EZ-V 3-in-1 Expansion Pack Review

[Monkey01]

Color me very unimpressed and highly suspicious of the 9/10 review rating.
Seeing R4 and M3Simply both have a 9/10 as well, I wonder why it should score lower.

The best combination as of yet remains the R4 + EZ IV Deluxe Lite from Winsunx.com for $94 shipped 2-3 day.
But that doesn't give you rumble+ram and sticks out a mm (I don't care, but it does)

Get a SuperCard Rumble, if that even supports GBA...
Supercard has crappy GBA support - the rumble, even more.
The rumble just not at all.

Having GBA ROMS stored on a Transflash card defeats the purpose. You'd run into huge compatibility issues unless you copied them to NOR or NAND flash memory, which is what happens with this unit.

Strange. 95% of the games I play on my EZ IV Flash run just fine in NAND (without transferring t NOR)
He said NOR or NAND, so if you say they work on NAND then he's not really denying that? The person above me however is, I personally don't understand shit bout NOR, NAND and PSRAM...

 

[daps83777]

i saw that M3 has an original gba cart sized for there last M3 for ds light gba carts. they sell them with the original size shells also in case you have a ds phat. i saw kicktrading has the gba cart for the M3 for $.99 seems pretty cheap, is there any reason that this wouldn't work on this one? or does it depend on where the screws are attached and what not?

check it out and let me know what you guys think

http://www.kicktrading.ca/m3lite-gba-shell...hite-p-138.html

 

[Propionation]

i saw that M3 has an original gba cart sized for there last M3 for ds light gba carts. they sell them with the original size shells also in case you have a ds phat. i saw kicktrading has the gba cart for the M3 for $.99 seems pretty cheap, is there any reason that this wouldn't work on this one? or does it depend on where the screws are attached and what not?

check it out and let me know what you guys think

http://www.kicktrading.ca/m3lite-gba-shell...hite-p-138.html

First of all the M3 GBA shell has a hole for micro sd which the 3 in 1 expansion doesn't have. Second the screw is located in the middle while the 3 in 1's is to the side. Based on this I would suppose that it wouldn't fit correctly without any prior modifications.

 

[daps83777]

thanks for the reply thats a bummer. i wish more people would take M3's lead and make regular gba sized cases so you had the option to use it on a ds or ds light.

 

[Tomy Sakazaki]

I have a little question about the loader, does it boosts compatibility with DS Roms now or the M3Simply/R4DS is better?
Only to know if I should wait to see what the M3 Real will be.

 

[Hooya]

No, the expansion pack has nothing to do with how well DS games run off of the slot-1 card.

 

[APPS]

Im sure different casings such as phat sized and deifferent colours ( why on earth whould they not have white? Or atleast a choice) will be available in the future.

But i still think i'll wait for the M3/G6 Real

 

[cory1492]

I am just wondering... about the expansion pack shell, i saw in cory1492 picture on the orginal announcement that there is a white slot 2 sized shell in that pic, not sure if its a replacement case? can anyone confirm?

The white one to the side is an EZ4 lite deluxe, not just a shell.

QUOTEIm sure different casings such as phat sized and deifferent colours ( why on earth whould they not have white? Or atleast a choice) will be available in the future.

I'd bet that like their previous bundle editions there will be a few colors to choose from. Hard to say for sure though...

 

[ron555]

They do not run from your SD, they are transfered to PSRAM for execution.]/quote]

Yes, I know, but at least I have the option of running more than one game without completely burning to NOR.

NAND is completely unsuitable to run GBA code from, it's just too slow.

I'm getting a little confused by all of the memory terminology, but I was under the impression that there were two types in the EZIV Deluxe - PSRAM and NOR.

That other 5% of games that need to be burned to NOR are probably all 256Mb's, right? The EZ4 (microSD) and old EZ4 lite (ie not compact or deluxe) only have 128 Mb's of PSRAM meaning games larger then that need to be burned to NOR.

