Hacking EDGE

[Saylient_Dreams]

I have an EzV right now, it works pretty well for the most part, except support sucks, so a friend and I are looking for a new budget cart to get. I was looking at EDGE and Acekard 2, but decided to go with EDGE, seeing how some people who have the EDGE cart have positive things to say, and it has a pretty good review. We're not really looking for fancy features that the CycloDS has, just compatibility with download play and and reliability when new games are dumped. See how it's one of the few carts that was able to run FF:RoF right off the bat along side CycloDS, is one of the reasons I decided to look into an EDGE.
First of all, I'm curious about how saves are handled on EDGE. On the EzV the saves are written to a chip, and are written back to the microsd when you select something to run other than the previous save. This sometimes caused the user to lose their save (happened once to me). Are saves written directly to the microsd when you save in the game? I understand that the EDGE cart does not have real time save states., that it saves just like a game would normally save, but does it save to a chip or straight to the microsd?
For multimedia support, I assume you just go to the multimedia icon upon start up. Does this just boot moonshell? Are you able to go back to the previous menu if you decide to play games? Or must you power down the DS to return to the menu where you can choose a game to play?
Lastly, is anyone having trouble with this cart? Seems rather positive from people who owned it so far. Is there any reason why we shouldn't be looking at this cart (build quality/defects? rom compatibility/errors?)?
Thanks for your time.

 

[Nonuser]

Hello there, sorry if I can't answer all your questions concerning the EDGE card.

Multimedia - It loads up Moonshell when you select the multimedia icon.
I've noticed that if you want to switch back to the EDGE main menu, all you have to do is
press -Start- and it automatically exits Moonshell and reverts back to the original menu.

Build Quality - I can't judge on the build quality that much since this is my first Flash cart ever~
But from the review, I'm guessing my EDGE is one of the first batches of EDGEs ever
released so the MicroSD card does not fit entirely into the slot. Otherwise, I think the build
quality of the EDGE is decent.

I haven't had any troubles with ROM compatibility and have not tried the Download and Play option. When experimenting with the EDGE cheat menu, I found that not every game is covered by the cheat database. Hopefully, EDGE is releasing its own Cheat Editor soon.


Cheers.

 

[Bri]

I don't have an Edge, but I think it writes .sav files directly to the card (most recent carts do).

From what I know of the Edge, the main problem with it currently is the inability to add your own cheats. The cheat database is in a proprietary format, so you can't use Rayder's excellent cheat database with it (at least not yet).

Another potential problem is that it's new so it's unclear how support will be for it in the long-term.

-Bri

 

[Ferrariman]

You should read GBATemps EDGE review. Gosh.

 

[Saylient_Dreams]

Thanks for the quick replies. I did read the GBATemp review, that's where I got the positive review for EDGE.
Thank you Nonuser for telling me about how moonshell works, that's exactly what I was looking for. As for cheats, I'm not looking for that feature at all in any cart honestly. But Bri brought up a good points about long term support, which is the only major problem that really worries me.

 

[NeSchn]

The EDGE is on sale at BambooGaming.com right now.

 

[ojsinnerz.]

The EDGE seems to have a decent support. They realease firmwares if they find a problem. Otherwise, we're not sure what they do.

 

[Saylient_Dreams]

Another question came to mind, I read that it boots instantly to the menu, sometimes I play GBA games on my EzIV, was wondering if there was a way to boot into GBA mode and NOT DS mode?

 

[papyrus]

I can say that Edge is a good cart.SDHC cheap. Fast loading and 100% rom compatibility. DL and multi play works. One letdown is its cheat database.

 

[Bob Evil]

I can say that Edge is a good cart.SDHC cheap. Fast loading and 100% rom compatibility. DL and multi play works. One letdown is its cheat database.

Why cheat? Why not just play the game?

 

[Bri]

I never thought I'd be interested in cheats, but it turns out that there are some racing games where I just want to race on lots of cool tracks with cool cars, but don't want to invest the time to unlock all of them.

The inability to add your own cheats on the Edge is probably its biggest drawback. The Acekard 2 has its own cheat peculiarities where you have to click some extra buttons in the menu if you change/add cheats for a game to "rebuild" the cheats for that game, but at least you can add your own cheats.

I'm guessing that both problems will be fixed in future firmware updates.

-Bri

 

[A600]

Why cheat? Why not just play the game?

Yep. Cheats are for losers

 

[Symbolic]

The only let back of the EDGE card is that its really hard to find...cause most online stores have it sold or on backordered...such as Dealextreme.

But Modchipcentral just recently restocked on them, so you should check them out.

 

[HaniKazmi]

You should also look into the dstt. It seems to have everything you need.

 

[Bri]

Acekard 2 is available at psxboy.com (currently $35 + $2 shipping).
Edge is available at psxboy.com (currently $35 + $2 shipping).
DSTT is available at dealextreme.com (currently $30.95 + free shipping).

-Bri

 

[Saylient_Dreams]

I tried PSXBOY, seems to be a mistake, I need to get 4, 1 formyself, 1 for my gf, 2 for my friend, and everytime I put anything greater than 1 in the QTY it says Lack of stock, which I'm guessing means they're out of it.
I was looking at DSTT, but I saw it had trouble with a few things I wanted, like the JUS translation (I know that's been worked out though) and Contra 4 (according to the review 99.9% compatibility), I don't like that moonshell isn't really integrated into the GUI, and I also like the fact that EDGE is compatible with CycloDS skins, so I know there will be plenty of skins for that.
Acekard 2 from what I've read is picky with MicroSD and also has slowdowns on Castlevania even with a Jpn Kingston. Also don't like the fact it's cart is just clipped together, I'd like something a little more solid. It's also spring loaded, and I don't really trust spring loaded.
Seems like getting an EDGE is almost as hard as getting a DS in Jpn half a year ago. Dealextreme has customers who bought it in Jan just finally shipping at the end of March. I'll probably go to PSXBOY when they finally get them in stock. Thanks for the opinions and info.

 

[matriculated]

But Modchipcentral just recently restocked on them, so you should check them out.

What? Their website still says out of stock.

 

[lenselijer]

I contacted the edge team and they dont have stock themself

They told me 7th of april is the next shipment.

 

[Bri]

bamboogaming.com has the Edge in stock ($45 AUD = ~$41 USD).

As for the DSTT:

• Contra 4 works fine with the newest firmware.
• JUS translation also works fine (read this thread for more info).
• Moonshell isn't integrated into the GIU of any cart except SCDS1 I think. Most carts take you to a menu where you have to choose whether you want to launch Moonshell (which is itself a homebrew application) or go to the file list (where you can load games or other homebrew applications). The DSTT takes you directly to the file list (where you can launch Moonshell if you want) rather than making you go through a superfluous menu first. Many consider this an advantage since it's simpler and less clicking to play games.
• There are plenty of skins available for DSTT. You cannot switch skins in the menu, but you can replace the default skin with a custom skin.
• The biggest problem with the DSTT right now is lack of sorting in the menu. But there is an easy way to sort (it takes about 20 seconds to do). You can also use YSMenu (a homebrew menu) which does sort the roms.
• A small number of DSTT's have had contact problems, so if you buy one find out if the seller is willing to test it before sending it out and make sure you can exchange it if there is a problem.

-Bri