Hacking RomNet's Ewin Expansion Pack First Impressions

[Switchy]

I'm interested in getting this as well. I'm currently awaiting my Ewin Rumble Pack from Dealextreme and requested they add this as well.

Only thing.. Maybe a stupid question.. Does it work with an r4?

 

[Sinkhead]

Yes, it works perfectly with an R4. I'll also add something about the DS Browser compatibility.

- Sam

 

[Maikel Steneker]

You load the GBA game then press 'Y' to return to the R4's menu, then you load the NDS game through the R4

- Sam

You didn't make this clear in your review: if I would read it without knowing that currently only the R4 is supported I'd think that it'd work on, say, the CycloDS Evolution too.

Other than that: nice review

 

[Sinkhead]

You load the GBA game then press 'Y' to return to the R4's menu, then you load the NDS game through the R4

- Sam

You didn't make this clear in your review: if I would read it without knowing that currently only the R4 is supported I'd think that it'd work on, say, the CycloDS Evolution too.

Other than that: nice review

But it does work on the CycloDS Evolution... I contacted ahtin about this (all the support is in Chinese) and he said it supports DLDI

- Sam

 

[DjoeN]

So anybody be able to get there hands on:

Ewin Gba Loader v1.4.0

for this expasnion pack ?

Problem you have to be registered to some chinese websites to download, but it's almost impossible to register when you don't know chinese :/

http://www.ewinflash.cn/BBS/redirect.php?t...6&goto=lastpost

So if anybody could get it's hand on it and share it

ThX

 

[DjoeN]

Thanks alot

Works

really big, big thanks!

 

[DjoeN]

Is it normal that when i turn my DS off and leave it for a while off, then turn it on, the GBA game is gone from the expansion pak ?, when i wait a few seconds and reboot the DS i can boot the GBA game in the DS GUI, but when i wait a few minutes it's gone.

I have to reload the gba game to the expansion pak. :/

I do however keep my saves

(lucky)

 

[NightKry]

Where do you buy it?

 

[DjoeN]

Ah

If i know it, i can life with it

, i now use expansion packs for both my DS systems

(EZF 3in1 and Ewin) both do perform well
But i love the rumbler on the Ewin better, then the buzzing sound shaking on the ezf 3in1

Thx PharaohsVizier for your answers!

 

[dodol]

ewin doesn't have NOR right ? only 32MB PSRAM ?

 

[Eyedunno]

ewin doesn't have NOR right ? only 32MB PSRAM ?

Nope, no NOR, and I consider this a good thing, as the NOR is slow, and 32MB of RAM is probably better for some homebrew.

 

[NDS_N00b]

could you help me with this (n00b alert xD):

this expansion pack doesn't have real time save right?
will it in future time?
the game savings do work, right?

thank you and sorry for the n00b questions =$

 

[Eyedunno]

could you help me with this (n00b alert xD):

this expansion pack doesn't have real time save right?
will it in future time?
the game savings do work, right?

thank you and sorry for the n00b questions =$

I'm not sure what you mean by "real time save." It doesn't have a real time clock, and never will, but it does have SRAM for saving, and these saves are then transferred to slot-1 when you play a different game. Saving compatibility isn't as goodt should be. I've noticed that 4 kilobit saves don't work at all, for one. Presumably this will be fixed in a future software update, but there hasn't been an update in over a month, so I'm getting antsy.

 

[JacobReaper]

just a some questions before i buy it..

1) When i play, i just put the GBA ROM in my slot 1 right?

2) How do i load it with my R4? just click the boot slot 2?

3) When i play it, then close it, then play it again, it keeps my .sav right?

4) The first time it autopatches, then when i play again, it won't have to patch again right?

5) Can i use the Opera Browser with this?



thats all for now.. TIA

 

[Sinkhead]

just a some questions before i buy it..

Ok

1) When i play, i just put the GBA ROM in my slot 1 right?

Yup

2) How do i load it with my R4? just click the boot slot 2?

No, you start a NDS loader provided by the Ewin team. It's in the GBAtemp download centre or on the Chinese forums...

