ROM Hack Cheating with GBA games.

[matcon5]

Hello all, I have a complicated question I would like to ask.

I use a R4 and a TTDS GBA expansion pak for GBA games.
I was wondering.. is there a way to convert save files that are used with say.. VBA (VisualBoy Advance) so they work off of the rebranded Ewin paks that come with TTDS?
I ask this because there are a few games I want some cheats with, such as Money for RPGs. Cheat for max cash, save my game, put the save on my Ewin cart then play along the game with maxed cash.

Is this possible? there are lots of games I play that do not have trainers available for them.

Are there any other ways to cheat on GBA games with the hardware I have?
Any suggestions are welcome as well.

Thanks in advance.

 

[FAST6191]

Save conversion: possible (most people use the export battery option of VBA)
As for cheats on GBA there is the start of a guide on the romhacking documentation project:
http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=733...ndpost&p=970547

 

[matcon5]

I don't suppose there's any guides on Exporting the battery with VBA?
I tinkered with it but yielded no results, how exactly does it work?

 

[matcon5]

Can anyone either explain or link me to a page that explains how to use VBA created .sav files on an R4/Ewin GBA cart?
I've looked everywhere and can't seem to find information regarding this. Couldn't even find more information on VBA's Export Battery File.

Thanks in advance.

 

[bdunkle]

Hmmm. With my M3DS Real I just rename the whatever.SAV file from VBA to whatever.0 and copy it over. Boom, works (assuming you're using the same ROMs with the same name on both).

I know that's not the card you have, but did you try the simple solution? I'm guessing you did but just in case...

 

[matcon5]

Yeah I tried that, with only two GBA games though.. Not sure if it only works for certain games or not...
The files the Ewin cart makes for saves are labeled the same as the roms, and are 128kb in size. The ones that come from VBA are 64kb in size..

I can't for the life of me figure out how to take a vba saved game, and have it work with my gba expansion cart.
I guess I just don't know enough about these files and options, and I can't really find any documentation regarding them.. so any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bdunkle]

Which games? I'll try it and see what I get. I tried it with Castlevania Aria of Sorrow and one other I can't recall...Not enough for me to make a broad statement.

Can you force VBA to use 128k saves? Well, I know you can, but do they work with the games, then?

 

[matcon5]

I've tried mainly with Breath of Fire 2, Final Fantasy 6. I went under Options in VBA, went to Emulator > Save Type > and checked 128k, keeping other option set to Automatic, and also tried it with Flash.

I have VBA saving files as .sav set to Automatic and 128k.
ChuChu Rocket will create a 128kb save file.
Final Fantasy VI also produces a 64kb .sav file.
Breath of Fire 2 still saves as 64kb. Starting a game and saving at the second town you find.
If I put it on my microSD, then load Breath of Fire with my Ewin pack it lets me load the save from VBA.
But after I turn it off and check the microSD the Breath of Fire 2 .sav is now 128kb. So I guess that sort of works, but alterations I made to the game with cheats then save, and try on the Ewin pack the alterations don't remain.
Also, I played with VBA and Breath of Fire, got the main character to level 2, saved, took the file put it on my microSD, booted and loaded the game. The save was still main character at level 1. Very strange.
Take the Breath of Fire save 128kb from the card to my PC. VBA won't recognize it.

I really hope I can figure this all out eventually, it would be rather nice.

 

[bdunkle]

I'll try to give it a shot a little later and let you know if I figure anything out.

 

[matcon5]

I posted in the R4DS Forums and TheTalentedMrRipley replied with a very nice file, that has an assortment of .bat files for padding and converting saves. I tried it with Breath of Fire 2 and it worked perfectly.
Alas, could not get it to work with FF6 Advance

Link to the thread from R4DS Forums
http://www.r4ds-forums.com/viewtopic.php?p=5099#5099

Not sure how to post files here.. but if anyone needs it PM me or ask in here, or grab it from the R4DS thread.

Thanks goes out to TheTalentedMrRipley at the R4 forums for this one.

 

[JRLS]

hey Matcon,

I have the EXACT same problem!
can you please fix me up with the bat files??
I need them too!
btw, I checked that R4DS forum website, but it doesnt seem to exist (anymore?)

Many thanks