So some things still need the GBA BIOS because they need access to the built-in functions. Other things made their own versions of these functions and don't need the BIOS (VBA being the prime example). Until now I thought it was an easy split (use the BIOS for things that need it, other things made thiers internal). Then I, somehow, picked up a gba_bios.bin that... was not quite right.
I ended up putting it in a gPSP test for the PSP without knowing it was an altered file (since it had the same name and properties-size and junk), and gpSP told me on boot that it might not work right since it's been altered. I immediately thought "Oh, I corrupted this file somehow", until the intro played. And it appeared to play fine, but it did not sound normal.
In addition, booting from that BIOS causes some minor graphics corruption in the "Press A to Continue" screen on the Mother 3 translation... though it appeared to go in-game fine. Switching back to the known-good BIOS fixed both of these differences.
So was there some project I was never aware of to make a totally reverse-engineered BIOS that multiple systems could use (thus a separate binary instead of making it internal), and they used a different startup sound just in case or something? Or is this the standard BIOS somebody modified for giggles?
Just in case it really is an altered Nintendo BIOS, no upload, hash instead.
E60E599135009129B288988A1CBA91DF
There's differences from the first byte to the last, even the non-padded size. Legit ends at 0x3F01, altered(?) ends at 0x3F5C, slightly larger.
I ended up putting it in a gPSP test for the PSP without knowing it was an altered file (since it had the same name and properties-size and junk), and gpSP told me on boot that it might not work right since it's been altered. I immediately thought "Oh, I corrupted this file somehow", until the intro played. And it appeared to play fine, but it did not sound normal.
In addition, booting from that BIOS causes some minor graphics corruption in the "Press A to Continue" screen on the Mother 3 translation... though it appeared to go in-game fine. Switching back to the known-good BIOS fixed both of these differences.
So was there some project I was never aware of to make a totally reverse-engineered BIOS that multiple systems could use (thus a separate binary instead of making it internal), and they used a different startup sound just in case or something? Or is this the standard BIOS somebody modified for giggles?
Just in case it really is an altered Nintendo BIOS, no upload, hash instead.
E60E599135009129B288988A1CBA91DF
There's differences from the first byte to the last, even the non-padded size. Legit ends at 0x3F01, altered(?) ends at 0x3F5C, slightly larger.
