Hacking New Theme for EZ-Flash Omega!

myuusmeow

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I wonder if it'd be realistic to add some sort of save backup function to the OS? IDK if they exposed file options and APIs like that to third parties or not.

I've had corruption happen a few times now, even following the "wait several seconds" rule, but usually it seems isolated to the save folder only. Usually once on PC I can chkdsk and manually match recovered files to their ROMs, but this definitely discourages me from playing multiple games at once on the Omega.

It'd be pretty useful if, on-GBA, you could copy all the saves to a second folder so when it inevitably corrupts the main save folder, you can easily restore it again on PC.

I know a fair bit of programming, but never console stuff like this, so maybe I'll take a look.

Anyway, thanks for your work on this theme!

edit:
I think I could make something like this happen. In the load save function, I think it wouldn't be too hard to also have the kernel create a copy of the savefile but in a different folder. That way every single time you load a game, a backup savefile is made elsewhere on the SD card.

edit2:
Got this working! Once I make sure it's working correctly I'll submit a pull request / post a copy of the kernel here. In the function Loadsavefile() in ezkernel.c I pretty much just copied the existing code that copies the file into SRAM but made it also copy into a backup save file in a different directory. Most of my time was just wrestling with C strings and learning the FatFs library.
 
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cybrian

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@cybrian What model of gba are you using? I've also had the same problem but have since fixed it with some modifications to the source code. I'm interested in getting some feedback on the reliability of my fix for the other gba models (I have an AGS-001).

I am using a DS Lite primarily. I have an AGS-101 and original DS (phat) available, and somewhere I have an AGS-001 but I’m not certain of its location. Anyway, I’d be happy to test your code.
 

mikinfo7

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Hello, I do not speak English. (google lol)

thanks for the theme, works perfectly for me.

the ez flash omega is able to play SNES games?

what are the playable console on ez flash omega?

thank you
 

Sterophonick

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Hello, I do not speak English. (google lol)

thanks for the theme, works perfectly for me.

the ez flash omega is able to play SNES games?

what are the playable console on ez flash omega?

thank you

There is a SNES emulator, but it is not in this mod or in the Omega itself. For one thing it is not PogoShell compatible, which basically means that you can't launch the SNES ROM itself, you have to wrap it with the emulator. The other thing is that it runs terribly. It runs very slow and compatability is bad.

As for the list of systems in the mod, and how well the emulator works:
Emerson Arcadia 2001 (not good)
RCA CHIP-8 (meh)
Nintendo Game Boy / Color (Good)
Sega Game Gear (Good)
Microsoft MSX (Good)
SNK Neo Geo Pocket (not good)
Nintendo Entertainment System (Good)
NEC TurboGrafx-16 / PC-Engine (Meh)
Sega SG-1000 (Good)
Sega Master System (Good)
Watara SuperVision (Meh)
Bandai WonderSwan (not good)
Sinclair ZX Spectrum

Other systems that are not in this mod:
Arcade
BBC Microcomputer System
ColecoVision
SNES
Sharp MZ-700
Sharp X1 Turbo
Sierra Adventure Game Interpreter
And the Infocom text adventure games

The ColecoVision is an interesting case. Since ther is no open source BIOS available, I can't distribute the emulator. There are instructions to getting it working in the included text document with the package.
 
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mikinfo7

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thank you for your reply, the flash ez is open source,

but at home not develop, even the forums are dead ... I will follow your forum for updates. thank you for your work
 

Divineheresy88

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Is there a guide to install the latest simplelight? I tried watching Tech James video but it's a much older version. Is there possibly an updated guide I could use.

Thanks for all the help
 

Divineheresy88

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Is there a guide to install the latest simplelight? I tried watching Tech James video but it's a much older version. Is there possibly an updated guide I could use.

Thanks for all the help
 

so_spoked

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The install process is the same for all the versions. I have installed every update the same way.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

The install process is the same for all versions. I have installed each update the same way.
 

Divineheresy88

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The install process is the same for all the versions. I have installed every update the same way.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

The install process is the same for all versions. I have installed each update the same way.

I've never installed simplelight before and when I grabbed the latest verison it's a large .rar with many files. Dragging them all and dropping them onto the root led to the ez flash not recognizing the .bin file. I'm new to this so pardon my ignorance here, thanks!
 

so_spoked

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I've never installed simplelight before and when I grabbed the latest verison it's a large .rar with many files. Dragging them all and dropping them onto the root led to the ez flash not recognizing the .bin file. I'm new to this so pardon my ignorance here, thanks!
What I meant was that if you follow the Tech James video it is the same process for the latest version as well so that video is still relevant.
 

Brottor

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One simple question, this mod has the same compatibility (ROMs) than the official release? In that case, there is some advantage to use the official one instead of this mod?

And the last one, is there any risk installing the mod?

Thank you!!!
 

so_spoked

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There is a greater compatibility with ROMs with this mod than with the original. You can play games from other platforms, such as SEGA Master System. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but there is no risk that I know of because you can repair the device fairly easily. There is even a tutorial on the official EZ Flash website on how to repair it if it stops working; this has happened to me twice, randomly. The first time was with the original version, which is what made me change to this version. If the mod starts messing up, or just isn't your cup of tea, then you can always just flash it back to the original official version.
 

