EZ Flash Omega + Analogue Pocket firmware

[Pascoungou]

Hi,
At first glance, mine doesn’t work too, I have updated my firmware on my ez flash and my pocket and it doesn’t work too.
So I checked the settings of my pocket and by default it’s on gb mode so I put my pocket in gba mode and it works just fine !

Might I ask what you meant by "I put my pocket in gba mode" ?

 

[epistaxis]

If anyone cares, EEPROM save games currently fail to save when using a EZFlash Omega on a pocket. Some games like A Link to the Past won't even let you past the initial save screen. Temporary solution is to patch these roms with GBATA to use SRAM saves. When you select the patched game in the Omega menu set the save type manually to SRAM. Tutorial: https://flashcartdb.com/index.php/How_to_Patch_GBA_Games_with_GBATA

 

[coolbho3000]

The EEPROM issue also occurs on some ED GBA X5s and is being tracked here: https://github.com/frederic-mahe/Analogue-Pocket/issues/15

 

[astrodraco]

Just here to report the same issue as OP.

Updating the Omega to v09, restarted the console, asks every boot to update firmware to v09. My menus say v07 still but hilariously on my actual GBA it doesn’t have the message and shows v09 working fine as normal.

Have also noticed that Mother 3 doesn’t work on my Pocket with the Omega. I have to write it to NOR flash due to its size, booting from there on the Pocket gives a white screen. Tested ROM and it works fine, playing the game from NOR on an actual GBA also works fine.

Other games booting from the SD seemingly work just fine however.

 

[PhilippeA]

For Ez Omega DE, i manage to make it work with every pokemon game from gb, gbc and gba.
I had the "Analogue BIOS 1.4 LINK MODE" with no "error" and that have nothing to do with clean or plugged error.

Need:
- Ez flash already on FW 4 and K 1.03.
- Analogue Pocket on FW 1.0
Optional:
- Having the ezflash firmware (.bin) in the root of you SD card on Ez

The process is to put any regular gba game on the cartridge, after start of the game put the AP (Analogue Pocket) in sleep.
Change the gba game with the Ez Omega in A mode, wake up the AP,
*** Optional need firmware file
hold R to use the last firmware it will "update" without reboot, after it will print the update menu,
***
choose B when it ask for update.
EZ is ready to use.

B mode don't work.

 

[PhilippeA]

I think the issue is about power consumption and some check by the bios.

 

[coolbho3000]

I think the issue is about power consumption and some check by the bios.

Interesting. Do you have to do this every time you boot the Omega DE? Or did you have to do this just once?

 

[livinitwarrior]

This happened on mine as well, all you have to do is complete the upgrade process on a regular gameboy advance, and then once the process is complete, you can then play it normally on the analogue pocket.

 

[astrodraco]

This happened on mine as well, all you have to do is complete the upgrade process on a regular gameboy advance, and then once the process is complete, you can then play it normally on the analogue pocket.

This is partially covered in the thread and did not work for me or OP.

 

[epistaxis]

Have also noticed that Mother 3 doesn’t work on my Pocket with the Omega. I have to write it to NOR flash due to its size, booting from there on the Pocket gives a white screen. Tested ROM and it works fine, playing the game from NOR on an actual GBA also works fine.

Are you using the latest mother 3 1.3 patch revision? It's working perfectly fine flashed to NOR on my Omega/Pocket combo.

 

[livinitwarrior]

This is partially covered in the thread and did not work for me or OP.

Weird, I've used this both on the Omega and the Omega definitive edition without any issues

 

[coolbho3000]

Is boot to NOR flash or mode B working for anyone else on the DE?

 

[Manwichman44]

I think I have found a fix, but please don't hate me if it doesn't work for you. When I would load any game on the pocket, I noticed that there was a small window where the pocket loads it's bios before the game, so what I did was boot a game, then quickly switch the cart to the Omega de. It will then freeze on a white screen if done right. While it is on this screen, use the Pocket's save state beta feature and create a save state. You then load the state. It will still be a white screen. You then quit and reload the cart (Omega de) and it loads fully. It will then boot like normal every time. What I'm thinking the issue is is that with the Pocket's timing (not sure exactly what that means), I'm able to fool the system into thinking the flash cart is a real game, kinda like a disc swap on ps2 for example. It seems to kind of 'jump start' the Omega de. I'm not sure how this makes it work every time afterwards but it seems to so far.
Warning: DO NOT PUT IT IN MODE B!!! Doing so will cause it not to boot again and you have to do the above steps again.

