Hacking AKAIO 1.3b2

[n/a]

Thanks for the excellent work guys, Loading games from NAND finally works! One problem that I encountered though is, when playing a game and then you decide to "Soft Reset", you are brought back to the area where it would say "Flash Memory, MicroSD, etc..", and not the area where the file is located. And also, when that area loads, no Skin is loaded and no Text is shown, all you see is a Black Background on Both Screens and just the Icons for the different Types of Memory (Flash Memory, MicroSD, etc..), and the selection bar is a "Minty-Green" color. If you press A to select one of the Memory options or if you press the "START" button, akAIO OS freezes.

That's an error with loading from your card. Check your card, clean contacts, etc... it's not AKAIO.

The problem is not with my card, it most likely has to do with a piece of the "Soft Reset" code (since there was a lot of changes made for the akRPG). The reason I say this is because, I can load akAIO 1.2 and there is no problem with "Soft Reset" when used. So again, it is most likely a piece of the "Soft Reset" code that is missing or is not closed properly or at all (things like this happens to all coders) or a piece of code needs to be added or the communication with the "Soft Reset" code and the external loader for the akRPG (akloader.nds) could be the problem, for example, instead of two hands shaking, it could be a hand shaking a foot. Anyway, don't quickly blame the tester if a solution to the problem hasn't been carefully examined beforehand. When something goes wrong, it is most likely human error (which can be corrected), but when it comes down to hardware related problems (which sometimes but rarely can be corrected, unless something gets fixed internally), it will most likely fail regardless to what you do or change (i.e. change software or sometimes cleaning the hardware) to try and fix it. Also, just to mention, not everyone is irresponsible with their electronics, some people actually do take care of them, so being clean is not an issue as it is not a problem here.
...
Anyway, I would like to give my respect and thanks to all akAIO coders for keeping the akRPG going since it seems like AceKard has abandoned it (as was predicted in the beginning of it's release, because of the OS being open source).

 

[Smiths]

SD loading is fixed. turns out it was *I* who killed it!
Ha!

Norm kills NAND, I kill SD. Never shall they work together!!!!!!


...or actually now they are but still. AKAIO is composed of equal-opportunity-break-functioners


Now regarding Soft Reset: seriously, it works fine for me from NAND on RPG, from SD on RPG, and from SD on AK2.

 

[cory1492]

Sounds to me like there is a problem in the SIO code to access user settings, causing them to be modified and committed back to nvram, or perhaps validating the previous setting profile by corrupting the current one - something to do with the backlight stuff, perhaps? I know there were issues in really old dkpro toolchains with the user setting stuff that caused it to corrupt in odd ways (which caused it to fall back to the previous/only existing not corrupt setting profile.)

A test you folks without flashme can do is, take out the AK2, turn on and set the DS to your preference, commit settings/shut it off, pull out the battery for about 5 seconds, replace battery, turn on DS, re-set your settings to the same again, commit/power off, then put in the AK to see if AKAIO still causes problems (this process should cause both setting profiles to contain the same settings, so if it falls back to old ones it will be using the ones you set before pulling the battery) - if there are no more problems with your settings changing, then this is an old problem that has cropped up again; if it does cause problems still then... ???

Any rate, I have flashme too and as far as I can see the mentioned bugs on my ak2 are no more

now if I could just re-train myself to not see the cheat list and think left/right dpad are going to handle the + section expansion/collapse like on most PC apps I'd be fine.

 

[Smiths]

Any rate, I have flashme too and as far as I can see the mentioned bugs on my ak2 are no more

now if I could just re-train myself to not see the cheat list and think left/right dpad are going to handle the + section expansion/collapse like on most PC apps I'd be fine.

cory - the "left/right" for expanding/contracting was almost added but more skipping was needed, really.

 

[cory1492]

smiths: indeed, which is why I need to re-train to break that bad windoze inspired habit. I was going to ask again about the auto-repeat-keys on cheat list when using dpad, but I see it's in there now - just with what seems to be a really long start delay (is that delay a setting somewhere that I probably missed? There are so many places to hide things in this UI

)

Great work all around

 

[Smiths]

the repeat delay is in the code; it's not a setting for the end-user.

