Hacking TempGBA: NDSGBA revival

[Deleted member 319809]

I can't debug this. It only tells me "returning from subroutine call at 00000000", until I undo everything I've done since beta 14. I add something back and it breaks games again. The entire basis for beta 15 is broken.

Therefore, I'll mark beta 14 as newest on filetrip.

 

[Bridgeman]

This plugin shows a white screen when I start it and nothing else happens. Does anyone know what I did wrong?

 

[Deleted member 319809]

This plugin shows a white screen when I start it and nothing else happens. Does anyone know what I did wrong?

Bad formatting. See the "how to set up your DSTwo" sticky in this subforum.

 

[Bridgeman]

Okay, I got it to work, and I have to admit it does work a lot better then the stock Super card GBA emulator. However, on Super Mario Advance 4 (U) I still only get around 29-30 fps. Isn't it possible to get up to 60 fps?

 

[Aeter]

Okay, I got it to work, and I have to admit it does work a lot better then the stock Super card GBA emulator. However, on Super Mario Advance 4 (U) I still only get around 29-30 fps. Isn't it possible to get up to 60 fps?

That depends on the value you set your frameskip at.
0 allows for emulation at 60 FPS, 1 at 30 FPS, 2 at 20 FPS and so on.

 

[Bridgeman]

That depends on the value you set your frameskip at.
0 allows for emulation at 60 FPS, 1 at 30 FPS, 2 at 20 FPS and so on.

Thanks, works much better. One more question, how do you add cheats to games for this emulator? Does it work with .cht files you can edit with Notepad? If so, what format do these need to be in?

 

[Aeter]

Thanks, works much better. One more question, how do you add cheats to games for this emulator? Does it work with .cht files you can edit with Notepad? If so, what format do these need to be in?

I believe the cheat system was not yet looked at but the code was directly copied from NDSGBA, I think.
Here is a cheatpack for gba games, try them out.

http://filetrip.net/gba-downloads/o...eats-databases-4-27-09-with-names-f31444.html

 

[Deleted member 319809]

TempGBA version 1.40 is now available. It's based on beta 14, not beta 15, because beta 15 was unstable on simple games.

It contains the following improvements:

* An option to play games on the Lower Screen instead of the Upper Screen (GitHub issue #12).
* An option to start games from the GBA BIOS (logo) (GitHub issue #9).
* The FPS counter disappears if it has insufficient data: when switching games and when entering the menu.
* The game-specific button mapping interface now shows the global mappings with '(global)' next to their DS button. This better conveys the entire set of mappings that apply to a game (GitHub issue #19).
* The most recently played ROM now goes to the top instead of the bottom (GitHub issue #21).
* The text colors are now loaded in TEMPGBA/SYSTEM/GUI/uicolors.txt for theming (GitHub issue #7).

Aeter can now add non-purple colors to his LEDS2-Orange TempGBA skin!

 

[2ndApex]

TempGBA version 1.40 is now available. It's based on beta 14, not beta 15, because beta 15 was unstable on simple games.

It contains the following improvements:

* An option to play games on the Lower Screen instead of the Upper Screen (GitHub issue #12).
* An option to start games from the GBA BIOS (logo) (GitHub issue #9).
* The FPS counter disappears if it has insufficient data: when switching games and when entering the menu.
* The game-specific button mapping interface now shows the global mappings with '(global)' next to their DS button. This better conveys the entire set of mappings that apply to a game (GitHub issue #19).
* The most recently played ROM now goes to the top instead of the bottom (GitHub issue #21).
* The text colors are now loaded in TEMPGBA/SYSTEM/GUI/uicolors.txt for theming (GitHub issue #7).

Aeter can now add non-purple colors to his LEDS2-Orange TempGBA skin!

Might've forgot to change the language files and gameconfig.txt. The one in the zip file is smaller than the gameconfig.txt I'm using and my menu went absolutely berserk after I installed this.

 

[Deleted member 319809]

Might've forgot to change the language files and gameconfig.txt. The one in the zip file is smaller than the gameconfig.txt I'm using and my menu went absolutely berserk after I installed this.

I did put the newest language file in, with the new definitions for the Game screen (upper/lower) and Boot into (cartridge/logo) options.

The game_config.txt is still the older one, because it's not meant to be a replacement for getting the newest version from the "game_config.txt improvement project", currently at version 1.4. (Coincidence? I think not.)

 

[2ndApex]

I did put the newest language file in, with the new definitions for the Game screen (upper/lower) and Boot into (cartridge/logo) options.

The game_config.txt is still the older one, because it's not meant to be a replacement for getting the newest version from the "game_config.txt improvement project", currently at version 1.4. (Coincidence? I think not.)

Ok, just deleted the system directory and reinstalled it, life is good again.

Would it be possible to change to button configuration to DS->GBA buttons so we can get multiple DS keys mapped to the same GBA key and single DS keys mapped to multiple GBA keys?

