ROM Hack GBA Pokemon ROM to DS?

[lx468]

Hey all,

I want to transfer pokemon from a pokemon emerald ROM to an actual pokemon platinum ds game cart. I know you can do this with actual gba pokemon games via migration, but the pokemon on my rom are very highly leveled up (it would take forever to do so on the actual gba game). Anyway, I have no idea on how to go about doing this. I think that I need something called a flashcart and a linker to transfer the rom onto an actual cartridge that is playable on the GBA slot on the DS. Can someone please tell me what equipment I need to buy (as specific as possible please if you don't mind), where to buy it, and how to go about doing this?? I am extremely new at this so please bear with me. Thanks in advance!!

 

[Reaper]

I think you want to put the save into a pokemon emerald cartridge. Because right now what you are saying is impossible.
1. Cannot overwrite ROMs to carts by buying stuff the average person has access to
2. GBA ROM ? NDS rom
I think I misunderstood

 

[Vague Rant]

I don't think that's what they're saying. I believe they've played the GBA ROM in an emulator, and now wish to transfer their save to a flash card (which they do not own at present) and use that to transfer their Pokémon to a DS game.

However, I'm still not sure if what you're asking is possible. IIRC, the DS game needs patching to read from a flash card, and since you're talking about a commercial DS game, you won't be able to patch it. So what you really need are both DS and GBA flash cards. Technically you could get away with just a DS flash card if you convinced someone to do the transferring for you and send you back the save.

 

[lx468]

Technically you could get away with just a DS flash card if you convinced someone to do the transferring for you and send you back the save.

Can you elaborate on that?

 

[Megacherv]

Okay, I understand what you want, you want to do NDS-to-GBA linking with a GBA ROM and a real DS game. Best way to do this is any Slot-1 flashcart, an EZ3in1 and GBAExpLoader EZ3in1. 'Burn' the GBA ROM to the NOR with the .sav in /GBA_SAVE, then start the game. The regions must be identical though. You should be able to use the same save if you need to switch regions. Then do that...migration...thing...whatever

I've done this many times with the Boktai, Megaman Battle Network and Starforce games, and it worked absolutely fine for me.

EDIT: If you want me to help, catch me on the IRC or PM me, I'm happy to help.

 

[Heran Bago]

Uhh you can write the save to a real cartridge or flash cartridge with a GBA linker.

GBA piracy lol.

 

[Vague Rant]

Well basically, the process involves a SLOT-1 card and a SLOT-2 cart. If you don't have both of those, you could instead send your (GBA) save file to someone who does. They can write the (GBA) save file to their (SLOT-2) flash cart and run Pokémon Platinum (patched for SLOT-2 cart save reading; assuming this patch exists, as it does for Diamond and Pearl) on their SLOT-1 card. They can transfer your Pokémon across, and then send you both (GBA and NDS) save files. The GBA save will be less your Pokémon presumably (honestly I haven't played one of these things since Silver, so I don't know the exact process of trading between generations), while the NDS save will have them. You can resume playing your GBA game with this save, and you could also play the NDS game on an emulator if you wanted, but most likely you'd rather play on your DS, and the only way to make use of the save file your buddy sent you is using a flash card (to either write the save to the original game, or just along with a ROM of the game). If you've already started playing Platinum, you could also back up your save with a flash card and send that to your buddy, that way you can resume right where you were with your GBA Pokémon.

The reason you need a SLOT-1 card is that the way Pokémon GBA games are saved on flash cards is different to the way they're saved on the real thing. Thus, a genuine Pokémon Platinum won't be able to find your save on a flash card. You need a patched ROM which knows where to look for it, and you can't patch the ROM on a retail card. Even if you get someone else to do this step for you, you need a way to use the save file they send you, which means either an emulator on PC, or a flash card.

EDIT: Duh, I suck, Heran Bago makes an excellent point. There is also the option of purchasing a genuine Pokémon GBA cart and using either a flash card or a linker (a device which allows your PC to interface with GBA cartridges) to transfer your save file to that. With that you'd be able to use genuine games in both slots, and the transfer would go swimmingly.

 

[Megacherv]

I'd say mine is easier since it requires no patching and can be done all on just the DS

 

[Vague Rant]

It's only easier if you discount the fact that it's not going to work.

 

[triassic911]

If you have the actual retail pokemon cart, you can write the .sav file to it and then upload the pokemon to the ds pokemon games.

 

[lx468]

Wow thanks a lot everyone. Alright, as I said I'm pretty new to this. So from what I surmised from everyone's advice (namely Heran Bago and Vague Rant) is that in order to do this the most painless way, I need to buy a GBA flash cartridge and a gba linker and write the gba rom on that flash cartridge? Then transfer as if it was a normal game? I've already started to look for gba flash carts and linkers but it seems that many of the websites (Jandaman, Linker4U, etc.) have closed or no longer sell them. Does anyone know where I can get a linker and a gba flash cart? Thanks again!