It's just finding where it is in the code and seeing if it affects other things too much. It is quite a long delay.

 

[kai445]

Here's the intra-release changelog.

Changelog from 1.3 drunken beta to 1.3b1

Added to changelog:
+ 3in1 internal GBA rom header stuff and work on Save/Load prompts in 3in1 options window.
- Enable/Disable saving 3in1 SRAM on startup (Enabled by default)
- Enable/Disable prompting before saving/loading SAVSRAM
- Enable/Disable the Universal Sleep Hack for GBA games
- Thanks to all donators!
+ AK2 Loaders, even 4.12, compatible

Removed from changelog:
None.

Changelog from 1.3b1 to 1.3b2
QUOTEAdded to changelog:
+ Added Some of Gelu's patches:
- Softreset fixes relating to mic usage.
+ Spanish language updated.

Removed from changelog:
+ AK2 Loaders, even 4.12, compatible

 

[carterman]

Meaning the 4.12 loader isn't compatible now/wasn't compatible at all before?

 

[dib]

Thanks for the excellent work guys, Loading games from NAND finally works! One problem that I encountered though is, when playing a game and then you decide to "Soft Reset", you are brought back to the area where it would say "Flash Memory, MicroSD, etc..", and not the area where the file is located. And also, when that area loads, no Skin is loaded and no Text is shown, all you see is a Black Background on Both Screens and just the Icons for the different Types of Memory (Flash Memory, MicroSD, etc..), and the selection bar is a "Minty-Green" color. If you press A to select one of the Memory options or if you press the "START" button, akAIO OS freezes.

That's an error with loading from your card. Check your card, clean contacts, etc... it's not AKAIO.

The problem is not with my card, it most likely has to do with a piece of the "Soft Reset" code (since there was a lot of changes made for the akRPG). The reason I say this is because, I can load akAIO 1.2 and there is no problem with "Soft Reset" when used. So again, it is most likely a piece of the "Soft Reset" code that is missing or is not closed properly or at all (things like this happens to all coders) or a piece of code needs to be added or the communication with the "Soft Reset" code and the external loader for the akRPG (akloader.nds) could be the problem, for example, instead of two hands shaking, it could be a hand shaking a foot. Anyway, don't quickly blame the tester if a solution to the problem hasn't been carefully examined beforehand. When something goes wrong, it is most likely human error (which can be corrected), but when it comes down to hardware related problems (which sometimes but rarely can be corrected, unless something gets fixed internally), it will most likely fail regardless to what you do or change (i.e. change software or sometimes cleaning the hardware) to try and fix it. Also, just to mention, not everyone is irresponsible with their electronics, some people actually do take care of them, so being clean is not an issue as it is not a problem here.
...
Anyway, I would like to give my respect and thanks to all akAIO coders for keeping the akRPG going since it seems like AceKard has abandoned it (as was predicted in the beginning of it's release, because of the OS being open source).

I just tried soft reset on my RPG.

With a NAND game, it resets normally to the NAND directory. Game on my SD resets normally to the SD directory. So I have no idea what you're talking about, especially with the hand shaking stuff. Is that some sort of expert opinion based on your intimate knowledge of the AIO's source code?

It's not that anybody is attacking you, it's that we're unable to reproduce the results. Try formatting+reinstalling AIO from the ground up.

 

[n/a]

Hey dib, I didn't feel like anyone was attacking me...
I did a format of the NAND and extracted only the content of the akAIO 1.3b2 OS on the NAND and copied two files (0168 and 1443 (Both TokyoTrimmed)) for a test to see if I still experienced the problems that I did before the format, and the result is, I still do. Below is an example of the structure of the whole layout of the card.

NAND Root
|
|__AIO (Folder)
|
|__Test Root (Folder)
| |
| |__Test 1 (Folder)
| | | - 0168.nds
| |
| |__Test 2 (Folder)
| | | - 1443.nds
|
|_akmenu4.nds

Now, loading both files is no problem, but when I use "Soft Reset" on file "0168" I experience the problem that I've mentioned in the post that you've quoted. When "Soft Reset" is used I should be brought back to the "Test 1" Folder, but instead I am brought to the main area of the OS, and that is the area where you select what memory to go into. Like I said before, there is no Skin and Text on both screens when this happens, only the icons for the different memories. And if I try to go into any of those memories by pressing the "A" Button or if I press the "START" Button on the DS, the OS freezes.

