Hacking EZ flash 4 gba size updated psram & norflash?

[whywontmynameworkonhere]

Hello, I'm new here to the site. Couldn't find the answer to this question anywhere else. Hoping somebody will know.

1st
It appears there is a few sites advertising the GBA size EZ flash 4 as having

!!!!!!256Mb PSRAM (32 Mbytes)!!!!!!!

!!!!!!384Mb NorFLASH (48Mbytes)!!!!

32Mb Loader (4 Mbytes)
8Mb saver SRAM (1Mbyte)

Supports 512Mb - 8GB

I think these are the stats of the EZ4 lite & deluxe lite models. Can anybody confirm that the gba size cartridge has been updated to these standards?


Here's a link to one of the sites that had it advertised
http://www.realhotstuff.hk/EZ-Flash-IV-with-Mini-card-adapter_p_76.html

2nd
Do EZ flash 4's only take 2gb memory cards? If so, could I reformat a 4gb card to 2gb and use with no issues?

 

[FAST6191]

Those are the specs of the EZ4 lite deluxe (though the supports thing may be wrong unless 8GB stands for 8 gigabit (1 gigabyte)). It only ever came in DS lite size and has not been made in several years (the miniSD/GBA size saw a new batch, no such luck for the other models), also realhotstuff have long listed the wrong specs.

Yes they only take 2 gig cards and smaller (in the case of the Lite deluxe it is microSD), theoretically there are some 4 gigabyte cards out there that are still SD format rather than SDHC. Good luck finding one though, especially if you end up needing to find a miniSD one, and as they are technically out of spec the nobody will be able to do much if yours does not work.

 

[whywontmynameworkonhere]

Thanks for the super quick reply.

If one were to cut off the lip on the lite deluxe could it be used with an sp model gba?

On the topic of psram, that's what loads roms that are outside of the nor memory correct?

 

[Shadow#1]

Yea u can u just need to use tape or somthing as a pulley to get it back out of the slot

 

[whywontmynameworkonhere]

I'm wondering if it would be worth paying an extra $20 for a lite deluxe and than making it look worse. The extra psram sounds convenient.

What's your thoughts on the lite deluxe compared to the regular ez flash 4 ? What things would one be missing out on?

 

[KidIce]

I used the original EZ4 for a long time and got the EZ4LDX immediately on release and shortly there after gave the original away to a friend's kid. If you have a chance to get a EZ4LDX GET IT!!! It will be unquestionably worth it unless the price difference is completely insane... And $20 is not insane.

If you plan to use it in anything other than a DS lite then, yes, you will have to mod it in some way to get it to fit. Take the PCB completely out of the case and tie some dental floss around it, leaving a spare inch or two loose end, so that you can pull it out again by its dental floss leash.

The specs you posted are indeed for the EZ4LDX. If you buy a GBA sized EZ4 it will have 128Mb of PSRAM, 256Mb of NOR and it will have a MiniSD slot... And while usable, the extra bits on the LDX are SOOO much better. First and foremost, MiniSD's are near impossible to find these days and using an adapter w/ a microSD can, and most likely will, cause you problems.

You can only run GBA software from PSRAM or NOR. Software on the SD needs to be transfered to one or the other before they can be executed. A non-LDX EZ4 has to have any 256Mb game burned to its NOR, and burning games to NOR is hideously slow (and many Mother 3 translations will not fit in 256Mb, for example). A LDX EZ4 can run anything from PSRAM. Using PSRAM (it's volatile RAM) does mean transfer time for every game you do not burn to NOR, but it is far quicker than burning to NOR (and w/ an LDX, its extra size will hold anything ever coded for the GBA even w/ translations and mods).

I'm exhausted from work and ready to go to bed, and may not be explaining my point well. PM me if you need more... But w/o question the EZ4LDX is completely worth getting if the price difference is $20 and even if you need to mangle it to get it to work on the GBA you have.

Oh... And replace your GBA w/ a DS lite (the "newer and brighter" one of it) if you can. You won't need to mod the EZ4, it plays GBA games just as well, it plays DS games as well, and its screens look even better than the GBA SP. You can always use a GB/C emulator from your EZ4 if you're worried about that. ;-)

 

[Shadow#1]

I used the original EZ4 for a long time and got the EZ4LDX immediately on release and shortly there after gave the original away to a friend's kid. If you have a chance to get a EZ4LDX GET IT!!! It will be unquestionably worth it unless the price difference is completely insane... And $20 is not insane.

If you plan to use it in anything other than a DS lite then, yes, you will have to mod it in some way to get it to fit. Take the PCB completely out of the case and tie some dental floss around it, leaving a spare inch or two loose end, so that you can pull it out again by its dental floss leash.

