Building an ESP32 WiFi forwarder for the DS

So recently I’ve installed some hacks and emulators onto my DSi through TwilightMenu++ and I realized that my WiFi is incompatible on the DS as it uses WPA2. So I’ve decided that instead of buying an old second hand WEP router, I’d set up an ESP32 access point myself and record the process.

Note:

So, trying to do this on an ESP32-S3 didn’t exactly work for me (Adafruit ESP32-S3 Feather), but at the same time, I’m not very good with compiling code, so I just tried flashing the default binaries. It kept playing the USB disconnect sound on Windows and nothing happened, so I wiped the flash and re-flashed the original bootloader. This is just a suggestion/warning for anyone trying this on anything other than a regular “ESP32” model dev board. However, there are precompiled binaries for the ESP32-C3 series.

For the firmware, I’ve chosen ESP32 NAT Router (Github, @martin-ger), this has pre-built binaries, and a web-based UI. I will be using that along with the ESP Flash Tool for flashing the program memory. (Basically just a GUI-based esptool.)

All of the binaries and offsets loaded into the ESP32 Flash Download Tool.

Once loading all of the .bin files and hex offsets according to the instructions, I hit START on COM14. There should be some data on the command prompt window. Once it’s done it should say FINISH in blue. To test it, reset it. If you see the WiFi, "ESP32_NAT_Router", connect to it. Then go to 192.168.4.1. This should open a configurations menu. Set the access point SSID to anything that you want, but leave the password blank so the DS can connect to it. Save that setting, and then reconnect to it. Set the STA/uplink settings to your WiFi SSID and password, and then save again.

The last step is to go onto any DS game, and go to WFC settings. From there, in the WiFi connection settings menu, tap an empty connection, search for routers, and look for your open WiFi. Connect to it. Lastly, set the DNS settings to your favorite WFC alternative and you will be ready to go. Now you can play any DS game online!