Hacking Need help with my 3-in-1!

[TrolleyDave]

My 3-in-1 came today so I read all the tutorials and it sounded pretty simple but I'm having some problems!

I've patched all the games to use SRAM but when I try to save the data in the SRAM using Rudolphs Tool it just hangs. Also sometimes it just won't copy the game to PSRAM. I hit the button and it shows me the name and the filesize but just hangs there, other times it seems just fine.

Also using NDStation to package the games doesn't seem to work. It boots up to the NEOFlash screen, sits there a while flickers a little and then sits on the NEOFlash screen forever.

What am I doing wrong!?!?

EDIT : Oh yeah, I can't get it to flash to NOR everytime either. Sometimes like with PSRam it just hangs.

EDIT AGAIN : For my lack of linguistic skills.

 

[gratefulbuddy]

My 3-in-1 came today so I read all the tutorials and it sounded pretty simple but I'm not having some problems!

Glad to hear you're not having problems.

Seriously, I've never had a problem with Rudolph's 3in1 tool. Are using 1.9?

 

[Destructobot]

Odd. I've heard of the problem with NDStation, but I've never heard of the 3in1 ExpPack Tool intermittently not working. The first thing I would try is reformatting the microSD card.

 

[TrolleyDave]

Tried that already, just reinstalling everything again. I'm beginning to think either my GBA port is dodgy or the card is as the rumble/expansion options disappeared from the 3-in-1 menu. Using R ond L only let me swap between PSRAM and NOR options.

It was working earlier though as I was having a good blast with Metroid Pinball with rumble.

EDIT : Never mind, solved the rumble problem. I had to load up Pinball first and then reboot. D'oh.

 

[Destructobot]

That sounds more like a problem with the R4 than the GBA slot. If the 3in1 ExpPack Tool doesn't detect the 3-in-1 properly it will give you an error and refuse to start. The missing Rumble mode means that the ExpPack Tool doesn't think it can soft-reset back to the slot 1 cart.

What version of the 3in1 ExpPack Tool are you using? What version of the R4 Loader? Is your microSD card formatted as FAT or FAT32?

Just a thought, maybe you should try removing and inserting the R4 and the 3-in-1 a few times. It might be something as simple as dusty contacts.

 

[TrolleyDave]

That sounds more like a problem with the R4 than the GBA slot. If the 3in1 ExpPack Tool doesn't detect the 3-in-1 properly it will give you an error and refuse to start. The missing Rumble mode means that the ExpPack Tool doesn't think it can soft-reset back to the slot 1 cart.

What version of the 3in1 ExpPack Tool are you using? What version of the R4 Loader? Is your microSD card formatted as FAT or FAT32?

Just a thought, maybe you should try removing and inserting the R4 and the 3-in-1 a few times. It might be something as simple as dusty contacts.

I'm using R4 FW 1.12, v1.3 of Rudolphs Tool and FAT32. I think it's something to do with the SRAM as everytime I try to recover the save from it it's just hanging. Is the SRAM part of the 3-in-1 or does it rely on the R4 for it like a normal DS game would? I'm pretty sure it's the SRAM as well because if I boot a regular DS game and then load up Rudolphs tool it'll give me a "SRAM was lost" message and the games boot fine, but if there's GBA save data stored in the SRAM it just hangs the loader. If you try to recover it it finds the name fine but then just sits there when you hit A to save it.

I pre-DLDI patched the NDS file, should I have just let the R4 Loader do it maybe?

Thanks for the info about the rumble options as well, I'll remember that in the future.

EDIT : Just thought, does my DS have to be flashed for the 3-in-1 to work properly?

 

[Destructobot]

I don't think it's the SRAM. When people have had problems with the SRAM in the past the only symptom was that their saves were not retained. The SRAM is part of the 3-in-1. The GBA save is stored there while you play the game, and copied to the slot 1 cart later.

I haven't applied the R4 DLDI patch to a single piece of homebrew since they added auto-patching, and I've never had a problem with it. The patch you applied should be irrelevant, as the auto-patching would just replace it anyway.

The DS does not need to be flashed.

Did you create the /GBA/ and /GBA/Save/ folders on your microSD card? Old versions of the 3in1 ExpPack Tool didn't deal well with missing folders. Speaking of which...

The 3in1 ExpPack Tool is up to version 1.9d. You might try a newer version and see if that works. You can get the latest version here: http://www009.upp.so-net.ne.jp/rudolph/nds/3in1_ExpPack/

Aside from the fact that I'm using an M3 Simply rather than an R4, the main difference I see between your setup and mine is that I keep my microSD card formatted as FAT, because FATsort doesn't work with FAT32, and the 3in1 ExpPack Tool doesn't sort the game list.

 

[TrolleyDave]

I don't think it's the SRAM. When people have had problems with the SRAM in the past the only symptom was that their saves were not retained. The SRAM is part of the 3-in-1. The GBA save is stored there while you play the game, and copied to the slot 1 cart later.

