EZ4 loader 1.76 released, some bug fixes.

[kuwanger]

I've tried the sleephack method, but as you said, it kept erasing the loader, so I gave up.

My soft reset combination is L+Start+Select. Difficult to hit by accident in basically any game.

Yea, there's also abstartselect which includes a python script to change a slightly modified patch.bin so you can specify the actual soft reset combination. So, there's that. Meanwhile, I just am too lazy to go through and repatch everything. :/

 

[migles]

I guess the upgrade isn't necessary for old EZ4 models.

it is not you are fine with old updates, but this update improves lots of stuff, including support for SDHC (but can break SD support)

however, you can get back to 1.72 if you like\find problems.. the updates takes 1 minute...

 

[Donel]

Yea, there's also abstartselect which includes a python script to change a slightly modified patch.bin so you can specify the actual soft reset combination. So, there's that. Meanwhile, I just am too lazy to go through and repatch everything. :/

For some reason, sleephack.exe opens and closes instantly, before I'm able to do anything. It doesn't show any error on the screen (I was able to capture an screenshot of it), so I don't know what's going on.

 

[kuwanger]

For some reason, sleephack.exe opens and closes instantly, before I'm able to do anything. It doesn't show any error on the screen (I was able to capture an screenshot of it), so I don't know what's going on.

sleephack is a command line tool. You should read the webpage a bit, as it's sort of obvious.

 

[Donel]

Ok, I've learned how to use it, but the soft reset only resets the game itself, it doesn't get back to the loader.

 

[codezer0]

By the way, how do you change the reset-button combo on a ROM? I just realized that the default for the EZ4 (Up+L+A+B) is going to be very possible to press/trigger when playing through Metroid Fusion, actually.

 

[devnoname120]

Where can this be bought for cheap?

 

[migles]

By the way, how do you change the reset-button combo on a ROM? I just realized that the default for the EZ4 (Up+L+A+B) is going to be very possible to press/trigger when playing through Metroid Fusion, actually.

find the ez4para.ini (there is 2 of them) file
C:\windows\temp
C:\windows\Prefetch
they should be in this directories (this is the normal directories, it can be diferent depending on the pc)
open that file with notepad and edit it, just looking at it you should know how.

there is also a button to configure this on the client (if you bothered looking >:C ) but using the config button on the client seems to crash\break the client... you need to manually edit the file
i think ez team did a bad job making the client save to a windows folder... and that may be the reason it crashes the client (because since then windows get lots of security stuff\updates.. and it denies the client write access or something))

 

[Jayro]

So have I missed the 1.76 clearlooks port/release, or is everyone still too lazy to do it? Just curious.

 

[physicallyinsane]

Where can this be bought for cheap?

If you want cheap then nds-card.com sells it for 44.99 plus free shipping. But like all chinese vendors, there's always the possibility of the transaction going wrong. A lot of people recommend the site (it's gbatemp's sponsored site after all) but then again there are some who preach why we even sponsor the site at all since some people never got their order. But if you want to, there are two ez flash iv's listed on ebay rn going for $75. It's more pricey on there but a lot safer imo, plus you're guaranteed a refund if the cart is faulty.

 

[devnoname120]

Thank you, I was hoping that it would cost way less.

 

[codezer0]

This EZ Client is really grinding my gears.

Let me just run down the myriad of crap I've had to endure. Bad enough that I have to basically mix/match to get imports to work properly, but then we have the following:
- Try to batch a bunch together, and rather than skip those it has errors, it just flat out aborts but won't tell me what the problem is
- ... while it does that, it leaves behind a bunch of odd-sized sav files (either 0KB or the size of the ROM itself)
- SOME ROMs refuse to be batch processed at all. And wipe out the whole damn list.
- because of the file errors, I am constantly being forced to scan-disk to erase them because Windows won't let me erase them any other way. No amount of reformatting with SDFormatter makes any difference.
- ROMs that refuse to accept their given name at all. I can understand why with the ROMs for the cheat devices (because of their nature), but some are just MS DOS levels of stupid. Just now I had to re-rename River City Ransom six times before I found one it would accept!

