How I solved my problem

If you read my last thread, you might have seen that I was trying to figure out a way of playing VBA save files on the original cartridges. Well, I finally figured out a method that works, and I hope it helps anyone else who wants to do this. I'll try to be as clear as possible.

What you need:

*Nintendo DS or DS Lite (NOT a DSi or DSi XL). If you spent $170 on a DSi to play GBA games, I hate to break it to you, but you wasted your money. Lame jokes aside, you need to be able to play the GBA game normally on your DS system.

*Action Replay DSi or DS. I haven't tried this with the original ARDS, so I can only guess if it'll work or not, but maybe it will. It definitely does with ARDSi, though.

*A MicroSD card (2 GB works fine; GBA files aren't very big)

*A cartridge of the game you want to backup files on (I used Pokemon Emerald)

*An SD Card reader if your computer can't read them by itself (you can find versions that connect to USB ports at Best Buy for about $15-20)

*GBA Backup Tool (Can be downloaded here)

*DLDIrc (Can be downloaded here)

What you DO NOT need:

*A flash card of any kind.

After downloading everything, set up your DLDIrc by installing various components. Make sure you check the ".gba" and "DS Icon for .nds files" boxes. Next, a list of flash cards and other hardware will pop up. Click on "Gmtf.dldi : Datel Games 'n Music (MicroSD)". This is basically the Action Replay DSi. If you want to read the readme file, you can. Otherwise, you've finished setting up DLDIrc.

Now comes the patching. You'll need to open two windows. First, open your folder containing the GBA Backup Tool, then open the DLDIrc folder (found under C -> Program Files -> DLDIrc). You'll need to patch the tool, so drag it over to the Gtmf.dldi file in the other folder. The command prompt will open up. Press any key and it should patch itself. Then press any key again to exit.

Next, plug the MicroSD card into your computer and open the folder. Drag the GBA Backup Tool over and place it in the folder. You're done with the SD card for now, so you can pull it out and put it into your ARDSi. Put the ARDSi into Slot-1 and the GBA cartridge into Slot-2 of your DS (Lite).

When you open up GBABT, you'll be prompted to insert the cartridge if you haven't already done so. Press A whenever you're ready. On the top screen, the name's code will appear and the save size (which, for Pokemon Emerald, would be POKEMON_EMER_BPEE00). At the moment, this turning on the program is just for the purpose of collecting that information.

Next, go back to your computer and open the VBA save file you want to play on your cartridge. Go to File -> Export -> Battery File, and save it by the name mentioned above to your desktop. This converts the SG1 file to a SAV file. Reopen your MicroSD card folder and you'll find that a new folder has been added for GBA Files. Open it and you'll find your original SAV file there. If you don't want to play it anymore, just drag and drop the new file you exported there and have it Copy and Replace. If, however, you want to save both files, copy the original file to a reserve folder before replacing it.

Back in GBA Backup Tool, after getting to the main menu, press R and then A. Confirm, yes, you want to "restore" the SAV file. After completing it, remove the ARDSi from Slot-1 and test out your GBA game. If you've done everything right, you should be able to load the same file on your cartridge that was formerly on your VBA.

Feel free to post comments or questions.

I may look into this further and attempt to make a direct converter. For now, the above will do (with a few revisions, like the below).

What you REALLY DO NEED:

-A slot-1 flashcart. The Action Replay DSi with a microSD card slot counts as long as the MicroSD is 2GB or less. Any Action Replay DS unit without a microSD card slot will not work.

What you probably don't need unless you are using a really old flashcart or the Action Replay DSi (or Media Edition):

-Any DLDI patcher