Hacking EZ Flash Omega Issues

[arsenal009]

Hey guys, I just got the EZ Flash Omega. I'm playing River City Ransom Ex. But the game keeps freezing after about 30min. If I restart the power, my saved progress is gone & I have to start from the beginning of the game. When I restart, the game will freeze again in about 30min. Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks

 

[kuwanger]

Two things. One, clean the contacts on your EZ Flash Omega and GBA. Two, scan your microSD card. The former might explain the freezing. The latter should resolve any save issues. If you still are having issues, I'd suggest reformatting the microSD and copying things over again.

 

[arsenal009]

So I tried cleaning the contacts. I also formatted 2 different microSD cards & tried them both. I'm still having issues.

Someone else had an issue with this game that had an EZ Flash reform & he posted on this forum: https://gbatemp.net/threads/ez-flash-reform-some-roms-freezing.490039/
The solution was, when he booted the game with L+B it worked. I'm not sure what the L+B function does on the reform.

Is there something similar to that I can try on EZ Flash Omega?

 

[kuwanger]

Sounds like L+B is equivalent to Clean Boot. Have you tried Clean Boot?

 

[arsenal009]

Yes, I tried clean boot, I am still having the same issue.
According to the link, L+B resolved the issue on the EZ Flash Reform since it disables GSS. GSS patching allows you to return to the game select menu with a button combo.
https://gbatemp.net/threads/ez-flash-reform-some-roms-freezing.490039/

Is there a way to disable GSS patching on the EZ Falsh Omega?

Thanks

 

[kuwanger]

That's what Clean Boot is. "Boot With Addons" is effective what GSS is (GLOBAL SOFTRESET AND SLEEP). Really, if you're having problems even with Clean Boot, I don't know what to tell you. Regardless of circumstances, saves should be working. The only other real suggestion is trying yet another memory card. Out of curiosity, what size cards have you used and are you formatting them FAT16, FAT32, or EXFat? I ask because on at least an earlier firmware I was having issues with EXfat. Admittedly, this was before I noticed just how dirty the contacts were on my EZ Omega, so it might not have been that at all.

 

[arsenal009]

I have tried 2 4GB micro SD cards. They are Kingston & Lexar.
They have both been formatted via FAT32.

 

[kuwanger]

Okay, play River City Ransom Ex for a short while, save, wait about 20 seconds, then turn off your system and scan the microSD for errors. Also, check to see if the River City Ransom Ex.sav looks empty. You can use an emulator like VBA-M or look through it with a hexeditor.

 

[arsenal009]

Alright, so I noticed I was having problems with all my games, not just River City Ranson Ex.
I did what you asked and checked the micro SD for errors. I had put cheats onto the micro SD and a lot of them had errors. I reformatted the micro SD once again & this time did not put any cheats onto the micro SD. I checked for errors again & there are no errors.
I tried a couple games and they work fine now and save fine as well.

However, when I now try to play River City Ransom Ex, it freezes on the "Loading Creavting Sav File" screen and I cannot play the game at all.
I powered off, checked the microSD for errors again & the River City Ransom Ex 8kb save file was not valid & it was deleted.
I tried playing it again & have the same freezing issue.

Any idea why the game won't play at all now?

 

[Localhorst86]

Alright, so I noticed I was having problems with all my games, not just River City Ranson Ex.
I did what you asked and checked the micro SD for errors. I had put cheats onto the micro SD and a lot of them had errors. I reformatted the micro SD once again & this time did not put any cheats onto the micro SD. I checked for errors again & there are no errors.
I tried a couple games and they work fine now and save fine as well.

However, when I now try to play River City Ransom Ex, it freezes on the "Loading Creavting Sav File" screen and I cannot play the game at all.
I powered off, checked the microSD for errors again & the River City Ransom Ex 8kb save file was not valid & it was deleted.
I tried playing it again & have the same freezing issue.

Any idea why the game won't play at all now?

did you use any tools to patch the game? Can you tell us the CRC or MD5 of the file?

 

[kuwanger]

However, when I now try to play River City Ransom Ex, it freezes on the "Loading Creavting Sav File"

I've noticed that creating a sav file can take quite a long while some times (30+ seconds). Out of curiosity how did you wait for the file to be created?

 

[arsenal009]

did you use any tools to patch the game? Can you tell us the CRC or MD5 of the file?

No, I didn't use any tools to patch the games. I do not know what CRC or MD5 is.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I've noticed that creating a sav file can take quite a long while some times (30+ seconds). Out of curiosity how did you wait for the file to be created?

The 3 games I've tried are Blender Bros., Wario Land 4, & River City Ransom Ex.
Blender Bros & Wario Land worked fine on my old EZ Flash, I never tried River City Ransom on old cart. I got Omega because the battery had died on original cart.

Blender Bros & Wario Land were working fine + saving & River City Ransom was freezing.
But now, all 3 games are loading up & crashing again after max 30min of play like before.

I have no idea what's going on.

 

[kuwanger]

My guess is that the microSD card keeps being corrupted which is causing issues. I don't know why River City Ransom Ex would be doing that, though. As for calculating a CRC/MD5, for Windows I prefer HashTab which adds a tab to the properties of each file to calculate the CRC/MD5/SHA-1. With that we can verify that you're using a known, good dump of the game. Of course there are other options like WinMD5 or following Microsoft Support advice from the command line. If it turns out to be a known dump, then the only other advice I can think of is try yet another microSD.

 

[arsenal009]

Alright, I need to go out of town for a couple weeks, but when I get back I will find out the CRC/MD5.
I will let you know then