Homebrew New VBA GX fork (2.3.0)

[GHANMI]

I have an off-topic question about those features:

Drill Dozer's variable rumble feature
Yoshi Topsy Turvy's motion controls
Boktai's solar sensor
Full e-Reader emulation

Is there any fork of VBA that has them?

 

[Maeson]

If not, at the very least you can use some rom patches created by Prof. 9 for the Botkai GBA titles to make the games playable.


http://gbatemp.net/threads/boktai-solar-sensor-patch-kit.245127/

 

[libertyernie]

I have an off-topic question about those features:

Drill Dozer's variable rumble feature
Yoshi Topsy Turvy's motion controls
Boktai's solar sensor
Full e-Reader emulation

Is there any fork of VBA that has them?

I believe VBA-GX has the 2nd and 3rd ones, although I've never tried them.
I have played Drill Dozer, but I don't remember if the rumble is variable or not.

No, 3x for GBA is complicated, it was sort of figured out on RetroArch because of the custom resolutions.
The user used screen resolution 530x480, the game image set to 480x480, viWidth to 656 and let the widescreen TV stretch the image. This creates a simulated 3x because the Wii can't render to 720x480, viWidth only upscales to 720.
VBAGX is missing custom resolution support so it would take some work to port them over from something like snes9xgx.

Ah, OK. For now, the 3x GBA rendering is cut off on a 4:3 TV.

I might separate the options out into:

• GB/GBC
  • Off
  • 1x
  • 1x (with widescreen correction)
  • 2x
  • 2x (with widescreen correction)
  • 3x
  • 3x (with widescreen correction)
• GBA
  • Off
  • 1x
  • 1x (with widescreen correction)
  • 2x
  • 2x (with widescreen correction)

Even on my widescreen TV, I prefer to have it render as if to a 4:3 TV and just change the TV's setting to letterbox the HDMI signal. That way the pixels don't get stretched horizontally.

 

[libertyernie]

I'm almost done with the next version. Here's a list of the new features (copied from the readme file):

* Super Game Boy border support
  * Borders can be loaded from (and are automatically saved to) PNG files
  * Any border loaded from the game itself will override the custom PNG border
* Option added to select Game Boy hardware (GB/SGB/GBC/auto)
* Fixed pixel ratio mode added
  * Overrides zoom and aspect ratio settings
  * "16:9 Correction" versions will match the pixel ratio along the Y axis
    only, and resize the picture horizontally. You can get a better picture by
    using the regular 1x/2x/3x modes and setting your TV to a 4:3 ratio.
* Real-time clock fixes for GB/GBC games, including Pokémon G/S/C
  * RTC data in save file stored as little-endian
  * Option added for UTC offset in the main menu (only required if you use the
    same SRAM on other, time-zone-aware platforms)
* New option for selecting "sharp" or "soft" filtering settings
  * "Sharp" was the default for 480p, "soft" was the default for 480i

For example, the 2x mode would look like this (these aren't real screenshots, just things I made in gimp):


If you set it to 2x + 16:9 correction, the Wii outputs something like this:


Which on the TV, looks like this:


As for the Pokemon G/S/C clock data: it looks like VBA-GX 2.2.x wasn't compatible with VBA-M - or more specifically, VBA running on an x86 processor wasn't compatible with VBA on the PowerPC processor the Wii uses, because the programmers didn't account for the byte order differences. So what VBA-GX 2.3.1 will do is:
* read both kinds of clock data and guess which is correct, and
* always save in little-endian (PC) mode.
The only time it can't guess what format the data is in is if seconds, minutes, and hours are all set to 0. Otherwise, it can check any of those and adjust accordingly.

 

[ShadowOne333]

I'm almost done with the next version. Here's a list of the new features (copied from the readme file):

* Super Game Boy border support
  * Borders can be loaded from (and are automatically saved to) PNG files
  * Any border loaded from the game itself will override the custom PNG border
* Option added to select Game Boy hardware (GB/SGB/GBC/auto)
* Fixed pixel ratio mode added
  * Overrides zoom and aspect ratio settings
  * "16:9 Correction" versions will match the pixel ratio along the Y axis
    only, and resize the picture horizontally. You can get a better picture by
    using the regular 1x/2x/3x modes and setting your TV to a 4:3 ratio.
* Real-time clock fixes for GB/GBC games, including Pokémon G/S/C
  * RTC data in save file stored as little-endian
  * Option added for UTC offset in the main menu (only required if you use the
    same SRAM on other, time-zone-aware platforms)
* New option for selecting "sharp" or "soft" filtering settings
  * "Sharp" was the default for 480p, "soft" was the default for 480i

