Homebrew SCFW: Custom Firmware & Kernel for Supercard

Apache Thunder · Jun 22, 2024

The regular SuperCard SD has a NDS side recovery flasher so yes you can flash it back to stock fw if something doesn't work with the custom fw you flash to it. It requires a DS/DS Lite and a slot-1 flashcart to run though so if the gba cart is not bootable anymore you won't be able to unbrick it without a DS/DS Lite and DS mode flashcart.

I recently overhauled a tool used for flashing some SuperCards to work with my SuperCard Lite which is a DS lite formfactor version of the regular SuperCard SD:

https://github.com/ApacheThunder/sckill

You can use that to flash custom fws to your card.

You can find the recovery tool for MicroSD/SD and SC Lite MicroSD versions here:

http://linfoxdomain.com/nintendo/ds/

I've completely bricked the flash on my SC Lite and always been able to flash something else to it either via SCKill or via the recovery tool so there isn't much to worry about if you have a DS flashcart to recover it with.

OmDRetro · Jun 22, 2024

asper said:
Thank you ! Can the firmware be flashed directly over those cards without bricking ?

Flashing custom firmwares or ROMs in general ALWAYS carry some risk which is why you have to be careful.

"Some risks" include:
- Accidentally powering off the device during flashing causing a brick
- Removing the cartridge while it's being flashed.
- Your device is in low battery state and flashing stops abruptly/midway
- etc... (Human error caused bricks)

Lucky for you, I already posted a tutorial on YouTube.

Also, here's a small easter egg which I find hilarious on xda developers in regards to flashing ANYTHING, but this is for phones (Same concept applies here too)

#include <std_disclaimer.h>
/*
* Your warranty is now void.
*
* I am not responsible for bricked devices, dead SD cards,
* thermonuclear war, or you getting fired because the alarm app failed. Please
* do some research if you have any concerns about features included in this ROM
* before flashing it! YOU are choosing to make these modifications, and if
* you point the finger at me for messing up your device, I will laugh at you.
*/

There are many variations of that disclaimer, but in hindsight be mindful of what you do and you'll do fine

asper · Jun 22, 2024

Apache Thunder said:
The regular SuperCard SD has a NDS side recovery flasher so yes you can flash it back to stock fw if something doesn't work with the custom fw you flash to it. It requires a DS/DS Lite and a slot-1 flashcart to run though so if the gba cart is not bootable anymore you won't be able to unbrick it without a DS/DS Lite and DS mode flashcart.

I recently overhauled a tool used for flashing some SuperCards to work with my SuperCard Lite which is a DS lite formfactor version of the regular SuperCard SD:

https://github.com/ApacheThunder/sckill

You can use that to flash custom fws to your card.

You can find the recovery tool for MicroSD/SD and SC Lite MicroSD versions here:

http://linfoxdomain.com/nintendo/ds/

I've completely bricked the flash on my SC Lite and always been able to flash something else to it either via SCKill or via the recovery tool so there isn't much to worry about if you have a DS flashcart to recover it with.

Thank you ! Can you point out exactly the file needed for the recovery tool ? There are really too many...

Also do you know the latest good firmware*jernel for this one ?

OmDRetro · Jun 22, 2024

asper said:
Thank you ! Can you point out exactly the file needed for the recovery tool ? There are really too many...

Also do you know the latest good firmware*jernel for this one ?

@asper: You're on the wrong sub-forum. If you have questions about Slot-1 flashcarts such as this, head over to the DS forum and ask there instead.

asper · Jun 22, 2024

OmDRetro said:
@asper: You're on the wrong sub-forum. If you have questions about Slot-1 flashcarts such as this, head over to the DS forum and ask there instead.

Done, thank you !

howston · Monday at 12:19 AM

I wonder, what is the scope for something like the GBA Movie Player loading with this firmware? I understand it has trouble with SDHC, but is there anything on the firmware side that can overcome it, or would it need to be patched itself in some way? Or maybe anything else that only expects to read from a non-SDHC card? (Though already this firmware is the best thing to happen to the Supercard)

Gamemaster2022 · Monday at 9:23 AM

asper said:
Thank you ! Can the firmware be flashed directly over those cards without bricking ?

