Hacking A NOOB'S GUIDE TO EZ-FLASH IV 2015 RELEASE

[Osga21]

Right, so a re-release of the EZ-Flash IV came out last year, I've ordered one and found that most links to everything appear to be dead, so instead of just uploading a bunch of stuff I decided to write an updated guide of what works with this "new" flashcart and current OS's (windows10).

Before you ask, I've ordered my EZ-Flash IV from aliexpress, but the seller took the product down before it arrived at my house. I'm sure you can find another seller, they are always popping up and are mostly legit. My cart cost 25€
Alright, let's get on with this then.

Updating your cart
Get your micro sd card, put it in your computer and format it to FAT32.

1. Download the latest kernel from the official site or here (version 1.77)
2. Unzip the downloaded file and copy ezfla_up.bin to your microSD card(DO NOT PUT IT INSIDE ANY FOLDER!)
3. Put the microSD inside your EZ-FLASH and then put the flashcart inside your GBA.
4. Turn on your GBA and hold down R until you get a black screen with some text and a line which has a percentage, let it sit and when it finishes you can reset your gba, your flash cart is now up to date!

WHILE THE CART IS UPDATING DO NOT TURN OFF THE POWER, YOU WILL RUIN YOUR FLASHCART AND THERE IS NO WAY TO FIX IT!​

Putting games on your EZ-FLASH
The whole reason you got your EZ-FLASH is to play games on it right? But you can't just drag and drop the games into your memory card, you have to patch them first or else they won't work. I can't tell you where or how to get the games because that is 100% illegal, but if you search the "game you want"+rom on google you'll probably be able to download it. alternatively, you can dump your own cartridges, but you'll have to buy some not so legal adapters.

1. Download the EZ4 client from the official site or here
2. Unzip it wherever you want and open EZ4_Client.exe
3. Press config and on the "Send Path" field choose your microSD
4. Press open and select the roms you want on your card(you can select more than one rom if you press Ctrl while selecting them)
5. Press enter and click on the send button. The roms will be patched and sent to your SD card, now you can put the card in the flashcart and play the games on your gameboy.

Try not to select more than 20 roms at a time, the client tends to crash if you do so

If you want to have more than 78 roms on your sd card you have to create multiple folders in your sd card and put at most 78 roms in each.

Change your flashcart's language

Because the EZ-Flash is made in china, everything is in chinese, but this is an easy fix.

1. Put your EZ-FLASH with the sd card on it on your GBA and start it.
2. A menu with four icons on the left should appear, select the third from the top.
3. Select the first option
4. Select the second option. Your EZ Flash is now in English!

Change your flashcart's theme
By now you may have noticed that the default theme on the EZ-Flash is very, VERY ugly, reminds me of windows 98.
You can change that by updating your flashcart's kernel(the first topic on this tutorial) but instead of using the default kernel that is provided on the site(which I also provided), you can use a kernel that has a different theme in it. You can also make themes!

Here's a theme I found online which runs kernel 1.75(works fine with your cart):
Author's link
My mirrors

This is how the theme looks, reminds me of GTK

The author of that theme also compiled a tool you can use to make themes(I haven't used it yet). You can download it here or here

You can find the theme and tool creator at his blog, here



TIP: If after you start a game you wan't to play another one you can press A+B+L+Up to get back to the EZ-FLASH IV menu. You can also change this key combination on the EZ4 Client, if you go to Config->Reset Key

 

[FAST6191]

"You can also change this key combination on the EZ4 Client, if you go to Config->Reset Key"
Does that work for people again? It worked for a while and then started crashing the client in the newer versions of it, leaving people to have to go to :\windows\temp\ and edit a file called ez4para.ini.

Also I thought I would have a go at figuring out the blocked user name from the ascenders and descenders that I could see, however I instead scrolled back to the first picture and it had the same name as a PC name in the network column.

 

[Osga21]

"You can also change this key combination on the EZ4 Client, if you go to Config->Reset Key"
Does that work for people again? It worked for a while and then started crashing the client in the newer versions of it, leaving people to have to go to :\windows\temp\ and edit a file called ez4para.ini.

Also I thought I would have a go at figuring out the blocked user name from the ascenders and descenders that I could see, however I instead scrolled back to the first picture and it had the same name as a PC name in the network column.

Ha, well, it's not a username, it's just my name, I don't like having it too obvious on the middle of the screen. As for the reset combination, I haven't tested if it works when you change it, but I saw there was an option so I included it.
Also, you have 19.999 posts.

