A beginners guide on how to set up the EZ4​

INTRODUCTION
The EZ-Flash IV is the last GBA flash cat that are still in production, but lucky for us it's also one of the best.
When I got mine a few months ago I could not find a tutorial anywhere, I had to search and email a few O.G. for help.
Many links to tutorial and/or guides was broken or are very old, so I hope a few people will find this guide helpful.


What you need:

• EZ Flash IV
• mini SD memory card
• GBA/SP/MICRO

The EZ4 can only display about 78 roms per directory, but you can have multiple directory if you have a lot of roms. (Thanks FAST6191)
A 1GB mini SD can hold a good amount of roms, and is usually enough for most people.
I know some of you want to use a micro SD to mini SD adapter, but many people have had random detection issues which leads to crashes and other problems. So an adapter is not recommended


SET UP

1. Insert your mini SD to your computer

2. Download the latest kernel here, http://filetrip.net/f4753-EZ4-Client-2009-04-03.html
It will come with everything you need except the skinning tool

3. Extract the kernel to your computer. After it’s extracted or unzipped, open it and look for this file ezfla_up.bin. Once you find it copy and paste it into root of your mini SD.

4. Now remove your mini SD and put it in the EZ4, than insert the EZ4 in your GBA.

5. Hold the [R] shoulder button and turn on your GBA.
DO NOT LET GO OF THE [R] BUTTON UNTIL THE UPDATE PROCESS HAS BEGUN. DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR GBA UNTIL THE UPDATE PROCESS REACHES 100%.

When it’s done turn off your GBA and remove your mini SD and reinsert it into your computer, go ahead and delete the ezfla_up.bin file from your mini SD memory card.

6. Go back to your kernel folder and look for the EZ Client. Double click it and the EZ Client will open.
Next click 'Config', and change the "send path" to where your mini SD card is, for me it’s F: Drive.

7. Each game needs to be patched before you can use it in the EZ4, to do this just click “open” and find your GBA roms. Select the rom you want, than press send. It will send the rom to your mini SD along with a “saver” folder.
Do not drag and drop, your game will not work properly if you do.

The EZ Client can patch more than one rom at a time, this way you don’t have to patch them one at a time.

8. Remove the mini SD card from your PC and insert it into your EZ4, insert the EZ4 into your GBA.
Power on the GBA. It will boot to the EZ4 menu. Select the game you want to play and enjoy.

Spoiler

[titlelaying NDS roms using the EZ4]
Yes the EZ4 can play DS rom, but the compatibility is horrible since this method of running DS rom is no longer used.
But if you have a passme laying around it's kinda fun to try it and have a little bit of fun with it.

Helpful tips

• If everything is in Chinese you can change the language to English.
  To change to English just press down, down, down, than (A), (A), than down, than (A).
  
  
• Some games are too big, when you select them you will get one of these message,
  “PSRAM is not enough”. In order to play these games you will need to load them to NOR memory.
  These games are 32MB (256mbit) in size. To play them just press select, than press (A) for yes and let it write to NOR.
  
  
  
• If you hate the Darth Vader skin like I do, you can change it, the process is the same as when you first flashed the EZ4, just put the ezfla_up.bin in root and update it.
  No you do not need to erase anything, just put it in root, update and enjoy your new skin.
  Yes you can delete the ezfla_up.bin file after you’re done.
  Go here for some GBA skin http://www.sosuke.com/ezflash/viewforum.ph...75488d720cb643d
  
  
• GBA Tool Advance (GBATA), this is a great little program every EZ4 user should have.
  GBATA is a gba rom tool with the functions below.
  1. Header Viewer
  2. Intro Remover
  3. Overdump Fixer
  4. fix header
  5. Intro Drawer
  6. IPS Patcher
  7. SRAM Patcher
  8. Rom Trimmer
  9. Reboot/Sleep mode
  10. Clock fix for Pokemon sapphire & ruby.
  
  Get it here: http://filetrip.net/file.php?id=223

If there is anything I missed or needs to be corrected please PM me.
​

Special thank to PharaohsVizier for his help and FAST6191, I forgot I PM you more than a few times about the EZ4.​

 

[FAST6191]

It sounds like the game is doing a soft reset- are there any button combinations used in the game that would lead to you doing something like holding L, A, B and up at the same time (the default reset patch buttons).... actually having played megaman that is quite possible. Try sending the game again but uncheck the reset patch option in EZ4client (on the left hand side in the middle).

If it is not that then it really should not happen and the closest I have seen to it is on DS homebrew where ram was not cleared before launch and some old graphics popped up but I will save pondering that until a confirmation of it is not soft reset.

