ROM Hack GBA Auto Trainer Maker(GBAATM)

Latyana · Sep 11, 2018

Latyana said:
how would i use these codes in the GBAATM?? and how would someone get a master code to work in this? i keep getting no irq's found error. can't get master code to do properly i guess. anyone know any of this ?? please let me know.

ok got the codes in and wking apparently but i can't read the rest of what the other codes are. how do i fix this?

Schmuel · Mar 14, 2019

hello, i have a problem, i patch gba doom 1 codes and then when i start the game, then it crashes

joffe · Apr 17, 2019

Since this doesn't seem to exist anywhere you can download it from anymore, is it possible for someone to upload it somewhere else?

FAST6191 · Apr 17, 2019

Archive.org had a copy. Will sort a proper download at some point but for the time being

locketaru · Apr 28, 2019

I'm trying to inject some codes on the Shining force game and all I get is a black screen with weird noises. Anyone had a similiar experience?

t1op · Nov 27, 2019

So I thought I would leave a note in case others have my experience (or preferably avoid it).
THIS POST IS ALL ABOUT *POSSIBLE* SAVE CORRUPTION USING GBAATM.
EDIT: I discovered that enabling SPECIFIC cheat codes were losing my previously saved data. The rest of this post includes my original conclusion

I used GBAATM to add codes to Castlevania - Circle of the Moon, and installed it via CIA.
There were a bunch of codes I didn't use, so I made another version with less codes.
I got most of the way through the game and discovered there was a code that would be really helpful that I didn't have.
So I tried to transfer my save using the latest Godmode 9. Didn't work. (EDIT: Because I was enabling a code that was losing my save data)
Apparently loading different cheat codes each identify the game differently as far as saves go. (EDIT: Erroneous conclusion.)

So I went on playing without the code I wanted (rather than start over).
When I was about to finish the game, I decided I wanted to try again... maybe I had missed something the first time. Still didn't work.
So I went back to my original copy of the game and... my save was gone! (EDIT: Because I re-enabled a code that was losing my save data, that I had only used once before when I first started.)
I tried loading up different codes in every combination (I only had 4). (EDIT: This was based off the erroneous conclusion that I had to have the exact same saves enabled to find my save.) Still gone! So as a last ditch effort, I tried to use Godmode 9 to restore my old save from when I tried earlier. Still nothing!!! (EDIT: Again, because I was enabling that code that was losing my save data)

I've read up a bit more and apparently using cheat codes like this can sometimes corrupt your game save. (EDIT: I misunderstood. The corruption mentioned was a cheat that breaks the game. However, my own experience proved that some cheats will lose all previous saved data.) And, in my experience at least, Godmode 9 does not work with restoring game saves using cheat codes. (EDIT: Erroneous conclusion. GM9 was not to blame and is not affected by the use of cheat codes.)

If anyone has better or more educated experience, please share! (EDIT: Thanks to FAST6191 who below corrected my misunderstanding about corrupted saves.)

So my conclusion is that if I want cheat codes I'm better off using an emulator rather than the virtual console. Save states don't suffer from corruption, and I can add/remove cheat codes on the fly. (EDIT: While an emulator may not have the issues I ran into, if you are willing to back up your save before enabling any new cheat codes, you should be fine!)

Now you may be able to avoid my issue by making sure you have all cheat codes you could ever want installed from the beginning and not installing any alternate version of the game. (EDIT: To avoid my issue, you can use any cheat code you want if you have no previous save data; however, if you do, backup before you try any new cheat in case it happens to be one that could lose your save.) Also, apparently you need the same cheats turned on every time... (EDIT: Again, that conclusion was erroneous.) But other people have had some issues with saves getting corrupted when using cheats, so there may be some risk even still. (EDIT: Turns out those were game breaking saves, not ones that lose your save data. However, the same remedy: Back up your save before try a new cheat.) Your mileage may vary, but take my experience in consideration, because no one wants to lose their saves after getting deep into a game.

Also FYI, I've read that some people will cheat on an emulator to gain equipment or stats and then use Godmode9 to import the save into a regular VC title. If you really want to play on your 3DS and you don't have good emulator support for that game, that is a decent alternative. I'm switching to using TempGBA with my DSTwo flashcart.

EDIT: As I've inserted in comments above and mentioned in a post below, GM9 was not causing problems nor do you have to enable the exact same cheat codes each time to find your saves. Rather enabling specific cheats were in effect ERASING any previous save game. So BACKUP your game saves before trying any new cheats.