Now, when I use "Soft Reset" on file "1443", I am brought back to the "Test 2" Folder. Everything is normal, the skin is loaded, all the Text is shown.

And if I replace the "akmenu4.nds" file from "akAIO 1.3b2" with the "akmenu4.nds" file from "akAIO 1.2", both files (0168 and 1443) load and exit with "Soft Reset" without any problems. The question would be now, why does "Soft Reset" work fine with 1.2 but not with 1.3b2?

 

[dib]

Okay, so in other words you're using some odd sorting scheme over multiple directories. I just tested exactly as you illustrated above, and it's still fine. I soft reset out of the game back into the loader exactly in the same directory as the game.

So the real question is why are you getting a bug with one and not the other, and if that's a problem you need fixed then I suggest troubleshooting it before bringing it here. Are you using some sort of long filename for one and not the other? Multiple words? Unusual characters? Specific game? For all I know, you're trying to name them in Japanese and using small paragraphs for filenames. You should understand that Smiths has already stated that they're not interested in tracking down every bizarre bug that surfaces when people are using habits outside of normal operation, and will not idiot-proof the loader. And it sounds like you may be using some bizarre convention that won't surface for most people.

 

[doyama]

I can't seem to get the autorun feature to work. It was working fine in 1.2 but when I enable it now it does not autorun the previous rom (playing the new Layton right now). Has anyone else gotten this to work?

I do like the new faster directory listing.

 

[Minox]

I can't seem to get the autorun feature to work. It was working fine in 1.2 but when I enable it now it does not autorun the previous rom (playing the new Layton right now). Has anyone else gotten this to work?

I just tried it out and it certainly does not work for any of the roms I've tried.

 

[Smiths]

hahaha, maybe we took out autorun.

(re: Autorun. That was a 'bliss feature' that Norm and I both hate. If we accidentally took it out it was simply because we put in features or changed how things load and just never cared to update the autorun code)

Also, please know one thins regarding the 1.2 -> 1.3 comparison.

There has been a lot of overhauling done in the period between 1.2 and this release. We're talkin' a lot. DMA, loader isolation, etc.

This is all for the benefit of the end-user. but please know it has changed a LOT and there's not going to be an easy "oh, just copy paste from 1.2" for many of these things.
The 1.2 source is so old now for us (1.3 has been in development for a while) that to use its old code would not be beneficial in most cases.

So we appreciate people telling us things worked in 1.2... but really it doesn't help us or you to mention it.

 

[Minox]

I just confirmed it, I've never had any real use of that feature anyway so it doesn't matter to me.

 

[rasputin]

The Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow 'start screen' video is a slide show on the AK2.1 with this beta.

I'm new to Acekard2, is this firmware meant for the AK2 aswell ?

 

[Smiths]

autorun is now fixed (unfortunately). So now i need to put some "idiot" checks in... like autorun GBA cuz some people like to do that.
Because hitting buttons is hard.

rasputin - it shouldn't be a slide show; try formatting your SD card with the panasonic tool (see the wiki)

http://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/index.php/AKAIO

 

[rasputin]

@Smiths ... with ak2 1.2 software it's fine. But no what mem card I use with this new beta2 I get a slideshow ??? I'm using Fat16 on all mem cards, even my 4gb SDHC one. I have'nt used the panasonic formatting tool though, the Hewlett Packard one has been working fine for me and as I said with 1.2 all the mem cards run it well.

On the main start screen of Castlevania DoS, press the 'b' button to see what I mean.

 

[Smiths]

yeah i just confirmed it slideshows with the default AKAIO loader.
you may want to just download the latest official AKMenu and place its loader in the ak2loader directory and set it to use that.
That eliminated the choppiness.

It's nice we don't have the latest sources. AKAIO is based off 4.09 still. Blame AceKard.

http://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/index.php/AKAIO#AK2_Loader

 

[rasputin]

Cheers Smiths