I haven't applied the R4 DLDI patch to a single piece of homebrew since they added auto-patching, and I've never had a problem with it. The patch you applied should be irrelevant, as the auto-patching would just replace it anyway.

The DS does not need to be flashed.

Did you create the /GBA/ and /GBA/Save/ folders on your microSD card? Old versions of the 3in1 ExpPack Tool didn't deal well with missing folders. Speaking of which...

The 3in1 ExpPack Tool is up to version 1.9d. You might try a newer version and see if that works. You can get the latest version here: http://www009.upp.so-net.ne.jp/rudolph/nds/3in1_ExpPack/

Aside from the fact that I'm using an M3 Simply rather than an R4, the main difference I see between your setup and mine is that I keep my microSD card formatted as FAT, because FATsort doesn't work with FAT32, and the 3in1 ExpPack Tool doesn't sort the game list.

Mate thank you so much for the help. I had the Saves directory named as saves, changed to a capital S and everything seems ok. I also upgraded to the new tool so I don't know if that had anything to do with it as well.

Cheers for your patience and help, it was most appreciated. Great little cart as well. I've seen alot of complaints about the speed of it copying to NOR but it seems pretty reasonable to me. I transferred over Doom II and it didn't take long at all. Also the rumble doesn't seem all that noisy to me, or is it just the 3-in-1 Lite that's loud?

Thanks again.

 

[Destructobot]

Glad to help.

People that complain about how long it takes to write to NOR on the 3-in-1 clearly never used the old GBA flashcarts. The Flash2Advance takes about 2.5 times as long as the 3-in-1 to write the NOR.

I personally hate the rumble on the 3-in-1, but not because of the noise. It's more of a high frequency vibration than a rumble, and on the highest setting it feels like it could give someone nerve damage after a while.


One last thing. You may already know this, but you should be using GBATA to SRAM patch the games, not the EZ4 Client. The EZ4 Client works fine when you run games from NOR, but it causes lost saves (for both the PSRAM game and NOR game) when you run them from PSRAM.

 

[Grimalkin]

NDStation's neoflash screen lasts quite a long time, depending on the game, but it works.

 

[TrolleyDave]

Glad to help.

People that complain about how long it takes to write to NOR on the 3-in-1 clearly never used the old GBA flashcarts. The Flash2Advance takes about 2.5 times as long as the 3-in-1 to write the NOR.

I personally hate the rumble on the 3-in-1, but not because of the noise. It's more of a high frequency vibration than a rumble, and on the highest setting it feels like it could give someone nerve damage after a while.


One last thing. You may already know this, but you should be using GBATA to SRAM patch the games, not the EZ4 Client. The EZ4 Client works fine when you run games from NOR, but it causes lost saves (for both the PSRAM game and NOR game) when you run them from PSRAM.

I don't mind the rumble too much, it's a really light soothing vibration. I've only tried it on Metroid Pinball though to be honest.

Oh yeah, it was using the new version of the tool that solved the problem. It created its folder called SAVE in the GBA folder. I read the same place that I got Rudolphs tool to use GBATA over the EZ4 Client, although it said here were a couple of occasions where you should use the EZ4 one but they've gone out of my brain now. I think it was to do with some really obscure title or something.

 

[TrolleyDave]

NDStation's neoflash screen lasts quite a long time, depending on the game, but it works.

Cheers, I'll have another play with it later on. I left it a while, can't be sure how long though. What's the max it should take for an 8 meg game?

 

[Grimalkin]

8 meg can take up to a minute, but it really depends on the game itself. Try booting with Rudolphs 3 in 1, set it to external ram. I usually don't have too many games that take long to load, except for all the NOR games and King of Fighters EX2

 

[Destructobot]

I read the same place that I got Rudolphs tool to use GBATA over the EZ4 Client, although it said here were a couple of occasions where you should use the EZ4 one but they've gone out of my brain now.

Use GBATA for every game. There are maybe 2 Japanese games that won't work when patched with GBATA. Everything else works.

The only exception is if you want to play one of the GBA pokemon games, and then migrate your pokemans to Diamond or Pearl. The save that the game generates when patched with GBATA won't work in that situation (though it will save just fine in-game).

 

[vincom2]

Umm, no, I tried patching firered with GBATA and then saving in-game, and after I turned the DS off and on again, my save was gone.
I would suggest using the EZ4 client for all GBA pokemon titles and all other games sharing their save type (1024mbit flash iirc)

 

[Nero]

Umm, no, I tried patching firered with GBATA and then saving in-game, and after I turned the DS off and on again, my save was gone.
I would suggest using the EZ4 client for all GBA pokemon titles and all other games sharing their save type (1024mbit flash iirc)

True.. I'm pretty sure gbata can't patch 1024Mbit Flash Saves.. I hate using the EZ4 Client though... It's hard to navigate.

~Nero