Homebrew app Emulator mGBA-GX - GBA/GBC/GB emulator for Wii

[Sander1974]

Great work team, let me give this a try

Can somebody create an awesome channel on the WII home screen for this?

When you select USB as your main device, the software is not able to find the USB drive, I found this also in version 3.0.0 but this was still working in version 2.4.8 which I currently use on my Wii. If I select USB mass storage the software is unable to find my HDD. This HDD is found while using version 2.4.8 and other emulators like USB loader GX, SEGA, Atari etc.

Have fun

 

[N8thePWNr]

Thank you everyone for your feedback, it's greatly appreciated and I'll take a look at some of the issues brought up here in the coming days. My main fix to the audio in the last release was specifically at framepacing issues when not running at 59.976hz, but I'm gonna take a closer look at how specifically GB and GBC audio is decoded and interpolated.

About the Boktai freeze when the classic interface is enabled, I have an idea on why that's happening, so I'll try to tackle that too in the next release. I've never played the Boktai series before, so when I was originally making this for my personal use it was not high on the list of priorities. And for the save file generation, xunga's suggestions are completely spot-on and I will definitely be taking those into account for the next build. Oddly enough I didn't think mGBA would need a frameskip option for most use-cases but hooking the feature back into GX's interface shouldn't be too difficult.

As for the HDD issue someone mentioned, I'll look into that too. It's interesting that most apps are able to detect your harddrive but others aren't so it's probably something on mGBA-GX's end that I can remedy.

I am so grateful you are all sticking with me through this process. I am by no means a seasoned developer, and learning CPP by developing for the Wii isn't the most practical way to do it. But it means a lot that people are enjoying the project!

 

[cmyksoda]

If it's not already in there I'll look into it! I was mostly concerned with getting SGB borders loading properly so I hadn't paid much attention to the other Super Game Boy features.

After looking into the development of mGBA and why this isn't an upstream feature, I wouldn't chase after it. It essentially would involve emulating the SNES's sound engine at the same time as the graphical engine of mGBA. The only real workaround would be to do what SNES9x does and emulate the Super Game Boy as a proper SNES game, and that wouldn't be mGBA, would it?

Anyway, after testing lots of games across the three systems, it works great. Kirby Tilt n' Tumble works fantastic and the SGB enhanced games have their special borders and colors, which are two of the things I look for most in an emulator like this.

Two minor notes:
- The sound is a bit funky, especially on GB/GBC games, this seems to be an issue with mGBA itself, but it's worth looking into if you have the time/patience.
- As I mentioned, Kirby Tilt n' Tumble is fantastic, but I would love if the GBA motion control games worked too. I haven't tested Yoshi Topsy-Turvy, but WarioWare: Twisted! doesn't work.

Great work so far! This is already my preferred way to play GB* games on the Wii now! <3

Post automatically merged: Wednesday at 7:42 PM

I'm gonna take a closer look at how specifically GB and GBC audio is decoded and interpolated

I didn't see this before my main reply, sounds good!

Can somebody create an awesome channel on the WII home screen for this?

I'll get to work on this later today. I'm really enthused about this project and would love to have it on my home screen too. I'm planning on using SNES9xGX's forwarder as a base so it fits the visual identity.

 

[N8thePWNr]

I've uploaded a full-resolution png of the mGBA-GX logo to the GitHub repo for those that want to use it for channel creation and such

 

[AlfredoDore]

I haven't tried it yet, but do you plan to implement improvements? I have the standard mGBA and it's excellent, though it lacks some refinements—for instance, there are FPS drops in a few areas of *Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga*, like Beanbean Town—but overall, it's excellent and much faster.

 

[MeXen]

for instance, there are FPS drops in a few areas of *Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga*, like Beanbean Town—but overall, it's excellent and much faster.

You sure that;s not just the game itself and not the emulator? Drill Dozer doesnt run at 60fps on original hardware either

 

[cmyksoda]

This is my first channel forwarder and I have now gained an immense respect for anyone who has made one of these before.
Here y'all go <3 https://github.com/cmyksoda/mgba-gx-forwarder-channel

Rule adhering disclaimer: This is a forwarder only — it contains no emulator and no ROMs. You must install mGBA-GX yourself to apps/mGBAGX/boot.dol

 

[DocJammin]

Wow, that forwarder looks so cool. Great job cmyksoda!

 

[cmyksoda]

Wow, that forwarder looks so cool. Great job cmyksoda!

thank you ! bug is fixed now so you can download it if you want :3

 

[AlfredoDore]

You sure that;s not just the game itself and not the emulator? Drill Dozer doesnt run at 60fps on original hardware either

I compared it with videos running on the actual GBA, and yes, there are some drops on the GBA itself, but they aren't drastic.

 

[Sowden]

Hey there. This might be a long shot. But recently there was a MSU-1 musical release for Metroid 2 that works on MiSTer cores. Is there any chance that this emulator could support bin + cue or mp3 tracks to be able to play this on the Wii (or in my case the Wii U)? It works on emulators such as Genesis Plus GX, so thought I might ask.

 

[N8thePWNr]

This is my first channel forwarder and I have now gained an immense respect for anyone who has made one of these before.
Here y'all go <3 https://github.com/cmyksoda/mgba-gx-forwarder-channel
View attachment 584143
Rule adhering disclaimer: This is a forwarder only — it contains no emulator and no ROMs. You must install mGBA-GX yourself to apps/mGBAGX/boot.dol

Thank you! I have added this to the OP with credits

I haven't tried it yet, but do you plan to implement improvements? I have the standard mGBA and it's excellent, though it lacks some refinements—for instance, there are FPS drops in a few areas of *Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga*, like Beanbean Town—but overall, it's excellent and much faster.

