Homebrew New VBA GX fork (2.3.0)

[kamesennin23]

I'll look into 240p.

Music to my ears.

 

[kamesennin23]

WiiMednafen and RetroArch can do it but the latter needs a small mod to work.

Does this mod require compiling your own version of RA? I saw your additions on Github, but I don't know how to utilize them.

Also when using super gameboy borders and the original aspect ratio of gb and gbc games (10:9), you get black bars on 4:3 displays (not a problem on 16:9 cause there are black bars no matter what). Might be nice to be able to choose a custom border that would fill the screen but still have a viewport of 160x144. I know custom borders are already supported, but they get overridden if game loads a border?

 

[libertyernie]

Does this mod require compiling your own version of RA? I saw your additions on Github, but I don't know how to utilize them.

Also when using super gameboy borders and the original aspect ratio of gb and gbc games (10:9), you get black bars on 4:3 displays (not a problem on 16:9 cause there are black bars no matter what). Might be nice to be able to choose a custom border that would fill the screen but still have a viewport of 160x144. I know custom borders are already supported, but they get overridden if game loads a border?

This will be in the next version - loading custom borders will be separate from SGB borders, and they can be any size up to 640x480.

I do have 240i and 240p output working, but I'm not sure the ratio is correct. I might release it as-is and see what people think. For 240i and 240p modes I skip past the chunk of code that I posted above.

 

[awefour44]

I do have 240i and 240p output working, but I'm not sure the ratio is correct. I might release it as-is and see what people think. For 240i and 240p modes I skip past the chunk of code that I posted above.

Cool, I for one would be happy to test out 240p. But 240i... how could that be a mode? Can't think of any displays that would support it

 

[kamesennin23]

yeah, i didn't think 240i was a thing...

This will be in the next version - loading custom borders will be separate from SGB borders, and they can be any size up to 640x480.

good stuff

but I'm not sure the ratio is correct

gb and gbc are 160x144 or a 10:9 ratio
i think gba is 240X160 or a 3:2 ratio

 

[ShadowOne333]

What about the color hacks being compatible without glitches on the new version? T-T
I'll cry XD

 

[TheSly]

Is there a plugin for WiiFlow using this new Vba GX fork?

Or:
Could someone make a plugin with this fork?
This would be awesome!!

 

[libertyernie]

What about the color hacks being compatible without glitches on the new version? T-T
I'll cry XD

I checked, and they don't look right in VBA-M for Windows either:

I really don't know how to fix it, though. Hopefully someone else can do it at some point. (I'm actually not sure if VBA-M is being maintained anymore.)

 

[libertyernie]

VBA GX 2.3.2 release candidate

https://github.com/libertyernie/vba...4c206f3620133b799ca2aa/vbagx_wii.dol?raw=true

Can people try this out and see if it works for them? I don't think I'll be adding any new features in 2.3.2.
(I may not be making new versions after this - all the problems I know of are things I don't know how to fix.)

Here's the meta.xml for homebrew channel: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/l...d10eb5a4b0909f78bdca67a8029086b5/hbc/meta.xml

 

[ShadowOne333]

I checked, and they don't look right in VBA-M for Windows either:

I really don't know how to fix it, though. Hopefully someone else can do it at some point. (I'm actually not sure if VBA-M is being maintained anymore.)

One of the Open Source emus that get it right is GameYob for DS, perhaps you could take a look at that source code.
Thanks for taking your time!

VBA GX 2.3.2 release candidate

https://github.com/libertyernie/vba...4c206f3620133b799ca2aa/vbagx_wii.dol?raw=true

Can people try this out and see if it works for them? I don't think I'll be adding any new features in 2.3.2.
(I may not be making new versions after this - all the problems I know of are things I don't know how to fix.)

Here's the meta.xml for homebrew channel: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/l...d10eb5a4b0909f78bdca67a8029086b5/hbc/meta.xml

What is it exactly that you want us to verify out of this dol?

 

[SuperrSonic]

240p works fine here, Type 1 scales horizontally by 32 pixels and Type 2 has no scaling. But it should be 64 for 704x240 and the exact wideness GB games should have. Also this is the first time I see deflicker (and mixed with bilinear) in 240p, though it's useless it's interesting to see. The entire gui shifts to 240p since it was implemented as a video mode instead of a rendering option.

