Hacking New Theme for EZ-Flash Omega!

[BETA215]

we have a separated firmware updater.

https://www.ezflash.cn/zip/RevB_update_FW7.zip

Has open sourcing the firmware part ever been considered? I think the community would be able to come up with new things and fixes to make EZO/EZODE even better!

 

[mazdababy]

Running the most recent FW on my revB, I get a "SAVER ERROR" message at the top of the screen when trying to boot any rom on both this and ColorSplashDE. Running original theme works with no issues. I had the same error message running whatever FW my Omega DE was shipped with as well. FAT32 8gb card 32kb cluster size. Hope you can help, thanks!

 

[f3bandit]

Running the most recent FW on my revB, I get a "SAVER ERROR" message at the top of the screen when trying to boot any rom on both this and ColorSplashDE. Running original theme works with no issues. I had the same error message running whatever FW my Omega DE was shipped with as well. FAT32 8gb card 32kb cluster size. Hope you can help, thanks!

sounds like a corrupt sav file. look for a sav.bin and delete it L+start and try booting the same rom again. if that fixes it then you need to back up your sdcard and reformat it and copy your files back to the sdcard. also make sure you are using a good brand of sdcard. cheap or fake sdcards cause these problems. not saying it is, but it doesn't hurt to check all these boxes to narrow down the culprits. also use a recommended tool to format your sdcards not windows. guiformat

 

[mazdababy]

sounds like a corrupt sav file. look for a sav.bin and delete it L+start and try booting the same rom again. if that fixes it then you need to back up your sdcard and reformat it and copy your files back to the sdcard. also make sure you are using a good brand of sdcard. cheap or fake sdcards cause these problems. not saying it is, but it doesn't hurt to check all these boxes to narrow down the culprits. also use a recommended tool to format your sdcards not windows.

Thanks for the response! I will try that for the sake of ruling out, but this is a brand new EZFLASH - I currently don't have any save files yet. It gives me this error message for any rom booted, and works flawlessly under the original firmware and theme/OS.

I reformatted after experiencing this issues using terminal in MacOS to FAT32 and 32kb cluster after initially experiencing this issue - it persisted afterwards. I can whip out my Windows laptop and try again with that tool, but I don't know that it's format/card related as I currently have no save files/works fine on original software. I can try another SD card as well, I have some known legitimate ScanDisk cards.

 

[f3bandit]

Thanks for the response! I will try that for the sake of ruling out, but this is a brand new EZFLASH - I currently don't have any save files yet. It gives me this error message for any rom booted, and works flawlessly under the original firmware and theme/OS.

I reformatted after experiencing this issues using terminal in MacOS to FAT32 and 32kb cluster after initially experiencing this issue - it persisted afterwards. I can whip out my Windows laptop and try again with that tool, but I don't know that it's format/card related as I currently have no save files/works fine on original software. I can try another SD card as well, I have some known legitimate ScanDisk cards.

I find as well as most people that operatings systems do a lousy job formatting sd cards. also are you just copying the colorsplash-DE and other kernels to the ezflash sdcards? or are you flashing the new kernel to the ezflash when changing kernels? if you haven't flashed them. All you do is copy the new kernel e.g. colorsplash-de superdark-de simplelight-de to the sdcard. install the sdcard into the omega-de and boot the device while holding the right shoulder button to flash the new kernel

 

[mazdababy]

I find as well as most people that operatings systems do a lousy job formatting sd cards. also are you just copying the colorsplash-DE and other kernels to the ezflash sdcards? or are you flashing the new kernel to the ezflash when changing kernels? if you haven't flashed them. All you do is copy the new kernel e.g. colorsplash-de superdark-de simplelight-de to the sdcard. install the sdcard into the omega-de and boot the device while holding the right shoulder button to flash the new kernel

Fair enough, I'll give it a shot. I have flashed them - copied to SD card, renamed to ezkernelnew.bin, and held R as I booted. They work great with the exception of being able to boot ROMs.

 

[f3bandit]

Fair enough, I'll give it a shot. I have flashed them - copied to SD card, renamed to ezkernelnew.bin, and held R as I booted. They work great with the exception of being able to boot ROMs.

that's super strange!?! either a bad omega-de cart or a fake maybe? idk? where did you purchase it from?

 

[mazdababy]

that's super strange!?! either a bad omega-de cart or a fake maybe? idk? where did you purchase it from?

aliexpress to save a few bucks lol, but I assume this is where suppliers get it from. Has the same Spartan FPGA onboard, and works flashing the official kernel from EZFLASH's website.

