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Hard EverDrivin'! Flash cartridges & ODEs
- Thread starter Mr. Sensible
- Start date
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- Tags
- hardware retro games
I think the best thing about the EZ Flash Omega Definitive Edition is that Pokemon transfers to the DS games aren't permanent so long as I back up my save before I transfer them. Just tested it to make sure and it worked.
I have legit copies of HeartGold, Platinum, Black, Black 2, and a DS flash cart, so after I play through all these games and complete the Pokedexs at least once each gen, I can move everything from my GBA flash carts all the way up to Pokemon Home on Switch (and if I understand things correctly, I should be able to back up/restore my legit DS cart saves on my hacked 3DS with a save backup tool, meaning even those transfers shouldn't be permanent).
I have legit copies of HeartGold, Platinum, Black, Black 2, and a DS flash cart, so after I play through all these games and complete the Pokedexs at least once each gen, I can move everything from my GBA flash carts all the way up to Pokemon Home on Switch (and if I understand things correctly, I should be able to back up/restore my legit DS cart saves on my hacked 3DS with a save backup tool, meaning even those transfers shouldn't be permanent).
Welp, ordered a FXPak Pro in the Black Friday sale, which is going on for three more days, if anyone else is interested in any Krikkz products. Guess I'll be looking to sell my X5 soon, if anyone is looking for one.
I have one of those things!
I've begun downloading games for my GC Loader, which I actually got a couple months ago and haven't been motivated to install yet. But now I have an SD card from Black Friday and a desire to have Swiss boot automagically so I can... well, mostly jump straight into GBA games, but either way, here we are.
I got my FXPak Pro last week. I haven't played on it much since the new Pokemon DLC dropped, but I was surprised to learn upon receiving it that it wasn't designed by Krikkz, it was someone going by "ikari" that is manufactured by Krikkz. Wild! Has ikari made any other flash carts? The OS is certainly not standard Krikkz green text on a black background. I'd like to change it to something else, maybe something that looks like an SNES Mini interface or something. There's probably a way to do that, I just haven't done so yet.
In any case, everything boots up nicely, including the English translation of Tokimeki Memorial, which was too big a file to load up on my old Everdrive X5. That's probably what I'll play when I get off the Pokemon heroin train (it's a fucking problem, I've played about 1,000 hours of Scarlet alone this year, jfc), although I have no idea if I'll finish it. Tim Rogers' video about it was fascinating, at least, so I intend on giving it a shot.
In any case, everything boots up nicely, including the English translation of Tokimeki Memorial, which was too big a file to load up on my old Everdrive X5. That's probably what I'll play when I get off the Pokemon heroin train (it's a fucking problem, I've played about 1,000 hours of Scarlet alone this year, jfc), although I have no idea if I'll finish it. Tim Rogers' video about it was fascinating, at least, so I intend on giving it a shot.
My old R4 Revolution Gold for DS or whatever it specifically calls itself had long had compatibility issues--most fan translations, and several official localizations would freeze after boot or openings--so I got frustrated with it and sought a replacement, which was just picking up something second-hand someone else was auctioning off. The SUPERCARD DSTWO fulfills my very barebones needs in that 1) games run 2) there's a hotkey to bring up a menu which I'm sure has other uses, but mainly allows exiting out of the game without hard-resetting the system. That's really everything I was looking for, and it's just so nice to have this library available on its actual hardware, because DS is probably the platform I'm most "purist" about in the play experience--it's just not very fun for me to emulate (as with most handhelds), but even trying to play DS-native software on a 3DS doesn't feel right. Everything I've tried on this cart has worked properly, and newer fan translations especially are an exciting thing to discover in their original hardware context.
Yeah, DS (and 3DS for the same reasons) games don't feel good to play on anything besides their original hardware (and DS games on 3DS are blurry messes, so I'm with you there, too). The thing that annoys me about the flashcart I have is I have to keep setting the date back sometime before 2019 because otherwise it won't boot. Absolute nonsense garbage that I wish someone could figure out how to patch out in case I ever want to play Animal Crossing: Wild World or something.
There are two things you can do to help with this:
1) Hold select when you start the DS game. It will start in pixel perfect mode, a bit smaller than the full screen. On a 3DS XL, the screen real estate will be about the same as a normal DS.
2) If your 3DS is hacked, you can use TW Patch to change the filter for DS games. Nintendo's default filter for full screen DS games is just really bad. I think the one I ended up using is Sono's crisp (tweaked). It's not perfect, but it's much better than the default.
Granted, if you have the original DS hardware that's the best way to play.
