Hacking Kingdom Hearts Recoded won't run

[sporkonomix]

I've spent all day looking through GBATemp, searching the web, and doing everything I can to pinpoint why Recoded won't work on my Acekard 2i. I just got it, verified that it's legit, and haven't had issues out of loading any other game.

On the ROM side of things I looked up as many download locations as I could, downloaded them, and they all checked out with the same hash. I couldn't do a direct CRC32 because `cksum` doesn't generate an 8-char hex and my distro didn't seem to have a CRC32 app. At any rate, all checksums were the same so either all of the file downloads were corrupt (not likely), or I have a clean, complete ROM.

When I try to load it, it either stays on the yellow Loading text, or the "System file missing" text in red. I've updated everything on my acekard to the latest stuff. I'm able to load Phantasy Star Zero (which is also a huge game) with no problems.

I'm out of ideas. I'm positive the card doesn't need to be reformatted because I just put files on it yesterday or the day before. Unless there are some special options that the FS needs in order for the bigger games to run... *shrugs*

Any ideas?

 

[s4mid4re]

It's most likely not the ROM. If it said "Missing system file" then it's probably a problem with just that: the system files. Maybe you don't have the loader in, perhaps? Have you tried other ROMs, or just Re:Coded ones?

At any rate, download AKAIO 1.8.8 (download link on the bottom as an attachment). It should have the loader and everything included. Remove everything but your games and put the contents of the downloaded zip file.

If that doesn't work, back everything up to your computer and format your micro SD card with the panasonic SD formatter. Put everything back in and try again.

 

[sporkonomix]

Yes, I can run other games without a hitch. PSZ, Mario Kart, Kirby Super Star Ultra... a wide range of small, large, and heavy AP games... but not KH.

I would use the SD formatter, but I don't use Windows. I tried using my virtual install of it, but it can't get access to my SD card reader. Driver problems, it says. What settings would I be using with the SD formatter? I can mimic them with mkfs.vfat. Is there a specific block size needed? I know it needs to be FAT32.

 

[s4mid4re]

Yes, I can run other games without a hitch. PSZ, Mario Kart, Kirby Super Star Ultra... a wide range of small, large, and heavy AP games... but not KH.

I would use the SD formatter, but I don't use Windows. I tried using my virtual install of it, but it can't get access to my SD card reader. Driver problems, it says. What settings would I be using with the SD formatter? I can mimic them with mkfs.vfat. Is there a specific block size needed? I know it needs to be FAT32.

you'll need it in complete erase on (or something like that; I'm not sure because my panasonic sd formatter is in another language). iirc, my Re:Coded (trimmed) worked perfectly on my ak2i, although it had some slow-downs.

 

[Another World]

isn't this one of those 256mb games? if it is then the missing system file error is because the micro sd card is not formatted with 32kb clusters.

-another world

 

[sporkonomix]

isn't this one of those 256mb games? if it is then the missing system file error is because the micro sd card is not formatted with 32kb clusters.

-another world

Thanks for the tip. I'm playing around with values for my card (which is 2 gigs). Apparently I can only have 4 KB sectors, so I set it to 8 sectors per cluster (32 KB), about to put akaio and my files back on it to test. I'll edit this post with the results.

EDIT: Those settings on my format made it so the acekard complained about system files right off the bat, which tells me that it didn't like the way I formatted the card.

I reformatted using `mkfs.vfat -F 32 ` and the card was able to be read by the AK again. I tried loading KHRC again, it sat at the yellow Loading text for about 3-4 seconds before it complained about a missing system file. Tried other games, and each complained about my save data being corrupt. Odd... I still have my backup so it's no biggy.

I'll look for another tool to format with.

EDIT2: I reformatted, this time with gparted. The AK works again, but KH still won't load. I'm just gonna move on and play a game that'll actually work.