Hacking EZ-Flash Omega RTC not recognised in games

[Amitai]

My new EZ-Flash Omega displays the time correctly in the menu. However, when I boot a game, the RTC does not work.

I've tried Pokémon Unbound and Pokémon Emerald, and they display the message "The internal battery has run dry..."

This only happens about 80% of the time. If I boot the game repeatedly, sometimes it doesn't show the message.

Can someone help me figure out why this is happening?

 

[Shadow#1]

My new EZ-Flash Omega displays the time correctly in the menu. However, when I boot a game, the RTC does not work.

I've tried Pokémon Unbound and Pokémon Emerald, and they display the message "The internal battery has run dry..."

This only happens about 80% of the time. If I boot the game repeatedly, sometimes it doesn't show the message.

Can someone help me figure out why this is happening?

Replace the battery

 

[Amitai]

Replace the battery

What makes you say that? It doesn't seem like a battery issue, since the cartridge keeps the time perfectly in the EZ-Flash menu.

 

[Sterophonick]

In the cartridge options menu, check to see if the "Game RTC" option is set to "Open"

 

[Amitai]

In the cartridge options menu, check to see if the "Game RTC" option is set to "Open"

Yes, it's set to Open, and the box is ticked.

More information regarding Pokémon Emerald:

When I boot it and it displays the message, I look at the clock in my bedroom and it stays at 10:30am.

When the game doesn't display the message, the bedroom clock jumps all over the place, showing a completely different time each minute or so.

 

[DrunkenMonk]

Yes, it's set to Open, and the box is ticked.

More information regarding Pokémon Emerald:

When I boot it and it displays the message, I look at the clock in my bedroom and it stays at 10:30am.

When the game doesn't display the message, the bedroom clock jumps all over the place, showing a completely different time each minute or so.

The RTC is mostly unusable on EZFlash carts (whole family, JR is probably the best but even it skips random amounts of time occasionally), just forget it even exists for now whilst hoping for an update. It functions incorrectly to what would usually be expected, they obviously interpret their own timing values perfectly fine, but when it comes to how games usually read and handle the RTC, they're way off base with accuracy. Best thing to do is to get a flashable RTC cart and play the RTC games you want on that cart one at a time, it's very likely the EZ Flash team will abandon the projects before reaching "perfect" RTC handling due to a lack of consistent revenue and their margins on the carts they make aren't actually huge.

 

[Amitai]

The RTC is mostly unusable on EZFlash carts (whole family, JR is probably the best but even it skips random amounts of time occasionally), just forget it even exists for now whilst hoping for an update. It functions incorrectly to what would usually be expected, they obviously interpret their own timing values perfectly fine, but when it comes to how games usually read and handle the RTC, they're way off base with accuracy. Best thing to do is to get a flashable RTC cart and play the RTC games you want on that cart one at a time, it's very likely the EZ Flash team will abandon the projects before reaching "perfect" RTC handling due to a lack of consistent revenue and their margins on the carts they make aren't actually huge.

Shit, I should have realised that before buying this cart specifically to play Pokémon Unbound. It sucks that they advertise it as having RTC.

Are there any flashable carts you would recommend? Preferably ones that are in stock and ship from the UK, rather than Australia?

Or maybe there is still a fix for this? Even if EZ-Flash carts are always inaccurate, the RTC in mine doesn't work at all.

 

[DrunkenMonk]

Shit, I should have realised that before buying this cart specifically to play Pokémon Unbound. It sucks that they advertise it as having RTC.

Are there any flashable carts you would recommend? Preferably ones that are in stock and ship from the UK, rather than Australia?

Or maybe there is still a fix for this? Even if EZ-Flash carts are always inaccurate, the RTC in mine doesn't work at all.

Unfortunately all of the flashable carts seem to really just be shipping from Australia which really does suck... The fix for this would likely be contact your retailer and request a return and replacement though. What kind of SD card are you using? any chance it's one of those fake cards? or is it one larger than 32gb that you formatted fat32 or anything like that?

 

[EZ-Flash2]

My new EZ-Flash Omega displays the time correctly in the menu. However, when I boot a game, the RTC does not work.

I've tried Pokémon Unbound and Pokémon Emerald, and they display the message "The internal battery has run dry..."

This only happens about 80% of the time. If I boot the game repeatedly, sometimes it doesn't show the message.

Can someone help me figure out why this is happening?

I'm not sure if Unbound the game modified the RTC code in the game like the Prism did.
All commercial GBA RTC roms run well on EZ-FLASH OMEGA. unless they patched with other code.
If RTC had problems running standard Pokémon ROMs, then this forum would be full of posts like this.

 

[Amitai]

Unfortunately all of the flashable carts seem to really just be shipping from Australia which really does suck... The fix for this would likely be contact your retailer and request a return and replacement though. What kind of SD card are you using? any chance it's one of those fake cards? or is it one larger than 32gb that you formatted fat32 or anything like that?

I'm using a 16gb SanDisk card. It was FAT32, so I've just tried formatting it to exFAT, but unfortunately that didn't make a difference. I've requested a replacement cart.

I'm not sure if Unbound the game modified the RTC code in the game like the Prism did.
All commercial GBA RTC roms run well on EZ-FLASH OMEGA. unless they patched with other code.
If RTC had problems running standard Pokémon ROMs, then this forum would be full of posts like this.

My problem is not specific to Unbound. Pokémon Emerald behaves in the exact same way. So no, commercial RTC roms do not run well on my Omega.