 

[afraidofgba00]

In megaman I do press R with A and B alot, plus I'm moving around alot with the d pad while I'm using R and A and B, if I repatch it without "Reset" checked, then no button combo will exit me out of the game?

 

[afraidofgba00]

It sounds like the game is doing a soft reset- are there any button combinations used in the game that would lead to you doing something like holding L, A, B and up at the same time (the default reset patch buttons).... actually have played megaman that is quite possible. Try sending the game again but uncheck the reset patch option in EZ4client (on the left hand side in the middle). If it is not that then it really should not happen and the closest I have seen to it is on DS homebrew where ram was not cleared before launch and some old graphics popped up but I will save pondering that until a confirmation of it is not soft reset.

I think that did it, I got through the whole opening stage without anything going wrong. Thank You

 

[suppow]

anyone recommend a good site to buy these?
obviously preferably cheap, with paypal, and from china, lol

 

[eXtremeDevil]

I have a doubt about this flashcard:

I understand that there is a memory inside the flashcard, called SRAM, with a capacity of 8MB. This memory is used to stored savegames automatically. When I play to the game X, X.sav is created at the SRAM. On the next boot, X.sav is transferred from the SRAM to the folder "saver" inside the minisd. When I run X again, the savegame will be read from the minisd, right? The SRAM will be empty, waiting for another X.sav or the savegame of another rom, always one by one, is that how the flashcard works? So if I accidentally format the minisd at least the last game played will have its savegame, am I right?

 

[eXtremeDevil]

EDIT:

Never mind this and my previous post.

 

[OmkarZ]

Well eXtremeDevil the saving type I didn't actually try this kind of stuff but......
once i play a game nfs underground on then turned my gba sp off and changed the min sd card and when i rebooted the gba sp SRAM tried to save the game an transfer it to mini sd
But as I changed the mini sd it failed to do it.
I checked the save folder and there was a folder named nfs underground and not the save file like x.save and it showed that the size was 0 kb and when when i tried to open the folder the screen displayed a crooked background and then i was able to go back to previous menu as the EZ4 wasn't hanged
So I recommend you not to try that kind of stuff

 

[byart]

Hey, I'm new in the forums, have been searching for a tutorial about the EZ 4 card, this helped a lot, thanks a ton!

 

[JasonR]

Is it necessary to update the kernel? It seemed to work fine without the update. Does it make any improvements to the card?

 

[Whyat]

Thank you for this tutorial It helped a lot.

 

[OmkarZ]

JasonR it is not compulsory to update kernel as it wouldn't make much difference but just a little and I recommend you to do it as it doesn't require to format your mini sd or micro sd.
You don't need to delete any roms but you just have to add a kernel file (.bin) to root directory, inset the flash card and press R(for GBA users) and you can also prepare a custom made skin .
To know how to make a custom made skin watch this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itajCOMxsao

 

[TyBlood13]

Thanks for the How-To!
I have a funny looking EZ-Flash IV, only because the label is Upside-down!
Bought it from RealHotStuff, btw!

 

[Green512]

Just a few quick questions guys and sorry if these are dumb, please forgive me.

1. Recently got an ez-flash iv and got it working on my SP with no problems so far but I also want to put it on my GB Micro so do I need to take my rom and saver files off the root and just put the ezfla_up file in the root like I did before or can I leave them there?

2. Is it better to just put all games in nor memory or does it really matter or make a difference?

3. As far as saving games goes, I know that when you turn the system off and then on again the game will save then but what if the next game you play is a different game or just a regular gba cart? Will you still have that save from the previous game? If not then how do you keep that save while playing another game.

Please be as specific as possible and again I'm sorry about the noob questions. Thanks guys.

 

[Count Duckula]

Just a few quick questions guys and sorry if these are dumb, please forgive me.

1. Recently got an ez-flash iv and got it working on my SP with no problems so far but I also want to put it on my GB Micro so do I need to take my rom and saver files off the root and just put the ezfla_up file in the root like I did before or can I leave them there?

2. Is it better to just put all games in nor memory or does it really matter or make a difference?

3. As far as saving games goes, I know that when you turn the system off and then on again the game will save then but what if the next game you play is a different game or just a regular gba cart? Will you still have that save from the previous game? If not then how do you keep that save while playing another game.

Please be as specific as possible and again I'm sorry about the noob questions. Thanks guys.

1. You do not need to do anything to use it on another GBA. Just change it over like a normal cart, all saves etc are stored within the cart, not the GBA.

