*HEY, I MADE A FOLLOW UP VIDEO!* If you have a question that wasn't covered in this video, I made a video continuing this topic that SHOULD answer your questions. Check it out here: th-cam.com/video/TrIAyAKg2S0/w-d-xo.html
@YellosIsland I followed the link listed and copied the file onto a brand new micro SD and flash card, but when I put them in the ds I get a message that reads menu with a question mark on it. Is the file still good?
Thank you so so so much. I bought my copy of Emerald 10 years ago and had a fresh battery put in and started a new file. 700 hours later I've done almost everything in that game. Found 2 shinies (no RNGing), found mirage Island, got Pokerus, got the Lilycove department sale, got 1st prize in the lottery and got almost half the Battle Frontier badges with a team I spent days breeding (getting three perfect IVs on a Pokemon in Gen 3 is a pain). The battery just ran out. I got it replaced at the same place I did 10 years ago and couldn't figure out why berries and the lottery weren't working. You're right. No one talks about what happens after the battery is replaced. I used this program and it fixed it completely. Thank you for helping me get another 10 years from Emerald :)
There is also Cosmic Emerald, which uses scripts that Nintendo put into Pokemon Emerald while they were developing the game to enable the user to get legendaries via tickets once you complete the following pokedex requirements. It is made available on a website that I did not save since I thought that a photo of the information would be enough to keep it safe.
5:20 Just a small pointer, batteries don't have an RTC, the RTC is literally the little 8 pin chip above the Save chip When the battery dies, the chip resets to it's default January 1st 2000 value From there, things happen as you explained
Question: if the value of the RTC resets to the date you created your new game file (such as January 1 2000 and the battery dies January 1 2005 can’t you fly back to your home and reset the date and time after replacing your battery?
@@techguy943 the chip resets to it's default value, not the time you started a new game The default starting value for this kind of RTC chip is January 1st 2000 As for your question, the game allows you to set the time, not the date, and even if the game keeps track of each day you advance through the clock, are you really going to sit there advancing 5 years manually?, Day by day? Specially when you don't know the exact number of days / hours you have to change
@@YellosIsland the chip is a clock, and the battery is, well, the clock's battery :D A battery in and out of itself is unable to store anything other electric power.
Just a Minor Correction, Mirage Island doesn't have to stop on "The day he spots it" and how he spots it is a random number that relates to the Pokémon in your party. The Random number freezes. whether or not he sees it is you have a Pokémon in your party matches it. On another note, if your battery is already dead, and you start a save file, you can actually go in knowing that the value is 0000 and manipulate for it.
Sorry to nerco but if I’m comprehending correctly. Since I started a new game with the battery already being dried out. Then basically my data already and forever reads at Jan 01,2000? That being true, then if I were to replaced the said dried battery, and booted my game, my etc clock should sync up with the 24hr period(to sync up with the in-game time at least.)? Meaning i could just continue my current “new game” progress?
Also, I'm 99% sure you can still evolve Eevee; I have done it on my ruby. What you can't do is get both forms. Depending on when the time froze, you will always get either an Espeon if time is frozen at day, or Umbreon if it's frozen at night. I had to use a friend's sapphire whose clock happened to have stopped at a good time to get the form I could not get on my ruby. How convenient 😛
Damn this is a blast from the past. I wrote the original gba rtcread and it's so weird seeing my work and website in someone else's video. :D Thanks for putting this in video form - you explained why the clock stopped ticking in-game way better than I did - hope this helps people with their rtc issues.
thank you!! really saving lives here!! my batterys' been dead for more than a decade. once i couldnt grow berries and do other events post game, i just couldnt keep playing ;( but this may convince me to fix it up and play again.
@@Nzg41 You should be able to pick it up from one of the links in the video description. If you can't compile the source, if you click through to the furlock's forest site there should be a link to a zip containing the compiled gba rom.
@@Pirochiro i just did…cartrige swap is a scarry prospect… good thing its gona be a fresh file anyway…just waiting for payday to order the kit and battery
Oh shoot. I heard about something like this but never actually knew what the issue was and definitely not how to fix it. This was very informative, thank you!
Very useful video, great editing. I've seen a few questions about applying the Berry Glitch but I wanted to point out that it cannot be applied to save files that have had the battery die/removed. The patch, whether it comes from the Gamecube titles (Colosseum or XD), bonus discs or FR/LG/E, checks to see if the clock has been interrupted. The Shiny Zigzagoon Berry Glitch fix disc actually has a prompt telling you that your save file cannot receive the patch due to "tampering" with the cartridge (very dumb!). When you trade to and from Colosseum & XD, your Berry Program will also be updated but it never prompts you to tell you that. It's done automatically. It also fails if the RTC is out of sync yet doesn't tell you neither. Very annoying. I actually had to do this fix recently with a Sapphire Quest file. I've been playing and shiny hunting for almost 10 years and I had never once needed to replace a battery mid-save, always apparently restarted. Everything is now working as is supposed to.
Thank you so much! That means a lot coming from you! That's actually some really insightful info. That would make sense why the patch never worked for me after I replaced the battery.
For anyone wondering, you don't pry out the battery because you can rip the pads the battery solders to out entirely, which can make the battery impossible or near impossible to replace. Also, these are like 20 year old PCBs and it's probably not the best idea to use significant force on them.
Super useful. Thank you! I've only ever changed GBC carts, so I was worried I would lose my Emerald data. I figured I could live with the dry battery. Now that I have seen this, I feel a lot more comfortable trying to revive my copy of Emerald.
