Hacking AKAIO 1.1r2 Released

[Bri]

Normmatt,

The problem I'm seeing with cheats for Animal Crossing don't seem to have to do with the memory used by the game itself, because I never get that far. I highlight the game in the menu, then select the "cheats" option (either from the "Rom Info" menu or from the "More" menu -- doesn't make a difference) and then it accesses the file system for a moment (the little icon flashes) and then freezes. The only option at this point is to turn it off.

Same for Mario Kart. I haven't tried every other game to see which ones have problems and which don't, but a hacked version of Metal Slug 7 works fine so it's only a problem with certain ones. Could it have to do with the number of cheats that are in the database for a particular game (does Animal Crossing have a lot of cheats compared to other games)?

BTW, the new Korg Synthesizer black screens using AIO unless I change the loader (the beta works, but I didn't try any other versions).

By beta testing, I mean basically what you're doing now, just call it 1.1B until you've fixed the major bugs and it's reasonably stable, then name it 1.1. It's not really any different than what you're doing now, just that more naive users will know to expect some problems if they use it and to make backups.

Along the same lines, maybe it would be possible to make the beta version have the ability to pop up a "debug info" window on the top screen to help track down problems.

-Bri

 

[dib]

It's hard to say because there's no source to AKAIO. I would have to see the function that reads from the database and parses the information. Right now I'm assuming that it's an infinite loop rather than a freeze. And clearly you won't be able to test it if you don't own an RPG.

Bri--the Korg works for me on my RPG with AIO 1.1.

Also I disagree about the beta thing, this is experimental no matter what you choose to call it. If people can't understand that and behave accordingly, they should bail out and go use the first party loader.

edit: I think I was right about the infinite loop, I realized I could leave it on for a couple minutes and the clock continued updating.

 

[Bri]

I assume Korg has problems on the AK2 with the a16 official loader (which I assume AIO uses), but that the beta fixes it. So it's probably not really an AIO problem.

-Bri

 

[ROM Troll]

I'm not against the idea of beta testing, but I'd prefer to have closed beta testing as to not give away any new features we might be working on.

I have ten years of SQA experience, twenty-four hour access to an AKRPG and questionable/intermittent access to AK2s; I'll sign up for your closed beta testing.

 

[Skydancer]

nah, my router is a Speedport W700v (IIRC this was the except type), which is configured to WEP...
the FritzBox would just be used as a Repeater (and is set to WEP as default...it's just a old FritzBox SL Wlan)

I have the same Router and WiFi dont work! With Games for example: Mario Kart.... it works.
Tried DHPC and Static IP.

Any suggestions?

@Smiths: The Germany Language File is also corrupted. (Help Screen has no Characters)
I will try on a New one, if our Baby (my Son) let me some free Time.

Sry for my bad writing. I can understand nearly everything but my writing in English is horrible.

 

[Raki]

I'm not against the idea of beta testing, but I'd prefer to have closed beta testing as to not give away any new features we might be working on.

I have ten years of SQA experience, twenty-four hour access to an AKRPG and questionable/intermittent access to AK2s; I'll sign up for your closed beta testing.

I have no SQA (wtf is that ? o_o') experience but I've got access to a AK2/RPG with 2 different memory cards (2 GB sandisk/8 GB class 6 sandisk), so I would sign up too if you would do such a beta

 

[logical thinker]

Well, does anyone have a greatly updated savelist/ex bin?

I will concede that those files in the RAR are old as hell.
A download option for them would be easy, as routines are there. the problem is this:

No central repository for them.

Mine is not "up-to-the-minute", but it has some updates (FF IV, Twilight Syndrome, etc) and corrections (some reported to the Admin of Advanscene).

About the download option, I think, without a savelist editor, it would be difficult to someone keep it updated.
Normmatt and Smiths, I suggest that you make 2 packs of the firmware. 1 would be the AKAIO 1.1, which would not include the files: globalsettings.ini, savelist.ini and sdlist.ini (and maybe the skins). The user would just overwrite the older firmware.
The other pack would be AKAIO 1.1 "Starter Pack", which would include those files. This version would be for people who want a "fresh" install or for people who just bought the card.

(sorry, I didn't test AKAIO yet, so I assume that you can not select a new language file in the menu without asking the developer to code to the new language appear in the menu) Another suggestion, you could copy the way gelu's firmware "look" for language files (you can add a language file and select in the menu without asking gelu to include it in his firmware). Then, the "official" release (from you two, here, at GBAtemp) would have just the English language, but other users can add other languages and release a new pack (the only modification would be the languages) and you would not have to worry about the languages anymore. EDIT: No, it would be better if the users posted the language files in a separate topic, then, if someone wanted a language file, he/she would just download that file.