2. The RAM in the ez-flash IV is pretty good (unlike the supercard GBA carts in GBA mode), I haven't noticed any slowdown in games. You can flash a favourite game or 2 to NOR just for the faster loading but there is no real need to do so. ROMs over 16MB are automatically flashed to NOR just because the cart has 32MB NOR, 16MB RAM.

3. You can load another game/use a normal GBA cart as you like. The save is stored in battery-backed SRAM inside the cart until you load into the ez-flash menu again, when it is written to the miniSD card. Do not skip the saving to SD screen when the cart loads and you can play all the games you like.

 

[Green512]

1. You do not need to do anything to use it on another GBA. Just change it over like a normal cart, all saves etc are stored within the cart, not the GBA.

2. The RAM in the ez-flash IV is pretty good (unlike the supercard GBA carts in GBA mode), I haven't noticed any slowdown in games. You can flash a favourite game or 2 to NOR just for the faster loading but there is no real need to do so. ROMs over 16MB are automatically flashed to NOR just because the cart has 32MB NOR, 16MB RAM.

3. You can load another game/use a normal GBA cart as you like. The save is stored in battery-backed SRAM inside the cart until you load into the ez-flash menu again, when it is written to the miniSD card. Do not skip the saving to SD screen when the cart loads and you can play all the games you like.

Thx so much for the help. Okay, so for my micro all I have to do now is just put the ez-flash in and I'm good? I don't have to do that whole "put ezfla_up in root and hold right shoulder button" stuff again like I did when I first put it in my SP?

Also I read that some games like the Super Mario Advance games don't save cause the names are too long? I don't understand this, so does that mean I go into my roms folder on the micro sd and just rename the game files? Something like "sma2" for example?

 

[FAST6191]

Though it is not quite at the drag and drop level of the PSP and DS we do have things fairly easy in GBA world and the EZ4 is a well developed (well as far as Chinese grey market stuff goes it is) device.

The ezfla_up.bin is just the file used to update the loader on the cart itself (and if you want to change the skins then you will get a new one made by the tools). Once you have updated it then you can delete it without issue.

Yeah there is a bug that troubles a couple of games, for me it is only the super mario games that need changing to 8:3 naming but others have also had it for other games (if a game does not save and you have used GBATA or EZ4client then try 8:3 naming). Everything else has a limit somewhere around 50 characters (which in my experience is only really an issue for those 5 in 1 games). I am finally looking to put an EZ4 pack together which should automatically use 8:3 names* for those games that need it but until then the general idea is rename the games and their saves (which are in the saver folder) to 8.3 format.

*8:3 names are an older concept in computing where files needed to have a name of 8 or fewer characters and a three letter extension) but the older EZFlash devices used them for some things and the first few loaders of the EZ4 did as well. I image that is where the bug crept in.

 

[Count Duckula]

Thx so much for the help. Okay, so for my micro all I have to do now is just put the ez-flash in and I'm good? I don't have to do that whole "put ezfla_up in root and hold right shoulder button" stuff again like I did when I first put it in my SP?

Also I read that some games like the Super Mario Advance games don't save cause the names are too long? I don't understand this, so does that mean I go into my roms folder on the micro sd and just rename the game files? Something like "sma2" for example?

Everything FAST6191 said

A few other things:

• It's easiest to rename the games before running them through the ez-flash client, that way you can be sure the ROM and save file are named the same. You can rename them after, just make sure you rename the save file exactly the same (apart from the file extension of course, .gba for ROM, .sav for save).
• Follow the guide from this thread, its all pretty easy. A few changes I'd suggest:
  • I'd recommend setting the output of the ez-flash client to a directory on your PC, then copying the ROMS and save files it outputs to the miniSD after.
  • The EZ-Flash client will output the ROMs to whatever directory you set it to (see the guide above), but it will always create a folder named 'saver' on the root of that same drive and put the save files in there. As well as the ROMs, you need to copy the save files to the miniSD also.
    • EG: You set the output of ez-flash client to C:\ROMs\GBA\Patched. After you copy the patched ROMs from that location over to your miniSD, you need to also copy the contents of C:\saver to X:\saver (X being whatever drive letter you miniSD is when connected to your PC).
• Instead of updating the cart with the ezfla_up.bin that comes with the ez-flash client, I would recommend using this one http://ezflash.sosuke.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=17257
• If you are going to put more than 80 ROMs on the miniSD, you need to make sure you have less than 80 in any one directory, otherwise the names wont be displayed in the ez-flash menu on GBA properly.
  • Just create a few folders and put 79 or less ROMs in each, eg:
    • X:\A-I
    • X:\J-Q
    • X:\R-Z
• You will also have X:\saver, which is where you need to have the save file for each game (games that use some sort of save at least). The save files always go in here, no matter where on the miniSD you place the ROMs.