For example, the 2x mode would look like this (these aren't real screenshots, just things I made in gimp):


If you set it to 2x + 16:9 correction, the Wii outputs something like this:


Which on the TV, looks like this:


As for the Pokemon G/S/C clock data: it looks like VBA-GX 2.2.x wasn't compatible with VBA-M - or more specifically, VBA running on an x86 processor wasn't compatible with VBA on the PowerPC processor the Wii uses, because the programmers didn't account for the byte order differences. So what VBA-GX 2.3.1 will do is:
* read both kinds of clock data and guess which is correct, and
* always save in little-endian (PC) mode.
The only time it can't guess what format the data is in is if seconds, minutes, and hours are all set to 0. Otherwise, it can check any of those and adjust accordingly.

Awesome!
I like the inclusion of the borders and also the option to select the hardware.
That will come in handy too.

Oh and don't forget to add the bugfix of the custom Palettes to the ReadMe too.

 

[libertyernie]

I posted version 2.3.1!
It might be a good idea to take the 2.3.0 out of the thread title

 

[ShadowOne333]

I posted version 2.3.1!
It might be a good idea to take the 2.3.0 out of the thread title

MANY MANY THANKS!
This update is greatly appreciated!
I will test it out tomorrow after I get back from ork and feedback any cons

 

[the_randomizer]

I wonder though, if Snes9x could be as good as Snes9x Next....

 

[ShadowOne333]

libertyernie The Pokemon games are still reacting as I described before.
Although...
I managed to discover the main reason why it does so.

When I have Append AUTO to saves ON, Crystal acts normally, but when I turn it off... That's when the problem happens.
The game asks for the hour when I choose Continue as if the clock was corrupted. Then when I get in game the clock jumps hours and even days in seconds.

So far that's all the issues I've found, will continue testing later.
The custom Palette is now working and the borders load properly

I wonder though, if Snes9x could be as good as Snes9x Next....

I do hope so too, man.

 

[nakata6790]

Nice update, loving the SGB suport. BTW has anyone got an extended palette.xml for games like SML2 ?

I wonder though, if Snes9x could be as good as Snes9x Next....

yep, if only...

 

[ShadowOne333]

Nice update, loving the SGB suport. BTW has anyone got an extended palette.xml for games like SML2 ?

I think loading Super Mario Land 2 with default settings gives it color. Try it out.
I don't know since I run the hacked colour rom but those have always been buggy with VBAGX since I remember.
Although, when I loaded the rom I could see some coloured tiles in red which are supposed to appear when the hardware colorizes the game.

Let me know what Super Mario Land 2 does when you choose hardware to Default/GBC/SGB in the Emulation option inside Settings in the main menu (The menu where you choose the game)
And if you still want a custom palette let me know, I made mine for Kirby's Dream Land in like 15 min, is quite easy and I can walk you through it.

 

[the_randomizer]

Nice update, loving the SGB suport. BTW has anyone got an extended palette.xml for games like SML2 ?


yep, if only...

Given the frameskip issues and the libogc tinny audio issue Snes9x GX has when entering/exiting the GU, Snes9x Next is just so much better, there are no emulation or other major advantages GX has over Next.

 

[nakata6790]

SML 1 and SML 2 vanilla roms do not show in color for me. DX SML1 shows in color perfectly. DX SML2 has garbled visuals. DX Metroid 2 also has garbled visuals. Also, a congrats on SGB implementation works beautifully. Moreover games like Smashing Drive no longer freeze, Motoracer Advance sounds better now as well.

 

[ShadowOne333]

SML 1 and SML 2 vanilla roms do not show in color for me. DX SML1 shows in color perfectly. DX SML2 has garbled visuals. DX Metroid 2 also has garbled visuals. Also, a congrats on SGB implementation works beautifully. Moreover games like Smashing Drive no longer freeze, Motoracer Advance sounds better now as well.