 

[Shadow#1]

This plugin shows a white screen when I start it and nothing else happens. Does anyone know what I did wrong?

dont use black it hard to read on the dark theme

 

[Deleted member 319809]

Ok, just deleted the system directory and reinstalled it, life is good again.

Would it be possible to change to button configuration to DS->GBA buttons so we can get multiple DS keys mapped to the same GBA key and single DS keys mapped to multiple GBA keys?

See the discussion in GitHub issue #19. Then see if you think that having:

• two distinct interfaces, each global and game-specific, for configuring the same thing in two directions -- which would cause massive confusion as keys "don't fire" or "fire twice" when they're set in 2 or more interfaces, or none --;
• two distinct data structures that must be looked up while running the game;
• the possibility that no DS key is mapped to the essential GBA keys (A and B); and
• conflicts arising when an explicit DS->GBA mapping exists and an explicit GBA->DS mapping exists, which would make them interact very oddly with themselves, each other, and hotkeys

.. is worth it. After considering both things, if you still want the reverse configuration, then put your voice on that issue.

 

[Txustra]

Thanks for the new release, i'll wait until a better compatibility for Golden Sun 2 will be released again, cause if this is based on beta 14, the game ran so badly.

(Sorry for my english )

 

[tiezi]

Thank emulator PocketNES TempGBA running version 1.40 beta 14.

 

[Deleted member 319809]

Thanks for the new release, i'll wait until a better compatibility for Golden Sun 2 will be released again, cause if this is based on beta 14, the game ran so badly.

(Sorry for my english )

Yeah, but you can use beta 15 for the Golden Suns. Use 1.40 for the others, though, because beta 15 is efficient for the Golden Suns but crashes a lot of other games.

 

[Deleted member 319809]

Most of those who have contributed translations for CATSFC or TempGBA in the past will have received a private message just now. It will list the text strings that are missing from TempGBA 1.40 in their language.

I implemented the Lower Screen gaming option into CATSFC Next, so the text for the Game Screen option will be used in both emulators.

 

[RupeeClock]

Congratulations on the 1.40 release.
It sounds like the beta 15 work can still be used for those specific games, can it just be implemented as an alternative backend/option, either automatic based on Game ID or toggled in options?

 

[Deleted member 319809]

Congratulations on the 1.40 release.
It sounds like the beta 15 work can still be used for those specific games, can it just be implemented as an alternative backend/option, either automatic based on Game ID or toggled in options?

Thanks!

The beta 15 'backend' is not really one per se, but I guess it could be one... I could describe it in few words as "tacking a large code cache that keeps track of code in GBA RAM even after it gets overwritten with new code".

It worked like this:

1. gpSP allocates a Large Code Cache, 2 MiB, with a hashtable pointing into it.
2. Game writes into Internal Work RAM or something, a 256-byte block.
3. Game issues a branch into what it just wrote.
4. gpSP makes MIPS code for as much of the target code as possible (slow), calculates a quick checksum for the GBA code, places a code reuse header into the Large Code Cache and makes a reference to it in the hashtable from [1].
5. MIPS processor executes the code.
6. Game returns into ROM to write different code into Internal Work RAM, then branches to it.
7. gpSP consults the Large Code Cache after quickly calculating the checksum and finds that the newly-written code has not been seen yet. gpSP makes MIPS code for as much of the target as possible (slow) and updates the hashtable.
8. Later, the game returns into ROM to write the same code as in [2].
9. gpSP consults the Large Code Cache and, after quickly calculating the checksum, finds that the code written in [8] is the same as in [2], so it gives the MIPS processor the old code to execute, returning immediately.

And somehow step 9 is crashing.

My goal is not to add to game_config.txt (automatic by ID), it's to remove from it, if possible. Similarly, my goal is not to add backends into the .plg, it's to make the current one as small and efficient as possible while being correct. Having a recompiler that crashes without explanation is no option to me, even if it makes some games run blazing fast. So I want one recompiler that runs correctly above all (which is why I reverted to beta 14), but then optimise it in a way that doesn't make games crash. Perhaps the Golden Suns won't be as fast as in beta 15 in a stabler recompiler, but the difference would be negligible, you could enjoy the Golden Suns and the other games wouldn't crash.

I've asked the Supercard Team for something to help me debug the Guru Meditation screens in the beta 15, but in parallel I'll be doing the above.

In layman's terms, the foundations are crumbling, and before I build something huge on top of it, I need to make sure the foundations are made to stop crumbling, and to be as light but robust as possible. Asking the occupants of the house to walk carefully when they're in one corner of the house is no option!

 

[Blazer]

Just wanted to say thanks for all your hard work and invested time. I'm sure it's appreciated by plenty more people than the ones just here.

Personally though, I wish there was more cheat supports (it'd be cool if you could easily add cheats on the spot, as opposed to having to have pre-made cheat files, for instance...)