 

[Green512]

Okay, some things I understand and some I don't. I'll just explain how I've been doing things so far and if you recommend I make some changes please do so very specifically.

1. Right now on my desktop I have a file named "gba" where I put all my downloaded gba roms. I also have a file named "ez4" where I extracted the 31119 ez4 client.
2. On my sd card I have two files in the root. One is "gba" and one is "saver".
3.So when I transfer roms to the sd card I just open up the ez4 folder on my desktop and double click the ez4_client.
4.Then I click "open" and it goes to my "gba" folder on my desktop where all my gba roms are listed. I select what game I want and click open. Then I just click send on the ez4_client. Then that game appears on the "gba" folder in the root of the sd card.

So far things seem to be working ok. I also changed my skin to clearlooks and I'm happy with that. I'm not sure what you mean by setting the output. Also not sure what you're talking about for the saver folder.
For changing the game names do I just go into my "gba" root folder and change the game name?
Then go into the "saver" folder and just rename using the same name?
For example-Super Mario Advance 2 Super Mario World. I can change it sma2.gba? Then go into "saver" and change it to sma2.sav?

Also I'd like to use those "A-I, J-Q, R-Z" folders for my gba roms but not really sure how.

Do I just make three new folders in the sd card root?
Then drag the games out of my "gba" folder that's also in my root to the appropriate new folder?
Then can I just delete the old "gba" folder after all the games have been organized"

I apologize for being clueless when it comes to this.

 

[FAST6191]

On your 1-4 list I only wish to add one thing

4. You can do multiple ROM images at once and they can be left as RAR or zip (no 7z unfortunately).

Setting the output is what you have already done- when you set it to the miniSD card you set it.
Now EZ4client is a pain (see things like it always wanting a d:\ drive) and if in the future you do something like get another SD card reader and the computer, this is why some prefer to send files to their computer hard drive and copy manually (if you meet someone doing it for a DS flash cart or homebrew it is a subtly different, but quite valid*, reason but let us no go there now).

*the EZ4 can have a related issue (flash carts and the homebrew that runs on them have a terrible time making new files on a memory card rather than just writing to old ones) if you use the seldom used and poorly understood multi save feature but again let us not go there and frankly it is probably easier to just make multiple copies of the game and use different names.

Changing the game name as far as what appears on the EZ4 loader- you can set it in EZ4client if you want. I bundled a list of GBA game names in the format it expected but some still prefer to change them. Still if you want to do it post EZ4client then yeah rename it as you would any other file, the only extra is you have to rename the saver file to the same name (obviously leaving the .sav extension).

On putting things in directories.
Assuming you are looking at nicely patched ROM images on your SD cart it is trivial; leave the files in the saver directory alone, copy/move the GBA ROM images to your desired folders. The EZ4 loader tops out at around 80 files per folder (you should never have to visit the saver directory in the EZ4 loader so that is OK) but it can support directories in directories and you can always make more directories on the root of the card if you do end up with that many games.

 

[Count Duckula]

I also changed my skin to clearlooks and I'm happy with that. I'm not sure what you mean by setting the output.

See step 6 of the guide in first post of this thread. It's just changing where the ez-flash client outputs the patched ROMs to.
If the ez-flash client is already putting the patched ROMs on the miniSD then you dont really need to do anything, just be aware the setting is there in case you want it to output the patched ROMs to a different drive/folder.

For changing the game names do I just go into my "gba" root folder and change the game name?
Then go into the "saver" folder and just rename using the same name?
For example-Super Mario Advance 2 Super Mario World. I can change it sma2.gba? Then go into "saver" and change it to sma2.sav?

Yes, that's it exactly.

Also I'd like to use those "A-I, J-Q, R-Z" folders for my gba roms but not really sure how.

Do I just make three new folders in the sd card root?
Then drag the games out of my "gba" folder that's also in my root to the appropriate new folder?
Then can I just delete the old "gba" folder after all the games have been organized"

Yes, once again that's it exactly

There is no need to do this if you have less than 80 games total on the miniSD. If you want to have more than 80 on there you need to split them up into folders containing 79 ROMs or less, otherwise the ez-flash menu on GBA wont display the file names correctly. I just break them up alphabetically to make it easy to browse.

The save files ALWAYS stay in X:\saver on the minisd, but you can place the ROMs into folders as you wish.

I apologize for being clueless when it comes to this.

We all have to start somewhere. I generally just read a guide then give it a go, you're not going to break anything and you'll learn from any mistakes made.