VBA to CycloDS/EZ Flash V

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BTNH108464

12 Sep 2011 08:21

Hi, i am new to the forum. I have a CycloDS and EZ Flash V combo, recently i was playing Golden Sun on my DS, and decided to transfer my .sav to my PC, opened it with VisualBoy Advance, played it, and passed maybe about two hours, saved my game. Later i grabbed the new .sav that was created with VisualBoy Advanced, and transferred it back to my MicroSD card, loaded my game, and now my game progress is not showing.

I can confirm playing the game on my DS, it loads the backup SRAM, then patches the game automatically, if that is a problem. I have tried this before with Mario & Luigi - SuperStar Saga, which did work after i did some stuff but i forgot what it was.

If anyone can help, i would greatly appreciate it.

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Anonymousleiger

19 Sep 2011 01:17

Sorry, I haven't messed around with GBA emulation for a while so I'm not sure what to suggest here.

Perhaps try making a backup of the save file, then starting a new one for Golden Sun. Check that the new save file saves properly - if it doesn't, the battery in your EZFlash 3-in-1 may be dead.

Replacement instructions are here: Saves not working? Change your EZFlash 3-in-1 battery!

Gariscus may be able to help you out a bit more, but I haven't seen him around recently. Try sending him a message perhaps, if you think the battery isn't the problem and want to try something else?

Good luck.

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NDS lite (Jet Black) FW v5 | CycloDS Evo (Black) HW 1.1 | Transcend 8GB µSDHC Class 6 | EzFlash V 3in1+ (Black)
Nintendo 3DS: Message me if you want to exchange FC. Lost your game save files? You might want to try one of these.

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ReploidAnonymousAnonymous

05 Oct 2011 21:37

I have had my EZ Flash and CycloD for ever and have always had problems getting the save files to recognize properly, something like the cyclo saves the data as raw while the emulator saves it as a state or something? I don't remember the details but I never looked in to it further. If you solve the problem I'd be happy to know how!

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bobosAnonymousAnonymous

06 Oct 2011 05:39

Well…the problem the op has is quite simple to explain, not sure if you have the same or not.

More likely then not here's what happens:

Short Version:
The data on the ez is either not being written to the microsd before you take the sav to your computer. Or the ez is overwriting the sav you have copied from your computer. The fact that it only does a "full save" on boot tends to screw things up a bit.

Verbose version:
1. You turn off the DS after playing the game
2. Take out the micro sd, plug it into the computer and load it up
3. The save you load doesn't include the last things you did, why? because the cyclods loads that save to the microsd from the ez flash when it boots, and you skipped that step.
4. Assuming you realize that, boot the card, copy the new file, or you don't make that mistake at all, continue at 5.
5. Play the game on the computer for a bit, save it, then copy it back to the microsd.
6. Boot it up, and the ez flash loads its data onto the microsd, overwriting the sav you just copied (this can occasionally happen even after you've pulled the sav off the ez once)
7. The fix, go back to your computer and copy the file to the microsd again, and hope it doesn't get overwritten the next time.

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rootwinterguardAnonymousAnonymous

07 Sep 2012 19:21

A follow up to bobos explaination:

His last step, #7, has you just hoping that the ezflash's load won't overwrite your new .sav.

Mine kept getting overwritten, but here's how I fixed it:

Copy your newest.save file over to your MicroSD card's ROM directory (there should always be a 'NameOfRom.gba' and an identically named 'NameOfRom.sav' there

AND

Copy that same save file to the GBA_SAVE directory.

If you don't copy to both places, the Ez Flash card will replace the first save file with the one in the GBA_SAVE directory (which is the last memory dump from playing on the DS).

Hopefully this should clear it up.

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AnonymousBTNH108464

31 Jul 2013 18:13

So i figured it out thanks to everyone here and further research. This is how it works.

When you play any game i.e. Golden Sun, and save, the save is not written to the SAV in your microSD at all but sent to the SRAM. Only when you boot up the game again, it will grab the SAV from the SRAM and finally write it to your SAV file in your microSD.

Knowing this, i did the following:
(Short Explanation)
Run any other GBA game in your cycloDS and save.
Modify SAV on PC, and transfer modified SAV to cycloDS.
Run game.

(Long Explanation)
1) Open any GBA game on your cycloDS other than the one you want to swap from VBA to CycloDS. In my example, i wanted to swap Golden Sun saves, so i will open the game Mario and Luigi Super Star Saga.

2) Save the game, so now the Mario and Luigi game save is now in the SRAM and not Golden Sun anymore. (That is the important part). Turn off DS.

3) I grabbed my Golden Sun.sav from my microSD, and put it in the BATTERY folder of my VBA on PC. Played my game for a couple of minutes, got some EXP and saved my game. (In VBA it is important that you do EXPORT > Battery File)

4) Now transfer the Battery file save (i.e. Golden Sun.sav) to my microSD.

5) Now boot up DS, what is happening here is your save file i.e. Golden Sun.sav is not being overwritten anymore by the SRAM save because you loaded up another game before it.

6) It should now show your saved progress from VBA.

This is the way it worked for me.

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Anonymousleiger

01 Aug 2013 05:36

Excellent, thanks for sharing that tip!

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NDS lite (Jet Black) FW v5 | CycloDS Evo (Black) HW 1.1 | Transcend 8GB µSDHC Class 6 | EzFlash V 3in1+ (Black)
Nintendo 3DS: Message me if you want to exchange FC. Lost your game save files? You might want to try one of these.

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