Hardware EEprom Patcher doesnt work

[Drip]

The GBAtemp EEPROM v124 Patcher doesn't seem to work correctly. I used it to patch Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga, and it seemed to work for a few days, but one day i turned it on, and my files were gone. Luckily i got about that far on my comp before i put it on my Elink/Micro, because i knew there might be some trouble. Well since the patcher is still posted, i assume that maybe i'm doing something incorrect (although it's just drag and drop) and i'm wondering if anyone has used this and their outcome.

 

[TrolleyDave]

Try patching it with this, if it doesn't work then you might have a corrupt file.

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=72631

 

[Destructobot]

Save patching either works or it doesn't, it doesn't work for a while and then quit.

 

[Drip]

Try patching it with this, if it doesn't work then you might have a corrupt file.

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=72631

Alright, i can only hope this works, thank you for the assistance. Does it matter if the rom is like, usa or european [E]?
QUOTE(Destructobot @ Nov 26 2008, 05:35 PM) Save patching either works or it doesn't, it doesn't work for a while and then quit.

-immensely loud and deep gulp-
i hope ur pulling my chain, but you're probably right. Good side is that i've already beaten ML:SS a few years ago on my comp. But besides the fact that i missed some things, i want a more 'authentic' gameplay. The temptations of emulators to constantly load save slots for perfect scores, is not only overwhelming but gets old and annoying, while also ruining the game.

By the way, is there a faster way to check if the patching works? I mean like, instead of being surprised 5days later, is there a way to quick check or speed up the process?

 

[TrolleyDave]

Try patching it with this, if it doesn't work then you might have a corrupt file.

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=72631

Alright, i can only hope this works, thank you for the assistance. Does it matter if the rom is like, usa or european [E]?

Nope, doesn't matter. It scans for info built into the rom file itself.

 

[Drip]

Phew, that's good to hear. It seems to be solid after one day (not surprising). I'll repost in about a week, sooner, if it doesnt work. *fingers crossed*

EDIT: Oh! Almost forgot: Let's say the ROM has been patched, if i use a sav file from an unpatched ROM, will the patched effects be dismissed? Or do i need to just re-save it with the patched ROM, and it'll all be gravy?

 

[TrolleyDave]

Phew, that's good to hear. It seems to be solid after one day (not surprising). I'll repost in about a week, sooner, if it doesnt work. *fingers crossed*

EDIT: Oh! Almost forgot: Let's say the ROM has been patched, if i use a sav file from an unpatched ROM, will the patched effects be dismissed? Or do i need to just re-save it with the patched ROM, and it'll all be gravy?

If the ROM is unpatched it shouldn't save unless it's already an SRAM type save. Some of the GBA loaders patch it for you as it's copying it to the card, if it's an autopatching loader you've got then the save should work perfectly. Or have you been playing it on an emulator? If you've been playing it on an emulator I think you might have to convert the save, I'm not too sure cos I never use emulators.

 

[Drip]

Lol, sorry for the late responses.
And um, you confused me just a TAD bit. But to be more clear: The sav file was created on my comp, from the unpatched ROM; but i'm playing the patched rom on my Elink. I would've just loaded a state from the unpatched onto the patched and then create the sav file from the patched version, but i tried that and for some reason elink won't take certain sms sav files. i dont fully understand that, but as far as i know, it's only taking the sav files from the unpatched version. Now like i said, i'm not fully sure about that last part, but i mentioned it just in case.

 

[TrolleyDave]

I've never used an Elink before so don't know how it works mate, sorry.

Hopefully someone else will know though. I don't see why a patched game won't read an unpatched save though. When you say it was created on the comp, does Elink come with some kind of patching software?

 

[Drip]

Yes, Elink does come with a patcher, but i made sure to try that out way before i started asking for assistance. And it's not that the Patched rom can't read the unpatched file (i can't fully explain it well), Elink does won't write/burn/add certain sms sav files, so far the only ones i'm aware of are the ones from patched games. everything's holding up good so far, so i dont think it's a big deal. And if it does fail, oh well, you can't have it all.

 

[Drip]

Alright, seems like everything's all good, idk how long it's been but i haven't had any problems yet. Thank you for the program; appreciate it very much.

 

[TrolleyDave]

No probs, glad it helped. I've just released a newer version if you want it, it's fixed a bug in a save type and has much faster detection routines.

 

[enarky]

No probs, glad it helped. I've just released a newer version if you want it, it's fixed a bug in a save type and has much faster detection routines.

Would you mind elaborating on that bug a bit? I'm currently using your findings from this thread to write my own implementation of a patcher to run natively on Linux and thus am naturally highly interested in that.

BTW, my "test ROM-Image" (Advance_Guardian_Heroes_GBA-VENOM) has slightly different EEPROM_V124 code for the original Block 1 from what you wrote down in that other thread... is that a mistake in your post? The last three bytes are 0x48, 0x44, 0xe0, but your post says it should be $48,$48,$e0. Haven't checked other ROM-Images with that savetype yet, I was just glad that I found out why I couldn't find the original Block 1 so far.

 

[TrolleyDave]

No probs, glad it helped. I've just released a newer version if you want it, it's fixed a bug in a save type and has much faster detection routines.

Would you mind elaborating on that bug a bit? I'm currently using your findings from this thread to write my own implementation of a patcher to run natively on Linux and thus am naturally highly interested in that.

BTW, my "test ROM-Image" (Advance_Guardian_Heroes_GBA-VENOM) has slightly different EEPROM_V124 code for the original Block 1 from what you wrote down in that other thread... is that a mistake in your post? The last three bytes are 0x48, 0x44, 0xe0, but your post says it should be $48,$48,$e0. Haven't checked other ROM-Images with that savetype yet, I was just glad that I found out why I couldn't find the original Block 1 so far.

The bug wasn't to do with patching values, I was trying to move 20 bytes into a 2 byte array. D'oh.

I've just checked my source code and the values in my post are correct, it should definitely be $48, $48, $e0.

edit : I've just checked the post against my source and there was a couple of changes needed doing. Here's the ones I just changed, all I did was shorten the arrays.

Fixes (03/12/08)
Changed unpatched/patched block 1 for Flash1M_V102
Changed unpatch/patched blocks 2 and 3 for Flash_v125

edit2 : Actually you could be right, I think I might have come across the same problem cos in my compare strings I'm only using the first 20 bytes. I'll do a tidy up of my source and do an edit in the original thread.