ROM Hack Super Mario Advance 4 - region change e-Reader cards

[Bangaio]

As you may know, only some e-Reader cards were released in the US. Caitsith2 encoded most JP-only cards to US format but I noticed the demo cards are missing from his site (or at least I haven't been able to find them): http://caitsith2.net/ereader/sma4.htm
So I took onto myself to write a small program to convert those with my limited programming skills. Credits to caitsith2, I just adapted his checksum calculation code.

Demo cards (No-Intro set), ones marked with "USA" were released in the US

Series 1    07-E001    1-1 Fast Clear                  USA
Series 1    07-E002    1-2 Infinite 1-Up               USA
Series 1    07-E003    3-4 Infinite 1-Up               USA
Series 1    07-E004    4-6 Infinite 1-Up               USA
Series 1    07-E005    1-4 Hidden Toad House
Series 1    07-E006    2-2 Hidden Toad House           USA
Series 1    07-E007    3-8 Hidden Toad House           USA
Series 1    07-E008    4-2 Hidden Toad House           USA
Series 1    07-E009    5-5 Hidden Toad House           USA
Series 1    07-E010    6-7 Hidden Toad House           USA
Series 1    07-E011    7-2 Hidden Toad House           USA
Series 1    07-E012    3-2 Continuous Star             USA
Series 1    07-E013    3-3 Hidden 1-Up
Series 2    07-E014    1-6 Fast Clear
Series 2    07-E015    7-6 Fast Clear
Series 2    07-E016    8-Fort Fast Clear
Series 2    07-E017    2-1 Continuous 1-Up
Series 2    07-E018    2-Fort Unlimited 1-Up
Series 2    07-E019    2-5 Infinite 1-Up
Series 2    07-E020    3-9 Infinite 1-Up
Series 2    07-E021    5-7 Infinite 1-Up
Series 2    07-E022    6-10 Infinite 1-Up
Series 2    07-E023    8-1 Infinite 1-Up
Series 2    07-E024    7-3 Continuous Star
Series 2    07-E025    5-Fort-1 Hidden 1-Up
Series 2    07-E026    6-2 Hidden 1-Up
Series 2    07-E027    8-1 Hidden 1-Up
Series 2    07-E028    3-7 Hidden Item
Series 2    07-E029    5-1 Hidden Item
Series 2    07-E030    6-3 Hidden Item

Series 1   07-E101    Classic World 1-1
Series 2   07-E102    World-e 05 Bombarded by Bob-ombs
Series 2   07-E103    World-e 10 Para Beetle Challenge
Series 2   07-E104    World-e 21 Castle Dash

Instructions:
1. Download nedcenc.exe from http://www.caitsith2.com/ereader/tools/, and sma4_regcon.exe from attached files (source code included)
2. If in raw format, decode the card

nedcenc.exe -d -i JP_card.raw -o JP_card.bin

3. Region convert the card

sma4_regcon.exe JP_card.bin US_card.bin

4. Optional: convert back to .raw

nedcenc.exe -e -i US_card.bin -o US_card.raw

Or use the .bat file provided to batch convert:

sma4_regcon.bat "path/to/cards"

Notes:
- All the JP-only demo cards converted and tested on no$GBA
- Frog Suit card works converted, but has a few bytes difference with the official US card. Possibly others are the same.


How to scan: (no$GBA)
0a. Download e-Reader save with SMA4 data: www.zophar.net/download_file/20656
0b. Configure no$GBA settings and save
0c. Rename e-Reader save to match eReader rom filename
1. Open SMA4 rom in no$GBA
2. Open e-Reader rom, selecting 2nd machine in Open dialog [only works if eReader is on 2nd machine]
3. Scan card when prompted (first time it will open a new window, afterwards the card stays loaded, so change it before scanning in-game)

As a bonus I have included snapshots of all the demo cards, you need to load the correct ROMs as instructed above or no$GBA will crash:

Super Mario Advance 4 - Super Mario Bros. 3 (USA) (Wii U Virtual Console).gba [D4C13AC3]
e-Reader (USA).gba [8B27CD67]

 

[pikpol]

Great to see someone taking the time to create such tools
Do you think it works with all cards? (Even though most if not all are available online)

 

[Bangaio]

You mean all non-demo cards? If so, it should, but I only tested the frog card.
If you mean all e-Reader cards, then no. Only SMA4.

 

[Ericthegreat]

I remember buying like all the nes packs, makes me sad for some reason. Were they expensive?

 

[Renegade_X135]

Oh my gosh, thank you so so much for having written this Checksum program!!

THIS was the missing ingredient I needed for translating ALL of the unreleased SMA4 e-reader card files into English.

I just made a thread over in the "GBA Game Development" board, detailing my procedures, as well as featuring downloads to everything. Go ahead and give it a look.

UPDATE: It looks like I won't be able to post that thread for another 24 hours. Please be patient and bear with me. It will be posted tomorrow.