I also want to express that I respect you all for developing this custom firmware.

johnchan and Sweater Fish Deluxe, are you interested only in AKAIO? If not, gelu's firmware for AKRPG is open source: http://code.google.com/p/acekard-3in1/source/list or http://www.acekard.com/bbs/redirect.php?ti...stpost#lastpost

 

[s223355]

AIO 1.1 is great,it fixed soft-reset and dq5
But, just a little hope to rpg/ak2
Smiths / Normmatt , could you fix 2 byte character in asian language ？
In S-chinese / T-chinese / Japan , the 2 byte character in cheat / rominfo / help windows
can't be display

 

[Sweater Fish Del]

The best way to handle the ini files would be to have the firmware generate them automatically with default values if the files aren't present in the __aio folder. That shouldn't be hard to implement and then it would accomodate new users as well as updaters in one package.

I was also thinking it would also be nice if the menu defaulted to the first theme found in the UI directory if the one specified in globalsettings.ini isn't found.

Thanks for the tip on Gelu's firmware. I hadn't ever looked at it before since I thought it only added 3-in-1 support nad I don't have a 3-in-1, but I see it adds a number of features actually. I'll check it out.

The source for the last RPG-only version of AKAIO (AKBBS) is available, so I'll probably switch to using it since it offers the most additional features. I still hope Norm and Smiths will come up with a way of releasing the source to AKAIO in some way, though.


...word is bondage...

 

[Normmatt]

It already creates the ini file on boot if it doesnt exist. It's just people were having problems with akaio not creating the ini on certain sdhc cards. This should be fixed in v1.2 as I've added a check for reading from the cart and if it can't it will try init the other card it hasn't tried yet. The problem with the languages in the help window etc I can't seem to workout why they don't work correctly. I will probably setup some type of website for test builds, maybe even a bug tracker so we can easily see what bugs need fixing etc.

 

[Smiths]

the reason byte don't display is cuz of the language.txt files being bad.

Next release I'm only including English TXT files, unless others submit brand new language.txt files for the languages they desire.
I already mentioned the language.txt files were corrupt, so take a look at those before asking us to fix.

A 1.15 or something may follow sooner than later cuz the cheatDB updating is being bad and it has to do with the text being received getting corrupted and screwing up the line breaking. I'm looking into that, and planning to just add an option to enable/disable the Whatsnew display when updating if it becomes a problem so you can at least update in the interim.

 

[Bri]

I don't know if this helps, but for me the text shows up just fine. Once I start the download, it seems to just stop downloading after about 203Kb. I can press "B" and after about 20 - 30 seconds it asks me if I really want to abort the download, after which I can get back to the menu.

-Bri

 

[BlueStar]

I think I am experiencing the same problem. I formatted my 4gb SDHC A-Data card with the SD Formatter and extracted the new firmware onto it. But I just get a blue screen on the top screen and the bottom screen shows Flash Memory, MicroSD Card, Slot2 Card, and START. Clicking anything shows a box that says "text" with an A - OK image.

My 2gb card, prepared the same way, works perfectly.

Do SDHC cards work with this firmware?

P.S. It's not a skin issue; I've checked globalsettings.ini and the skin specified (Adv.Evo) exists on the card.

I'm getting the same problem - I'm using a Transcend 4gb Class 6 card and the skin seems to be in the right place etc (Even tried just using the default globalsettings.ini and having just the zelda skin there, and no dice)

 

[Bri]

BlueStar, is your card formatted in FAT16?

-Bri

 

[[M]artin]

To anyone who has AKAIO v1.1 on an AK2:

Can you successfully use "UpdateDB" at the time of this posting? I tried about 5 times in a row, and it always hangs at the "Connecting to Wi-Fi" screen, at the same exact spot on the bar, every time. All of my settings are exactly the same as they were 2 days ago, both Sunday and Monday, I was updating the DB multiple times, fine. Also, when I press "B to Cancel" it does nothing, even if I wait for 3+ minutes (so I'm assuming it freezes it). Is this currently happening to anyone else?

Perhaps it's a problem with the Cheat Server?

 

[sfunk]

I couldn't use the cheat updating function either on an AK2. It would update and display the changelog, download to ~500/980kb, and then freeze. Like you pressing B wouldn't cancel anything and I'd have to hard reset. A corrupt zip file remained on the root of my card but I would just delete it. Despite this I'm still appreciating all the fine work that went into this release. I hope the bugs get sorted out though!

 

[Smiths]

it's a problem in the whatsnew parsing, which cannot be resolved right now. I'll be uploading a bugfix soon that just removes the whatsnew thing.

For some reason I don't know, random characters are ending up parsed into the scrollbox that are corrupting it and not displaying it. been spending some time this morning working on it but nothing seems to fix it.

So I'll be removing the whatsnew processing... it was a nice gimmick.

I'm also waiting on feedback from two people who were having the SDHC problem who I sent the new method test of a loader to.

If I don't hear from them in like an hour or so, you'll all just end up being our guinea pigs.

Unless someone who is having the SDHC "AK2 being detected as RPG" problem exists here and PMs me within an hour.

 

[BlueStar]

BlueStar, is your card formatted in FAT16?

-Bri

Nope, FAT32

EDIT: Can you even format SDHC card to FAT16 and still be able to use their full capacity?

 

[Bri]

I believe a 4GB card can be formatted either way. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

So has the problem you're seeing only occurred with 4GB SDHC cards?

-Bri

 

[caffolote]

So this AKAIO 1.1 works with both AKRPG and AK 2?