Hacking EZ Flash 3 in 1 Save problems

[Ph33rm3]

Things to know.
I haven't changed the battery.
I know very little about anything for slot 2.
The internal battery apparently has run dry.

I use the Acekard 2i, and I have AKAIO R2 1.6 (or what the newest loader is) and it's supposed to run the EZFlash 3in1 with out GBA expLoader(insert version) correct?

Well, it does. So don't worry.

When I try to play a game from the AceKard 2i that is 16kb it loads the game(no flashing to NOR). All is dandy. I play etc, then I save. It says I save, and it works, but when I turn it off, and turn it back on, the save file IS there. I load the game up, it asks if I want to use that save file, and I say yes. Bang, it's loaded up and it's either corrupted, or it doesn't have any data at all.

When I try to play a 32kb game, it flashes it to the NOR, then loads it, etc etc. I play, save and it works. I turn it off, and boot it from the GBA mode, it loads up, all nice, and what do you know? No data at all! So I check my flash cart, and there's a save file. I load the game I open that save file, and guess. Just guess what happens. If you haven't read the title, then why did you click this? lol jk :3. Anyways, there is NO DATA/A CORRUPTED FILE. Do I dump SRAM or something?


Question time... I got the EZFlash 3in1, and I have NOT changed the battery yet, as said above.
1. If I change the battery, will it be able to do ingame clock things?
2. If I change the battery, will it fix the save function?
3. What the hell is the SRAM for?
4. Why is the SRAM dump feature there?
5. Is it better to flash to NOR for 16kb games, or should I just run them from the AceKard?

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

1. No, ingame use of a clock is a eight legged chip on the PCB. To play RTC based games, you will hve to apply a RTC patch to the game before playing. See picture below what a RTC chip looks like on a PCB.

Spoiler

2. That is a software reset issue, not a hardware issue.
3. SRAM is where your save file goes on the 3in1 for your game to access.
4. Some people play japanese music gba games, songs are saved in the SRAM. This is where dumping all data is needed.
5. NOR is basically a type of flash chip. If your not going to be putting a new game in there every time. It is better to have it done once for anything that is large, some games require NOR even if they are 16MB in size. Small games, it is better to run them in PSRAM mode, you extend the life of the NOR flash by not eating into the write limit of this type of flash.


A "No data/A corruped file" is due to the use of either a game with an incompatible save type, namely EEPROM or Flash 512. You will have to SRAM patch these types of games. Patchers can be found in the download section. Pick one that looks easy for you to use.

AKAIO has a built in gba loader, you don't need to use gba exploader if you only have a 3in1.

 

[Ph33rm3]

Thank you for your time

 

[spark1223]

OMG, dude, How_do_i_that! STOP TELLING PEOPLE TO SRAM PATCH GAMES IN AKAIO.

To clear this up hopefully for the final time. DO NOT PATCH A GAME WHEN YOU USE IT WITH AKAIO!

Its SHOULD work without patching, if does not, then that game does not work with AKAIO, try GBA Exploader which also AUTO PATCHES the game.

an rtc patch would be all you would need NOT AN SRAM PATCH!


The only time you need to SRAM patch is with EZFLASH IV. Just about every flash card that supports the 3 in 1 auto patches.

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

You just repeated what I already said. And the AKAIO auto SRAM patcher is not perfect.

 

[spark1223]

Its not perfect (but it works with most game)but it will not work if you SRAM patch it before using it with AKAIO. Thats what i couldnt get any games to save before. Those clients move the save to a specific part of sram. AKAIO does not expect them to be there snd will not work if you patch it before hand. You cannot patch them before use with AKAIO! You neednto stop telling people that. I did it wrong before due to your missinformation on these boards.

 

[albertar]

I have a question about my ez flash 3 in 1 corrupting saves when I put the cartridge in other gba devices. The game is put into the NOR memory and though it saves and works fine while on the ds, when I move the 3 in 1 to my retro duo portable 2.0 it corrupts the data. Can anyone help me with this one?

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

your retro duo portable 2.0 likely can't read the data in the 3in1 SRAM properly since the 3in1's SRAM is segmented to store the PSRAM and NOR mode save data.

your retro duo portable 2.0 is probably trying to load all of the SRAM instead of the part used for NOR.

I don't have a retro duo portable 2.0, that makes the above only speculation as to why your having that issue.

 

[albertar]

your retro duo portable 2.0 likely can't read the data in the 3in1 SRAM properly since the 3in1's SRAM is segmented to store the PSRAM and NOR mode save data.

your retro duo portable 2.0 is probably trying to load all of the SRAM instead of the part used for NOR.

I don't have a retro duo portable 2.0, that makes the above only speculation as to why your having that issue.

Thank you for your reply on both of my posts, though I can't seem to figure out why my data gets corrupted when put into my retro duo portable, but I realized that even though I can save on it (even with the corrupted data) I can back it up into my sav file when I plug it back into my ds lite using the gba exploader. Thus the files that i saved with will then work with the ds and not get deleted! But I still don't know why it gets corrupted on the retro duo portable in the first place. I'm not sure if the same problem occurs when I plug it into the gba/gba sp/ gba micro