Hacking EZ-Flash IV v1.78 with Firewatch Skin (v2) (Release)

Gyron_Oldvic

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*Updated to 'Version 2' (just some minor cosmetic improvements).

EZ-Flash IV v1.78 Kernel with Firewatch Skin (v2), plus some additional patches and improvements (listed below).

The "Firewatch" Skin contains some elements from Draxoon's Skin and the Clearlooks Skin.

Release Notes:
- Increased maximum displayable files per folder from 77 to 334 (Thanks EZ Team).
- Made multiple improvements to the Kernel text and help content.
- Removed unnecessary space between file-size and unit prefix.
- Renamed the "Save Mode" options to make them easier to understand (see "Help and Info" below).
- Used improved font and various text from the Clearlooks Skin (Thanks Libertyernie).
- Applied the "Reset-on-Boot" patch by Kuwanger (no need to Hold 'L' when booting troublesome games).
- Fixed 8KB save files from displaying as "8,192" (Thanks Draxoon).
- Removed unused files from the Kernel (this reduces the size to under 900KB).


Thanks to:
Draxoon (Fixes and Generic Skin).
Libertyernie (Clearlooks Skin).
Kuwanger (Patches).
EZ Team (Kernel).


To Flash to your EZ-Flash IV:
Copy 'ezfla_up.bin' to the root of your SD card. Switch on the GBA whilst holding the 'R' trigger. When you see the update screen release 'R'. Wait until the process has completed. You should now see the Firewatch Desktop screen. Now power cycle your GBA.

Cheers
Gyron.

Help and Info (also in the 'Help' section of the Kernel):
Help and Info.
Important Note: The EZ IV (using Kernel v1.780) can display a maximum of 334 files per folder. The "334" number isn't an actual physical file limit, it's a displayable file limit when using the EZ IV's "File Browser". So if your game collection exceeds 334 games, then split them into multiple folders otherwise it will look like some of them are missing. The "Saver" directory may well contain more than 334 save files, but it doesn't really matter about this as you don't need to browse it via the EZ IV anyway, and all your saves will still work fine.

---------------------------
Options:
---------------------------

Language:
Choose between English or Chinese.

Save Mode:
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.

---------------------------
PSRAM Memory:
---------------------------
PSRAM is a temporary memory, so a game will only be stored until the device is powered off or reset. Games sized 16MB (32MB for EZ IV deluxe) and under can be written to PSRAM, Just press 'A' on a highlighted game to write and load from PSRAM. If you try to write a game to PSRAM which is too large, you will get the message "PSRAM Mem too small". These larger games would need to be written to the NOR memory instead (see below).

---------------------------
NOR Memory:
---------------------------
NOR is a non-volatile (but erasable) memory which will allow games up to 32MB (48MB for EZ IV deluxe) to be semi-permanently written to the EZ-Flash IV. There are some other games that also need to be run from NOR (certain beta's and homebrew). Unlike PSRAM, any game written to the NOR memory will be retained even after powering off. To write a game to NOR, press 'select' on a highlighted game. You will be prompted with "Write to NOR? Y/N". Press 'A' to write, or 'B' to cancel. If you press 'A' the game will begin to write (this can take quite a while depending on the size of the rom). You will see the message "Erasing", then "Writing". When the game has been written, you will find it in the first screen of the "File Browser". Highlight it and press 'A' to play it (you will notice it instantly boots). Note: If you get the message "Not enough free space" when attempting to write to NOR, you will need to erase a game from NOR to free up some space before you can write another game. To erase a game from NOR, highlight the NOR game in first screen of the "File Browser", then press 'select'. You will be prompted with "Delete?". Press 'A' to delete (it takes under 10 seconds to remove a game from NOR), or 'B' to cancel. You can also format the NOR memory (this can be useful if you are having any issues with the NOR). Press 'start' in the first screen of the "File Browser". You will be prompted with "Format NOR Flash? Y/N". Press 'A' to format, or 'B' to cancel. If you choose to format, you will see the message "NOR Clr" and an ascending counter. Wait until the process has completed, and you will have a clean NOR memory.

Screenshots:
firewatch1.jpg

firewatch2.jpg

firewatch3.jpg

firewatch4.jpg

firewatch5.jpg

firewatch6.jpg
 

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Peeteris

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This looks so good, but in file browser blue with orange colors don't match up good.
Could title and highlight be changed to yellow, creamy orange or some other color?
 

Gyron_Oldvic

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This looks so good, but in file browser blue with orange colors don't match up good.
Could title and highlight be changed to yellow, creamy orange or some other color?
I can change the Title bar where it says 'File Browser' to another colour, but not the Highlighter bar, as this seems to be embedded in the kernel. On my ags-101 and 001 SP's the Title bar looks a matte turquoise colour (even though it looks like a sky blue on those screenshots). I made it this colour as I wanted it to more or less match the Highlighter bar, but be just slightly darker.
 
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Peeteris

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I can change the Title bar where it says 'File Browser' to another colour, but not the Highlighter bar, as this seems to be embedded in the kernel. On my ags-101 and 001 SP's the Title bar looks a matte turquoise colour (even though it looks like a sky blue on those screenshots). I made it this colour as I wanted it to more or less match the Highlighter bar, but be just slightly darker.

