Hacking Zelda PH savegame issues

[Tokenx]

I played the Japanese version with the fat7 fix and saving worked fine.
It might have been my impulsive post-gaming saving though (after I finish I always turn my ds back on and load DS-X so the EEPROM saves)

 

[amemoryoncelost]

The DS-X team surely does not support this kind of feature.

Do they support anything?

But really, I'm still at 1.0.2 and could try this out, i don't think I have either game at the moment, but I'll grab them tomorrow and see if I can figure anything out

 

[dib]

It would give anybody a headache to try to support third party tools that they didnt have any input in creating. So no, they don't. Not that they can tell when a downgrader has been used, and their support policy seems to revolve around just replacing carts because it's easier than actually fixing or sometimes even troubleshooting the issue.

For what it's worth, I have firmware 1.1.0 and successfully tested Zelda (arm7 fix required).

 

[pbolmstedt]

For what it's worth, I have firmware 1.1.0 and successfully tested Zelda (arm7 fix required).

Many thanks, Captain Obvious!

The problem is described in the first post in this thread.

 

[djj1]

Hey are there any problems with the European version erasing game saves? I know I'm in America but I think nothing would really be sacrificed if I used the other version instead. Anyone know if there are any other problems with the (E) version?

i havent had any save problems yet using european version, ds-xtreme and the arm7 fix.
the only other game im playing at the moment is brain training 2

 

[Tyralyon]

Hey are there any problems with the European version erasing game saves? I know I'm in America but I think nothing would really be sacrificed if I used the other version instead. Anyone know if there are any other problems with the (E) version?

I bought me a CycloDS and a new DS and gave my old DS and the DSX to my GFs brothers for xmas. I played through the US version of Zelda without any problems myself, but they are playing the EU version (they are french and prefer french text), and they are having the problem. Saves keep getting erased. Not sure if they have played any other games in between...
Man, I'm glad I switched to a CycloDS, but sucks for my gf and her brothers...

 

[pbolmstedt]

my old DS and the DSX to my GFs brothers for xmas

Dude, that's cold!

 

[Tyralyon]

lol, because it was my old one's?

They were in mint condition, and they really wanted a DS. I wanted to buy them a new one, but gf said no. And I also put in the DSX as a little extra gift, they loved it!

 

[Joey90]

There is only one way I found that (seems) to work.

(And it is a bit complex and requires access to a computer each time you want to play after something else)

After playing PH, you stop and switch to another game, it saves the EEPROM and overwrites it with the new game.

If you then don't load up PH 'till you get to a computer then you can continue playing other games, if you load up PH and it says 'creating new save file(s)' DON'T load up your DSX or it will save the dud data over your data.

Now the complex bit :|

Connect to the computer, and copy your zelda save to your computer.

Load up zelda on your DSX and start a new file (or anything that makes a save), turn off and turn on again letting it save the EEPROM data.

Don't bother loading up a game, just turn off and plug back into the computer.

Now replace the save on your DSX (now dud) with the one you backed up earlier and start PH.

It may say that it is partially corrupted but SHOULD work.

I have used this three times with success

Explanation: I think for some reason the DSX needs a zelda save in the EEPROM to load properly... If you play any other game it overwrites this and so it doesn't work.

 

[MrSpud]

Boy, all the things we have to do just to get our cart to work the way it's suppose to

I think that you're 100% correct Joey90, I did what you said and it's seems to be working. I had the same problem with Orcs&elves. I think that this problem mostly affect the roms that need the arm7fix, and since about 75% of new releases do...

Well, no to worry, Ds-x is coming with a new firmware SOON that should fix these kind of problems

 

[kazumi213]

This is an old workaround I've been suggesting since Pokemon Ranger release. Not sure whether it still will work with Zelda (I don't bother to mess with the DS-X anymore), but it won't harm to try. After playing the other game (Mario & Luigi in your example) and BEFORE executing Zelda again, backup your Zelda save and uncompress it, then try to load the game using the uncompressed save.

Please Joey90, read my post above, what you suggest is exactly what I did, only you don't uncompress the save (probably that's why you are getting the corruption warning). No need to create a new save file before copying your backup to the DS-X if you use the uncompressed save.

The explanation is that DS-X relies on EEPROM contents by default. If nothing is detected ('cause you have deleted your Zelda save data by playing other game) it tries to access the save. But for some reason, the DS-X sometimes fails to read from compressed saves.

Note that this workaround will not work for 1.0.2 and 1.1.0 users because their saves are just 256 kbytes and Zelda saves are 512 kbytes, so they are missing info (will be detected as corrupted).

 

[Joey90]

Well... if your way works as well then it is for a different reason...

My way doesn't require uncompressing the save, merely having A PH save file in the EEPROM (even if it is blank)

But... it doesn't really matter so long as you get your save to work

P.S. another way I thought of was to have two versions (i.e. E and U) and have one with the real save file and one just to put a save back in the EEPROM but I didn't get it to work (and I had already finished the game by then...)

 

[pbolmstedt]

(and I had already finished the game by then...)

Exactly. Too easy; I "finished" it (couldn't be bothered with the end-boss... only 30 more minutes of boring cutscenes) so fast I never had to worry about the save-corruptions. =] Lucky for me!

 

[kazumi213]

(and I had already finished the game by then...)Exactly. Too easy; I "finished" it (couldn't be bothered with the end-boss... only 30 more minutes of boring cutscenes) so fast I never had to worry about the save-corruptions. =] Lucky for me!

Did you play other games while you were playing Zelda?