Hacking EZ-Flash V Lite v2 (New3in1) and R4 Wood 1.62

eXtremeDevil

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Thank for the blank ROM, I may use it. I asked about emptying the NOR because maybe clearing it would fix the GBAExploader problem?

I don't think it is extactly the 0 games error. If I open GBAEx with no cart, I can use the program, and navigate through the filesystem. But when the cart is in, it gets frozen, I can't change modes and I can't navigate anymore. I can see the number of games of the last opened folder, but no files or anything, like it loaded the number but not the folder/files view.

Now that you mention it, maybe the battery is badly installed. Can I do something about it? Is it harmful? Does not seems to affect Wood R4...

The cart is a second-hand one, but the battery seems to work (I can save games), and I don't know what I did, but GBAEx stopped working and I would like to at least know why, or fix it.

So, to sum up, please correct me if I'm wrong:

To ways of playing: load by NOR or by RAM.

By NOR the save stays inside the cart until you dump it or overwrite it.
By RAM the save gets dumped when opening Wood R4 again.

Anything else I should know about this cartridge? What if I didn't have Wood R4? How would the RAM saves dump after a reboot? Can I write a NOR save for an already NOR written ROM? When I dump the NOR save, I guess it doesn't get the same name of the ROM and stays next to it right? I guess it would appear at the root path with a strange name? And lastly, ROMs usually works without patching right? When do I have to patch? When they do not work? Or when they do not save? I have to use the 3in1 tool right?

Thanks so much and sorry for the long post, but I like to have control of what I buy :)
 
Last edited by eXtremeDevil,

Gyron_Oldvic

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Thank for the blank ROM, I may use it. I asked about emptying the NOR because maybe clearing it would fix the GBAExploader problem?

I don't think it is extactly the 0 games error. If I open GBAEx with no cart, I can use the program, and navigate through the filesystem. But when the cart is in, it gets frozen, I can't change modes and I can't navigate anymore. I can see the number of games of the last opened folder, but no files or anything, like it loaded the number but not the folder/files view.

Now that you mention it, maybe the battery is badly installed. Can I do something about it? Is it harmful? Does not seems to affect Wood R4...

The cart is a second-hand one, but the battery seems to work (I can save games), and I don't know what I did, but GBAEx stopped working and I would like to at least know why, or fix it.

So, to sum up, please correct me if I'm wrong:

To ways of playing: load by NOR or by RAM.

By NOR the save stays inside the cart until you dump it or overwrite it.
By RAM the save gets dumped when opening Wood R4 again.

Anything else I should know about this cartridge? What if I didn't have Wood R4? How would the RAM saves dump after a reboot? Can I write a NOR save for an already NOR written ROM? When I dump the NOR save, I guess it doesn't get the same name of the ROM and stays next to it right? I guess it would appear at the root path with a strange name? And lastly, ROMs usually works without patching right? When do I have to patch? When they do not work? Or when they do not save? I have to use the 3in1 tool right?

Thanks so much and sorry for the long post, but I like to have control of what I buy :)

I'll try and respond to each of your points/questions.
Writing a blank rom to NOR isn't likely to cure your GBA ExpLoader problem.
Did you try v0.53 with the 3in1 inserted to see if it restored the 'file browser'?
Make sure that you don't go above 199 GBA games per folder when using GBA ExpLoader, and even having that many roms in a folder can cause GBA ExpLoader to start very slowly as it scans the directory. Split your GBA roms up to multiple directories eg. '# to J', 'K to R' etc.
You can check your battery with a multi-meter. It should read around 3 volts. Also check the soldering around the battery, and for shorts in case the previous owner botched it. If Wood is saving fine, then it's likely your battery is okay.
NOR is a non-volatile (but erasable) memory that retains the game after the device is powered off. The game will also start instantly when booting from NOR, as if you had inserted a real GBA cart.
PSRAM is a temporary memory, so the game will only be stored until the device is powered off or reset.
If you didn't have Wood, then GBA ExpLoader and YSMenu both dump the Sram on startup (GBA ExpLoader is optional for Sram dumping).
Those Sram saves via the 3in1 Tool are full dumps of the Sram. If you look, they are 512k (which is the 3in1's Sram capacity (4Mbits)). That 'strange name' is the date and time it was dumped.
You can load a NOR save to an already written NOR rom. In GBA ExpLoader it is very easy. In 'NOR' mode, just press 'Y' and pick your save file. In Wood, I think maybe you would first have to write a different game to NOR, then replace the '.sav' from a backup for the game you want, then write the game back to NOR.
Wood and GBA ExpLoader both do auto Sram patching. GBA ExpLoader patches most things (it analyses the each rom the first time you load it). It isn't perfect though, there are are a couple of games you still need to Sram patch (Kuru Kuru Kururin and Rayman Advance are a couple that spring to mind). I tend to patch everything to Sram anyway, apart from those FLASH1M save type games (eg. Super Mario Advance 4 and some Pokemon's) as GBA ExpLoader and Wood auto patches these fine anyway, and Wood seems to not like the Sram patched FLASH1M saves (weird saving issues). Some games 'white screen' when they need Sram patching.
With regard to your GBA ExpLoader issue, it writes its own config data to an area of Sram in your 3in1. Maybe this has become corrupted. You can clear this either by disconnecting the battery momentarily, or writing a GBA game via YSMenu (as this overwrites the GBA ExpLoader config data). I would try the YSMenu route. Grab it from RetroGameFan's thread:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/retrogamefan-updates-releases.267243/
Use the version in the 'R4-Clone YSMenu' folder. Write a GBA game to your 3in1. When it asks 'format SRAM for YSMenu? other tool's data will be overwritten', select 'Yes'. Now go back to GBA ExpLoader and see if it works.
 
