Homebrew SCFW: Custom Firmware & Kernel for Supercard

[SuperCardDeepFan]

Maybe with regular SuperCards. Not on SuperCard LIte though as I haven't been able to get it to write past 0x50000. But SC has official NDS recovery programs anyways so you don't really need to use SCKILL for that.

But does it actually works the official one ? And also does this software contain inside the firmware 1.85? Or how it actually works? Thanks

 

[Apache Thunder]

But does it actually works the official one ? And also does this software contain inside the firmware 1.85? Or how it actually works? Thanks

The official recovery tool restores 1.85 version firmware on the target slot-2 card it was designed for. I haven ot tried flashing official firmware dumps via sckill because I don't have any regulard non lite versions of SuperCard to test the original flash code on. The SCLIte flash code can't write the full chip (just the first 0x50000) so it's not really possible with it yet.

Do not use the SuperCard Lite MicroSD recovery tool on a SuperCard MicroSD. They are seperate devices and as I recall I don't think the Lite's tool is compatible with the non lite MicroSD.

The SuperCard SD and SuperCard MicroSD might share the same firmwares. Someone else who knows more about SuperCard SD could chime in on that perhaps. I don't don't own either so can't confirm or deny that.

 

[OmDRetro]

I don't know if this is a dumb question or not but, is it possible to use your version of the flasher to go back to the original firmware with a Supercard mini/micro SD? I think it was possible using the original version of SCKILL but I'm not sure.

I did try replacing the firmware.frm file with ofw.frm, recompiled the source(from Apache Thunder's version 1.0 from github), and then flashed it afterwards.

Guess what... It WORKED FOR ME! I'm attaching a copy of the modified SCKill ROM that should restore the SuperCard to OFW v1.85. (DO NOT SELECT THE SUPERCARD SDLITE OPTION. That hasn't been tested yet)

The official recovery tool restores 1.85 version firmware on the target slot-2 card it was designed for. I haven ot tried flashing official firmware dumps via sckill because I don't have any regulard non lite versions of SuperCard to test the original flash code on. The SCLIte flash code can't write the full chip (just the first 0x50000) so it's not really possible with it yet.

Do not use the SuperCard Lite MicroSD recovery tool on a SuperCard MicroSD. They are seperate devices and as I recall I don't think the Lite's tool is compatible with the non lite MicroSD.

The SuperCard SD and SuperCard MicroSD might share the same firmwares. Someone else who knows more about SuperCard SD could chime in on that perhaps. I don't don't own either so can't confirm or deny that.

I made some modifications on your latest variant of the SCKill and it works for my SuperCard Micro SD variant(non-lite). Haven't tested the lite version as I don't own one . However, I did try to modify an earlier version from post#282 and that bricked my card. Luckily, moon_rabbit's version of SCKill restored it to SCFW and I'm able to test again (Yes, I like taking risks. I got 4 of these things)

WARNING: Flashing this version of the OFW using the slot-1 method takes about 1 HOUR and 13 minutes. So I do not recommend this method unless you're willing to wait that long.

Both the sckill-OFW.NDS and source are inside the zip file

 

[Apache Thunder]

Oh cool. So what modifications did you do besides renaming the frm file it uses? Did it work in normal mode or did you have to put it in SCLite mode?

EDIT: Oh wait you did mention using regular mode. So yeah the SD and MicroSD version are the same then. Just the SC Lite is unique I guess.

 

[SuperCardDeepFan]

Does someone has the official restore firmware flasher by any chance? Thanks

 

[OmDRetro]

Oh cool. So what modifications did you do besides renaming the frm file it uses? Did it work in normal mode or did you have to put it in SCLite mode?

EDIT: Oh wait you did mention using regular mode. So yeah the SD and MicroSD version are the same then. Just the SC Lite is unique I guess.

Yep, I had to flash twice. Twice the charm as they say .

What I did notice though is that the Flash ID seems to change constantly, but the end-result is achieved at least.

EDIT: Apart from the name of the *.frm file(and replacing the firmware.frm with ofw.frm), I had to modify some of the text prompts to indicate that you're using the SCKill-OFW ROM. Nothing else was changed . It should mimic yours similarly where it can try to load the ofw.frm from within ./scfw or from within the root directory. If ofw.frm isn't found in those directories, it should use the ofw.frm I built into it which came from post#191.

First attempt: SUCCESS


Second attempt: SUCCESS

 

[Janni9009]

The SuperCard SD and SuperCard MicroSD might share the same firmwares. Someone else who knows more about SuperCard SD could chime in on that perhaps. I don't don't own either so can't confirm or deny that.

