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[PharaohAmps]

According to info from the Official Supercard Forums and some of our forum members, the Supercard patching software is partly responsible for slowdown in many games:

- [ 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.

The only real way to get around this and still have saves work is by using the following procedure:

QPC Saving
(Quick Power Cycle)

Patch with "Enable saver Patch" and "Enable Save" only using the latest version of the SC software.  If you have a .sav file for the game you're patching already, then use the "Import Saver From File" box to select it.

Copy the resulting .gba and .sav to your CFM

If the Supercard software doesn't create a new .sav file, then copy any .sav file to cart - either rename some other game's .sav if you're starting from scratch or copy over an existing .sav for this game
Make sure it has exactly the same name as the game you want to save

Then play and save the game as you would if you had a normal cart in the GBA or DS

When you're done playing, QUICKLY cycle the power on and off to the GBA or DS (not sure how well it works on a DS, works great on my original Cobalt SP)

The Supercard menu will come up after the GBA BIOS screen and tell you that your game is "on cart," which means that the game is still in RAM.

Go to the "Saver" page by pressing right on the d-pad

Select the saver for the game you were playing and press A.
A dialog will come up saying says "Do you save to CF?"  "A--yes B--no"
Press A and it will save the SRAM contents to the CFM

PLEASE NOTE that this procedure is still untested on many games, and may result in data loss!  We take no responsibility for losing your game or anything of the sort.  If you screw up your save game at the final boss, don't blame us.  But it does seem to work OK with most of the games with severe slowdown.

[NT]

I still get slowdown in Yoshi's Island no matter how I patch the game.  

[Diablo]

I am still waiting for my SC in the mail, so pardon my inquiry if it's off-base or ignorant, as I've yet any experience with the SC (I do have all my games patched in anticipation, though ).

When you press LT + RT + START + SELECT, you return to the SuperCard Main Menu.  Does this also remove the game from RAM, or does that occur after you've chosen a new game to play?  If it's the latter, would that be an alternative to power-cycling the GBA?

Thanks for all the info, BTW.  Great site.  I'll definitely be adding my input to the compatibility list when my SC finally arrives.  

[NT]

I am still waiting for my SC in the mail, so pardon my inquiry if it's off-base or ignorant, as I've yet any experience with the SC (I do have all my games patched in anticipation, though ).

When you press LT + RT + START + SELECT, you return to the SuperCard Main Menu.  Does this also remove the game from RAM, or does that occur after you've chosen a new game to play?  If it's the latter, would that be an alternative to power-cycling the GBA?

Thanks for all the info, BTW.  Great site.  I'll definitely be adding my input to the compatibility list when my SC finally arrives.  

When you exit to the menu the previously played game stays in RAM until you load another game or you turn off your GBA/DS for more than a few seconds.  

Simply going to back to the menu and saving is not an option because the exit to menu patching is what causes slowdown in a lot of the games.

[Diablo]

LOL  :lol:

It's a Catch-22.  Makes complete sense now that I have my SC.

Thanks for the info, and for not sardonically ridiculing a n00b.  

[Hectic]

so has anyone tested this with a ds?  anyone had their saves corruped by doing this?  i mean, i'm sure everyone has tried it already so i'm assuming it works great since nobody is reporting problems using this method.

[NT]

so has anyone tested this with a ds?  anyone had their saves corruped by doing this?  i mean, i'm sure everyone has tried it already so i'm assuming it works great since nobody is reporting problems using this method.

I've mainly been testing Yoshi's Island and have still had slowdown problems, so I never got so far as to try saving on my DS.  I don't see any reason why you'd have problems though.

[seam]

so has anyone tested this with a ds?  anyone had their saves corruped by doing this?  i mean, i'm sure everyone has tried it already so i'm assuming it works great since nobody is reporting problems using this method.

I've mainly been testing Yoshi's Island and have still had slowdown problems, so I never got so far as to try saving on my DS.  I don't see any reason why you'd have problems though.

yeah it works fine, i use my ds with it almost daily. 0 problems.

[Ishan]

I got my SC tonight, tried the QPC thing right away and it works like a charm.
I just wanted to say you have max 3 seconds to switch the GBA SP back on, so no need to rush it. Maybe they put a capacitor in new units i don't know

[Shin_akuma]

Hi i want buy supercard and have one question
This metohd QPC Saving eliminate slowdowns in all games?
More less how many games works perfect in %? 80%,60%?

[NT]

Hi i want buy supercard and have one question
This metohd QPC Saving eliminate slowdowns in all games?
More less how many games works perfect in %? 80%,60%?

Nope.  There are still many games which have slowdown regardless of whether the QPC method is used.  Ishan researched the issue and has found the problem to be that the RAM used in the Supercard is too slow for some games.

Check our compatibility list to get an idea of game support.

[SyNTaXer]

does anybody know how fast the RAM has to be? i'm good in electronics and a soldering replace of RAM should be possible with some expirience. i did it years ago, and replaced the 2 RAM Chips (2x16MB) in TQFP case of old IPAQ PocketPC 3630 with 2 bigger RAM Chips (2x32MB), in the same time the IPAQ was sold under new name called 3660 with build in 64MB of RAM. yes, it was hard work but it works perfect until now.

[NT]

does anybody know how fast the RAM has to be? i'm good in electronics and a soldering replace of RAM should be possible with some expirience. i did it years ago, and replaced the 2 RAM Chips (2x16MB) in TQFP case of old IPAQ PocketPC 3630 with 2 bigger RAM Chips (2x32MB), in the same time the IPAQ was sold under new name called 3660 with build in 64MB of RAM. yes, it was hard work but it works perfect until now.

Dunno.  I'd like to see what would happen if someone were to replace the Hynix chip that's on there now with something just a bit faster.

[amptor]

Is there any way to change out the ram and replace it with faster ram?  I notice slowdown in contra, and it runs fine on my f2a pro.  Otherwise most stuff seems to run fine.  Without the slowdown this card would be near perfect!

[NT]

Is there any way to change out the ram and replace it with faster ram?  I notice slowdown in contra, and it runs fine on my f2a pro.  Otherwise most stuff seems to run fine.  Without the slowdown this card would be near perfect!

Well, the RAM can most likely be replaced if you are experienced at soldering.  Right now we have found some RAM chips that may be compatible, but we have yet to find a source for these parts.  Look here for info:

http://supercard.mine.nu/forums/viewtopic.php?t=261