GDEMU FW 5.20.5

[ateam]

this clone update can be used on older GDEMU Clones ? on 5.14 gdemu

No. The only (allegedly) updateable clones are the newer 5.20.x models. I say allegedly because I've yet to hear of someone successfully performing a firmware upgrade on one of them. I don't outright disbelieve it, but I'd like some proof

[ateam]

Thank you for the explanation @ateam! Chances are that I don't need to update any time soon, but I'll definitely save this info for the future.

Just got confirmation from another user, you must do the pre-update steps on the clone for successful update. So, just follow the steps in RazorX's ZIP there, and be sure to download latest 5.20.5 from the GDEMU website.

[ItalianGrandma]

Just got confirmation from another user, you must do the pre-update steps on the clone for successful update. So, just follow the steps in RazorX's ZIP there, and be sure to download latest 5.20.5 from the GDEMU website.

Nice! I think that's literally the first confirmation I've seen anywhere on the net that these clones are, in fact, updateable! Mine is supposed to be here in a couple of weeks. I may wait until your translation patches release before I bother trying, though

[ateam]

I may wait until your translation patches release before I bother trying, though

"Sakura Wars: Columns 2" has been out for a long time now, but look for "Nakoruru" sometime in May (I think).

[Stump909]

I may wait until your translation patches release before I bother trying, though

"Sakura Wars: Columns 2" has been out for a long time now, but look for "Nakoruru" sometime in May (I think).

Now we just need someone to try with an older version...

[ateam]

Now we just need someone to try with an older version...

Not sure what you mean? Both work fine on older GDEMU FW, it's just a mild texture stutter that occurs in some scenes.

[Stump909]

Now we just need someone to try with an older version...

Not sure what you mean? Both work fine on older GDEMU FW, it's just a mild texture stutter that occurs in some scenes.

Sorry I must have replied to the wrong post

[ItalianGrandma]

Just got confirmation from another user, you must do the pre-update steps on the clone for successful update. So, just follow the steps in RazorX's ZIP there, and be sure to download latest 5.20.5 from the GDEMU website.

Nice! I think that's literally the first confirmation I've seen anywhere on the net that these clones are, in fact, updateable! Mine is supposed to be here in a couple of weeks. I may wait until your translation patches release before I bother trying, though

Got my 5.20 clone and according to GDMenu, it is already running FW 5.20.5

I’m guessing that’s correct, but someone else told me that the firmware version could be spoofed? I’d never heard anyone say that, so I wonder if that’s a possibility…

That said, it seems pretty weird to me that they would even bother to spoof the firmware, so I’m more inclined to think it actually is on the latest firmware.

[ateam]

Got my 5.20 clone and according to GDMenu, it is already running FW 5.20.5

I’m guessing that’s correct, but someone else told me that the firmware version could be spoofed? I’d never heard anyone say that, so I wonder if that’s a possibility…

That said, it seems pretty weird to me that they would even bother to spoof the firmware, so I’m more inclined to think it actually is on the latest firmware.

I'm not surprised it's already on 5.20.5. Regarding the "spoofing", really this was just something the clone companies did to differentiate board revisions (e.g., v5.15 and v5.15b).

If you want to verify that you're truly on 5.20.5, there's a game you can play to test. It can be found as:

Nakoruru - Ano Hito Kara no Okurimono v1.004 (2002)(Kool Kizz Amusement Works)(JP)[!].zip

At the title screen, press start, then select the top menu option twice in a row. This will start a new game. Play through the Japanese dialogue for about 10 minutes. On pre-v5.20.5, when characters fade-out during scene changes, you'll notice at least one time a mild flicker of their character graphic itself.

On v5.20.5, optimal timings (i.e., read speeds) have been added for this game (and at least one other). Note that as of v5.20.0, one can rate-limit their whole SD card by adding the "read_limit" parameter to their GDEMU.INI file, then setting it to any number between 600 and 1250 (though this will break some Atomiswave games).

[Stump909]

So now that we have some confirmation 5.20+ clones can be firmware updated, has anyone comes across a guide?

I keep seeing repeats of the “difficult process” line, but that could mean as little as using the “FW Upgrade firmware” first.