Fire Red wont even open on VBA-M

[dog_dreams]

I want to play Ash Gray
I've downloaded VBA (followed by VBA-M), fire red, and even lunar ips to apply the ash gray patch.
After it says patch successful and i go to play on VBA (using the patched fire red) it has a red load battery for half a sec and then goes white.
Everything on the internet leads me to a save file error regarding Flash 64k or 128k but regardless of the setting, the white screen remains.
VBA-M says its operating at 99% yet the fps remains near 0/59-0/60

After redownloading many different versions of VBA (&M) as well as Fire Red rom and Ash Gray rom hack- i cant seem to fix this issue- or even get fire red to play for that matter.

Now i dont suspect that it is the emulator since i can seem to run a different pokemon rom hack (glazed) with no issues.

I'm new to emulators and roms and all i want is a little Ash Ketchum nostalgia.
Can anyone please help me?!! 

[DackR]

They have a pre-patched rom available for download on their website... which is about the worst website ever made. Its copious use of banner ads, popup windows, and trick download ads (pretty easy to spot, but yeah...) are quite irksome.

However, just visiting the site makes me want to punch whoever made this hack.

[dog_dreams]

Thanks so much DackR! That worked like a charm.