Hacking GBA games (EZ4) in DSlite - choppy frame rate!

delt · Nov 30, 2012

Hello, maybe someone can tell me why this happens...

When i use the EZflash IV in my DS, by default it boots up with a different menu that uses both screens, and the touch capability of the lower screen. When i launch GBA games from this menu, the frame rate is >= half of what it normally should be, although it does seem to play the games at the correct speed.

This problem doesn't occur when resetting the DS to GBA mode with a binary file called "ezreset.bin", or forcing the DS to boot directly in GBA mode. But then, writing save files is much slower :/

FAST6191 · Nov 30, 2012

http://nocash.emubase.de/gbatek.htm#dsbackwardscompatiblegbamode

When support for the EZ4 lite compact and deluxe was added to the loader the bug from the third paragraph in the link found its way in. You already have two workarounds but the main one appeared when Modulo came along and hacked the loader to always hard reset from DS mode which sorted it in a roundabout way, I bundled it (it is the file ezfla_up.bin - put it on the root of the card and hold R when booting) with the EZ4Client pack we suggest on the US forums and around here
http://filetrip.net/nds-downloads/flashcart-files/download-ez4-client-2009-04-03-f31119.html
It should work fine with the skin making tools as well if you have a custom skin you want to use.

Others have opted to go back to the last version of the loader that only supports the EZ4 miniSD version but we can discuss that at another time if you want ( http://ezflash.sosuke.com/files/EZ4/EZ4-Loader060726.7z has it), you mainly lose the ability to do GBA-DS linkups from the EZ4 itself although if you are playing pokemon diamond and pearl on it you will not be able to save properly.

delt · Nov 30, 2012

Thanks for the info, very fascinating.

And also thanks for the updated firmware.... it works in a "real" GBA (nice zelda theme btw) ...but it simply freezes my DSlite when i try to boot with the ez4 in it =(
(i've reverted to the ezfla_up.bin that comes with the "cleanlooks" skin for now)

delt · Dec 1, 2012

Oh, it might be relevant mention, i flashed my DS lite with a version of the firmware that bypasses the annoying title screen, and disables some "anti-piracy" code or something like that.

Could this be causing the hang with the updated EZ4 loader in your post above?

FAST6191 · Dec 1, 2012

That could mean two things

1) Flashme - I run flashme on every DS and DS lite I get to handle. Should not have caused any problems like this other than by usually booting DS mode which sets the scene for the bug to be effective. Still what happens if you hold a,b, x and y and when booting and for the second test hold select when booting? Flashme has options to force booting of a certain loader/slot and those are the button combinations to force different ones (I still mainly have the old GBA slot targeted one rather than the "newer" DS slot targeted one) and the default boot option might be causing some problems (it also checks for certain header values which might have also changed).

2) The autobypass option. This is mainly for DS slot stuff so I doubt it happened here.

The bundled ezfla_up.bin matches all the versions I have of it as well before we head down that path.

delt · Dec 1, 2012

...

Still what happens if you hold a,b, x and y and when booting and for the second test hold select when booting?

...um, not sure what you mean exactly. "second test" as in, booting it again, or releasing A B X Y and pressing down select at some point -during- the boot sequence? Also, with/without the EZ4, and with which EZ4, firmware, and which DSlite firmware?

Sorry for seeming like a complete retard, but i'd just like to be sure exactly, before starting to flash random firmware versions onto my stuff

FAST6191 · Dec 1, 2012

That was phrased/explained really poorly so that one is on me
Flashme has a whole bunch of nice features but one of the big ones that is used so much any more is the ability to force boot DS code off a given slot, as most people do not use an EZ4 as a primary card any more (DS game patches ended in April 2009) flashme got tweaked and depending upon what you have loaded it can get a bit confused. You can help it out by using the force boot options (and probably fiddling with the DS options themselves down the line).

If DS software is detected in SLOT-2, flashme will automatically run it. Otherwise, it will launch the normal DS firmware. To override this behavior (always boot to the firmware), hold the SELECT button when you power on.

To force it to boot from SLOT-2, hold A+B+X+Y.

(no-autoboot version): SLOT-2 is only booted when the SELECT button is held.

From
http://home.comcast.net/~olimar/flashme/

Both options are present on all versions so it takes a bit of elimination to figure out what one you want.

delt · Dec 2, 2012

ah, got it (i think...)

The version of flashme i installed is the normal version. If i understand correctly, the only difference with the noauto version is that, it will always boot the EZ4 in "normal" gba mode unless i hold down select, right?

Just wondering, what about the EZ4 menu that uses DS capabilities? (including reading/writing much faster to the card) Ideally this is what i'd be using, if i can get it to circumvent the frame skipping/choppiness bug, as noted in your first reply. I also don't use a border .bmp for unused pixels, black is fine =)

...oh, forgot - with the EZ4 in slot-2, holding A+B+X+Y boots it as normal (aforementined dual screen menu with the default grey theme that says "enjoyable equipment" on the upper screen). Holding select boots the card in slot-1, either acekard or nintendo-licensed game. If there is no card in slot-1, then with select it boots like a normal GBA on the top screen.

FAST6191 · Dec 2, 2012

As part of writing to SD cards you are supposed to do a CRC check, newer/better DS flash carts do this with onboard hardware where others kick the check to the DS CPU which slows the whole thing down- in the case of the GBA (and GBA mode) though it is a 16.78MHz ARM7 being a bit slower than a DS with dual processors including a 66MHz ARM9 (with a considerable chunk more memory) which makes the difference here.
Other than being able to use the touchscreen that is about the only real difference.

Sounds like you have the same version of flashme as I have on mine and yeah you have the right idea about what goes.

I am still curious about modulo's loader causing a white screen for you though- it was based on the last loader released and aside from making cheats a bit iffy (just use GBAATM) and some say some games then have trouble (hence some going back to the last loader before lite deluxe- I was not able to replicate it with my setup but it solved their problems) nobody has really had any issues with it.

delt · Dec 2, 2012

....um, maybe the files got mixed up. The file you linked above, is a 7-zip archive, which contains a "ezfla_up.bin" file dated from 6/mar/2007 (??) despite being named "EZ4client3rdApril2009.7z". (it also contains a readme/changelog file dated from nov.2012, with last entry apr 2009) I just tried it and it has the default star wars theme. It boots fine on my DS, but launching .gba files still gives about half the frame rate or a bit less.

Could have sworn i tried it out the other day, and saw a zelda theme, with the update freezing on the DS with a white screen when not forcing it into "pure gba" mode..... i downloaded it and extracted it again, re-flashed my ez4, and i still get the star wars one. (?????)

Hacking GBA games (EZ4) in DSlite - choppy frame rate!

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