That's sad. Why would highlight color be unable to change. That makes no sense.
Thanks for the answer.
 

Peeteris

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Actually this skin looks better than BlueNight skin in person. That matte turquoise looks good with my glacier blue GBA.
My favorite so far.

Maybe you are able to make ClearLooks skin with all these great fixes and additions? That skin is my absolute favorite.
 
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Gyron_Oldvic

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Actually this skin looks better than BlueNight skin in person. That matter turquoise looks good with my glacier blue GBA.
My favorite so far.

Maybe you are able to make ClearLooks skin with all these great fixes and additions? That skin is my absolute favorite.

Thanks. Yeah, I think the turquoise looks fine. I did play around with some other colours, but thought the matte turquoise looked the best, especially considering the highlighter bar colour. The photo's above I took on my phone probably don't do the skin justice. I tried to make the skin both ags-001 and ags-101 friendly by finding the right balance of brightness, and I think it looks pretty good on both screens. I also noticed some older versions of my BlueNight Skin looked slightly dark on the ags-001, so I marginally brightened up some aspects of it, and the v1.77 (final) and v1.78 now look better on ags-001 screens.
I had a play around with the symbols from the Clearlooks font which were available to use after patching it into the v1.78 Kernel. I made an outline box around the 'Skin name /details' and 'Help and Info' in the 'Release Notes' section. I also renamed 'Browse Media Card Files' to 'File Browser'. I've updated the original post if you want to re-download it. I haven't updated the release version number as it's only a couple of minor cosmetic changes. I've updated the BlueNight Skin too.

I've attached the v1.78 Kernel with Clearlooks Skin you requested above (albeit in tiny text that I almost didn't see :)), compiled with the improvements/patches/fixes from the BlueNight and Firewatch versions.
 

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enarky

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I've attached the v1.78 Kernel with Clearlooks Skin you requested above (albeit in tiny text that I almost didn't see :)), compiled with the improvements/patches/fixes from the BlueNight and Firewatch versions.
Yay, not the one requesting that, but Clearlooks is my favorite skin, too, so thanks a lot! :)
 
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Peeteris

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Thank you!
It's so nice to have proper and updated Clearlooks skin. Changes made to Firewatch skin also are great enhancement touches.
Only thing to fix in firewatch skin is to put something in that black space in Bookmarks section, even though it's not being used. This is absolutely not worth working hard or your time, but if this will be fixed, I can't thin of any other thing that's not right with this skin, it's perfect, I hadn't seen EZ-Flash IV firmware skin as perfect as this one; my inner pedant feels happy.

P.S. Now I have trouble choosing between Clearlooks and Firewatch. Seems like I'll jump between those two skins frequently.
 
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zerofalcon

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Hello! and sorry to bother you. Can this kernel (uploaded file) be compiled with latest fixes, patches? It's has a minimalist theme with Nintendo logos and only the "modulo reset" was applied. Thanks in advanced!

neXWXmY.jpg
 

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Gyron_Oldvic

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Hello! and sorry to bother you. Can this kernel (uploaded file) be compiled with latest fixes, patches? It's has a minimalist theme with Nintendo logos and only the "modulo reset" was applied. Thanks in advanced!

neXWXmY.jpg

If you gave me the Skin itself I could do it for you, but not from the Kernel itself.

Thank you!
It's so nice to have proper and updated Clearlooks skin. Changes made to Firewatch skin also are great enhancement touches.
Only thing to fix in firewatch skin is to put something in that black space in Bookmarks section, even though it's not being used. This is absolutely not worth working hard or your time, but if this will be fixed, I can't thin of any other thing that's not right with this skin, it's perfect, I hadn't seen EZ-Flash IV firmware skin as perfect as this one; my inner pedant feels happy.

P.S. Now I have trouble choosing between Clearlooks and Firewatch. Seems like I'll jump between those two skins frequently.

Thanks Peeteris. I never bothered with that black space before, as the 'Bookmarks' feature is redundant. I've decide to fix it though since you brought it up. If you download the 'Firewatch' and 'BlueNight' Skins again, you'll notice the background is complete, same as the 'Options' Menu. They are now updated to 'Version 2', as there has been around four cosmetic changes since I first posted them a week ago, so I decided it warranted a 'version update'. I don't think there's anything else to do with the 'BlueNight' and 'Firewatch' Skins now. Cheers.
 
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Peeteris

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If you gave me the Skin itself I could do it for you, but not from the Kernel itself.



Thanks Peeteris. I never bothered with that black space before, as the 'Bookmarks' feature is redundant. I've decide to fix it though since you brought it up. If you download the 'Firewatch' and 'BlueNight' Skins again, you'll notice the background is complete, same as the 'Options' Menu. They are now updated to 'Version 2', as there has been around four cosmetic changes since I first posted them a week ago, so I decided it warranted a 'version update'. I don't think there's anything else to do with the 'BlueNight' and 'Firewatch' Skins now. Cheers.

You are the beast. Wow. There's literary nothing else to improve. Thanks for your dedication.
 
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