Homebrew GBARunner2

[Deleted User]

Ehm, what do you mean? Timing issues is not speed as in if the game runs slow or fast but on a much lower level. But do you mean that the speed of DKC 2 & 3 has improved? Or not?

Yes the Speed in both Games has improved. It´s the like the Games run full Speed then suddenly massive Slowdown for a few Seconds then full Speed again.

 

[Gericom]

Yes the Speed in both Games has improved. It´s the like the Games run full Speed then suddenly massive Slowdown for a few Seconds then full Speed again.

That might be related to the cache. I have enlarged it to about 2MB. The thing is that I'm currently just replacing the cache in a cycling fashion. If there would be 4 blocks it would go like: 0->1->2->3->0->1->2->3->... . Now suppose often used data is stored in 1 and 2 and something new has to be loaded often, this data will be overwritten once in a while, causing a reload. I am thinking about reimplementing the least recently used strategy using a linked list so no search for the block to replace is needed anymore. That would improve it I guess.

 

[Deleted User]

That might be related to the cache. I have enlarged it to about 2MB. The thing is that I'm currently just replacing the cache in a cycling fashion. If there would be 4 blocks it would go like: 0->1->2->3->0->1->2->3->... . Now suppose often used data is stored in 1 and 2 and something new has to be loaded often, this data will be overwritten once in a while, causing a reload. I am thinking about reimplementing the least recently used strategy using a linked list so no search for the block to replace is needed anymore. That would improve it I guess.

I see. Good to know that there are still ways to improve the Performance and enhance compatibility of gbarunner.

Update: River City Ransom EX has an UNDF Error right after the BIOS Intro. This happened for the first time in commit 216734d (2017/05/06).
Pokemon Emerald shows an White Screen after the BIOS Intro. Sword of Mana does an infinite BIOS reboot.

 

[Gericom]

I see. Good to know that there are still ways to improve the Performance and enhance compatibility of gbarunner.

Update: River City Ransom EX has an UNDF Error right after the BIOS Intro. This happened for the first time in commit 216734d (2017/05/06).

This is most likely because it has code in a high region. Because I have a large cache in main memory now, less of the rom is actually loaded, which means a smaller area is excutable.

Edit: Also a little note about the wiki. You are talking about timing issues. This is not correct. Timing issues are cases where games freeze because the instruction timings are not what they should be. This is for example the case for Rayman 3, Wario Land and Superstar Saga.

Also, I think what's currently yellow should be a bit more greenish, because it currently looks as if most games run poor, while that's not the case.

 

[Demifiend]

Oh, Hi! Sorry for the very, very late answer, I was busy with some stuff so I couldn't properly explain the issue all that well

You see, whenever I put gbarunner2.nds on my flashcard, It always ran with a red screen on the upper screen, and a white screen on the lower screen signaling: "TAFNard AK2 áβ áβ áβ áβ áβ áβ áβ áβ áβ"

I checked my bios and it was the correct one (with MD5 checker) I also tried putting both "runner.gba" and "bios.bin" on a GBA folder instead of the root card, although with no avail because it gave me the exact same issue.

I'm using an Acekard 2i on a DSiXl, I did a bit of my research but I haven't found such an error on anything else featuring this card, that's why I'm kinda confused about this matter.

 

[Deleted User]

Oh, Hi! Sorry for the very, very late answer, I was busy with some stuff so I couldn't properly explain the issue all that well

You see, whenever I put gbarunner2.nds on my flashcard, It always ran with a red screen on the upper screen, and a white screen on the lower screen signaling: "TAFNard AK2 áβ áβ áβ áβ áβ áβ áβ áβ áβ"

I checked my bios and it was the correct one (with MD5 checker) I also tried putting both "runner.gba" and "bios.bin" on a GBA folder instead of the root card, although with no avail because it gave me the exact same issue.