 

[libertyernie]

240p works fine here, Type 1 scales horizontally by 32 pixels and Type 2 has no scaling. But it should be 64 for 704x240 and the exact wideness GB games should have. Also this is the first time I see deflicker (and mixed with bilinear) in 240p, though it's useless it's interesting to see. The entire gui shifts to 240p since it was implemented as a video mode instead of a rendering option.

Should the 480i/480p modes also be 704x480?

One of the Open Source emus that get it right is GameYob for DS, perhaps you could take a look at that source code.
Thanks for taking your time!

Do you think it would work on an old version of VBA? And if so, how old does it have to be?

 

[SuperrSonic]

Should the 480i/480p modes also be 704x480?

Yeah, for reference see this composite screenshot of the GBP with this one simulated Type 2 from vbagx.
Final display would look like this, it's two pixels off from the GBP but that's just how Nintendo made it.
What the GBP does instead is use 608 as fb width and scale to 666 even though it should be 668 which is why the images don't match up perfectly.

 

[cebolleto]

This new version is amazing!

 

[kamesennin23]

Well 240p looks beautiful--nicely done. This is one of the only ways I know of to play GBA and SGB games at native res on a CRT (with the correct aspect ratios, etc.). Can't seem to get a border I made in GIMP to work. Resolution is 298x224 (I just multiplied 224 by 1.33 to get the width I wanted). I'm getting a--can't decode PNGU--error. I just used the default PNG options in GIMP which worked for the 320x240 GBA border I made. Got it to work by reframing the image to 320x240.

Also is renaming the borders to default.png the only way to load custom borders? Wouldn't it be easier to have several .pngs in the borders folder that have the same name as their corresponding rom files and are loaded that way?

 

[kamesennin23]

Also does anyone have a better copy of this border? http://i.imgur.com/I70SATc.png
I can't seem to find it anywhere.

 

[SuperrSonic]

Also does anyone have a better copy of this border? I can't seem to find it anywhere.

I have ripped most of the GBP borders along with other more rare borders usually from demo releases.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ge6aukjcsevhyjk/AABzmUckuJg5CJVEFq2pXY92a?dl=0
They come directly from the source files, these were actually useful with RA because it supports the GBP's screen size width.
The missing borders(and the original ones) can be found here but they were not fully edited to work as borders. The GBP's borders are a bunch of pieces and patterns that get "built" on-the-fly, this makes some of them a bit impossible to rip accurately.

 

[ShadowOne333]

Do you think it would work on an old version of VBA? And if so, how old does it have to be?

Let me do some research and I'll get back to you.
Hopefully I can find a version of VBA that gets those hacks right.

 

[libertyernie]

Yeah, for reference see this composite screenshot of the GBP with this one simulated Type 2 from vbagx.
Final display would look like this, it's two pixels off from the GBP but that's just how Nintendo made it.
What the GBP does instead is use 608 as fb width and scale to 666 even though it should be 668 which is why the images don't match up perfectly.

OK, will do!

Well 240p looks beautiful--nicely done. This is one of the only ways I know of to play GBA and SGB games at native res on a CRT (with the correct aspect ratios, etc.). Can't seem to get a border I made in GIMP to work. Resolution is 298x224 (I just multiplied 224 by 1.33 to get the width I wanted). I'm getting a--can't decode PNGU--error. I just used the default PNG options in GIMP which worked for the 320x240 GBA border I made. Got it to work by reframing the image to 320x240.

Also is renaming the borders to default.png the only way to load custom borders? Wouldn't it be easier to have several .pngs in the borders folder that have the same name as their corresponding rom files and are loaded that way?

You can use [game title].png, where [game title] is the ROM title. If you run the ROM in VBA-M and go to File>ROM Information, you'll see it.

 

[RelishCentral]

This fork is great guys. Thanks for taking the time to develop these new features, but there's one thing I've always wanted on Wii emulators: Dropbox API. Being able to upload your save data backup over the cloud for use with other emulators. This would be so cool. Especially if we could use it in sync with mobile emulators like GBA4iOS.