 

[f3bandit]

aliexpress to save a few bucks lol, but I assume this is where suppliers get it from. Has the same Spartan FPGA onboard, and works flashing the official kernel from EZFLASH's website.

possibly but there are fakes on aliexpress as well. One way to tell is to compare the pcb boards in the cart. defects aren't all that uncommon tho either. bad crystal oscillators or badly soldered ones are common. which can cause certain types of roms saves to fail. like roms that use the rtc clock for in game and saves. or just a bad fpga chip.

 

[mazdababy]

possibly but there are fakes on aliexpress as well. One way to tell is to compare the pcb boards in the cart. defects aren't all that uncommon tho either. bad crystal oscillators or badly soldered ones are common. which can cause certain types of roms saves to fail. like roms that use the rtc clock for in game and saves. or just a bad fpga chip.
View attachment 462550

That REV.B cart/PCB is identical to mine. But again, I have zero saves on my SD card, and every single ROM i try to boot fails, except for using the official kernel. About to try another SD card for the heck of it.

 

[f3bandit]

I would try one last thing. format a sdcard with the guiformat. and don't put any roms on it. get the latest kernel from ezflash site and copy it and it's folders to the sdcard. flash that. power cycle. flash the rev. b update. power cycle.
flash the kernel of your choice. power cycle. flash the rev. b update again. power cycle. and try a rom. other than that maybe it's where you got your roms from or they are corrupted from the 1st setup. I know in that past I had to delete my roms and redump them cause everything on the sdcard got boogered. sdcards even reliable brands can be hit or miss sometimes. or like in the nintendo switch's case depending on if you have the sdcard formated in exfat causes issues for some people. and corrupts everything on the drive. then there is the archive bit windows likes to stick on files without telling you. so they had to build a archive bit removal function into hekate for the switch.

 

[mazdababy]

I would try one last thing. format a sdcard with the guiformat. and don't put any roms on it. get the latest kernel from ezflash site and copy it and it's folders to the sdcard. flash that. power cycle. flash the rev. b update. power cycle.
flash the kernel of your choice. power cycle. flash the rev. b update again. power cycle. and try a rom. other than that maybe it's where you got your roms from or they are corrupted from the 1st setup. I know in that past I had to delete my roms and redump them cause everything on the sdcard got boogered. sdcards even reliable brands can be hit or miss sometimes. or like in the nintendo switch's case depending on if you have the sdcard formated in exfat causes issues for some people. and corrupts everything on the drive. then there is the archive bit windows likes to stick on files without telling you. so they had to build a archive bit removal function into hekate for the switch.

Didn't work - once I do everything you mentioned, am running the kernel of my choice, and go to run the REV.B update, I get the same SAVER error. I can run the REV.B update in official kernel only, I cannot run it in this kernel or ColorSplashDE. It creates a RevB_update_FW7.sav (64K size) file though, despite the error.

Really hope I can get it sorted as I love ColorSpashDE a lot, but would settle for SimpleDE as it's tons better than the official kernel.

 

[f3bandit]

that

Didn't work - once I do everything you mentioned, am running the kernel of my choice, and go to run the REV.B update, I get the same SAVER error. I can run the REV.B update in official kernel only, I cannot run it in this kernel or ColorSplashDE. It creates a RevB_update_FW7.sav (64K size) file though, despite the error.

Really hope I can get it sorted as I love ColorSpashDE a lot, but would settle for SimpleDE as it's tons better than the official kernel.

That's really weird!?! mine didn't do that. did you run in like a normal gba rom. or did you change it to a ezkernelnew.bin and flash it using the right shoulder button. I know some people tried it the ezkernelnew way and it didn't work. you just run it as a gba rom and follow the prompts. have you tried my reskinned version of simple-de? SuperDark-DE I know it's still based on simple-de, but I have it running on a rev. B with the FW. 7 update and it's working flawlessly. it can't hurt to try it and maybe we can figure out the issue from there.

on a side note I just checked my omega-de sdcard and I have the RevB_update_FW7.sav as well, but it's not preventing me from loading roms. Are you using a GBA, GBA SP, NDS, or DS lite? with the omega-de? I'm using an analogue pocket in my case but I haven't had any issues updating the kernels or firmware on the omega-de with it. But I do have a DS-lite as a backup just in case.

 

[mazdababy]

that

That's really weird!?! mine didn't do that. did you run in like a normal gba rom. or did you change it to a ezkernelnew.bin and flash it using the right shoulder button. I know some people tried it the ezkernelnew way and it didn't work. you just run it as a gba rom and follow the prompts.

