Homebrew Ugh -- all 3 DKC freeze when loaded from save state

[regnad]

I'm using SnemulDS on an EZ-Flash Vi in a DSL, and I have a Super Card Lite in the Slot-2.

As advised by someone on this board in order to get the DKCs working, I changed the setting of MapExtMem in the .cfg from 0 to 1 (otherwise I had to pull out the Slot-2 card just to get it to load).

All three run fine, just as long as I never quit. As soon as I save, come back later and load the save state, the ROM starts up, but then freezes as soon as I try to enter any level. This happens every time no matter what the level and on all three DKCs.

Any ideas how to solve this?

 

[regnad]

Is there another option? Have you gotten these to run with anything else on a DS?

 

[Vague Rant]

Is there a reason you're using save states rather than the in-game save? Obviously they're more convenient, but you might find in-game saves more reliable.

EDIT: Typing fail.

 

[regnad]

Bah! I can't even get that far!

Starting over from the beginning, not using save states at all, DKC 1 froze half-way through the second level, and DKC 2 froze trying to enter the third level. Both occurrences happened before the first opportunity to save in-game the standard way. After the second freezing, I shut it off in frustration.

These games are a mess!! Am I the only one having problems?

 

[Vague Rant]

I know for sure that I played as far as the first save in DKC1, and that was on an EZ-V (no i), which is roughly the same card as yours so it shouldn't be compatibility issues. Which region ROMs are you using, and which specific SNEmulDS version (0.6a? WIP 2?)?

 

[granville]

I have beaten all 3 DKC games using SnemulDS with or without a memory expansion. So I can attest that they are 100% fully playable. And they should not freeze up at all if you use the latest version on Archeid's site.

Played on-
Supercard DS-One SDHC (non DSi)
1GB Sandisk class 6 (I believe)
SnemulDS 0.6a WIP 2
MapExtMem = 1
Vblank- normal speed
Speedhacks- none
Works with or without EZ Flash 3-in-1 (using it causes slightly less stuttering, not required)
NO SAVESTATES EVER, loading these cause the levels to freeze whenever you change scenes
Select Auto SRAM saving and use ingame saves, should work and save perfectly
For the rom versions, I used the 1.0 of all DKC roms (if it exists)

DKC 1 and 2 should have the least glitches (if you set transparency to ON in the CFG). They are totally playable and enjoyable from start to finish and the graphical problems are not really bad at all. DKC 3 has some more glitches here and there, but is still pretty playable and enjoyable. The priorities for graphics do mess up here and there, but they're fixable. None of the games should completely freeze though if you are using ingame saves. Savestates are completely broken for these games. I suggest you delete the savestate files off your microSD for these 3 games as they are useless. You might want to delete your old ingame saves too if you want a fresh start.

As for other details, make sure you are using verified GOOD dumps. Here are the roms I use-

Donkey Kong Country (U) (V1.0) [!]
Donkey Kong Country 2 - Diddy's Kong Quest (U) (V1.1) [!]
Donkey Kong Country 3 - Dixie Kong's Double Trouble (U) [!]

I don't think the revision numbers matter much, but the [!] symbol is there to tell you that the game is verified as a GOOD dump, meaning there should be no issues with the roms themselves.

The last things I can suggest is to 1- delete and rewrite the roms and snemulDS program to the card. They may have become corrupted. My DKC rom somehow glitched up, but I fixed it by deleting it and putting it back on the microSD. Or 2- reformat your microSD completely. Make sure to back up all files on the card though before doing it. You will lose any data on it.

 

[DanTheManMS]

To add onto granville's post, some of the lava levels in DKC2 have a weird graphical glitch with the latest version of SNEmulDS (bottom 1/4 of the screen scrolls at a different rate than the rest of the screen), so for those specific levels you may wish to downgrade to a lower version, always using in-game saves. I'm not entirely sure if v0.5 Beta works (been forever since I played any of them on the DS) or if you have to go all the way down to a variant of v0.4.

