Hacking EZ Flash 4 - NOR memory save question

[JohnTheBaptist]

Hello everyone.

I'm considering purchasing an EZ Flash 4 so I can play Mother 3 on my DS Lite. I already own a few EZ Flash 3in1s which work excellently for playing smaller ROMs, but have a problem retaining saves in NOR mode (I think the batteries are dead), and are therefore useless for Mother 3, which is too big to be loaded into PSRAM mode.

My question for you all is:

Does the EZ Flash 4 generate external save states for all ROM sizes? Does it use NOR mode for bigger ROMs, and if so, can external save files be generated and used from there? That was the reason I was considering buying it, because I don't want to rely on shoddy batteries for save states if possible, especially for long RPGs. I also want to be able to back up my saves in case something catastrophic happens. Hypothetically speaking, could I use the Ez Flash 4 to, say - load up my old emulator save and play Mother 3 from where I left off, or am I just SOL on this issue and would be wasting the money to buy this card?

Sorry if this question sounds dumb, I'm not too privy as to how all of this hardware works. I'm just looking for a device that will let me play GBA ROMs larger than 16MB and will allow me to use/generate external save states.

 

[FAST6191]

Yeah the EZ4 should use the minisd as save space even for the NOR.

Emulator saves has a history of being annoying to convert (for VBA it should just be a matter of pressing file- export - battery save) but it is by no means impossible or even prone to failure (it will work but it might take a few minutes and some high volume swearing before you somehow get it all to click).

 

[exangel]

As a collector myself, I'm interested in getting an ez4 also, but you should know there's also a way to replace the battery in a 3-in-1. Unfortunately the images in the first post are broken now, but the thread itself has other contributions.
http://gbatemp.net/threads/guide-change-your-ezflash-3-in-1-battery-w-pics.132872/

My 3-in-1 is pretty old and I have no problem with Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories which is 32 MB, but my battery was recently replaced.

 

[JohnTheBaptist]

Thanks for the info everyone, especially the information about exporting battery saves from the emulator. I wasn't aware you had to do that.

As a related question, is it true that the EZ Flash IV has a problem with miniSD cards getting stuck in it? Should I use an adapter in case the card gets stuck, so I can still take it out?

 

[Cuelhu]

My setup has a micro and an adapter. Using my fingers I can only pull the micro SD off, but with tweezers you should do fine, micro or mini. Aside that it's more convenient having a micro because of it's standardized format so you can plug it in many gadgets by itself or with an adapter.

 

[FAST6191]

Stuck.... not really. It is quite tight the first few times but it eventually all settles down.

As for adapters we tend to advise not getting them- plenty of people have had them work but others have terrible issues cured immediately upon getting a miniSD. MiniSD are getting harder to find but you can usually find them if you look around (various amazons still carry them and mobile phone shops are also pretty good), still best to avoid anybody in Hong Kong for memory cards if you go looking elsewhere.