Hacking Wood R4 3in1+ Patch

[qwertymodo]

The Wood R4 firmware includes native support for the EZ Flash 3in1. However, Yellow Wood Goblin does not have the most recent version of the 3in1 (originally called the 3in1+ but now sold as the 3in1, as it has replaced the older version), and he only supports the version that he has. When the 3in1+ was released, the EZ Flash team also released updated source code for implementing the new cart. I have taken this updated source and applied it to the Wood R4 source and have successfully enabled the 3in1+ for native use with the Wood R4 firmware.

What this means:
The Wood R4 (and naturally, the original Wood R.P.G. as well) should now be fully compatible with all revisions of the EZ Flash 3in1 (this has only been tested on a single 3in1+)

What this does not mean:
This does not have anything to do with enabling Wood R4 for clones.
This does not enable any other slot-2 expansion


So far, I have successfully gotten this working on a single 3in1+, which is the latest version of the 3in1. However, this is based off of the most recent source released by the EZ Flash team, so theoretically, it should work for all versions of the 3in1. Also, I have only tested it using the Wood R4 firmware, since I only have an R4 to test with. However, compiling the source produces both the R4 and Acekard versions, so this should work for Acekard users as well. Since Yellow Wood Goblin has stated that he will only support the 3in1 revision that he has, I am asking for testers to confirm that this is working before I submit a patch to him.

Here's what I need from you:

1: I need to know what version of the 3in1 you are using. Probably the easiest way to find this out is by running Rudolf's GBAExpLoader. The title bar will indicate which version you are running, "3in1" "New3in1" or "3in1pls"



2: I need to know if you're using this on an Acekard or R4

3: Quite simply, I need to know if it works or not, but realize, THIS IS A TEST BUILD. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DATA LOSS IF YOU DON'T PROPERLY BACK UP YOUR DATA BEFORE TRYING THIS OUT

4: I need to know if your game saves are properly copied to/from the card. Try playing a game, saving, play another game, save, then go back to the first game. Play around with it.


Please give me feedback on this. I would really like to see this make it in to the official builds.

Spoiler

My test results (using an R4 and a 3in1+):

NOTE- some of these are just to double-check that I didn't break anything in the process. Also, v1 is supported fully in the official build, I just put it here again to test if anything gets broken.

Results for v1.15 Test 1
NDS ROM loading v1 passed v2 untested v3 passed

GBA ROM loading-PSRAM v1 passed v2 untested v3 passed
GBA ROM loading-NOR v1 passed v2 untested v3 passed
Running NOR-flashed GBA ROM from the "Slot 2" button on the main menu v1 passed v2 untested v3 passed

NDS Browser (clean ROM) v1 failed v2 untested v3 failed Memory expansion not detected
NDS Browser (patched ROM) v1 passed v2 untested v3 passed

Rumble pack (patched ROMs only) v1 untested v2 untested v3 untested


Download:
Wood R4 v.1.15 3in1+ Test 1
Wood R.P.G. (for Acekard users) v.1.15 3in1+ Test 1

Wood R4 v.1.10 3in1+ Test 2
Wood R.P.G. (for Acekard users) v.1.10 3in1+ Test 2

Wood R4 v.1.10 3in1+ Test
Wood R.P.G. (for Acekard users) v.1.10 3in1+ Test

Working NDS Browser Patch *NOTE* Must be using the European ROM

 

[nathancnc]

Thanks, I've been wanting this for a while!

 

[qwertymodo]

Is it working for you?

 

[denieru7]

I will test it tommorow. Thanks a lot for this, it's the only reason I still have YSmenu hanging around on my R4

 

[Mbmax]

I sadly don't have any ez 3in1 Plus. Got a v1 and v2.

BTW, i'm glad to see that someone has found ez 3in1 plus sources available since years on ezflash wiki.

Thanks for the fix qwertymodo.

Ps : to know if an ez 3in1 is a plus version just look at golden traces and the PCB. 3in1 plus got a blue PCB.

 

[qwertymodo]

Well, the gbaexploader method of determining board version doesn't require opening it. Also, I am interested to hear back from people with older 3in1's as well. I'm pretty sure I didn't break anything, but reassurance would be nice

 

[denieru7]

Okay, time to report my findings.

On an Original R4.
I did not try Exploader, however I am sure I have a 3in1+ for four reasons.
1. GBA games did not work in Wood R4 1.10 (the official release)
2. The PCB is blue, as stated by Mbmax.
3. It shows up as 16384 Kbyte EZ3in1Plus when booting Moonshell 2.10
4. I bought it quite recently

RUMBLE
WoodR4 1.10 - Working
Patched WoodR4 - Working

RAM - Opera DS Browser clean ROM
WoodR4 1.10 - Not working, asks me to insert memory Expansion Pack
Patched WoodR4 - Not working, asks me to insert memory Expansion Pack
YSmenu - Working

For both WoodR4 1.10 and Patched WoodR4, I tried various settings to no avail as well as the cheat code for "RAM Extension Support Codes". Nothing. This probably could be fixed with some further work. (Maybe?)

