Homebrew Emulation GameYob, a gameboy emulator for DS

[Ulieq]

What is autosave? It sound stupid, so I turned it off and never actually experience it?

 

[Drenn]

Ok enough is enough...

It's been four times... FOUR F@CKING TIMES that my Pokemon saves are erased by the Autosave feature (and with different builds). The first time I load the game after a new build, it loads fine, but after that it erases the god damned save file as if there was no data at all.

It's getting on my nerves because I completed both Crystal and Yellow two times, and the other two I was at Saffron Inc when it happened!

PLEASE HAVE MERCY!

:/

I'll look over my code, but this never happens to me, which makes it impossible to debug... is it only pokemon? Have you been playing any other games to the same extent? And, does it happen randomly, or is it predictable in some way?

I take it that pressing X to save hasn't caused any issues? If you want to be extra-sure, save states can be a good idea. Just keep in mind, that save states tend to overwrite the SRAM when they're loaded... so it's best to not mix the 2 methods.

What is autosave? It sound stupid, so I turned it off and never actually experience it?

To be more precise, it's "Auto SRAM saving". Without this feature, the Save RAM on the SD card will not be updated when you save the game... which means, you need to press X every time you save the game (unless you use save states). But with this feature enabled, you don't need to worry about missing that extra step, because it's done automatically.
The first post has some information about that.

 

[Ulieq]

Noted 1 thing:

You can change the button configuration to where none of the buttons are assigned to MENU and save it. If you do this, you can never get back to the menu....

 

[Drenn]

Noted 1 thing:

You can change the button configuration to where none of the buttons are assigned to MENU and save it. If you do this, you can never get back to the menu....

In that case just touch the bottom screen.

 

[ShadowOne333]

:/

I'll look over my code, but this never happens to me, which makes it impossible to debug... is it only pokemon? Have you been playing any other games to the same extent? And, does it happen randomly, or is it predictable in some way?

I take it that pressing X to save hasn't caused any issues? If you want to be extra-sure, save states can be a good idea. Just keep in mind, that save states tend to overwrite the SRAM when they're loaded... so it's best to not mix the 2 methods.


To be more precise, it's "Auto SRAM saving". Without this feature, the Save RAM on the SD card will not be updated when you save the game... which means, you need to press X every time you save the game (unless you use save states). But with this feature enabled, you don't need to worry about missing that extra step, because it's done automatically.
The first post has some information about that.

It happens in all the games that have SRAM.
Super Mario Land 2, Pokemon Yellow, Pokemon Crystal, Donkey Kong, etc, etc.
All of those get erased after I install a new bundle and open it up. After trying to open it a second time, the game says it doesnt have any save.

 

[falconcrest]

It happens in all the games that have SRAM.
Super Mario Land 2, Pokemon Yellow, Pokemon Crystal, Donkey Kong, etc, etc.
All of those get erased after I install a new bundle and open it up. After trying to open it a second time, the game says it doesnt have any save.

This happens to me on all 3 dragon warrior monsters games on gbc...HELP!!!!!!!

 

[Drenn]

It happens in all the games that have SRAM.
Super Mario Land 2, Pokemon Yellow, Pokemon Crystal, Donkey Kong, etc, etc.
All of those get erased after I install a new bundle and open it up. After trying to open it a second time, the game says it doesnt have any save.

This happens to me on all 3 dragon warrior monsters games on gbc...HELP!!!!!!!

Okay so that's bad.

Does this always happen the second time you play the game... or only after you copy a new build over? If the latter, that's very strange...

So, I have a new build, which tries to play it safe with autosaving. I'd like you to enable debug output, and tell me what it says when you load a rom. It's the latest build. It should say something like "512 bytes per sector".

...It just occurred to me - does Pokemon tell you that your save is corrupted, or does it start blank? If it says it's corrupted, it might help if you send me one of the save files.

Keep in mind, before you try it, that some of your saves may already be corrupted, because I'm not sure what the problem is...

Oh, and falconcrest, what flashcard are you using?

 

[bobmcjr]

New version seems to be slightly better, but after playing wario land 2 for a bit and exiting to the file browser to load another game, it froze. Also, it would appear that splitting ROMs into multiple folders rather than having all of them in one folder helps. Lastly, for games like wario land 2 and 3, would it be possible for "smart" saving? (if its not already implemented) Those games use the SRAM to store tile map information while in levels and I don't think its too healthy to write to the sd card every time I hit a block. As always I use a DSTwo, and it always says 512 bytes per sector on my 16GB microSDHC class 4.