I hope this helps someone other than me!

 

[astrodraco]

Are you using the latest mother 3 1.3 patch revision? It's working perfectly fine flashed to NOR on my Omega/Pocket combo.

Are you using a normal Omega or an Omega DE? My normal Omega fails to boot it from NOR flash, is a garbled mess when booting from the SD itself. The ROM I have is the latest translation, straight from the No-Intro romset. Works fine on PC and on original hardware -- just not the Pocket.

 

[epistaxis]

Are you using a normal Omega or an Omega DE? My normal Omega fails to boot it from NOR flash, is a garbled mess when booting from the SD itself. The ROM I have is the latest translation, straight from the No-Intro romset. Works fine on PC and on original hardware -- just not the Pocket.

Normal omega

 

[astrodraco]

Not sure then. It may have something to do with my Omega reading "something else" and that reporting that its on FW7 while the device is on FW9 according to any original hardware. Who knows.

I have an Omega DE coming just for shits and giggles to see if it works, so I'm going to do a whole bunch of testing on this thing today to see if I can find a solution.

 

[PhilippeA]

Interesting. Do you have to do this every time you boot the Omega DE? Or did you have to do this just once?

Yes every time
Edit:
After Reading about save state above I've try but didn't manage to make it work.
But I try to save state after my method and reload and now the ez omega DE work well on Mode A with the proper kernel and firmware.

Tested on Analogue FW 1.0 and 1.0A

So now I just need to load state when I reach analogue bios screen

 

[astrodraco]

Did some testing with a bunch of things — long story short, none of them worked.

I grabbed the FW3Downgrader and downgraded the kernel and firmware to K1.01 and FW3, but it only reported that on the SP — original hardware. On The Pocket, it still showed as FW7.

Tried updating from the SP to FW9, worked fine. Put Omega into Pocket, still says FW7, same boot message about updating to FW9. Updating from the Pocket *looks* fine, as in things show they’ve been updated, but upon restarting the console, the same message about updating from FW7 to FW9 shows up.

Tried the recovery image as well and choosing “Update Loader” with the image flashed to an SD card, but it produces the same set of problems. Tried every which way, doing it from SP, doing it from the Pocket, downgrade on SP, upgrasde on Pocket and vice versa. Same issue persists.

There seems be no way a user can fix this and the fix may need to come directly from Analogue, but who knows. I think a safe measure would be to upgrasde to the latest firmware from original hardware first, then placing in the Pocket and using as normal.

The Mother 3 issue never fixed or corrected itself — nothing worked. Boots normally from SD sometimes, but most times it has grabbled visuals. Booting from NOR has never worked. Tested other SD cards, same problem. ROM works fine on PC, Mac, iOS, and Android emulators, and in original hardware, but fails on the Pocket.

Weird issue. Hopefully these notes can assist someone somewhere in finding a solution.

 

[coolbho3000]

I think I have found a fix, but please don't hate me if it doesn't work for you. When I would load any game on the pocket, I noticed that there was a small window where the pocket loads it's bios before the game, so what I did was boot a game, then quickly switch the cart to the Omega de. It will then freeze on a white screen if done right. While it is on this screen, use the Pocket's save state beta feature and create a save state. You then load the state. It will still be a white screen. You then quit and reload the cart (Omega de) and it loads fully. It will then boot like normal every time. What I'm thinking the issue is is that with the Pocket's timing (not sure exactly what that means), I'm able to fool the system into thinking the flash cart is a real game, kinda like a disc swap on ps2 for example. It seems to kind of 'jump start' the Omega de. I'm not sure how this makes it work every time afterwards but it seems to so far.
Warning: DO NOT PUT IT IN MODE B!!! Doing so will cause it not to boot again and you have to do the above steps again.

I hope this helps someone other than me!

So the process is this? Does it still work after you restart your Pocket?

1. Boot the Omega DE like normal. You get a white screen
2. Save state
3. Load the state you just saved. You'll still be on a white screen
4. Quit the Omega DE from the Pocket menu
5. Load the Omega DE again from the Pocket menu

 

[coolbho3000]

@EZ-Flash2 did you guys get a Pocket?

My Omega DE was working perfectly except Mode B and then today it stopped working suddenly.