Update
Team Cyclo has released the CycloDS Evolution Firmware v1.54 BETA-4. Please see the spoilers for more information.
v1.54 BETA-4
* Added automatic piracy patcher
* Updated support for EZ3in1+
[titlerotected game auto-patcher]
As many of you are probably aware, a number of recent games have included a form of copy protection where the game will exhibit strange problems if you attempt to run it as a backup [rather than from the original cartridge]. Until now it was necessary to either use a "protection bypass cheat code" or wait for us to manually include a compatibility fix as part of a firmware update. Following in the footsteps of AKAIO, we have now developed our own system which automatically disables the checks in protected games. without needing to use a cheat code or wait for a firmware update. The system is working in all protected games released to date, and providing there are no major changes to the way the protection works, it should continue to work in the future.
As many of you are probably aware, a number of recent games have included a form of copy protection where the game will exhibit strange problems if you attempt to run it as a backup [rather than from the original cartridge]. Until now it was necessary to either use a "protection bypass cheat code" or wait for us to manually include a compatibility fix as part of a firmware update. Following in the footsteps of AKAIO, we have now developed our own system which automatically disables the checks in protected games. without needing to use a cheat code or wait for a firmware update. The system is working in all protected games released to date, and providing there are no major changes to the way the protection works, it should continue to work in the future.
We have now improved support for EZ3in1+ as much as is possible, however it seems that this revised unit suffers from actual hardware problems which unfortunately may not be fixable in software. Rumble does not seem to work at all, and there appear to be timing problems with the NOR flash which affect GBA gameplay. We have tested against the official EZ5 kernel from the EZFlash team which produces the same results we are seeing - this only further supports the theory that these problems are caused by the hardware itself. Until the EZFLash team fixes these problems in their own kernel and release working source code for us to use then we are going to hold this assumption and will not be investing any more time in EZ3in1+ compatibility when it may very well be a futile cause. We really do wonder if this new hardware was tested properly
before release or if it was simply rushed out the door due to problems sourcing stock of the old components.
Details of the problems are as follows:
- Rumble does not seem to work at all, at least not with the source code provided (and does not work with the official EZ5 kernel either)
- Writing GBA games to NOR flash is supported, however some combinations of GBA card bus wait states seem to run unstable which can cause various problems with some games from sound glitches to preventing the game from even booting. Running GBA games from NOR with EZ3in1+ really is hit and miss and we recommend using PSRAM instead whenever possible.
Contributed by Ashbox
OSW: sorry guys, I accidentally broke the post. I'll try and fix this up soon.