Sarge
hardcore retro gamin'
Not that I'm aware of. But yeah, it was designed by ikari and he also does the firmware for it. And some well-timed community additions are what netted us Super FX and SA1 support. I have the older version (SD2SNES), and it's still fantastic. Easily the Cadillac of the SNES carts. You may want to also play around with MSU-1 support, like the Road Blaster port.
There's apparently this, but I haven't messed around with it yet.
Put this lovely Super Metroid theme on my FX Pak Pro:
Then spent far too long figuring out why Super Mario Kart wouldn't get past the Nintendo logo. Turns out the DSP chip .bins have to be downloaded and put in the sd2snes folder manually for some reason, and they weren't exactly easy to find. I wish there was more of a heads up that this was an issue - I was messing around with different firmwares and roms thinking that was the issue rather than missing the files I needed to load up those games. Stupid litigious software companies.
Then spent far too long figuring out why Super Mario Kart wouldn't get past the Nintendo logo. Turns out the DSP chip .bins have to be downloaded and put in the sd2snes folder manually for some reason, and they weren't exactly easy to find. I wish there was more of a heads up that this was an issue - I was messing around with different firmwares and roms thinking that was the issue rather than missing the files I needed to load up those games. Stupid litigious software companies.
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I bought myself an original model PS2, a IDE-SATA adapter (whatever it's called), and a 2TB HDD, and while it all works and I can install and play games off it, it is an ENORMOUS hassle and pain to juggle files and the HDD going to sleep (since I can't wake it up manually in Windows since it's PS2 formatted, even though I'm installing stuff to it with PS2 Handiness it just goes to sleep after a while) and having to use weirdo programs to install everything. Sheesh. Add to that, there's apparently still compatibility issues and not all games run properly (I kind of wanted to try to finally play the .Hack games, and the first one doesn't work?!). It's kind of baffling the PS2 isn't fully figured out yet or has a ODE or something.
Sarge
hardcore retro gamin'
Been a long, long time since I did my PS2 setup, I'm still using a big honker HDD in mine, although it doesn't have a massive amount of space (maybe 200 GB?). As of late, I've been using HDLDump/Dumb through a router to install games, when I don't just rip them from my own discs in HDLoader. Open PS2 Loader is probably the better way to run things now, but I don't think you can install them through there.
According to one list I see, OPL does fine with the .hack games, so definitely try it before writing it off.
According to one list I see, OPL does fine with the .hack games, so definitely try it before writing it off.
I think the biggest issue with PS2 homebrew is that there isn't a great centralized resource of information. When I was first researching how to do HDD loading of PS2 games, I had to do a lot of research before I ever even found Open PS2 Loader, simply because there was a TON of legacy information out there on the internet.
Yeah, I use OPL with a Memory Card SD Reader using Tito's method and instructions and while it's obviously impossible to find an SD card that fits the whole library, I'm fine with just having some mainstays and then being able to swap stuff out as needed.
Yeah, the version I have of OPL (that I updated sometime last year) works fine, turns out I just had to go into the settings and tell it to autodetect hard drives, which it does, loads quicker than HDL, and thankfully plays .Hack Infection just fine, I played through the first dungeon just now (I couldn't even load into "The World" before or even save). Thanks, @Sarge! The version I have of OPL does not seem to allow my MemCard Pro 2 to autodetect the game I launch and swap memory cards as it loads, sadly. I'll mess around with it and maybe get it updated at some point.
The problem with the memory card reader is lots of stuff doesn't load right, @ShakeWell. I wanted to play the PS2 version of Final Fantasy X-2 (both on a CRT and with the broken skill they fixed in the HD rerelease lol) and the cutscenes are completely out of sync and juttery. Works fine off the HDD, though.
The problem with the memory card reader is lots of stuff doesn't load right, @ShakeWell. I wanted to play the PS2 version of Final Fantasy X-2 (both on a CRT and with the broken skill they fixed in the HD rerelease lol) and the cutscenes are completely out of sync and juttery. Works fine off the HDD, though.
Sarge
hardcore retro gamin'
Glad that worked! I think you have to get a specific build of OPL to get GameID support - lemme check the Discord and see if there's a link...
install.appcenter.ms
He said something about posting a link to the forked GitHub repo soon as well. Not sure if there's another version of OPL past this one yet.
App Center
install.appcenter.ms
He said something about posting a link to the forked GitHub repo soon as well. Not sure if there's another version of OPL past this one yet.
Funny you said "rock on," as I just tested my ancient PS2 Guitar Hero controller that's sat in our garage for a year and a half and gotten covered in sawdust. Still works after a clean! Lol
There are ten goddamn Guitar Hero games on PS2, as well as however many Rock Bands. Sheesh.
There are ten goddamn Guitar Hero games on PS2, as well as however many Rock Bands. Sheesh.