Hacking EZ Flash JR RTC jumps 2 years after every save/load in Prism 229

[romanaOne]

Everything seemed fine while playing Prism build 229 for the first time, but then I notice the clock keeps going up by 2 years+ every time I save, poweroff, power on, "backup" (copy SRAM to SD?), and start the game. I see there is now build 235. Still, 229 ram fine in emulators....

First test was 2020, second was 2022, third 2024. It isn't exactly 2 years and there is no way to tell what the time of day will be or the day of the week when you start playing. I just got this thing and updated to the latest FW; it came with 1, now it has 3.

 

[Shadow#1]

Everything seemed fine while playing Prism build 229 for the first time, but then I notice the clock keeps going up by 2 years+ every time I save, poweroff, power on, "backup" (copy SRAM to SD?), and start the game. I see there is now build 235. Still, 229 ram fine in emulators....

First test was 2020, second was 2022, third 2024. It isn't exactly 2 years and there is no way to tell what the time of day will be or the day of the week when you start playing. I just got this thing and updated to the latest FW; it came with 1, now it has 3.

Then report the bug to the Rom hacker

 

[DeadSkullzJr]

Then report the bug to the Rom hacker

The issue isn't the hack, it's something buggy in the EZ-Flash Jr. kernel.

 

[Localhorst86]

The issue isn't the hack, it's something buggy in the EZ-Flash Jr. kernel.

But the ezflash RTC remains correct. @romanaOne is the talking about the RTC of the game. You don't even need to save the game, running the Rom and power cycling the game will make the ingame RTC jump from Feb. 9 2025 to Jan. 5 2029 - some random time during the day, the ezflash RTC will remain at the current date and time.

EDIT: I do wonder if the same issue appears on EDGB X7 and el-cheapo SD cards. Since I don't have either (only an original EDGB without RTC), I can not check. Would be interesting to know or narrow the issue down.

 

[DeadSkullzJr]

But the ezflash RTC remains correct. @romanaOne is the talking about the RTC of the game. You don't even need to save the game, running the Rom and power cycling the game will make the ingame RTC jump from Feb. 9 2025 to Jan. 5 2029 - some random time during the day, the ezflash RTC will remain at the current date and time.

EDIT: I do wonder if the same issue appears on EDGB X7 and el-cheapo SD cards. Since I don't have either (only an original EDGB without RTC), I can not check. Would be interesting to know or narrow the issue down.

Well let's not forget he is using an older build of Pokémon Prism as well, build 229 to be precise, which is older than build 235 by a long shot (I think that came out in 2017-2018). Build 235 came out last year, so he needs to see if the issues persist with that build.

 

[Localhorst86]

Well let's not forget he is using an older build of Pokémon Prism as well, build 229 to be precise, which is older than build 235 by a long shot (I think that came out in 2017-2018). Build 235 came out last year, so he needs to see if the issues persist with that build.

I tried it with build 235, the issue is also on that build.
I do assume there is some difference on how the prism ROM talks to the RTC and maybe the kernel provides a different answer to the game than it expects or it interprets it faulty. Because a quick search on the prism discord does not return any results regarding issues with other Gameboy RTC carts.

 

[romanaOne]

Then report the bug to the Rom hacker

I tried it with build 235, the issue is also on that build.
I do assume there is some difference on how the prism ROM talks to the RTC and maybe the kernel provides a different answer to the game than it expects or it interprets it faulty. Because a quick search on the prism discord does not return any results regarding issues with other Gameboy RTC carts.

I upgraded the game and save (using the online patcher) to 235 and the problem is still there for me too. (My Crystal ROM is definitely legit as I dumped it from the real thing using my shiny new gbaxcart USB dumper.) I've been using the debug version of Prism because it's easy to reset the in-game clock at the start of the game. For devices whith no clock, this has worked well enough. This problem is worse than no clock because every time you save, the clock jumps which makes you have to reset the clock whenever you save.

I tried TPP Anniversary Crystal and the in-game time is unaffected after save/load.
I guess real Crystal works ok? I have not tested because lately I am too damn sick of Johto.

If there is any more dicussion of this problem I'll always say "in-game" clock to distinguish from the cart's harware RTC. This time shown in the ROM browser UI stays correct, I've noticed. Is the cart's RTC read-only?

 

[Localhorst86]

I guess real Crystal works ok?