 

[Drenn]

New version seems to be slightly better, but after playing wario land 2 for a bit and exiting to the file browser to load another game, it froze. Also, it would appear that splitting ROMs into multiple folders rather than having all of them in one folder helps. Lastly, for games like wario land 2 and 3, would it be possible for "smart" saving? (if its not already implemented) Those games use the SRAM to store tile map information while in levels and I don't think its too healthy to write to the sd card every time I hit a block. As always I use a DSTwo, and it always says 512 bytes per sector on my 16GB microSDHC class 4.

So your issue is with freezing on I/O operations, not autosaving in particular... are you able to write save states and everything, now?

I know about wario land 2/3, I might do something about it...

There should be another line, which says "8 sectors per page". If the 2 values aren't "512" and "8", like I'd assumed they would be, the newest changes should account for that...


By the way people, I encourage you to make a big deal out of these savegame issues, like right now

 

[falconcrest]

I'm using the original R4DS.I can save fine,but when I fully shut down the system and reboot then start any of the dwm games i hear the sound that the game gives you when your save has been corrupted along with the message telling me as such.

 

[Drenn]

I'm using the original R4DS.I can save fine,but when I fully shut down the system and reboot then start any of the dwm games i hear the sound that the game gives you when your save has been corrupted along with the message telling me as such.

Is it still happening with the new build? And, I'd like to see the debug output I mentioned.

 

[bobmcjr]

So your issue is with freezing on I/O operations, not autosaving in particular... are you able to write save states and everything, now?

I know about wario land 2/3, I might do something about it...

There should be another line, which says "8 sectors per page". If the 2 values aren't "512" and "8", like I'd assumed they would be, the newest changes should account for that...


By the way people, I encourage you to make a big deal out of these savegame issues, like right now

512 bytes per sector and 8 sectors per page. I guess I've had I/O issues in general but they've been most noticeable with autosaving (especially since I've mostly been playing wario land 3). Seems like storage gets pegged or something. When saving gameyob settings, its sort of interesting when it freezes as the settings do get saved completely, but it just hangs like it doesn't recognize that they've been written fully. Oh, and occasionally the timestamps on saves and settings get wiped, and some other DS software has trouble handling timestamp-less files.

 

[falconcrest]

the debug info for dwm2 gobi's quest right at the save data has been lost screen is:
Rom Title: ''dwm2-c''
Cartridge type: 1b (MBC5)
ROM size: 07 (256 banks)
RAM size: 03 (4 banks)

 

[Drenn]

the debug info for dwm2 gobi's quest right at the save data has been lost screen is:
Rom Title: ''dwm2-c''
Cartridge type: 1b (MBC5)
ROM size: 07 (256 banks)
RAM size: 03 (4 banks)

i'm referring to the output on the bottom screen, when you set "Console Output" to "Debug" and load a rom. Says something like "512 bytes per sector" and "8 sectors per page".

I take it the latest build from yesterday, v0.5-8, didn't help...? No difference in behaviour?

 

[ShadowOne333]

Okay so that's bad.

Does this always happen the second time you play the game... or only after you copy a new build over? If the latter, that's very strange...

So, I have a new build, which tries to play it safe with autosaving. I'd like you to enable debug output, and tell me what it says when you load a rom. It's the latest build. It should say something like "512 bytes per sector".

...It just occurred to me - does Pokemon tell you that your save is corrupted, or does it start blank? If it says it's corrupted, it might help if you send me one of the save files.

Keep in mind, before you try it, that some of your saves may already be corrupted, because I'm not sure what the problem is...

It happens when I copy the new build.
You see, once I see that a new build got released, I delete everything related to Gameyob (except the ROM folder) and copy the fresh new build to the SD card.
The first time the game loads with the new build, my save file loads fine, it is when I load another game and go back to that one that the save file resets itself in blank.

Also, the save file starts BLANK, it doesn't say anything about being corrupted.

Let me try the new build and will send feedback to you...

 

[falconcrest]

i'm referring to the output on the bottom screen, when you set "Console Output" to "Debug" and load a rom. Says something like "512 bytes per sector" and "8 sectors per page".