Most of my games run fine in PSRAM. I got a white screen on a few of the games in PSRAM, burned them to NOR, and whoila, it worked. They are much smaller than 256MB. 1 game in question in Super Street Fighter II.

Oh... I don't think I've heard it mention does this thing have an RTC? Not that I care much, but I know others might.

That's like, what, 1 game that has RTC. Frankly, I see this is as a incredible non-issue.

Seeing R4 and M3Simply both have a 9/10 as well, I wonder why it should score lower.

Then you're implying that the R4 is the same level of product, which it isn't.

It's got proven updates, springe loaded MicroSD slot, solid construction (vs EZ V), "good box" (lol) and no apparent drawbacks vs the M4. Tell me, why shouldn't it have a better score?

The rumble just not at all.

I don't really understand your statement, but if you're insinuating that the rumble has poor GBA, but other SC have decent GBA then you've obviously never owned a Supercard.

I've owned the Supercard SD, miniSD, and the lite. All of them had piss-poor GBA compatibility. Great homebrew, though.

He said NOR or NAND, so if you say they work on NAND then he's not really denying that? The person above me however is, I personally don't understand shit bout NOR, NAND and PSRAM...

I got confused. By NAND, I meant PSRAM. I'm not even aware that the EZ4 Lite Deluxe TF Adapter has NAND memory. According to Winsunx, it doesn't (http://www.winsunx.com/list.php?mod=7). The EZ Lite IV does, however.

The Deluxe model has 384Mbit Norflash and 256Mbit Psram. My point was that most of my games play well with just the 256MB PSRAM.
If a game has problems (Super Street Fighter II), slowdowns (hasn't happened), or is bigger than 256Mbit, then I use NOR; alternately, if it's a game I play often and want to get the best experience from, then I use NOR memory.


Simply put, there is no better combination than the R4 + EZ FLash IV Deluxe as of right now. This EZ-V package is only a few dollars cheaper and offers rumble as its main bonus in comparison. Is it worth the drawbacks? That's for the user to decide. I personally don't think so.

 

[cory1492]

I got confused. By NAND, I meant PSRAM. I'm not even aware that the EZ4 Lite Deluxe TF Adapter has NAND memory. According to Winsunx, it doesn't (http://www.winsunx.com/list.php?mod=7). The EZ Lite IV does, however.

None of the EZ4's have NAND, the EZ4 is essentially an EZ3 with the NAND replaced by the SD card interface. EZ3 had RAM+NOR+NAND.

RAM/PSRAM - needs power to keep it's data refreshed (aka: volatile memory). Very fast memory transfers (like RAM in a PC).
NOR - doesn't need power to keep its data (aka: nonvolitile memory). Slow writes, fast reads.
NAND - doesn't need power to keep its data (aka: nonvolitile memory). Too "slow" to use for GBA (too much latency to get the data as fast as a GBA expects it). Most MM cards use some type of NAND technology.

Things need to be copied to NOR or RAM to be accessible as quickly as the GBA port expects a GBA game to read data. NOR is there if you either have something too big for the limited PSRAM models or simply don't want to wait every time you load the same game.

Clearer?

 

[Hooya]

Rumble is a main bonus, but so is the RAM pack.

And yes, I was talking about the EZ Flash IV Lite, as that is what I have, so yes, I was talking about NAND and NOR memory. I have no comments on PSRAM.

Here's the thing:
1: They wanted the expansion pack to function as a perfect GBA game. The compatibility will be perfect with the exception of games that require additional hardware (Boktai solar sensor, Tilt sensor or RTC). Copying to NOR memory makes this possible. Since NOR isn't volatile like NAND or PSRAM, you only have to copy a game once.

2: Not having any interface to choose from a list of ROMS also means that there is DS-GBA link capability perfectly with no extra steps (like patching the DS ROM like the EZ Flash IV products do). Doing this with NAND or PSRAM would not be possible because when you power cycle the game would be lost. NOR memory sticks around.

3: Games are saved via battery on the expansion pack, which means it operates just like a GBA cart.

