Hacking Acekard 2i and Phantom Hourglass

[Xeology]

Ok to start I am not an idiot and spent a full day googling and searching the forums and did not find anything but telling me its my flash card which it is not. Not saying I did not miss something but I don't believe I have so no "google it" or "search it" please.

That being out of the way, I have the Acekard 2i and the AKAIO 1.7.1. I have multiple versions of The Legend of Zelda The Phantom Hourglass (one dumped by me). I have a DSI and a decent flash card (i am not listing it because it is not the issue and I want to stay on FOCUS).

For other info Spirit Tracks and heavier games work fine without issue at all, it is just this one game.
For people who say it is my SD card, http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=232072 a few of the people who said it worked have the same one as mine and their are other posts like it.

The game runs fine, even through the intro, then it gets to the first part with the swirling purple and the game runs extremely slow, sound is cracked and it takes a good 15 minutes just to somewhat see tetra.

So getting down to the problem, is there a fix? Is there a special patch I need? (I searched but didn't see any listed) a cheat fix? A certain loader I should use? Any help would be just great

Thanks ahead of time!

 

[CrimzonEyed]

Have You Tried To Backup Your Files and Format With "SD Formatter" and Then Put Them Back on Your SD Card?

 

[Xeology]

Yes, and on a second note, i just found out you could skip that and it works past that one part lmao, but still if there is a solution it would be great to know.

 

[CrimzonEyed]

Try to disable soft reset in game and cheats

 

[Xeology]

I have done that. And there was no success.

 

[Xeology]

Does anybody have a solution? It does this every time I try to load a save file. This game is the only game that doesn't work.

 

[Xeology]

If no one has a solution, is there a card that has 100% compatibility, or are they all lying, like the acekard?

 

[L551]

I don't quite understand your problem. Since you said you could bypass the swirl-tetra intro, so that shouldn't be a problem anymore?

I use a 4GB MSD on my acekard as well, and don't have this problem. I don't know what to tell you.

"It does this every time I try to load a save file." : Is this about the same thing or something different?

 

[Commodore64 Zapp]

Has anyone figured this out yet? I am having the same problem at the exact same spot. Running AKAIO 1.7.1 on AK2i.

 

[Deleted User]

Frankly, I'm betting on it being a fake SD card. It's hard to tell the difference between fake cards and real cards as far as performance goes; they may work for a while, months even, then break down; have problems reading/writing data as well as corrupting it.

Just because other people haven't had problems with their card which is the "same", doesn't mean yours is physically the same; build quality etc. Just because a micro-sd card "looks" the same or has the same description doesn't equate to much. Whether the card is class 2 or class 6, really doesn't make a big difference; unless your certain that the card is made in the United States I think it's more probable that it's a fake card.

I noticed that you didn't say or confirm where you bought your MicroSD in either thread, which really just points to a cheap "deal", you just relied on others opinions w/o providing further information for people to help you figure things out. If you're certain that it's not the card, try updating the game loaders >> which are what help certain games run.

I have an Acekard2i as well, with a 2GB card, I'll look into Phantom Hourglass. Kay, just loaded the game everything works fine, acekard2i 2gb micro SD / amazon.

 

[Xeology]

Frankly, I'm betting on it being a fake SD card. It's hard to tell the difference between fake cards and real cards as far as performance goes; they may work for a while, months even, then break down; have problems reading/writing data as well as corrupting it.

Just because other people haven't had problems with their card which is the "same", doesn't mean yours is physically the same; build quality etc. Just because a micro-sd card "looks" the same or has the same description doesn't equate to much. Whether the card is class 2 or class 6, really doesn't make a big difference; unless your certain that the card is made in the United States I think it's more probable that it's a fake card.

I noticed that you didn't say or confirm where you bought your MicroSD in either thread, which really just points to a cheap "deal", you just relied on others opinions w/o providing further information for people to help you figure things out. If you're certain that it's not the card, try updating the game loaders >> which are what help certain games run.

I have an Acekard2i as well, with a 2GB card, I'll look into Phantom Hourglass. Kay, just loaded the game everything works fine, acekard2i 2gb micro SD / amazon.

One my acekard is not fake since i bought it from a a dealer directly suggested from the acekard site itself. So No, it is not fake. Second of all I do not have a knock off microsd, I bought mine from best-buy, in the USA. So far 20 some other games work BUT this one and small issues in others which seem to be exactly related to this.

As noted my loaders are fully up to date, just bought it and just installed everything not to long ago.

Now about people who say I am the only one, that's a load right there because many people are having the same issues, and a few have already PM'ed me about this so I am posting my findings here, because no one else seems to want to give any helpful advice to us having trouble.

Have I fixed it?

No, I really have not, the best thing you can do is hold the start button and or keep pressing it then when the skip button comes up (very slow) click or hold down on that (i say click or hold because i do a mix of both, don't know for sure which registers.) After that everything will run fine, DO NOT SAVE THE GAME ON THE WATER!, if you do it will do the same thing over again when you continue! Besides that there is only small slowdowns during certain parts I have discovered it is related to certain sounds playing, it seems to be a pretty serious flaw.

*THE PROBLEM IS CERTAIN SOUNDS CAUSING THE GAME TO SLOW DOWN, THE ZELDA THEME MOSTLY IN THIS CASE*

 

[Rydian]

Look at your SD card and tell us every single thing it says on it.

 

[Xeology]

Look at your SD card and tell us every single thing it says on it.

Stop, right there. I did NOT list the details because it is NOT the card. If it were a data transfer issue would spirit tracks not work at full speed to? And not to mention several other games? The card is american, brand name, store bought, and I have linked posts of people saying they have the same exact card WITHOUT this issue. So reasoning here is that if Game A doesnt work but game B (same engine) works it is an isolated problem with that game running and if person A has the same hardware as person B then the issue is software based.