Last edited by Gyron_Oldvic,

eXtremeDevil

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Did you try v0.53 with the 3in1 inserted to see if it restored the 'file browser'?
Make sure that you don't go above 199 GBA games per folder when using GBA ExpLoader, and even having that many roms in a folder can cause GBA ExpLoader to start very slowly as it scans the directory. Split your GBA roms up to multiple directories eg. '# to J', 'K to R' etc.
You can check your battery with a multi-meter. It should read around 3 volts. Also check the soldering around the battery, and for shorts in case the previous owner botched it. If Wood is saving fine, then it's likely your battery is okay.

I actually opened the cartridge to check the battery and I may have moved it or something. But Wood saves fine so now I don't know if something is wrong with the flashcart or not. I'll try GBAE 0.53 and tell you about it. Having Wood I don't need to use GBAE but I wanted to know if the GBAE problem may be an indicator of a problem with the cartridge.

If you didn't have Wood, then GBA ExpLoader and YSMenu both dump the Sram on startup (GBA ExpLoader is optional for Sram dumping).

You mean the save, right? And I guess it would be next to the rom with the same name so it can be autoloaded later?

Those Sram saves via the 3in1 Tool are full dumps of the Sram. If you look, they are 512k (which is the 3in1's Sram capacity (4Mbits)). That 'strange name' is the date and time it was dumped.

I know it's the date, but if I wanted to use the save I would have to rename it as the rom and put it next to it, correct?

With regard to your GBA ExpLoader issue, it writes its own config data to an area of Sram in your 3in1. Maybe this has become corrupted. You can clear this either by disconnecting the battery momentarily, or writing a GBA game via YSMenu (as this overwrites the GBA ExpLoader config data). I would try the YSMenu route. Grab it from RetroGameFan's thread:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/retrogamefan-updates-releases.267243/
Use the version in the 'R4-Clone YSMenu' folder. Write a GBA game to your 3in1. When it asks 'format SRAM for YSMenu? other tool's data will be overwritten', select 'Yes'. Now go back to GBA ExpLoader and see if it works.

Would I have to temporarily replace Wood? Or can I call YSMENU from Wood? What do you recommend, trying 0.53 first or trying YSMENU method first?

Thanks for all, I think I understand all of it now, I just have to solve the GBAE problem and find out if something is wrong with the battery (I don't a have a meter for the volts).

Thanks for everything, I'll try those methods and get back to you :)

###############
######EDIT######
###############

So I loaded a GBA game with YSMENU, and when opening GBAEx again, it asked for setting as default for the found cartridge, but then it froze again.

So I tried loading GBAEx 0.53 and this time it worked, also by "unlocking" the others.

Why may this happen? Is my battery weird? Wood seems to save fine...

Thanks.
 