What an absolute through and clear guide on how to fix this issue!! You are amazing and people like you should get way more credit for how well thought out this video was and not to mention the amount of sources you listen to use for future generations. Well done, thank you!
For a reference of what not to do, I used tightly wound electrical tape to attach a new battery to Pokemon Red. While it barely worked, I wish I had known how it was done properly and will do it right next time it does. Thank you for a quick rundown on attaching a new battery.
This happened to me years ago. Never really got around to looking into fixing it after being told my save data would be wiped. I was not about to lose years of collecting Kanto and Johto Pokemon in Ruby. Thanks for the information.
*FAQ SECTION BELOW:* --------------------------------------- *_If I just make a new save file with the new battery, do I need to do those extra R4 steps?_* Nope! As long as there is a working battery installed, you can start up a new save file and the clock should work fine. *_Does the battery affect RNG manipulation (shiny hunting)?_* This thread explains it more in-depth: www.reddit.com/r/pokemonrng/comments/prdrm8/deleted_by_user/ *_What if I already made a save file with a dry battery to begin with? Would a simple battery replacement fix it?_* I never tested this. But if I had to assume, time would probably work properly since the save file you made never tracked time to begin with. *_Can't you just change the clock in your room?_* No. Once you set the clock at the beginning of the game, you cannot change it ever again...unless you use the rtc-read method. *_Does the Berry Glitch patch fix the clock?_* No. The Berry Glitch and RTC problem are two different issues. It just so happens that both stop berry growth. I know, it's annoying. *_Do I need to mod my DS to do the R4 method?_* Nope. No hardware or software modifications needed. All you need is a flashcart and the rtc-read program. *_Why did you say RCT sometimes?_* Because enunciation is difficult and I didn't catch it until now :( *Correction:* At 5:43 I stated that the RTC resets to Jan 1, 2000 when the battery is replaced, but it ACTUALLY resets when the "supply of power from the battery is interrupted", according to Bulbapedia. Minor mistake, but I figured that I should set the record straight.
6:36 based on your language here-if i buy a copy of emerald online that’s legit, change the battery myself, and restart all the data; the game should work in real time again? basically if i don’t care about the save already on the game i don’t need to jump through as many hoops?
@@polelix1023 It CAN work, but I would advise against it since there's no easy way to secure it in the cartridge without using tape. And tape is not the safest thing to use. You can easily find pre-tabbed batteries for super cheap on ebay or Amazon.
Very Useful! I bought Ruby and Emerald a week ago, sure that they had the battery issue. I already knew how to fix it but you gave me more useful information about that, like the flashcard way, never heard about that. I will proceed as soon as I will find the courage to use the soldering iron on my cartridges 😂 thanks a lot!
Very useful video. There are a few minor technical errors. First, you referred to the save being in SRAM. That's what the old (pre-GBA) games used. It requires the battery to retain information, so when the battery dies, the save is lost. GBA games (at least, these ones) use flash or EEPROM memory, which doesn't need power. Second, you mentioned the battery "contains" the RTC. (Probably just misspoke...) The RTC is a chip on the cartridge; the battery just powers it. Anyway, nitpicking aside, the reason this bug happens is that the game keeps track of the current time when you save. When the battery dies, even once it's replaced, the clock goes back to 1/1/2000. If you saved in 2005, it sees that -5 years have passed. It treats negative times as zero, hence, no time has passed. Aside from the flash cart method, I think some of the DS Pokemon games might automatically fix the time? Or, it should be possible to send a homebrew program to a GBA via link cable, which you could do with just the official GBA-Gamecube link cable and a modded Wii, which might be easier to get. (The WiiU/Switch GameCube adapter can't do it. ☹️) It's a shame they didn't leave in any secret "reset the clock" function like they did in the GBC games... They were really concerned about people using a really elaborate and inefficient method of cheating at a few minigames!?
Great job on this. Most others did not know or care that much about this and dubbed it as the Berry Glitch because of the affected features the berries' growth was the first thing noticed. I probably would have fixed the battery issue of the cartridge but not adjusted the clock so the events restore
Me when RCT (In all seriousness, this video is great. Highly informative and still entertaining. Perfect balance of giving people time to comprehend and presenting new information. Great job!)
I don’t know what gamefreak was thinking with locking people out of time based events forever when the internal battery runs dry with no way of just simply replacing the battery. The method you explained here works but is also an extreme amount of effort to go through just to get your save file working properly again and I’m pretty sure game freak didn’t intend this method to be used ether
I just replaced my battery in my sapphire today, and was so confused why it said the battery was still messed up. Then I remembered watching this video, and it rly helped so thank u
This is SO USEFUL, thank you!! I’ve been on the lookout for a copy of Sapphire, so this is wonderful to know before I get one! My local used game store always replaces the batteries in their games, so this will absolutely help!
Wish i saw this before i restarted my game a week ago. :( but now since I know it, I won't worry anymore. Thanks a lot btw!! I wanna give you a hug !!!
Another thing. There is a device that can backup your rom and save file. I believe it also writes as well. You could play it on an emulator for those specific events and write it back.
This is actually pretty good info, and I might consider looking into this process again for my games. I don’t know how homebrew works that much though, so I don’t know if I’d want to potentially alter my DS (unless it’s not like that)
I guess I should clarify that "homebrew software" for the DS is not the same as homebrew for the Wii. Where people might need to hack their Wii to get things like the Homebrew Channel, a DS flashcart is simply a third-party cartridge that loads programs and ROMs, so this method SHOULDN'T alter your DS in any way, since rtcread-ds is basically like running another DS ROM.