Flashing is risky on the original GBA as it is not fully compatible with the Supercard and, from my own experience, it can potentially brick the supercard. But because you have a DS, it shouldn't be a problem to unbrick it.

This is the only time a brick happened to me. Other than that I think it's pretty safe to flash as I didn't have any problems flashing it on DS or GBA SP

djmuted · Tuesday at 11:21 PM

Trying to frankenstein ezflash kernel with scfw code. Progress so far: very slow working fatfs, no roms patching or loading yet.

Apache Thunder · Tuesday at 11:28 PM

djmuted said:
Trying to frankenstein ezflash kernel with scfw code. Progress so far: very slow working fatfs, no roms patching or loading yet.

View attachment 444033

Looking great! Are the game thumbnails working too?

Could you give updating the fatlib SD functions found in this DLDI a try?

https://github.com/ArcheyChen/SuperCard-SDHC-DLDI

Ever since SCFW version 4.2 or so it doesn't work on SuperCard Lite. But that DLDI is able to fat init my SC Lite so I suspect things will work again once some of these custom fw's get around to updating it.

I've love to give this a go on my SC Lite (it's the MicroSD version, not Rumble.

)

I have not been able to get any of the custom SCFW repos to compile. I guess because they are using an outdated devkitpro setup for some reason...

djmuted · Tuesday at 11:52 PM

Apache Thunder said:
Looking great! Are the game thumbnails working too?

Could you give updating the fatlib SD functions found in this DLDI a try?

https://github.com/ArcheyChen/SuperCard-SDHC-DLDI

Ever since SCFW version 4.2 or so it doesn't work on SuperCard Lite. But that DLDI is able to fat init my SC Lite so I suspect things will work again once some of these custom fw's get around to updating it.

I've love to give this a go on my SC Lite (it's the MicroSD version, not Rumble. )

I have not been able to get any of the custom SCFW repos to compile. I guess because they are using an outdated devkitpro setup for some reason...

I am quite new to gba development. This DLDI requires nds/ndstypes.h, which is not found in my gba environment. Also the CRC code relies on u64. does gba even support that? This code looks like it's meant to work on the NDS.

Edit: after some research, it looks like it was obviously made for the NDS. There are some ASM instructions that are not supported by the gba compiler it seems.

Edit2: I could not get the DLDI to work (I even used some older version that did not include any ASM code and it compiles but still does not run). However, I managed to fix the performance problems that I had with scfw sd driver and it seems to be fast now.
Yes, thumbnails are working as well.

Edit3: I bricked the Supercard SD while flashing new firmware. Unless there's a way to flash the original firmware on it using ch341a or something similar, it's over.

Apache Thunder · Wednesday at 1:12 AM

djmuted said:
I am quite new to gba development. This DLDI requires nds/ndstypes.h, which is not found in my gba environment. Also the CRC code relies on u64. does gba even support that? This code looks like it's meant to work on the NDS.

Edit: after some research, it looks like it was obviously made for the NDS. There are some ASM instructions that are not supported by the gba compiler it seems.

Edit2: I could not get the DLDI to work (I even used some older version that did not include any ASM code and it compiles but still does not run). However, I managed to fix the performance problems that I had with scfw sd driver and it seems to be fast now.
Yes, thumbnails are working as well.
View attachment 444044

Hmm yeah that one was setup for DS DLDI. I would assume it'd requires changes for gba.

I could test your build on my SC Lite to see if your changes to the internal DLDI/libfat code maybe fixed it? Send me a message.

Gamemaster2022 · Wednesday at 8:27 PM

djmuted said:
Trying to frankenstein ezflash kernel with scfw code. Progress so far: very slow working fatfs, no roms patching or loading yet.

View attachment 444033

WHAT? That looks SICK

Apache Thunder · Wednesday at 9:15 PM

Gamemaster2022 said:
WHAT? That looks SICK

Yeah I hope he gets that up on Github. I'm sure there are others who can help him with the harder stuff like connecting in the SCFW's rom patching/launching stuff to make this all work. Right now i think he's just got the UI working/fatlib sorted out.

