Hacking EZ-Flat IV 2.01 - An EZ-Flash IV 2.01 skin

Localhorst86

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Hello everyone

this is a skin i just made for the Ezflash IV microSD. It is mostly a flattened Clearlooks skin with new icons and a new splash screen. See the attached screenshots. The current release of the skin is EZ-Flat IV 2.01 based on the official 2.01 kernel

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Release Notes (current release):
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  • Increased maximum displayable files per folder from 77 to 334 (Thanks EZ Team)
  • Automatic savegame patching (thanks EZ Team)
  • Automatic Anti-Piracy patches applied to games. Games like NES Classics, Dragon Ball Z Legacy of Goku and Top Gun - Combat Zones should work fine now (Thanks EZ Team)
  • Made multiple improvements to the Kernel text and help content
  • Renamed the "Save Mode" options to make them easier to understand (see "Save Mode" below, also available in the Release Notes section of the kernel, thanks Gyron, version 1.78 onwards)
  • Used improved font and various text from the Clearlooks Skin (Thanks Libertyernie)
  • Used various texts from BlueNight/Firewatch Skin (Thanks Gyron)
  • Applied the "autoreset" patch by Kuwanger (no need to Hold 'L' when booting troublesome games like Boktai or Yoshis Island)
  • Fixed 8KB save files from displaying as "8,192" (Thanks Draxoon)
  • Further minor text improvements by myself
  • DUe to popular demand, the text for skipping saving has been altered
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Usage:
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Copy 'ezfla_up.bin' to the root of your SD card. Hold the 'R' trigger while powering on your GBA and keep holding until you see the black/yellow update screen. Wait until the process has completed and you should see the newly flashed skin. Another power cycle is recommended.

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Save Mode:
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Optional - Saving is optional. The save file from the last played game is written to the memory card during boot (if the SRAM contents were altered ie. you saved or changed the options during a game), but you can skip this process by holding 'L' on bootup.
Note: Save skipping is only temporary, the EZ IV will continue to try and write the save on every boot until you load another game.
Note 2: If you accidentally hold 'L' on bootup (or from an in-game reset), inadvertently skipping the saving process, just switch off, then back on again to write the save.

Always - Will always write the save from the last played game (if there is a difference from the save file (.sav) already on the memory card, this is checked during boot). This setting is basically the same as "Optional" but without the ability to skip the save writing process.

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Known issues:
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ROM Loading has gotten a considerably slower in the 2.00 release, however the EZ-Flash Team have found a solution for this in the 2.01 release. 2.01 will create a patch on the initial launch of a ROM and save that, making subsequent launches as fast as pre-2.00.
Depending on the writing speed of your SD card, the system might seem stuck at 100% for a few seconds. Do not turn your system off, the system is writing the patch file to the SD Card.
Sometimes when loading a ROM the system might report percentages higher than 100% (103% was the highest I received).

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Comparison of PSRAM loading times between 1.78/2.00:
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Code:
           1.78:            2.00:
32Mbit     16 seconds       28 seconds
64Mbit     25 seconds       57 seconds
128Mbit    52 seconds      115 seconds

As you can see, 2.00 is considerably slower in PSRAM Loading than 1.78. Note that with version 2.01 of the kernel, only the first launch of a ROM is as slow as 2.00, any subsequent launch of the same ROM will produce results in the 1.78 ballpark.


draxoon for the skin toolkit including text patches
Gyron for some of his text changes
Libertyernie for the base clearlooks skin
Tony Thomas (http://medialoot.com/item/free-mini-vector-app-icons/) for most of the icons used
kuwanger for providing the autoreset offset (http://gbatemp.net/threads/ez-iv-1-76-boktai-1-3-w-solar-patch-white-screen.389406/#post-5514306)

31.05.2015 - Initial release, kernel 1.76 (still available for download if needed)
27.08.2015 - updated to kernel 1.77 (still available for download if needed)
01.05.2017 - updated to kernel 1.78, fixed version number in the info screen. Font, text and hard reset patches have been manually adjusted, displayable files per folder increased to 334 (replaced by bugfix release)
15.05.2017 - bugfixes to the 1.78 release, overhaul of the texts, general incosistencies removed
08.06.2017 - updated to kernel 2.00 - savegame patching added
16.06.2017 - updated to kernel 2.01 - ROM Loading improved and AP Patches applied by EZ-Flash Team
 