FAST6191 · Nov 27, 2019

t1op said:
So I thought I would leave a note in case others have my experience (or preferably avoid it).
THIS POST IS ALL ABOUT *POSSIBLE* SAVE CORRUPTION USING GBAATM.

I used GBAATM to add codes to Castlevania - Circle of the Moon, and installed it via CIA.
There were a bunch of codes I didn't use, so I made another version with less codes.
I got most of the way through the game and discovered there was a code that would be really helpful that I didn't have.
So I tried to transfer my save using the latest Godmode 9. Didn't work. Apparently loading different cheat codes each identify the game differently as far as saves go.
So I went on playing without the code I wanted (rather than start over).
When I was about to finish the game, I decided I wanted to try again... maybe I had missed something the first time. Still didn't work. So I went back to my original copy of the game and... my save was gone! I tried loading up different codes in every combination (I only had 4). Still gone! So as a last ditch effort, I tried to use Godmode 9 to restore my old save from when I tried earlier. Still nothing!!!
I've read up a bit more and apparently using cheat codes like this can sometimes corrupt your game save. And, in my experience at least, Godmode 9 does not work with restoring game saves using cheat codes.
If anyone has better or more educated experience, please share!
So my conclusion is that if I want cheat codes I'm better off using an emulator rather than the virtual console. Save states don't suffer from corruption, and I can add/remove cheat codes on the fly.
Now you may be able to avoid my issue by making sure you have all cheat codes you could ever want installed from the beginning and not installing any alternate version of the game. Also, apparently you need the same cheats turned on every time... But other people have had some issues with saves getting corrupted when using cheats, so there may be some risk even still. Your mileage may vary, but take my experience in consideration, because no one wants to lose their saves after getting deep into a game.
Also FYI, I've read that some people will cheat on an emulator to gain equipment or stats and then use Godmode9 to import the save into a regular VC title. If you really want to play on your 3DS and you don't have good emulator support for that game, that is a decent alternative. I'm switching to using TempGBA with my DSTwo flashcart.

That is not what people mean when they say cheats potentially corrupt saves.

The mean things like by using cheats you may end up lacking a key item needed to finish the game, getting too high a score for the game to handle, getting too many items for the game to handle, or that the game tries to load the contents of your save but its contents (despite verifying OK) are not what it expected and crashes, or loads you inside a wall because cheats added an area that no longer exists because no cheats any more, or in the case of things like pokemon that pokemon you make may end up illegal and putting it all right is more effort than it is worth (or harder still if you only borrowed a mate's cheat device for a few minutes and don't have anything else to rip saves with).

GBAATM alone should have little to no bearing on emulator/flash cart loading and saving. I can think of some scenarios where it could (mainly for games that save all the time or randomly and GBAATM messed up timings or something but there are very few games on the GBA that do anything like that, and as far as I am aware Castlevania is not one of them and it would have troubled various flash carts if it did, and even then for GBAATM to mess things up there something would have to go very wrong and probably want someone to be loading hundreds of codes). There are some ROM hacks I would expect to trouble lesser emulators.

What I imagine happened here is a variation on the general theme of now you learned to always keep a backup of your save whenever you start messing around trying to convert saves between different methods. Afraid I don't know the specifics of Godmode 9 to know what went wrong, though "each identify the game differently as far as saves go" is odd. I might guess at something like Godmode 9 adds a footer or something using the game's CRC (modded game, new CRC, different game as far as it is concerned) as we saw some later third party efforts with the EZ3 in 1 do something like that and it is a reasonable way to keep your ducks in a row with GBA saves that don't necessarily have any identifying information within them to tie them back to the game.

t1op · Nov 27, 2019

FAST6191 said:
That is not what people mean when they say cheats potentially corrupt saves.

The mean things like by using cheats you may end up lacking a key item needed to finish the game, getting too high a score for the game to handle, getting too many items for the game to handle, or that the game tries to load the contents of your save but its contents (despite verifying OK) are not what it expected and crashes, or loads you inside a wall because cheats added an area that no longer exists because no cheats any more, or in the case of things like pokemon that pokemon you make may end up illegal and putting it all right is more effort than it is worth (or harder still if you only borrowed a mate's cheat device for a few minutes and don't have anything else to rip saves with).

