Hacking Acekard... RPG or 2?

[Joey90]

I think I want to get an Acekard, as I have lost my old flashcard, and the Acekard looks really good.

However I am not sure which to get, on the surface it looks as though the Acekard RPG is vastly better (I really like onboard memory + USB) and it is open source aswell. However the price is slightly offputting, the Acekard 2 is half the price (without an SD card).

Anyway, what do you guys think/know? Is it worth the extra money, and are there any hidden problems with either (like difficult to use, lack of updates etc.)

 

[Bob Evil]

The R.P.G. is more for the tinkering kind of user, whereas the 2 is basically a plug 'n' play games cart.

It depends what you want to do with it ... if it's strictly games, get the 2.

 

[Sweater Fish Del]

And Bliss's custom firmware for the Acekard 2 has proven that, with some changes, custom firmwares for the RPG can work on the Acekard 2, as well, so the fact that it's not officially open source may not really matter very much in the long run.

The only "hidden problem" I would be wary of with the Acekards (seems to be true of both the RPG and the Acekard 2) is that they don't seem to be writing to the file system properly, so every time the card writes to FAT to create or update a save or cheat file or anything else, it's building up errors on the card which may eventually lead to corruption. Hopefully this will be addressed with both cards soon. In the meantime, I advise people to make frequent backups and run Scandisk as often as possible. Otherwise, I think the RPG is a great card full of possibilities and the Acekard 2 sounds excellent as well for people who want a more streamlined card.

 

[Another World]

i've read no such posts or problems at all related to corrupt data "building up" on the msd. can you post some links to info that back that up? i'm also interested in the ak2.

cheers,
-another world

 

[Joey90]

And Bliss's custom firmware for the Acekard 2 has proven that, with some changes, custom firmwares for the RPG can work on the Acekard 2, as well, so the fact that it's not officially open source may not really matter very much in the long run.

The only "hidden problem" I would be wary of with the Acekards (seems to be true of both the RPG and the Acekard 2) is that they don't seem to be writing to the file system properly, so every time the card writes to FAT to create or update a save or cheat file or anything else, it's building up errors on the card which may eventually lead to corruption. Hopefully this will be addressed with both cards soon. In the meantime, I advise people to make frequent backups and run Scandisk as often as possible. Otherwise, I think the RPG is a great card full of possibilities and the Acekard 2 sounds excellent as well for people who want a more streamlined card.

Interesting...

Firstly what can this custom firmware do? If it is purely aesthetic then it isn't all that important, but if it adds some features then it makes the Acekard 2 sound like a better option.

Though I am slightly worried about this corruption, has anyone else experienced this? And how frequently might it happen...

 

[Bri]

I think the problem isn't corruption, but rather that the FAT filesystem occasionally stores filename extension of the SAV filename in all uppercase (.SAV instead of .sav) and then can't read it back in. I've had filenames appear in different cases when I view them on Windows and when I view them in DSOrganize, and I'm not able to change them (renaming the file doesn't seem to help).

So the AK2 team may just need to fix the firmware so that the reading/writing of the filename is case insensitive.

-Bri

 

[GouK]

I think the problem isn't corruption, but rather that the FAT filesystem occasionally stores filename extension of the SAV filename in all uppercase (.SAV instead of .sav) and then can't read it back in. I've had filenames appear in different cases when I view them on Windows and when I view them in DSOrganize, and I'm not able to change them (renaming the file doesn't seem to help).

So the AK2 team may just need to fix the firmware so that the reading/writing of the filename is case insensitive.

-Bri

Every post I see Bri in he's saying the same exact thing LOL. He's spreading the news. Thanks for the help in my Thread =)

 

[Bri]

These threads really should be consolidated into one! It's fairly obvious that several games are suffering from the same bug (making it unlikely that it's really limited to particular games -- it can probably occur with any game).

I'm not positive the problem isn't corruption, but I don't think there is enough evidence to support that theory. It's more likely it's just a filename problem, as other carts have had similar problems (I'm looking at you, DSTT!).

Those who are having difficulties should look at the filenames and see if renaming the file helps (although I've had trouble getting some files to rename if you're just changing the case). Maybe copying the save file to your hard drive, deleting it from the microSD, then renaming it on the PC, then copying it back would help. If anyone can confirm that something like that works, then it would be pretty clear that the problem is with the .sav file and not corruption.

-Bri

 

[OldPoem]

In windows you should to rename the file to different name first. Then you can change back to the name and extension you want. Changing only UPPERCASE to LOWERCASE won't work if the filename is not long enough and vice versa.

 

[Bri]

So has anyone tried this with the .sav files of the games they're having trouble with to see if it fixes the freezing?

-Bri

 

[icethegreat]

acekard 2 ftw!
its simple and will practically have the same features as RPG soon

 

[dib]

Well duh, they're pretty much the same thing. If you buy the RPG, you're paying for the premium of onboard memory that can be used for whatever. Personally I bought the RPG just because the price is negligible, it's a one time expense for all the years that I'll own the card. Then I'll have all the extra onboard memory so if something just doesn't work right on the SD card, I can move it over. Or just so I don't even need to use my SD and can leave it in my cell phone or whatever.