EZ-Flash USA Forum

Slade · **Posted:** Tue Nov 29, 2005 2:57 pm

Hi All,

My EZPass turned up in the post yesterday and I've been having some fun with it. Since it's still quite early in the morning here I don't have any pictures available to show you, but first impressions of just the hardware impress me.

It's a neat little unit that unfortunately just slides into the DS and does not lock into place, neither does the cart that fits in the back of the EZPass. This does mean that you could unfortunately pull out the DS cart or EZPass, however it would have to be deliberate as they fit in quite snugly.

The unit contains a single blue LED that flashes and flickers upon start up and then goes out, whether this is correct or not I'm unsure. There are literally no instructions in the box at all.

I'll add some photo's of the unit later on, but for now, I wanted to work on a compatability list.

I realise that rOss is working on one here however the difference is that rOss is using a flashed DS, I intend on keeping my DS in it's original state and using the EZPass in all instances. The EZTeam claim that this gives better compatability with games.

All games will be tested using the following two game carts :
* Asphalt Urban GT
* Super Mario DS

Note that I don't bother with the Japanese releases since I don't speak nor read nor understand Japanese I don't see the relevance to me. However please feel free to post if these work on your DS. I would like to keep the list accurate, so only post a working/non working title if you are using an EZPass with an EZ III and using a non flashed DS. Please also state the game you are using in the EZPass.

Ensure that your games conform to the release list, which you can find at Pocket Heaven and use ClrMamePro to verify your romset.

Slade · **Posted:** Tue Nov 29, 2005 4:50 pm

Edit by FAST6191: This list has now been updated with saves and the most current roms and is located on the wiki: http://www.sosuke.com/ezflash/wiki/inde ... patibility

NOTE: I'm not testing Save compatability - Just whether the game boots and is playable.

Also where variants of the same game work (ie different regions) it is assumed that previous saved games are deleted.

Blank spaces indicate I do not have that game to test.

(working)

(Working)**

(working)

(Not working - White Screen)

(Working)

(working)

(Working beta2)

(Working)

(Working beta2)

(working)

(Working beta2

(Working beta2)

(working)*

(working)

(Working beta2)

(working)

(Working)*

(working)

(Not working - White Screen)

(working)

(Working)*

(working)

(Not working - White Screen)

(Working)*

(Working b4)

(working)

(Working b4)

(working)

(Working beta3)

(Working b4)

(working)

(working)**

(working)

(Not working - White Screen)

(working)

(Working b4)

(working)

(Working b4)

(Not working - White Screen) Crashes after intro screen

(working)

(working)**

(Working beta3)

(working)

(Working)**

(working)

(working) Crashed first play, worked second time around.

(Working beta2)

(working)

(working) Game freezes at intro, but skip intro & it works fine.

(working)

(Not working - White Screen)

(Working beta3)

(working)

(Working beta2)

(working)

(working)**

(working)

(Working beta2)

(working)

(Not working- Freezes after menus)

(working)

(Working b4)***

(working)

(Working b4)***

(working)

(Working beta3)

(working)

(working)*

(working)

(Working b4)

(working)

(Too big for 1Gb cart)

(Working beta3)

(working)

(Not working - Shows error message)

(working)

(Working beta3)

(Working)

(not working - Randomly freezes)

(working)

(Working beta3)

(working)

(Working b4)

(working)

(Not working - White Screen)

(working)

(Not working - Black Screen)

(working)

(Working beta3)

(working)

(Working beta2)

(working)

(Working beta2)

(working)

(Working b4)

(Working beta3)

(working)

(Working beta3)

(working)

(Working b4)

(working)

(Working b4)

(Not working - White Screen)

(working)

(Working b4)

(working)

( Working b4)

(Not working - White Screen)

(working)

(Not working - White Screen)

(working)

(Not working - Error "Could not read data")

(working)

(Not working - 1 White/1 Black screen)

(Too big for 1Gb cart)

(working)

(Too big for 1Gb cart)

(working)

(Not working - Crashes at credits screen)

(Not working - Error "Could not read the data")

(Not working - White Screen)

(working)

(Not working - White Screen)

(Working b4)

(Working)

* Worked the second time around writing to the cart. Often the only NDS rom on the cart.
** Fresh format, only rom on the cart.
*** Requires hex editing the game header in order to copy the rom.

