Help with Old sea map (fake) local distribution

[Liger0]

Hi there. With the mistery gift tool I injected a distribution wondercard of an old sea map on a junk completed save file, I tried to distribute it on my legit sav but, altough the devices connect correctly (it is noticeable because the mistery event option disappears on both games altough it's unlocked), but I can't successfully send it over.

Also, on the injected file, the postman never disappears, I am unsure if it's normal.

Not sure what I am doing wrong.

 

[theSLAYER]

No need to keep bumping this thread, are asking for help towards here.

Here's a few things you can try (not that anyone can help you for sure):
1. Have you been able to trade via this setup?
2. Have you been able to mix records via this setup?
3. Make sure the distributor is player 1. In the video above, it's player 2.

Besides the player 1/player 2 issue, it seems like you're doing the steps correctly.

[Liger0]

Yes, I can trade with this setup.

I also mixed the records corectly.

To distribute events, I know you must have wireless conneciton instead of cable one. I did this, and in fact doing this the mistery event option disappears from the menu, which means it's correctly set up, as this would not happen with cable connection.

I tried to swap the host and second player with no result.

Aside from the mistery gift tool not injecting correctly the distribution-enabled wondercard, I have no idea what else it could be.

[BlackShark]

I don't think that wondercard is even redistributable. There should be a forth option I think, because よみこむ = Read.

[Liger0]

Just now, BlackShark said:

I don't think that wondercard is even redistributable. There should be a forth option I think, because よみこむ = Read.

There are 2 separate files, one for the wc inject directly in the event collection, and one that is in the shareable wondercards folder which is made to be distributed.

I obviously used the shareable wondercard using the shareable inject option, maybe it has been done badly and never tested?

[BlackShark]

When I inject the shareable wc I get the send option.

[Liger0]

10 minutes ago, BlackShark said:

When I inject the shareable wc I get the send option.

I don't know what to say, I tried injecting multiple times already using the button "official event distributor" on the main page of the tool and then opening the file in the second window and selecting the old sea map.

Edited May 19, 2020 by Liger0

[BlackShark]

Use the Inject WC3 button in the main window. The official event distributor only injects official unedited wondercards and those are not shareable.

[Liger0]

9 minutes ago, BlackShark said:

Use the Inject WC3 button in the main window. The official event distributor only injects official unedited wondercards and those are not shareable.

Oh, I thought it was the opposite. Especially considering the eon ticket worked trasferred via the "official event distributor", and that the directly injected wondercard doesn't have the sprite and has the "bugged" postman.

Edited May 19, 2020 by Liger0

[Liger0]

I tried again, but this is always the result with vba-M:

I even tried vba link 180b and it even crashes.

Edited May 19, 2020 by Liger0

[theSLAYER]

1 hour ago, Liger0 said:

I tried again, but this is always the result with vba-M:

I even tried vba link 180b and it even crashes.

It's a VBA Link problem then.
Maybe you aren't using a version that can support it, or maybe your computer can't support it, no one really knows.

Give this a try: https://vba-m.com/

My settings are:

I do not link at boot. I only start network link when both copies for VBA-M are open and games are running.
One would be server, other would be client.

[Liger0]

I've tried doing like you say and it's always "freezing" just like this. The emulators run fine but don't go ahead.

 

Edited May 19, 2020 by Liger0

[BlackShark]

Try an older build like this one https://github.com/visualboyadvance-m/visualboyadvance-m/releases/tag/v2.0.2

[Liger0]

No difference

I am so unlucky with neither of the vba-m wondercard sharing and the vba-m to pokemon box connections working...

[theSLAYER]

No idea why it isn't working for you. If it still fails, perhaps try loading no$gba in 2 games mode.

I remember using it to link 2 GBA games, tho I'm unsure if Wireless connection works.

 

Or you know, just insert the wonder card into your save.

[BlackShark]

1 hour ago, theSLAYER said:

tho I'm unsure if Wireless connection works

Unfortunately the game acts as if the Link Cable is used even when choosing Wireless Adapter in the settings. Too bad, besides that No$gba still has the most stable link emulation.

 

@Liger0 However I got it to work on an old version of VBA-M https://projectpokemon.org/home/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=37343

Open 1 instance of the emulator and configure your settings.

Most important:
- disable "Pause when inactive"
- set and enable the GBA BIOS file
- choose link type "Wireless Adapter - Single Computer"
- set link timeout to 500 and check "Auto-start link"

Close VBA again to make sure the settings are saved correctly.
Then open 2 instances of VBA and open your games. By the way the save file of the second instance needs a "-2" appended to its name, e.g. "Emerald-2.sav".

