makinavaja
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Hi to everybody, Im makinavaja from Barcelona, Spain.

First of all, excuse me for my low english level, Im still learning it, so its possible you will find mistakes on my posts.

Recently I purchased one EVERDRIVE GB flashcart ( http://krikzz.com/index.php?route=produ … duct_id=60 ) .  My purpose was solve the problem with the saves and songs using its usefull microsd card slot.  A save file for each rom can be really usefull when you are using different versions of lsdj with different custom wave kits.  Also, you dont need any custom driver to manage your flash cart because now the only thing you need its a microsd card reader on your computer.

Well, today I've test lsdj on it and I have found that it has problems with saves: lsdj doesn't show the load/save menu.  It is only shown when I configure the rom as MBC3 mapper: When I do that, I can access to the load/save mane but the feature doesn't works, it says that all the memory  if full and that there is no free space.

Then, I supose that:
option 1: lsdj needs to be updated to work with this flash cart, or
option 2:  the flash cart firmware must be updated.
option 3: I'm missing something important needed to make lsdj work with the load/save menu on this flash cart.

Does anyone has the same flashcart?
Any idea about this problem?

Makinavaja

Last edited by makinavaja (Apr 29, 2014 11:28 am)

bitjacker
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Alive and well in fucksville

Have you tried patching lsdj with little fm?

herr_prof
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Considering that LSDJ works ok on real mappers, this is something you should forward to the flashcart dev. Have you the option to use a mbc5 mapper?

MaxDolensky
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Alabama

@herrprof the csrt supports MBC5. It should be set to that, but then again would the MBC3 vs MBC5 difference be enough to throw up a memory error like that?

Chances are krikzz did not test this with LSDJ, I have noticed he doesn't seem to care much about compatibility with non-commercial ROMs judging by his work with the MegaDrive.

herr_prof
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From what i understand if you run LSDJ on a mbc3 cart it should WORK but youll lose the song management feature, and only have work sram. At this point id say there are more lsdj users than many of the more obscure roms out there big_smile

nitro2k01
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Sweeeeeeden

There is no fundamental reason why this couldn't work. The SRAM chip is 128 kiB, which is what is needed for LSDj. Maybe, maybe, the cartridge is using some or all of the extra space (over 32 kiB) for temporary storage when transferring data to/from the SD card, which would make it unavailable to LSDj for save files. If I had an Everdrive GB myself I could investigate this myself. But the first avenue would be to discuss this with Krikzz himself. I think I will do so, actually. Another possible option, which kind of sucks but should work, is to use one copy of the ROM per song.

makinavaja
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Hi again. First of all, thanks for your answers.

bitjacker wrote:

Have you tried patching lsdj with little fm?

What is little FM? haven't used it before...

herr_prof wrote:

Considering that LSDJ works ok on real mappers, this is something you should forward to the flashcart dev. Have you the option to use a mbc5 mapper?

Yes I did.  In fact, the cartridge uses that mapper by default.  When I use that option, the load/save option dissappear.

nitro2k01 wrote:

Another possible option, which kind of sucks but should work, is to use one copy of the ROM per song.

It sucks.

Well, I think Im going to contact with krikzz about it.  The problem its that he is going to need the rom to test it because it seems that the demo version doesnt have the load/save feature. 

Will it be ok to send him a copy of the last version to krikzz? well, I think I will need to contact to both developers (johan k and Igor) for this problem.

MaxDolensky
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Alabama

The donation for LSDJ is just suggested, it *is* possible to download the full version fairly for free. And since krikzz's a developer and not a composer I think that's a fine route for him to take.

herr_prof
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It isnt a SUGGESTED donation, but im sure its fair use to send him a copy for troubleshooting.

egr
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Abandoned on Fire

Yeah you can't download without a login.

Bit wish
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New Albany Indiana

Hiya, Im Tate from facebook that referenced you to here smile

herr_prof
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did you ever get this fixed?

nitro2k01
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Sweeeeeeden

I am going to look into this. The problem should be fixable.

thursdaycustoms
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Cleveland, OH
nitro2k01 wrote:

I am going to look into this. The problem should be fixable.

I need three new carts so I'm very interested in the outcome.

MaxDolensky
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Alabama

I'm pretty sure that this has something to do with how the Everdrive GB flushes and pulls data from SRAM and the microSD card. I believe this was even discussed here once upon a time as a potential hurdle for SD-based cartridges.

nitro2k01
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Sweeeeeeden
MaxDolensky wrote:

I'm pretty sure that this has something to do with how the Everdrive GB flushes and pulls data from SRAM and the microSD card. I believe this was even discussed here once upon a time as a potential hurdle for SD-based cartridges.

No. That dicussion was the problem of making an SD cartridge with no battery, or fitting everything on the cartridge. EDGB does have a battery, so that's not a concern. The problem here is how much SRAM space the cartridge is assigning to the running ROM. Currently it can assign at most 32 kB. The SRAM chip in the cartridge is 128 kB big, but half of that is reserved for system data. This means the biggest size SRAM LSDj could use is 64 kB. This is ok. It's enough for a couple of saved songs. But this would most likely require a firmware upgrade/modification for EDGB, which I'm hoping to be able to do.

64 kB is the same the white Nintendo Power cartridges expose to a program like LSDj. Incidentally, they also have a 128 kB chip which may be possible to unlock, but that's a story for another day.