Really? The vanilla SML 1 & 2 ROMs do not show up with color?
I did have that issue with Metroid II (vanilla), VBAGX is not showing up any colors for it with the Default hardware setting, but I cannot tell for SML games since I have the hacked versions and not the vanilla ones.
I might have to move around with some other settings to get it working eventually, or if I cannot do anything, I might just create a custom palette for it.

Also, Metroid 2 DX didn't have that red garbled background in previous revisions, just thought to point it out.
But both SML 2 DX and Metroid 2 DX (romhacks) never worked properly with VBAGX.

 

[airline38]

May I ask which version of SFML you use to compile (2.3.1)?

 

[libertyernie]

I see custom colors in SML1 on my end. That's actually one of the changes I made - before they weren't showing up, and in 2.3.1 they are.
I don't think there are custom colors for SML2.

May I ask which version of SFML you use to compile (2.3.1)?

I'm not sure what that is.

libertyernie The Pokemon games are still reacting as I described before.
Although...
I managed to discover the main reason why it does so.

When I have Append AUTO to saves ON, Crystal acts normally, but when I turn it off... That's when the problem happens.
The game asks for the hour when I choose Continue as if the clock was corrupted. Then when I get in game the clock jumps hours and even days in seconds.

So far that's all the issues I've found, will continue testing later.
The custom Palette is now working and the borders load properly


I do hope so too, man.

Can you send me a copy of your Pokemon Crystal .sav file when the Auto is on, and one when the Auto is off?

 

[ShadowOne333]

I see custom colors in SML1 on my end. That's actually one of the changes I made - before they weren't showing up, and in 2.3.1 they are.
I don't think there are custom colors for SML2.

yeah actually i also have colors with vanilla SML1, SML2 doesn't have any at all.
One though worth nothing...

Do you know what might be the cause that some hacked roms give garbled tiles?
Both SML2 and Metroid 2 colour hacks give garbled tiles and sometimes they don't even load.
SML1 Color hack is not booting on my end.

Can you send me a copy of your Pokemon Crystal .sav file when the Auto is on, and one when the Auto is off?

Sure thing, I will upload the files here as soon as I get out of work.

 

[DJPlace]

wish they would add an option like this to the emulator.

 

[airline38]

airline38 said: ↑

May I ask which version of SFML you use to compile (2.3.1)?​

I'm not sure what that is.

Since there are several new files to be added
into v2.3.1(were not in v2.3.0, EX:GBALink.*), it requires
SFML (Simple and Fast Multimedia Library) to be compiled.

This is what I asked.
==================
EDIT: I know what's wrong. Have solved this issue.

 

[ShadowOne333]

libertyernie, here are the saves files for Pokemon Crystal.

Just to be sure, I copied the original Auto save I had outside the saves directory, and inside saves you should have both Auto and Normal saves.
The Auto save should have my character inside the Pokemon Center in Ecutreak (Pokemon Crystal Auto.sav), the normal one (Pokemon Crystal.sav) should have the character outside a house near the Gym in Ecutreak.

Let me know if you need anything else.

Edit: One question and one request:

1. How are the SGB borders being called from the borders folder?Do the PNG images have to be name after the rom name to load up, or do they have to be named after the Gameboy Header Title ID?
2. Can you take a look as to why the coloured ROM hacks do not load up properly?
   SML2 and Metroid 2 DX are the ones that have garbled data, SML1 is the only one running good.

These are the links for the ROM hacks if you want to test them out:
Super Mario Land DX: http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/92/
Super Mario Land 2 DX: http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/1609/
Metroid II DX: http://www.mediafire.com/download/0h2vy4wbh8ah81b/Metroid 2 Colour 2.0.zip

Thanks for the updates!
I hope my reports and feedback are not taken as bothersome nagging

SML 1 and SML 2 vanilla roms do not show in color for me. DX SML1 shows in color perfectly. DX SML2 has garbled visuals. DX Metroid 2 also has garbled visuals. Also, a congrats on SGB implementation works beautifully. Moreover games like Smashing Drive no longer freeze, Motoracer Advance sounds better now as well.

I also attached my palettes.xml file with my custom palettes for Kirby's Dream Land and Super Mario Land 2
I had to make Mario's default color white because he shares a lot of palettes with the enemies...
And if you use red you'll end up with EVERY enemy having red eyes, including Mario.
Quite a nightmarish version of SML2 if you ask me. XD

Oh and I've been also creating custom borders too!
I added some I have, if you see some named but with the default border is because I haven't worked on those yet.