The difference is that Crystal doesn't write back to the RTC registers, but Prism does. This is probably yet another case of the RTC writeback issue that @NieDzejkob mentioned earlier.
The difference is that Crystal doesn't write back to the RTC registers, but Prism does. This is probably yet another case of the RTC writeback issue that @NieDzejkob mentioned earlier.
Yep, that's very weird, I used the same Prism version as you "v0.9.4-b0235", I have one more recent that I will test, but I think it will be the same. The only thing that I notice like different between Prism and Crystal is the speed when you are saving, Crystal take the normal time as "Gold & Silver", a couple of seconds, but Prism is like super fast (I don't know if this is relevant. UPDATE: it's not). Maybe even if they are the "same" game "core", they need different save Type/features.
I remember back in the day that for the GameYob (GB-GBC emulator for NDS, super recommended BTW) they had like a different issue also RTC related, after some work they fix it, but it had this in common (before the fix), Crystal's RTC was working superb, and Prism RTC not :s It was a loooot of years ago, and I was not able to find this info, and for sure it was a waaaay older version of Prism, we are talking +7 years ago, or I think way more...
BTW, now every version of Prism works perfect in every aspect (even RTC) with GameYob
Last edited by RetroKarl,
Maybe somebody could invite the developer of Prism to this thread and we could get down to the bottom of this?
There's a few of us here.
This is literally just delay removal. I even made it into a tutorial for pokecrystal: https://github.com/pret/pokecrystal/wiki/Remove-the-artificial-save-delay
Again, Crystal's use of the RTC is very limited, and thus it's easier to get right. This is comparable to, say, how VBA (a legendarily inaccurate emulator) gets some games working, despite being very far from properly emulating a GB/GBC, but not ones that use more of the hardware's features.
@aaaaaa123456789 Oooh, now I get it, yep, I agree, the Game Yob that I mention is I think by far one of the best GB-GBC emulators that I know (even being an emulator for the DS compared to desktop PC emulators, that are way more powerful vs the DS Power), and it's maybe because it has coded all (or almost all) the emulated hardware features. Thanks for the info mate.
UPDATE TEST: Comment #510
UPDATE TEST: Comment #510
Last edited by RetroKarl,
Not sure where else to turn for help, so hopefully this is the place!
I got my Junior a couple days ago, and have been struggling to get it working ever since. I have 4 DMG's, and 3 CGB's for testing purposes.
I first went to the ezflash downloads page, and got the Update_FW4.gb file and the 1.04e kernel. I loaded it onto a brand new, freshly formatted (Fat32, 32kb allocation) 16GB SanDisk SDHC. This would not work on my main CGB, it would show an SD error message after the "Loading..." message. On a few DMG's and another CGB it would get to the "Loading..." message and be stuck there.
I then found the Update_FW5.gb (from April 20) file earlier on this thread. I reformatted and used that file.
After a couple new SD cards, I got it to properly boot on one of my CGB's. I went into the .gb file and ran the update to go from ver 4 to 5 firmware. Turned off, and on, and it worked! I then updated the clock to the proper time. When I clicked on the GBC or GB folder it would just say "File Error" (I only had 2 ROMs in each folder). So after some research I saw that the ROM names can't have special characters, so I renamed them appropriately (ex. "Pokemon Red.gb").
Now, any gameboy I put the cartridge in (tested on 3 DMG's, and 3 CGB's), it will get to the "Loading..." message and stay there. I've tried reformatting a bunch of times with no luck.
What should I do?
I got my Junior a couple days ago, and have been struggling to get it working ever since. I have 4 DMG's, and 3 CGB's for testing purposes.
I first went to the ezflash downloads page, and got the Update_FW4.gb file and the 1.04e kernel. I loaded it onto a brand new, freshly formatted (Fat32, 32kb allocation) 16GB SanDisk SDHC. This would not work on my main CGB, it would show an SD error message after the "Loading..." message. On a few DMG's and another CGB it would get to the "Loading..." message and be stuck there.
I then found the Update_FW5.gb (from April 20) file earlier on this thread. I reformatted and used that file.
After a couple new SD cards, I got it to properly boot on one of my CGB's. I went into the .gb file and ran the update to go from ver 4 to 5 firmware. Turned off, and on, and it worked! I then updated the clock to the proper time. When I clicked on the GBC or GB folder it would just say "File Error" (I only had 2 ROMs in each folder). So after some research I saw that the ROM names can't have special characters, so I renamed them appropriately (ex. "Pokemon Red.gb").
Now, any gameboy I put the cartridge in (tested on 3 DMG's, and 3 CGB's), it will get to the "Loading..." message and stay there. I've tried reformatting a bunch of times with no luck.
What should I do?
Hi @burgoyne , are they modded consoles? or original ones?
