Tutorial 

EZ-FLASH IV

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A beginners guide on how to set up the EZ4​

eziv_card.jpg

INTRODUCTION
The EZ-Flash IV is the last GBA flash cat that are still in production, but lucky for us it's also one of the best.
When I got mine a few months ago I could not find a tutorial anywhere, I had to search and email a few O.G. for help.
Many links to tutorial and/or guides was broken or are very old, so I hope a few people will find this guide helpful.


What you need:
  • EZ Flash IV
  • mini SD memory card
  • GBA/SP/MICRO

The EZ4 can only display about 78 roms per directory, but you can have multiple directory if you have a lot of roms. (Thanks FAST6191)
A 1GB mini SD can hold a good amount of roms, and is usually enough for most people.
I know some of you want to use a micro SD to mini SD adapter, but many people have had random detection issues which leads to crashes and other problems. So an adapter is not recommended


SET UP

1. Insert your mini SD to your computer

2. Download the latest kernel here, http://filetrip.net/f4753-EZ4-Client-2009-04-03.html
It will come with everything you need except the skinning tool

3. Extract the kernel to your computer. After it’s extracted or unzipped, open it and look for this file ezfla_up.bin. Once you find it copy and paste it into root of your mini SD.
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4. Now remove your mini SD and put it in the EZ4, than insert the EZ4 in your GBA.

5. Hold the [R] shoulder button and turn on your GBA.
DO NOT LET GO OF THE [R] BUTTON UNTIL THE UPDATE PROCESS HAS BEGUN. DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR GBA UNTIL THE UPDATE PROCESS REACHES 100%.
01.png


When it’s done turn off your GBA and remove your mini SD and reinsert it into your computer, go ahead and delete the ezfla_up.bin file from your mini SD memory card.

6. Go back to your kernel folder and look for the EZ Client. Double click it and the EZ Client will open.
Next click 'Config', and change the "send path" to where your mini SD card is, for me it’s F: Drive.
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7. Each game needs to be patched before you can use it in the EZ4, to do this just click “open” and find your GBA roms. Select the rom you want, than press send. It will send the rom to your mini SD along with a “saver” folder.
Do not drag and drop, your game will not work properly if you do.

The EZ Client can patch more than one rom at a time, this way you don’t have to patch them one at a time.
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8. Remove the mini SD card from your PC and insert it into your EZ4, insert the EZ4 into your GBA.
Power on the GBA. It will boot to the EZ4 menu. Select the game you want to play and enjoy.

[title:Playing NDS roms using the EZ4]
Yes the EZ4 can play DS rom, but the compatibility is horrible since this method of running DS rom is no longer used.
But if you have a passme laying around it's kinda fun to try it and have a little bit of fun with it.



Helpful tips
  • If everything is in Chinese you can change the language to English.
    To change to English just press down, down, down, than (A), (A), than down, than (A).

  • Some games are too big, when you select them you will get one of these message,
    “PSRAM is not enough”. In order to play these games you will need to load them to NOR memory.
    These games are 32MB (256mbit) in size. To play them just press select, than press (A) for yes and let it write to NOR.


  • If you hate the Darth Vader skin like I do, you can change it, the process is the same as when you first flashed the EZ4, just put the ezfla_up.bin in root and update it.
    No you do not need to erase anything, just put it in root, update and enjoy your new skin.
    Yes you can delete the ezfla_up.bin file after you’re done.
    Go here for some GBA skin http://www.sosuke.com/ezflash/viewforum.ph...75488d720cb643d

  • GBA Tool Advance (GBATA), this is a great little program every EZ4 user should have.
    GBATA is a gba rom tool with the functions below.
    1. Header Viewer
    2. Intro Remover
    3. Overdump Fixer
    4. fix header
    5. Intro Drawer
    6. IPS Patcher
    7. SRAM Patcher
    8. Rom Trimmer
    9. Reboot/Sleep mode
    10. Clock fix for Pokemon sapphire & ruby.

    Get it here: http://filetrip.net/file.php?id=223
If there is anything I missed or needs to be corrected please PM me.
​

Special thank to PharaohsVizier for his help and FAST6191, I forgot I PM you more than a few times about the EZ4.​
 
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TecXero

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almmiron said:
Sorry, my first phrase has reedited, i asked if "The gba games that communicates with ds (on ds fat and dslite) works with ez-flash IV". In you quote, i'm atesting. Please reedit you quote, and I'll reedit this.
Click to expand...
Sorry, a bit of a language barrier here. I don't know if having the gamesave written to the SRAM would be enough or if the NOR could fool it. My guess is Metroid Fusion and a few others only work for GameCube linking because those games normally used battery saves anyway. I'm sure it depends also on the game trying to read from the GBA cart, what kinds of checks it does. I'd say just give it a try, worst case scenario is it just doesn't work.
 