I'm using an Acekard 2i on a DSiXl, I did a bit of my research but I haven't found such an error on anything else featuring this card, that's why I'm kinda confused about this matter.

Hello Demifiend. Did you check if your sd card is fat32 formatted?

 

[Demifiend]

Hello Demifiend. Did you check if your sd card is fat32 formatted?

Hi, no! is on "FAT", just for a question, but does the partition of the format matter in this? if so, I'll re-format my sd card to Fat32, I'll post an update after I do that

 

[Deleted User]

Yes. Gbarunner won´t work otherwise. As a matter of Fact i had similiar problems and they were solved after formating my mini sd card to fat32.

 

[Demifiend]

So I ran with another kind of issue this time, I formatted my mini-sd card to Fat32, then I proceeded to insert all the steps necessary and I ran the homebrew, now it appears that I can select runner.gba! I did that, and now another problem appears, it goes from (LOAD...COPY...OK), now the upper screen that used to be red now is now white, but...it doesn't load nor anything happens from there

I tried with two games, both being Yoshi's Island and Sonic Advance 3, since I thought the latter doesn't requires SRAM patching to boot, but even so I wasn't able to get anything noteworthy, I switched my mini-sd card to another, and then yet another problem happens in which I can't select anything!

Haha, what a bad luck I have with this homebrew, it seems to be mostly a problem regarding either my SD-cards or the Flashcard itself, sorry for the inconvenience

 

[Gericom]

So I ran with another kind of issue this time, I formatted my mini-sd card to Fat32, then I proceeded to insert all the steps necessary and I ran the homebrew, now it appears that I can select runner.gba! I did that, and now another problem appears, it goes from (LOAD...COPY...OK), now the upper screen that used to be red now is now white, but...it doesn't load nor anything happens from there

I tried with two games, both being Yoshi's Island and Sonic Advance 3, since I thought the latter doesn't requires SRAM patching to boot, but even so I wasn't able to get anything noteworthy, I switched my mini-sd card to another, and then yet another problem happens in which I can't select anything!

Haha, what a bad luck I have with this homebrew, it seems to be mostly a problem regarding either my SD-cards or the Flashcard itself, sorry for the inconvenience

Did the gba bios even show up? Or just white? I also heard someone where it was stuck on copy. I really wonder what's all causing these things.

And @Dodain47 did you read my comment about the wiki?

 

[Deleted User]

No Problem. Both Games probably have an ROM-Intro attached. Those Intros use some Code that´s currently not supported by gbarunner. You can remove those Intros with the tool gbata.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Did the gba bios even show up? Or just white? I also heard someone where it was stuck on copy. I really wonder what's all causing these things.

And @Dodain47 did you read my comment about the wiki?

Sorry I was on Vacation the last couple days with no Internet. I will delete those passages with the timing issues. Yes some games run well now. I take a look at the wiki Instructions and try to add another legend for Games that run almost perfect.

 

[Demifiend]

Did the gba bios even show up? Or just white? I also heard someone where it was stuck on copy. I really wonder what's all causing these things.

Sadly, the gba bios didnt' showed up, at all, I re-checked with MD5 again but both values match, so I don't know if it's a problem relating to either the application itself, the flashcard (Acekard2i) or the SD, even though I tried with other ones available too....

In my case it seems that it goes beyond the copy stage towards the "ok" stage, but it just shows a permanent white-screen the whole time

No Problem. Both Games probably have an ROM-Intro attached. Those Intros use some Code that´s currently not supported by gbarunner. You can remove those Intros with the tool gbata.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


Sorry I was on Vacation the last couple days with no Internet. I will delete those passages with the timing issues. Yes some games run well now. I take a look at the wiki Instructions and try to add another legend for Games that run almost perfect.

I removed the intros with gbata albeit with no different change regarding the white loading screen on gbarunner2, I clicked "Edit" but I didn't changed the value of the Offset, albeit I don't know if filling "00's" or "FF's" on the option screen does matters, either way, I tried with both games (Sonic Advance 3 and Super Mario World GBA for a change) and....the same thing, as I mentioned before

Perhaps the homebrew can't load the bios even though is there? Hmm....

