Homebrew Last Ditch Effort for Help...

[elunesgrace]

Ok guys, you're probably my last resort at getting help for this. Hopefully it isn't too offtopic.

I love playing with emulation as opposed to on my DS because of all the extra things I can do, and ability to play with an xbox360 controller.

Now I've been playing Megaman Star force 3 Black Ace on Desmume 0.9.8. The problem is, it never saved normally, I had to rely on save states. Every time I would save, it would just keep saving and go nowhere.

I'm at the final boss, and the problem is it won't let me go into the final area without saving. It kind of sucks.

I've tried to port it to No$GBA, but I can't move save states.

I found that the game works in Desmume 0.9.6 and will save, but won't transfer the save states from 0.9.8.

Can you guys think of any solution?

Thanks a ton guys!

 

[FAST6191]

0.9.9 has been released for a week or so at this point. That said if it saves in an older version and 0.9.8 has been out for that long then it points to a configuration error of some form (its autodetect might now have got the right save and you might have to manually select it).

Unfortunately the only standalone tool I know of it for VBA to NO$GBA and that is probably of little use at this point. That said both have fairly extensive options with regards to compression and what have you.

The saving part is usually so you can continue the game after the credits sequence, actually I am half surprised they coded a check in (normally you would have expected at least one save). If we do have to hack something then probably best to find the check and hope it is simple, once you find the check it is likely a very basic assembly hack (one you can probably even do in a cheat) to sort it.

 

[elunesgrace]

0.9.9 has been released for a week or so at this point. That said if it saves in an older version and 0.9.8 has been out for that long then it points to a configuration error of some form (its autodetect might now have got the right save and you might have to manually select it).

Unfortunately the only standalone tool I know of it for VBA to NO$GBA and that is probably of little use at this point. That said both have fairly extensive options with regards to compression and what have you.

The saving part is usually so you can continue the game after the credits sequence, actually I am half surprised they coded a check in (normally you would have expected at least one save). If we do have to hack something then probably best to find the check and hope it is simple, once you find the check it is likely a very basic assembly hack (one you can probably even do in a cheat) to sort it.

Awesome a reply!

I switched everything from 0.9.8 to 0.9.9 without a hitch, but it won't save there either (except in save states).

I'd love to manually select, but how can I do that in desmume? I went to auto detect save type = > from database, but same thing as internal doesn't save! If you can show me this manual way ill try it!

What tool is this you speak of, would it help me?

I can try to hack it, I noticed the save seems to be looping (i notice the screen flicker every few seconds when it is trying to save). The check is really stupid, because it asks me if I want to save, if i say no it turns me away from the exist but if i say yes it loops the saving. Why would they add that at the end? Ugh.

Thanks so much for your reply, you're saving me like 30 or more hours of gameplay =S.

 

[FAST6191]

Try the developer version and the advanced option at the bottom of the config menu.

 

[elunesgrace]

I went to the website but the developer version isn't listed. I even googled it but I can't see it.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/desmume/files/desmume/0.9.9/

Would you happen to know where it is?

 

[jurassicplayer]

Build it.

 

[FAST6191]

Sorry I should have said something there -- it comes with the main download. Most people will probably use DeSmuME_0.9.9_x86.exe where in the same directory is another exe called DeSmuME_0.9.9_dev.exe. For the most part they are pretty similar (certainly you could view memory, graphics and whatever else like other debugging emulators) but this seems to be one of the main differences.

 

[elunesgrace]

Sorry I should have said something there -- it comes with the main download. Most people will probably use DeSmuME_0.9.9_x86.exe where in the same directory is another exe called DeSmuME_0.9.9_dev.exe. For the most part they are pretty similar (certainly you could view memory, graphics and whatever else like other debugging emulators) but this seems to be one of the main differences.

You. Are. The. Best.

It worked! I went to the options (first it wouldn't work on any of the settings). Then I payed attention to the DOS screen in the back. It kept switching between the 512 save and a 2 MBit save. So I decided to select the Flash 2Mbit and selected 'force current' (not sure what that does).

But it went through the save!

I want to donate to this website for the help you gave, is there a way to do that?

Also, where can I submit this bug and solution to desmume? Shall I just go to their forums or is there an email you would suggest? I can just hunt around but if you know already that would be nice =).

 

[FAST6191]

I do not think GBAtemp is presently accepting donations -- feel free to give some to desmume ( http://sourceforge.net/project/project_donations.php?group_id=164579 ) or whatever charity you wish to donate to.

As for getting in contact with them they have a bugtracker ( http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=164579&atid=832291 ) and a forum ( http://forums.desmume.org/viewforum.php?id=6 ).
Several of the developers frequent GBAtemp and the IRC channel too but these might not be the best places to sort things and I doubt they will stumble upon this thread any time soon.