Attachments

  • ezpdalogo.jpg
    ezpdalogo.jpg
    4.7 KB · Views: 2,813
  • EZ-Flat IV_1.76.zip
    264.4 KB · Views: 612
  • EZ-Flat IV_1.77.zip
    264.6 KB · Views: 1,898
  • EZ-Flat IV_1.78_rev2.zip
    264.8 KB · Views: 582
  • EZ-Flat IV_2.00.zip
    271.2 KB · Views: 479
  • EZ-Flat IV_2.01.zip
    272.6 KB · Views: 1,601
  • browser.png
    browser.png
    578 bytes · Views: 668
  • home menu.png
    home menu.png
    1 KB · Views: 769
  • settings.png
    settings.png
    871 bytes · Views: 815
  • hardware reset patches.zip
    1.8 KB · Views: 448
Last edited by Localhorst86,

Localhorst86

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Nice theme ;)
Will this work on 1.75 minSD version?
While I haven't tested that (I obviously own the microsdhc version) it should work on the ezflash iv mini version as well. It will, however update to version 1.76 since the skin is embedded into the firmware file.
 
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kactusss

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Thanks for your answers. I always forget the two card are the same.
Version 1.75 & 1.76 does not work on my MiniSD EZ because my MiniSD is incompatible...
 

migles

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Thanks for your answers. I always forget the two card are the same.
Version 1.75 & 1.76 does not work on my MiniSD EZ because my MiniSD is incompatible...
you mean the sd card, because its not a HC one.. that happens.. starting at 1.75 lots of NON-HC cards stop working :/
i had a micro sd from transcend 2gb (with a mini adapter), it does work fine... but my MINI of 512MB stopped working...
 

Localhorst86

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there is the clearlooks theme, that is similair, its the one i used, it had versions for 1.74 and 17.2reset
you can use that one, is really great!

anyway. @Localhorst86
how did you changed the rom loading behavior? (L+A being default again)
Kuwanger provided the address that needs changing in the 1.76 loader, see http://gbatemp.net/posts/5514306/
 
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spacorn

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I just bought a cheap EZFLASH IV from aliexpress (SDHC enabled, I'm using a 16gb SDHC) and installed this firmware/theme as soon as I got it. At first everything was fine, I loaded a couple of games to try and everything seemed ok. Then I took awhile to load some more games on my card, and by the time I tried the flashcart again, it now gets stuck on the main screen title. I tried to reflash the upgrade, but when loading holding R it goes to a black screen with no text. I'm positive I'm under the 80 items file limit. I even formated my card and tried a second 2 GB regular SD I had on my old M3 Lite. It's still not working.

Did I get a faulty one? Or did I fry it installing an incompatible firmware on it? I'm very confused to what actually happened. Any ideas would be appreciated.
 

Localhorst86

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Afaik you can not fry the device by flashing a faulty firmware on it as the bootloader (the flasher that runs when you power the device with the R button pressed) is never touched and you'll always be able to flash a new firmware on it.

Regarding your other issue, it might be possible you received a faulty EZ IV. But it might alao be an issue with your SDHC card. Try a different Micro SD card, but try using one that's bigger than 2GB. People have reported the 1.75+ firmwares to have a lower compatibility with non-SDHC cards, most - if not all - Micro SDs with a storage of 2GB or less are non-SDHC and might simply be incompatible with the more recent firmware versions.
 

Nusdogg

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Sweet!

It works on my new EZ Flash IV MicroSD black cartridge! Been trying to get that clear look like the ones from the white EZFlash with no luck.
 

lettuce

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Hmm the file doesnt appear to work LocalHorst86, then i boot up the GBA with tthe Right Shoulder Button held down i get a black screen with a purple and blue box in the middle of the screen with what looks like corrupt graphics inside the box any ideas??
 

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