GBA
WoodR4 1.10 - Not working. When selecting a .gba and pressing A, nothing happens. Nothing happens when pressing Y then X for NOR. However, it can back up the SRAM save in START>TOOLS.

Patched WoodR4 - Working (

).
*When selecting a .gba and pressing A, gba game writes to RAM and starts.
*Did not try writing a game to NOR - I already had Mother 3 there.
*Tried Rhythm Tengoku and Golden Sun (Both patched for SRAM). Played one then the other, played them twice in a row, played around with it etc and at all times, saves worked.
*In START>Settings>GBA settings, I turned universal sleep and Backup save at startup ON. Both of these two settings worked, Universal sleep worked when pressing LRSTART and woke up with STARTSELECT, and when I played a .gba and turned my DS off and on it automatically backed up my save.
*Backing up the SRAM save in START>TOOLS worked.

GOOD JOB QWERTYMODO! The only thing that didn't work is Expansion RAM, but I'm sure with some tweaking and maybe some correspondence with YWG it'll work. I know it should be working because when I boot YSmenu as a .nds, the DS Web Browser works fine. In fact, it's the only reason I still have YSmenu on my R4.

KUDOS

 

[qwertymodo]

I've heard that the browser has to be patched to recognize the unofficial expansions. Perhaps YSMenu is able to patch it on the fly, I don't know (I honestly haven't tried using the browser). Also, I couldn't find anything in the official EZ Flash team source having to do with the browser, so I don't know what to tell you there. Other than that, good to hear

I'm really hoping that with enough feedback, ywg will accept this as a patch and include it in the official release. I have no intention of maintaining this as a fork (I only did this so my gf could play her gba games without gbaexploader, which was actually the whole reason I bought her the r4 in the first place since I heard Wood r4 was compatible with the 3in1 but I didn't know it was only compatible with v1

but hey, for $6 it was a steal even w/out this)

 

[Pliskron]

wow I just recived my 3in1 from priceangles and it's the old version

 

[denieru7]

Come on guys, we need more testers to have any chance of the YWG accepting it! Anyone with any EZflash 3in1 (including the original, V2 and Plus) give it a go and post your results

 

[nathancnc]

Just Finished Testing, and it does write to NOR, but for some games that need patcing (like Pokemon FireRed) it does not do this. When the game boots it gives me a 1M sub circuit error.

GBA Exploder did patch the game after writing it to NOR, in case you were wondering.

SRAM mode seems to work as it should.

 

[qwertymodo]

As far as the autopatching for save types goes, I don't think the code I worked with has anything to do with that (all I changed were the 3in1 device detection and read/write functions), so that might be the sort of thing to request for the official firmware. You can try hardpatching the rom and see if the saves work (if you still want to keep your clean rom, just make a copy of it and hardpatch the copy just for testing).

 

[qwertymodo]

I've added a poll to the thread. Please vote

 

[qwertymodo]

Ok, so I'm not sure what is up with the NDS Browser. I tried hard patching the EU Browser rom, and no expansion detected. I'll play around some more and see if I can determine anything else, but chances are there's nothing I can do about it, as I don't even know if it works properly in the official firmware with the old 3in1's. Also, there was nothing in the updated source dealing with the browser, so I wouldn't know where to start...

 

[pikachu945]

I have 3in1 I would be glad to test it out for you!

 

[twiztidsinz]

I have 3in1 I would be glad to test it out for you!

3in1 or 3in1+?

3in1 already works.

 

[denieru7]

Yes, but it'd still be good to test the 3in1 just to see if it's broken anything.

 

[qwertymodo]

Yes, but it'd still be good to test the 3in1 just to see if it's broken anything.

Yeah, definitely. However, I'm pretty confident that this should still work exactly the same as the official version regarding the old 3in1's since the logic goes something like this:

CODECheck Device ID (to see if this is a 3in1 or a 3in1+)

If this is a 3in1+
ÂÂÂÂ do stuff specific to the 3in1+

Else if this is an old 3in1
ÂÂÂÂ do stuff specific to the old 3in1
ÂÂÂÂ this stuff is exactly the same as the official version

But any testing is welcome

 

[nathancnc]

will this be updated for the 1.11 release?

 

[qwertymodo]

will this be updated for the 1.11 release?

Probably not, or at the very least not soon, for a number of reasons. First off, as I stated before I do not intend to maintain this as a fork, however I may stay in sync with an update or two to avoid turning people off of testing this because it's a step backwards. Second (and more importantly), my system drive on my desktop just suffered catastrophic failure so until I can get a new hard drive and rebuild my devkitPro environment (which won't be at the top of my list of priorities when rebuilding my computer) I won't be doing much of anything