EZ-Flash USA Forum

Hello everyone!

I hope these questions haven't already been asked, I already searched the forums but I didn't find anything... :/
I bought a secondhand EZF 3 (1 gig) yesterday and after some problems, nearly everything works fine...

I'm not sure how the save function works; normally, when I use the an in-game save function, it writes on a special memory space on the cart, and, after rebooting, it transfers the data in the saver folder no?

1 - With Castlevania AOS (I don't have many roms to test), I save, and if I do a soft reset (R+A+B+Select+Start), it writes the save data in the folder. If I do a hard reset (off -> on), it says 'writing the save etc...' but when I launch the game again, the save is empty! And when I open the file with a hex editor, there is only the game name, the rest is only 00 00 00 00...
I don't understand :/
I suppose this isn't normal, any ideas?

2 - Do I have to select the save file each time I want to play a game? Or is it automatic?

3 - Let's say I play a game, I save, I reboot and launch the game again, play a bit but don't save and reboot again. Is it normal that it resets the save data? (Supposing the save space in the memory is empty, then it writes empty data on the second reboot). Could be dangerous if I'm not careful.

Thank you for your attention!!!!

I take it when you say you save, you're finding a save point in the game and saving you progession there ?

No, you don't have to select the save file each time. EZPDA (the OS) does have provisions to store 100 save files for each GBA game though. So you could share a game with a friend / family member and keep your own save file, which is external to the game. In this case, you would have to select the save file (they're numbered .s00 -> .s99) to be copied to ram before running your rom.

No, the save data shouldn't be reset. I'm not 100% sure on how this works but a guess would say either the data in the sram is checked against the save file with a time code or byte by byte checking or a checksum. If the data in sram is different to the corresponding save file it's written out. If not, it's ignored.

I know this is how it works with DS games. To be honest, I've not played a GBA game in quite a few weeks.

Thanks for the reply.
Yes, I'm talking about save points in games
Concerning the save reset question, do you know if the memory space reserved for saves during the game is the same as the space used to store save data when you load a game? In that case, I have a problem :/
If I load a game, play, and then quit without saving AND if I let the PDA write the save to the saver space, everything's lost and I don't know why.
I think my battery's fine so I don't know where the problem could be coming from.

Your first question is somewhat confusing.

The sram is used to store saved game data whilst your are playing a particular game. The short answer, if I'm reading your question right, is yes.

When you load a game, if there is a <game>.sav file it's loaded to the sram. When you reset the GBA/DS if there is data in the sram, then it's written out as <game>.sav, overwriting any previous <game>.sav there is.

If no changes are being made to the saved game in the sram, then EZPDA shouldn't be writing it out to the cart. Although I have seen what you're referring to. In that instance you're going to have to stop the writing to the cart. I don't understand why it happens.

Essentially, the sram contents should be unchanged, unless that GBA game has reset / erased the sram for some reason. Which means that if the contents are unchanged, the data written out should remain the same as well.

Looks like this is just one more bug in the EZPDA software

Thank you for your reply

I've tried Broken Sword too, and it's quite strange. When I save in slot 1, it doesn't like hard resetting, so it doesn't save, but with slots 2 or 3, if I hard reset, no problem! (Castlevania though doesn't like hard resetting with any slot).....
So yeah, it sometimes resets the SRAM apparently when doing a hard reset.

Just tried Final Fantasy : Dawn of Souls, everything's fine.
Would it just be an incompatibility/ bug with EZPDA?

Old posts but same problem :

http://www.ezflash.cn/english/vbb/showthread.php?t=898
&
http://www.ezflash.cn/english/vbb/showthread.php?t=841

Guess I'm not the only one :/

I dont recall having an issue with either of those games you mentioned. And I generally always hard reset. I did play both of those games to the end too.

It could just be a bug in the current EZManager. There are quite a few of them. Also some of the older EZManager versions work quite well with some GBA games, and yet the newer EZManagers don't work at all with them.

It is frustrating, but I keep a variety of EZManager versions available on my HD, just in case things don't work as well with one version. I can then switch between versions until I find one that works properly.

Oh, I see.... and do you recommend a particular version?
I'd really like to know where the problem comes from.
Thank you.

Could you tell me what date is written on your cart and the number beside it?
The version of ezmanager you're using too.

There is another person on the official forums that has the same problem with the same games and we're trying to find out where exactly it could come from.


Thank you

I did a bit of a test for you. I used :

EZManager 2.09b4
EZPDA 1.25
Nintendo DS in GBA mode (no EZPass, etc)
0999 - Castlevania - Aria of Sorrow (U)(GBATemp) game rom
No patches, no compression.
Copied to 1Gb NAND memory.
Save slot 1

I played until I reached the first save point, which is only a few seconds into the game. I saved, rebooted and restarted the game. Then went to immediately load the save game. Here is the result :



My cart has a Dec 2004 manufacturing date and says EZ390 on it.

I don't mind trying Broken Sword as well.

Ok, I repeated the above procedure for this rom :

0376 - Broken Sword - The Shadow of the Templars (U)(Nobody)

And it worked perfectly.

Here is the image :



Again, no problems with saving.

Thank you very much for the tests!
It's very strange because I use the same programs, the only difference is that I copy the games on the 256 meg part of the memory :/
(And my cart is EZ370 2004.08 )

I can't put any games on my NOR memory side (the 256mbit), as it no longer works past the first 5meg. It just stopped working one day and nothing will fix it up.

Try copying the games to your NAND memory and see if the save games work from there. It's odd, as both games use the same sram to store the saves whilst the game is being played.

Tried copying on the NAND side, nothing changes....
I don't know what to do anymore
Maybe the SRAM is half broken or something lol
Anyway thank you for your time and help
Just in case, what is the battery's model? I tried looking but the metal part is stuck on it and I can't see the ref.. Thanks