It works fine for crystal, but then again crystal does not keep track of the current date, just the time and day of the week. So maybe "real" crystal simply works with a different set of values for the clock that the EZ Jr. can provide just fine but confuse the prism rom.

 

[makho]

I did already report this bug to Prism devs on their discord about two weeks ago. They seemed to dismiss me even though someone else chimed in with the same report.

 

[DeadSkullzJr]

I did already report this bug to Prism devs on their discord about two weeks ago. They seemed to dismiss me even though someone else chimed in with the same report.

Yea....kind of normal routine to happen, that's why I generally don't report much of anything to them, I hardly talk in the community too because of various reasons. Now it sounds more like an issue with Prism knowing that Crystal works fine. Definitely sucks it won't get fixed, maybe if we are lucky the EZ-Flash Jr. will get an update to work around the issue.

 

[makho]

Yea....kind of normal routine to happen, that's why I generally don't report much of anything to them, I hardly talk in the community too because of various reasons. Now it sounds more like an issue with Prism knowing that Crystal works fine. Definitely sucks it won't get fixed, maybe if we are lucky the EZ-Flash Jr. will get an update to work around the issue.

My mistake, apparently, was mentioning that Crystal Clear worked fine. Polished Crystal seems to work as well. Not sure when Kernel 1.03 and Firmware 3.0 came out (the 11th?) but I just updated my JR and tried it again and it's still doing to the same thing.

Not too big of a deal since I have a custom FRAM flash cart for Prism or even my Everdrive GBX7, but it would be nice to have full hardware compatibility.

 

[romanaOne]

I did already report this bug to Prism devs on their discord about two weeks ago. They seemed to dismiss me even though someone else chimed in with the same report.

Funny that you mention a negative (or non-helpful) experience asking questions/reporting bugs. I have had similar results as an outsider approaching some android IRC channels and discords. (Maybe Android is an extreme example, as it went very quickly from a small community to, well, the street.) It's like certain projects/fora are just social clubs between friends who already know each other offline and are hostile to incomers. I don't know anything about the Prism group in particular, but I'm starting feel a little bit...unwelcome more often, whereas in the past online fora were pretty much "all are welcome, glad to have you!" Anyway, I'm probably not the only person who feels more comfortable posting to GBATemp, than app-specific, super-siloed, cool-people-only discords, IRC channels, and github issues pages for REAL PROGRAMMERS. Wink, wink, nudge-nudge, I'll say no more.

 

[DeadSkullzJr]

Funny that you mention a negative (or non-helpful) experience asking questions/reporting bugs. I have had similar results as an outsider approaching some android IRC channels and discords. (Maybe Android is an extreme example, as it went very quickly from a small community to, well, the street.) It's like certain projects/fora are just social clubs between friends who already know each other offline and are hostile to incomers. I don't know anything about the Prism group in particular, but I'm starting feel a little bit...unwelcome more often, whereas in the past online fora were pretty much "all are welcome, glad to have you!" Anyway, I'm probably not the only person who feels more comfortable posting to GBATemp, than app-specific, super-siloed, cool-people-only discords, IRC channels, and github issues pages for REAL PROGRAMMERS. Wink, wink, nudge-nudge, I'll say no more.

Unwelcome doesn't exactly suit the nature, when I joined I felt like a total outcast, even now knowing I have been there a long time, anytime I mention something sometimes people tend to talk down to me rather than with me, if at all. The most common thing to happen there is getting ignored when you speak up to say something. Not to say the place is super bad or anything, but it's not the ideal place to hang out or maybe even seek help related to the game.

 

[altobo123]

I had the same issue with the game and spoke with " ax6" from the Prism Discord.
After explaining him that every time i saved, sometimes it would jump more than 511 days and sometimes it would jump a bit more than that, he said "...the max offset for the RTC is 511 days and change."
At the end he told me hes going to check. Hope he finds something :c he doesnt have an EZ Flash JR to make the search easier tho.

 

[Shadow#1]

I had the same issue with the game and spoke with " ax6" from the Prism Discord.
After explaining him that every time i saved, sometimes it would jump more than 511 days and sometimes it would jump a bit more than that, he said "...the max offset for the RTC is 511 days and change."
At the end he told me hes going to check. Hope he finds something :c he doesnt have an EZ Flash JR to make the search easier tho.

Then buy him one