Homebrew New VBA GX fork (2.3.0)

[Koston]

so i've have compiled the lybertine's master source code and everything runs fine.

using this master as base, i have modified it to centered and resize the screenshot image, also add the screenshot/preview image button, but on this dol, if I enter the settings options I get the DSI reset error, any ideas?

I'm seeing the same thing. There's the one window shift patch in git HEAD on top of 2.3.2 release cut. If that commit isn't the culprit, then next suspect is newer devkitPPC or some accompanying lib than the author used to roll 2.3.2 binaries.

Seeing as there are mGBA as alternative and higan with potential to port and VBAGX codebase is rubbish, so I'm not going to spend any more time on VBAGX. It works plenty well enough for my needs now.

Edit: I'm seeing the same issue with the binary I compiled with green monochrome default instead of B/W. The patch I made couldn't possibly cause the DSI error, so something else is at work here. When I get home, I'll try to get to the bottom of it. It's somewhat tedious though, removing SD card from Wii, copying new binary, putting it back in and testing it is fairly lengthy for a single development/test cycle.

(In fact that's a big reason why I gave up on my Nintendo DS project back in the day, I was unable to get a hold of any flashcart that would've allowed transferring data back and forth without physically touching it. Emulators didn't reproduce same issues as I saw on real NDS, and no$gba author was MIA to boot.)

 

[Zopenko]

It seems weird since im not modifying that code all that much

Im compiling it with the devkit environment that i used for the snesgx mod (rev 26, plus all the newest libs)

And after compiling both versions (lybertine's mod and my mod) with the same devkit enviroment. only on my mod is where the errors appear

I also tried the original b/w and green color codes in my mod. Same errors apperared.

 

[stealth_gerbil]

this may be a wild request

but could VBAGX have visualboy advance as its core, AND an option to switch to the much faster mgba as a core (but it may have fewer available options)

is such a thing possible?

 

[Koston]

Zopenko, can you push your patch somewhere so I can take a look?

stealth_gerbil, it's probably possible, but would be quite a bit of work and a fork that nobody wants to maintain. It doesn't make much sense anyway, a more sensible strategy would be porting VBAGX features over to mGBA.

I'm looking into this, mGBA is at least considerably faster than VBAGX, it's developed more sanely and it has multi-platform support. The higan emulator is another I'm interested in, the codebase seems really clean and it could be a fun project to port it for Wii.

 

[Zopenko]

Zopenko, can you push your patch somewhere so I can take a look?

stealth_gerbil, it's probably possible, but would be quite a bit of work and a fork that nobody wants to maintain. It doesn't make much sense anyway, a more sensible strategy would be porting VBAGX features over to mGBA.

I'm looking into this, mGBA is at least considerably faster than VBAGX, it's developed more sanely and it has multi-platform support. The higan emulator is another I'm interested in, the codebase seems really clean and it could be a fun project to port it for Wii.

Sure thing
when i get home i will upload the source code and dol.
so any body can mess around with it

 

[sindrik]

?

 

[Zopenko]

Hi
so here's the beta VBAGX zopenko mod, again it has some issues with the DSI errors, play with it and report back
if we can fix the DSi error issues i will release it as part of the GX emu trilogy

- based on lybertine's 2.3.2 revision (already includes the wiiupro support and screenshot display)
- fixes the gc pad down on file browser
- added koston default green gb color screen
- added the screenshot/preview button
- added the wiiupro icon on the controller settings
- increased and centered the screenshot image
- added the screenshot white image background
- i removed the 32 px offset, we should move the actual window on the menu file,
i do not understand why the gui file was modified.

SOURCE Files

WII BOOT FILE

PATCH File

 

[sindrik]

?

 

[iamatmylimit]

Games play fine. Save Snapshots also work.
preview screen shot option works if using an old settings.xml.
preview screen shot option does not work if using a new settings.xml.


using old settings.xml

 

[Zopenko]

Sorry sindrik. I should have shared a settings file.

As limit says if you use an old settings file created with lybertines emu. The screenshot folder will be stored and screenshots can be saved.

