Fixing ROMs for EMS 64 GB Smart Card USB

Discussion of programming and development for the original Game Boy and Game Boy Color.
Great Hierophant
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Post by Great Hierophant »

MottZilla wrote:So are you asking a question or telling us you did that and it fixed those? I'm not sure what you are saying exactly.
I fixed them using the code. I am still puzzled about DKL3 and Gauntlet II, I have no idea what they are doing that would break the emulation, and they seem to be a bit timing sensitive. Who Framed Roger Rabbit is also working to the extent I was able to bypass the initial "bad" bankswitch writes.
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MottZilla
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Post by MottZilla »

For the sake of being productive do you have IPS patches or anything organized for the games you "fixed" for the USB SC 64M? I'm curious as I have been considering getting one myself.
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MottZilla
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Post by MottZilla »

I bought a GB USB Smart Card 64M and am having trouble with some games like you were. Well really only one game I've tried so far which consistantly crashes. The game is Battletoads in Ragnarok World. I'm investigating it.

Anyway, as in my last post, if you can share any fixes you've made that would be helpful. Particularly if you managed to fix Mega Man V.

Update: I made a fix for Battletoads in Ragnarok's World that seems to work well. If anyone is interested in it I can send it to them.
Great Hierophant
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Post by Great Hierophant »

Here are all my patches to date:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/mkmywmnzdnh/GBUSB Smart Card IPS Patches.zip

I would appreciate any fixes, and help with the two games I haven't been able to fix (DKLIII & Gauntlet).
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MottZilla
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Post by MottZilla »

About DK Land 3, did you try the japanese Color version to see if that works? I'll take a look at both games when I get the chance. Thanks for the fixes, I was wanting to play Mega Man V.
Great Hierophant
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Post by Great Hierophant »

MottZilla wrote:About DK Land 3, did you try the japanese Color version to see if that works?
The Japanese Color version does not work, just gives a blank screen.
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MottZilla
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Post by MottZilla »

I have Donkey Kong Land 3, both versions, figured out I believe. I'm going to test them and then if it works I'll post a link to an IPS or tell you the hex offset and changes.
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MottZilla
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Post by MottZilla »

Both DKL3 and the japanese color version have copy protection of sorts. Basically there is a loop that writes to registers used in flash cart mappers to screw up the settings and crash the game. To prevent this you just remove the actual write to register.

In Donkey Kong Land 3 (U) its at $F5F2. In the japanese color version it's at $F5FB. The original sequence of code is: 02031D20FAAFEA0000C9. You want to change it to: 00031D20FAAFEA0000C9. The game should run now.

Oh yes and don't forget to fix the checksum.
Last edited by MottZilla on Thu Jan 21, 2010 1:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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MottZilla
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Post by MottZilla »

I fixed Gauntlet II. I'll upload an IPS patch for it.

*link dead*
Mirror: h..p://www.megaupload.com/?d=EIVAYSUW

Contains IPS Patches to Fix:
  • Battletoads in Ragnarok's World (U)
    Donkey Kong GB - Dinky Kong & Dixie Kong (J) [C][!]
    Donkey Kong Land III (U) [!]
    Gauntlet II (U)


Let me know if you find more games that don't work.
Last edited by MottZilla on Sat Feb 18, 2012 2:08 am, edited 3 times in total.
Great Hierophant
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Post by Great Hierophant »

MottZilla wrote:
Let me know if you find more games that don't work.
I have found two more:

Bubble Bobble II - Resets to Flash menu just before beginning the first level.
Castlevania II : Belmont's Revenge - Crashes in the 1st Level of Dracula's Castle, just past the second door. Use Heart, Orb, Candle, Empty at the password screen to get to the beginning of the level. Konami Collection (Colorized) version doesn't work either.
Legend of Zelda : Link's Awakening - Crashes when trying to save , does not save. Link's Awakening DX works fine.
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MottZilla
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Post by MottZilla »

I'll have to check them out when I get the chance.
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Post by MottZilla »

I fixed Castlevania II. The IPS patch is in my archive of fixes now. I only did the original GB version so far, didn't look at the GBC version yet. I'll look at the other games before the color version I think.
Great Hierophant
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Post by Great Hierophant »

MottZilla wrote:I fixed Castlevania II. The IPS patch is in my archive of fixes now. I only did the original GB version so far, didn't look at the GBC version yet. I'll look at the other games before the color version I think.
The fix for the color version should also work. I have never had any problems with Game Boy Color games on this card, unless they are ports of a Gameboy game.
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MottZilla
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Post by MottZilla »

Well a few of the games I fixed like Battletoads and CV2 crash because the flashcard foolishly lacks register protection it seems. Between something like $6000-$8000, atleast in the $7000 range if a write occurs it will crash the game on the flash card. Both these games appear to write to this region by accident/bad code. Another game, I think it was DK Land 3, purposely writes a range of registers in this area in an attempt it seems to crash probably Bung flash cartridges. I can't imagine why they didn't give the "master registers" a protection control so that once a game is launched the game can't effectively kill itself.
tepples
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Post by tepples »

MottZilla wrote:I can't imagine why they didn't give the "master registers" a protection control so that once a game is launched the game can't effectively kill itself.
That would have killed the feature that many of these flash cards had, at least in the GBA era, to patch a game to reset to the menu upon a specific key combination.
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