Homebrew SCFW: Custom Firmware & Kernel for Supercard

elchess

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Apr 16, 2016
Messages
2
Trophies
0
Age
41
XP
62
Country
Mexico
SCFW is a custom firmware and kernel for the Supercard SD.
Currently it is in a preview state with minimum functionality.

Installation
Download the current release and copy the scfw folder to the root of your SD card.
That's it! You can now use the kernel by loading scfw/kernel.gba from the official firmware.
You can also select the firmware.frm file from within the kernel to flash SCFW to the Supercard's firmware. Because the firmware is minimal and the kernel is loaded from the SD card, updates to the firmware should be rare. You can enjoy kernel updates without updating the firmware.

Current features
  • Can browse files
  • Can load a GBA ROM
  • Can flash a Supercard firmware.
  • Automatic SRAM, waitstate, and prefetch patching (buggy)
  • Automatic SRAM loading & saving
  • Manual SRAM management
  • SDHC
  • Soft reset patch
Planned features
  • Nicer file browser
  • Support for more filetypes with builtin goomba/pocketnes etc.
  • NDS mode
  • Code cleanup, lots of it.
  • Cache patches after creating them to increase loading speed
  • Faster loading speeds
  • Cheats(?)
  • Save states(?)
Awesome work metroid maniac! I recently purchased a Mini SD Super Card and with the PC game parcher I have never been able to browse the games on the SD, I only get a screen with the menus at the top and the word path: at the bottom the flash cart software is 1.85. I followed your instructions on this forum I have the SCFW folder on the root of the SD with fonts and disksys.rom on the hvca folder and also the bin files on the mapr folder but still the GBA won´t read anything, the SD card is a 2GB SD with fat format. Any recommendations on what to do?
 

OmDRetro

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
Apr 23, 2024
Messages
67
Trophies
0
XP
211
Country
Philippines
Awesome work metroid maniac! I recently purchased a Mini SD Super Card and with the PC game parcher I have never been able to browse the games on the SD, I only get a screen with the menus at the top and the word path: at the bottom the flash cart software is 1.85. I followed your instructions on this forum I have the SCFW folder on the root of the SD with fonts and disksys.rom on the hvca folder and also the bin files on the mapr folder but still the GBA won´t read anything, the SD card is a 2GB SD with fat format. Any recommendations on what to do?

Hey @elchess looks like you're currently on stock firmware. If you want to load any SCFW supported file type, you must sideload the kernel within stock first. I can tell that you haven't installed the custom firmware yet cause SCFW is pretty simplistic / utilizes a text interface and doesn't have any sort of GUI.

The additional feature you mentioned, that loads Famicom Disk System games, is only supported by the pre-release builds(CLICK HERE) and not the release kernel(this thread).
 
Last edited by OmDRetro,

OmDRetro

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
Apr 23, 2024
Messages
67
Trophies
0
XP
211
Country
Philippines
Dumb question: on fw 0.5.2, how do I get to settings?

Pressing 🅱 from the root directory(default directory upon bootup of the cartridge) will allow you to see the settings.
Pressing 🅰 on a line item pertaining to a function will toggle it where 1️⃣ means ON/TRUE and 0️⃣ means OFF/FALSE.

The current directory you're on shows from the top. If it ONLY shows "fat:/" from the top that means you're on the root directory. Otherwise, you've gone through one or more subdirectories and pressing 🅱 will only go up from a subdirectory.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Santiago_1981

Santiago_1981

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Oct 22, 2024
Messages
2
Trophies
0
Age
43
XP
11
Country
Dominican Republic
O
Pressing 🅱 from the root directory(default directory upon bootup of the cartridge) will allow you to see the settings.
Pressing 🅰 on a line item pertaining to a function will toggle it where 1️⃣ means ON/TRUE and 0️⃣ means OFF/FALSE.

The current directory you're on shows from the top. If it ONLY shows "fat:/" from the top that means you're on the root directory. Otherwise, you've gone through one or more subdirectories and pressing 🅱 will only go up from a subdirectory.
Thank you very much!
 

RICKME

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Oct 23, 2024
Messages
1
Trophies
1
Age
22
XP
50
Country
Germany
i might have a problem, i dont know on what ofw i was, i downloaded the scfw, put it on my sd card, startet the kernel, installed the fw and now i have the error ''Kernel file open failed, critical failure''.
is there any way to get it back up running?
 

OmDRetro

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
Apr 23, 2024
Messages
67
Trophies
0
XP
211
Country
Philippines
i might have a problem, i dont know on what ofw i was, i downloaded the scfw, put it on my sd card, startet the kernel, installed the fw and now i have the error ''Kernel file open failed, critical failure''.
is there any way to get it back up running?

The SCFW project has two parts:
  • The loader / lightweight firmware
  • SCFW Kernel

Good news: You have successfully installed the firmware. ✅

Not-so-good news: You didn't install the kernel properly. ❌

Take a look at the first post and read the instruction:
Download the current release and copy the scfw folder to the root of your SD card.
That's it! You can now use the kernel by loading scfw/kernel.gba from the official firmware.

