Hacking AKAIO 1.1r2 Released

[cory1492]

Smiths/Normatt: Ran across another issue, just so you know I did get the drunken beta that was posted and that is what I am using today. Have either of you worked on/fixed the slot2 "passme" code at all? I can't get it to boot my EZ4 in DS mode, if you like I can supply some code that I know works for it and works well for some problematic old ds.gba that exist (but has never worked on M3 perfect for an unknown reason.) Lust LMK and I'll point you at it.

I had to add a manual command line for EZ4 fixing actually. It's been a long time since it's come up so unfortunately it isn't documented. Some day i'll document the random things and usage guides to the firmware... there's just so much.

EZ4 DESPISES the 3in1 check at startup. so much so that even the act of checking the slot 2 card (if an EZ4 is in it) will make the EZ4 not recognized. It doesn't do anything to the data, but it pisses off the NDS so much it doesn't load it right.

Lemme dig up the globalsettings.ini variable you have to set:

CODEEZ3in1startupcheck = 0

set that.

Well, that's a bit of a trade-off, I have a 3in1 here as well - I guess that means ez4 will never have PSRAM support here then despite EZ3 and EZ4(dlx) operating nearly identical to 3in1.... unless - why not check gba header 0xa0 for the string "EZPDA" (the EZ5 multi loader for 3in1 is "EZLoader" so there should be no conflict there) before executing the code that seems to be mixing up the ez4, getting rid of that global variable? Should be effective for EZ3 as well, and would constitute only 2 reads off the bus which shouldn't slow the thing down any.

I've confirmed, setting romPage(0x8000) is all that is required to get back to EZ4's OS mode (where the menu and it's loader is at GBAROM offset just like at power on) - the 4MiB dump I just did with AK2 matches what I dumped previously, but all of my methods of loading EZ4 OS results in a white screen on AK4 while working fine on multiple other slot1 cards. Bloody odd, a definite first for me - AIO seems to be doing something funky, even getting SD access on EZ4 works fine - just not start/loading that menu. I insist, there is a bug... somewhere xD

The apps and source I was just testing with. Hope my time has helped, in some strange fashion, in some way that isn't just creating more work.

Is there anything else I might be missing here? Something else that happens when that setting isn't set that would affect the EZ4's menu loading? Some variable/register that gets set by your checks in the DS itself that isn't reset by the launchers? The white screens I'm getting from my own apps really shouldn't be occurring (fat lot of good me insisting that will do though, of course.)

Worst comes to worse though, one can always rename it from AKAIO (Ace Kard all in one) to AKAIO-ETAT (Ace Kard all in one - except this and that)

Has anyone tried exploader (or whichever was compatible) with an ez4 from AIO?


btw: is there even a globalsettings.ini? I don't see one in the packages I've gotten from AIO, might be useful to have one with all (or at least the common) globalsetting variables in it... I deleted the "ZELDA" theme off my card and the bloody thing is staying on the list and changing/adding to the default in a non-existant ini file seems... odd.

edit:/ oh, there it is, guess it created it at some point - confirming again that the global setting works out just fine.

 

[Smiths]

cory- i definitely appreciate the help, man. I don't own an EZ4 or a working 3in1... so really I am basing all my fixes on confirmation from others.
the setrompage thing *could* be blindly implemented. I had to do similar for the FlashAdvance cartridges. "Rewinding" was needed.

I'll see if i can blindly put in the checking and all... no guarantees.

but now at least your view mode is saved when you hit select

 

[DaMummy]

im also for implementing the gba cheat loader, also is there a way for an internal name to show names for homebrew instead of just saying "DS Program File"? also while im here, a question for the 3in1 users, how do you delete or add gba games to the 3in1? i somehow have a pokemon games saved on there, and have no idea how to get rid of it

 

[cory1492]

cory- i definitely appreciate the help, man. I don't own an EZ4 or a working 3in1... so really I am basing all my fixes on confirmation from others.
the setrompage thing *could* be blindly implemented. I had to do similar for the FlashAdvance cartridges. "Rewinding" was needed.

I'll see if i can blindly put in the checking and all... no guarantees.Well, any way I can help I'll try. I'd strip the available source from gelu to a dldi-only nocheck version to test with if I thought it'd help, but it'd be too far off the AIO codebase to do much good if the bug is elsewhere.

QUOTE(Smiths @ Aug 13 2008, 01:52 PM) but now at least your view mode is saved when you hit select

If anyone gripes about the tiny save time, it could always just be a setting like "default to xxx" - I just figured if your going to stow the folder position for the next boot that stowing the list mode wouldn't be an issue using the same space.

 

[IOwnAndPwnU]

So is the GBA cheats engine confirmed or unsure right now?

 

[Normmatt]

So is the GBA cheats engine confirmed or unsure right now?

No its not confirmed its merely in the idea stage. IF I were to implement it I couldn't test it as i haven't got a compatible slot2 cart for testing. Also I'm not sure if i should only support the GBA GameShark or VBA's raw cheats codes aswell.

 

[Minox]

I was wondering, could you add an option to use a certain Ak2 loader for all roms instead of having to set it manually for one rom at a time?

