Hacking I've got some questions about the Supercard mini SD.

[Satnaro]

I've heared somewhere the Supercard SD has a issue with slowdowns in GBA modus; there many slowdowns when you play GBA games. But has the Supercad mini SD this problem too? And wich one is better, the Supercard mini SD or the EZ flash IV?

 

[Minox]

If you want to play Gba-games the EZ Flash IV is a better choice.

 

[Satnaro]

Thanks dude.

 

[Minox]

Just make sure you don't get the EZ Flash IV Lite Compact since it can't play Gba-games larger than 8MB (the biggest are 32MB).

 

[DanTheManMS]

The Supercard miniSD is nearly the same as the Supercard SD in terms of hardware components, so yes you'll still have slowdowns. I think the slowdowns are slightly improved for the Supercard Lite but I'm not sure about that.

Go with the EZ-Flash for GBA gaming.

 

[TheWingless]

If you are getting the EZ 4, mkae sure you also buy the correct version.

The EZ 4 Deluxe, Compact, and Lite will only fit in a DS lite and use a micro sd.

The original will use a mini SD and fits in a normal GBA. DealExtreme has both the GBA version and a compact. RealHotStuff(USA only now) is the only place I have seen a EZ 4 Deluxe, but there might be more places. The EZ 4 Deluxe has more memory(I think) than the GBA version. The memory I'm talking about is the NOR, RAM, and the memory for saves. If you want a deluxe, you'll have to keep looking. EZ 4 at DealExtreme

 

[DanTheManMS]

RealHotStuff recently reopened international sales, but the shipping via FedEx is a hefty $26 or so.

 

[TheWingless]

Oh really? I was checking up on it today, but didn't see it. The news/main page just changed so I want and looked at the shipping info page but didn't see it.

 

[Satnaro]

I was already thinking of buying the EZ flash IV from Dealextreme. I think DX is really cheap.

 

[DanTheManMS]

Oh really? I was checking up on it today, but didn't see it. The news/main page just changed so I want and looked at the shipping info page but didn't see it.

Source - http://www.scdev.org/forum/index.php?topic=12725.0

 

[2dere]

I have access to one of these and if I can kink out my saving troubles I may buy it (off a friend) for my Micro.
I managed to get the driver onto the card and it could load up the GBA roms fine and play them it just wouldn't retain the save once I had powered off.
Am I making a common mistake thats easily fixed? I'm pretty sure I'm asking about the right card here. Its this model right here http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2734
Right now all I want to get is a few GBA roms Like Boktai, Sound Vouyager and Goomba so I can run LSDJ off the micro. I'd like to work it out with this card since it'll save me the hassle of importing a better one to New Zealand. Also I'll be able to extract the .sav files off it easily enough won't I? I have an R4 with the EZ 3-1 and its been too easy to use compared to this and I can't figure it out for myself.

 

[DanTheManMS]

Yeah, you're missing a crucial step. Assuming you patched your games with the Supercard patching software, after saving in-game you must press the L+R+A+Select button combo in order to send the updated SRAM to the *.sav file on your card (a menu should appear). This is outlined in the Supercard website's FAQ section.

For games you haven't patched (homebrew for instance) you can use the QPC Method of saving, which stands for Quick Power Cycle: save in-game, turn off the GBA, quickly turn it back on, press Right to get to the saver tab, navigate to the *.sav file, and press A twice. This will manually overwrite the *.sav file with the SRAM that's still saved since you powered on before the data was lost.

"Extracting" save files from the Supercard is as simple as copying and pasting them from your card to the computer.

Note that while the Supercard does contain a built-in version of Goomba Color so you can launch *.gbc files directly from the menu, this version is outdated, so you'd be better off creating your own Goomba Color compilation manually and sending it through the Supercard patcher (it's one of the few GBA homebrew titles that need patching).

 

[2dere]

Ahhh I see. Yeah I wasn't aware of the button combo. I'll try that tomorrow and see if thats all I was missing.
If I don't have to use the QPC for the Goomba game saves I'll be happy enough to get the card. As I know I'm bound to screw that up and I'm sick of losing songs off LSDJ as it is. (I'll have full version by then but I'm sick of the issues the DS has while playing the demo) Thanks for your help Dan, I'll let you guys know if I get the card.

 

[DanTheManMS]

If you want to use LSDJ with savestates, then you'll definitely need to create your own Goomba compilation using the old black-and-white Goomba emulator, NOT Goomba Color. The Supercard's built-in emulator is Goomba Color which does not have savestate support (the menu option is there but it doesn't do anything). Create a Goomba compilation, patch it with the Supercard patcher, then put it on your card. Create your savestate in Goomba (R+Select is a quick button combo to do so, while R+Start does a quick load), then press the L+R+A+Select button combo to update the *.sav file.

I can't guarantee that LSDJ will work in Goomba or Goomba Color, but it's worth a shot.