As for the px offset. I understand that it causes issues with CRT. What i meant is that we should update the menu file to rearrange these windows.

Since we need the 32px offset from the left side for the game list window. We should also need to move the screenshot window by 32 px from the rigth side.

And by doing all that we need to reduce both window boxes by 32 so they do not overlap on to each other.

I did not do all of this because...DSI error

 

[sindrik]

?

 

[Koston]

Higan sounds nice, though wouldn't that be irrealistically demanding for a Wii? Or maybe it's just for fun, or even a working-proof project like Yabause/nullDC on Wii.

I mailed higan author and he said the same, it very likely wouldn't run on Wii. Makes sense - embedded optimised code ignores traditional good coding practices, and higan is quite well-written.

Zopenko, at a glance I don't see anything in your patch causing the DSI errors. Since I also saw DSI error at some point when trying to enter settings and I was using plain 2.3.2 tree, maybe the problem is elsewhere. I need to also figure out how to cut down the dev/test cycle overhead before diving further into the code..

 

[Zopenko]

I mailed higan author and he said the same, it very likely wouldn't run on Wii. Makes sense - embedded optimised code ignores traditional good coding practices, and higan is quite well-written.

Zopenko, at a glance I don't see anything in your patch causing the DSI errors. Since I also saw DSI error at some point when trying to enter settings and I was using plain 2.3.2 tree, maybe the problem is elsewhere. I need to also figure out how to cut down the dev/test cycle overhead before diving further into the code..

Thank you koston for taking the time to review the problem.
Thank you very much.

 

[sindrik]

?

 

[zantzue]

Thanks for this version!
By the way, for those people asking for a cover mod here´s what I did: I used to use version 2.2.5 Cover Mod so I had a folder called "covers" with a bunch of them. Well, I renamed it to "screenshots" and version 2.3.2 now shows covers instead of screenshots

 

[Deleted User]

I came here to say I'm having some problems with 2.3.2, I can't use down with the GC D-pad on the menu. And this is optional, compatibility with Yoshi's Island. It's choppy and sound lags without frameskipping, though I'm using a SNES color patch. :/ Hoping @libertyernie or @Zopenko take this into consideration.

 

[niuus]

I came here to say I'm having some problems with 2.3.2, I can't use down with the GC D-pad on the menu. And this is optional, compatibility with Yoshi's Island. It's choppy and sound lags without frameskipping, though I'm using a SNES color patch. :/ Hoping @libertyernie or @Zopenko take this into consideration.

For Game Boy Advance you need to use mGBA.

 

[stealth_gerbil]

perhaps mgba could be put into this interface tho, as a 2nd core, for the best experience

mgba is a very brilliant engine, and a necessity for playing sonic advance and gba platformers

 

[niuus]

perhaps mgba could be put into this interface tho, as a 2nd core, for the best experience

mgba is a very brilliant engine, and a necessity for playing sonic advance and gba platformers

Not that simple, and mGBA is only starting to emulate the GB and GBC. Remember, if it was easy it would have been done before. A common request in the past was the for the VBA Next core to replace this one, which never happened as you might see. mGBA as a core for this is not gonna happen though, the most logic thing would be to make a great new gui wrapped around mGBA, in the future. The problem with the GX GUI used in the SNES9xGX-VBAGX-FCEUGX trilogy, as far as i have read before, is the memory consumption and leaks.

So far, mGBA works almost flawlessly for GBA, which more than compensates what you couldn't do in the past with this nice emu, which i still use for near perfect Game Boy and Game Boy Color play sessions.

 

[stealth_gerbil]

mgba works great as an engine, but the interface on wii is kind of limited, and it doesnt have all that graphical pizazz

its weird having a gameboy emulator like VBAGX that is all inclusive, but a lot of the gba games are practically unplayable due to speed, and you must then turn on mgba elsewhere to play that gba game

it would be handier if there was mgba core option within the app, atleast for gba games

tho maybe there can be a whole mgba GX emulator instead, and VBAGX can be chunked out