Help me with my new Supercard.

jfk23 · February 01, 2005, 03:20:28 PM

I got my Supercard, a 512MB Flash Card and a USB reader/writer today. I'm impressed, it all seems to go together well, I have manged to get some .gba files to run on my GBA and they play perfectly, however does the SC support the ingame save options (i.e. Pokemon) or do I have to use the Real Time Save option?

If this is the case, then could someone give me a step by step guide on how to open a .gba file, play for a while, then save it, turn off the GBA and then turn back on and play on with the saved game file,

Some instuctions for the ingame save and real time save would be most appreciated.

Also there are some games that crash or just load up a white screen, does this mean that they aren't supported?

ps. Great Forum! :wink:

NT · February 01, 2005, 03:34:18 PM

You are running your ROMs through the latest Supercard Windows software, correct? Make sure you enable save patching and realtime saves in the options tab. Any game that is listed as WORKING in our master compatibility list should have working normal and realtime saving.

Here is our FAQ on saving.

Games that crash or boot to a white screen should be listed as NOT WORKING in our master compatibility list. If they're not listed, please make a thread in the compatibility forum and detail your experiences with those games.

jfk23 · February 01, 2005, 05:08:52 PM

OK, thanks. I'm having some problems, the games I was playing on earlier were fine, but now they seem to keep crashing.

I'm gonna see what I can figure out.

NT · February 01, 2005, 05:27:40 PM

Quote from: "jfk23"OK, thanks. I'm having some problems, the games I was playing on earlier were fine, but now they seem to keep crashing.

I'm gonna see what I can figure out.

What games? Can you confirm that you've patched them with the Supercard software?

jfk23 · February 11, 2005, 10:23:38 AM

Erm, to name a few: Pokemon Fire Red and Minish Cap, I had them working but now they crash. When you say patch the games, all I have done is add the most recent software to the Flash Card and the turned on the GBA to update the card.

Timekeeper · February 11, 2005, 12:39:18 PM

Quote from: "jfk23"Erm, to name a few: Pokemon Fire Red and Minish Cap, I had them working but now they crash. When you say patch the games, all I have done is add the most recent software to the Flash Card and the turned on the GBA to update the card.

All roms need to be passed through the SC software in order to work .

Diablo · February 11, 2005, 01:02:18 PM

You need to run each GBA ROM through this software before copying them to your CF card.

Then, load all the files the software creates (.sci files for restarts, .sav files for saved games, new .gba file for use only with the SC) to your CF card. Do not load your original ROM files to the SC.

funkball · March 29, 2005, 02:03:17 PM

I've had the same problem as jfk23.

I recently received my Supercard. It arrived with the 1.43 firmware already installed. I used the new 2.20 software to patch the roms. I'm using it with a DS.

At first I would only get a white screen when trying to load any rom, including confirmed working ones like Mario Kart.
When trying to run the movie player, I would get a black screen.

I re-flashed the cart with the 1.43 update, and then things seemed to work fine. Movie Player came up w/o issues. I pulled up a few games to test that they would work, and they seemed fine.

Then after about the 3rd game, I started noticing problems. Mario Kart froze at the title screen. Tetris Worlds started ok and then started screeched at me and froze. After that, I can't pull up any roms or the movie player anymore. I'm back to the white screen for roms and black screen for the movie player.

I tried re-flashing again with 1.43, but this time it has a problem. It appears to accept the update, but then when I reboot my DS, it asks me again if I want to flash the cart. It asks this every time.

Does anyone have some ideas on what could be happening?

I appreciate everyone's help.

NT · March 29, 2005, 02:05:06 PM

Quote from: "funkball"I've had the same problem as jfk23.

I recently received my Supercard. It arrived with the 1.43 firmware already installed. I used the new 2.20 software to patch the roms. I'm using it with a DS.

At first I would only get a white screen when trying to load any rom, including confirmed working ones like Mario Kart.
When trying to run the movie player, I would get a black screen.

I re-flashed the cart with the 1.43 update, and then things seemed to work fine. Movie Player came up w/o issues. I pulled up a few games to test that they would work, and they seemed fine.

Then after about the 3rd game, I started noticing problems. Mario Kart froze at the title screen. Tetris Worlds started ok and then started screeched at me and froze. After that, I can't pull up any roms or the movie player anymore. I'm back to the white screen for roms and black screen for the movie player.

I tried re-flashing again with 1.43, but this time it has a problem. It appears to accept the update, but then when I reboot my DS, it asks me again if I want to flash the cart. It asks this every time.

Does anyone have some ideas on what could be happening?

I appreciate everyone's help.

A normal working Supercard will ask if you want to update the firmware everytime you boot it if you leave the upgrade.scu file on your CF card. Delete it from your CF card with your PC after upgrading the Supercard.

funkball · March 29, 2005, 02:07:52 PM

Ok, but if it's left on the cart, would it affect the ability of the cart to run roms and the movie player?

The funny thing is that the first time I re-flashed the cart, it didn't ask about the update again, even though I had left the file on the cart. Now, as you stated, it asks every time.

Diablo · March 29, 2005, 02:25:10 PM

Yes, asking to update is entirely normal.

I have to go back to my usual question in this scenario: how was the CF card formatted? If you did not format it using your OS, then that is your problem. CF cards formatted by other devices, like digital cameras, will work for a time, then abruptly stop. They are not formatted properly, even if they are formatted in FAT format.

Also, since I obviously cannot assume someone would do the most obvious, as NTolerance has pointed out to me in another topic, do you have another CF card you can try with the SuperCard?

funkball · March 29, 2005, 07:36:34 PM

I formatted the CF card as FAT using WinXP.

Unfortunately I don't have a spare CF card around. On that note, is there a particular brand that works exceptionally well with the SuperCard? I currently have a Lexar Media 512MB card.

Diablo · March 29, 2005, 08:07:48 PM

Sounds like it was formatted correctly. So, aside from asking if you wish to update, is the card operating normally now?

BTW, I, personally, use a 1 GB Sandisk Ultra II, which has worked flawlessly for me. I've also used a Canon 32MB CF card which came with my camera, and it worked fine for me as well. However, I doubt any quality CF card will be incompatible with the Supercard (read: yours should be fine).

funkball · March 30, 2005, 12:24:39 PM

Well, I'm stumped.

I reformatted the card a few more times, but it still won't play any files.

The card is recognized by the Supercard just fine. It shows all the files on it, etc. It just won't run anything.

I'm willing to try anything. Would there be any harm in taking the card back to an earlier firmward, such as 1.24 and then re-doing the 1.43 firmware?

Diablo · March 30, 2005, 01:07:33 PM

Assuming the earlier firmware is capable of being upgraded, no. Otherwise, you'd be stuck with the earlier firmware.

Though, as far as I'm aware, the upgrade process is contained and implemented in the file you download, not in the firmware on the Supercard. :wink:

The earlier firmware is in .bin format, BTW, so I'm not sure how it works compared to the .scu firmware. I do know, however, that at least one person on the forum has successfully downgraded to firmware v1.24 then upgraded to v1.43. I'd give it a shot: it's worth a try, anyway.