Hacking EZ Flash IV - Are there still fakes floating around?

[Deleted member 42501]

Greetings all, feel like getting back into the GBA scene and was about to order an EZ Flash IV from China when I remembered there was a whole furore when Mother 3 dropped as there were loads of fake carts kicking around that had emulation issues with save/RAM.

Still the case or is there only decent stuff left? The shops I'm looking at appear to have the small white box version of the EZFIV for around $40.

Any pointers?



Cheers

 

[FAST6191]

Were there ever any fake carts? We saw some that had issues, though most of those were due to a new loader, being old stock and people using microSD to miniSD adapters. Likewise there were a few dodgy shops but most of those are gone/known these days.

Anyway what exists today, they can be a bit iffy but that is usually because they are trying to run an old production line/gear for them.

 

[Deleted member 42501]

I distinctly remember something about there being knock off carts in that era although it could have been due to the loader issues.

Something about you could tell from the packaging as people were having issues with saves on mother 3 IIRC due to the memory. I'm aware of the micro/mini issues and have already found a place that sells 2GB miniSDs.

Are these folk any good:

http://www.realhotstuff.com/EZ-Flash-iV_p_76.html

Cheers

 

[FAST6191]

Realhotstuff are a good company.

The Mother 3 issue seems to be that Mother 3 uses every byte available to it and does not trim at all (and shrinking GBA ROMs is a nightmare). Some people then have NOR chips that do not then fit the game (various reasons, mostly flash memory is not great and if sectors die the chip may instead lose some space if it can not reallocate). If the space is not there then people can not get Mother 3 onto the NOR chip and thus no Mother 3 for them. I did contemplate actually shrinking the game but I recall seeing posts during the Mother 3 translation that the team were having a hard time with getting space to put things, that is something which never happens on GBA games unless people try things like adding videos or voice acting.

I never saw a confirmed knockoff or even a suspected knockoff/clone of the EZ4. Supercards, EZFA, f2a and things like that, absolutely, but never any EZFlash gear.

 

[Deleted member 42501]

Thank you very much for your help Fast

 

[migles]

Realhotstuff are a good company.

The Mother 3 issue seems to be that Mother 3 uses every byte available to it and does not trim at all (and shrinking GBA ROMs is a nightmare). Some people then have NOR chips that do not then fit the game (various reasons, mostly flash memory is not great and if sectors die the chip may instead lose some space if it can not reallocate). If the space is not there then people can not get Mother 3 onto the NOR chip and thus no Mother 3 for them. I did contemplate actually shrinking the game but I recall seeing posts during the Mother 3 translation that the team were having a hard time with getting space to put things, that is something which never happens on GBA games unless people try things like adding videos or voice acting.

I never saw a confirmed knockoff or even a suspected knockoff/clone of the EZ4. Supercards, EZFA, f2a and things like that, absolutely, but never any EZFlash gear.

replicashooter i hat the issue hes talking about, i bought the card in january from realhotstuff, but just detected the issue now (never tried a 32 mb rom before), and its too late to rma it

realhotstuff is a great store. it was my fault since i didn't tested the card when it arrived... i also bought a dstwo from them and it was perfect.

if you order from them, or any other store, can you please test mother 3, i am making some kind of search about this problem too... but note. just a few cards does have this...

i can help you with the setup of the card if you want

 

[Deleted member 42501]

replicashooter i hat the issue hes talking about, i bought the card in january from realhotstuff, but just detected the issue now (never tried a 32 mb rom before), and its too late to rma it

realhotstuff is a great store. it was my fault since i didn't tested the card when it arrived... i also bought a dstwo from them and it was perfect.

if you order from them, or any other store, can you please test mother 3, i am making some kind of search about this problem too... but note. just a few cards does have this...

i can help you with the setup of the card if you want

Thank you. What exactly is it that you're supposed to test/check and how do you identify which cards have the issue? Is it just copying the game to the fixed memory so that you can boot it without loading or is it more involved?

Also, are there still the SRAM saving issues with titles like Super Mario World and Advance Wars where you have to use 8+3 naming or has that been solved now?

Cheers

 

[migles]

Thank you. What exactly is it that you're supposed to test/check and how do you identify which cards have the issue? Is it just copying the game to the fixed memory so that you can boot it without loading or is it more involved?

Also, are there still the SRAM saving issues with titles like Super Mario World and Advance Wars where you have to use 8+3 naming or has that been solved now?

Cheers

yes, just copy the game into the "fixed memory", if your card does have an issue it will get stuck while trying to copy it (mine gets stuck at 254mb..)

i didnt have sram issues, just with kirby once, which i think i turned off the console or pressed the L button which cancels making the copy to sd card and it did get corrupted, but i just formated the card and it is workin with no problem...