Hacking Possible to convert VBA save into usable battery for EZ 3 in 1?

[Kamaria]

I'm trying to bring my Pokemon Emerald save onto a flash cart, but I'm having great difficulty in doing so. I don't think I can use a VBA save because it comes up as corrupted and gets erased every time.

EDIT: Just to clarify, my games DO save, this is not a bad battery issue (I don't think), it's just whenever I try to copy existing saves into my GBA SAVE folder that it doesn't seem to read them properly. So I can use saves created by the cart itself, but not by an emulator.

 

[rdurbin]

have you tried to use export battery file in vba

 

[Kamaria]

have you tried to use export battery file in vba

Admittingly I have not. Why, does that output a different file than the .sav it automatically makes? I'm not trying to copy over a savestate or anything.

 

[rdurbin]

im not totally sure, but i noticed it was an option, and i figured you were not copying a save state, but maybe there are slight differences in exported battery file and .sav file. It sure doesnt hurt to try tho.

 

[WigWrm]

I believe saves generated by VBA have some extra information stored in the header/footer of the file (I forget which). I' m not certain of the sav format used by the 3-in-1 but would assume its RAW. If you compared a save generated by the 3-in-1 to a save generated by VBA in notepad or a hex editor, you're more than likely to see the differences.

 

[Geren]

Incidentally, to convert saves from 3in1 to VBA, you must import them. I have done this. Export is the way to go.

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

If your VBA save for pokemon can't be used by the 3in1, it means your VBA save settings are wrong. You will need to fix them before you can use a save.

Pokemon Emerald for example uses the largest save size of all the GBA pokemon, aka the 1M save (128Kb).

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EEPROM save types from VBA or 3in1 require bit flipping before you can use in a real game cart of that same save type.

SRAM save types require zero modification, can be swapped between the 2 without issue.

If you use AKAIO as the loader, it sticks a header to every GBA save. Making removing it a requirement before any transfer of any type.

You need to know what type of save your gba rom uses to know if you have to do anything like the above. I suggest getting something like Offline list to look up the save type of a GBA game. I would suggest the release list that gbatemp use to have but it never survived the forum change.

You can get offlinelist here: http://offlinelist.free.fr/

 

[Kamaria]

^I checked, it seems to use Flash1M_v103. If I didn't note before, I'm using EZ Flash Vi to load the games/saves onto the EZ-Flash 3 in 1 cart.

Also another question I didn't mention, is it possible to use the migration function with a NOR flashed Emerald to migrate to a Gen IV legit cart?

 

[Kamaria]

EDIT: Ok, disregard what was here. I exported the battery and named it the exact same as a normal save from the flash cart, still erases it due to corruption or damage. I don't understand what I'm doing wrong, I saved it with Automatic > Flash 128k.

I uploaded the save here in case anyone wants to look at it (remove the .jpg first)

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

Your probably better off using the pokemon save editor to add all the pokemon you got or wish to get instead of the using the pal park method to transfer pokemon. You are limited to a few pokemon every 24 hours using the pal park, making the time it takes extremely long if you have a few hundred pokemon to transfer from a GBA save.

Pokesave: http://pokecheats.net/pokesav/download.php

You will need to dump your save from the retail game cart before you can use the pokesave on it, then upload it to the retail game cart. Be sure to backup your save.


There use to be a 3in1 palpark cheat code version of the pokehack useable by the AR DSi, but it was taken out so that is not likely an option anymore.

 

[Kamaria]

^Thanks. I'm convinced transferring it like this is impossible anyway, I just tested another VBA save and it worked, Pokemon Emerald seems to be the only game with this issue. I'll just use your method. ^^

 

[Kamaria]

Hm, I just ran the SRAM test on my expansion and it looks like it's bugged. I guess I've had some bad luck with these things, my first one had a dead battery period.