Hacking EZ-FLASH OMEGA Feature request

[steelseth]

Im reading about the possibility of corruption of the save file when turning off the device while the cart is saving.

As simple solution would be.

1. Dont overwrite the existing save file.
2. Save a new file game.tmp.
3. On reboot/reset check for *.tmp files in the save folder, if they exist check they are not corrupt (file size ?).
4. If .tmp is ok then rename to .sav and overwrite old save file.

Another way would be.
1. Dont overwrite the existing save file.
2. Save a new file game.tmp.
3. When save is finished rename .sav file to .old
4. Rename .tmp to .sav
5. Delete .old

This way if the file is corrupt you still loose the latest save but atleast if you have 20 hours play on a game you dont loose everything.

 

[spkuja]

OR just don't turn it off while saving... You wouldn't do it with a proper game.

 

[steelseth]

OR just don't turn it off while saving... You wouldn't do it with a proper game.

"Please wait at least 2-3 seconds after in-game save behavior, then power off the game console or reset game."
I dont wait 2-3 after I save in a proper game.
Do you ?
Does anyone ?

 

[spkuja]

"Please wait at least 2-3 seconds after in-game save behavior, then power off the game console or reset game."
I dont wait 2-3 after I save in a proper game.
Do you ?
Does anyone ?

If given clear instructions to do so, then yes, I would

 

[migles]

"Please wait at least 2-3 seconds after in-game save behavior, then power off the game console or reset game."
I dont wait 2-3 after I save in a proper game.
Do you ?
Does anyone ?

I do, even with official games or anything that saves.

I guess you also hate to safety disconnect thumb drives or sd cards and then come to the 3ds section blaming the cfw for corrupting your stuff?

 

[steelseth]

LOL.
I forgot how toxic GBAtemp can be.
Do any of you even own a EZ Omega ?

 

[Localhorst86]

What is it lately with the tone of some responses? OPs suggestion is really not that outrageous, tbh. He's offering thoughtful input on how @EZ-Flash2 can improve their product.

That being said, I haven't experienced any save corruption thus far, to me it's not that big of a hassle to count to 3 in my mind before I turn off my GBA. But from what I can gather from a few posts complaining about the issue, isn't the issue that the whole "SAVER" folder gets corrupted? So even if the EZ-Flash team was to implement this suggestion, the backed up save would be corrupted as well, wouldn't it?

 

[kuwanger]

Yea, it's unclear to me what's precisely going on. I've had save corruption, and it really does seem very random at times. I want to blame at least 99% of it on dirty contacts + possible microSD incompatibility, but I have still gotten very infrequent corruption elsewhere and AFAIK it has had nothing to do with not waiting long enough. The problem, of course, is that it's just too random (and infrequent) of a thing to be 100% sure it's not me.

So, I definitely appreciate the idea for suggestions. But given that corruption currently isn't isolated to just the save file, I don't think the suggestion is enough on its own. I do like the idea, though, of automatic versioning saves. Under such a scheme with 100 games and 100 revisions per game start, an average of 32KB/save would only be ~312.5MB. Drop that down to 10 revisions per game start, and that'd be only ~31.25MB which is actually a very reasonable number.

The real catch is, it only seems like a good idea to me if this actual translates into less corruption risk. Ie, having saves only write to the cluster(s) of the save file and having the meta data only updated once at startup. Presumably that'd isolate the risk actually down to a save. That, of course, presumes that the corruption from power off midwrite can actually be isolated. That, to me, is the real question.

Otherwise, you're just best either (1) doing lots of regular backups and having a computer handy for a restore or (2) waiting really long (closer to 5-10 seconds) to be really, really sure there can't possibly be corruption.

 

[Drumaster]

Having a very fast microSD card is an option as well I guess as it should reduce the time needed to write save on the card. No corruption for me yet after many saves on my Samsung Pro (80MB/s write). But maybe it's too soon for me to say that as I got my Omega only a few days ago (finger crossed).

 

[steelseth]

I didnt realize that the whole save directory or even other files got corrupted.
If Im not mistaken only writing new data as opposed to overwriting/deleting data has a better chance of not corrupting the filesystem in case of a powerloss.

 

[Localhorst86]

I didnt realize that the whole save directory or even other files got corrupted.

well, at least that's how I understood it. I could be wrong though, so it would probably be reasonable to see if someone who had this issue wants to provide further input

@kuwanger you seem to have run into this issue. Does the corruption only affect single files or the whole folder? Or maybe even the entire SD card?

 

[EZ-Flash2]

in my daily basis usage, a nobrand 8gb microsd with exfat, testing a lot of games with power on/off. unless I intend to power off quickly. I have not seen the error codes over months, no any corruption either.

btw, about the feature request, a huge suprise awating. do it by yourself.

 

[dcervi]

I've also thought you can add a menu option to backup and restore the saves folder to the NOR flash. With the fast RAM loading few people are using it for games.

Using this method, you have a backup in a different place, even in the case the hole SD card gets corrupted.

Enviado desde mi SM-G950F mediante Tapatalk

 

[kuwanger]

@kuwanger you seem to have run into this issue. Does the corruption only affect single files or the whole folder? Or maybe even the entire SD card?

It effects the folder. At least one time an unrelated game in a separate folder was corrupted. That's the part that makes me mostly convinced that the corruption can't really be isolated to the saver folder. :/ I'm not trying to speak ill of the EZ Omega mostly because when I have attempted to recreate corruption issues, I ironically have failed to succeed. It's one reason why for people who do have issues, it'd be great to know if they can reproduce the error and make a video demonstrating it or if it's really very random/hard to reproduce.

 

[steelseth]

btw, about the feature request, a huge suprise awating. do it by yourself.

Im not sure if its a language issue but Im pretty sure you told me to go F*** myself.
Thats a new level in customer service and public relations, way to go.

 

[migles]

btw, about the feature request, a huge suprise awating. do it by yourself.

Im not sure if its a language issue but Im pretty sure you told me to go F*** myself.

obviously its a language barrier\issue, it looks like he told to do it yourself, i am sure that's not he mean... the person had no intention to say that...
i seen the ez flash writing even weirder stuff i couldn't figure out the exact meaning

 

[EZ-Flash2]

Im not sure if its a language issue but Im pretty sure you told me to go F*** myself.
Thats a new level in customer service and public relations, way to go.

Yes. you misunderstood completely. wait and see. what is the "do it by yourself" means.

 

[Cartoni]

Hahah the misunderstanding in this thread is really high

Yes. you misunderstood completely. wait and see. what is the "do it by yourself" means.

Ooooh, exciting! This makes me wonder if you have found a solution to the whole corruption errors. Can't wait to see the new feature(s)

 

[Drumaster]

in my daily basis usage, a nobrand 8gb microsd with exfat, testing a lot of games with power on/off. unless I intend to power off quickly. I have not seen the error codes over months, no any corruption either.

btw, about the feature request, a huge suprise awating. do it by yourself.

Hahah the misunderstanding in this thread is really high

Ooooh, exciting! This makes me wonder if you have found a solution to the whole corruption errors. Can't wait to see the new feature(s)

As he said he can't reproduce save corruption bug, I think he won't fix anything as it may not even be an issue. I have NOT experienced this issue neither after a lot of saves during a few days. I don't say there is no issue at all, but at least EZ staff does not seem to experience it.

Have you tried with another freshly formatted microSD card with the proper file system/cluster size? Your card may be defective at some points when trying to write on some areas.