The folder named in lower case is called scfw. Create that folder in the root of your SD card and transfer the kernel.gba file there.
 
Last edited by OmDRetro,
  • Like
Reactions: RICKME

denullz

Member
Newcomer
Joined
Aug 11, 2023
Messages
24
Trophies
0
Age
28
XP
79
Country
Germany
is there an option besides the ds lite? i got a gamecube with the gamecube player, is there maybe to tool for this to flash it again?

it got bricked yesterday
 

Apache Thunder

I have cameras in your head!
Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
4,593
Trophies
3
Age
37
Location
Levelland, Texas
Website
www.mariopc.co.nr
XP
7,343
Country
United States
is there an option besides the ds lite? i got a gamecube with the gamecube player, is there maybe to tool for this to flash it again?

it got bricked yesterday
I seem to recall the Gameboy player is basically a whole gameboy advance board with no screens with graphics output going to the GC instead. About the only data input it gets I think is controller data.

I'm not sure you can write data to carts on a GameBoy player. Might not be wired up for that. But then again I don't recall now how the gameboy player works.
 

GEMski

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Sep 8, 2024
Messages
1
Trophies
0
Age
23
XP
4
Country
United Arab Emirates
I am having problems with SwanGBA & PocketNES, where it's not loading the ROMS, for example PocketNES is giving me "Disk Trouble Err 22" and SwanGBA is just giving me a blackscreen with the fork provided, and when I got the latest SwanGBA, it started giving me a redscreen saying No ROMs found, or something similar.
Is there something that I am supposed to do? I just put the files and the ROMs and I did not fiddle with anything.
 

OmDRetro

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
Apr 23, 2024
Messages
67
Trophies
0
XP
211
Country
Philippines
I am having problems with SwanGBA & PocketNES, where it's not loading the ROMS, for example PocketNES is giving me "Disk Trouble Err 22" and SwanGBA is just giving me a blackscreen with the fork provided, and when I got the latest SwanGBA, it started giving me a redscreen saying No ROMs found, or something similar.
Is there something that I am supposed to do? I just put the files and the ROMs and I did not fiddle with anything.

Pre-release concern - Please notify me there to prevent clutter on the release firmware/kernel.

...but to answer your concern:
  • PocketNES has no disks. You're likely playing an FDS ROM and running the game on HVCA ( Home Video Computer Advanced)
    • FDS error table found here:
      • Err 22: Disk header block recognition isn't read and can ignores
        • Since you're on an emulator, this means your FDS ROM is corrupted / has no valid header.
  • SwanGBA used on SCFW is still using an older implementation so hot swapping the binary isn't possible for the latest release(?) as of now. I'll have a look into it though just to be sure
 
Last edited by OmDRetro,
  • Like
Reactions: Breadland

elchess

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Apr 16, 2016
Messages
2
Trophies
0
Age
41
XP
62
Country
Mexico
Hey @elchess looks like you're currently on stock firmware. If you want to load any SCFW supported file type, you must sideload the kernel within stock first. I can tell that you haven't installed the custom firmware yet cause SCFW is pretty simplistic / utilizes a text interface and doesn't have any sort of GUI.
Hello OmDRetro,

I am a bit lost, how do I load the kernel for SCFW support? I have read several threads with no clear answer
Post automatically merged:

Hey @elchess looks like you're currently on stock firmware. If you want to load any SCFW supported file type, you must sideload the kernel within stock first. I can tell that you haven't installed the custom firmware yet cause SCFW is pretty simplistic / utilizes a text interface and doesn't have any sort of GUI.

The additional feature you mentioned, that loads Famicom Disk System games, is only supported by the pre-release builds and not the release kernel(this thread).
I actually followed this video on youtube on how to load the SCFW but when I turn the console on and hold the right and left triggers in order to be able to install the the firmware but nothing happens I only get the SRAM test and later I can see the file "kernel.gba" listed but nothing happens when I click any button. Any ideas on what I am doing wrong?
 

Attachments

  • 20241112_194802.jpg
    20241112_194802.jpg
    187.8 KB · Views: 12
Last edited by elchess,

OmDRetro

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
Apr 23, 2024
Messages
67
Trophies
0
XP
211
Country
Philippines
Hello OmDRetro,

I am a bit lost, how do I load the kernel for SCFW support? I have read several threads with no clear answer
Post automatically merged:


I actually followed this video on youtube on how to load the SCFW but when I turn the console on and hold the right and left triggers in order to be able to install the the firmware but nothing happens I only get the SRAM test and later I can see the file "kernel.gba" listed but nothing happens when I click any button. Any ideas on what I am doing wrong?

That tutorial is (primarily)meant for those who use the EXEQ GameBox SP or any other clone console(I.E. - Digi RetroBoy / Revo K101). There are some similarities between setting it up with original hardware and on the clones.

  • Clones cannot show the menu text of the stock Super Card SD as it only shows tiles if the SD card is formatted correctly.
    • You're navigating the stock SuperCard SD firmware blind.
  • Original hardware can show the menu as intended, but you can still follow the steps intended for GBA clones.