@@YellosIsland can't you also use the Colosseum bonus disk? I know that's a lot of other stuff, but if you dable in homebrew you can get the rom for the bonus disk and I believe the gift Jirachi also fixes berry glitch?
More pro tip. If youre using a flash cart to fix the RTC, you can open a your dumped save in PKHX and you can see what they had saved on the save file for the RTC before the battery died (that way you can see what it was before the rtc itself was reset) That way youre not eye balling it, and you can get anything that was frozen instead of jumping 10+ years and wiping out the waiting events
@@YellosIsland yeah you still have to do your method though because the rtc on the save vs. the clock itself is what determines the time shifting. (I believe folks have figured out ways to emulate the battery in vba and stuff to confirm)
Small error. The GBA pokemon games do not use SRAM for saving as that requires a constant power source (like a battery), they use Flash memory and it's actually the small horizontal chip on the left side of the board pictured Otherwise great video!
Excellent tutorial, very informative. Props for pointing out how to fix the real time clock, that’s exactly what I came here to find out. A comprehensive fix 👍 Well done saving your own game too!
I'm here just for the vibez because I don't have a single GBA cartridge nor the console itself. Also I very much appreciate the RSE diving theme in the background. Cool!
This was so informative! Greatly done. I was just about to change my batter but thanks to you I will now go the extra steps! Thank you so much for being easy to understand!
This is super useful. I didn't realize this until I changed my batteries, it's not a lot extra but it's good to know. It's easy to assume changing the battery will just fix the clock.
Thank you so much. I was about to fix my copy of Emerald, but then remembered this. Luckily, I was going to start a new save anyway since I moved my important 'Mon to Diamond long long ago. Thank you so much for your help.
I feel that it's also worth mentioning that depending on what you want out of resetting your battery, it may not even be worth it. If you're playing emerald, and what you care about most is growing new berries, there's no shame in just using the cloning glitch to get more of them. Feebas can be easily evolved if you clone a few pamtre berries, and all items and TMs can be duplicated as well. Also correct me if I'm wrong, but since time is essentially frozen I think you'd only get locked out of ONE of the eeveelutions, but you should be able to get either espeon or umbreon depending on when the battery died (I'd test it but I don't have an eevee on my game). My battery has been dead for a while and since I already had at least one of each berry I wanted before it died, I don't think I have the need to replace it.
Also, I've heard that RNG manipulation in Gen 3 becomes much easier if the battery is dead, since the current time is used to generate a seed. If the battery is dead, the time is always frozen at the same value.
This video was so helpful I just bought a pokemon ruby less than a week ago and the battery is dry so imma do these steps and get it fixed luckily I dont have alot of time in the game just a hour so restarting for the clock ain't a big deal I'm worried about the soldering though
I have no issue deleting my game. “Years of progress.” For some people, very true and I respect that. For me, my favorite game is depressingly obsolete and aside from just messing around, there’s simply no real future for it. All my work is forever trapped in a cartridge. So, yeah, I just restart. I’m nuzlocking now, berries would be GREAT to have on hand and rematches are awesome for faster xp (but as you know only work as well as the clock does).
You saved my years old Emerald file today. I replaced the battery 7 years ago booted it up and BAM the dreaded message finally came to haunt me, but now I’m grinding again and waiting for the lilycove department sale while growing berries on the berry farm because I fixed the battery again! And this time I got to keep my seven year old save file. Thanks so much!
I've recently bought Ruby version, and its battery was replaced by either the shop or the previous owner. I hope this video will pop up by the time those 5-7 years are up, though.
Fun fact, there's also a patch for these games! I believe you need one of the GameCube games like Channel, Colosseum/XD, or Box, and then once you connect the GBA to the GameCube using a link cable (if you can find one) then it'll automatically patch the RTC.
Thanks a lot for the guide, I’ll have to try and do this after Christmas! Thanks for answering this simple questions you’re right about not enough people actually went over what happens after you replace the battery!
My understanding is the RTC issue (berry glitch) only affects Ruby and Sapphire, but not Emerald. The issue was fixed by then and FireRed, LeafGreen, Emerald, and several of the Gen 3 GameCube titles have the ability to patch it, provided you have the necessary hardware.
TH-cam recommended this video randomly I’ve never heard of and or watched your TH-cam channel I’ve never typed in anything gba battery related However... Yellow Yoshi has been my favourite since 1998 (Yoshi Story) and you have good narration, so you just got a new subscriber
I've never even had a gen 3 game and i'm watching this video. Why? I don't know. This is still a very well arranged video, and i'm sure those with any gen 3 copy will find this video helpful!
Somehow, 17 years after it's release and several thousand hours put into it, my OG Emeralds battery still works. My Sapphire has been dead for years though. Might replace it. Thanks for the guide!
TLDW, if you can find them use nickel cadmium batteries, they tend to last 15 years or more, but they are extremely hard to find in coin battery form, and you most likely will not find them pre tabbed
Very cool and thorough walkthrough! Just picked up a copy of emerald to relieve my HS Pokémon days and wondered if anything special was needed after replacing the battery.
Very good explanation. I have never actually cared enough to change my dry batteries however I did always wonder about this and this was very thorough. Great job!
I would just like to note that if you don't have a DS flashcart but do have a Wii, there's homebrew that lets you dump your savefile to your SD card or USB drive, edit the time on your computer with a program like PKHex, and then run the homebrew again to put the save back on.
