Hacking Pokemon FireRed/LeafGreen/Ruby/Sapphire

[aphirst]

No matter what I do, I can't seem to make my Pokemon ROMs (Ripped from my European Cartridges, matching the md5sums of the ROMs available on the Internet) keep the save files.

I'll load to PSRAM/NOR, play for a while, save. I'll reset the DS, run the game again (PSRAM loads the game back up, NOR just flicks back into GBA mode), and I get the message "The save file has been deleted...". This happens with all concievable combinations of patching/not patching from GBATA.

Has anyone had a similar problem? Or, even better, has anyone got a solution? (Other than using GBA_Exploader, if possible. I know it works with Exploader.)

I've filed an AKAIO bug report in case it's a "fault", but if it isn't (if I need to "do" something beforehand), then I would very much appreciate a helping hand.

(Note: not a 3in1+, and the only other game with the same kind of problem is Advance Wars - ALL other games save fine. :S )

 

[aphirst]

*unsubtley bumps*

It seems that it doesn't work with RC2 either. I checked the battery with a multimeter, and it checks out AOK. Could someone possibly confirm this eerie behaviour?

 

[rajendra82]

I've only tried Pokemon Emerald on my 3:1. and it does display this behavior.

 

[cupajoe]

I think there are patches out there for the pokemon games, because they use a different save system.

 

[rajendra82]

I solved my Emerald problem by patching with the EZ 4 client instead of GBATA and using 128k save option. Once I did this, the older saves started loading fine.

 

[Smiths]

yep... Pokemon suck and require special patching.

 

[aphirst]

Just for completion, the EZ4 client *did* fix Pokemon. Thanks a bunch!

I had to "comandeer" a Windows machine for the task (try as I might, it wouldn't run in Wine, and I didn't have the time to try it in ReactOS), but it works an absolute treat. It does the odd "save corrupt, using the previous save" malarkey; and I think the save file might have blanked out on me once, when I tried to set the GBA game to the "shortcut", but I'm making progress in LeafGreen with no hindrance. As a female trainer, no less.

 

[Ryoku]

I've been trying to figure this out for the past few hours =(. Thanks for this topic!

 

[aphirst]

*shudders*

Running Sapphire or Emerald, saving, and loading LeafGreen again causes the LeafGreen save to magically disappear!!

And running any of them from NOR causes it to *still* spit out "Save file has been deleted". It seems to only work one game at once, and I have my doubts that it actually writes anything to the SRAM when it runs the game (that, or it doesn't actually back up the save to load on the next time).

:'(

 

[Smiths]

well
run 1 game at a time then.

check the EZ forums, see if they have anything about this game.

 

[logical thinker]

Can you check the save size? The correct size is 128kbytes. If it is 64kbytes, it will say, "save corrupt, using the previous save".

 

[aphirst]

Right, I'd like to settle this "once and for all". I *still* can't get this to work. Obviously Smiths/Normatt has gotten this to work themselves, as they have confirmed Pokemon Migration to work.

I pose this to them: what exactly did you do to your clean Dumps to get them to successfully save with your 3in1? Were they (E) or (U)? Did you patch at all? What with? What settings? What's the MD5SUM of the clean ROM you started with?

Clearly this is driving me nuts. Run, Save, Load another game, Run, DELETED.
PSRAM and NOR, patched or not (EZ4Client or 3in1Tool or GBATA). Is the Flash 1M type this problematic!?

Thanks.

--

As I understand it, the AKAIO guys used a lot of Gelu's 3in1 code: was Gelu's code fully supporting/patching of the FLASH save type? The other games which exhibit this same problem for me are Advance Wars (1+2) and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, all utilising FLASH. They all work perfectly in GBAEXPloader, so I find this very interesting on an intellectual level that they don't work properly.

--

Oh, and the Link in my Sig is my attempt to get help on the EZForums. It also thoroughly details the problem.

 

[Smiths]

I didn't get pokemon to work. fuck pokemon.
i haven't tried that shit.

 

[aphirst]

Alright, fair enough.

I think it's reasonable to assume that if this were something that you could readily fix, you would most likely have said so. And you've obviously done a smashing job already with AKAIO (as has Normatt).

But perhaps if someone else here has gotten Pokemon FR/LG/R/S/E to properly save in AKAIO, maybe they could say what it is they did?
Then I would be at peace. (read: too busy playing pokemon to notice anything around me, or to interact with my surroundings).

Again, as far as I'm aware, I patched correctly with the EZ4Client, but after I've loaded a different GBA game, going back to Pokemon (PSRAM or NOR) my save file gets instantly deleted. I get the same behaviour with GBATA, and it happens with Final Fantasy Tactics *and* with Advance Wars (1+2). And I don't think it's a coincidence that all the games I can't get to behave use FLASH as the save technology.

Thanks, if anyone has worked this out.