GBAATM alone should have little to no bearing on emulator/flash cart loading and saving. I can think of some scenarios where it could (mainly for games that save all the time or randomly and GBAATM messed up timings or something but there are very few games on the GBA that do anything like that, and as far as I am aware Castlevania is not one of them and it would have troubled various flash carts if it did, and even then for GBAATM to mess things up there something would have to go very wrong and probably want someone to be loading hundreds of codes). There are some ROM hacks I would expect to trouble lesser emulators.

What I imagine happened here is a variation on the general theme of now you learned to always keep a backup of your save whenever you start messing around trying to convert saves between different methods. Afraid I don't know the specifics of Godmode 9 to know what went wrong, though "each identify the game differently as far as saves go" is odd. I might guess at something like Godmode 9 adds a footer or something using the game's CRC (modded game, new CRC, different game as far as it is concerned) as we saw some later third party efforts with the EZ3 in 1 do something like that and it is a reasonable way to keep your ducks in a row with GBA saves that don't necessarily have any identifying information within them to tie them back to the game.

Thanks for the clarification about corrupted game saves. Since that is the case, I decided to do a little more experimenting.

GM9 was not messing up the injecting saves!
I discovered that a couple of the cheats I was using would lose my game save!

Anytime I would enable "All Items", "All Equipment" or "Entire Competence" I would lose any previous save.
Even if I enabled it each and every time, I would start the game with no saves.
If I ignored these cheats, I could turn cheats on and off and transfer a save between copies of the game, all with no problem.

So the take away here is that ENABLING SOME CHEATS MAY ERASE YOUR SAVED GAME.
Keeping that in mind, BACKUP your save before you try any NEW CHEATS.
I can't verify that these aren't the only 3 cheats ever created that have this effect, but the potential is proven, so I, at least, intend to follow with being safe. Personally, for future games I will probably just get to the first save point. Backup my game. Then enable every single cheat I could ever consider to see if it breaks anything. If so, enable one by one till I identify the troublemaker(s).

In my case, it worked fine to start a new game with these cheats then never use them again. However, if I wanted to start a new game in another slot, I could not use those cheats again. It would erase all previously saved data. I actually would need multiple copies of the same game to do that.

The other option mentioned on this site is that I could backup my save with GM9, then use an emulator to activate those cheats, make a save there, then inject that save back onto the 3DS. (Or at least I assume this would work, if enabling those cheats via the emulator didn't cause a problem. I haven't tried it.)

tall guy · Jan 4, 2020

After i patched the cheat codes succesfully on a romhack with GBAATM, the cheatmenu is still not showing when i start the gba rom, any idea why this is?

NezcalSpindrake · Mar 27, 2020

I'm trying to patch Sonic Battle (U) with a RAW VBA cheat that I made using cheat search, and confirmed the cheat works in VBA, but when I try to patch it in it doesn't work.
I've tried having enable settings on and off. I know the overall patching is working because with trainer menu on the menu shows up. The code I'm trying to use is 0300218c:000003e7 (which sets Emerl's skill points to 999 always).
In the cheat codes box I have

#true max skill points
0300218c:000003e7

And I have the selection box set to "RAW (VBA)"
Am I missing something obvious? Something less than obvious?

Edit: I eventually found a gameshark code that did what I wanted, used a converter to change it into a codebreaker code, and used

#true max skill points
8300218C 03E7

instead, and that works perfectly.

mte90 · Mar 28, 2020

I am just registered because I am looking to get GBAATM running on Linux.
Using wine is possible but as I did with Game Genie Guy that I ported to linux (I found the source code) https://github.com/Mte90/Game-Genie-Good-Guy (also on Romhacking http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/1484/) when I will have permission I will publish also there.
Anyway I am asking if it is possible to get the source code of this tool so I can try to port on Linux.

mte90 · Mar 28, 2020

I decompiled to C++ with Ghidra but is not easy to understand (13000 lines of variable with no hints).
I looked also on internet to find how to do a codebreaker patcher for GBA (also without the trainer interface) with no results.

FAST6191 · Mar 28, 2020

mte90 said:
I decompiled to C++ with Ghidra but is not easy to understand (13000 lines of variable with no hints).
I looked also on internet to find how to do a codebreaker patcher for GBA (also without the trainer interface) with no results.