Yes, I just ran it as a normal GBA rom. That's the problem though - I can't boot ROMs at all if I'm not running the official kernel. I get the same SAVER ERROR when booting the RevB_update_FW7.gba under any other kernel.

For clarification, I am currently running RevB_update_FW7, however I can ONLY flash RevB_update_FW7.gba under the official EZFLASH kernel and firmware shown here:

https://www.ezflashomega.com/pages/EZ-Flash-Omega-Definitive-Edition-Downloads.html

Running RevB_update_FW7.gba or any other ROM with a cleanly formatted SD card and any other kernel besides the official kernel gives me a "SAVER ERROR" message at the top of the screen.

Post automatically merged: Oct 3, 2024

that

have you tried my reskinned version of simple-de? SuperDark-DE I know it's still based on simple-de, but I have it running on a rev. B with the FW. 7 update and it's working flawlessly. it can't hurt to try it and maybe we can figure out the issue from there.

I just flashed yours and it gives me the same error.

Post automatically merged: Oct 3, 2024

I got it figured out - I didn't have the folder structure set up under SYSTEM. All is well now!

 

[f3bandit]

Yes, I just ran it as a normal GBA rom. That's the problem though - I can't boot ROMs at all if I'm not running the official kernel. I get the same SAVER ERROR when booting the RevB_update_FW7.gba under any other kernel.

For clarification, I am currently running RevB_update_FW7, however I can ONLY flash RevB_update_FW7.gba under the official EZFLASH kernel and firmware shown here:

https://www.ezflashomega.com/pages/EZ-Flash-Omega-Definitive-Edition-Downloads.html

Running RevB_update_FW7.gba or any other ROM with a cleanly formatted SD card and any other kernel besides the official kernel gives me a "SAVER ERROR" message at the top of the screen.

Post automatically merged: Oct 3, 2024

I just flashed yours and it gives me the same error.

yeah there must be something wrong with it
that really sucks my dude. but it happens. I would contact the seller.
But for future reference this is why it's better to order from a USA seller.
it may cost a bit more but if you get a faulty device it's much easier to get
it exchanged or replaced than with a aliexpress seller. I got mine from here
retrogamerepairshop.com I got the new EZ-Flash Parallel from them and it
was a dud, but they took care of it. And shipped me out a new one once they
got the defective one back.

 

[mazdababy]

yeah there must be something wrong with it
that really sucks my dude. but it happens. I would contact the seller.
But for future reference this is why it's better to order from a USA seller.
it may cost a bit more but if you get a faulty device it's much easier to get
it exchanged or replaced than with a aliexpress seller. I got mine from here
retrogamerepairshop.com I got the new EZ-Flash Parallel from them and it
was a dud, but they took care of it. And shipped me out a new one once they
got the defective one back.

See my edit above! It's working now, I just had to change the folder structure and create a SYSTEM fold. I appreciate your help though!

 

[f3bandit]

See my edit above! It's working now, I just had to change the folder structure and create a SYSTEM fold. I appreciate your help though!

Well that's good to know for the future. I can't believe I forgot about that. cause yeah there is a different folder setup between simple-de and the stock kernel. Glad you are sorted now tho.

 

[f3bandit]

Omega-DE Firmware 7 kernel 1.05 issue
Now that Mode B, Direct boot from nor flash, sleep, and wake are working "by accident".
Tested a few games and so far I have found if you direct boot or mode B boot pokemon
emerald rom with addon thru nor flash it is unplayable as when your pokemon attacks
or uses and skill really, they attack themselves. So I haven't tested the other pokemon
games yet, but at least for pokemon emerald do not copy pokemon emerald to nor
with addons. no issues with the game if booting clean.

 

[f3bandit]

This applies to the pocket only

Kernel 1.05 / Firmware 7.0 - working all versions
Latest Pocket OS 2.4 update - working all versions
Cheats - working all versions
Mode B. - working Rev. B only
Sleep - working Rev. B only
wake - working Rev. B only

 

[cotton-squirrel]

Kernel 1.05 / Firmware 7.0 - working all versions
Latest Pocket OS 2.4 update - working all versions
Cheats - working all versions
Mode B. - working Rev. B only
Sleep - working Rev. B only
wake - working Rev. B only

@f3bandit How do you get Library to work with Mode B? I'm using Simple DE-Light with the gba firmware update on RevB and got everything but the Library working. Clicking the Analogue button while the game is running has Game Details greyed out.