There's 4 hardware types each with different hardware and firmware. They are not interchangeable. (cross-flashing CF and SD only allows recovery to boot, Lite uses some weird alternate save method that doesn't involve a battery or supercap, dunno if FRAM or direct-to-SD, Rumble lacks DRAM for retail/large homebrew in GBA mode (and for some reason even lacks the ability to load multiboots))
The types are as follows, consisting of 9 carts:
SCCF v1 and v2 a.k.a. "cf"
SCSD/miniSD/microSD clones a.k.a. "sd"
SCLite-ENG/CHN a.k.a. "scl_eng"/"scl_chs"
SCRumbleSD/SCRumbleLite a.k.a. "rumble"

 

[SuperCardDeepFan]

There's 4 hardware types each with different hardware and firmware. They are not interchangeable. (cross-flashing CF and SD only allows recovery to boot, Lite uses some weird alternate save method that doesn't involve a battery or supercap, dunno if FRAM or direct-to-SD, Rumble lacks DRAM for retail/large homebrew in GBA mode (and for some reason even lacks the ability to load multiboots))
The types are as follows, consisting of 9 carts:
SCCF v1 and v2 a.k.a. "cf"
SCSD/miniSD/microSD clones a.k.a. "sd"
SCLite-ENG/CHN a.k.a. "scl_eng"/"scl_chs"
SCRumbleSD/SCRumbleLite a.k.a. "rumble"

I do have in my possession two of them the micro sd one wich i think its a clon and a mini sd version which i bought it recently from a friend cause its impossible to get the mini sd version on these days almost impossible thats why i dod bought it and love it. I do have an ez flash Omega and trust me I use more the super card because I like it more don't know why maybe because it has more save States lots to save on it actually 4 in total more than enough. 2 GB limit seems to be fine to me unless you want to have a collection but I do have 64 games on it which is the limit and that's more than enough all the good ones

 

[Apache Thunder]

Lite uses some weird alternate save method that doesn't involve a battery or supercap, dunno if FRAM or direct-to-SD ....

From what I can the MicroSD Lite is completely flash based most likely. I don't have MicroSD inserted at all in mine and games can still retain saves so MicroSD is not used at all for that. It's limited to 64KB though. I've read it's because of how the flash has to be addressed and it has to do a page switch to read the other 64KB but SuperCard never setup code for that...I think so anyways. So yeah it is indeed a bit odd.

 

[JORGETECH]

Maybe with regular SuperCards. Not on SuperCard LIte though as I haven't been able to get it to write past 0x50000. But SC has official NDS recovery programs anyways so you don't really need to use SCKILL for that.

EDIT:

Actually the non Lite MicroSD version doesn't appear to have a recovery firmware tool on linfox so not sure how you'd recover that one. Unless it was flashable with the old version of SCKILL. If it was then you should be able to recover that by just flashing a rom dump back to it. But as I recall certain part of rom is not accessible until the mode switch command is sent to it? MetroidManaic/someone else mentioned them requiring a register poke before the full rom is accessible.

I did find the stock firmware in GBATemp (version 1.85), it's a .bin file that needs to be flashed.

I also found this post by metroid_maniac that seems to talk about SCFW's ability to flash original firmware, it also mentions there are carts with different flash id that should be already supported so it seems like I could just use SCFW to flash.

I would like someone to confirm if I'm correct but it seems like it's the case from that post.

Post automatically merged: May 28, 2024

I did try replacing the firmware.frm file with ofw.frm, recompiled the source(from Apache Thunder's version 1.0 from github), and then flashed it afterwards.

Guess what... It WORKED FOR ME! I'm attaching a copy of the modified SCKill ROM that should restore the SuperCard to OFW v1.85. (DO NOT SELECT THE SUPERCARD SDLITE OPTION. That hasn't been tested yet)

WARNING: Flashing this version of the OFW using the slot-1 method takes about 1 HOUR and 13 minutes. So I do not recommend this method unless you're willing to wait that long.

Thanks for making the modified version! I will try it as soon as I can. I'll also make sure to charge the console since it takes so long (reminds me of BootMii's NAND restore tool).

The types are as follows, consisting of 9 carts:
SCCF v1 and v2 a.k.a. "cf"
SCSD/miniSD/microSD clones a.k.a. "sd"
SCLite-ENG/CHN a.k.a. "scl_eng"/"scl_chs"
SCRumbleSD/SCRumbleLite a.k.a. "rumble"

I guess it makes sense that CF and SD would use different firmware since CompactFlash and SD interface in different ways.