 

[physicallyinsane]

find the ez4para.ini (there is 2 of them) file
C:\windows\temp
C:\windows\Prefetch
they should be in this directories (this is the normal directories, it can be diferent depending on the pc)
open that file with notepad and edit it, just looking at it you should know how.

there is also a button to configure this on the client (if you bothered looking >:C ) but using the config button on the client seems to crash\break the client... you need to manually edit the file
i think ez team did a bad job making the client save to a windows folder... and that may be the reason it crashes the client (because since then windows get lots of security stuff\updates.. and it denies the client write access or something))

I found the .ini file but there was only one in \temp in the C: drive. I changed it and it certainly did change it on the client but the reset patch hasn't worked for any of my games so far. I'm not really sure what I'm doing wrong, since you said you've had success with boot to loader combo. I downloaded the client from this link on their site here:

I've used it successfully to patch games but I never did update the cart with the ezfla_up.bin that was included in the download. Do I need to in order to use the reset patch? I'm confused because I used the ezfla_up.bin that was included in the 1.76 kernel update so I'm sure what the other one is for.

 

[migles]

I found the .ini file but there was only one in \temp in the C: drive. I changed it and it certainly did change it on the client but the reset patch hasn't worked for any of my games so far. I'm not really sure what I'm doing wrong, since you said you've had success with boot to loader combo. I downloaded the client from this link on their site here:

View attachment 17291

I've used it successfully to patch games but I never did update the cart with the ezfla_up.bin that was included in the download. Do I need to in order to use the reset patch? I'm confused because I used the ezfla_up.bin that was included in the 1.76 kernel update so I'm sure what the other one is for.

the download page is a total mess... it also confuses me a lot i have a hard time finding the last client\know if client is the same or a different version

you just need the 1.76 kernel update, the file that is provided on that download is a old version of the kernel

are you sure you checked the box on the client that says "reset" ?

i will try to change the keys combo and check if it breaks...

tell me the games you tried?

if you still have problems, i can zip my client and give you, maybe i downloaded another version, i dont remember, i have several folders of the client that i organized (awfully) the last year and don't remember what i did

 

[physicallyinsane]

the download page is a total mess... it also confuses me a lot i have a hard time finding the last client\know if client is the same or a different version

you just need the 1.76 kernel update, the file that is provided on that download is a old version of the kernel

are you sure you checked the box on the client that says "reset" ?

i will try to change the keys combo and check if it breaks...

tell me the games you tried?

if you still have problems, i can zip my client and give you, maybe i downloaded another version, i dont remember, i have several folders of the client that i organized (awfully) the last year and don't remember what i did

I absolutely positively checked the reset box. Here's my list of games:

I'm pretty sure it's the client's side having issues with the reset patch since 100% of my games don't work with it. But I would really appreciate that I'm in no rush though. Other than the reset patch and the sleep mode not playing nice with games, this flash cart is a godsend.

 

[migles]

I absolutely positively checked the reset box. Here's my list of games:

View attachment 17293
I'm pretty sure it's the client's side having issues with the reset patch since 100% of my games don't work with it. But I would really appreciate that I'm in no rush though. Other than the reset patch and the sleep mode not playing nice with games, this flash cart is a godsend.

i noticed sleep problem as well, however it does work with mother 3, which i really get surprised
plus, i am using a ds lite, at first, i thought the console didn't supported sleep or something...
but meh, for sleep i just pause the game, mute it and close the lid (the screen still stay on but if i will leave it for a long time i just should turn it off...

metroid fusion reset works here, i will change the key combo and test if it breaks..
if it works i will zip my client and send it.. because i dont know which one i downloaded...

 

[kuwanger]

Ok, I've learned how to use it, but the soft reset only resets the game itself, it doesn't get back to the loader.

That's very odd. Could you describe the exact procedure you use and the game/region you're patching? I had to patch Dwedit's sleephack version to support the EZ4, so I hope you're using the right patch.bin. In any case, I'd like to help if I can.

i noticed sleep problem as well, however it does work with mother 3, which i really get surprised
plus, i am using a ds lite, at first, i thought the console didn't supported sleep or something...
but meh, for sleep i just pause the game, mute it and close the lid (the screen still stay on but if i will leave it for a long time i just should turn it off...

