hi i just got my flash boy today and tryed to use the padder program to make file bigger i drag the rom to the window and when i let go it just closes but where does the file go am i doing somthing wrong?

Depending on the padder, it may have just modified the input file. Did it change size? Which padding program are you using?

drunkencat wrote:
hi i just got my flash boy today and tryed to use the padder program to make file bigger i drag the rom to the window and when i let go it just closes but where does the file go am i doing somthing wrong?

It actually sounds like the padder is, indeed, working properly and that you might simply be losing track of the new, padded file.

Do you have the padder program located in the exact same folder as all of your unpadded Virtual Boy ROMs? If not, try to move everything to the same folder and only have this one folder opened on your computer screen. Then, whenever you drag and drop a Virtual Boy ROM’s icon over the icon of the padder, which is located in the same folder, a window should open and close very quickly, just as you described. You should then see the new, padded Virtual Boy ROM file right next to the original ROM file in the same folder. This new, padded file will contain the original Virtual Boy ROM’s name followed by “_pad” before the extension of “.vb”

tryed that same thing wont make new file i even i even tryed right clicking on the padder program and runing it as admin still same result no new file was made im useing windows 7 will that make a diffrence ? also all my roms are located in the same folder as the padder program exe still get nothing

o im useing the padder program that is hosted on here

i figured it out u dont need to open the padder file u just need to drag and drop the rom over the padder icon there needs to be a how do made with some more description lol

I know this forum is really old, but I had the same problem. Had the padder in a different folder and was dragging the rom file into the command prompt window like an idiot. Put the padder in the same folder and that didn’t help.

What you need to do is do not open the padder. Drag the rom file onto the PAD_VB.exe file icon, then that will pad the file.

But, I thought the roms had to be padded to 16 MB to go on the FlashBoy? Mine only come out at 2 MB…

The correct padded ROM size is 16 megabits, not megabytes. A byte is eight bits.

Nevermind I figured it out. Hold CTRL while running to bring up the options menu. That allows you to change padding size. default value is 21 which corresponds to 2 MB. the value 24 spits out a 16 MB file

So what number of 0-3 should padding type be? Then the padding size should be 24, and then the rom will come out to the correct size? Mine keep starting at 1 Megabyte and after padding become 16 megabytes

I’m sorry, I have a similar problem.
I get the dragging on the exe part, it says “padding done”, but I can’t find the _pad file?
Any hints?

The Padder does not seem to be working on my PC with raw dumped ROM’s. I’ve quickly browsed through the forums and no easy fix seems to work. Can’t get it to work for either an existing cart or the BH!Proto i have

With padromvb padromvb.exe the file size changes but still wont load properly onto FB+. Goes to 25% and stops.

File size is 16348KB

With Padder.win-x64 Padder.exe I get nothing. Through Command Prompt I get an error (photo attached)

Attachments:

1. 

   paddererror.png
   

Wait, the dumped ROM is over 16 MB? It’s heavily overdumped then, the ROM should be 2 MB if it’s Bound High.

2 MB would also be the right size to flash to the FlashBoy.

Try this tool to shrink the ROM: https://www.planetvb.com/modules/tech/?sec=tools&pid=shrinkvb

Do the dumped ROMs work on an emulator?

Figured it out myself, I was using the Retrode Dumper wrong! I hadn’t noticed the slot selector buttons on the side last night!

Tried again today and success! File pulled at 2048KB, no need to pad!

Works perfectly on FlashBoy+

Works perfectly on VBJin emulator

I’ve done everything mentioned in this topic but still cannot get this Padder application to work. I downloaded the Padder.win-x64 from this site. I’ve used my Flashboy Plus in the past, so I know the application must have worked previously. It’s been a few years since I’ve used my Flashboy Plus, though. Figured I’d try in again after hearing about the Innsmouth Mansion English Translation. Downloaded the Innsmouth game via this site, unzipped it, dragged it over to the Padder.exe. Screen has a quick flash with a black box. No patched exe appears. Tried copying the game into the Padder folder even, but same result. I’ve tried the app on my Windows 10 Surface 2 and my Windows 10 Pc with the same result. Innsmouth is 1024kb and remains unchanged, no second padded copy appears. I tried the app with other VB roms too with the same results.

I posted a padded ROM in the release thread: link to post

Virtual Davey wrote:
I’ve done everything mentioned in this topic but still cannot get this Padder application to work. I downloaded the Padder.win-x64 from this site. I’ve used my Flashboy Plus in the past, so I know the application must have worked previously. It’s been a few years since I’ve used my Flashboy Plus, though. Figured I’d try in again after hearing about the Innsmouth Mansion English Translation. Downloaded the Innsmouth game via this site, unzipped it, dragged it over to the Padder.exe. Screen has a quick flash with a black box. No patched exe appears. Tried copying the game into the Padder folder even, but same result. I’ve tried the app on my Windows 10 Surface 2 and my Windows 10 Pc with the same result. Innsmouth is 1024kb and remains unchanged, no second padded copy appears. I tried the app with other VB roms too with the same results.

You’ll get better results with navigating to the Padder’s folder in Command Prompt and running the padder from there.

I tried using the other Padder located on this site, “VB ROM-image Padder”. This one seems to work perfectly. I drag my rom to the padromvb.exe and it pads the rom to the proper size without issue. It does not make a padded copy of the rom, it just pads the rom. So you won’t have 2 roms afterwards (one padded, one unpadded) like the other Padder (padder.win-x64).

Thanks, I couldn’t get that thing to work via commandline and was driving me mad. Same with the other two on the site.

I’ll keep this around and use it as stuff crops up as people make nice new things and translations.

As a new Flashboy Plus owner, just adding this info here to help other newbies that come behind me.

I couldn’t get the “64” version of the Padder to work, so i used the one at the following link.

https://www.planetvb.com/modules/tech/index.php?sec=tools&pid=pad_vb

You take the VB rom file and drag and drop it into the PAD_VB.EXE program—-Again, just pick up the ROM file and HOVER it over the EXE program, drop it, and it will copy and paste a “PAD” version of the ROM file into your folder (adds “pad” to the file name).

This is the one you need to flash onto the Flashboy Plus.

You may need to put the padding program into the folder with the ROM to get it to work. If its working, when you drop the ROM into the Padding EXE, you will see a black screen flash, then it just closes…but the file with the “PAD” extension now works. This is the file you will load into flashboy+ cartridge.

Found some help at this link: https://www.planetvb.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=5792&viewmode=flat&order=ASC&type=&mode=0&start=10

Just open the loader (Flashboy EXE), select your (padded) ROM, drill down to the folder where the padded rom lives……. and click the “FLASH” button.

Finally, when using the Flashboy EXE program to flash the ROM….YOU NEED TO CHECK THE BOX NEXT TO THE NAME OF THE GAME YOU WANT TO FLASH. This will make the FLASH button light up, and away you go!