OPEN_AGB_FIRM Forwarder Demo

ismailhasannnnnnn · Nov 21, 2022

hey guys, i've been working on a fowarder for gba games using open_agb_firm. just got it working, and i want to show you all a demo

this wouldn't have been as easy as it was without profi200's work on OPEN_AGB_FIRM, and SUOlivia's work on That-Shortcut-Thingy

wanted to show everyone that this is possible, right now it's in a pretty rudimentary state but i plan to work on it a lot more and make it really easy for the user to generate cias, so look forward to that!

Egoistamamono · Nov 21, 2022

Nice work, can't wait to try it :yay3ds:

Maximumbeans · Nov 22, 2022

Very interesting. OAF is my go-to for GBA games so this is one to watch. Excellent work so far

SylverReZ · Nov 22, 2022

Impressive work there. :bow:

Thee_Stranger · Nov 23, 2022

What is this, exactly? If that's a video included, it doesn't work for me.

I know open_agb_firm is basically the 3DS' native GBA program, and I know That-Shortcut-Thingy is a shorcut for it to circumvent the Luma chainloader -- I never did install it, for fear of godmode9 as firm0 rendering some of my other things unusable -- but don't we already have forwarder programs to make cia's for GBA games using it?

ismailhasannnnnnn · Dec 6, 2022

Thee_Stranger said:
What is this, exactly? If that's a video included, it doesn't work for me.

I know open_agb_firm is basically the 3DS' native GBA program, and I know That-Shortcut-Thingy is a shorcut for it to circumvent the Luma chainloader -- I never did install it, for fear of godmode9 as firm0 rendering some of my other things unusable -- but don't we already have forwarder programs to make cia's for GBA games using it?

Not using OAF specifically, no. we have cia's for GBA games using Virtual Console, which uses the same thing, but with this it essentially just makes saves extremely easy to access, as opposed to the normal VC method

Blauhasenpopo · Dec 6, 2022

Hope to see it soon, good work

Dionicio3 · Dec 7, 2022

Do you happen to have a public repo to where this will be hosted? Or are you waiting for it to be finished before you post your code?

_FN10_ · Jul 23, 2023

it has been 7 months any updates?

verypedro · Aug 8, 2023

So... any news on that?

Smumbo · Feb 28, 2024

SomewhatLazy · Mar 15, 2024

Fake?

Maximumbeans · Mar 15, 2024

SomewhatLazy said:
Fake?

Why would it be fake?

ismailhasannnnnnn · Sep 5, 2024

Hi guys,

Life happened and I totally forgot about this project. I've went ahead and resumed work on this one, and it's technically ready to go, but not very user friendly. I'm currently working to trying to figure out how to make this more user friendly so that anyone can use it, but I'm having a bit of trouble doing so.

Here's what it currently looks like:

Very simple, but after clicking the "Generate" button, a CIA file based on the ROM path is generated and installable on the 3DS. After installing the CIA, it can be launched to launch the ROM specified using OAF.

If anyone has any recommendations, I would really appreciate some help with the UX portion of this, that isn't what I specialize in.

Sorry for the wait! Hopefully it will be soon!

jorgewinz · Sep 6, 2024

Are you using Qt? I can help you with that if you want...

Smumbo · Monday at 8:47 AM

ismailhasannnnnnn said:
Hi guys,

Life happened and I totally forgot about this project. I've went ahead and resumed work on this one, and it's technically ready to go, but not very user friendly. I'm currently working to trying to figure out how to make this more user friendly so that anyone can use it, but I'm having a bit of trouble doing so.

Here's what it currently looks like:

View attachment 456257

Very simple, but after clicking the "Generate" button, a CIA file based on the ROM path is generated and installable on the 3DS. After installing the CIA, it can be launched to launch the ROM specified using OAF.

If anyone has any recommendations, I would really appreciate some help with the UX portion of this, that isn't what I specialize in.

Sorry for the wait! Hopefully it will be soon!