I got this video in my recommended and even though it doesn't apply to me as I play Emerald now via ~other means~ the presentation and visuals in the video were really awesome!
Oh my god what, I fixed my games forever ago and didn't even notice the time was still dead, go me. You're a lifesaver, wish I could like and sub more than once
I had absolutely no idea that you can fix your save file, I thought I need to restart my game for any chance at experiencing a save file with a working RTC Thank you for the incredible and informative video!
Great video, I never actually knew this until I watched your video. I knew about the battery loosing charge but not stuff like berries not growing or mirage island not being visible
This is super useful, thanks! Off topic but: what is the background music that starts around 2:34 called? I recognize it but can't remember where I've heard it before.
Gracias!!!! Eres la única persona que encontré que me explicó el problema.... pero tarde , ya borré todo mi progreso, imagina la decepción que me llevé... pero gracias a ti, puse la fecha de hoy y creo que el problema se solucionó
this is quality info. I have all the stuff to do this and a cart that needs it done and havent gotten around to it yet. id of never thought to look up something like this, but YT recommends the weirdest things some times.
thanks for the video! i would have thought the game's time just gets fixed upon changing the battery out and that would have been miserable to go through and not get the desired result. i was also under the impression that changing the battery would delete the save, so that's good to know too. i guess i was thinking more along the lines of how gen 1 and 2 operate when changing those batteries. lol thanks again for the info!
Good to know, so I'll wait to have the new battery before starting a game, since I do not have a DS or a Flash Cart Thanks for the video, this is helpful !
My battery JUST died like, minutes ago. I was trying to see my old save (I hadn't touch this cartridge for years) and the battery was still working when I booted up the game, but not after a few minutes lol. Must've been leftover charge or something. I'm super glad I found your video, I'll download that homebrew app right now for when I get a new battery.
As someone who just embarked on a quest to finally complete the battle frontier (and re-experience a LOT of stuff from Gen3 in the process), thank you. This is gonna help a ton. I was prepared to "evacuate" my items and mons to Pokemon XD before restarting time (literally), but if this works (my DS Lite is kinda beat up...) I'm not going to have to do that after all.
tysm, I made my ruby, sapphie and emerald work again without losing my save file. Now I can finally evolve my Feebas easily to get that full pokedex in firered
I found a store that does electronic repairs and they were able to replace the battery from my own Pokémon Emerald cartridge after having bought a replacement battery online. The game plays just like I remembered! I suggest doing this if you are not confident, or at all trust, in your ability to replace the battery yourself.
Just curious. Would the Berry Program Update fix this RTC? For context, you can press Select and B on the title screen of FireRed, LeafGreen, or Emerald to run a patcher for the Berry Glitch. Also, connecting Ruby or Sapphire to any GC game fixes the Berry Glitch.
*HEY, I MADE A FOLLOW UP VIDEO!*
If you have a question that wasn't covered in this video, I made a video continuing this topic that SHOULD answer your questions. Check it out here: th-cam.com/video/TrIAyAKg2S0/w-d-xo.html
thanks for helping
@YellosIsland I followed the link listed and copied the file onto a brand new micro SD and flash card, but when I put them in the ds I get a message that reads menu with a question mark on it. Is the file still good?
"Hope i was able to help."
You basically answered every single question i had about the batteries. You are a legend. I cant thank you enough.
Thank you so so so much. I bought my copy of Emerald 10 years ago and had a fresh battery put in and started a new file. 700 hours later I've done almost everything in that game. Found 2 shinies (no RNGing), found mirage Island, got Pokerus, got the Lilycove department sale, got 1st prize in the lottery and got almost half the Battle Frontier badges with a team I spent days breeding (getting three perfect IVs on a Pokemon in Gen 3 is a pain). The battery just ran out. I got it replaced at the same place I did 10 years ago and couldn't figure out why berries and the lottery weren't working. You're right. No one talks about what happens after the battery is replaced. I used this program and it fixed it completely. Thank you for helping me get another 10 years from Emerald :)
That’s awesome to hear! I’m glad I could help preserve your save file cuz clearly you’ve done SO much with it.
There is also Cosmic Emerald, which uses scripts that Nintendo put into Pokemon Emerald while they were developing the game to enable the user to get legendaries via tickets once you complete the following pokedex requirements. It is made available on a website that I did not save since I thought that a photo of the information would be enough to keep it safe.
Maan just move on to pokeymans scarlet and violet. Y u hard stuck on age old hardware? At least ds and switch games won’t die on yo ass
@@xbon1 or just shut up and let people play what they enjoy.
@@xbon1 my Pokémon omega ruby is actually completely dead, won't start at all. Can still play Pokémon Red without any issue whatsoever
5:20
Just a small pointer, batteries don't have an RTC, the RTC is literally the little 8 pin chip above the Save chip
When the battery dies, the chip resets to it's default January 1st 2000 value
From there, things happen as you explained
More specifically, the combination of the chip and the crystal oscillator above it. Same with G/S/C.
I did not know this. Thank you for the correction!
Question: if the value of the RTC resets to the date you created your new game file (such as January 1 2000 and the battery dies January 1 2005 can’t you fly back to your home and reset the date and time after replacing your battery?
@@techguy943 the chip resets to it's default value, not the time you started a new game
The default starting value for this kind of RTC chip is January 1st 2000
As for your question, the game allows you to set the time, not the date, and even if the game keeps track of each day you advance through the clock, are you really going to sit there advancing 5 years manually?, Day by day?