 

[granville]

I've not experienced that lava level glitch myself. There is a weird one that partially obscures the screen in those levels, but you can rid it of the screen by disabling "Block Priority" in Advanced/GFX config. This does put some sprites in front of backgrounds they should be behind, but it's nothing major.

If you're referring to the obsidian stalagmites layer on the bottom of the screen that scroll faster than the rest of the screen, those were in the original game and they are supposed to be there. It's another graphical layer effect. At any rate, i've not had the issue you describe at all...

The glitches i've noticed in DKC2-

- some palettes of the ocean in ship levels is incorrect, should be green-skyblue, not just blue. This seems to affect the sunset transition too, having different colors
- water palettes don't change when you are under the water (still has the surface layer and the wave effect
- the "block priority" option in gfx options can fix or break different things in different levels. Turning it ON lets you see a little more of the rigging in the ship levels (not the rigging levels) but this will cause garbled graphics in the lava levels. Might break some other things.
- standard background priority issues- mostly characters appearing in front of things they should be behind or some world map layers being behind what they should be in front of (fog or water)
- one ice level should have partial transparency of the ice platforms and doesn't seem to here
- sun in the Gangplank Galleon level should be transparent. Fiddling with the sprite layers can fix this, not sure if it breaks other things.
- one of the ghost forest levels shows the light beams behind part of the background where it should be in front. may be fixable with some tweaking, may break other things...

That should cover most of the more noticeable glitches. Might have missed some things...

 

[regnad]

The snow levels of DKC3 look terrible. Is there a solution to that?

And on a slightly different subject, Prince of Persia looks absolutely horrible. No tweaking I have found fixes it, but I imagine there's a solution I just haven't hit upon.

 

[DanTheManMS]

I've not experienced that lava level glitch myself. There is a weird one that partially obscures the screen in those levels, but you can rid it of the screen by disabling "Block Priority" in Advanced/GFX config. This does put some sprites in front of backgrounds they should be behind, but it's nothing major.

If you're referring to the obsidian stalagmites layer on the bottom of the screen that scroll faster than the rest of the screen, those were in the original game and they are supposed to be there. It's another graphical layer effect. At any rate, i've not had the issue you describe at all...

It's probably the stalagmites layer having a higher priority than it should have, and covering up the ground as a result. I feel silly for having not tried the Block Priority option, as that's usually the first one I try. I'll mess with it a bit next time I'm around my DS.

For the winter levels in DKC3, try using a layer configuration of 2103. That's what I wrote on the PHWiki compatibility list, though I don't remember how up-to-date it is.

 

[redact]

I've got nothing to say, but it's OK.

sorry to go off topic, but is this quoting the Beatles song, "good morning" or unrelated?...

 

[Vague Rant]

Haha, yes, it is. I felt it suited my posting style so I use it as my signature on most message boards.

 

[granville]

DKC3 is a lot more troublesome than either of the two previous DKC games. I can't find a comfortable graphical setup that work almost 100% of the time. You just have to keep messing around with the layering on many of the levels to get it to work. Plus there are some weird unfixable glitches with some of the bosses. For some reason, there is a duplicate image of the bosses on top of themselves. I have no idea what causes it. It's not going to interfere with gameplay, but it's a little weird.

Now some revisions of SnemulDS actually freeze in certain levels of DKC3. I'm not sure which versions work and which don't, but the freezes happen when you enter specific level archetypes. Like one version of the emulator would freeze in cave areas. This actually caused water levels to be hard to play, because the end of the levels had you enter a small cave area to exit the levels. There might have been some other levels that froze, not sure. But the newest WIP might not freeze at all.

 

[DanTheManMS]

I'm an idiot. The "bottom 1/3 of the screen scrolls faster than it should" issue wasn't from SNEmulDS at all. It was just fresh in my mind from having run it in Snezziboy for the GBA recently.

Sorry for the confusion.