#15461 - stealthy - Thu Jan 22, 2004 10:33 pm
Hi all,
I'm running into problems trying to backup save games from my old F2A 256 cart to my new F2A Ultra 1Gb. First of all, is it possible? If so, how? A quick step by step would be appreciated.
I've already tried using F2A usb writer and Power Writer 1.0, but the combo does not work. I can backup the game and write it to Ultra, but the save game just will not be recognised :(
TIA.
#15621 - Mill - Mon Jan 26, 2004 8:22 am
I haven't really tried it because my F2A Ultra doesn't work on my computer any more. I have plugged it into the secondary USB port and the power writer doesn't recognize it any more even if I move it to the USB port that worked before. Basically the power writer program hangs while trying to find the linker. Right now, I'm waiting for the new version of power writer. Anyway, the following method worked with the 1.00b and so I think it will work with the 1.00.
First, the power writer expects that all the save files are 1 MBits in size. So you have to resize it to 1MBits (131072 bytes). If you have 512K save file(65536 bytes), one of the easiest way to do this is using the following command from the command prompt.
copy /b old.sav+old.sav new.sav
Then you can send the new.sav file to the cart from the saver menu.
This has worked without any problem with 1.00b but the new version has virtual disk manager so it requires a more complex approach. And as stated at the beginning, I haven't really tried it. But the following method might work.
1. Naturally, write the game you want to transfer the save file to the ultra cart
2. Select and play the game. Now you probably have to save the game and turn off the GBA.
3. Send the resized save file to the cart.
4. Turn on the GBA then the disk manager will archive the save file into the virtual space. Select the game again and see if the save file is correctly transfered.
5. If you want to transfer multiple games, you must repeat the step 2 to 4 for every games.
Personally, I don't really like this whole virtual save management scheme. I like the simple save management system of EZFlash or EZFlash Advance (The reason why I never really liked PogoShell). In my opinion, it's always safer to keep the save file in separate(and emulator friendly) format to the HDD.
If anyone knows an easier way to transfer emulator friendly save files to F2A Ultra, pleaset let me know.
By the way, FWIW, I scrapped F2A Ultra (for now) and bought another EZF Advance 256.