Game slow down? its all make sense now!

Ramza__x · February 07, 2005, 08:10:58 PM

Game slow down? its all make sense now!

http://supercard.cn/eng/bbs/default.asp

- Slowdowns in every game!!! [ Anon:Mauro ] 85.39.33.134 2005-2-8 5:05:28
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Hi, I own a supercard from a few days... I converted some games, including Metroid Zero Mission, Grand Theft Auto, Yoshi"s Island, Super Mario Advance 1 & 2 and put them in the card... they all work without crashes, but they have slowdowns too frequently!! they are all unplayable... I installed the latest version of the firmware (1.43)... what can I do to solve this problem??? Could it be a problem of the card? don"t know what to think... thank you

- [ Anon:Me ] 217.231.130.42 2005-2-8 7:41:39
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This is simply a software problem. They decided to use a softwareroutine in vertical blanking interrupt for exit game function. But in several games there is no time in vertical blanking interrupt left for extra routines. So adding extra routines makes impossible to run the interrupt 60 times a second wich causes the slowdowns. Try to turn off all of the patch features and you will see no slowdown. But of course you cannot save because you cannot exit the game. So its a demonstration only. The manufacturers of sc could simply fix this issue by adding a battery backup to the sram. This would make possible to turn of gba, turn it back on and save then. This would not require exit patching so no slowdown would occure.

NT · February 07, 2005, 11:38:51 PM

Wow, that's quite interesting and also disappointing because it basically means that there will never be a fix for any games that have slowdown problems.

PharaohAmps · February 08, 2005, 07:05:58 AM

There could be other ways around this problem. I know there are other interrupts that the SC could probably use, and not all of them are polled 60 times a second. But I agree, battery backup (could even be just a capacitor for a 2-3 minute backup) would improve things immensely.

If you play a game and then quickly turn the GBA / DS off and on again, you can see on the SC menu that the last loaded game is still in the SC RAM. Add a large value cap (1000uf or 3300 uf perhaps) to the SRAM and you might be able to reset the GBA and then save without problems. Anybody got a good photo of the SC taken apart?

madusmacus · February 08, 2005, 07:47:09 AM

I noticed if i turn gba off and on fastish

then go to the "saver" menu
find the name of the save file you want to save then press A
i asks if you want to save to CF

i can save the last played save games to the selected CF file

i cant see what else this "saver" menu can be used for apart from this

well it seems to save the game save ok as i can load the save when i next run the rom.

any ideas?

edited:
i got one of those new gold zelda minish gba sp things
dunno if that makes a difference

PharaohAmps · February 08, 2005, 08:50:17 AM

I think we may be on to something here - don't patch the rom at all, then try the "reset&save" method to save your game. I'll try it later on with a few roms that have slowdown when patched and see if it does anything.

NT · February 08, 2005, 08:51:03 AM

Quote from: "madusmacus"I noticed if i turn gba off and on fastish

then go to the "saver" menu
find the name of the save file you want to save then press A
i asks if you want to save to CF

i can save the last played save games to the selected CF file

i cant see what else this "saver" menu can be used for apart from this

well it seems to save the game save ok as i can load the save when i next run the rom.

any ideas?

edited:
i got one of those new gold zelda minish gba sp things
dunno if that makes a difference

I don't think your SP makes a difference. If what you say is true, the solution to games with slowdown is to disable all patch options and then quickly reset the GBA/DS to save games!

NT · February 08, 2005, 08:51:56 AM

Quote from: "PharaohAmps"I think we may be on to something here - don't patch the rom at all, then try the "reset&save" method to save your game. I'll try it later on with a few roms that have slowdown when patched and see if it does anything.

:idea: :lol: http://supercard.mine.nu/forums/viewtopic.php?t=99

Hectic · February 11, 2005, 10:43:13 AM

Quote from: "PharaohAmps"Add a large value cap (1000uf or 3300 uf perhaps) to the SRAM and you might be able to reset the GBA and then save without problems. Anybody got a good photo of the SC taken apart?

someone get him a pic. just solder to the correct legs and there's your backup.. i mean if it works just by switching the unit on and off quickly it would definitely work if it were backed up either by a battery or capacitor.

Vince · February 14, 2005, 05:15:52 AM

Here are the pics, man, enjoy ! (attn 56Kers, big pics)

http://if2a.free.fr/Pics/SC_front.jpg
http://if2a.free.fr/Pics/SC_back.jpg

(destructive opening, as everything is glued together so be prepared to glue back if you want to attempt).

Vince

SyNTaXer · February 14, 2005, 05:50:29 AM

the biggest problem ist the physical size of the battery or capacitor, i don't see a big chance to find a usefull one. datasheet of sram is here : http://www.hynix.com/datasheet/pdf/dram/HY57V561620C(L)T(P)(Rev.0.5).pdf

SyNTaXer · February 14, 2005, 06:11:23 AM

maybe i've found a usefull cap with a low profile: http://www.avx.com/docs/Catalogs/tak.pdf

how much space in height we have inside the SuperCard ?

Vince · February 14, 2005, 07:36:11 AM

Hiya,

Already made the components search. Here they are :
+ Lattice ispMACH LC4128V : CPLD (Mach4000 family)
+ HY57V561620CTP-H (Hynix): 256Mbits SDRAM, 3.3V, PC133-CL3
+ M5M5V208AKV (Mitsubishi): 2Mbit CMOS SRAM , 2.7-3.6V, 70ns
+ 29LV400TC-90PFTN (Fairchild also avail. from Fujitsu): 4Mbits FLASH, 90ns, 3V

FLASH mem means the firmware upgrades are permanent (I thought you had to keep the file on the CF).

My aim is to have a free software SC patching utility ...

Vince

PharaohAmps · February 14, 2005, 08:51:56 AM

The Hynix chip is actually the main RAM for the Supercard. The SRAM is the Mitsu chip, and the way to use the capacitor is to connect it across the Vcc and Gnd pins of the chip itself. We may be able to stash it on the back of the board, it all depends on the size of the cap, etc. I will check out the board layout, it may turn out that one of the caps on the other side of the board is connected where we need it already, and that we only have to increase the capacitance to give use more backup time.

I think the reason that there is no backup battery is that there is no room in the cart for one. My XGFlash battery is by far the biggest thing in the cart.

SyNTaXer · February 14, 2005, 10:15:35 AM

another solution for future can be the SC with sd-card instead of cf-card, there is also enough space for a backup-battery.

NT · February 14, 2005, 10:30:03 AM

Quote from: "SyNTaXer"another solution for future can be the SC with sd-card instead of cf-card, there is also enough space for a backup-battery.

Someone on another forum said that romman is supposedly developing an SD version of the SC. The improvements in physical space (flush card mount perhaps instead of the current CF card's protrusion?), battery life, and potential for a backup battery sound good.