Fixing ROMs for EMS 64 GB Smart Card USB

[MottZilla]

To detail how saving works further I can say this. If one Bank/Page does not use the Menu, that page must also not use SRAM. If it does, it will be overwritten when the Page with the Menu is used if you play a game using SRAM. Also if you were playing a game that used SRAM on page two, then you quit. Until the menu runs again, your save data resides in a common area that will be overwritten by the program in page one if that program uses SRAM. Then when the menu in page two runs again when it backs up the data for your game, it will be wrong.

So in short, it is not recommended to not have the menu on both pages unless one of the pages contains no games that use SRAM data at all. LSDJ seems to use 32kb of SRAM, and I'm sure it's not too big of a ROM so you should be able to use it with the Menu and share SRAM with everything else. If you *just* have LSDJ you want one the one page, you could just put it on there twice so that the menu will be used, or populate that page with LSDJ and one other game.

The menu or as you called it firmware, is just a piece of software stored on the FlashROM which is always executed on power up. If you use my patched patcher program, you get the new menu. If you want the old menu, just use the older/original flasher and it's back to the way it was before. So no worrys if you ever want to go back to the old menu, but there shouldn't be any reason to do that.

I'm always glad to hear from someone that is getting use out of the patches or the menu. I've heard from some people and I agree with the thought that my MultiSRAM menu is a serious benefit to the SmartCard because the old limitation of only 1 game that saves at a time was terrible. Being able to have up to 11 saves at once is so much better.

[BornYesterday]

Wonderful, thanks a ton for the clear explanation. I was wondering why LSDJ would go bonkers every time I played Zelda. :p Though, I did notice that I was able to load songs from SRAM when the working memory was corrupted. I did indeed have multiple games on bank two, but I'll go ahead and throw Carillon or something on to bank one so that everything works as intended. I'm looking forward to playing around with the new menu system, and patching a few games, as soon as I can get to a computer that doesn't have wacked-out drivers.

Thanks again, to everybody, but especially to you, MottZilla. I have a feeling I'll be getting a lot of mileage out of these modifications and will certainly recommend the menu flash to anybody I find who uses the EMS.

-Bornyesterday

[arromdee]

Also if you were playing a game that used SRAM on page two, then you quit. Until the menu runs again, your save data resides in a common area that will be overwritten by the program in page one if that program uses SRAM. Then when the menu in page two runs again when it backs up the data for your game, it will be wrong.

If you use menus on both page 1 and page 2, is the menu on page 1 aware of the menu on page 2 and vice versa so as to avoid problems?

If not, would it be possible to make them aware?

[MottZilla]

If you have the menu on both pages, they see the same set of save data which is kept track of by Game Title. So it all exists together perfectly. You can have games that save on BOTH pages if they both have the Menu in use. The menu is automatically in use if you have more than 1 game on a page. You could fill up one page with Non Color GB games and the other with Color GB games. As long as you have free memory, games from either page can save. If you lack free memory to backup a save then the menu will tell you and you can delete data to free space, turn off the system and back on and it will try to backup that last save again.

[smurf]

Hi, where can i download the fixes for
Super Mario Land 2
Megaman x
Megaman x2?

Thank you!

[MottZilla]

Download fixes here.

[BornYesterday]

Apologies for resurrecting this thread again, but I've been using your menu with LSDJ and several other sound utilities on page one, and games on page two. I've noticed that when I make a save for LSDJ and then play and save any of the games on page two (haven't checked yet to see if this happens with just page one files) the LSDJ save is deleted, and replaced with glitchy data, just as if the save manager menu wasn't being used. Is this a result of LSDJ's save file? I had heard somewhere that it was a different type and perhaps size of file than was usually employed by the GB developers back in the day.

[MottZilla]

It's perfectly fine to post in this topic, it's still the same topic afterall.

Judging by the LSDJ Demo ROM you should know that you probably should not use LSDJ on your cartridge if you need to save in *any* other game. Why? Because LSDJ according to the demo ROM uses the entire 1 megabit/128kbytes of SRAM in the cartridge. Meaning there is nothing left for aynthing else. If you use LSDJ you'll run the risk of overwriting all your stored saves and potentially the reserved section the menu uses to know what is supposed to be stored in memory.

This is no surprise, any game that uses more than 32kbytes of SRAM can't share the save ram chip with anything else. The reason it doesn't instantly destroy all your other data is because LSDJ probably only uses as much save ram as it needs to for what song pattern data exists. So until you fill up your memory in LSDJ, the multi ram menu may think everything is OK. But in reality as the LSDJ memory usage exceeds the 32 kbyte mark it will begin corrupting your stored game data. Also LSDJ can never be backed up by the menu. It's again, just a matter of save size. LSDJ and some japanese game use the whole amount of sram and are incompatible.

[TheVlad1mir]

hello MottZilla. I wanted to clarify about the fix gb roms (Donkey Kong Land 2, Mole Mania). I am very much waitin for this. if you fixed them where I can download them?

[MottZilla]

I don't believe I was aware of any problem with Donkey Kong Land 2 until now. It may be fixable but it could be difficult. I have not looked at Mole Mania yet.

Update: So I looked at Mole Mania, it can be fixed, I'll get to it when I have the chance. Donkey Kong Land 2, it can be fixed but unfortunately there is no free ROM space in the fixed bank. The best solution I can think of is to find some free part of SRAM to load some patch code into and patch the game to load that code. It might work out, I'll see about doing it when I have the chance. I assume the problem is again related to writing 00 to the bank register which on MBC5 actually selects bank 00 instead of 01.

[TheVlad1mir]

Once again I thank you MottZilla!

[MottZilla]

Here is a quick fix for Mole Mania. It was done quickly and was not tested extensively. Try it out, tell me if it works for you. It fixes the problem related to MBC5 and older MBCs having different behavior on writing 00 to the bank register. If the problem is related to something else I'm not sure. Please describe what the problem was if possible.

Also if you can describe whats wrong with DK Land 2 as well. Specifically, does the game crash or glitch, and if so where does it happen?

Update: I had the time so I tested both DK Land 2 and Mole Mania. They both ran find, without any fixes. If they are crashing on you please specify when and where exactly. I haven't seen any problems with them so far. Also are you playing on Super Gameboy or not?

[TheVlad1mir]

MottZilla, heartily thank you, for your work!!!
I will test Mole Mania:)
I play the game boy original. A little later I will describe the problem (DKL2) in detail!

[BornYesterday]

Yeah, MottZilla, thanks also for the clear, concise explanation of the save issue I was having. I kind of had a feeling that the issue was something like that. I am in awe of your knowledge of reverse-engineering and re-engineering, or really whatever it is you are doing. Keep it up!

[TheVlad1mir]

Hi, MottZilla For more details about the Donkey Kong Land 2
1) First, I found that the game is not saved. When you save begins the visuals artifacts. The screen shows the saving that you did not do. Shows two records of the three slots instead of a single of your.

2)Second, The game bug at the first level of the water when trying to use the swordfish for attack a enemies. As soon as you attack a the enemies begins the visuals artifacts. Сhanges structure-level, you can go through the the walls and floor, immediately appear enemies of the other levels, and after a while the game crashes. I passed several times and always the same. When using the program (Windows Flasher Program with MottZilla's Menu) the visuals artifacts appear smaller but the game the same crashes.