Specially when you don't know the exact number of days / hours you have to change
@@YellosIsland the chip is a clock, and the battery is, well, the clock's battery :D
A battery in and out of itself is unable to store anything other electric power.
Just a Minor Correction, Mirage Island doesn't have to stop on "The day he spots it" and how he spots it is a random number that relates to the Pokémon in your party. The Random number freezes. whether or not he sees it is you have a Pokémon in your party matches it.
On another note, if your battery is already dead, and you start a save file, you can actually go in knowing that the value is 0000 and manipulate for it.
Sorry to nerco but if I’m comprehending correctly. Since I started a new game with the battery already being dried out. Then basically my data already and forever reads at Jan 01,2000? That being true, then if I were to replaced the said dried battery, and booted my game, my etc clock should sync up with the 24hr period(to sync up with the in-game time at least.)? Meaning i could just continue my current “new game” progress?
Also, I'm 99% sure you can still evolve Eevee; I have done it on my ruby. What you can't do is get both forms. Depending on when the time froze, you will always get either an Espeon if time is frozen at day, or Umbreon if it's frozen at night. I had to use a friend's sapphire whose clock happened to have stopped at a good time to get the form I could not get on my ruby. How convenient 😛
Damn this is a blast from the past. I wrote the original gba rtcread and it's so weird seeing my work and website in someone else's video. :D Thanks for putting this in video form - you explained why the clock stopped ticking in-game way better than I did - hope this helps people with their rtc issues.
Doing gods work 🙏
thank you!! really saving lives here!! my batterys' been dead for more than a decade. once i couldnt grow berries and do other events post game, i just couldnt keep playing ;( but this may convince me to fix it up and play again.
Hey how would you use your software on a gba flash kart?
@@Nzg41 You should be able to pick it up from one of the links in the video description. If you can't compile the source, if you click through to the furlock's forest site there should be a link to a zip containing the compiled gba rom.
@@Pirochiro i just did…cartrige swap is a scarry prospect… good thing its gona be a fresh file anyway…just waiting for payday to order the kit and battery
Oh shoot. I heard about something like this but never actually knew what the issue was and definitely not how to fix it. This was very informative, thank you!
Very useful video, great editing.
I've seen a few questions about applying the Berry Glitch but I wanted to point out that it cannot be applied to save files that have had the battery die/removed. The patch, whether it comes from the Gamecube titles (Colosseum or XD), bonus discs or FR/LG/E, checks to see if the clock has been interrupted. The Shiny Zigzagoon Berry Glitch fix disc actually has a prompt telling you that your save file cannot receive the patch due to "tampering" with the cartridge (very dumb!). When you trade to and from Colosseum & XD, your Berry Program will also be updated but it never prompts you to tell you that. It's done automatically. It also fails if the RTC is out of sync yet doesn't tell you neither. Very annoying.
I actually had to do this fix recently with a Sapphire Quest file. I've been playing and shiny hunting for almost 10 years and I had never once needed to replace a battery mid-save, always apparently restarted. Everything is now working as is supposed to.
Thank you so much! That means a lot coming from you! That's actually some really insightful info. That would make sense why the patch never worked for me after I replaced the battery.
@@YellosIsland yeah having the gamecube games special event disc transfer over jirachi also has an effect on the clock.
@@JohnSmith-laws is this legit?
@@TotallyAtopiaYT yes it is legitimate. It's the 2nd disc pack of pokemon colleseum I believe
I’m assuming transferring your file to PKHEX and selecting the “Berry fix” option also fixes this issue?
Video is a banger, more helpful than most out there. You love to see it.
Yelloyoshi master race.
For anyone wondering, you don't pry out the battery because you can rip the pads the battery solders to out entirely, which can make the battery impossible or near impossible to replace. Also, these are like 20 year old PCBs and it's probably not the best idea to use significant force on them.
I knew about the issues with the RTC, but didn't realize there was an actual fix for it. Definitely going to try this. Thanks for making this video!
Man that’s a lot of work for berries … this is why we need an actual port of gen 3
I would definitely like physical ports like the dragon quest 1_3 for the switch. I love the old art style the hoenn region has.
just play oras
@@yeetstillhere not the same thing. It need a virtual console for every GBA version on switch
Just play a emulator
@@yeetstillhere No thanks, ORAS is trash compared to the originals, especially Emerald.
This extra step needs needs to be well known. Thank you for making a well informed video about it.
I don't even own a Game Boy Advance, but I still watched your video regardless because you made this very entertaining.
Super useful. Thank you!
I've only ever changed GBC carts, so I was worried I would lose my Emerald data. I figured I could live with the dry battery.
Now that I have seen this, I feel a lot more comfortable trying to revive my copy of Emerald.
This was well worth the watch! I learned a lot at the end
Just bought a ds lite again to play emerald, this vid is super helpful. Loved how in depth this was, never knew about half the stuff in this vid
What an absolute through and clear guide on how to fix this issue!! You are amazing and people like you should get way more credit for how well thought out this video was and not to mention the amount of sources you listen to use for future generations. Well done, thank you!
Thank you for such kind words. I'm glad I could help!
For a reference of what not to do, I used tightly wound electrical tape to attach a new battery to Pokemon Red. While it barely worked, I wish I had known how it was done properly and will do it right next time it does. Thank you for a quick rundown on attaching a new battery.
This happened to me years ago. Never really got around to looking into fixing it after being told my save data would be wiped. I was not about to lose years of collecting Kanto and Johto Pokemon in Ruby. Thanks for the information.