As stated the issue seems to be that certain sounds, not even advance or in depth ones, are causing this extreme slow down, and it is extreme. The most reports I read from people with slow cards are that they just run slow, but this is beond slow and cannot possibly be a data transfer issue, specially when games are pushing far more data and they dont slow down during those times.

 

[Redrum22x]

It is your sd card, because i had the same exact problem with phantom hourglass, switched my san disk sd card with a kingston, and it loaded perfectly.

 

[Deleted User]

Well, thanks for clearing up the SD-card origins / purchase history, believe it or not that does eliminate one side of the problem. I'm a bit confused;

So far 20 some other games work BUT this one and small issues in others which seem to be exactly related to this.

Sound issues, I assume.

There is always the possibility that the micro-SD card is defective; if you know for sure that it's a genuine card then there's no harm in not allowing for the possibility that these cards aren't always perfectly made.

Other things you might consider

(1) Manually ejecting the MicroSD-Card-Reader from your computer; don't just pull out the card. (Not saying you're doing this, but if you are, hey, there's a thought.)

(2) Bad ROM; I just tried a Phantom Hour Glass courtesy of [ESPALNDS]- Worked fine ~ Tetra-Swirl seen, no slow downs (etc). Used NDS-Lite, Acekard2i, 2GB class 2 MicroSD.

(3) If all your games have been exhibiting minor sound problems; there's also the possibility that it's your NDS itself that's having sound-problems. Have you tried an actual Nintendo Cartridge for comparison?

(4) Don't TRIM your ROMS (Again, not saying you're doing this, but, if you are, here's something to think about)

(5) You could also try the official Acekard firmware as opposed to AKAIO, if you truly believe your problems to be software related; then there's no reason why you shouldn't try this.

Do realize, no one is trying to upset you. You came here for help, frustration is to be expected in situations that require scrutiny. We're trying to help within what reasonable ways we can, but this is a forum, we don't exactly have direct-access to the subject-material.

 

[Xeology]

Well, thanks for clearing up the SD-card origins / purchase history, believe it or not that does eliminate one side of the problem. I'm a bit confused;

So far 20 some other games work BUT this one and small issues in others which seem to be exactly related to this.

Sound issues, I assume.

There is always the possibility that the micro-SD card is defective; if you know for sure that it's a genuine card then there's no harm in not allowing for the possibility that these cards aren't always perfectly made.

Other things you might consider

(1) Manually ejecting the MicroSD-Card-Reader from your computer; don't just pull out the card. (Not saying you're doing this, but if you are, hey, there's a thought.)

(2) Bad ROM; I just tried a Phantom Hour Glass courtesy of [ESPALNDS]- Worked fine ~ Tetra-Swirl seen, no slow downs (etc). Used NDS-Lite, Acekard2i, 2GB class 2 MicroSD.

(3) If all your games have been exhibiting minor sound problems; there's also the possibility that it's your NDS itself that's having sound-problems. Have you tried an actual Nintendo Cartridge for comparison?

(4) Don't TRIM your ROMS (Again, not saying you're doing this, but, if you are, here's something to think about)

(5) You could also try the official Acekard firmware as opposed to AKAIO, if you truly believe your problems to be software related; then there's no reason why you shouldn't try this.

Do realize, no one is trying to upset you. You came here for help, frustration is to be expected in situations that require scrutiny. We're trying to help within what reasonable ways we can, but this is a forum, we don't exactly have direct-access to the subject-material.

Just getting a bit frustrated about the sidetracking. The card is fine, I remove it properly, it had this problem from the start. First rom I tried, I tried several, so it is not a bad rom, why would I trim it? And the problem seems to be related to sounds, the sounds slow down the dsi, not sure why, but it seems to be so, however I do not have the problem with other games and I do have retails that work fine. Im pretty sure it is not hardware related, Is there a patch I missed or something? Maybe a bug with 1.7.1, not sure, I have the work around and finished the game, just scouting for resolutions at this poitn.

 

[Deleted-236924]

Frankly, I'm betting on it being a fake SD card.
One my acekard is not fake since i bought it from a a dealer directly suggested from the acekard site itself. So No, it is not fake.

[...]

So I am posting my findings here, because no one else seems to want to give any helpful advice to us having trouble.

microSD card =/= flashcart.

You're the one who doesn't even want our help.
We're suggesting some stuff that could solve the problem, yet you persist on saying "That's not the problem."

Look at your SD card and tell us every single thing it says on it.

Stop, right there. I did NOT list the details because it is NOT the card.

How can you be sure if you didn't even try?

QUOTE(Xeology @ Aug 4 2010, 09:43 PM)

why would I trim it?

To save space on the microSD card?

 

[Shinigami357]

wow, for someone asking for help, you're being fantastically obnoxious to anyone who has so far tried to offer their knowledge and assistance.
point 1: when someone asks you the contents of the card, it's because they wanna know the stuff in the card(i.e the software), not the card itself. every detail helps everyone else figure out what's wrong.
point 2: don't assume that it ISN'T something if you yourself are unsure why the problem even exists.
point 3: if you're confusing between your flash linker (ak2i) and the SD card, then you really shouldn't be telling people which is or isn't.
point 4:

I have multiple versions of The Legend of Zelda The Phantom Hourglass (one dumped by me)
if you were able to dump the game, you must have the original. if so, then play the freaking original cart and spare us this ignorant blathering.


EDIT:

warning to all future good samaritans out there, if some one starts a thread with a disclaimer like
QUOTEOk to start I am not an idiot

then assume you're gonna have problems.
- just sayin