Post automatically merged: Wednesday at 9:17 PM

djmuted said:
Edit3: I bricked the Supercard SD while flashing new firmware. Unless there's a way to flash the original firmware on it using ch341a or something similar, it's over.

linfoxdomain.com/nintendo/ds/dl/supercard_sd_firmware_recovery.zip

If you have a DS Lite and a slot-1 flashcart you can use that to recover your SuperCard SD.

djmuted · Thursday at 12:35 AM

Apache Thunder said:
If you have a DS Lite and a slot-1 flashcart you can use that to recover your SuperCard SD.

I don't have a DS or a working GBA flashcart at hand. I just ordered another Supercard SD from China. We will have to wait until it arrives.

Bandit_Keith · 2024-06-28T05:54:38+0100

Anyone able to get the final fantasy games working on scfw? Tactics is the only one I can get to run the rest are white screen. Also metroid zero mission does not seem to work and these are all games that worked on stock firmware. I wont bother reflashing mine I am actually very happy with scfw it runs much faster than the stock firmware. A good test is the first level on mario world with the line of koopas. There is far more lag on the stock firmware than there is on scfw 0.5.2. Excellent work.

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 6:40 AM

Okay another oddity I discovered. supercard with scfw works just fine on both my AGS-001 SPs but when I try to boot it on my AGB-001 it loads the kernel and when you get to the file explorer its just garbage text

Peeteris · 2024-06-28T08:58:23+0100

Bandit_Keith said:
Anyone able to get the final fantasy games working on scfw? Tactics is the only one I can get to run the rest are white screen. Also metroid zero mission does not seem to work and these are all games that worked on stock firmware. I wont bother reflashing mine I am actually very happy with scfw it runs much faster than the stock firmware. A good test is the first level on mario world with the line of koopas. There is far more lag on the stock firmware than there is on scfw 0.5.2. Excellent work.

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 6:40 AM

Okay another oddity I discovered. supercard with scfw works just fine on both my AGS-001 SPs but when I try to boot it on my AGB-001 it loads the kernel and when you get to the file explorer its just garbage text

Same
Anyone know how to fix it so card works on original GBA?

Gamemaster2022 · 2024-06-28T19:15:55+0100

Bandit_Keith said:
Anyone able to get the final fantasy games working on scfw? Tactics is the only one I can get to run the rest are white screen. Also metroid zero mission does not seem to work and these are all games that worked on stock firmware. I wont bother reflashing mine I am actually very happy with scfw it runs much faster than the stock firmware. A good test is the first level on mario world with the line of koopas. There is far more lag on the stock firmware than there is on scfw 0.5.2. Excellent work.

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 6:40 AM

Okay another oddity I discovered. supercard with scfw works just fine on both my AGS-001 SPs but when I try to boot it on my AGB-001 it loads the kernel and when you get to the file explorer its just garbage text

Happens on my bro's GBA too. What I've found out is that if you keep GBA running for a while and then restart it a few times it actually works just fine. My theory is that the "big" capacitors in the GBA have to "charge" and then they do their job just fine. GBA SP has only one "big" capacitor and that isn't even used for power but it's used for sound.

Bandit_Keith · 2024-06-28T20:19:44+0100

Gamemaster2022 said:
Happens on my bro's GBA too. What I've found out is that if you keep GBA running for a while and then restart it a few times it actually works just fine. My theory is that the "big" capacitors in the GBA have to "charge" and then they do their job just fine. GBA SP has only one "big" capacitor and that isn't even used for power but it's used for sound.

no luck your explanation makes sense too I imagine there is an increased power draw with these custom cartridges and things will act funny if they arent getting the voltage they want. Left it on for a few minutes, inserted the cart left it on a few minutes more, restarted a couple times still the same garbage text. Not really a big deal to me as I have other gameboys but it was something I wanted to point out. Thanks for the tip even if it was unsuccessful.

Homebrew SCFW: Custom Firmware & Kernel for Supercard

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