Well, you can try to reformat, use the files of the FW-Kernel that is installed now, and copy just a little amount of games to the microSD to test. *IMPORTANT* Every file that you copy to the microSD card, make sure that if it is compressed, NEVER copy it from the ZIP-RAR-7ZIP file, always extract it first to your PC, and then to the microSD, it can lead to issues with files.
Also, create a folder with the name "SAVER" in the root of the microSD card. Make sure you are using batteries that are in a good shape.
If you get it working at least once, install the FW&Kernel from the comment #405, make sure that you never press any button during the installation. And after it is over, turn off the console, and then on.
If your consoles are not modded it's very weird to have this issue with that amount of consoles. Are you sure that your microSD cards are from a reliable seller (AKA Original)? Because I don't know in the US, but here Sandisk-Kingston there are a lot of copies of this brands if you don't know where you're buying.
Last edited by RetroKarl,
Hey prism devs, how can i reset clock without deleting old save? I cant find any guide on the internet and crystal method doesn't work.
Get the debug build; in the main menu (i.e., the Continue/New Game menu) you'll find a "Debug options" entry. Go there, and you'll find an option to reset the clock.
Annoyingly it does seem to only happen with prism, even other rom hacks like crystal clear don't exhibit any issues keeping time as expected, but I assume that's due to how even crystal clear doesn't write back to the RTC registers... Hmm, it would definitely be nice to see this be solved though. Keep up the awesome work guys and hope you solve it
Hi @EZ-Flash2 and first of all thanks for the great and hard work fixing all the issues. I continue testing, and this is what I got so far.
UPDATE: Well, this is very weird, with the "normal" card I get the date and time wrong (jumps even from year to 2022, playing like at 00:15 22/08/2020, it jumps to 00:57 25/10/2022) even if I play a couple of minutes (0.94 235 & 0.94 237). On the "weird" card Prism was working better, it was just adding the time that I played on each save.
UPDATE #2: And also when I install the new FW on the "normal" EZFJr I got a corrupted screen (and also freeze) on the menu. By power off/on I get it working. So I flash it again. Now, no glitch menu, but on the "HELP" menu, it shows as FW4 instead of FW5.
UPDATE #3: Ok, so, I flash again, and this time with no Issues on the "normal" EZFJr and now I got the same bahaviour of the "weird" EZFJr. It just adds the time that you played to the time on the clock when you saved. Now it shows correct on the "HELP" screen, as FW5.
So, for everyone testing Update_FW5_8-18, make sure that it was installed correctly by looking on the "HELP" screen menu. If it shows as FW4 it will be waaay worse. BTW, the files are triple checked, I did not flash by accident FW4. It was like a weird bug.
So I guess that the issue form @DrunkenMonk of almost a year skip on Prism RTC is because FW it's not installed properly. But not from a mistake of him, sometimes it gets installed correctly, and sometimes not.
UPDATE #4: I load several times the same save, and on the "Loading Save Screen", at adds even more time (like +10 to 15 minutes) and then it gets back in a blink of an eye to the "normal" (but also wrong) time. Date still correct always (day, month, year)
UPDATE #5: Ok, after a lot of saves it's the same, adding more minutes ( equivalent to those played ) to the RTC, but the date stills correct. Both cards* (Prism 0.94 235 & 0.94 237)
Hey @EZ-Flash2 What could be the issue with the bad installation of the FW? I remember this same issue when you sent me to test a debug version (of the previous FW&Kernel), and it was also showing as FW4 and working wrong, then reflash it, and it started showing as FW5 and working fine. BTW, for the record, It was a different EZFJr, and also different microSD card on that occasion.
UPDATE: Well, this is very weird, with the "normal" card I get the date and time wrong (jumps even from year to 2022, playing like at 00:15 22/08/2020, it jumps to 00:57 25/10/2022) even if I play a couple of minutes (0.94 235 & 0.94 237). On the "weird" card Prism was working better, it was just adding the time that I played on each save.
UPDATE #2: And also when I install the new FW on the "normal" EZFJr I got a corrupted screen (and also freeze) on the menu. By power off/on I get it working. So I flash it again. Now, no glitch menu, but on the "HELP" menu, it shows as FW4 instead of FW5.
UPDATE #3: Ok, so, I flash again, and this time with no Issues on the "normal" EZFJr and now I got the same bahaviour of the "weird" EZFJr. It just adds the time that you played to the time on the clock when you saved. Now it shows correct on the "HELP" screen, as FW5.
So, for everyone testing Update_FW5_8-18, make sure that it was installed correctly by looking on the "HELP" screen menu. If it shows as FW4 it will be waaay worse. BTW, the files are triple checked, I did not flash by accident FW4. It was like a weird bug.
