Hacking Slot 2 Card

[villa_bryan]

Hi, I just ordered the CycloDS Evo slot 1 card and would also like to get a slot 2 for gba games. I'd like something that supports linkage between pokemon games, like ruby to diamond(if possible), or emarld to diamond.

A rumble back would be nice, but i wouldn't care too much. Also Since i wanna play pokemon silver, I'd really like a Real Time clock. I heard that carts that don't have them you can get a patch that let's you put the right time in. Can you also change the date? LIke i remember on my silver on certain days i had to do things. Well anyways does that time stay constant? or does it change while the game is on?

Cause i'm fine setting the time everytime i play if it will save my 40 bucks.

Using opera would be nice too, and homebrew apps.

But the main thing i want is great GBA functionality and linking between this and my cyclo (gba and nds linking)

I also really want something expandable with a micro sd, if not with enought memory for a few games.

I have a ds lite, and i'd like it flush and white

so to reiterate

great gba functionality
expandable, or enough memory for a few games
flush in my white ds lite
and linking with my cyclo
and of course my cyclo will boot

home brew apps would be nice but i think my cyclo can do that

 

[xcalibur]

that does not exis....
the clostest thing to that would be a m3 perfect lite(no rumble)
expensive though

also, please do us all a favour and look at reviews and other similair topics before creating your own...there are at least two other topics lke that all giving just about the same answer

m3 = the best but also the most expensive
EZF4 = general reccomendation in combination with a slot 1 card since it has all the m3 has besides RTC and good nds compatibility(gba is topnotch)
supercard = stay away from that, its got horrible gba compatibility but i heard its got good emulators
EZF 3in1 = another general reccomendation if you only want the option to play gba games available. it has no expendable memory and only one game at a time can be loaded but it has rumble and ram

 

[4saken]

The above basically sums it up. The EZ4 Lite Deluxe or M3 Lite Perfect is the best if you want the above criteria, EXCEPT for gba-nds linkage (doesn't work for only pokemon - everything else is fine on the M3 at least).

M3 Lite is the most flush, EZ4 and 3in1 stick out, but it is not noticeable.

 

[villa_bryan]

i guess i'll get the ez4f
one question though

with the rtc patch when i set the time will the time keep chaning or will it stay that time?

also are neither the m3 or ez4f able to link with pokemon?

 

[4saken]

Stays at that time, And no, neither M3 or EZ4 can link with pokemon (though I'm positive M3 can link other games)

 

[Psyfira]

Just a quick point: Pokemon Silver was a GBC title, so it has to be run through a homebrew emulator called Goomba Color. So might be worth checking that whatever cart you're thinking of buying will run that homebrew app.

 

[villa_bryan]

sorry, this might seem like a dumb question but, if i get the 3 in 1 can i flash gba games from my cyclo?

because the ezf4 is pops out quite a bit

 

[4saken]

There isn't much of a difference between the size of the EZ4 Lite and the 3in1 (if you're talking about the miniSD one, forget this).

Yes you can use any of the programs available to flash games to the 3in1.

 

[villa_bryan]

so if i can flash games from my cyclods evo would the only difference between the 3 in 1 and the ezf4, other than the rumble and ram, be the expandability?

or does th ezf4 micro sd have some things that are better? cause if so i'll get that one hopefully eventually one with a rtc will come out and be affordable.

 

[d33t]

so if i can flash games from my cyclods evo would the only difference between the 3 in 1 and the ezf4, other than the rumble and ram, be the expandability?

or does th ezf4 micro sd have some things that are better? cause if so i'll get that one hopefully eventually one with a rtc will come out and be affordable.

The 3in1 only plays 1 game at a time and GBA roms are stored on the slot-1 (the CycloDS Evo). The EZF4 stores GBA roms on its own microSD card and can be used to play anything that you can play with a Slot-2 device (homebrew, patched DS games, homebrew, emulators, etc).

I got the 3in1 for use with my M3DSS and I'm anything but disappointed. The thing is awesome, and for $20, you can't go wrong. And, any card that has DLDI drivers should be able to use Rudolph's software (or so I have read). Of course, that can be downloaded here.

Back to something mentioned already, anyone know where I can find the RTC patch to play pokemon? Will the GBA Tool Advance work for it (looks like it will)? I'd try it right now but I'm at work. If nobody replies before I try it tonight, I'll chime back in too.

 

[xcalibur]

That is wrong, When you play the game, the internal battery gets activated and the time goes forward while you are playing. However it stays the same when you switch it off.
So it only really messes with berry collecting(having to play ~24 hours for them to regrow)

 

[villa_bryan]

if the m3 perfect lite will keep my berries growing correctly i think i might save and get one, if not

then i'll get the 3 in 1 if i can flash my saves from the 3 in 1 into the microsd on the cyclo as to make switching between games easier and conventional if not

i'll get the ezf4 because i want my games saves to stay and an extra 2 gigs of games, although i don't think i'd use so many, doesn't hurt.

