Merged feature/backup cartridge save to flashcart sd
Summary:
* Add menu options to backup/restore a save from a pokémon gen I/II cartridge to the N64 flashcarts' SD card.
This is only compatible with 64Drive, Everdrive64, ED64Plus and SummerCart64!
* Add menu option to wipe a save from a cartridge
* Add menu option to reset the in-game clock of gen II cartridges. This will let the game prompt to update the clock on the next time you try to load the save file. Before it was quite hard to reset the game clock without starting a new save. Especially for crystal you had to calculate some kind of password to make it work. Not anymore. PokeMe64 now makes this easy!
Commits:
* Write a hello world of sorts for writing to SD card.
This just writes a file sd://helloworld.txt to the sd card.
It will form the basis for implementing save backup
* Implement save file backup functionality.
It works! But it needs some UI work (progress bar or something), because it takes > 5 seconds
* Add ProgressBarWidget and SceneWithProgressBar
* Add DataCopyScene and implement backup/restore with progress indication properly
Added a new DataCopyScene which takes care of displaying a progress bar while we're backup'ing or restoring data.
I also implemented cartridge Rom and Save backup to (micro)SD card and Save restore from (micro)SD card
to the cartridge.
And it works! I verified it with my Pokémon Blue cartridge: I can back up its save, play the game,
release almost all pokémon, go to a different location and save again and then restore the previous save using PokeMe64
Rom backup also works: I can play the resulting rom in VisualBoyAdvance without any issue. I can also use the save
that I backed up in VisualBoyAdvance.
So right now, you can take an emulator save/pkhex save and transfer it to an actual (original) pokémon cartridge
and it will work!
However, it's not ready for release yet for a few reasons:
- It will currently always output to sd:/gb_out.sav and sd:/rom.gb. I want it to output to
sd:/<cartridgetitle>_<trainername>.sav and sd:/<cartridgetitle_<trainername>.gb instead. In fact I want PokeMe64 to
add numbers to the save file in case one already exists with that name.
- libdragon currently doesn't have the functionality to create directories. I wish PokeMe64 to backup to a directory
called PokeMe64, even if the directory doesn't exist yet.
- I want a file selector so you can select which save file to restore. This way you could have multiple saves. In
theory that would also allow you to transfer a pokémon red save to a pokémon blue cartridge and so on.
- I want to have a wipe save option
- I need to safeguard PokeMe64 for corrupted save data. Right now, for reproduction carts PokeMe64 crashes while trying
to decode the trainerName. This is because the actual save file is not accessible on a reproduction cart. If I'm going
to allow people to restore random saves (even from different versions alltogether), I need PokeMe64 to be robust enough
for people to be able to wipe the save file or restore a different one. (in order for them to be able to correct their
mistake without having to take out the battery). In order to be robust enough, I should make sure to check the CRC
checksum of the save file before going to the main menu. And if it doesn't match, I should offer a reduced menu to
the user.
So... no release of this feature until I resolve all the topics above.
But man, it's so satisfying to see it work in the current form already! The functionality itself just works on first try!
* Add FileBrowserWidget and rework TestScene to use it for testing purposes
* Add SelectFileScene and connect everything together.
* Generate unique save file names
<gameName>_<trainerName>_<uniquenumber>.sav (the last part is optional)
This allows you to backup your save multiple times without overwriting the pre-existing ones.
* Add option to wipe save and validate save CRC before continuing to main menu
If an invalid/corrupt save is found, the user will only be offered the backup/restore options
The wipe save option exists in case the user messes up and restores a save that makes the gameboy crash on bootup. (I don't know if that can actually happen, but just in case)
After all: the backup/restore options allow for restoring saves of different games than the cartridge you're restoring to. (a red save to a blue cartridge, ...)
Therefore the user could also -accidentally- restore a gold save to a blue cartridge (for example).
So yeah, that option is only there to fix theoretic accidents without the user having to take out the battery.
* Add "Reset clock" function so you can easily reconfigure your game clock in gen 2
There's no straightforward in gen 2 to reconfigure the in-game clock. There's an arcane key combination that's the worst
on Pokémon Crystal and requires you to calculate some kind of password.
Now PokeMe64 makes it easy: the "Reset Clock" function sets a flag that will let the game prompt you in the main menu to
reconfigure the date/time again.
* Update README.md
* Move Reset Clock option to the main menu
* Some usability tweaks of the SelectFileScene
- Add title
- Add scroll arrows
- Make it possible to go back to the previous scene
- Increase PokeMe64 version to 0.2
* Ask confirmation before wiping the save
Add scroll arrows when there are more items in the list than the list can show at a time.
These arrows can be shown in the main menu (although there aren't enough items in there to have them shown) or in the various DistributionEventPokemonListScene menus.
I also did provisions to support the same for the ScrollWidget in the about screen. Although I haven't implemented that (yet?)
- Add "Pikachu Bed" and "Tentacool Doll" decoration unlock options for
gen 2
- bugfix for unsafe behaviour
- attempt to make the RESET button work for cartridge switching. It
failed though. (not reliable). Therefore I just added a warning
message instead.
- Work on new ScrollWidget for Credits/About screen (Work In Progress)
It doesn't look like much, but it's functional ;-)
It can inject distribution pokémon into gen 1 and gen 2 original
cartridges and inject the GS ball in Pokémon Crystal.
That's it. But that was the minimal feature set I had in mind for the
project. In the Readme.md you can find the ideas I have for expanding
the project.
But the first priority is the UI, because it really looks bad right now.
(as I was mostly focused on building blocks and transfer pak
functionality. Not on making it looks good)
