Hacking Rudolph vs. NDStation

[Anthraxx]

Oh hi. I found my 3-in-1 in the mail today, and I've spent the last few hours playing around with it, testing it's capabilities and so forth. Using an R4, I need a 3rd party application to write GBA ROMs to the 3-in-1. I've been using Rudolph's tool with moderate success, experimenting with interchanging saves and ROMs. I haven't done exhaustive tests, but it seems like for PSRAM and NOR, the ROM's .sav file is automatically written to the /GBA/SAVE directory. If so, under what circumstances is it imperative that the user uses the manual backup features of Rudolph's tool? Also, does the ROM's save type (EEPROM, Flash or SRAM) ever need to be taken into account? It worries me that the interface only ever refers to SRAM saves.

Anyway, since this has practically become a blog (which I'm morally opposed to), I'll cut to the chase. Is Rudolph's Tool better than NDStation? I don't care about the "more integrated and unified" feel. Is either more/less reliable/fast/stable/prone to failure/etc? I have little understanding of NDStation, but I assume it creates a .nds container that integrates a GBA ROM, .sav file, a piece of code to write the memory each time and some header data. Is this accurate.

Thanks for reading through that epic wall of text, and any insight into anything I mentioned is appreciated.

 

[leetdude_007]

Rudolph's tool and NDStation are different methods to a properly patched GBA game to load onto the 3 in 1. There are advantages and disadvantages for each program.

Rudolph is a tool that you'll have to be dependent on to load the properly patched roms onto the 3 in 1 if you're using the R4.

NDStation has a more streamline solution that packs additional data to each GBA rom to make it a NDS file instead. If you're trying to "cut the fat" so to speak, and you have a lot of GBA ROMs, then the extra wrapper added to make GBA and NDS file might be something you may not like.

From the best of my knowledge, both of these tools are always improving. I personally like Rudolph's tool because I'm a lazy bastard that doesn't like change. I have a shotgun in one arm, with a bottle of Jack in the other... sitting on a rocking chair on the front porch, etc.

 

[HyoImowano]

I've been using Rudolph's Tool for a while now, and it's always been great.

 

[moozxy]

I've been using Rudolph's Tool aswell, but after reading about the Ndstation thought it was great and tried it out.. Buuuut it didn't work -.- it just got stuck on the Winner of summer 2007 coding blahblahblah..

 

[jsmith45]

Oh hi. I found my 3-in-1 in the mail today, and I've spent the last few hours playing around with it, testing it's capabilities and so forth. Using an R4, I need a 3rd party application to write GBA ROMs to the 3-in-1. I've been using Rudolph's tool with moderate success, experimenting with interchanging saves and ROMs. I haven't done exhaustive tests, but it seems like for PSRAM and NOR, the ROM's .sav file is automatically written to the /GBA/SAVE directory. If so, under what circumstances is it imperative that the user uses the manual backup features of Rudolph's tool? Also, does the ROM's save type (EEPROM, Flash or SRAM) ever need to be taken into account? It worries me that the interface only ever refers to SRAM saves.

Anyway, since this has practically become a blog (which I'm morally opposed to), I'll cut to the chase. Is Rudolph's Tool better than NDStation? I don't care about the "more integrated and unified" feel. Is either more/less reliable/fast/stable/prone to failure/etc? I have little understanding of NDStation, but I assume it creates a .nds container that integrates a GBA ROM, .sav file, a piece of code to write the memory each time and some header data. Is this accurate.

Thanks for reading through that epic wall of text, and any insight into anything I mentioned is appreciated.

The reason Rudolph's tool only refers to SRAM saves is because that is the only type of save the EZ-3-in-1 supports.
That is one of the main reasons most GBA games need to be patched. The patching makes the game use SRAM saves. As for when it is nessisary to use the manual SRAM backup feature, normally never. As long as you always start the GBA games from inside rudolph's tool, eveything should be fine. The feature is there just in case. (I'm not sure, but perhaps it can also be used to rip SRAM saves from a real GBA cart?)

I will warn that there is or at least there once was a bug involving NOR mode. Apparently the bug caused problems with save files if the game in NOR was ever started by booting directly into GBA mode, rather than booting through Rudolph's tool. Apparently the NOR game would save into the section of SRAM that PSRAM games use, or something like that. The solution was to always start a game via Rudolph's tool. I'm not sure if that bug/misfeature still exists, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

 

[springah]

I've been using Rudolph's Tool aswell, but after reading about the Ndstation thought it was great and tried it out.. Buuuut it didn't work -.- it just got stuck on the Winner of summer 2007 coding blahblahblah..

same here, i use an older version - works great!

 

[cory1492]

Rudolph is a tool that you'll have to be dependent on to load the properly patched roms onto the 3 in 1 if you're using the R4.

Thankfully, Rudolph probably doesn't know english well enough to catch what that means. No one wants to be dependent on some some tool of a person. I say call it by it's proper name, the 3in1_ExpPack_Tool, before you conjure images of an asian fellow playing with his tool...

Anthraxx: in short, the 3in1 has a nice large 512KiB SRAM chip in there, the GBA can only view a 64KiB window in the backup area, though not all games use SRAM to save with. So, basically, any game that uses more than 64KiB SRAM or uses a different type save chip would need to be patched up to work - which is why the 3in1_ExpPack_Tool by Rudolph likely mentions SRAM directly.

And don't forget to give GBALdr (link) a whirl, ignore the PSRAM version but do give it a go. Whichever one suits you better and you find it simpler to get along with is the best one to use

 

[jesterscourt]

I've been using Rudolph's Tool aswell, but after reading about the Ndstation thought it was great and tried it out.. Buuuut it didn't work -.- it just got stuck on the Winner of summer 2007 coding blahblahblah..

I had the exact same issue with NDStation, any thoughts on why?

 

[Jaejae]

I use 3in1_ExpPack_Tool, but I have thought about getting NDStation.
The main deterrent was that the most recent version has that awful NeoFlash Summer Coding splash screen.

 

[Aarohead]

I haven't had any major problems with NDStation 1.1 and I highly recommend it. 1.3 is probably going to be the one to convert many Rudolphers. Should fix the problems with R4 1.14 and up, fix the slow decompression time, batch, and let US choose what splash screen we want lol

 

[chuckstudios]

I haven't had any major problems with NDStation 1.1 and I highly recommend it. 1.3 is probably going to be the one to convert many Rudolphers. Should fix the problems with R4 1.14 and up, fix the slow decompression time, batch, and let US choose what splash screen we want lol

Unfortunately that version is pretty far off. I'm currently in the middle of FIRST season and have practically no free time.

Also, my laptop is still kinda broken... fixing it will probably have to wait until the season's over.

 

[IxthusTiger]

What is the fastest way to play gba roms on the ds, what program writes the fastest, is the ewin cart better than ez3in1, or what slot-2 is best for gba?

 

[Eyedunno]

When you finally fix it, it would be nice if you could also add support for other devices, like the Ewin and maybe even the M3 Real expansion.