Hardware Others Playing Pokemon Crystal on a physical GBC, using BGB emulator save

[golosovsky]

I've just purchased a vintage GBC and I'd love to be able to play my Pokemon Crystal save games – created while playing on a BGB emulator – on the physical thing, just like I did back when I was a kid

I own an original Pokemon Crystal cart.
After reading a bit on the forum, I plan to order an Insidegadgets GBxCart RW (cart reader, writer & flasher) and to write the save-game file created by the BGB emulator – to the original cart.

I couldn't find a definitive answer regarding – will I be able to write a BGB emulator save-game to it?
If the save-game format produced by the emulator differs from the format supported by the game, is there a way to convert the save game so it'll be compatible with the original game?

I'd really appreciate any input or recommendation
Thank you very much in advance.

 

[Takokeshi]

There are single-game rewritable carts, but you would be *very* hard pressed to find one that doesn't cost you an arm and a leg, and with funtional rtc support. The insidegadgets ones do seem to fit the bill and are much cheaper than secondhand copies online, but as you already know they are out of stock, so secondhand ones are likely to be quite expensive too.

I hate to recommend EZ-Flah products given their track record, but in this case the EZ-Flash Jr is probably your best bet. It's similar in price to those insidegadget carts, and is actually available. You will not be able to boot directly into the game and will have to select it in a menu first, but I would recommend getting used to that because a multi-game flashcart like this is far more useful and versatile than single-game flashcarts anyway. I understand the appeal for direct-boot single-game flashcarts, but they just aren't really worth it atm.

 

[golosovsky]

There are single-game rewritable carts, but you would be *very* hard pressed to find one that doesn't cost you an arm and a leg, and with funtional rtc support. The insidegadgets ones do seem to fit the bill and are much cheaper than secondhand copies online, but as you already know they are out of stock, so secondhand ones are likely to be quite expensive too.

I hate to recommend EZ-Flah products given their track record, but in this case the EZ-Flash Jr is probably your best bet. It's similar in price to those insidegadget carts, and is actually available. You will not be able to boot directly into the game and will have to select it in a menu first, but I would recommend getting used to that because a multi-game flashcart like this is far more useful and versatile than single-game flashcarts anyway. I understand the appeal for direct-boot single-game flashcarts, but they just aren't really worth it atm.

Gotcha, thanks a lot for the input.
If I get an original Pokemon Crystal cart, will I be able to write a BGB emulator save-game to it? If not, is there some kind of a working conversion to the correct format?

Thx.

 

[Takokeshi]

Gotcha, thanks a lot for the input.
If I get an original Pokemon Crystal cart, will I be able to write a BGB emulator save-game to it? If not, is there some kind of a working conversion to the correct format?

Thx.

BGB uses raw save files as far as I'm aware, though it's possible that rtc data may be appended onto the save file like some other emulators do. You could write emulator save data to the cartridge, but you'd need some kind of device that can handle the writing, and that would cost you even more.

 

[golosovsky]

BGB uses raw save files as far as I'm aware, though it's possible that rtc data may be appended onto the save file like some other emulators do. You could write emulator save data to the cartridge, but you'd need some kind of device that can handle the writing, and that would cost you even more.

I've just purchased an original Pokemon Crystal cart and an Insidegadgets GBxCart RW (cart reader, writer & flasher) device - to be able to write to the cart.

Regarding your input on the save-files - those are the files in the game's dir on my PC.
Do you maybe know which ones should be written to the cartridge?

Much thx once again!

 

[Takokeshi]

Weird, it saves a separate file for the rtc and yet the save data contains the rtc data too? That doesn't really make sense.

Anyway .sav is what you're looking for, but you may have to remove the last 16 bytes at the end of the save file in a hex editor (or you can use this to do it automatically: https://projectpokemon.org/home/files/file/1256-save-converter-for-gen-ii-vc-games/)

 

[DKB]

I hate to recommend EZ-Flah products given their track record, but in this case the EZ-Flash Jr is probably your best bet.

May I ask you why? I wanted to a GBA one in the past, but never bothered.

 

[Takokeshi]

May I ask you why? I wanted to a GBA one in the past, but never bothered.

Shoddy hardware, and for the Jr specifically, customers are being used as guinea pigs for unfinished beta hardware + they've been pushing out experimental updates that may or may not just brick your cart depending on your hardware's current mood of the day.

That being said they are very in touch with the community and they go miles ahead and beyond of everyone else to provide specialized support and repair guides for basically everything, which is very nice.

If you enjoy tinkering with this kind of thing and don't mind paying to do a beta tester's job, then you'll enjoy EZ-Flash. Otherwise if you're just a regular person who wants functional and reliable hardware for your money, it's a gamble and you may be better served elsewhere.

For what it's worth, modern EZ-Flash for GBA does have a lot of functionality over Everdrive, so it'll be your only real option if you want save states, rumble, cheats, and such. For GB/C, Everdrive (X7) is by far better and much more reliable, but at around twice the price of EZ-Flash. If you didn't care about RTC or save states though then the X5 is about the same price as the EZ-Flash Jr.

One thing to note though is that Everdrive is currently unavailable and it will remain that way until further notice. So unless you're able to find one secondhand or you can find some obscure store that still has stock at a reasonable price, EZ-Flash may be your only option currently. I heard there are some everdrive clones out there at much lower prices as well, but I couldn't really vouch for their reliability.

 

[cearp]

You'll be able to do this fine!
If it doesn't 'just work', I'd dump the existing save on the cart, and compare with your emulator save and adjust as necessary in a hex editor.

 

[Plstic]

It does indeed work, I do it all the time.