Hacking R4 and EZ Flash 5 3-in-1 help!!

[SargeSmash]

Mine is the GBA-sized one, as I have a DS Phat.

Swapping, apparently, is not the issue. I found an instance where it does not work correctly just switching between games in PSRAM mode.

Some info:

I'm using Lunar Legend (US Version) and Megaman and Bass as my test files. The first thing I do is load up Lunar Legend, and save in both save slots. Upon power off and reload of Lunar, the save files have still been retained.

Next, I load up Megaman, and play to the first save point (level mid-point). I then power off and reload Megaman. Game save is there.

Now, I load up Lunar again. Lo and behold, the first save slot has been obliterated, but the second remains. I turn the power off, and go back to Megaman. Its save data is still there. Then I go back into Lunar again, and save in the first save slot. Then I load Megaman, and the save data is gone.

What this means, of course, is that the saves are actually stepping on each other, somehow. Megaman is killing slot 1 of Lunar, and Lunar's slot 1 is killing Megaman's save. This problem is completely deterministic and reproducible. Also, no dice on the SRAM.BIN file.

As the final nail in the coffin, the same games run in NOR mode with the same process do NOT corrupt each other's save data.

It's weird, and I'm hoping that it's not REALLY a problem with the hardware. That sucker took two weeks to get here, and I'm not so sure that trying to return something to China for this wouldn't be cost-prohibitive. In fact, I'm pretty sure that'd be the case.

If someone can reproduce their results on their hardware, I'd be very grateful. I want to know if it's just my hardware, or if it's a universal problem to either the loader or the GBA-sized hardware.

EDIT: As an aside, I'm using version 1.03 of the EZ-Flash IV Client, dated May 22, 2007. Lunar was patched with the save fix, and not with reset. Megaman was patched with save fix and reset. I'm going to eliminate that variable (removing reset from both) and see what happens.

 

[SargeSmash]

Wow, I think I may have just fixed it. I think the reset patch was screwing things up. I'm going to retransfer all the games to my MicroSD sans reset patch. That may do the trick. Probably won't post anything more tonight, but I'll let everyone know the results as soon as possible.

Destructobot: Thanks for the help! Something I should have already learned from part of my real work this week (trying to get a PIC18F2455 to properly work with I2C for lab students next semester) is that when you're getting weird behavior, eliminate ALL of the variables that are different, then see what happens. That's provided, of course, that this fixes it, but the fact that the Lunar / Megaman switching problem didn't rear its ugly head indicates good things.

Isn't life ironic? Great, but ironic.

 

[Destructobot]

It seems plausible that the reset patch is causing the problem. I've never had the problem with the saves, and I've never applied the reset patch.

If just removing the reset patch doesn't fix the problem entirely, try patching the save type with GBATA instead of the EZ4 Client. Make sure you don't patch anything but the save type at first.

I'll do some testing of my own, and see if I can reproduce this problem now.

 

[Destructobot]

It is the reset patch!

Once I applied the reset patch, I got the same save deletion that Dunny described with Ms Pac-Man MM and Harvest Moon, as well as exactly the same thing SargeSmash described with Megaman & Bass and Lunar Legend.

 

[SargeSmash]

Yup, you're right. I've been trying to post, but my ISP is acting screwy. Should've known from the way it even managed to keep Rebelstar from even running.

In any case, the only issue is keeping saves for the same game synched up across PSRAM / NOR boundaries. That appears to be a simple matter of backing up the SRAM to a SAV file before swapping modes. From PSRAM to NOR, I believe a save on the PSRAM side and a reload of the SRAM from the SAV file on the NOR side is necessary, but does not appear to be necessary going the other way, other than backing up the NOR version's SRAM to a SAV file (i.e. no reload on the other side).

Anyways, that should be a lesson to me, and other people having trouble with the 3-in-1. Make sure you don't have the reset patch checked! And the real problem is that it keeps turning it back on when you load up new games to patch, so you have to be very wary.

I appreciate all the help to be sure. And it's nice to know I'm not going crazy, and that my hardware isn't nerfed.

 

[Destructobot]

In any case, the only issue is keeping saves for the same game synched up across PSRAM / NOR boundaries. That appears to be a simple matter of backing up the SRAM to a SAV file before swapping modes. From PSRAM to NOR, I believe a save on the PSRAM side and a reload of the SRAM from the SAV file on the NOR side is necessary, but does not appear to be necessary going the other way, other than backing up the NOR version's SRAM to a SAV file (i.e. no reload on the other side).
That's basically correct, but you really shouldn't play a game from PSRAM if it's already flashed to NOR. If you do, the current save file might get overwritten by the auto-save process when you write a different game to NOR.

And the real problem is that it keeps turning it back on when you load up new games to patch, so you have to be very wary.

You could use GBATA instead. It won't do multiple games in a batch, but it works just fine. The only problem is that it converts 128KB flash save types to use 64KB saves, which breaks some games.

 

[mikagami]

Hmm.. I have had my DS on for several hours with the 3-in-1 in slot-2, and I attempted to give it a go again and I had no luck. Any other suggestions? Would the blank SRAM.BIN help in any way? If so, how would I go about writing this to the 3-in-1? I'm beginning to think it's just a defective 3-in-1 battery since nothing has seemed to work so far. I don't know if this means anything, but when I look in the save folder, there is a .SAV file there for the games. I'm guessing these are just blank saves that it writes when you boot the game.

If the SRAM.BIN is no use for me, would it be best to send it back or is there some kind of part replacement I can do?