So it's just like having a slot 2 device with NOR memory and no NAND/PSRAM but with more compatibility because the TF card is stored elsewhere so the slot 2 cart can function exactly like a GBA cart.

It seems like you would be happy if it could use NAND memory, but that wouldn't be possible without losing some compatibility and functions like GBA-DS link and even a performance hit.

 

[scrawl]

There is an error in the review:

Sadly there is no soft reset function in the EZ-V as of writing this review. This function would enable you to press a key combination to exit a game and return to the loader menu. It is already present on the R4 DS and also common with slot-2 flashcards
Soft-reset was introduced in firmware 1.36. However, it does require the ROM to be patched with the hybrid tool (which also trims and removes slow MicroSD issues) before it will work.

Here is a closer look at the guts of the Triple-pack. Notice the plastic tabs on the casing - this is the case EZ-IV owners dream about. Very sturdy. The PCB itself looks very similar to the EZ-IV:

HooyaNot having any interface to choose from a list of ROMS also means that there is DS-GBA link capability perfectly with no extra steps

I suspect this played a big part in the decision to allow a single ROM to be written.

My feeling is if you are a user who plays a lot of GBA games, you're better off with an EZ-IV deluxe or similar. For the casual GBA gamer, the Triple-pack is fine.

 

[Destructobot]

well maybe you can compile a Pogoshell rom and send it to the 256 mbits? this way you can have multiple games

No can do, you have to patch the GBA roms with the EZ4 client.

They won't work with pogoshell after they've been patched?

 

[Opium]

There is an error in the review:

Sadly there is no soft reset function in the EZ-V as of writing this review. This function would enable you to press a key combination to exit a game and return to the loader menu. It is already present on the R4 DS and also common with slot-2 flashcards

Soft-reset was introduced in firmware 1.36. However, it does require the ROM to be patched with the hybrid tool (which also trims and removes slow MicroSD issues) before it will work.

Ahh yes, thanks for pointing that out I've updated that part of the review.

 

[faceless]

the expansion is nice if you want rumble or opera, but really, this is the ultra combo...

 

[Tomy Sakazaki]

No, the expansion pack has nothing to do with how well DS games run off of the slot-1 card.

Errrr, I've talked about the LOADER! Piece of software that loads the ROMs! It's named Kernel on M3Simply and R4DS, it's Operational System on SuperCard DS One, but for all means it's a ROM loader.
The loader of EzFlash V must have received a update that solved some compatibility issues presented at the original EzFlashV review, like the loader/OS and saver type list of SuperCard DS One solved. Because I already have a supercard lite, but if EzFlashV with last version of loader runs NDS roms without glitches and issues it would be a choice for me depending on what M3 Real is going to be. Because the EZ Team Slot2 flashcards have a great compatibility with GBA games.

Now I will repeat the question:
QUOTEI have a little question about the loader, does it boosts compatibility with DS Roms now or the M3Simply/R4DS is still better?
Only to know if I should wait to see what the M3 Real will be.

Only added a still to my own quote.
Sorry for being rude, but I think that it was necessary.

 

[Propionation]

No, they have not improved compatibility with the new loader. Most of the DS compatibility issues with the EZ-Flash V are resolved using the hybrid patching tool.

 

[Tomy Sakazaki]

So, I'm going to wait and see what M3 Real will be.
Thanks Proprionation.

 

[scrawl]

While the loader's compatibility has not been improved since Opium's initial review, the accuracy of the save-type list has.

The EZ-V uses a database of ROMs and their corresponding save types. If the ROM is not in the database or the save type defined is incorrect, it won't save correctly.

Thankfully the savelist is regularly maintained and kept up to date by EZ-V users, thanks primarily to Cory. There are also third-party tools available to modify the list yourself.

To be honest, the save list is a bit of an achilles heel for the EZ-V, especially considering the competition seem to save just fine without one.

 

[Propionation]

So, I'm going to wait and see what M3 Real will be.
Thanks Proprionation.

You might as well wait cause I haven't found a store that has it in stock yet online.