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almmiron

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Actualy, i dont own a ez-flash IV, thats why i'm asking. Im considering buying one, and wannna know its features, since the site of the flashcard dont provide many info.
 
TecXero

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almmiron said:
Actualy, i dont own a ez-flash IV, thats why i'm asking. Im considering buying one, and wannna know its features, since the site of the flashcard dont provide many info.
Click to expand...
Well, linking between NGC, NDS, and even other GBA games aren't really touted as features. I'd just take it at face value. Is the ability to load up all your ROMs on one cartridge for convenient play on your GBA worth the price? If so, then everything else is just a bonus. My guess is games that natively use SRAM will work fine with linking, but that's more of an estimate than anything, don't hold me to that.
 
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FAST6191

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If you mean like pokemon pal park, boktai/megaman and megaman 5 on the DS, advance wars extra shop items.... ( http://nintendo.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_DS_games_with_GBA_connectivity is a fairly complete list) then it gets annoying. On the face of it the EZ4 is a self contained flash cart unlike the EZ3 in 1 (and older NOR based flash carts like the EZ2, EZFA, EFA, F2A, XG2 and whatnot) -- if you flash a ROM to the NOR then the 3 in 1 will appear as the game to the DS much like your cheapo no name flash cart, give or take save issues which I will cover in a little while.

Originally the EZ4 when it was being viewed as a DS flash cart it gained a feature to allow DS games that it booted to access the NOR like they were accessing a GBA game. Today there is no more DS mode so that is not an option really. Go with cheats or unlocked saves.

Pokemon however had a custom patch made for the DS ROM. It is called pokepatch and you can get it http://filetrip.net/nds-downloads/rom-hacks/download-pokepatch-4-2-f27240.html
It should still work with the current EZ4 setup.

Saves then. The vast majority of games with this functionality just wanted the game to be present and did not touch the save. Most of these then have cheats to get the extra content. There are a few that read the save, I already mentioned pokemon pal park. The trouble comes in that there are 4 types of save (well 3 as password/no save does not apply in this instance) being known as Flash, SRAM and EEPROM. GBA flash carts use SRAM where GBA games could use anything. DS games that read the save were programmed with the read protocols for the original save which might not have been SRAM (or even the type of SRAM that is in the flash cart), pokemon games using Flash for instance. To this end when the DS pokemon game fires off flash read protocols it does not get anything of use back and it did not work.

Gamecube games can face similar issues if they need the save accessed (Chao garden for sonic adventure I believe is an example and of course you have pokemon coliseum-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_GameCube_–_Game_Boy_Advance_link_cable has a nice enough list) and to the best of my knowledge nobody has even looked into what would need to be done to fix this (you are either hacking a gamecube game or hacking a GBA file that the gamecube sends over). Fortunately not many gamecube games have such functionality, most with it just want a GBA to use as a second/third/fourth... screen, of those that do not then most just want the game to be present (which you can just about do with an EZ4, as TecXero said boot with a hard reset and do the combo) and the ones that need a game and save and the save is of a different type are not many, though that does include pokemon.
 
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hello i was wondering on the EZ-Flash iv if there was a function where like on a android emulator you can save the game state in its exact location and load the game from where you left off instead of loading from the game actual save, does anyone know what i mean or if there is something like that ?
 
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Such a feature is known as savestates in most emulator/flash cart/game playing circles, though occasionally you will also hear things like instant save.

The EZ3 (the EZ4's pretty much immediate precursor and very similar in terms of operation and hardware design, note not the EZ 3 in 1 which is a different thing again) had such a feature but it never made it onto the EZ4 for whatever reason. There were a few other GBA flash carts that had such functionality but none you will be able to find easily today (mainly things like the M3 or EZ3) or want to use for day to day flash cart purposes. No cart that featured such a function ever did especially well at it if you are coming from emulators -- the savestates were not the most reliable, though you could help things by going to menus/slower points in the game and whatever else.
If you would rather not have a savestate then there could be the option for a sleep function. Theoretically I guess you could hack something into the game to do a savestate but you will probably not see a tool like those for adding cheats, soft reset and sleep patches into a game any time soon.
 
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my son just bought a gba sp, and he wants to play pokemon games, is this the right card for him, or should i buy him the ez4 microsd version?? does this tutorial works on both cards??
 