I did this whole process and everything worked with only $30 on Amazon. Great video. Get to grow my berries now 👍
*FAQ SECTION BELOW:*
---------------------------------------
*_If I just make a new save file with the new battery, do I need to do those extra R4 steps?_*
Nope! As long as there is a working battery installed, you can start up a new save file and the clock should work fine.
*_Does the battery affect RNG manipulation (shiny hunting)?_*
This thread explains it more in-depth: www.reddit.com/r/pokemonrng/comments/prdrm8/deleted_by_user/
*_What if I already made a save file with a dry battery to begin with? Would a simple battery replacement fix it?_*
I never tested this. But if I had to assume, time would probably work properly since the save file you made never tracked time to begin with.
*_Can't you just change the clock in your room?_*
No. Once you set the clock at the beginning of the game, you cannot change it ever again...unless you use the rtc-read method.
*_Does the Berry Glitch patch fix the clock?_*
No. The Berry Glitch and RTC problem are two different issues. It just so happens that both stop berry growth. I know, it's annoying.
*_Do I need to mod my DS to do the R4 method?_*
Nope. No hardware or software modifications needed. All you need is a flashcart and the rtc-read program.
*_Why did you say RCT sometimes?_*
Because enunciation is difficult and I didn't catch it until now :(
*Correction:* At 5:43 I stated that the RTC resets to Jan 1, 2000 when the battery is replaced, but it ACTUALLY resets when the "supply of power from the battery is interrupted", according to Bulbapedia. Minor mistake, but I figured that I should set the record straight.
6:36 based on your language here-if i buy a copy of emerald online that’s legit, change the battery myself, and restart all the data; the game should work in real time again?
basically if i don’t care about the save already on the game i don’t need to jump through as many hoops?
Yup!
@TheTrueGamer66 I'll include it in the pin comment.
@@YellosIsland I didn't find a pre-tapped battery around here. Do you think just a normal CR1616 can be used too?
@@polelix1023 It CAN work, but I would advise against it since there's no easy way to secure it in the cartridge without using tape. And tape is not the safest thing to use. You can easily find pre-tabbed batteries for super cheap on ebay or Amazon.
Very Useful! I bought Ruby and Emerald a week ago, sure that they had the battery issue. I already knew how to fix it but you gave me more useful information about that, like the flashcard way, never heard about that. I will proceed as soon as I will find the courage to use the soldering iron on my cartridges 😂 thanks a lot!
Very useful video. There are a few minor technical errors.
First, you referred to the save being in SRAM. That's what the old (pre-GBA) games used. It requires the battery to retain information, so when the battery dies, the save is lost. GBA games (at least, these ones) use flash or EEPROM memory, which doesn't need power.
Second, you mentioned the battery "contains" the RTC. (Probably just misspoke...) The RTC is a chip on the cartridge; the battery just powers it.
Anyway, nitpicking aside, the reason this bug happens is that the game keeps track of the current time when you save. When the battery dies, even once it's replaced, the clock goes back to 1/1/2000. If you saved in 2005, it sees that -5 years have passed. It treats negative times as zero, hence, no time has passed.
Aside from the flash cart method, I think some of the DS Pokemon games might automatically fix the time? Or, it should be possible to send a homebrew program to a GBA via link cable, which you could do with just the official GBA-Gamecube link cable and a modded Wii, which might be easier to get. (The WiiU/Switch GameCube adapter can't do it. ☹️)
It's a shame they didn't leave in any secret "reset the clock" function like they did in the GBC games... They were really concerned about people using a really elaborate and inefficient method of cheating at a few minigames!?
Great job on this. Most others did not know or care that much about this and dubbed it as the Berry Glitch because of the affected features the berries' growth was the first thing noticed. I probably would have fixed the battery issue of the cartridge but not adjusted the clock so the events restore
Me when RCT (In all seriousness, this video is great. Highly informative and still entertaining. Perfect balance of giving people time to comprehend and presenting new information. Great job!)
🤡 (Also thank you for being the QA that I needed)
I don’t know what gamefreak was thinking with locking people out of time based events forever when the internal battery runs dry with no way of just simply replacing the battery. The method you explained here works but is also an extreme amount of effort to go through just to get your save file working properly again and I’m pretty sure game freak didn’t intend this method to be used ether
I just replaced my battery in my sapphire today, and was so confused why it said the battery was still messed up. Then I remembered watching this video, and it rly helped so thank u
This is SO USEFUL, thank you!! I’ve been on the lookout for a copy of Sapphire, so this is wonderful to know before I get one! My local used game store always replaces the batteries in their games, so this will absolutely help!
Wish i saw this before i restarted my game a week ago. :( but now since I know it, I won't worry anymore.
Thanks a lot btw!! I wanna give you a hug !!!
Another thing. There is a device that can backup your rom and save file. I believe it also writes as well. You could play it on an emulator for those specific events and write it back.
This is actually pretty good info, and I might consider looking into this process again for my games. I don’t know how homebrew works that much though, so I don’t know if I’d want to potentially alter my DS (unless it’s not like that)
I guess I should clarify that "homebrew software" for the DS is not the same as homebrew for the Wii. Where people might need to hack their Wii to get things like the Homebrew Channel, a DS flashcart is simply a third-party cartridge that loads programs and ROMs, so this method SHOULDN'T alter your DS in any way, since rtcread-ds is basically like running another DS ROM.
@@YellosIsland can't you also use the Colosseum bonus disk? I know that's a lot of other stuff, but if you dable in homebrew you can get the rom for the bonus disk and I believe the gift Jirachi also fixes berry glitch?