Last edited by eXtremeDevil,

Gyron_Oldvic

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You mean the save, right? And I guess it would be next to the rom with the same name so it can be autoloaded later?
Yes Wood and YSMenu both auto dump the save from the last game you have played if there has been a change to the Sram contents.
I know it's the date, but if I wanted to use the save I would have to rename it as the rom and put it next to it, correct?
I'm not sure, but probably not as I think Wood adds it's own header to the .sav, and that full dump will be missing it. Maybe it could be used in an Emu. I've never had a need for that full dump as Wood auto saves anyway. I haven't got my DS or 3in1 handy at the moment so can't test it.
Would I have to temporarily replace Wood? Or can I call YSMENU from Wood?
You can boot YSMenu from Wood. Just copy the 'TTMenu' folder and 'YSMenu.nds' to the root of you Micro SD and boot 'YSMenu.nds' from Wood.
###############
######EDIT######
###############

So I loaded a GBA game with YSMENU, and when opening GBAEx again, it asked for setting as default for the found cartridge, but then it froze again.

So I tried loading GBAEx 0.53 and this time it worked, also by "unlocking" the others.

Why may this happen? Is my battery weird? Wood seems to save fine...

Thanks.

v0.58 can be picky if the 3in1 battery is very low, or there is an issue with the battery (it does it with M3 slot-2 carts too). It causes the v0.58 config in Sram to get messed up. Normally you need a new battery when this happens, but I have seen it with badly installed batteries and bad contacts. You can sometimes get it going again with v0.53, YSMenu, temporarily disconnecting the battery, or by charging the DS overnight if there is a rechargeable battery in the slot-2 cart (3in1 isn't rechargeable). But v0.58 will mess up again if there is an underlying battery issue. Can you not borrow a multi-meter just to test it?
So I tried loading GBAEx 0.53 and this time it worked, also by "unlocking" the others.
What do you mean in this part?
 

eXtremeDevil

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I mean the other GBAExploader versions haha. Can't test it, I don't even have a meter, maybe in some time from now but not in short term. Is it bad to have a faulty battery? I play and save fine with Wood, am I hurting the cartridge or something?

Thanks for everything :)
 

Gyron_Oldvic

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I mean the other GBAExploader versions haha. Can't test it, I don't even have a meter, maybe in some time from now but not in short term. Is it bad to have a faulty battery? I play and save fine with Wood, am I hurting the cartridge or something?

Thanks for everything :)
No problem, you're welcome. Having a low or faulty battery won't damage the cart. A badly soldered battery could potentially if there was something shorted, or if there was solder splash which worked loose.
Just use Wood then if it works for you. Some prefer it as it writes quicker and no need for an extra program (like GBA ExpLoader) if you have an R4/Acekard/M3 Simply. I just like the Multi-save option in GBA ExpLoader. Plus I tend to use my M3 which Wood doesn't support natively, so I need GBA ExpLoader for this.
 
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Idk IIRC last time my (similar) setup of dstt( / ttds? IDK) with ysmenu works fine with gba carts... try ys maybe itll work
 

eXtremeDevil

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No problem, you're welcome. Having a low or faulty battery won't damage the cart. A badly soldered battery could potentially if there was something shorted, or if there was solder splash which worked loose.
Just use Wood then if it works for you. Some prefer it as it writes quicker and no need for an extra program (like GBA ExpLoader) if you have an R4/Acekard/M3 Simply. I just like the Multi-save option in GBA ExpLoader. Plus I tend to use my M3 which Wood doesn't support natively, so I need GBA ExpLoader for this.

Can you remind me what is multi save in GBAExploader?

Yesterday I had a problem. A few days ago I started playing pokemon emerald. At first it didn't save, it said corrupted save all the time. I patched with EZ tool and is saved ok. But yesterday I went to play again and the save was corrupted again. May be something related to the battery? Or do I need to do any extra thing to that ROM?

Thanks.

##########EDIT##########

Never mind, I was booting the wrong gba file.

If I don't set the option to auto save the game on startup on Wood, it gets saved only when you change games right? And in both cases remain next to the rom with the same name? If it's not auto dumped on Wood boot, where does it stay, in the cart? It doesn't go away?

Thanks.
 
Last edited by eXtremeDevil,

how_do_i_do_that

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If you didn't mess with the ini file, the multi-save is turned on by default. You get 6 save slots. What buttons to press and what they do are right below the multi-save window.

If your 3in1 is brand new, your first instance of the multi-save window is picking a save slot to use when you load a game.

IMG_300374b.JPG


When you restart you DS/L and start the GBA ExpLoader again, you will be greeted with the write multi-save window.

IMG_300376b.JPG
 
Last edited by how_do_i_do_that,

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