The specs you posted are indeed for the EZ4LDX. If you buy a GBA sized EZ4 it will have 128Mb of PSRAM, 256Mb of NOR and it will have a MiniSD slot... And while usable, the extra bits on the LDX are SOOO much better. First and foremost, MiniSD's are near impossible to find these days and using an adapter w/ a microSD can, and most likely will, cause you problems.

You can only run GBA software from PSRAM or NOR. Software on the SD needs to be transfered to one or the other before they can be executed. A non-LDX EZ4 has to have any 256Mb game burned to its NOR, and burning games to NOR is hideously slow (and many Mother 3 translations will not fit in 256Mb, for example). A LDX EZ4 can run anything from PSRAM. Using PSRAM (it's volatile RAM) does mean transfer time for every game you do not burn to NOR, but it is far quicker than burning to NOR (and w/ an LDX, its extra size will hold anything ever coded for the GBA even w/ translations and mods).

I'm exhausted from work and ready to go to bed, and may not be explaining my point well. PM me if you need more... But w/o question the EZ4LDX is completely worth getting if the price difference is $20 and even if you need to mangle it to get it to work on the GBA you have.

Oh... And replace your GBA w/ a DS lite (the "newer and brighter" one of it) if you can. You won't need to mod the EZ4, it plays GBA games just as well, it plays DS games as well, and its screens look even better than the GBA SP. You can always use a GB/C emulator from your EZ4 if you're worried about that. ;-)

there is more then one Mother 3 translation ?

 

[Joe88]

the mother 3 + translation fits and runs fine for me on my regular ezflash iv

 

[Shadow#1]

the mother 3 + translation fits and runs fine for me on my regular ezflash iv

link plez

 

[FAST6191]

Some people with newer EZ4 models seem to be having trouble fitting Mother 3. Sometimes it is them trying to add soft reset/GBAATM trainers onto it and sending it over the limit, other times it seems to be NOR chips that have slightly fewer visible sectors. For most games this does not matter but Mother 3 translation is one of the few that uses every byte. Sometimes a forced write or three gets it back but other times people end up troubled.

Equally as time goes on the list of games over 16 megs is increasing in size, mainly as some ROM hackers are finding the space useful so having more than 16 megs for everyday writes is good.

 

[KidIce]

there is more then one Mother 3 translation ?

Sorry, as I said I was a bit out of it. I've seen some patches ages ago for the Mother 3 translation that do various things that give the problems Fast described... Oddly enough one or more of them was to help people run it on their EZ4 that some users still seem to have issues w/. Certain warez sites have the ROM's available pre-patched. I was talking about those.

 

[whywontmynameworkonhere]

I ended up getting the regular ez4. The lite deluxe came up to $120 with all fee's so I passed on that.

After a day of fiddling with the new cart I have just one question.

Am I suppose to be able to reset the game back to the loader menu? I patched all my games with the ez client and check marked the reset and changed the command to start+select+down. But it has no effect while ingame.

I can get the game itself to reset but I can't get it to reset back to the loader. My main concern is that one day I will log mad hours into a game and have to power off to on to save risk fully waiting for the battery to not do it's thing.

I have tried version 1.71 and I am currently using version 1.74


Everything else seems to be working fine except when I flash a new bin I have to use my 4gb micro sd with adapter, than switch back to my mini sd. The ezflash doesn't like to read the bin off my mini. The games seem to work fine off the mini.

 

[FAST6191]

Needing the 4 gig is odd, indeed I am kind of surprised it even worked.

Anyway when you changed the keys did it crash afterwards? It tended to for many versions, in those cases you would want to go to c:\windows\temp\ez4para.ini and edit the command there, it should be fairly obvious what goes).

If you are worried about saves then why not save, turn off, turn back on and allow it to write.

Some games might not work with soft reset (various reasons, mostly that soft reset had to largely be added on a game by game basis) but most should, I tend not to use it myself though.

 

[whywontmynameworkonhere]

The only thing I can get the 4gb micro to do is run the bin. After that it just makes it go into black screen when I power it back on.

My mini sd after format is 1.91gb should it have gone down further than that? It says it was made in japan so I'm assuming it's quality.


If the battery does go out in the ezflash will it still be able to save by toggling the on/off of the gameboy?


Thank you very much for all the info and help.

Using the ezclient Version 1.0.0 enables my roms to reset back to the loader menu. Any idea what I will miss out on by using the older ezclient?

 

[FAST6191]

My experience with SD cards and flash memory is the manufacturers bend the truth about as much as is possible before the universe bursts open with a call of "pants on fire". 1.91 is good though.

Toggling the save, theoretically yes and some have even done it. Soft reset is good to have for those situations though. I have soldering gear and the means to use it though so I have not had to face this one.

Edit. As for the client... actually I have no idea. Probably nothing though -- batch support was about the only non bugfix thing ever added to it and that came in ages ago.