@@twilightknight09 according to another comment the stuff that fixes the berry glitch won't fix the time if the battery died or got replaced
More pro tip. If youre using a flash cart to fix the RTC, you can open a your dumped save in PKHX and you can see what they had saved on the save file for the RTC before the battery died (that way you can see what it was before the rtc itself was reset)
That way youre not eye balling it, and you can get anything that was frozen instead of jumping 10+ years and wiping out the waiting events
Oh, I didn't know this was a thing. That would definitely take out the guesswork. Thank you for the tip!
@@YellosIsland yeah you still have to do your method though because the rtc on the save vs. the clock itself is what determines the time shifting. (I believe folks have figured out ways to emulate the battery in vba and stuff to confirm)
Small error. The GBA pokemon games do not use SRAM for saving as that requires a constant power source (like a battery), they use Flash memory and it's actually the small horizontal chip on the left side of the board pictured Otherwise great video!
Ahh…you’re right, just looked it up. Must’ve mixed it up. Thanks for letting me know!
this is a really good and informative video ^^ also im sorry about those comments being mean about your voice, i think its relaxing
Excellent tutorial, very informative. Props for pointing out how to fix the real time clock, that’s exactly what I came here to find out. A comprehensive fix 👍 Well done saving your own game too!
Jesus christ i didn't expect SUCH a HIGH quality video! Subbed!!
I'm here just for the vibez because I don't have a single GBA cartridge nor the console itself. Also I very much appreciate the RSE diving theme in the background. Cool!
This was so informative! Greatly done. I was just about to change my batter but thanks to you I will now go the extra steps! Thank you so much for being easy to understand!
Life saver, I had no idea about what the time still being froze. Thank you!
Your the best for putting time stamps
Thank you so much this help the most!
This is super useful. I didn't realize this until I changed my batteries, it's not a lot extra but it's good to know. It's easy to assume changing the battery will just fix the clock.
Thank you so much. I was about to fix my copy of Emerald, but then remembered this. Luckily, I was going to start a new save anyway since I moved my important 'Mon to Diamond long long ago. Thank you so much for your help.
At least I dont have to worrying about this. I am really surprise that they didnt mention it. Thanks, Yellow Yoshi.
I feel that it's also worth mentioning that depending on what you want out of resetting your battery, it may not even be worth it. If you're playing emerald, and what you care about most is growing new berries, there's no shame in just using the cloning glitch to get more of them. Feebas can be easily evolved if you clone a few pamtre berries, and all items and TMs can be duplicated as well. Also correct me if I'm wrong, but since time is essentially frozen I think you'd only get locked out of ONE of the eeveelutions, but you should be able to get either espeon or umbreon depending on when the battery died (I'd test it but I don't have an eevee on my game). My battery has been dead for a while and since I already had at least one of each berry I wanted before it died, I don't think I have the need to replace it.
remember that the espeon umbreon issue can also be easily fixed if you have 2 gba's and multiple gen 3 games or a gamecube with xd
Also, I've heard that RNG manipulation in Gen 3 becomes much easier if the battery is dead, since the current time is used to generate a seed. If the battery is dead, the time is always frozen at the same value.
This video was so helpful I just bought a pokemon ruby less than a week ago and the battery is dry so imma do these steps and get it fixed luckily I dont have alot of time in the game just a hour so restarting for the clock ain't a big deal I'm worried about the soldering though
I have no issue deleting my game. “Years of progress.” For some people, very true and I respect that. For me, my favorite game is depressingly obsolete and aside from just messing around, there’s simply no real future for it. All my work is forever trapped in a cartridge. So, yeah, I just restart. I’m nuzlocking now, berries would be GREAT to have on hand and rematches are awesome for faster xp (but as you know only work as well as the clock does).
This was really useful! But mich more complicated than expected.
You saved my years old Emerald file today. I replaced the battery 7 years ago booted it up and BAM the dreaded message finally came to haunt me, but now I’m grinding again and waiting for the lilycove department sale while growing berries on the berry farm because I fixed the battery again! And this time I got to keep my seven year old save file. Thanks so much!
Extremely detailed video, gave all the answers to my questions, Thank you so much!
I've recently bought Ruby version, and its battery was replaced by either the shop or the previous owner. I hope this video will pop up by the time those 5-7 years are up, though.
The berries are growing again!!!! Thank you so much for this vídeo ⭐
Fun fact, there's also a patch for these games! I believe you need one of the GameCube games like Channel, Colosseum/XD, or Box, and then once you connect the GBA to the GameCube using a link cable (if you can find one) then it'll automatically patch the RTC.
Thanks a lot for the guide, I’ll have to try and do this after Christmas! Thanks for answering this simple questions you’re right about not enough people actually went over what happens after you replace the battery!
thank god i found this video!! im getting a copy of Ruby with a dead battery and this helps so much!
Finally! Someone has explained how to fix this issue!
My understanding is the RTC issue (berry glitch) only affects Ruby and Sapphire, but not Emerald. The issue was fixed by then and FireRed, LeafGreen, Emerald, and several of the Gen 3 GameCube titles have the ability to patch it, provided you have the necessary hardware.
Oh thanks God, I've not really searched about how to fix the clock but, you saved my life I can fix the clock for me and my friends now thanks a lot
Thanks, I want to buy a cartridge of R/S/E and most likely will have dead battery so now I know how it affects the game
TH-cam recommended this video randomly
I’ve never heard of and or watched your TH-cam channel
I’ve never typed in anything gba battery related
However... Yellow Yoshi has been my favourite since 1998 (Yoshi Story) and you have good narration, so you just got a new subscriber
Revisited this video after watching it like yesterday and youve gone up 400 subs. Congratulations!!