 

[Futuristic]

What about cheats? Been searching online like crazy

 

[Osga21]

What about cheats? Been searching online like crazy

From what I've gathered, you have to add the cheats to the actual rom, but this is just from a quick google search, I don't have much of an interest in cheating.
Anyways, here are some trainers for ROMs and here is what someone claims to be a trainer creator

I have no idea how you add them to your ROMs though....

 

[FAST6191]

There is a cheat engine but most consider it broken. To that end yeah trainers and trainer maker/hardpatching programs like the GBAATM program linked (there are others but GBAATM is the best). Trainers will usually come in IPS form and can be patched onto the ROM with any IPS patcher, http://www.no-intro.org/tools.htm being my favoured one.
Better to do it before you save patch as trimming might trouble the patcher program -- trainers might have been stuck at the end of the ROM which would have been trimmed and thus cause troubles if the patcher does not know how to add space, which most do not. If you want to add the trimmed data back yourself or you want to prevent trimming in the first place (change some byte at the end of the ROM to something other than 00 or FF and the trimmer should leave it alone) then save patching should not break the trainer, some ROM hacks and translations might though but try anyway.

http://gba.dellicious.de/gbatrainer/ is a great site for trainers, however they miss some of the, usually joke*, trainers that were made towards the end of the GBA lifetime/early DS lifetime. http://www.advanscene.com/ should have them though. Click advanced search on the left, select the GBA box, in the left hand dropdown should be a "trainers - leave find empty for all" option which you want to select, leave the find box empty as it says and press search. It will then quickly generate a nice list. Right click on the game names and open in new tab. The trainer(s) should be under "Extra Info:"

*real trainers, just for games that one would normally not expect like noddy and whatever else.

Spoiler: links to the release threads for the curious or nostalgic

http://gbatemp.net/threads/gba-trainer-noddy-a-day-in-toyland-u-3.38356/
http://gbatemp.net/threads/gba-trainer-flushed-away-u-3.39131/
http://gbatemp.net/threads/new-gba-trainer-monster-house.34842/
http://gbatemp.net/threads/new-gba-trainer-veggietales-larryboy-and-the.35925/
http://gbatemp.net/threads/new-gba-trainer-open-season-u.37164/
http://gbatemp.net/threads/new-gba-trainer-american-dragon-jake-long-u.37855/
http://gbatemp.net/threads/gba-trainer-justice-league-heroes-the-flash-4.38980/
http://gbatemp.net/threads/gba-trainer-sonic-the-hedgehog-genesis-u-6.39478/
http://gbatemp.net/threads/gba-trainer-bionicle-heroes-u-7.39534/
http://gbatemp.net/threads/gba-trainer-spider-man-battle-for-u-4.39771/
http://gbatemp.net/threads/gba-trainer-rayman-raving-rabbids-u-4.40230/
http://gbatemp.net/threads/gba-trainer-superman-returns-fortre-u-4.40316/

 

[Osga21]

@FAST6191 <-- Now there's someone who knows his shit!

 

[N64]

thanks for this guide

 

[Diosoth]

Anyone wondering about SDHC support- it's becoming harder to find 2GB or lower Micro SD cards. It's less about required space for GBA ROM files and more about what cards people can buy in their local stores. Finding anything below 8GB at Walmart is probably impossible these days, nor would most people bother since the 32GB cards have been around $10 for a year now. This sucks if you need a card for a legacy device but there's no real incentive for card makers to bother with low formats anymore and buying cards off eBay is always risky thanks to the flood of fake capacity cards.

I can understand why they went with Micro over Mini- Mini was a format that never really caught on outside of Asia, nor did it stay around too long. In both cases this new production run was smart to redesign the cart to use cards that people can readily buy.

 

[migles]

Anyone wondering about SDHC support- it's becoming harder to find 2GB or lower Micro SD cards. It's less about required space for GBA ROM files and more about what cards people can buy in their local stores. Finding anything below 8GB at Walmart is probably impossible these days, nor would most people bother since the 32GB cards have been around $10 for a year now. This sucks if you need a card for a legacy device but there's no real incentive for card makers to bother with low formats anymore and buying cards off eBay is always risky thanks to the flood of fake capacity cards.

I can understand why they went with Micro over Mini- Mini was a format that never really caught on outside of Asia, nor did it stay around too long. In both cases this new production run was smart to redesign the cart to use cards that people can readily buy.

heh, ez team has updated the firmware of the card to support up to 32 gb cards...
however you will loose compatibility to some sd cards of less than 4 gb

btw, this i got a 512 mb card for 1 dollar like 2 years ago..
you could get a cheap card from ebay or something as long as it works..
but it's not needed anymore, update the card firmware and there ya go

 

[csmith]

UPDATE: You don't need Windows or any client software to use EZ Flash IV now. The latest firmware update lets you just drag and drop ROMs directly into the root directory of your micro SD card (you can optionally create subdirectories to organise large collections), then put the SD card into the cart and you're good to go. It works out the box too (assuming you buy a new cart with the latest firmware).