Glad you decided to continue working on this project! Here are some UX suggestions:

Reorder the fields to be in an order users would typically fill them out in.
- The ROM path should be the first field, as that's the user's first decision for what game they want to make a forwarder for.
Resize the inputs/buttons so they're all the same width including the buttons
Right-align the text labels for improved readability
Increase padding of the window and inputs so the layout isn't so squished
Add tooltips when hovering the fields, or add info buttons next to each of the fields that explain their purpose and possibly include examples of good inputs
- Good inputs would just be what a "proper" forwarded game would have for its title, description, author, etc.
- For the ROM path specifically, be sure to explain that the ROM path is the path from the root of the SD card, and that location must contain the ROM when the forwarder runs on the system.
- For the icon path, be sure to specify required size of icons. I believe it's 48x48, but I'm not sure.
- Additionally, you can also include greyed out placeholder text for fields when they're empty that includes examples of good inputs
Add a button to randomly generate title IDs and product codes
Display a preview of the selected icon to the right of the icon path field
Disable the "Generate" button until all necessary fields are filled
Allow the user to specify an output location for the generated CIA
Display a confirmation dialogue after the CIA is generated, confirming it was successfully generated and showing the path it was sent to.
One possibly complicated addition would be to autofill the fields based on the selected ROM. There is probably a library or database that can be used to achieve this. I believe NSUI had support for this, so maybe check that?

Obviously you don't have to use any of these, but I think they could vastly improve the user experience. I'm also not sure if your forwarder supports splash sound effects and banner images like other forwarders do, but that would be another nice inclusion if possible.

I've made a quick mockup with some of my suggestions here:

ismailhasannnnnnn · 2024-10-05T17:01:30+0100

Smumbo said:
Glad you decided to continue working on this project! Here are some UX suggestions:

Reorder the fields to be in an order users would typically fill them out in.

The ROM path should be the first field, as that's the user's first decision for what game they want to make a forwarder for.

Resize the inputs/buttons so they're all the same width including the buttons

Right-align the text labels for improved readability

Increase padding of the window and inputs so the layout isn't so squished

Add tooltips when hovering the fields, or add info buttons next to each of the fields that explain their purpose and possibly include examples of good inputs

Good inputs would just be what a "proper" forwarded game would have for its title, description, author, etc.

For the ROM path specifically, be sure to explain that the ROM path is the path from the root of the SD card, and that location must contain the ROM when the forwarder runs on the system.

For the icon path, be sure to specify required size of icons. I believe it's 48x48, but I'm not sure.

Additionally, you can also include greyed out placeholder text for fields when they're empty that includes examples of good inputs

Add a button to randomly generate title IDs and product codes

Display a preview of the selected icon to the right of the icon path field

Disable the "Generate" button until all necessary fields are filled

Allow the user to specify an output location for the generated CIA

Display a confirmation dialogue after the CIA is generated, confirming it was successfully generated and showing the path it was sent to.

One possibly complicated addition would be to autofill the fields based on the selected ROM. There is probably a library or database that can be used to achieve this. I believe NSUI had support for this, so maybe check that?

Obviously you don't have to use any of these, but I think they could vastly improve the user experience. I'm also not sure if your forwarder supports splash sound effects and banner images like other forwarders do, but that would be another nice inclusion if possible.

I've made a quick mockup with some of my suggestions here:
View attachment 461703
View attachment 461702

This is amazing!! Thank you so much for the suggestions

I'll see if I can get anywhere near close to it haha but I really do appreciate the work you put into this

linkinworm · 2024-10-05T22:05:10+0100

Hope this reaches some maturity, would be nice to try open agb at some point , but having it set up the way you're meant to use right now puts me off

OPEN_AGB_FIRM Forwarder Demo

New Member

Well-Known Member

3DS is love, 3DS is life

GBATemp's Amiga Owner

Unknown Member

New Member

GBATemp's Funeral Director

goat

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

New Member

Member

3DS is love, 3DS is life

New Member

New Member

New Member

New Member

Well-Known Member

Similar threads

Popular threads in this forum