So I guess that the issue form @DrunkenMonk of almost a year skip on Prism RTC is because FW it's not installed properly. But not from a mistake of him, sometimes it gets installed correctly, and sometimes not.
UPDATE #4: I load several times the same save, and on the "Loading Save Screen", at adds even more time (like +10 to 15 minutes) and then it gets back in a blink of an eye to the "normal" (but also wrong) time. Date still correct always (day, month, year)
UPDATE #5: Ok, after a lot of saves it's the same, adding more minutes ( equivalent to those played ) to the RTC, but the date stills correct. Both cards* (Prism 0.94 235 & 0.94 237)
Hey @EZ-Flash2 What could be the issue with the bad installation of the FW? I remember this same issue when you sent me to test a debug version (of the previous FW&Kernel), and it was also showing as FW4 and working wrong, then reflash it, and it started showing as FW5 and working fine. BTW, for the record, It was a different EZFJr, and also different microSD card on that occasion.
Last edited by RetroKarl,
Ahh understood. Figures.
I've had very bizarre behaviour from flashing the update repeatedly, sometimes the whole thing becomes garbled and the cart struggles to load at all, other times it appears to load fine and shows FW5, but then the game loads sprites garbled, it seems to be a mixed bag and a big hurdle here is even just the updater itself. Not sure if the bad updating is attributed to the white screen waiting for the game to be loaded too or not. Took around 6 attempts to get it to read FW5 and not load the game in a garbled state, but even then it ended up crashing once I reached the first pokebattle and subsequent attempts to flash the firmware are met with just random crashes and even an inability to reach the menu to attempt to flash again, it took another 10+ attempts to eventually get back into the updater and process the update (flashed FW4) then I could load things again, so I tried the FW5 test and now I have crashes all over again. Checked 2 SD cards just in case and similar issues between them (they also worked fine in the past before this FW5)
So all in all I think this update is just fundamentally flawed in some way
It seems to be worse than mine :s . Well another points to take into acount, I'm using Sandisk & ADATA class 10 microSD cards (8GB & 16GB) and using the ezgb.dat from "FW5K105RC" (comment #405) and the Update_FW5.gb from "Update_FW5_8-18" to flash (And also to Play & Save). I hope this helps.
Last edited by RetroKarl,
Okay weird turn of events... It turns out if I leave the the EZGB menu open for around a minute or two before selecting the game, everything works. Saving adds no time to the RTC, RTC behaves perfectly, no glitches and the card is perfect.
*edit reloaded the game and time was a few minutes ahead and saving skips 2 minutes and a little bit at first, but then it jumps back 2 minutes, which means it ends up adding a few seconds
Last edited by DrunkenMonk,
Well this last behaviour sounds a lot that is a microSD card related issue :s Do you have like a looot of games on your microSD card? And is taking time to load-detect them all.
And also, what system are you using? because the amount of glitches that you suffer, I think I just saw it in a couple of GBA SP consoles with like a malfunction on the chip that is in charge of running GB-GBC games (and GBA games & EZF Omega runs flawlessly on both systems).
How much time you played before saving, when you describe that it only adds a few seconds on save?
Last edited by RetroKarl,
Tried completely formatting the SD card, putting only the one game and the ezgb file on it, and I had just did the intro up until the point where you can save. Tried multiple SD cards and am able to reproduce the problem on each one by just navigating quickly. The menu occasionally crashes entirely on power-on. But honestly this is completely playable in this state which makes a change, as long as I wait before loading the rom.
I also don't have any issues with older firmwares, no crashing, no sd issues, no weird behaviour (beyond the RTC in prism)
@aaaaaa123456789 @NieDzejkob
We store some RTC data at the end of the RTC game's save file. It records the offset from the last start of the game to the first start of the game.
For example, 2020-08-24 15:00:00 the first time you start the game, this value is 00 00 00 00 00 (Seconds Minutes Hours Days Control)
2020-08-24 15:04:55 You start the game again, the value is 55 04 00 00 00
2020-08-24 15:09:18 You start the game the third time, the value is 18 09 00 00 00
We store some RTC data at the end of the RTC game's save file. It records the offset from the last start of the game to the first start of the game.
For example, 2020-08-24 15:00:00 the first time you start the game, this value is 00 00 00 00 00 (Seconds Minutes Hours Days Control)
2020-08-24 15:04:55 You start the game again, the value is 55 04 00 00 00
2020-08-24 15:09:18 You start the game the third time, the value is 18 09 00 00 00
And how do you handle a game writing back to the RTC registers, then? This is the big difference between Prism and, say, Pokémon Crystal: we write back new state to the RTC.
This is probably the bug you experience when hitting save (or entering and leaving options) then you see the time jump forward and back for a moment
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