I've never even had a gen 3 game and i'm watching this video.
Why? I don't know.
This is still a very well arranged video, and i'm sure those with any gen 3 copy will find this video helpful!
Somehow, 17 years after it's release and several thousand hours put into it, my OG Emeralds battery still works. My Sapphire has been dead for years though. Might replace it. Thanks for the guide!
A good battery put in one of these will last you years. I got lucky and replaced my battery in 2014 and it still runs
Same here, my Ruby has been dead for like 5 years but Emerald is still good. Maybe they used better batteries on the Emerald carts?
Man, you're lucky. My Emerald battery died several years ago. I bought it new in 2007.
TLDW, if you can find them use nickel cadmium batteries, they tend to last 15 years or more, but they are extremely hard to find in coin battery form, and you most likely will not find them pre tabbed
Very cool and thorough walkthrough! Just picked up a copy of emerald to relieve my HS Pokémon days and wondered if anything special was needed after replacing the battery.
This video was exactly what I needed, so thank you very much! I like it more than deserved, greetings from Spain!
Very good explanation. I have never actually cared enough to change my dry batteries however I did always wonder about this and this was very thorough. Great job!
Extremely good video, even if I'll likely never personally utilize it! Also, wonderfully soothing voice. Thanks for making this!
I would just like to note that if you don't have a DS flashcart but do have a Wii, there's homebrew that lets you dump your savefile to your SD card or USB drive, edit the time on your computer with a program like PKHex, and then run the homebrew again to put the save back on.
I got this video in my recommended and even though it doesn't apply to me as I play Emerald now via ~other means~ the presentation and visuals in the video were really awesome!
Oh my god what, I fixed my games forever ago and didn't even notice the time was still dead, go me. You're a lifesaver, wish I could like and sub more than once
I had absolutely no idea that you can fix your save file, I thought I need to restart my game for any chance at experiencing a save file with a working RTC
Thank you for the incredible and informative video!
Great video, I never actually knew this until I watched your video. I knew about the battery loosing charge but not stuff like berries not growing or mirage island not being visible
The production value is excellent, Yello!
I almost screamed seeing the very first image at the start of the battery run dry window because I literally use that same border
This is super useful, thanks! Off topic but: what is the background music that starts around 2:34 called? I recognize it but can't remember where I've heard it before.
The music is Sootopolis City!
Gracias!!!! Eres la única persona que encontré que me explicó el problema.... pero tarde , ya borré todo mi progreso, imagina la decepción que me llevé... pero gracias a ti, puse la fecha de hoy y creo que el problema se solucionó
this is quality info. I have all the stuff to do this and a cart that needs it done and havent gotten around to it yet. id of never thought to look up something like this, but YT recommends the weirdest things some times.
This is great information, thanks for posting this.
Good information better than other TH-camr
thanks for the video! i would have thought the game's time just gets fixed upon changing the battery out and that would have been miserable to go through and not get the desired result. i was also under the impression that changing the battery would delete the save, so that's good to know too. i guess i was thinking more along the lines of how gen 1 and 2 operate when changing those batteries. lol thanks again for the info!
This is unrelated but I got emerald yesterday and the cartridge color and shimmer look really nice in my opinion
How are you under 1000? This video was well edited and informative. Keep it up!
Thank you for information. I really didn't need it but watched it to support you!! Nice content I hope other who really need it does find this.
Good to know, so I'll wait to have the new battery before starting a game, since I do not have a DS or a Flash Cart
Thanks for the video, this is helpful !
I assume another time based event is trainers wanting to battle again?
Me: replaces battery and manipulates time to make my game work.
Dialga: “And I took that personally.”
This is a video everyone that replaces the battery should see. Thank you for this tutorial, it will definitely help!
My battery JUST died like, minutes ago. I was trying to see my old save (I hadn't touch this cartridge for years) and the battery was still working when I booted up the game, but not after a few minutes lol. Must've been leftover charge or something. I'm super glad I found your video, I'll download that homebrew app right now for when I get a new battery.
As someone who just embarked on a quest to finally complete the battle frontier (and re-experience a LOT of stuff from Gen3 in the process), thank you. This is gonna help a ton. I was prepared to "evacuate" my items and mons to Pokemon XD before restarting time (literally), but if this works (my DS Lite is kinda beat up...) I'm not going to have to do that after all.
tysm, I made my ruby, sapphie and emerald work again without losing my save file. Now I can finally evolve my Feebas easily to get that full pokedex in firered
Wow I had no idea. Thank you!! Very interesting
Huge help! I’ve had the game since I was six and am pumped to restore it!
HI! I am checking in after watching this last night, this REALLY helped me out. What a life saver!!
i don't even own a gen 3 game but this video is still really good
I found a store that does electronic repairs and they were able to replace the battery from my own Pokémon Emerald cartridge after having bought a replacement battery online. The game plays just like I remembered! I suggest doing this if you are not confident, or at all trust, in your ability to replace the battery yourself.
That was a great and very well made, and informative video. Thank you!
Way more informative than I anticipated. Thanks for the great video!
Just curious. Would the Berry Program Update fix this RTC? For context, you can press Select and B on the title screen of FireRed, LeafGreen, or Emerald to run a patcher for the Berry Glitch. Also, connecting Ruby or Sapphire to any GC game fixes the Berry Glitch.