I've also found one person on Reddit who describes the same problem, and has not solved it:
https://www.reddit.com/r/flashcarts/comments/nv4ng7/ez_flash_omega_pokemon_emerald_rtc_problem/

 

[EZ-Flash2]

I'm using a 16gb SanDisk card. It was FAT32, so I've just tried formatting it to exFAT, but unfortunately that didn't make a difference. I've requested a replacement cart.



My problem is not specific to Unbound. Pokémon Emerald behaves in the exact same way. So no, commercial RTC roms do not run well on my Omega.

I've also found one person on Reddit who describes the same problem, and has not solved it:
https://www.reddit.com/r/flashcarts/comments/nv4ng7/ez_flash_omega_pokemon_emerald_rtc_problem/

As said before, if the card design causes the RTC to work improperly, there will be many posts with feedback on the problem.

Personally, I think it may still be the way of usage, or the ROM is patched otherwise.

If you still think the problem is caused by the card itself, you can contact your dealer for a replacement or refund.

Even if the card is replaced, but I can't guarantee that you can use the game working properly, if you don't check if the game has been patched otherwise.

 

[kiddejig]

I would try a different ROM an unpatched one, sometimes if the ROM is patched it behaves differently.

 

[Amitai]

As said before, if the card design causes the RTC to work improperly, there will be many posts with feedback on the problem.

Personally, I think it may still be the way of usage, or the ROM is patched otherwise.

If you still think the problem is caused by the card itself, you can contact your dealer for a replacement or refund.

Even if the card is replaced, but I can't guarantee that you can use the game working properly, if you don't check if the game has been patched otherwise.

I would try a different ROM an unpatched one, sometimes if the ROM is patched it behaves differently.

I've now tried the following roms:
1986 - Pokemon Emerald (U)(TrashMan).gba
Pokemon - Ruby Version (USA).gba
Pokemon - Sapphire Version (Europe) (Rev 1).gba

The behaviour is consistent across all 3.

 

[EZ-Flash2]

I've now tried the following roms:
1986 - Pokemon Emerald (U)(TrashMan).gba
Pokemon - Ruby Version (USA).gba
Pokemon - Sapphire Version (Europe) (Rev 1).gba

The behaviour is consistent across all 3.

Can you verify the rom hash with any know rom list?
BTW, After your post, my dealer in France also reflected this problem with me, he said he also has some OMEGA in stock showing battery dry in Pokémon, after some email correspondence, he confirmed that the card settings menu GAME RTC is not turned on, after turning on and saving, he confirmed that all card can play Pokémon games correctly.

 

[Amitai]

Can you verify the rom hash with any know rom list?

No problem, the CRC-32 for my Emerald rom is 1f1c08fb, verified here:
https://datomatic.no-intro.org/index.php?page=show_record&s=23&n=1961

BTW, After your post, my dealer in France also reflected this problem with me, he said he also has some OMEGA in stock showing battery dry in Pokémon, after some email correspondence, he confirmed that the card settings menu GAME RTC is not turned on, after turning on and saving, he confirmed that all card can play Pokémon games correctly.

This was already suggested, I have Game RTC set to Open.

 

[EZ-Flash2]

No problem, the CRC-32 for my Emerald rom is 1f1c08fb, verified here:
https://datomatic.no-intro.org/index.php?page=show_record&s=23&n=1961



This was already suggested, I have Game RTC set to Open.

If all conditions are fine, then wait for your replacement card to come back and test it again.

 

[Aeredren]

I can report the same problem here with all my Pokemon games, it says the RTC has run dry.

Does someone has a fix for it ? (other than waiting for a replacement)

 

[Shadow#1]

I can report the same problem here with all my Pokemon games, it says the RTC has run dry.

Does someone has a fix for it ? (other than waiting for a replacement)

Replace your battery

 

[EZ-Flash2]

I can report the same problem here with all my Pokemon games, it says the RTC has run dry.

Does someone has a fix for it ? (other than waiting for a replacement)

How about other RTC games? Did you make sure the RTC toggle in the system settings is ticked?

 

[Aeredren]

I can confirm that RTC is set to toggle in the settings.

Problem arise with Pokemon Emerald, Ruby and Sapphire, which are the only game I have which used RTC (Pokemon Fire red and Leaf green do not seem to use it, does not reports any problem)

I check my .gba checksums :

Emerald : MD5 605b89b67018abcea91e693a4dd25be3 -> Latest on No-intro database
Ruby : MD5 e0503182a2e699678bcf25a6897a24d6 -> Not on No-intro but according to this it is not the rev2 but rev1 EUR game
Sapphire : MD5 3a32fd98b065283d09eeba1ce0542888 -> Not on No-intro but according to this it is not the rev2 but rev1 EUR game

So they are not patch.

And the time display in EZ-Flash omega DE interface does not reset.

I suspect :

1. either the battery is dry-ish and EZ-flash have the correct date time somewhere else so it does not reset. And games declare the battery is dry.
2. either the EUR-USA version is not good for use with EZ-Flash (not probable, we would see more complains) (but if somebody can confirm having rtc working on ez-flash omega DE with the latest version of emerald MD5 605b89b67018abcea91e693a4dd25be3, would be good)
3. either my card has a problem

I'll check this evening if the date has increment correctly in Omega DE interface. If so I guess it's problem 3

If not I'll change the battery, see if it's problem 1