 

[ssoccerh]

go with the m3 perfect

 

[xcalibur]

You should take note that EZF 4 has good nds compatibility depending on the minisd that you use, the lack of RTC only affect GBA games and not NDS games which use thebuilt in clock of the system.

Patches can be found at pocket heaven usually, so thats a good place to start looking.

EZ 4 or 3in1 is really your best choice since the only thing that the BIG pricegap between M3 and EZ products affect is ONE GAME ONLY.
I really think its a waste to pay that much, especially now the new pokemon is out. The EZ 3in1 reportedly has nds/gba connectability because rather than having multiple games, you just flash one game to the NOR storage(the same type real carts use) and it stays in there indefinetely(untill you delete it).
The game is then the same as the real cart and the nds will recognise it as such, meaning that the cart will be recognised in the NDS bootscreen as the game you flashed to it from your slot 1, and the ds game that you are trying to connect with should recognise it too.

This is all assumption however, i dont have a 3in1 YET. I should have it in a week or two, if you can wait that long i could give you a small review

 

[villa_bryan]

i actually wouldn't mind waiting so long. I should get my cyclo today and i can wait a week or 2 to find out how well it works for you. All i really care about is if the 3 in 1 flash saves to the slot 1 card but if the m3 lite can make the berries work, i kinda think i'm willing to save for it cause i'm ocd like that. haha

but like i said i want my saves to be able to go onto the micro sd so i can always flash them back. linking would be nice too.

so i guess i'll wait unless anyone can tell me earlier.

thank you

 

[d33t]

The game is then the same as the real cart and the nds will recognise it as such, meaning that the cart will be recognised in the NDS bootscreen as the game you flashed to it from your slot 1, and the ds game that you are trying to connect with should recognise it too.

This is all assumption however, i dont have a 3in1 YET. I should have it in a week or two, if you can wait that long i could give you a small review

This is exactly how it works when you flash it to NOR memory. The card is exactly like a retail GBA game as far as the DS can tell. Boot to the normal DS screen and it shows up as the game, even boots without the use of any PassMe/FlashMe/NoPass, just like a real GBA game.

I will note that some GBA games will need to be patched to work; namely Zelda. This is because the save files are too big so that has to be worked around. The EZ-Flash patch will patch the ROM and create a working save file, or so I've read anyway..... I still haven't had a chance to try any of the other GBA software. I'm a Linux kid and my virtual windoze is running uber slow (I have more RAM coming soon though).

Personally, unless you expect to play a LOT of GBA games, get the 3in1. The Perfect (or any slot-2 card really) is overpriced for as little as you'll probably use it. Save the $50+ for something else; like a nice 4GB MicroSD card

Again, I hope to check back in with some more info about running the GBA stuff with the 3in1, but I really need to extra RAM to make VirtualBox usable..... mid next week is what I'm hoping.

 

[d33t]

OK, I was bored tonight (yes I'm a nerd with nothing better to do on a Friday night) so I sucked it up and used my slow VirtualBox (a pretty boss, free and cross-platform virtual machine) to play around with patching GBA roms. Here's my guide for using the EZ-Flash 3-in-1 (3in1) with Zelda and Pokemon:

Zelda
Since Zelda was the one game that I knew that used a save file bigger than the 3in1 could support (well, technically both Minish Cap and Link to the Past both do), I decided to start with them.

BEFORE PATCHING
Then you try to load the clean dumped rom, you get a message about the file being corrupt. When you create your new save file, it again warns that the file is corrupt and won't let you continue. That as far as you can get. That's because the 3in1 doesn't support the save file size that Zelda uses.

PATCHING
I read somewhere that the 3in1 is pretty much the same as the EZ4, it's just stripped down and has the added memory expansion and vibration modes. I also read that you can use the EZ4 Client to patch the games and make the saves work, so that's what I tried. For my testing, I used version 1.03 from the downloads. Load the GBA rom by clicking open on the bottom left, set the save to EEPROM / 64K bits (these were the default values) and then click "Send" to the right of the open button. This will patch the rom and save it to the location you are looking at on the right. If it works, it will show a dialog that says "Done". As an added bonus, it will trip the rom so it takes up less space on your memory card.

UPDATE: It's possible that I screwed something up, but in my testing, it makes no difference what "Save Size" you use. The files come out identical to one another (md5 and crc strings are the same). So..... I have no idea what that value does. I guess you can just leave it to whatever the default is once you select the rom.