 

[leetcakes]

so in the near future, we could cheat with akrpg, onto a official gba cartiridge?, my brother wants pokemanz firered hax but no flashcart

 

[GH0ST]

Just a short report with latest beta and a tweaked globalsettings.ini :

* NDS games are working from NAND and MicroSD ( forced 1b00000 = 3333 for SDHC DANELEC 4Go and recognized Sandisk 2Go 03SU02G = 6000 ... Kingston 2 Go not yet tested ) ... Animal crossing was freezing first with soft reset & cheats enable... blank screen on softreset ... I will test further later ...

* GBA games launch from GBA_exploader and NOR direct slot2 are working fine with my recent 3-in-1

* My (old) G6 lite is fine too with slot 2 direct launch also DSBROWSER is starting fine from SDcard ( patched for g6 ) with soft reset working just fine

* init langage force to english ... french not yet implemented gives weird results...

* plugins & optional video plugin working too with tuna plugin

* Copy/Paste are working in both directions


I was also on the way to report the little bug about last dir mentionned by Cory : Great work guys keep it up !

For GBA cheating codes ... i must admit i don't really need them ... I better see options like text editing or others plugins ^^

...Thanks again i will try to report more later

 

[cory1492]

so in the near future, we could cheat with akrpg, onto a official gba cartiridge?, my brother wants pokemanz firered hax but no flashcart

As far as I know there is no way to apply trainers or cheats to a gba cart without additional hardware - many gba basically use the ROM space continually to run from instead of loading full binaries into the (very) limited GBA memory (which would then allow some kind of one time patching.) Even if it were possible, in the least some form of GBA card would be needed to run the patch code in GBA mode prior to starting the cart. Your best bet is to locate a GBA cheat device (which patches ROM on the fly), or just get a flash card - if such cheating is absolutely necessary.

edit:/ another small bug... (fyi I have a f2a ultra 1G here)
Enabling FAS1 in system options>advanced>Y
Causes the system to stop hiding .sav files (good thing in my books, as manual seems to be the way to deal with saves on this card?)
On next reboot it forgot I enabled and saved the enable FAS1 options.
Seems to work well with my F2A though (and seems a fair bit faster than the PC flasher)

(though, getting the games patched properly to work on it is a fair bit of a chore)

 

[IOwnAndPwnU]

So is the GBA cheats engine confirmed or unsure right now?

No its not confirmed its merely in the idea stage. IF I were to implement it I couldn't test it as i haven't got a compatible slot2 cart for testing. Also I'm not sure if i should only support the GBA GameShark or VBA's raw cheats codes aswell.

I could help you test it. I have the eWin 2in1 (look at sig).

 

[dib]

I can tell you right now, the codes people are going to want are Gameshark and Codebreaker, because those are the ones you'll find most on Gamefaqs.

I'm pretty sure with my EZFA cart that the cheat function used Codebreaker, and I never seemed to have trouble finding cheats for any game so I would recommend that one.

 

[IOwnAndPwnU]

What do you do to install it. Kinda confused.

 

[leetcakes]

is there a way to dump a GBA sav file into a GBA kart with a DS/slot 1 card

 

[dib]

Why do you think this is the appropriate place to ask that?

 

[IOwnAndPwnU]

Maybe he wants to do it with the Acekard 2. If that was possible, wouldn't that mean it might be possible to like actually delete files on the cartridge and put new files on it. I guess you could make money off of it kinda.
Like buy a very cheap GBA game and delete the files and replace with a very expensive game like Pokemon.

 

[Raqib12]

Hmm, got a problem with the global settings. In the official firmware, I had this line of text that hid folders/files for me

hiddenFileNames = __aio,akmenu4.nds,gba,gba_save,gba_sign,nds_backup,dsorganize,gba_backup

It doesn't seem to work anymore. Has it been removed completely? Or just changed?

Edit: Also... A clean Pocket Monsters Diamond/Pearl doesn't seem to detect the GBA games... Does this mean I need to use the patcher AGAIN? :/

 

[PanzerWF]

i R newb.

Question: Do I just copy -only- the __aio folder onto my microSD?

Question 2: Is the ak2loader folder inside supposed to be empty? Should I place the official firmware inside it?

 

[Swip]

i R newb.

Question: Do I just copy -only- the __aio folder onto my microSD?

Question 2: Is the ak2loader folder inside supposed to be empty? Should I place the official firmware inside it?

1. You need the __aio folder and the akmenu4.nds or something like that anyway.

2.Yes and yes

 

[IOwnAndPwnU]

i R newb.

Question: Do I just copy -only- the __aio folder onto my microSD?

Question 2: Is the ak2loader folder inside supposed to be empty? Should I place the official firmware inside it?

1. You need the __aio folder and the akmenu4.nds or something like that anyway.

2.Yes and yes


Why ? Does it make it faster or something ?

I found this in the Flashing Hardware and Software forum.

QUOTE

I thought the Acekard had the best GUI. I've read that somewhere .. on GBAtemp.net

Well, that's someones opinion, but I really think Sakura is way better.....And not to mention that Sakura is the only firmware that uses slot 2 RAM expansion to run faster ans smoother..(however, you can use it without RAM expansion, but then it uses pre-defined space on microSD, 16 MB of it)

Maybe it could be added into AKAIO. I'd be happy to test (with my eWin 2in1).