FAST6191

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Microsd are far easier to find these days than miniSD and if you are using current kernels there is nothing really in it -- they both play the same games, have the same troubles ( http://gbatemp.net/threads/buying-a-gba-flash-cart-in-2013.341203/page-18#post-4756995 ), take the same amount of time to do things and have the same internal memory sizes. The microSD build quality may be marginally less than my first round from 2006 miniSD size one but it is not going to fall apart on you or anything.

If you can find an EZ4 lite deluxe ( http://www.shop01media.com/en/EZ-Flash?product_id=1802 still has some it seems) then they are superior to either of these but for the miniSD vs microSD GBA size ones then go with microSD unless you have a stash of miniSDs sitting around.
 
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FAST6191 said:
Microsd are far easier to find these days than miniSD and if you are using current kernels there is nothing really in it -- they both play the same games, have the same troubles ( http://gbatemp.net/threads/buying-a-gba-flash-cart-in-2013.341203/page-18#post-4756995 ), take the same amount of time to do things and have the same internal memory sizes. The microSD build quality may be marginally less than my first round from 2006 miniSD size one but it is not going to fall apart on you or anything.

If you can find an EZ4 lite deluxe ( http://www.shop01media.com/en/EZ-Flash?product_id=1802 still has some it seems) then they are superior to either of these but for the miniSD vs microSD GBA size ones then go with microSD unless you have a stash of miniSDs sitting around.
Click to expand...
I bought the card used on the tutorial minisd (white one), and bought it used with mini sdcard ready to used(games and everything), my son used the card for one day and now I get a system file error, I think that the sdcard probably died, cuz is not detected by my laptops, if I want to try with a new card, do I have to do the tutorial from the very beginning? , update and everything?
also if anyone could provide a link to the ez client cuz the one in the tutorial seems to be gone...
thanks in advance for the help...
 
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No, no need for updates again. Just patch the ROMs
http://www.ezflash.cn/downloads/ should have EZ4client. I would also suggest having a copy of GBATA to hand ( http://www.no-intro.org/tools.htm ), both in general if you plan to do any GBA emulation or flash carts but also here for the SRAM patcher (it patches to SRAM save so anything you want patched...).
If you prefer there are some other programs to patch GBA games as well, I have not put them through their paces yet but have a look around and you should find them.
 
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FAST6191 said:
No, no need for updates again. Just patch the ROMs
http://www.ezflash.cn/downloads/ should have EZ4client. I would also suggest having a copy of GBATA to hand ( http://www.no-intro.org/tools.htm ), both in general if you plan to do any GBA emulation or flash carts but also here for the SRAM patcher (it patches to SRAM save so anything you want patched...).
If you prefer there are some other programs to patch GBA games as well, I have not put them through their paces yet but have a look around and you should find them.
Click to expand...
this is what I found at the ezflash link : EZ4 Client 2014 DOWNLOAD
Updated the ezfla_up.bin, fixed the auto saver backup issue.
Please copy the ezfla_up.bin to the SD card root folder. and power on the console with R button pressed, the update process will start automatic.

do I need to do that? or just copy the ezclient to the new sd card?
 
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No, EZ4client does not have to be on the SD card. In fact the only thing that needs to be on the SD card is a folder called saver with all the sav files for the games you plan to put on there. If you want to have EZ4client on there in case you end up on a computer other than your normal one then by all means have it on there.
It might have come with an ezfla_up.bin file but if you have already updated, or otherwise on a loader/kernel/skin that does what you want, then you are good. You do not need ezfla_up.bin on there either -- it is all on an onboard chip once you have flashed it.
 
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Hello, I have just purchased a GameBoy micro and an EZ Flash IV MicroSD. I'm wondering if the tutorial is still valid? The filetrip link has gone bad, and I don't know what other information is no longer accurate...
 
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RoMee said:

Helpful tips


  • Some games are too big, when you select them you will get one of these message,
    “PSRAM is not enough”. In order to play these games you will need to load them to NOR memory.
    These games are 32MB (256mbit) in size. To play them just press select, than press (A) for yes and let it write to NOR.

    is it safe to do on DS Lite?
Click to expand...
 
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Hi, I have a question. If I wanted to skin the EZFLASH 4, newer version, can I install any version? Like if the newest was 1.78, and the skin was for 1.77, and I'd already installed 1.78, will it break if I installed the 1.77 Skin? thanks
 
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Futurdreamz said:
Hello, I have just purchased a GameBoy micro and an EZ Flash IV MicroSD. I'm wondering if the tutorial is still valid? The filetrip link has gone bad, and I don't know what other information is no longer accurate...
Click to expand...

I second this. Does anyone have the archive they can share? I just picked up a IV as well and am looking for the utilities, all I can find is the 1.78 update file. Thanks!
 

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