I tried it a few times with this setup and it worked each time!

 

Edit: It actually also works on the latest nightly https://win.vba-m.com/nightly/ if you use local mode for linking.

[Liger0]

Hey, this worked, thanks! The BIOS file wasn't even needed. It was extremely fast at first try.

Hopefully this version will also work on dolphin's box connection, as with others the pokemon box screens doesn't show the nintendo logo and doesn't do anything after the  gba bios animation

 

However, are we sure the old sea map wondercard is legit? The missing item sprite makes me wonder about it...

Edited May 20, 2020 by Liger0

[BlackShark]

2 hours ago, Liger0 said:

However, are we sure the old sea map wondercard is legit? The missing item sprite makes me wonder about it...

There's a video from the original distribution http://www.filb.de/content/games/gba/emerald/videos/alte-karte/empfang.flv
Originally linked on https://www.pokewiki.de/Alte_Karte but got removed for some reason.

[theSLAYER]

This is just speculation, but I think the place/location for the icon on wonder cards can't handle item icons, only Pokémon icons.

Sure, they could just put a Mew there, but since they were distributing an item, they went with the question mark icon.
(which is a placeholder icon used by unused Pokémon entries).

[Liger0]

Interesting. Another weird thing with this is that the post man never disappears, while it does with the eon ticket (which is different as it uses the mixed record to share and doesn't need the distribution-enabled wondercard to be shared, as the official also works)

[theSLAYER]

1 minute ago, Liger0 said:

Interesting. Another weird thing with this is that the post man never disappears, while it does with the eon ticket (which is different as it uses the mixed record to share and doesn't need the distribution-enabled wondercard to be shared, as the official also works)

Regarding deliveryman for wonder cards: Isn't that the same as official cards? He only disappears if you delete the card?

[Liger0]

1 minute ago, theSLAYER said:

Regarding deliveryman for wonder cards: Isn't that the same as official cards? He only disappears if you delete the card?

Seems so. Only the eon ticket seems an exception as it isn't visible as a wonder card.

Eon ticket -> Doesn't need the wondercard edited to be distributed, as the official one also is already distributable -> Postman disappears

Wondercards -> Needs the edited wondercard to be distributed -> Postman stays there forever on both the distributable and distributed

[BlackShark]

The Eon Ticket in Emerald is a special case

On 8/11/2015 at 4:03 PM, ajxpk said:

Note: Unlike in Ruby & Sapphire the Eon Ticket Mystery Event is hardcoded and activated by a flag. Officially this was only used in Japan but the flag exists in all localized versions as well. When it's set the delivery guy appears at the 2F of the Pokemon Center, when you talk to him he will give you the Eon Ticket.

Besides that there are two different kinds of event distributions: Mystery Gift, which has wondercards and didn't exist in RS, and Mystery Event which already existed in RS but didn't have wondercards.
In both cases there's a script downloaded into the save file. It's just that the Mystery Gifts are always bound to the postman in the Pokemon Center while the Mystery Events could be bound to any NPC, not only Norman.

[TSBroich]

On 5/19/2020 at 6:06 PM, BlackShark said:

Unfortunately the game acts as if the Link Cable is used even when choosing Wireless Adapter in the settings. Too bad, besides that No$gba still has the most stable link emulation.

 

@Liger0 However I got it to work on an old version of VBA-M https://projectpokemon.org/home/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=37343

Open 1 instance of the emulator and configure your settings.

Most important:
- disable "Pause when inactive"
- set and enable the GBA BIOS file
- choose link type "Wireless Adapter - Single Computer"
- set link timeout to 500 and check "Auto-start link"

Close VBA again to make sure the settings are saved correctly.
Then open 2 instances of VBA and open your games. By the way the save file of the second instance needs a "-2" appended to its name, e.g. "Emerald-2.sav".

I tried it a few times with this setup and it worked each time!

 

Edit: It actually also works on the latest nightly https://win.vba-m.com/nightly/ if you use local mode for linking.

Just want to say, thank you so much for this post.

Here I was, spending several days trying to figure out why the GBA emulator would not recognize that an emulated wireless adapter was "inserted" so I could see the Old Sea Map Wondercard. Tried downloading several different versions of VBA, vbalink, etc, but no luck.

With your first four steps, and that version of VBA-M, it all worked perfectly. Thanks! Doing the Old Sea Map event in a Japanese Emerald playthrough with a save that I'll be dumping onto a real JPN Emerald cartridge, and wanting to keep the events/Wondercards as legit looking as possible.

Edited November 17, 2020 by TSBroich