Hacking EZ-FLASH OMEGA Definitive Edition Announced

[MrHuu]

Great news! Will definitely keep an eye on this.

BUT, on the other side, i'm kind of worried. I have multiple flashcards, including 2 EZ flash Omega cards.
Those two being the worst of the bunch. Going on a trip without pc, and corrupting the memory card within the first hour, makes me sad and wanting to throw it out of the plane's window. Luckily it didn't open...

Waiting minutes after saving, praying it does not corrupt the memory card again. Having to backup saves after each time i play makes it a lot less fun.

While a new card is nice, is there any proper solution for the regular Omega cards?

 

[Urbanshadow]

@EZ-Flash2 can you deny or confirm if any reseller will list this product on Amazon? Thank you!

 

[ghjfdtg]

Oh, and i forgot to mention:
The ROM hacks mentioned in the front page post WILL NOT WORK PROPERLY. Everything higher than 32 MB needs to deal with the 64 MB mapper which these ROM hacks are not designed for. They rely on emulator bugs/hacks. The 64 MB mapper has been discovered long after these ROM hacks got abandoned.

 

[playstays_shun]

Great news! Will definitely keep an eye on this.

BUT, on the other side, i'm kind of worried. I have multiple flashcards, including 2 EZ flash Omega cards.
Those two being the worst of the bunch. Going on a trip without pc, and corrupting the memory card within the first hour, makes me sad and wanting to throw it out of the plane's window. Luckily it didn't open...

Waiting minutes after saving, praying it does not corrupt the memory card again. Having to backup saves after each time i play makes it a lot less fun.

While a new card is nice, is there any proper solution for the regular Omega cards?

To that point, I think we should have some idea of how much more energy efficient these are vs. the Omega plain and if they have addressed the save corruption issue/concern many have and if so, how.

 

[linkinworm]

The GBA and GBA SP use a physical switch to determine if a GB(C) or a GBA cartridge is inserted. If someone were to build a flash cart that can do both GBA and native GBC, said flash cart would have to be able to press that switch. And to do that automatically, you'd probably need some kind of motor to push that GBC-mode switch from inside the cartridge...
Unless someone finds a way to trigger GBC-mode without pressing that switch, I don't think we'll see a GBA flash cart that'll run GB(C) games natively.

A manual switch wouldn't be bad. Wouldnt be that much of an issue to just have a sliding plastic piece . Or for someone to make a more upto date emulator. I don't think goomba is open source though?

 

[SmellyGhost]

Any word on the finish used on the cart slot contacts? The ENIG finish on my original Omega's contacts has worn over the last ~3 or so years to the point where it oxidizes constantly. Original cartridges and the Everdrive GBA X5 mini uses hard gold finish to improve durability with the amount of times the carts get slotted/unslotted over time.

 

[Sterophonick]

I don't think goomba is open source though?

Goomba Color is open source

 

[seseiSeki]

A manual switch wouldn't be bad. Wouldnt be that much of an issue to just have a sliding plastic piece . Or for someone to make a more upto date emulator. I don't think goomba is open source though?

Oh yeah. A manual switch. Didn't think about that ^^'
But you'd need to fit a GBA and and GB(C) flash cart into the same housing... That could be a little complicated.

 

[FAST6191]

Oh, and i forgot to mention:
The ROM hacks mentioned in the front page post WILL NOT WORK PROPERLY. Everything higher than 32 MB needs to deal with the 64 MB mapper which these ROM hacks are not designed for. They rely on emulator bugs/hacks. The 64 MB mapper has been discovered long after these ROM hacks got abandoned.

I was aware of that, however I was thinking more sometimes these exceptions end up with hardcoded workarounds rather than just being another option just like another save type to handle. If it is not hardcoded then some hackers could take advantage of it (wouldn't recommend it myself as it limits your audience more than working at 256Mbit already does, and the extra space is not that useful for most things*, but does fall within "works on hardware" and it is not like we have not seen 1000 NES mapper, NES->FDS, SNES suddenly special chip/hirom, GB->GBC conversions... over the years).

Likewise it would not take so very much to slap a pogoshell builder to support such things. Meteo might be harder, as might the few audio players as most are not open source, but hey. There is also something resembling DLDI for GBA too.

*if Golden Sun can have voiced audio shoved in there then as most things are 128Mbit or lower by default ( http://gbatemp.net/threads/buying-a-gba-flash-cart-in-2013.341203/page-18#post-4756995 ) then... yeah

Those few ROM hacks that coloured seriously outside the lines to go above 256Mbit, or happened as a result of a patching program doing "non 00/FF section at end of ROM, go there" were junk before they even started.

