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View Full Version : GC: A quick review of the EMS 64MB memcard and USB adaptor


Jaelyn
12-15-2002, 11:54 AM
Hi all,

Longtime DC PSO vet here, just recently made the transition to GC. After all the hype and concern over this memcard on not only this forum, but several others as well, I figured I'd have a friend send me one from overseas. Plus, since he was sending a platinum wavebird and GC keyboard anyway, might as well throw one more item in. After playing around with it for the last week, I thought I'd let you know what it can and can't do, especially for PSO.

First off, it's your basic 64mb memory card. Works like any standard card, and has a ton of memory blocks. I tried it on 12 different games, and it worked flawlessly on all for basic saving.

Now, as for backing up files, it again worked perfect for 11 of the games I tried. I could easily download the file, erase the one on the card and then reupload without any problems. So, for basic backup of files, it also works great...

Except for PSO. Yes, it works as a basic memcard without any problems. And you can download the character, guild and system files to your computer without any problems. However, if you attempt to return any of them to the card, it corrupts your character file and when you try to load the character, you can't. Only a reformat will allow you to use the card after that. And this is true if you only download and then re-upload the guild card. Any attempt to reupload a file results in a corrupted character message when you try to use it in the game.

Syncing the GC clock with your computers clock does no good. Syncing the time on the computer when you are re-uploading the card with the time your GC saved to the card does no good. I tried online multi, offline multi, etc...etc...anytime the memcard had ANY PSO info copied back onto it, your character file is corrupted and unuseable. At this time, there is no way to save and restore ANY information from the card related to PSO and still be able to use that character.

Therefore, as of this time, the card is completely worthless for anyone looking to use it to dupe items or Mes. Let me say that again, YOU CAN NOT DUPE WITH THE CARD AT THIS TIME. Any concerns of mass item duping now that it's released can be put to rest. Also, anyone thinking of trying it, you will corrupt the character on the card completely and lose that character all together.

Now, on a positive note, you can use it to capture screenshots and download them to your computer. However, as of this time, I've been unable to decode the file, and every image view I've tried has been unable to open the file. Perhaps with a little more work it will become a viable option for downloading screenshots onto your computer, but as of this writing the files are unreadable.

SO, in summary:

Works like a basic memcard for all games.
You can backup and restore for all the other games I tried.
Any attempt to restore any PSO info results in a corrupted file and complete loss of ALL characters on the card.
You can DL the screenshot file to your computer, but can't actually view it....yet...

If you don't have a friend that owns a gameshop overseas that can send you one for cost (Thanks again, Jim http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wink.gif ), save yourself the money and just pick up a generic 64MB card here unless you really want to be able to back up your other saved games. But for PSO, at this time it has NO advantage over standard memcards.

Any questions, feel free to email or PM me.

RagMasterRappy
12-15-2002, 11:57 AM
The image data should be uncompressed RGB. I forgot the dimensions, though.

Jaelyn
12-15-2002, 12:14 PM
On 2002-12-15 09:57, RagMasterRappy wrote:
The image data should be uncompressed RGB. I forgot the dimensions, though.



Any idea on what to use to open those files? I've literally tried every image viewing program I can find.

RagMasterRappy
12-15-2002, 12:22 PM
On 2002-12-15 10:14, Jaelyn wrote:

On 2002-12-15 09:57, RagMasterRappy wrote:
The image data should be uncompressed RGB. I forgot the dimensions, though.



Any idea on what to use to open those files? I've literally tried every image viewing program I can find.



I know photoshop will read raw image data for you. If you send me an image I could also figure it out for you. PM me if you want my e-mail address.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: RagMasterRappy on 2002-12-15 10:23 ]</font>

Ruby-chan
12-15-2002, 03:55 PM
Well it's nice to see someone finally getting to this. If you could possibly send me a save of a snapshot I'd really appreciate it as I'd like to take a crack at getting photoshop to read it too. If you could upload the file to some webspace that'd be helpful, though if you PM me I can just give you my email to send it too.

BigDaddy
12-15-2002, 04:26 PM
So let me get this right.

You:

1. Saved PSO files on the card.
2. Uploaded a backup copy of it on the PC.
3. Downloaded it back to the memory card.

I think your problem is between 2 and 3. Did you delete the original PSO saved files on the card before you downloaded it back?

What you could probably try and do is:

1. Save PSO files on the card.
2. Upload a backup copy of it on the PC.
3. Reformat the card.
4. Download it back to the reformatted memory card.

I think what's happening is that when you download the PSO files back to the card, you have created 2 PSO files in one memory card, which is not possible. Hence, the corrupt message.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: BigDaddy on 2002-12-15 14:29 ]</font>

RagMasterRappy
12-15-2002, 05:18 PM
I doubt it. I think there would be larger problems if there were two identical file names in the file system.

Jaelyn
12-15-2002, 08:30 PM
I have tried everything imaginable with the card and at this time, you can use the card to "restore" a character. I've tried a straight overwrite, I've tried erasing the files and reuploading them, I've tried to sync my computer's clock and the gamecard's timestamp, and nothing works. Basically, you CAN NOT use this card to dupe, which is what I was trying to determine. Those that were worried about mass duping starting with the release of this item can rest easily as you can't do it with this card.

As for the screenshot, I'll post it tomorrow on my webserver and everyone can hack at it to their heart's content. I've also email EMS asking about this problem, as I wonder if they save the files on the HDD in a compressed or other format.

Regardless, in the last week I've tried many, many different techniques to try to successfully restore a character from my HDD to the memcard, and none have worked. At this point, the card is more or less worthless for PSO.

