Hacking GBA expansion questions

[yokomoko]

Hi, I have an EZ 3in1(which isn't working quite right) and an M3 Real. Anyway, I'm thinking about getting the M3 GBA expansion pack, but first I wanted to know a few things about it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but with the GBA expansion pack I can have: RTS, RTC, and use GBA cheats, right? Also, are there many issues with Rom compatibility and saving, or for the most part does it work fine? And since I already have the 3in1, is the GBA expansion a worthwhile investment?

I'm thinking mainly about getting this cuz I'm having lost saves on the 3in1's NOR, but also all the features of the GBA expansion sound pretty awesome. Thanks upfront.

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

"RTS, RTC, and use GBA cheats, right"

NO, NO, and NO.

If it had a Real Time Clock it would have costed you 50 bucks for the 3in1 not 20.
cheats are patch directly to the rom and are ALWAYS turned on in most cases.
Real Time Save is not part of a gba expasion pack, your confusing this with GBA flashcarts.

GBA expansion packs are BASIC gba loaders ONLY, no extra ANYTHING.

 

[Densetsu]

"RTS, RTC, and use GBA cheats, right"

NO, NO, and NO.

If it had a Real Time Clock it would have costed you 50 bucks for the 3in1 not 20.
cheats are patch directly to the rom and are ALWAYS turned on in most cases.
Real Time Save is not part of a gba expasion pack, your confusing this with GBA flashcarts.

GBA expansion packs are BASIC gba loaders ONLY, no extra ANYTHING.

I have a GBA Expansion Pack and I can use RTS and GBA .cht files with it.

How to enable RTS for GBA ROMs in M3 Real/TouchPod
How to enable RTS for GBA ROMs in Sakura

How to use .cht files on GBA ROMs This is for Sakura, but the same applies to TouchPod.
GBA Cheat Thread

I can't speak for the RTC because I haven't played any games that use it. I know that Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire use it and that there are problems getting it to work, but GBATA fixes that problem. The fact that you can run Ruby and Sapphire with a clock fix on the GBA Expansion Pack suggests that it does have RTC.

*EDIT*
I forgot to answer your last question about it being a worthwhile investment. I think it is. I do like the NOR offered by the 3-in-1, but I never use rumble. I always have my GBA Expansion Pack inserted in Slot-2.

 

[Joe88]

well I tested RTC a while back and it did work
it was an hour behind or fast in pokemon , I forget

and RTS and cheats all work
as tested with a bunch of games

 

[PettingZoo]

RTS, RTC, cheats (I used some for metroidz fusion), and normal saving works with the GBA expansion pack for M3 Real

!.

 

[yokomoko]

Thanks everybody for answering. The GBA expansion pack sounds good to me.

 

[phoanlien]

i have the similar problem, i don't know how to get the cheat for GBA running, i read the info on the isakureal and do the exact but does seem to load GBA, i have Ezlash 3 in 1, right now i'm using Isakureal triple boot, when i try to run GBA game in M3Real or itouch i get eeor said, slot 2 not insert, for sakura i can pass through the cheat opin (by slide it to the left), but when i load game, it automatic load it direct from Nor, doesn't load the game that i select, i have to use GBA exploader to load roms, but then the cheat file don't work, can any help me solve this problem, or is my M3Real getting to old, need update? thanks

 

[Chrono_Tata]

i have the similar problem, i don't know how to get the cheat for GBA running, i read the info on the isakureal and do the exact but does seem to load GBA, i have Ezlash 3 in 1, right now i'm using Isakureal triple boot, when i try to run GBA game in M3Real or itouch i get eeor said, slot 2 not insert, for sakura i can pass through the cheat opin (by slide it to the left), but when i load game, it automatic load it direct from Nor, doesn't load the game that i select, i have to use GBA exploader to load roms, but then the cheat file don't work, can any help me solve this problem, or is my M3Real getting to old, need update? thanks

That's because you have a 3 in 1. Apparently, the M3 team hates the EZFlash team and makes it so that all the M3 built-in features are only compatible with their GBA expansion.

To the original poster, the GBA expansion I think also provides the Sakura firmware with some extra RAM, so the expansion is definitely a worthwhile investment if you own a Real.

 

[yokomoko]

Thanks everybody, I'm gonna pick up an M3 GBA Expansion ASAP. With cheats, RTS, and RTC you can't go wrong.