I assume you don't need help with simple code making, though for the code breakdowns
https://doc.kodewerx.org/hacking_gba.html
For others new to code making and finding this from a search I quite like the following series
https://web.archive.org/web/20080309104350/http://etk.scener.org/?op=tutorial

The same author did a guide to making trainers for the DS and it is much the same here
https://gbatemp.net/threads/crackers-ds-trainer-maker-tutorial.44410/

Short version.
You either find the code responsible for manipulating the memory area in question and nerf it*, or you do what the AR/codebreaker/... would be doing on the real thing and hook a vblank routine to do a constant (or conditional just because or you want button activators) write to the area in question.

*either change the sub to an add or just a NOP, break a check based upon it or otherwise. Do bear in mind if you come to us from X86 assembly that memory writing is done either by the DMA or dedicated instructions and most assemblers won't have an alias/macro for you to do that. For the DS but http://adshomebrewersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/02/unequivocal-answer.html

Alas I don't have a generalised approach for hooking GBA games (you can have the DS version from the same author if you like https://web.archive.org/web/20120813230516/http://crackerscrap.com/docs/dshooking.html ), much less one I could do in an automated fashion. I can find you the first part of the binary well but this sort of thing I would do manually, maybe you could do a simple same cheat in a bunch of games with this to see if you can figure it out.
I don't know if there is a list of ar master codes as they often exist as means to hook things or put something.

mte90 · Mar 29, 2020

Thanks for the answer, I saw those pages, I was hoping that after all those years code that already do this things was available instead to start again from scratch.
I think that is not impossible to hack a rom and change a variable value like Game Genie Guy does, just require time to dedicate on that testing. At same time I think that build the trainer UI generator is not simple at all for who has 0 assembly knowledge (I have to study few things in my queue).
In the case of GGG that I port was interesting to read the code and understand how manage everything and now if I have to start doing something similar for GBA I understand better what are the steps to do, just because there was some code that works that read, manipulate and generate a new rom.

I am kind of demotivated that in the hack/retrogaming/homebrew scene often the source code is not available of the tools.

FAST6191 · Mar 29, 2020

Game genie stuff, especially for older systems, tends to be ROM patchers. So for that is usually a matter of decrypt (if necessary), decode to figure out what is the patch and where, and then use that data to apply it. Pretty trivial really.

RAM codes (classically this would be action replay, codebreaker, gameshark, xploder, xplorer the Chinese would call them goldfinger codes, require either you to insert your own code to alter things (bit easier on modern systems that run an OS in the background, though that is not the DS or any Nintendo handheld older than that, even the Wii is a bit tricky for this one), or do the thing where you track down the instructions responsible (which might be multiple -- dying in a mario platformer might be time, pits, poison mushrooms, hazards, crushing, enemies and something else all that take from the lives counter individually).

Also yeah a lot of tools got made before the push for open source.
That said at least java never got picked up in a big way, even if that tends to mean visual basic was the weapon of choice.

mte90 · Mar 30, 2020

Yeah a lot of them was built with VB5/6 as I can see analyzing some code. I found on the HackMew tools the VB5 source code but I think that is incomplete. But I guess that we are going offtopic, if @cracker can release the source code of this tool also if old I can try to do something with that (with all the credits of course).

mte90 · Apr 10, 2020

Just to let you know everyone that cracker sent to me the source code and after a bit with a virtual machine with XP and Developer Studio 6 I got a build
I am waiting that he public on github the source code so I can publish my updates (refactoring, new Ui, linux support etc) and also my roadmap to revamp the project.

mte90 · Apr 11, 2020

I started working on the new UI and integrating the old C++ codebase, for now I implemented just deadbeef and few other things but I am moving on.
I had to patch also the original source code for the old C standard used, I called the project GBAATM-Rebirth.

My roadmap is:

* Implement all the feature of the original GBAATM with the new UI
* Migrate the code if need for this integration to QT framework
* Adding new features like remembering the last rom for the UI
* Update all the codebase for codestyle and standard

mte90 · Apr 12, 2020

The code is now on https://github.com/Mte90/GBAATM-Rebirth

FAST6191 · Apr 12, 2020

mte90 said:
The code is now on https://github.com/Mte90/GBAATM-Rebirth

Nice.
Is it presently just a recompile and are you seeking contributors?

Do you know what license you are using for this?

Basically should I post this on the portal at this point or give it a few (days at this rate it seems) for you to get started with it all, get an alpha out, and then do that?

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