Yea, it's a known issue and gba sleep mode can be potentially patched to work depending on the game or you can use the above mentioned sleephack (and probably abstartselect to change the reset keys) to enable sleep mode even in games that don't support it natively. The latter, though, has the risk of crashing randomly or not working at all. Then there's games like Sigma Star Saga which introduce a noticeable buzzing in the game; at this point, I might end up unpatching the game precisely for that reason as I've come a bit more picky.

It'd be nice if we had some guarantee from the EZ4 team that if we made a list they'd introduce patches to fix these reset/sleep bugs, but as it stands I can't even get on QQ and apparently that's the only way to talk to them from my end. So, currently I'm at a dead end on making any sort of contact and me doing the patching while technically possible would be a pretty massive undertaking (basically, duplicating all the EZ4's teams work plus more). So, yea, not something I'm currently interested. But, I will/do try to help on a case-by-case basis.

 

[Donel]

That's very odd. Could you describe the exact procedure you use and the game/region you're patching? I had to patch Dwedit's sleephack version to support the EZ4, so I hope you're using the right patch.bin. In any case, I'd like to help if I can.

I have tried a different approach this time:

Just use EZ-Flash IV AIO and drag and drop the desired game to the sleephack box. That is, after you have overwrited the included patch.bin with the abstartselect one.

Works like a charm and it's REALLY easy.

 

[kuwanger]

I have tried a different approach this time:

Just use EZ-Flash IV AIO and drag and drop the desired game to the sleephack box. That is, after you have overwrited the included patch.bin with the abstartselect one.

Worked like a charm and it's REALLY easy.

That's good to hear. Does make me wonder what exactly went wrong on the first attempt, but so long as it works.

On a somewhat related note, as I stated I'm too lazy to repatch everything through the ez4 client (mostly because of tracking down the original rom with whatever manual/translation/feature-improvement patches were applied), so I wrote a simple script that should (hopefully) allow repatching an already soft-reset patched rom with a new reset key.

Anyways, here it is patch_ez4_reset_key.py. You'll need Python 2.x to get it to work (most Mac OS X and Linux users should already have it). Like most my tools, it's command line and pretty straight forward (just invoke it without args for a small blurb on usage). A simple script should make it pretty easy to patch a lot of roms. Like:

for f in */*.gba; do echo "$f"; ~/patch_ez4_reset_key.py "$f" L+Start+Select; done > ~/patched_ez4.log

If you've got your roms in subfolders, have patch_ez4_reset_key.py in your home folder, what L+Start+Select as your new reset key, and want a patched_ez4.log in your home folder so you can later review what all was patched.

Anyways, I've done only minimal testing on this, so it'd be a good idea to backup everything before using it. Really, that's a good idea period as the EZ4 still might be unreliable in file save creation/modification*. But, I hope this is useful to others.

* It actually was pretty reliable so long as you made sure you didn't power off when it was writing to the sd card and made sure to have a properly named .sav file in the saver folder. The latter part is easy to mess up, though, when you're fiddling around with single-rom emulation roms with pocketnes/goomba/etc.

 

[Donel]

That's good to hear. Does make me wonder what exactly went wrong on the first attempt, but so long as it works.

I must have messed it up on the other attempt. I said the game only soft reseted itself, but after that I realized it was a built-in feature of the game. A lot of GBA games have built-in soft reset, like the Pokémon games. That means the patch simply wasn't applied. It is still strange, because the tool said they were patched successfully and even showed the changed memory adressess.


Now I want to change the soft rest combination from A+B+Start+Select to L+Start+Select.

abstartselect inclues a patch_bin.py file, so I can change the soft reset combination. I have downloaded Python 2.7.9 already, but I have no ideia on how to use it and how to change the combination. As you can see, I have zero knowledge in programming.

What I really would like to do is to only use the soft reset part of the patch, that is, I don't want to include the sleep hack.

Would you help me?