Using the latest AKAIO with the 1/25/09 loader, with the latest AKMENU4 in the akloader folder.
(DS Lite, AK2, Transcend Class 6 8GB MSDHC, AKAIO 1.3Final)
First of all AKAIO is fantastic. But I've observed some slightly odd behavior in some games compared to the official loader. In all cases, non-DMA (hold A during load) was tried but did not resolve the behavior. It seems like AKAIO is maybe slightly slower at streaming data than the official loader. Here are examples of what I mean.
Space Invaders Extreme - look at the pulsating background on Stage 3 on the top screen. In AKAIO it flashes as if it can't update fast enough. In official loader it's more normal.
Luminous Arc 2 - listen carefully to the first few speech samples at the very beginning of the game. Under AKAIO there is some minor garbling. In the official loader the samples play smoothly.
Meteos - In AKAIO you'll hear some minor interruptions in the music as you move thru the menus. In official loader the music continues playing smoothly as you move thru menus.
B Team Metal Cartoon Squad - This is hard to notice unless you watch very carefully. But there is some occasional screen tearing on the background objects in AKAIO, which is not present or extremely reduced in official loader.
Part of AKAIO's brilliance is that you can opt to use the official loader to avoid these issues. So it's no big deal. But I thought it was interesting to note these differences, since AKAIO seems otherwise superior to the official loader.
I've seen some of this behavior in a few other games too, like Boulderdash Rocks for example, but in that game the official loader was no better than AKAIO. The vast majority of games run just fine with AKAIO loader, don't misunderstand me. But it does appear that something may be up in some games that are pulling multiple data streams from a game at once (i.e. music and menus/sprites). Interestingly, if you turn the music off in Boulderdash Rocks, the screen flashing issues stop regardless, but the music is pretty cool.
(DS Lite, AK2, Transcend Class 6 8GB MSDHC, AKAIO 1.3Final)
First of all AKAIO is fantastic. But I've observed some slightly odd behavior in some games compared to the official loader. In all cases, non-DMA (hold A during load) was tried but did not resolve the behavior. It seems like AKAIO is maybe slightly slower at streaming data than the official loader. Here are examples of what I mean.
Space Invaders Extreme - look at the pulsating background on Stage 3 on the top screen. In AKAIO it flashes as if it can't update fast enough. In official loader it's more normal.
Luminous Arc 2 - listen carefully to the first few speech samples at the very beginning of the game. Under AKAIO there is some minor garbling. In the official loader the samples play smoothly.
Meteos - In AKAIO you'll hear some minor interruptions in the music as you move thru the menus. In official loader the music continues playing smoothly as you move thru menus.
B Team Metal Cartoon Squad - This is hard to notice unless you watch very carefully. But there is some occasional screen tearing on the background objects in AKAIO, which is not present or extremely reduced in official loader.
Part of AKAIO's brilliance is that you can opt to use the official loader to avoid these issues. So it's no big deal. But I thought it was interesting to note these differences, since AKAIO seems otherwise superior to the official loader.
I've seen some of this behavior in a few other games too, like Boulderdash Rocks for example, but in that game the official loader was no better than AKAIO. The vast majority of games run just fine with AKAIO loader, don't misunderstand me. But it does appear that something may be up in some games that are pulling multiple data streams from a game at once (i.e. music and menus/sprites). Interestingly, if you turn the music off in Boulderdash Rocks, the screen flashing issues stop regardless, but the music is pretty cool.