 

[Clydefrosch]

if it actually fixed the battery drain due to high voltages (which some suspected of being able to damage the system as a whole), then i guess I'll finally buy one

 

[FAST6191]

There was never any report of high voltages from what I saw.

Current draw was marginally higher than some stock games, though still well within standard safety factors for that and below what some accessories drew/what the cut out values are, and was improved with some updates (though still not as low as stock or some older flash carts which were actually better than stock). Said extra draw was enough to trouble certain batteries, some older batteries and reduce lifetimes as if most don't sit there with it on charge and playing anyway.

If ever mention of voltage and flash carts happened for GBA stuff it was either for batteries for clocks/save chips or when some of said older flash carts used low voltage chips which by dint of that consumed even less power still (power = current x voltage and all that, drop one or the other while the other remains the same and power draw will drop as well).

I read an amusing article once from some people wondering if using a NES flash cart on a NES might be reducing the effective lifetime of it from "probably after you are dead" to "probably still after you are dead but might want to not leave it powered 24/7" as though the NES was a precious commodity and not a millions selling device that in about 5 years we will probably be able to make transistor layout identical (maybe even superior but different debate there) copies of any chip for (this custom chip lark is getting quite exciting), to say nothing of having FPGA driven equivalents and pretty decent clones for several years now.

 

[ghjfdtg]

Someone made a test on power usage. Looks like it delivers on the promise but the everdrive still beats it (no surprise there considering there is more hardware on the omega de PCB):

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1baIDOZlUjERhOsmc5Uexz-6v63oGIfMhQQ3zYBDSzL8/htmlview

 

[Localhorst86]

but I already have the ez iv, original omega. and everdrive. I cant force myself to justify it..unless I get one ridiculously cheap

Yeah, I'm in the same boat. My ezflash IV, Reform, omega and Flash2Advance all do the trick for me and I don't see the need to upgrade to the new model, especially given that it costs a whopping $60 more than what I paid for my omega at launch.
Still, cool card. Maybe at some point I can find one for like $60

 

[WiiHomebrew+Snes]

It also appears to not support the DS lite flush shell? Honestly, if I was going to spend $100 on a flashcart that's GBA only I would just buy the overdrive. Glad they will probably still sell the original.

 

[GValiente]

This review says that rumble doesn't work with Drill Dozer: https://www.reddit.com/r/Gameboy/comments/kv9y87/after_playing_with_the_new_ezflash_omega/

Is it true? If it is, can it be fixed with a firmware upgrade?

 

[EZ-Flash2]

This review says that rumble doesn't work with Drill Dozer: https://www.reddit.com/r/Gameboy/comments/kv9y87/after_playing_with_the_new_ezflash_omega/

Is it true? If it is, can it be fixed with a firmware upgrade?

I think it is a mistake, drill dozer actual supported.

 

[NANASHI89]

Has

In the New Year of 2021, we are pleased to announce the release of EZ-FLASH OMEGA Definitive Edition. This product is based on the EZ-FLASH OMEGA and implements some of the functional requirements that users have made while using the EZ-FLASH OMEGA. This product will not replace the EZ-FLASH OMEGA, but will be sold in parallel as an enhanced product with upgraded features.

https://www.ezflash.cn/ez-flash-omega-definitive-edition-announced/

https://www.ezflash.cn/product/ez-flash-omega-definitive-edition/

In the New Year of 2021, we are pleased to announce the release of EZ-FLASH OMEGA Definitive Edition. This product is based on the EZ-FLASH OMEGA and implements some of the functional requirements that users have made while using the EZ-FLASH OMEGA. This product will not replace the EZ-FLASH OMEGA, but will be sold in parallel as an enhanced product with upgraded features.

https://www.ezflash.cn/ez-flash-omega-definitive-edition-announced/

https://www.ezflash.cn/product/ez-flash-omega-definitive-edition/

Have GBC exclusive games like Pokemon Crystal been fixed?

 

[Shadow#1]

Has


Have GBC exclusive games like Pokemon Crystal been fixed?

Nope and never will get fixed that's emulation has nothing to do with what hardware it's ran on that all replys on the emu Goomba and it's been out of development for years now

 

[Liriel]

OK a new ezflash gba card but the price is a bit high.
The old omega cost 35-45 Euro and the New 100?
Thats very much for this little New things.

And the power save is not really high against the old omega.
Like mahko Show around 0,03A what is in my eyes not many.

I will be on the old omega until the price goes really down

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[Liriel]

Someone made a test on power usage. Looks like it delivers on the promise but the everdrive still beats it (no surprise there considering there is more hardware on the omega de PCB):

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1baIDOZlUjERhOsmc5Uexz-6v63oGIfMhQQ3zYBDSzL8/htmlview

On my eyes 0.03A is not many.
And you can say that it is from mahko!

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