 

[Vague Rant]

That's not quite it. A commercial game like Pokémon Platinum can't read the save file from any kind of GBA flash cart. Getting ever-so-slightly technical, there are three types of save chips used in commercial GBA titles: SRAM, FLASH, and EEPROM. Of these, Pokémon games use FLASH, while the vast majority of GBA flash carts use SRAM. Because of this, a commercial NDS Pokémon game can't read the save from a flash cart, because it's looking for a FLASH chip and your flash card only has an SRAM chip.

Here's all your options, as I see them:
1. Buy a commercial copy of Pokémon Emerald, transfer your save file to the cart using either a linker or a SLOT-1 flash card.
2. Buy flash devices for both slots of your DS and transfer your Pokémon using a patched NDS ROM on your SLOT-1 device with your GBA save written to your SLOT-2 cart.
3. Buy a SLOT-1 device only, convince someone else to do the transferring work and send them your save file(s), wait for them to send back your save(s) with Pokémon transferred. Use this save either with a ROM on your flash card or by transferring it back to your commercial Pokémon Platinum card.
4. Buy nothing, convince someone else to do the transferring work and send them your GBA save file, wait for them to send back your save with Pokémon transferred, and play Pokémon Platinum in an emulator using the new save.

 

[Megacherv]

Oh, well now you've put it like that, that makes sense. My solution to that would be to copy the game-save (game-save and ROM) from your NDS cart to your flashcart using NDS_Backup EZ3in1 and use a CycloDS, which supports Pokemon SRAM detection.

 

[Vague Rant]

The CycloDS simply patches the Pokémon ROMs for use with flash cards. It's nice that it does it without user intervention, but it's far from being the only one which would work given a user willing to patch manually.

 

[lx468]

Ok Vague Rant, among the options that you have given me, the first one seems the least expensive and time consuming. Because I can't find any linkers online, I think I'm going to use the slot 1 flast cart. Would you guys say R4 is an acceptable slot card for this purpose, or would you recommend something else?

 

[lx468]

Actually after reading the reviews, I think I'm going to get the SuperCard DS one. Is this a good choice for what I want to do? Please get back to me soon! Thanks a lot everyone! You've been a great help!

 

[Vague Rant]

Ok Vague Rant, among the options that you have given me, the first one seems the least expensive and time consuming. Because I can't find any linkers online, I think I'm going to use the slot 1 flast cart. Would you guys say R4 is an acceptable slot card for this purpose, or would you recommend something else?
It's acceptable in the sense that it would work, but I would advise you in the strongest of terms to get something else. The R4's makers are long since dead (not literally, presumably) and the vast majority of R4s on the market today are counterfeit. Since it sounds like you're working on a budget, I'd personally recommend either the EDGE (for its simplicity) or the Acekard 2 (for its features). The EDGE is a very intuitive card without too many extra features, so it makes for a good first card. The Acekard 2 takes a bit of messing with before you discover everything it can do, but it's a great card as long as you're comfortable with a bit of a learning curve. Both are on the cheaper end of the scale without being unreliable or otherwise crappy. Almost anything should be serviceable for this, however; as long as it can successfully run homebrew, it'll do the job.

QUOTE(lx468 @ May 25 2009, 08:05 AM) Actually after reading the reviews, I think I'm going to get the SuperCard DS one. Is this a good choice for what I want to do? Please get back to me soon! Thanks a lot everyone! You've been a great help!

The SCDS1 is a quality card, however it's also probably the single most complicated card on the market. It also takes some degree of tweaking to get it to run optimally (without modification, the menu is by far the slowest of any modern flash card). If you're prepared to make a commitment to making the card work as you want it to, it's one of the best cards on the market, and it has features which even the gold standard of flash cards, the CycloDS Evolution, doesn't. If this sounds like something you'd be OK with doing, the SCDS1 is a good card, despite its flaws. Otherwise, there are much simpler cards (like the EDGE mentioned above) for the same or a lesser budget.

 

[lx468]

Hmm but it seems (according to the GBAtemp review) that Edge is not compatible with commercial GBA cartridges.

 

[Megacherv]

The CycloDS simply patches the Pokémon ROMs for use with flash cards. It's nice that it does it without user intervention, but it's far from being the only one which would work given a user willing to patch manually.

...meh...I can see how my method wouldn't work anyway. Good luck with it then.

EDIT: Urm...if you're only using the flashcard for this purpose, then it probably won't matter that much which one you get. If you're using the flachcard for more stuff, then I'd say CycloDS, M3, DSTT, Supercard or Acekard would be your best options.

 

[HarttoHart]

Any fallow-ups on this? I'm looking to do about the same thing, and i already have a commercial copy of both emerald, and leaf green. but i want to transfer my save-game from my computer to it. Which of the DS Cards works for that? Thanks