Jaelyn
12-16-2002, 09:44 PM
Ok, here's the link to the Screenshot. If anyone can decode it, please post the result. Thanks:

myweb.cableone.net/agunders/pics/pso_screen.gci



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Jaelyn on 2002-12-16 20:06 ]</font>

Ruby-chan
12-17-2002, 12:16 AM
Well, I'm not having a whole lot of luck with it here. If anyone has more luck than I am, please tell us what you find out.

rbf2000
12-17-2002, 12:24 AM
Adobe photoshop says "NO"

EDIT:

Has anybody tried http://pso.donut.dhs.org ? Wouldn't suprise me if ST used the same thing to convert the pics between versions. I would try it, but that site seems to be down at the moment.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: rbf2000 on 2002-12-16 22:30 ]</font>

RagMasterRappy
12-17-2002, 10:13 AM
Could you put a grey scale snap shot on your website? I want to see if there's a difference.

milk
12-17-2002, 12:29 PM
I couldn't do anything with GraphicConverter... sorry.

RagMasterRappy
12-17-2002, 12:55 PM
Ooo! Can we play 20 (or less) questions?
1.) Was this picture taken in the central control area?

TheNakedZealot
12-17-2002, 01:55 PM
I opened it, but the RGB info is scrambled to hell. I did a lot of weird shit to get it to open, so that could be why. I'll try some more stuff, and I'll post the results later.

This is what it looks like, thus far.

http://www.designspelledbackwards.com/bemanistyle/pso_screen.jpg



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: TheNakedZealot on 2002-12-17 12:06 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: TheNakedZealot on 2002-12-17 12:08 ]</font>

Jaelyn
12-17-2002, 07:25 PM
Pic was taken in front of the hunter's guild. I've tried several other tricks, but so far no luck. The hope of having screenshots straight from a memcard is still not realized. Oh well, I'll try posting another one from a different area.


As for the question on the grey-scale, how exactly do you take a grey-scale screenshot? This is a DL of the screenshot straight from a mem-card, so I'm not sure how you would take a greyscale pic...

RagMasterRappy
12-17-2002, 09:14 PM
On 2002-12-17 17:25, Jaelyn wrote:
As for the question on the grey-scale, how exactly do you take a grey-scale screenshot? This is a DL of the screenshot straight from a mem-card, so I'm not sure how you would take a greyscale pic...


Hold Z when taking the picture. Perhaps that will give me a better idea of how the data's layed out. Thank you.

Ruby-chan
12-17-2002, 10:15 PM
A friend and I started messing around with it in the hex editor, but we haven't had any luck. We think what we'd need to do is get some memory card saves and then copies of those pictures already converted, so we need someone with an import copy to get this USB hookup to give us some samples so we can compare what changes between the GCI save file and the PNG.

apyh
01-04-2003, 10:45 PM
Try this on for size, not sure if my ip will work, but it should...

http://keyframe.cjas.org/~garza/images/pso/pso_screen.png
http://keyframe.cjas.org/~garza/images/pso/pso_screen.png

A buddy of mine spent most of his new year's vacation figuring out the pixel format for the file. It turned out to be very much like the DC format, altho it's a bit bigger now...

What would really be interesting would be to see if you could setup a personal webserver that emulates the functions of the ST's website. That way, anyone could post their screenshots (not just those that have a usb card). (He's working on that too http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wink.gif)




<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: apyh on 2003-01-05 19:28 ]</font>

PentUpAnger
03-02-2003, 04:26 PM
Was just reading the PSO Proxy site and it seems that it now can convert USB PSO pics into png files... (this happened about a month ago)

scmfxt
03-03-2003, 03:17 PM
On 2002-12-15 18:30, Jaelyn wrote:
I have tried everything imaginable with the card and at this time, you can use the card to "restore" a character. I've tried a straight overwrite, I've tried erasing the files and reuploading them, I've tried to sync my computer's clock and the gamecard's timestamp, and nothing works. Basically, you CAN NOT use this card to dupe, which is what I was trying to determine. Those that were worried about mass duping starting with the release of this item can rest easily as you can't do it with this card.

snip...

Regardless, in the last week I've tried many, many different techniques to try to successfully restore a character from my HDD to the memcard, and none have worked. At this point, the card is more or less worthless for PSO.


Hm... I guess some of us is wrong about not be able to dupe with USB memory card. There is a way to do it but I'm not telling. The way PSO save work is that it check for timestamp and the save file on your PC does not hold all the data that PSO require. So, you already have 2 things going against you. Once you figure out a way to bypass them it probably be easy to dupe.

I did this on a friend USB memory card since he's too dumb to figure thing out for himself. It took me 2-3 hrs of messing around before I finally figure a way to dupe. As I said before, I'm not telling. PSO already have enough duper going around. And a few mass duping is already happening. At any case, I'm glad that the program that come with USB memory card only store partial data for character file. lol

ZodiacKiller
03-03-2003, 05:59 PM
OK edit this if you want but i'm a duper and all i can say is if you cant figure out how to use this card to dupe you are FUCKING RETARTED. look all i can say is within 15 minutes of having this card out the box i had 8 of each 1 of my rares just thought id post to let everyone know that YES you can dupe with this card quickly and easily but dont ask me how because i'm not telling. but as i stated earlier if you can't figure this out and you own a computer you must be brain dead anyway i just wanted yo clear up the fact that this card DOES work for pso duping

Jack
03-04-2003, 02:54 AM
On 2003-03-03 15:59, ZodiacKiller wrote:
FUCKING RETARTED

Don't insult people until you can spell the insult.

God-Slayer
03-05-2003, 03:30 AM
And, in fact, this device does work effectively if you have some common knowledge of how the device works, and interacts with your computer. I'll come out and say that I have experimented a bit with this product, and have had some success in replicating items...