Hacking Converting Supercard .sav's to EZ Flash .sav?

[5%]

Just wondering if this is possible otherwise I'll have no choice but to start anew in a couple of games

 

[Speculant]

You shouldn't need to, I would think it would just be drag and drop.

 

[5%]

I've thought about it I don't think it would work out since I've been using Real Time Save states on the Supercard SD & EZ Flash IV doesn't have the ability to RTS so, yeah.

 

[Speculant]

Well, have you tried it?

 

[5%]

I'LL give it a shot when EZ4 arrives

 

[raulpica]

You have to copy over the ".sav", RTS won't simply work nor there's a way to convert it to work on the EZ IV other than load it on the SC SD and then do a regular save (and transfer the regular save to the EZ IV).

 

[5%]

^ Hmm, since regular saves don't register on the Supercard SD(at least for me), I might have to load the .sav file on VBA first(assuming the VBA has the ability to load RTS), perform a regular save, then convert the .sav so it's compatible with the EZ4..though this is all speculation I'm not sure if it's possible yet

Oh, Will I be able transfer SC SD converted .gba files to EZ4 or will I have to re-patch each and every existing rom currently on my SC SD? If this is the case, I'll have a fun time applying ROM hack patches all over again

 

[kuwanger]

^ Hmm, since regular saves don't register on the Supercard SD(at least for me), I might have to load the .sav file on VBA first(assuming the VBA has the ability to load RTS), perform a regular save, then convert the .sav so it's compatible with the EZ4..though this is all speculation I'm not sure if it's possible yet

No, VBA doesn't support Supercard's RTS. It has its own save state format. Odds are good, though, Supercard's RTS has a standard location full, uncompressed copy of the .sav somewhere in the RTS. Ie, if you can figure out the start of the sav in one RTS, it should be at the same location in every RTS; so, you just have to figuring out how much to copy out (8192, 32768, 65536, or 131072) depending on the game. I don't have a Supercard, though, so I can't confirm it. But if you'd like some help finding out, I'll try to help.

QUOTEOh, Will I be able transfer SC SD converted .gba files to EZ4 or will I have to re-patch each and every existing rom currently on my SC SD? If this is the case, I'll have a fun time applying ROM hack patches all over again

You'll have to repatch them all. This is a truth on just about every GBA flash cartridge because of the various save formats (eeprom, sram, and flash) and adding the whole reset-to-menu feature so you don't wear out the power switch.

 

[5%]

Yes I'd appreciate the help. I wouldn't mind saving a couple of .sav files if it's possible, I presume this involves hex editing on the .sav file?

http://www.sendspace.com/file/wgyvax

Will rom hacked patches work like fire emblem: sacred contention?

 

[kuwanger]

Yes I'd appreciate the help. I wouldn't mind saving a couple of .sav files if it's possible, I presume this involves hex editing on the .sav file?

Yes, this involves hex editing. According to the PHWiki Supercard page, Supercard RTSs have a .sci extension. To actually figure out where a save is stored in the RTS, the easiest way (give your circumstance) would be to choose a game you've never played before (ie, it has a completely blank save), do a simple action (say start a new game and save at the earliest save point) in both VBA and on your Supercard and upload VBA's .sav and the Supercard's .sci file. The .sav file will hopefully have an internal, readily identifiable header easily findable in the RTS.

QUOTEWill rom hacked patches work like fire emblem: sacred contention?

They should. The EZ4 patched two things (well, really three but the third doesn't actually work): support for saving and a reset key combo. The former should target EEPROM/Flash so it'll work with the EZ4's SRAM. So, only if the patch hacks the save library (which I've never heard of) is there a reasonable risk of that. The reset key combo patches all keypad reading code throughout the ROM to jump to a location that normally is empty (and is replaced with some simple reset key check (and quasi-broken cheat applying code).) Since many patches expand use of ROM space, there may be a chance the patch and reset key code might conflict. However, it's also possible that EZ4 searches for empty space on each ROM without any preconsideration (ie, it'll only use really empty ROM space).

Given that plenty of people have noted various ROM patches working, I'd consider the latter to be the case. Still, worst case scenario is probably having to disable the reset key combo, but I doubt that to be likely.

 

[5%]

^

Glad to hear that

As requested: http://www.sendspace.com/file/bjpps3

 

[kuwanger]

Well, bad news. I've looked through the two saves and the RTS looks rather scrambled. Where there is some readable text in the .sav, the .sci file has none. This would indicate to me that either the .sci file is compressed, encrypted, or otherwise scrambled (or all of the above). I'm pretty sure lz77 (the most common general compression on the gba) compression isn't being used. I have no idea if there's any encryption (although I somewhat suspect it since certain patterns seem to repeat at 512 byte intervals). Scrambling in some other sort would be rather hard to detect.

In short, I'm at a loss really on how to proceed. I've done some googling for a Supercard converter. It sounds like, at one time there was an online converter, but I'm not entirely sure if it was only for DS games or whether it also covered GBA games.

Sorry for getting your hopes up. I'll try looking at it more, but I don't think I'll come up with any sort of breakthrough. You can always try googling yourself. Maybe you'll have better luck on the "Supercard official forum".

 

[5%]

Not a problem at all

. I'll search around a bit more for a solution & if there's none then that's ok.

Thanks for the help sir