for clones thread (for clones other than that of the

original)

Wood R4 bugs and compatibility thread

Wood R4 Language files thread

Wood R4 Suggestions thread request any additions or changes to Wood

R4 here.

Wood R4 3in1+ Patch thread

http://www.dwtechz.com/

7zip

WinRar

SD Formatter

SD Formatter Manual

R4CRYPT

NDSTokyoTrim Thread

TinyTrimmer Thread

RToolDS

Rominator Thread Database update Thread

NdsCRC

OfflineList

HashTab

AK Edit 1.2.1 by Dan Taylor

Acekard Skins

NDSthemes

GBA Frame Template

Vague Rant's AKAIO GBA Frame Collection

The NEW massive CHEAT DataBase maintained by Narin

The Temporary NDS Cheat Database maintained by elixirdream

GBAtemp Cheats Forum

Elixirdream's R4CEE guide

Curly's R4CEE Guide

R4CCE (R4 Cheat Code Editor)

R4CCE (R4 Cheat Code Editor) Mirror

Alphabetical games directories batch file

Genre games directories batch file

Wood R4 Save Manager

Wood R4 Save Converter (Linux, Mac OS)