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Hey there! First time posting. I love this theme, but just ran into an issue where all my saves got erased and everything else on the SYSTEM folder. I got everything replaced, but I have an odd folder with Chinese characters and a file with garbage text for a name. Are they supposed to be there? I can’t open either the folder or the document.

2C62545F-41C7-4242-B665-42582490AAF0.jpeg
 

PacDan16

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Hey there! First time posting. I love this theme, but just ran into an issue where all my saves got erased and everything else on the SYSTEM folder. I got everything replaced, but I have an odd folder with Chinese characters and a file with garbage text for a name. Are they supposed to be there? I can’t open either the folder or the document.

View attachment 186401

Hey, there! Looks like your folder got corrupted! This is actually quite common with this flashcart if you're not careful! It's happened to me too once or twice already!
Make sure to regularly backup all the folders (except the ones named CHEATS, and IMGS), and do what it says in the official Omega guide, I believe, wait five seconds or longer before turning off the system after it saves. Ten seconds to be perfectly safe, still not a long time to wait.
It can corrupt your ROMS folders too, not just SAVER folder saves. (Happened to me, and it was really annoying!) Be careful! You'll have to format the card. Sterophonick, the creator of this theme, is an awesome guy, he might be able to offer more advice! Peace!
 

romanaOne

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Hey, there! Looks like your folder got corrupted! This is actually quite common with this flashcart if you're not careful! It's happened to me too once or twice already!
Make sure to regularly backup all the folders (except the ones named CHEATS, and IMGS), and do what it says in the official Omega guide, I believe, wait five seconds or longer before turning off the system after it saves. Ten seconds to be perfectly safe, still not a long time to wait.
It can corrupt your ROMS folders too, not just SAVER folder saves. (Happened to me, and it was really annoying!) Be careful! You'll have to format the card. Sterophonick, the creator of this theme, is an awesome guy, he might be able to offer more advice! Peace!

Err, is it a common problem? I've been playing with this flashcart for a little over a year now and never had any card corruption issues.

When I first got Omega, I had some problems with games not saving properly but that turned out to be due to dirty contacts in my moldy old GBA. Fuckin' Florida climate....

Which card is stiligFox using? Is it super big? (I've never tested bigger than 32GB, but I wonder if you formatted a larger one FAT32, does it work in Omega? New 64GB+ cards all come formatted exfat but work just fine reformatted FAT32 in a 3DS.)

Did he run any filesystem checks on the card from his PC? Is it failing? (Linux fsck.vfat, Mac DiskUtility, Windows scandisk? I haven't run that ghetto OS since the vista mess, LOL.)
 

stiligFox

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Hey, there! Looks like your folder got corrupted! This is actually quite common with this flashcart if you're not careful! It's happened to me too once or twice already!
Make sure to regularly backup all the folders (except the ones named CHEATS, and IMGS), and do what it says in the official Omega guide, I believe, wait five seconds or longer before turning off the system after it saves. Ten seconds to be perfectly safe, still not a long time to wait.
It can corrupt your ROMS folders too, not just SAVER folder saves. (Happened to me, and it was really annoying!) Be careful! You'll have to format the card. Sterophonick, the creator of this theme, is an awesome guy, he might be able to offer more advice! Peace!

Thank you! I'm going to try reformatting the card and re-adding all of my games. I ran into this problem the other day - I tried loading a game and somehow it got hung up trying to create a save file, and the omega deleted all of my other save files. That was a sad moment :c And I always do wait the 5 seconds!

My RTC battery was only soldered in by one leg so it was constantly shorting against the PCB and losing time; I wonder if that was a part of the cause of my woes. I reflowed the soldering so now it's nice and secure, and I'll see if that improves the stability of my cart...

Thanks again!

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Err, is it a common problem? I've been playing with this flashcart for a little over a year now and never had any card corruption issues.

When I first got Omega, I had some problems with games not saving properly but that turned out to be due to dirty contacts in my moldy old GBA. Fuckin' Florida climate....

Which card is stiligFox using? Is it super big? (I've never tested bigger than 32GB, but I wonder if you formatted a larger one FAT32, does it work in Omega? New 64GB+ cards all come formatted exfat but work just fine reformatted FAT32 in a 3DS.)

Did he run any filesystem checks on the card from his PC? Is it failing? (Linux fsck.vfat, Mac DiskUtility, Windows scandisk? I haven't run that ghetto OS since the vista mess, LOL.)

My card is actually a relatively generic 4GB Toshiba microSD card that I believe came with one of my 3DSs somewhere along the way. It is formatted and confirmed working in Disk Utility :)
 
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Sterophonick

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Update 2.6:
- As several people have requested, there is now a dark theme. It is in a separate kernel.
- Made some tweaks to icons, and file associations.
- If you hold L when the reset is on, then it will soft reset, and vice-versa.

IMPORTANT:
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE READ THE TEXT DOCUMENT WITH THE .ZIP! IF YOU ASK ANYTHING THAT IS ANSWERED IN THE DOCUMENT, I WILL TELL YOU TO READ IT!
 

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