Hacking EZ Flash 4: Garbled/slow loading sprites on pocketnes?

[Localhorst86]

Why not use the PSRAM for PocketNES instead? NOR is only really necessary for games that are bigger than 16MB anyway.

While the rom might still be under 16MB/128mbit mark there are still reasons to load it into NOR instead. I can see why people would want
to have it working correctly.
From my recent experience with an Everdrive GB for the GB/GBC I can tell you that broken/fake/clone carts can have devastating effect to both stability as well as compatibility so my assumption is that OPs card is either faulty or a fake, you should get a replacement.

 

[Lemmy Koopa]

Why not use the PSRAM for PocketNES instead? NOR is only really necessary for games that are bigger than 16MB anyway.

My compilation of PocketNES was 32MB, even with compressed NES roms. I could compile muliple ROMs, I suppose.

 

[Coto]

My compilation of PocketNES was 32MB, even with compressed NES roms. I could compile muliple ROMs, I suppose.

thats a lot.

Having compiled zlib,SDL,libpng + other takes about 960KB as NDS executable

 

[Lemmy Koopa]

thats a lot.

Having compiled zlib,SDL,libpng + other takes about 960KB as NDS executable

over 300 NES ROMs.

 

[kuwanger]

A random guess but it sounds like you're saying you flashed multiple copies of pocketnes to the NOR and the second copy worked fine would seem to indicate that as you suspect part of the NOR is bad (specifcally, somewhere in the first ~64KB or so). A simple "fix" then would be to do as you had done. Empty the NOR, then burn a dummy ROM (or just a copy of pocketnes.gba alone) and then your ~32MB compilation and then finally delete the dummy ROM. Effectively you'll be avoiding using that area of the NOR.

Of course, an even better thing would be to use an NDS and dump the EZ4's ROM out as then you'd be able to actually see if/where/how the NOR is being overwritten and not merely speculate. *shrug*

 

[Lemmy Koopa]

A random guess but it sounds like you're saying you flashed multiple copies of pocketnes to the NOR and the second copy worked fine would seem to indicate that as you suspect part of the NOR is bad (specifcally, somewhere in the first ~64KB or so). A simple "fix" then would be to do as you had done. Empty the NOR, then burn a dummy ROM (or just a copy of pocketnes.gba alone) and then your ~32MB compilation and then finally delete the dummy ROM. Effectively you'll be avoiding using that area of the NOR.

Of course, an even better thing would be to use an NDS and dump the EZ4's ROM out as then you'd be able to actually see if/where/how the NOR is being overwritten and not merely speculate. *shrug*

I could, but how big is the NOR? I thought it was only 32MB

I'm getting a second EZFlash later.

 

[kuwanger]

I could, but how big is the NOR? I thought it was only 32MB

I'm getting a second EZFlash later.

Yea, it's only 32MB so you're sacrificing ~64KB and so your compilation can only be ~32MB minus 64KB. Having said that, I don't actually know the alignment rules for the NOR on the EZ4 so while it might be 32KB or 64KB it might be 128KB or even 1MB (I really hope it isn't the last one) so you might lose a good bit more than 64KB. :/

In any case, even if you get a second EZFlash later, it's a work around that you'll want to employ regardless for anything you wish to write to the NOR as it's probable anything else you write will have incorrect behavior for the same reason. Of course, this is all still speculation on my part on precisely what's going wrong. I'm just fairly confident the issue isn't PocketNES overwriting the NOR in any fashion since that's not something PocketNES does.

 

[Lemmy Koopa]

Yea, it's only 32MB so you're sacrificing ~64KB and so your compilation can only be ~32MB minus 64KB. Having said that, I don't actually know the alignment rules for the NOR on the EZ4 so while it might be 32KB or 64KB it might be 128KB or even 1MB (I really hope it isn't the last one) so you might lose a good bit more than 64KB. :/

In any case, even if you get a second EZFlash later, it's a work around that you'll want to employ regardless for anything you wish to write to the NOR as it's probable anything else you write will have incorrect behavior for the same reason. Of course, this is all still speculation on my part on precisely what's going wrong. I'm just fairly confident the issue isn't PocketNES overwriting the NOR in any fashion since that's not something PocketNES does.

If it's a problem with the NOR being corrupted, wouldn't it just be an issue with that card, or are you saying that it's an issue with the NOR chip they use in general?

 

[kuwanger]

If it's a problem with the NOR being corrupted, wouldn't it just be an issue with that card, or are you saying that it's an issue with the NOR chip they use in general?

I'd presume the former and not the latter. A little testing of my own and at least with a one-game compilation with PocketNES 03-08-2008 doesn't seem the exhibit the issue. Of course, it might only manifest in relation to the game list, require a later version, require me to run the game longer, etc. *shrug* I can't really say. It's sadly 99% speculation on my end (with a small bit of knowledge of PocketNES's internals to general rule out it being a PocketNES issue per se).

 

[Lemmy Koopa]

I'd presume the former and not the latter. A little testing of my own and at least with a one-game compilation with PocketNES 03-08-2008 doesn't seem the exhibit the issue. Of course, it might only manifest in relation to the game list, require a later version, require me to run the game longer, etc. *shrug* I can't really say. It's sadly 99% speculation on my end (with a small bit of knowledge of PocketNES's internals to general rule out it being a PocketNES issue per se).

It's a really strange issue, and it's only 1 effect basically. The only thing that changes over time is the duration/persistence of the sprite being stuck garbled. I've an instance of PocketNES to display crap sprites for 1-2 minutes straight.

It's almost like a loading effect, as if it's loading slower, and slower, and slower.

I'm personally very disappointed that I got a new card and I'm already having a serious issue, but hopefully getting another card will fix the problem.

I'd tell the seller, but it's from China, so you know, an exchange for another EZflash isn't exactly worth it. They're not that expensive anyways.

 

[Lemmy Koopa]

I ordered my second EZ4 today. Hopefully this one will work correctly.

 

[Lemmy Koopa]

If anyone is interested in the information, it was in fact a defect in the old card. I've had my new one for a while and I do not have the problem.

Make sure when you buy an EZ4 you get a proper working one.