I do have in my possession two of them the micro sd one wich i think its a clon and a mini sd version which i bought it recently from a friend cause its impossible to get the mini sd version on these days almost impossible thats why i dod bought it and love it.

I suspect all the micro SD versions that you can buy nowadays are all clones, in fact, mine had the name of the AliExpress store printed on top of one of the memory chips. What I don't know is where they originated and if they are using refurbished units or if it's a new PCB, It would be possible for it to be a new PCB design since there aren't any pads for the Mini SD slot.

 

[OmDRetro]

I did find the stock firmware in GBATemp (version 1.85), it's a .bin file that needs to be flashed.

I also found this post by metroid_maniac that seems to talk about SCFW's ability to flash original firmware, it also mentions there are carts with different flash id that should be already supported so it seems like I could just use SCFW to flash.

I would like someone to confirm if I'm correct but it seems like it's the case from that post.

Your assumption is correct, @JORGETECH. That is the same OFW.FRM I used to build the SCKill-OFW ROM on post#303. Just look at my flash sample pics on post#306. I got two cards from different sellers just to verify if it works and they both show different ID's. You can use the ofw.frm file(found on post#191) within the SCFW kernel as that restores stock firmware MUCH FASTER as it takes about 1 to 5 minutes. You only need to use my modified SCKill-OFW.NDS if your flashcart is BRICKED.

 

[JORGETECH]

Your assumption is correct, @JORGETECH. That is the same OFW.FRM I used to build the SCKill-OFW ROM on post#303. Just look like at my flash sample pics on post#306. I got two cards from different sellers just to verify if it works and they both show different ID's. You can use the ofw.frm file(found on post#191) within the SCFW kernel as that restores stock firmware MUCH FASTER as it takes about 1 to 5 minutes. You only need to use my modified SCKill-OFW.NDS if your flashcart is BRICKED.

Oh, that makes sense now. I suppose the sellers solder compatible flash memory chips and that would explain the different IDs. I guess I should try to flash within SCFW first since my cart is not bricked.

 

[JORGETECH]

Update: I was able to flash the stock firmware using SCFW without any issue. I wanted stock firmware to test some PassMe stuff.

 

[Xyvir]

Kind off-topic but anyone have any luck getting SNEmulsDS working off of supercard SD

I'm not having much luck

 

[Gamemaster2022]

Kind off-topic but anyone have any luck getting SNEmulsDS working off of supercard SD

I'm not having much luck

Just tried this on my DS and it seems to work. A little glitchy but it works. Do you have your roms in SNES folder in the root of your SD card?

 

[Xyvir]

Just tried this on my DS and it seems to work. A little glitchy but it works. Do you have your roms in SNES folder in the root of your SD card?

Thanks

I got it working I had to use a version labeled 'legacy' that was in the Twilight menu emulators folder.

I couldn't get any of the newer versions to work

 

[RealMegaBuster]

Nice work tested this with a sandisk ultra 32 gb and got my games running

 

[pitrako]

I'm not sure why, but every time I turn off the GBA and turn it on instantly, there's always
SDRAM write failed at
and the list goes on with 0x.... codes.

Is there a way to avoid this error without waiting 30 seconds before turning console on again?
Thank you!

Update:
It also happens if I've turned on GBA, didn't load a game, and turned off the console.
On next cold boot it will show
SDRAM write failed at 0x... and the list goes on.
After this error shows up, I turn off the console, wait for 30 seconds, and then it makes a correct save of last played game.
Supercard battery is in good condition.

I get this too sometimes.

 

[Apache Thunder]

Ok after testing older versions I found the update that broke SuperCard Lite (MicroSD, not rumble) support. v4.2 kernal works. But then going to 4.3 kernel (and thus all future versions) get fat init fail.

Since I can't get this project to compile (get region iwram overflowed by 14096 bytes error) I can't try and fix this on my own. Maybe someone can compare commits and provide me a modified build of 5.2 to test? I would like to see 5.2 work on my SC Lite. I did test 4.2 on a SDHC MicroSD card and it did work!

I have flashed the firmware.frm to fw flash via my modified build of SCKILL fyi. I no longer boot kernel via SC's loader now.

As far as I can tell this issue is not impacting the frm loader that loads the kernal. I flashed that to my SC LIte and it is able to fat init and load kernel. It's Kernel.gba where the fat init fail issue is cropping up.

I would have to guess the SC Lite isn't liking the speed optimization in intreduced in that 4.3 build....It's really the only thing that version seems to indicate was added. So maybe an easy fix. Unless one can detect SC Lite from other SC cards I would have to guess a separate branch would have be maintained for this card as a result.