If anyone can check their copy of rom 0143 and see whether it will copy in their EZManager or EZClient and let me know, it would be appreciated. - Tested by Venoman, thanks for the info.

mother|superior · **Joined:** Sat Mar 05, 2005 11:41 pm **Posts:** 99

Alright, I'm in a bit of a spot here... As you may remember from one of my previous posts, I had to send my DS in to be fixed. Well, they had to send me a replacement because it was impossible to fix. Now I don't know if my DS is too new to use the EZPass.

While my DS was being serviced I went ahead and ordered (and recieved) the EZPass. However I am lost as to it's operation and how to get it working on my DS. I have been scouring forums upon forums for answers but coming back with nothing.

At first I thought it was mandatory to flash the DS's firmware to get commercial ROMs working, that is until I saw this post. So since I have no idea what I'm doing, I just threw Metroid Pinball on my EZFlash II and enabled SMS (with EZC 3.22) and put the EZPass in my DS with Meteo in for the game and my EZF II in the GBA slot. After the health screen (upon bootup) I just get a white screen. I know I'm F'ing up bigtime somewhere, I just don't know where...

Is it necessary to patch commercial ROMs to get them to play or is this a case of my DS being too new for the EZPass 1? Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I would like to contribute to the compatibility list.

And sorry if I'm derailing your thread Slade.

Slade · **Posted:** Tue Nov 29, 2005 5:05 pm

Hey mother|superior,

Sounds like you're going to need the EZPass2. I doubt that the big N would send you and older DS, unless it's a refurbished one. Although I doubt that too since it's under warranty.

The easiest way to check is to have a look at the list here and see if your DS has a serial number in that range. Our Wiki Also contains a link and similar info.

Personally I don't have an EZII cart, but I'd guess that the software works in a similar fashion, it auto patches as it writes to the cart. EZManager works like that, appending the necessary header to the nds file when you copy the rom over.

Don't worry I've not been able to get Darkfader's loader to work on my EZIII. I can write the loader, but I can't write a rom to the EZFlash side of the cart (NOR memory). And I can't find any info on how to get it working either. So I know what you mean.

From what you've said you're doing everything correctly. Aside you from using EZClient, I'm doing the same thing to get games working. Are you allowed to have more than one game on the cart at a time ? Have you tried different roms ? Some games here boot to a white screen too. Try a few more games, and check that list, and hopefully you'll have a DS that works with the EZPass, not EZPass 2.

mother|superior · **Joined:** Sat Mar 05, 2005 11:41 pm **Posts:** 99

So do we have to patch the ROMs or not? If they need to be patched then that might be my problem cause none of mine are.

Slade · **Posted:** Tue Nov 29, 2005 8:22 pm

No patching. Use Cleanroms and it should be good. If it's not, then I'm guessing you need an EZPass2.

I wonder if the newer DS's can be flashed with an older firmware ? Or if thats been removed altogether...

Oh well, I'm having issues anyway. Some games don't boot the first time around, rewrite them and then they work. Somewhat frustrating given the time it takes to write the games to the cart.

cracker · **Joined:** Mon Jan 24, 2005 1:03 am **Posts:** 1855

I wondered that myself Slade. Maybe there is some extra security to protect the firmware in the newer versions. It _has_ to have flashable firmware since games like Mario Kart use it to save settings (as well as the 'shell').

Slade · **Posted:** Tue Nov 29, 2005 11:10 pm

Maybe there is some extra hardware in the newer DS' that checks the carts. If the correct info isn't returned, then the DS assumes it's a passme in the slot.

This could be done separately from the firmware meaning even changing the firmware won't help. You'd have to hack the hardware out somehow. Or.... Thinking about it, hack the firmware so it always reports back an "ok" to the checks, unless this info doesn't go via the firmware. Oh well, what do I know ?

mother|superior · **Joined:** Sat Mar 05, 2005 11:41 pm **Posts:** 99

Well, it looks like those bastards at the big "N" decided to send me out a new (and refurbed) DS! I know this because I am able to use the EZPass I got on a friends DS no problem. Oh well, guess I'll just have to get an EZPass 2.