AFTER PATCHING
Copy the GBA rom to the memory card and put the card in your flash cart. Put it back in the DS, put the 3in1 in the slot-2 spot (if you took it out for some reason) and boot up the DS. Now load the patched rom (I did it in NOR and PSRAM, both work). You MIGHT get the warning about the files being corrupt when you see the first menu (I did once, but never again in either version); ignore the warnings and set up your new file. This time, it will work and you can play the game. Simply magical!

NOTE: Like any game, if you loaded it from PSRAM, make sure you save the SRAM after rebooting or you will lose your save. This is the same with any slot-2 cart and you should already know about this step anyway.

Pokemon
Pokemon uses the real-time clock (RTC) which the 3in1 does not have. In fact, apparently very few slot-2 cart have one (or so I read), but it's not really an issue since very few games use it (only Pokemon as far as I know). For my testing, I used Pokemon Ruby. When I loaded Fire Red and Leaf Green, it told me I didn't need the patch so it wouldn't let me apply it.

BEFORE PATCHING
When you start the game, you get a warning reading "The internal battery has run dry. The game can be player. However, clock-based events will no longer occur." The reason you see this is because there is no RTC on the cart, so it assumed the battery for it died; there's nothing wrong with you DS or either of your flash carts.

PATCHING
For the patching, I used GBA Tool Advance v0.7 from the downloads. Load the rom into the program by clicking on the "..." button in the upper right. Once it's loaded, you'll see some information about the game but we don't care too much about all that right now. Click on the tab that says "Clock Fix" and apply the patch to the rom. You will get a new file; the filename is the same except "output-" has been added to the beginning of it. This is the patched rom that you want to put on the memory card. You will also notice that the rom is smaller now; that's because the program trimmed it for you. Again, a nice touch.

AFTER PATCHING
Boot up the game and you'll see that the warning is now gone! There's 1 drawback to all of this though; timed events still don't actually occur. What this patch does is trick the game into thinking the clock is working when it really isn't. Since there really is no RTC on the card, the clock never changes, instead it's assigned a static value when you start the game (the current time, or so I've read).

Apparently, if you load the game later, the current time will again be used, so the game recognizes that the clock has advanced and will trigger all the appropriate timed events. However, I haven't had time to test this, and not being the biggest Pokemon fan (except Diamond/Pearl, they are super cool), I probably won't.

NOTE: Interestingly enough, this game also uses large save files, the same as Zelda. So, before you can save it, you also need to patch it with the EZ4 Client software as outlined above. Because this uses such a large save file, the game will no longer load properly from PSRAM, but will work just fine from NOR.

Thoughts
For my money, I couldn't be happier with the EZ-Flash 3-in-1 Expansion! Paired with a good slot-1 card (I use the M3 DS Simply, but the Revolution 4 DS, CycloDS Evolution or any other DLDI-supported card will work), it adds the only part you were missing; GBA playback. And it does for about $20 to boot! And, unlike other slot-2 cards, it has a memory expansion and vibration function. Flashing roms to NOR memory will make the card appear like a normal GBA game (and it would even work in a GBA if it would fit in the slot) and will boot without ANY patching or workaround; I don't think any other slot-2 card offers that. Because of this, you can pair it with DS games that can read GBA games (Castlevania and Pokemon are all I know offhand; note that I have tested neither, I'm going from my best guess here).

The only drawback is that you have to put the GBA roms on your slot-1 device which can take away from the number of DS games you can fit on it. But, unless you plan to play a LOT of GBA games, it's not worth spending the extra $50 for something like an M3 Perfect/Prefect Lite; spend the money on a larger memory card for your slot-1 device (assuming you have a unit that uses memory cards). That's my take on it anyway.

I hope this was helpful to people. I spent a fair amount of time finding all this info out and testing it to write this up. PM me with questions or corrections. If you have something to add, please do.

 

[d33t]

I got a PM from xcalibur798:

what is the difference between the saving process on a game played from PSRAM or a game played from NOR? I don't quite get that

In all honesty, I'm still learning all this myself, but what seems to happen is that the save information is placed in SRAM on the 3in1 card. When you back up the SRAM to a SAV file, it saves that information. You can also restore it later. However, I'm still a little confused about how this all works myself; sometimes I can't get saves to work at all, sometimes I don't have to do anything and they work fine.

I wasn't a big GBA guy and I don't really play GBA games. I mainly bought the thing to use with the DS browser. The GBA playback was just a nice bonus. I know there's a way to make this all work, but I haven't really sat down and played with it to learn how. Maybe someone else can chime in a clear this up? Does the EZ4 do any of this?

 

[mcp2]

Wow, I love that tutorial! Thanks, I ordered a 3 in 1 a couple of days ago and this along with help from other members has practically answered all my questions.