FAS1

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FAS1 (FlashAdvance Slot-1)
File:Fas1ds.png
General
Author(s)Smiths
TypeUtility
Version1.5
LicenceMixed
Links
[Media:Fas115fds.zip Download]
Website
Source
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FAS1 (FlashAdvance Slot-1) lets users to place Gameboy Advance games in a folder "GBA" on a Slot-1 device (M3/R4/SuperCard/G6) and flash those files to a FlashAdvance 256 cartridge (only model tested) sitting in Slot-2 of your Nintendo DS.

It is based off of tftpds v2.5 by Sten Larsson and Gustav Munkby. Like tftpds, it uses Jeff Frohwein's GBA FLinker tool to do the writing, writing at a rate of 9.5s/meg. A full file (32 megs) takes about 4.8 minutes.

Also, it allows user to backup Bank 1 of SRAM (64KB) to the cartridge in Slot-1. Restoring to the Flash Advance's Bank 1 is also supported.

Installation

  1. Download and extract file
  2. Put FAS1flasher.nds wherever to launch homebrew from on Slot-1 Device
  3. GBA ROMs (with extensions .gba [games] and .bin [Pogoshell] should be placed in a subfolder called "GBA" on Slot-1 Device

User guide

Launch FAS1Flasher.nds and user be presented with a menu on the bottom screen showing GBA ROMs found on Slot-1 Device.

Selecting a title in the bottom menu will present with on-screen information about the file, along with an estimated writing time.

Currently it flashes the file at the first position of the FlashAdvance cartridge (offset 0). User should be using PogoShell for multi-rom compilations anyway.

SRAM Support

Saves must be put in a "SAVES" folder in the root of your Slot-1 device. Saves are selected like ROMs, and are written to the first 64KB bank of SRAM on the FlashAdvance Pro cartridge.

It would back up SRAM Bank 1 to a file called "BANK1.SAV" in a "SAVES" folder on your Slot-1 device.

Controls

Start - begin flashing file

SRAM Support:

Y - switch between the ROM flashing, SAVE flashing menus
Select - back up SRAM Bank 1

Known issues

Like tftpds, it only has been tested/writes to FlashAdvance Pro (aka Turbo FA). Support for other carts could be implemented. F2A Support is in UCON64, and the f2a.c file can be found here.

FlashCart writing speed seems to be capped by the FLinker routines. Everything seems to have to be done a byte at a time, but it turns out GUI updates slow down the writing.

Source is probably messy.

Credits

Sten Larsson: For getting the ball rolling with tftpds for flashing, and Gustav Munkby from within the DS, and the fwgui program.

Jeff Frohwein: Flashcart code from GBA FLinker

GuyFawkes: Emuholic for whore free stuff.

Costis and JB: helped in #emuholic with random things.

JustBurn

AceKard Team: adding FAS1 support to the AceKard GUI.

AceKard Contributors: All the random source modifications.

Changelog

1.5 - DABURU SUPIIDO

  • Write rate cut to 9.5s/meg!!!
  • That's right... 2X SPEED!
  • Added GBA Frame support for L+R+START Booting
Place 15bit BMP file named GBAFRAME.BMP in the /GBA folder

1.4 - Boot me Back

  • Added Slot-2 booting with L+R+START

1.2 - SRAM Sub-menu

  • SRAM restoring added to separate menu
  • Scans for SRAM .SAV files in /SAVES directory

1.0 - Initial release

  • Flashes selected ROM to FAPro cartridge
  • Backs up SRAM bank 1 to Slot-1 device
  • Restores SRAM bank 1 from specific file

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