I'm new to using EZ Flash, and have only tested GBA ROMs so far, so do not know about GB and GBC ROMs, nor tools people use for hacking ROMs etc. I just wanted people to know that the core functionality (playing GBA ROMs) works out the box on Mac and Linux too now.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

PS It's not "100% illegal" to obtain ROMs. In the UK, if you own the cart, you are allowed to make copies and format shift the copies, so long as they are for your own use. We can't share ROMs, but we can use a site to obtain copies of games we own.

 

[spruced]

UPDATE: You don't need Windows or any client software to use EZ Flash IV now. The latest firmware update lets you just drag and drop ROMs directly into the root directory of your micro SD card (you can optionally create subdirectories to organise large collections), then put the SD card into the cart and you're good to go. It works out the box too (assuming you buy a new cart with the latest firmware).

I'm new to using EZ Flash, and have only tested GBA ROMs so far, so do not know about GB and GBC ROMs, nor tools people use for hacking ROMs etc. I just wanted people to know that the core functionality (playing GBA ROMs) works out the box on Mac and Linux too now.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

PS It's not "100% illegal" to obtain ROMs. In the UK, if you own the cart, you are allowed to make copies and format shift the copies, so long as they are for your own use. We can't share ROMs, but we can use a site to obtain copies of games we own.

is this with the 2.04 update? do we still have to patch roms individually for sleep mode?

 

[lordzombies]

Hi, found this page from google, was just following the tutorial and every time I go to add ROMS by pressing open the client crashes. any tips?

 

[FAST6191]

Hi, found this page from google, was just following the tutorial and every time I go to add ROMS by pressing open the client crashes. any tips?

The latest versions of the EZ4 kernel do autopatching so you don't need the client any more.

As for the matter at hand if you still want to use the client it tends to be if you don't have a d:\ drive (by default it has one there) or if your SD card is on a different drive to the one you set previously. If the config button does not work go to c:\windows\temp and there will be a file called ez4para.ini. Open said file in a text editor and the rest should be fairly obvious.

 

[Tartarus]

So I have been using kernel 2.05 or something similar and I constantly soft reset it without wanting to, I have been looking for ways to change the key for some time, but nothing that I found worked.
I have tried Config->Reset Key
I have tried altering ez4para.ini
and I have tried altering keyset.cfg

Am I doing something wrong or do none of these work anymore ?

 

[migles]

So I have been using kernel 2.05 or something similar and I constantly soft reset it without wanting to, I have been looking for ways to change the key for some time, but nothing that I found worked.
I have tried Config->Reset Key
I have tried altering ez4para.ini
and I have tried altering keyset.cfg

Am I doing something wrong or do none of these work anymore ?

the guide in this thread no longuer applies to the new firmwares, the client is no longuer necessary or used.
use clean roms, (not patched with the software) and follow instructions in the ez manual included with 2.05 firmware

 

[Tartarus]

the guide in this thread no longuer applies to the new firmwares, the client is no longuer necessary or used.
use clean roms, (not patched with the software) and follow instructions in the ez manual included with 2.05 firmware

Ah, thanks apparently I missed this part:

# 1: use custom keyset; 0:use the default keyset
# Default Sleep: Button_L + Button_R + Start
# Default Wakeup: Select + Start
# Default Software Reset: Button_L + Up + Button_B
# DO NOT USE THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION BUTTON IN SAME KEYSET!!! LIKE UP AND DOWN, YOU CAN NOT PRESS THEM IN SAME TIME.
USE_KEYSET = 0

 

[NecroCombine666]

the cartridges are just black when I load them up in the game boy but I can't work it any of it till I'm off work because I work on a VM.


So update, formatted SD to Fat32 then dropped the new kernel on there or is it firmware? Either way its ezfla_up.bin onto the card, popped the adapter in then the mini then turned it on and held down R and I get a black screen. Just to clarify is it hold R from power on/logo or black screen?

 

[marcosfull]

Hello everyone.
I have had the EZ Flash IV flashcard (the model in the photo) for many years, and I use it on a Gameboy Micro, but I always had problems with the saved games or with the save states of GB and GBC games (which I converted to .gba with GoombaColor). The games are usually saved, but after a second or third restart when going to load the state nothing happens, or there is no saved game, that is, the saved game that existed is lost.
GBA games save correctly.
Does anyone else have this problem? I searched for an alternative to GoombaColor but found nothing.
Thank you so much.