Homebrew SCFW: Custom Firmware & Kernel for Supercard

[metroid maniac]

SCFW is a custom firmware and kernel for the Supercard SD.
Currently it is in a preview state with minimum functionality.

Installation
Download the current release and copy the scfw folder to the root of your SD card.
That's it! You can now use the kernel by loading scfw/kernel.gba from the official firmware.
You can also select the firmware.frm file from within the kernel to flash SCFW to the Supercard's firmware. Because the firmware is minimal and the kernel is loaded from the SD card, updates to the firmware should be rare. You can enjoy kernel updates without updating the firmware.

Current features

• Can browse files
• Can load a GBA ROM
• Can flash a Supercard firmware.
• Automatic SRAM, waitstate, and prefetch patching (buggy)
• Automatic SRAM loading & saving
• Manual SRAM management
• SDHC
• Soft reset patch

Planned features

• Nicer file browser
• Support for more filetypes with builtin goomba/pocketnes etc.
• NDS mode
• Code cleanup, lots of it.
• Cache patches after creating them to increase loading speed
• Faster loading speeds
• Cheats(?)
• Save states(?)

Links
Sources: https://github.com/metroid-maniac/SCFW
Binaries: https://github.com/metroid-maniac/SCFW/releases

Related threads:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/try-to-make-a-custom-loader-for-supercard-sd.646837/
https://gbatemp.net/threads/trying-to-make-the-supercard-suck-less-in-2022.624099/

Credits

• @metroid maniac - Main developer
• @Archeychen - Early development into another loader, SDHC support
• @RocketRobz - Twilightmenu++ "gbapatcher" code for patching Supercard ROMs
• SiliconExarch - Finding an old DevkitARM release with a functioning Supercard SD driver

 

[SylverReZ]

Does it improve slowdown issues with certain GBA games?

 

[metroid maniac]

Does it improve slowdown issues with certain GBA games?

Currently it is a requirement to patch ROMs with the official Supercard client software, which will introduce the same slowdowns. Prefetch patching reduces slowdowns noticeably, but it is still slower than a real cartridge.

It is planned for these patches to be integrated into SCFW so you can use clean ROMs on your SD card, but the slowdown will be the same.

 

[whoisme]

Hello, I would like to know if you can make the saves (.sav) be 128kb, it is something I have been looking for.




All the best.

 

[metroid maniac]

Hello, I would like to know if you can make the saves (.sav) be 128kb, it is something I have been looking for.

All the best.

As far as I can tell the Supercard SD only contains 64KB of addressable SRAM. Even if the physical SRAM chip is larger (my Supercards appear to have 256KB SRAMs) the higher address pins are fixed and more memory is not available.

There is not an easy solution to this problem.

 

[Flame]

im tempted to buy a Supercard SD just for this.

 

[Expbot]

Hi, I was reading your post about the CF for the SC, I tried to run it on mine but I gave an error of wrong Flash id

 

[metroid maniac]

Hi, I was reading your post about the CF for the SC, I tried to run it on mine but I gave an error of wrong Flash id

Do you have a picture of the back of the cartridge? It should be possible to look at the chips inside through the transparent shell.

So far I check that the flash ID exactly matches the one I have in my two Supercards, but I guess it would be fine to relax that rule a little bit.

 

[Expbot]

Do you have a picture of the back of the cartridge? It should be possible to look at the chips inside through the transparent shell.

So far I check that the flash ID exactly matches the one I have in my two Supercards, but I guess it would be fine to relax that rule a little bit.

 

[metroid maniac]

I have released SFCW version 0.2

Here are the new features.

• Better, paginated file browser.
• Try to avoid paths and filenames overflowing lines.
• Autosave feature
• Press start to launch last-played ROM

https://github.com/metroid-maniac/SCFW/releases/tag/0.2

Here is a demo video to show the new file browser.

 

[howston]

This is a great piece of work already!

Though in testing now on my GBA SP, v0.1 works perfectly, though v0.2 does not.

For me, v0.2 shows the first screen correctly, opens the kernel file successfully .. but then can't seem to initialize the menu, and gets stuck in a loop with the screen flashing, as it tries and fails to show the menu.

I know it's very early in development, but still could be useful as a test report?

 

[metroid maniac]

The battery in my Supercard has died over the years, I might need to grab another one soon.

This is a great piece of work already!

Though in testing now on my GBA SP, v0.1 works perfectly, though v0.2 does not.

For me, v0.2 shows the first screen correctly, opens the kernel file successfully .. but then can't seem to initialize the menu, and gets stuck in a loop with the screen flashing, as it tries and fails to show the menu.

I know it's very early in development, but still could be useful as a test report?

My mistake - I had attached the wrong files to the releases page.
It should work if you download it now.

 

[JORGETECH]

I didn't expect a custom firmware for the Supercard in 2024, really impressive!

Is it safe to flash the new firmware and go back to original firmware?

 

[metroid maniac]

I didn't expect a custom firmware for the Supercard in 2024, really impressive!

Is it safe to flash the new firmware and go back to original firmware?

Yes, you can do that - although you can use the kernel without flashing the firmware to the cartridge, if you want.

Post automatically merged: Feb 4, 2024

I have now released version 0.3.

The main feature added by this release is automatic waitstate and SRAM patching. This means you can use unpatched retail ROMs on your Supercard - the patches will be applied on the fly.

Many thanks to @Archeychen for his loader and @RocketRobz for TWiLightMenu++ gbapatcher sources.

https://github.com/metroid-maniac/SCFW/releases/tag/0.3

I made this release promptly because of the importance of this feature. I'm going to focus on smaller features, code cleanup, and less frequent binary releases for a while now.

 

[JORGETECH]

The main feature added by this release is automatic waitstate and SRAM patching. This means you can use unpatched retail ROMs on your Supercard - the patches will be applied on the fly.

So the only automatic patch missing is prefetch, right?

 

[metroid maniac]

So the only automatic patch missing is prefetch, right?

This is included as part of waitstate patching.

 

[JORGETECH]

This is included as part of waitstate patching.

Oh, I see. Then the only thing I'm missing is scrolling ROM names in the loader like the EZ-Flash Omega.

EDIT: I'm getting a save error in Mario Kart Super Circuit, the SRAM patch may be failing for this game?

 

[metroid maniac]

Oh, I see. Then the only thing I'm missing is scrolling ROM names in the loader like the EZ-Flash Omega.

EDIT: I'm getting a save error in Mario Kart Super Circuit, the SRAM patch may be failing for this game?

I got that error and discovered the problem. I'll release a hotfix.

EDIT: Done, please report whether this fixes it.

 

[JORGETECH]

I got that error and discovered the problem. I'll release a hotfix.

EDIT: Done, please report whether this fixes it.

After updating the kernel and the firmware I can confirm Mario kart Super Circuit now saves correctly, thanks for the fix!

 

[Micolash]

@metroid maniac Hi, this is really cool, thank you for sharing and making this. There's not many options for Supercard users out there, other than twilight menu. Gonna pull out the old SCSD and play around with this .

EDIT: Excited for the NDS mode.