If you're on original hardware(NDS/NDSL Gameboy Advance mode or GBA incl. variants), simply follow the instruction mentioned on the first post:
Download the current release and copy the scfw folder to the root of your SD card.
That's it! You can now use the kernel by loading scfw/kernel.gba from the official firmware.
NOTE: The above instruction assumes that you've already formatted your storage medium(sd card in this case) to FAT/FAT16.

Navigate to the kernel.gba file, open it and everything should be usable from there.
 

Aoshii

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
Jul 27, 2017
Messages
50
Trophies
0
Location
Kanto
XP
205
Country
Brazil
Hello nice people!
I've just received my Supercard 2 and didnt even bothered to try the stock firmware, just flashed SCFW over and now I'm very happy with the performance for the games I love.

Can I just make a little suggestion?
I would love to hide the .sav files in order to declutter the list and also not try to open a .sav instead of a .gba game.

Really hopping this project continues to improve!
:yaynds:
 

SylverReZ

DS Flashcarts Expert
Member
GBAtemp Patron
Joined
Sep 13, 2022
Messages
8,769
Trophies
6
Location
The Wired
Website
m4x1mumrez87.neocities.org
XP
27,347
Country
United Kingdom
is there an option besides the ds lite? i got a gamecube with the gamecube player, is there maybe to tool for this to flash it again?

it got bricked yesterday
Buy a GBxCart RW from insideGadgets or use Burn2Slot on a spare DS. You can then be able to reprogram the flash with the stock or custom firmware.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Xyvir

Aoshii

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
Jul 27, 2017
Messages
50
Trophies
0
Location
Kanto
XP
205
Country
Brazil
You can press the R button to do this.
Didnt knew that, thanks!
Post automatically merged:

Burn2Slot on a spare DS. You can then be able to reprogram the flash with the stock or custom firmware.

I was thinking... Would that allow me to "burn" a single ROM file to the Supercard in order to use it as a standalone game somehow?
If not, is there a way to achieve this?

I know its maybe a dumb question, but I tend to play one game at a time until I clear it and would be nice to just boot into it and skip the flashing and patching steps.
thanks!
 

Apache Thunder

I have cameras in your head!
Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
4,593
Trophies
3
Age
37
Location
Levelland, Texas
Website
www.mariopc.co.nr
XP
7,343
Country
United States
Didnt knew that, thanks!
Post automatically merged:



I was thinking... Would that allow me to "burn" a single ROM file to the Supercard in order to use it as a standalone game somehow?
If not, is there a way to achieve this?

I know its maybe a dumb question, but I tend to play one game at a time until I clear it and would be nice to just boot into it and skip the flashing and patching steps.
thanks!
You can flash a game to SC...problem is SC Flash is only 512KB in capacity. At least for SC Lite. I think it's similar with other models in this regard. You can't really fit any retail stuff on them. Just no capacity for it and even if you did you'd still have to SRAM patch them too before flashing them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SylverReZ

Aoshii

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
Jul 27, 2017
Messages
50
Trophies
0
Location
Kanto
XP
205
Country
Brazil
You can flash a game to SC...problem is SC Flash is only 512KB in capacity. At least for SC Lite. I think it's similar with other models in this regard. You can't really fit any retail stuff on them. Just no capacity for it and even if you did you'd still have to SRAM patch them too before flashing them.
So, what about "upgrades" to the hardware of the supercard?

I was thinking if it could be possible... Im a hardware technician and I work with bga and microsoldering everyday

I know its possible to swap the nand chip...
Even then, what would be the use of it, you know?
I dont know how to program, so maybe just buy a clean cartrige and flash it,right? :rolleyes:

What do you think?
 

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
  • kijetesantakalu042 @ kijetesantakalu042:
    Also that article is pretty badly written. Miku isn't just a hologram
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    He said this and I don't like it but other person said the same thing blah blah blah
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    I gotta comment on everything
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    That's not a comment it's question marks
  • kijetesantakalu042 @ kijetesantakalu042:
    It explains what I'm feeling
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    You've been here for like a decade you should know to comment on everything
  • kijetesantakalu042 @ kijetesantakalu042:
    I don't understand what you are saying and I've been here for less than a year
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    O I was talking to myself
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    Good morning guys
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    @K3Nv2, I've been around for two whole years (nearly three).
  • Veho @ Veho:
    Haven't you had enough?
  • Veho @ Veho:
    Almost three years, aren't you bored of the Temp by now?
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    Not necessarily, it hasn't felt like a long time to me. Unless it was ten or twenty years then I'll consider retiring.
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Make it a porn site again so we can really know each other
    +1
  • Veho @ Veho:
    Biblically.
    +1
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Make Temp Bust Again
    +1
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    Make GBAtemp the biggest cummunity
    +1
  • Veho @ Veho:
    Cum unity.
    +1
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    She is speedrunning how much she can scam out of her fans. This is what fame does to a mofo.
    SylverReZ @ SylverReZ: She is speedrunning how much she can scam out of her fans. This is what fame does to a mofo.