I take it the latest build from yesterday, v0.5-8, didn't help...? No difference in behaviour?

Thats the one I just just the corrupted save on.Yet gameyobv4.0 seems to work just fine with auto saving.

 

[Drenn]

All 3 of you seem to be having slightly different problems, but they could be related...

ShadowOne333 and bobmcjr, perhaps you could try testing v0.4.1, to see whether your issues existed back then - apparently it works for falconcrest...

The stuff I do to perform autosaving in v0.5 is a bit more intrusive than it used to be in v0.4.1, and probably more error-prone... I changed it because of the large amounts of lag I used to get. After further testing, it looks like my old sd card was the cause of the lag. So if v0.4.1 is free of these problems, maybe I'll revert to what it used to do...

 

[ShadowOne333]

All 3 of you seem to be having slightly different problems, but they could be related...

ShadowOne333 and bobmcjr, perhaps you could try testing v0.4.1, to see whether your issues existed back then - apparently it works for falconcrest...

The stuff I do to perform autosaving in v0.5 is a bit more intrusive than it used to be in v0.4.1, and probably more error-prone... I changed it because of the large amounts of lag I used to get. After further testing, it looks like my old sd card was the cause of the lag. So if v0.4.1 is free of these problems, maybe I'll revert to what it used to do...

Ready.

Here is the feedback:
*Erased previous GameYob build and copied the new one you provided.
*Loaded Pokemon Yellow fresh from scratch (No save)
*Changed setting to Console Output: DEBUG (also, left Autosave feature ON)
*Started the game, there were several save writings saying 2 and 3 mostly JUST in the intro, while choosing the name. Same happened with the rival's name.
*Proceeded to start playing and saved soon afterwards.
*Reset - Game still loads fine with the save point I made previously.
*Clicked on EXIT and booted up Pokemon Crystal, this one loaded the previous save I had fine.
*Exit once again and booted Pokemon Yellow again, this time the save was erased by now.

I only changed those two mentioned settings, along with the aspect ratio & button mapping, which I don't think they might affect at all.
And that happens as well with other games. I have to disable Autosaving and click on the set button for saving manually like in Previous Builds.

...Hope this helps, Drenn.

PS: Also, I want to thank you for your generous feedback and user communication, not a lot of developers take the time to do so, at least not in such a gentle and kind way like you! Very appreciated!

 

[Drenn]

Ready.

Here is the feedback:
*Erased previous GameYob build and copied the new one you provided.
*Loaded Pokemon Yellow fresh from scratch (No save)
*Changed setting to Console Output: DEBUG (also, left Autosave feature ON)
*Started the game, there were several save writings saying 2 and 3 mostly JUST in the intro, while choosing the name. Same happened with the rival's name.
*Proceeded to start playing and saved soon afterwards.
*Reset - Game still loads fine with the save point I made previously.
*Clicked on EXIT and booted up Pokemon Crystal, this one loaded the previous save I had fine.
*Exit once again and booted Pokemon Yellow again, this time the save was erased by now.

I only changed those two mentioned settings, along with the aspect ratio & button mapping, which I don't think they might affect at all.
And that happens as well with other games. I have to disable Autosaving and click on the set button for saving manually like in Previous Builds.

...Hope this helps, Drenn.

PS: Also, I want to thank you for your generous feedback and user communication, not a lot of developers take the time to do so, at least not in such a gentle and kind way like you! Very appreciated!

So, this was with the new build, v0.5-8. Apparently, my changes didn't help much. I still don't know why, exactly, this is happening, but I think you should try the old v0.4.1, since that worked for falconcrest, just for the sake of testing... if that works, I may revert the changes I made to autosaving since then.

 

[bobmcjr]

So, this was with the new build, v0.5-8. Apparently, my changes didn't help much. I still don't know why, exactly, this is happening, but I think you should try the old v0.4.1, since that worked for falconcrest, just for the sake of testing... if that works, I may revert the changes I made to autosaving since then.

Tried 0.4.1, loaded Wario Land 3, went to menu, turned autosaving on, instant freeze. Seconds time, same thing accept it froze on save settings instead. 0.5-8 is superior for I/O operations in general, but neither are great. Although toggling autosave then saving settings immediately after has issues on 0.5-8 as well...