Overall I'm impressed with how well the EZPass and the EZFlash2 work. I am able to have as many NDS games on there as what the cart will hold (typically ~4-5). Are you having any problems running multiple games off the EZF3 at the same time by any chance, Slade?

Slade · **Posted:** Thu Dec 01, 2005 11:02 pm

mother|superior,

Bummer about getting a new gen DS. Sell your EZPass to your friend

Make most of the $$ back and buy an EZPass 2. Only issue is you'll have to buy a particular game (ebay / Electronics Boutique - get it used!) in order to play games.

I'm in the same boat. Flash as many DS games as I can onto the thing and they generally run. As you can see by the list most of the games do run. The main rule to remember is that at the moment you should format the NAND side before changing roms.

As others discovered if you have a small rom, then large rom, then small rom, and remove the first rom and put in a big rom, the rom is split or fragmented. This stops the game from loading as the loader is looking for contiguous files.

Sure its a pain, but at the moment, it's the price we pay for beta software. I can live with it. Other than that, no problems at all. I have a bunch of icons on the screen that I don't know what they do... Anyone ?

The only thing I can't do is run homebrew! Not at all. I can copy the nds files over, but they show up with the name:
.nds

So I rename them, and when I boot the DS the files vanish. Go back into EZManager and they're still gone. I was hoping to flash the DS soon and then unflash it to make it the newest firmware, hopfully allowing Mario Kart to run then. I want to try it out wi-fi style.

mother|superior · **Joined:** Sat Mar 05, 2005 11:41 pm **Posts:** 99

Slade wrote:

I was hoping to flash the DS soon and then unflash it to make it the newest firmware, hopfully allowing Mario Kart to run then. I want to try it out wi-fi style.

So is that why Mario Kart DS gives that error? I know it has something to do with writing to a specific part of the flash memory in the DS, but will upgrading the FW fix this?

Also I was wondering how one would go about "unflashing" the new FW, how do you do that?

Slade · **Posted:** Fri Dec 02, 2005 12:50 am

The firmware V5 (found on this site) has protection against the Mario Kart flashing, or it already includes it. I'm not too sure. All I know is that V3 would temporarily brick your DS (almost typed PSP then) until you flashed V5.

Can you unflash ? Sure, there are 3 version of the firmware:

Flashme.nds - Hacked firmware
Flashme_stealth.nds - Hacked firmware, includes the startup warning
Noflashme.nds - Removes the hacked firmware. Which leads me to believe this is the original firmware that Nintendo provide.

What I intended on doing was flashing the DS, then unflashing the DS, ie write flashme.nds then noflashme.nds and see what happens. I was hoping this would allow Mario Kart to work. Mario gives the error coz it cant write to the DS for some reason. I guess the passme causes problems with memory writes. It could be the patching routines used...

However I can't write the flashme file properly. Crazy EZManager bungs the file.

cracker · **Joined:** Mon Jan 24, 2005 1:03 am **Posts:** 1855

Try padding the file. I read somewhere about flashme getting messed up because it was so small. It's worth a shot... Use the darkfader loader.

Some things you should consider:
What if the flashme patches the new firmware but is then bricked and not able to be restored?

What if you unflashme and it goes back to the old firmware which the newer DS can't run correctly because of altered hardware?

Anyway I don't think it will work. Everything I've looked up about the new firmware says it can't be patched -- at least successfully.

mother|superior · **Joined:** Sat Mar 05, 2005 11:41 pm **Posts:** 99

Alright, I have a question: How do you do the Passme with flashed FW? I'm thinking it must be a button combination to get the .nds ROMs to boot from the GBA slot, am I right in thinking this?

Slade · **Posted:** Fri Dec 02, 2005 7:28 pm

You don't use passme with the a flashed firmware. Thats the whole point of flashing the firmware.

There are now some multirom loaders around as well. Meaning you flash the multirom loader, run that and use it to select and load your other roms/games/homebrew.

Otherwise flashme expects a particular name for the rom to load. Meaning you can only flash one game as it has to be called a particular thing. Unless you use flashme in conjunction with the current EZManager, in which case you can use multiple roms, but apparently the compatibility is lower.

This message may not make sense, I'm "explaining shit" to my mother at the same time... ARGH! Technophobe parents.

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