Thanks for the help again.

 

[Destructobot]

I don't think the blank SRAM.BIN will be of any use here.

Lets do another test to see if the SRAM is retaining any data at all. I made another SRAM.BIN file that just has a repeating test pattern in it. Download it here: http://www.4shared.com/file/19372833/2a42f...st_pattern.html

Place that file in the "\GBA\Save" folder on your microSD card.

Start the 3in1 Expansion Pack Tool and write that file to the SRAM by pressing Y in PSRAM mode. Do not start a game.

Turn the DS off, and delete SRAM.BIN from the microSD card.

After several minutes, turn the DS back on, start the 3in1 Expansion Pack Tool, and back up the contents of the SRAM to a new SRAM.BIN file by pressing X.

Post the file here so I can see if it still has the test pattern in it. If you need a file host, http://zshare.net/ is a good one.


This should tell us for sure if the problem is with the SRAM/battery, or something else.


You're correct about those save files. The 3in1 Expansion Pack Tool creates those when it first writes a game to the 3-in-1, then it writes the save to the file later.

 

[mikagami]

http://www.zshare.net/download/2599459c8f10b1/ is the backed up SRAM. Hopefully this will give some answers. Thank you again.

 

[Destructobot]

That file has nothing in it but random garbage, and the data that the 3in1 Tool uses for keeping track of what it's doing. It definitely looks like a hardware problem to me.

I say send it back for a replacement if possible.

 

[SargeSmash]

Well, apparently I'm having issues again, but not with Lunar and such. I'm swapping between Breath of Fire I & II, and they're killing each other's saves. Again. I ran it through EZ-Flash IV Client again. It also seems to be killing my Boktai save somewhere down the line.

Also, I figured out that it's practically necessary to backup the SRAM to SRAM.BIN before swapping to NOR mode, particularly for the 128KB Flash games, since they kill all of the SRAM, meaning that an invalid save file will be backed up on swap back from NOR mode when another game is run from PSRAM.

I'm going to get away from the EZ-Flash client completely, and try either srampatch or GBATA. I'm guessing there's some flakiness with the patching process with some games, and it COULD be that the save patch is corrupting those games that are already SRAM-based savers.

It should be noted that ALL of this could be fixed via one solution. Maintain a unified save structure between NOR and PSRAM modes, and save the files generated by that at the START of the 3-in-1 loader. It shouldn't be all that hard. Reloads from the SAV file should probably occur on EVERY load, and even on run of a game from NOR memory.

 

[SargeSmash]

Hmm, I seem to be correct in my assumption. Breath of Fire I and II are both SRAM games to begin with. If you batch convert in the EZ-Flash client, you're not going to see this, and as such, the saver patch screws them up. Clean versions of the ROMs work great.

I was also looking, and Boktai is an EEPROM game, but it is ALREADY patched. So EZ-Flash also manages to corrupt previously patched ROMs.

I think some of you can see the moral to this story. Don't use the EZ-Flash client, unless you're SURE that the game is unpatched and not SRAM. Use GBATA. At least it actually detects if the game needs a patch or not.

I'm going to do a little more testing today, but I'm pretty sure I've just hit on the other issue involved here, just as the reset patch was screwing up other games.

 

[SargeSmash]

One more little blurb. I'm not sure I'd even use the EZFlash stuff for renaming / trimming purposes. It nerfed my copies of BOF I & II without the save patch OR the reset patch. GBATA seems to be the way to go here, and I'm not going to do any ROM trimming.

So far, things look to be normal now. We'll see if the next couple of days produces anything else.

 

[Icarus]

Ordered my Ez Flash 3 in 1 this Thursday. Hopefully I'll get it this Monday. Can't wait to test it

 

[mikagami]

That file has nothing in it but random garbage, and the data that the 3in1 Tool uses for keeping track of what it's doing. It definitely looks like a hardware problem to me.

I say send it back for a replacement if possible.

Back to the store it goes.

 

[SargeSmash]

The rest of the weekend has proven, so far, to not lose any saves, other than a FFV save, which was odd, since it didn't write it correctly to the save file as it should have, but a subsequent reload did the trick.

Anyway, I've got close to 60 GBA games on my card, and all of them have retained their saves. Everyone should use GBATA, and leave the EZ-Flash Client alone, except for patching anything with a 1Mbit save.

This is one great piece of hardware, to be sure.

 

[Icarus]

So here's my final questions. I figured out most of the stuff but I've read somewhere that some games just have problems if they run on PSRAM. Can anyone confirm that? So can I just use NOR all the time instead of PSRAM? I know the loadings are longer etc but it has better support and it can run games that are bigger than 16MB right? [Besides you just have to load it once then you can just boot it from the slot2 option]

Another thing. What exactly GBA Loader does that E-Z V Client can't do? I don't seem to have any problems with EZ V Client so far.

EDIT: I edited the whole post cuz I figured out most of the stuff I've asked before.

 

[Talaria]

Just pondering would it be possible to slightly modify the DS lite cartridge so that it would fit in the Original DS or would the software be different for it to read it. As the ds lite model is the only version they are selling here locally. I will probably just go for the extra trouble and get the DS phat one from Bamboo gaming.

 

[4saken]

People have tried - but it is probably safer to just buy the fat one (RHS, winsunx and bamboogaming all have it)

 

[L_o_N_e_R]

People have tried - but it is probably safer to just buy the fat one (RHS, winsunx and bamboogaming all have it)

you forgot realhotstuff ^^

just a question how do i know if the game needs to be patched?