EF Omega DE save quirk

E

Eclipsed

New Member
OP
Newbie
Level 1
Joined
May 24, 2016
Messages
2
Trophies
0
Age
49
XP
4
Country
I've been using an EF Omega DE since Christmas, and also use a EF IV.

I've noticed a recent issue with one game in particular, Pimball Challenge Deluxe. The SAV file transferred over from my EF IV with no problem, and I've been able to use it on the DE just fine. However, recently I managed to beat a score, and the DE appeared to process the save file with no problem.

When I restarted the game, my high scores are as they were before, i.e. it looks like the new scores haven't saved.

This is were it gets weird though. After backing up my card, I formatted it and copied my files back. I deleted the .sav file via the EZ Flash UI, and can confirm (by putting the SD card in a PC) that the file is gone. However when I load the game again, it doesn't create a new SAV file, and when I've finished and reset the GBA, it doesn't save anything. Even more weirdly, the game still shows my previous scores!!!

What's going on, and how can I fix it? There's clearly some residual data hiding somewhere.
 
Ryccardo

Ryccardo

Penguin accelerator
Member
Level 17
Joined
Feb 13, 2015
Messages
7,696
Trophies
1
Age
28
Location
Imola
XP
6,924
Country
Italy
That game is famous for not saving except that it does (in other words, it supports eeprom saves, but the retail version skimped out on the chip), so it makes sense for it to have a default save type of none - maybe you just need to manually select it?

As for
Eclipsed said:
Even more weirdly, the game still shows my previous scores!!!
Click to expand...
from what I know, after the Omega introduced actual save chip emulation (where pretty much everything before it only supported SRAM and therefore patched, or required prepatching, to that extent) the Omega Definitive went back to a FRAM based design (like SRAM, but battery-free and consumable), so possibly the kernel avoids gratuitous rewriting if it knows you're launching the last title?
(= "I don't know, try running something else first") :)
 
E

Eclipsed

New Member
OP
Newbie
Level 1
Joined
May 24, 2016
Messages
2
Trophies
0
Age
49
XP
4
Country
Ryccardo said:
That game is famous for not saving except that it does (in other words, it supports eeprom saves, but the retail version skimped out on the chip), so it makes sense for it to have a default save type of none - maybe you just need to manually select it?
Click to expand...
Yeah, I recall being really confused when I discuvered that the retail version doesn't save, but the rom supports it perfectly.

I'd just left the save type as AUTO, and thought it was working, but it's posible that I've not beaten any scores since I started playing with the Omega DE.
Ryccardo said:
"I don't know, try running something else first"
Click to expand...
That, as expected, cleared out the save. I ran another game, went back to playing pinball and the scores were defaulted.


moon_rabbit said:
1. patch the SRAM using GBATA.
2. Change the save type to SRAM instead of auto.
Click to expand...
GBATA won't let me patch anything, as it identifies the save type as NONE, but manually setting the save type seems to have worked. New scores look like their being saved.

Thanks for the advice guys.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ryccardo

Site & Scene News

Go to forum More news

Popular threads in this forum

SuperFW: a (very much WIP) supercard firmware

ColorSplashDE - A Completely New Theme for the EZ-Flash Omega D.E.

ROM Hack  Tales of Phantasia GBA Tilemaps ripped after 7 years of trying!

Hacking Emulation Homebrew Misc  i made a LOT of High Quality GBA videos...

Misc  The GBA era is so classic,but talking about GBA in 2024 seems outdated?

Feedback  Omega Flash D.E. (Rev B) & EXEQ Gamebox SP compatibility

EXEQ Gamebox BIOS dump for possible emulation purposes?

EF Omega DE save quirk

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Spent like 5 hours on switch one never touched it again
  • Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo:
    Sentinel of the stary skies
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Ds is 20 years old this year
  • Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo:
    So MJ no longer wants to play with it?
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    He put it down when the 3ds came out
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    https://youtube.com/shorts/eTlZ0qcSZf4?si=0vpkdIWplaLMFVqv
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    https://youtu.be/40XQ8L9wsCA?si=GzpPBaHQQLU0plt_ Neat
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    @K3Nv2, RIP Felix does great videos on the PS3 yellow-light-of-death.
  • Jayro @ Jayro:
    Eventhough the New 3DS XL is more powerful, I still feel like the DS Lite was a more polished system. It's a real shame that it never got an XL variant keeping the GBA slot. You'd have to go on AliExpress and buy an ML shell to give a DS phat the unofficial "DS Lite" treatment, and that's the best we'll ever get I'm afraid.
     +1
  • Jayro @ Jayro:
    The phat model had amazingly loud speakers tho.
     +1
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    @Jayro, I don't see whats so special about the DS ML, its just a DS lite in a phat shell. At least the phat model had louder speakers, whereas the lite has a much better screen.
     +1
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    They probably said "Hey, why not we combine the two together and make a 'new' DS to sell".
  • Veho @ Veho:
    It's a DS Lite in a slightly bigger DS Lite shell.
     +1
  • Veho @ Veho:
    It's not a Nintendo / iQue official product, it's a 3rd party custom.
     +1
  • Veho @ Veho:
    Nothing special about it other than it's more comfortable than the Lite
    for people with beefy hands.
     +1
  • Jayro @ Jayro:
    I have yaoi anime hands, very lorge but slender.
  • Jayro @ Jayro:
    I'm Slenderman.
  • Veho @ Veho:
    I have hands.
  • Veho @ Veho:
    king-shark-hand.gif
    +1
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    imagine not having hands, cringe
     +1
  • AncientBoi @ AncientBoi:
    ESPECIALLY for things I do to myself :sad:.. :tpi::rofl2: Or others :shy::blush::evil:
     +1
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    @SylverReZ if you could find a v5 DS ML you would have the best of both worlds since the v5 units had the same backlight brightness levels as the DS Lite unlockable with flashme
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    but that's a long shot
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    i think only the red mario kart edition phat was v5
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    A woman with no arms and no legs was sitting on a beach. A man comes along and the woman says, "I've never been hugged before." So the man feels bad and hugs her. She says "Well i've also never been kissed before." So he gives her a kiss on the cheek. She says "Well I've also never been fucked before." So the man picks her up, and throws her in the ocean and says "Now you're fucked."
    BigOnYa @ BigOnYa: A woman with no arms and no legs was sitting on a beach. A man comes along and the woman says...