In the next release I will add a frameskip toggle so hopefully that may remedy the issue.

Hey there. This might be a long shot. But recently there was a MSU-1 musical release for Metroid 2 that works on MiSTer cores. Is there any chance that this emulator could support bin + cue or mp3 tracks to be able to play this on the Wii (or in my case the Wii U)? It works on emulators such as Genesis Plus GX, so thought I might ask.

If my understanding is correct, that feature is likely outside of the scope of this project. See below as to why

After looking into the development of mGBA and why this isn't an upstream feature, I wouldn't chase after it. It essentially would involve emulating the SNES's sound engine at the same time as the graphical engine of mGBA. The only real workaround would be to do what SNES9x does and emulate the Super Game Boy as a proper SNES game, and that wouldn't be mGBA, would it?

 

[cmyksoda]

Thank you! I have added this to the OP with credits

yay!! yw!! glad you like it :3

 

[MeXen]

is anything alright? how you doing?

 

[N8thePWNr]

Good, I'm working on the next update. Spending a lot of time diagnosing the GB/GBC audio issue so that's what has been taking up most of my development. Other than that I've made improvements to the tabbed rom menu, as well as the sharp bilinear filter (I tested this on my crt at 480i and I thought it looked pretty good). More than likely I'm gonna end up releasing the next update without the GB audio fix I had hoped for, but that's gonna take a little more time

 

[MeXen]

If thats the case, take your time into implementing the new sharper bilinear and the audio interpolation man!

do your best!

PS: Dont forget to do 240p tests with the improved bilinear sharper!

 

[N8thePWNr]

Version 1.1.0 has been uploaded to GitHub.

-Classic (non-tabbed) selection menu now consolidates GB/GBC/GBA roms into one list
-Rom paths are now cached after viewing the first time on boot, so switching between tabs/returning to the game selection menu should be quicker
-Frameskip option has been added to "video settings" during gameplay (1, 2, 3, off)
-Added sharp bilinear filter
-GB/GBC audio improvements
Fixed a broadband audio noise floor present in the GB/GBC audio pipeline (introduced by the resampler's default interpolation mode); switched to a higher-quality interpolator for the core-to-output sample rate conversion, reducing the noise floor by ~17dB with no other pipeline changes.
-Save states now have their own directory (default is mgbagx/states)
If you have any save states in the old directory you need to move them to the new one
-Improved how the UI handles settings window (i.e. GB Screen Zoom) when using a Gamecube/Classic Controller

 

[MeXen]

Version 1.1.0 has been uploaded to GitHub.

-Classic (non-tabbed) selection menu now consolidates GB/GBC/GBA roms into one list
-Rom paths are now cached after viewing the first time on boot, so switching between tabs/returning to the game selection menu should be quicker
-Frameskip option has been added to "video settings" during gameplay (1, 2, 3, off)
-Added sharp bilinear filter
-GB/GBC audio improvements
Fixed a broadband audio noise floor present in the GB/GBC audio pipeline (introduced by the resampler's default interpolation mode); switched to a higher-quality interpolator for the core-to-output sample rate conversion, reducing the noise floor by ~17dB with no other pipeline changes.
-Save states now have their own directory (default is mgbagx/states)
If you have any save states in the old directory you need to move them to the new one
-Improved how the UI handles settings window (i.e. GB Screen Zoom) when using a Gamecube/Classic Controller

Uh, man, are you sure you didnt compiled the old v1.0.0 version by accident and uploaded that one?

- The polling issue seems back
- Now it doesnt recogize classic controllers
-Audio still has crackles and still has a second delay
-there's no real difference with bilinear sharp on this one with the old one.

I am not trolling, i am not trying to start trouble, please DO NOT brush me off by saying ''WERKS4MII'' (and i am not talking about you man, i am talking about some people who have been very dismissive with my reports and complains sometimes, just to explain myself, i use a Wii Mini on a CRT and more often then not i encounter issues with it, and people not believing me more then once.

 

[N8thePWNr]

Uh, man, are you sure you didnt compiled the old v1.0.0 version by accident and uploaded that one?

- The polling issue seems back
- Now it doesnt recogize classic controllers
-Audio still has crackles and still has a second delay
-there's no real difference with bilinear sharp on this one with the old one.

I am not trolling, i am not trying to start trouble, please DO NOT brush me off by saying ''WERKS4MII'' (and i am not talking about you man, i am talking about some people who have been very dismissive with my reports and complains sometimes, just to explain myself, i use a Wii Mini on a CRT and more often then not i encounter issues with it, and people not believing me more then once.

I'll take a look.

Hotfix is coming at some point tomorrow because it's getting late, though I cannot guarantee that everything is going to be fixed, especially in cases where I cannot replicate your issues like the Classic Controller. Please do not think I am brushing you off because I am unable to fix bugs that I an unable to experience. I was testing the latest build with not only the Classic Controller plugged into the Wii Remote but also the Raphnet CC-to-GCN adapter and both worked as expected for me.

 

[MeXen]

I'll take a look.

Hotfix is coming at some point tomorrow because it's getting late, though I cannot guarantee that everything is going to be fixed, especially in cases where I cannot replicate your issues like the Classic Controller. Please do not think I am brushing you off because I am unable to fix bugs that I an unable to experience. I was testing the latest build with not only the Classic Controller plugged into the Wii Remote but also the Raphnet CC-to-GCN adapter and both worked as expected for me.

Okie Dokie.