3) When i play it, then close it, then play it again, it keeps my .sav right?

Yes

4) The first time it autopatches, then when i play again, it won't have to patch again right?

Yes

5) Can i use the Opera Browser with this?

Yes, you use the SuperCard patch

- Sam

 

[tomgibbes]

Does the ewin have a battery so when the battery dies i will lose saves and wont be able to save? or does it backup to microsd straight away?

 

[Sinkhead]

Does the ewin have a battery so when the battery dies i will lose saves and wont be able to save? or does it backup to microsd straight away?

Don't know, sorry. I would open it up but I sold mine to Wii_DS as I have a black DS. When I have the money I will be buying another though...

- Sam

 

[JacobReaper]

Does the ewin have a battery so when the battery dies i will lose saves and wont be able to save? or does it backup to microsd straight away?

Don't know, sorry. I would open it up but I sold mine to Wii_DS as I have a black DS. When I have the money I will be buying another though...

- Sam

lol, its 12 US bucks

i'll be getting this right away

thanks you convinced me sink aka Sam



wait wait wait.. what no NOR mean? does it mean that when i play a GBA game, then close my DS, the game is erased from my slot 1? what does it mean by the game gets erased?

 

[dodol]

any other shop beside psxboy that sell EEP ?

 

[Eyedunno]

Does the ewin have a battery so when the battery dies i will lose saves and wont be able to save? or does it backup to microsd straight away?


Yes, it does use battery SRAM, and no, it doesn't save to microSD right away. But I'm pretty sure that even if the battery dies, you're safe. Just turn it off, then on again quickly (within a few seconds when you finish a game). I'm pretty sure that you have a window of a few seconds before SRAM clears out, and you won't even need that, as you can turn your DS off, then on again in less than a second. Then run another GBA game to force a copy of SRAM to microSD.

wait wait wait.. what no NOR mean?
Okay, on the EZFlash 3-in-1, if you play a game that's bigger than 16MB, you have to copy it to NOR in order to play it. The game will then stay in NOR until you erase it, but it takes a VERY long time to erase the NOR and write a new game to it. Using regular RAM instead is much faster (5-10 seconds for most games, I'd say), but it gets erased from slot-2 after you turn your DS off for a few seconds.

does it mean that when i play a GBA game, then close my DS, the game is erased from my slot 1? what does it mean by the game gets erased?

No, it doesn't mean that at all. The game stays on your Slot-1 card. It just gets copied to the RAM in slot-2 in order for you to play it, then goes away again when you turn off your DS. Relax - this is basically the same thing that happens if you play a GBA game on a slot-2 SuperCard or M3, except that instead of copying from slot-2 flash media to slot-2 RAM, it copies from slot-1 flash media to slot-2 RAM (so you can store all your stuff, GBA and NDS, on one slot-1 card - convenient!).

Trust me, the way the Ewin does it is the best way for most people; I have no idea why they decided to use NOR on the 3-in-1 - it seems like a waste of money more than anything.

Edit: Oh, and let me give you more info on a few of your earlier questions:

4) The first time it autopatches, then when i play again, it won't have to patch again right?

The other answer to this question was fine for a simple answer, but really, what it does is this:
The first time you run it, it makes a patch file in a directory on your Slot-1. After that, every time you run that game, the game will be automatically SRAM patched on the fly when it's loaded into RAM. It's a very cool system, since you get the benefit of SRAM patching while still being able to keep clean ROMs on your R4 (or whatever).

QUOTE(jacob33301 @ Nov 11 2007, 02:29 PM)

5) Can i use the Opera Browser with this?

My answer is still yes, but I recommend using a clean Opera Browser. If you use a patched version of Opera, you'll have to turn off your DS then turn it on again quickly after running the browser once, or else the patch won't work. This is stupid, and it's easier to just press R+L then A to patch the RAM for the browser then take you back to the R4 (or whatever) menu where you can run it (or where you can swap, if you own and want to use the official browser card). Maybe some day, someone will make a custom Opera patch for the EEP. For now, you might as well not even bother; it's easier to run the browser from the GBA Loader.