 

[zfreeman]

Use DSOrganize to boot GBArunner2 for games stuck on the "OK" stage.

I think it has something to do with DLDI patching, but it's just conjecture as I'm a layman in these things.

 

[Demifiend]

Use DSOrganize to boot GBArunner2 for games stuck on the "OK" stage.

HOLY MOTHER it worked!, with some small graphical issues (mostly the lower border being cut-off), but it works! at first I tried with the cut-intro rom but that...didn't worked, then I tried with Sonic Advance 3 clean and now it does!

Thank ya!

 

[Gericom]

HOLY MOTHER it worked!, with some small graphical issues (mostly the lower border being cut-off), but it works! at first I tried with the cut-intro rom but that...didn't worked, then I tried with Sonic Advance 3 clean and now it does!

Thank ya!

Nice!

Yea, it must somehow be related to dldi, but it's strange since directories read fine appearently.

 

[Demifiend]

Nice!

Yea, it must somehow be related to dldi, but it's strange since directories read fine appearently.

As a matter of fact, I tried this emulator with another flashcard (a DSTTi clone, essentially i.e R4itt) I updated the files through RetroGameCart Updates (which is more updated than Akaio albeit not as flexible in some matters imo) and all of them pointed them the exact same issue, until DSOrganizer managed to patch the DLDI (So yeah, it worked with that DSTTi clone, which is also good), I used other SD-Cards but none of them gave me surprising results other than the necessary combination of DSOrganizer in order to load this software

My guess is that if you don't patch this homebrew with a DLDI patcher, some flashcards may not run this homebrew, which is strange because most of them should do that automatically, either way, those are my updates, it works with the flashcard from r4itt.net and the Acekard, albeit both of them needed the Organizer, perhaps this issue could be solved if you applied DLDI to the homebrew before loading it, but who knows

 

[Gericom]

As a matter of fact, I tried this emulator with another flashcard (a DSTTi clone, essentially i.e R4itt) I updated the files through RetroGameCart Updates (which is more updated than Akaio albeit not as flexible in some matters imo) and all of them pointed them the exact same issue, until DSOrganizer managed to patch the DLDI (So yeah, it worked with that DSTTi clone, which is also good), I used other SD-Cards but none of them gave me surprising results other than the necessary combination of DSOrganizer in order to load this software

My guess is that if you don't patch this homebrew with a DLDI patcher, some flashcards may not run this homebrew, which is strange because most of them should do that automatically, either way, those are my updates, it works with the flashcard from r4itt.net and the Acekard, albeit both of them needed the Organizer, perhaps this issue could be solved if you applied DLDI to the homebrew before loading it, but who knows

The thing is that if it is not dldi patched at all it would not even show you the files at the start. So it can access the sd. It must be something else.

 

[Demifiend]

The thing is that if it is not dldi patched at all it would not even show you the files at the start. So it can access the sd. It must be something else.

So what we know is that it can access the SD, it can display the files at the start, but after the "OK!" sign, it went pure blank, Hmm...as you said, is probably something else, and I'm afraid I don't know what is that something else

 

[Deleted User]

@Gericom when you have time, could you please take a look at Golden Sun and Golden Sun the Lost Age for me?
I can´t get gbarunner to recognise the sav files i created with vba.
This would be a big time safer during testing.

 

[Gericom]

@Gericom when you have time, could you please take a look at Golden Sun and Golden Sun the Lost Age for me?
I can´t get gbarunner to recognise the sav files i created with vba.
This would be a big time safer during testing.

It works fine for me. I have output-Golden Sun (UE) [!].gba and I call the save then output-Golden Sun (UE) [!].sav

Edit: Thanks by the way. I was able to fix the map issue now. Previously I didn't know how to get to the world map.