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[UPDATE] mGBA adds high-res scaling in its latest development builds

hqrenderer.png

'Tis the season for emulator enhancement projects. First, we've seen bsnes adding a high-definition Mode 7 upscaling feature, then a widescreen Game Boy emulator got released, and now it looks like mGBA will be receiving something fancy too!

One of the planned features for its next release is a high-res OpenGL renderer, which will allow for a variety of graphical improvements. Like the previously mentioned bsnes-hd, you can expect games using a Mode 7-like perspective effect (for example, F-ZERO ones and Mario Kart: Super Circuit) to look less pixelated when scaled. However, this time it doesn't just end there: sprite rotations and transformations have also been enhanced, as well as other display modes and miscellaneous graphical features! This means a good number of games will look noticeably better, as seen in some screenshots posted by mGBA's developer (endrift). A video has also been uploaded, showing the feature in action while playing F-Zero Climax (13x scaling, 3120x2080):

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The high-resolution renderer is not yet available in stable mGBA builds, however it can be found in development ones (PC & Switch only, see update below). It's completely optional and will not be enabled by default: you can do so by looking at the "Enhancements" section in the settings (remember to set the renderer to OpenGL!). Keep in mind that by using a development build, you could find unexpected issues and poor performance, so it's still recommended to wait until a new stable version will be released unless you really want to stay on the bleeding edge.

UPDATE (27/5/19): Hi-res scaling has been added to the latest Switch builds. The feature is highly experimental on this platform and it could suffer from both graphical glitches and slowdowns. Code optimization is still being worked on: due to this, the developer kindly asks all users to not file bug reports related to poor performance.

​

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Mama Looigi

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Yay :)
The only problem is I can’t remember where I put my roms. I’ve been looking all over the place (my hard drive) and I can’t find them. I think they were lost when a certain something happened. Don’t close Cortana in Task manager, kids
 
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Knucklesfan

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Mr. Looigi said:
Yay :)
The only problem is I can’t remember where I put my roms. I’ve been looking all over the place (my hard drive) and I can’t find them. I think they were lost when a certain something happened. Don’t close Cortana in Task manager, kids
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Just open up a browser window in your home folder (like your username folder) and then type in ".gba" it'll find them all
 
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NoNAND

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Apparently emulators seem to be getting better each day.
thanks to this I now can get to play some games like f zero and Mario kart.
I wonder how good do those games look with this new feature. Presumably less jaggy and pixelated
here's hoping this gets implemented to the switch version of mgba and hopefully further to it's retroarch core.
it's truly something groundbreaking and a game changer to breathe new life into these old games.
(the day I can play GBA games at high-res on my switch is the day I vanish never to be seen again)
 
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While of limited use as far as the whole library is concerned there are still plenty of games that would benefit from such things. Might have to give this a look.

If someone is taking a look at things can you see what, if anything, is done for Payback (a GBA actually 3d GTA like game).
 
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sarkwalvein

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Mr. Looigi said:
Yeah, for some reason it isn’t that simple for me. Sometimes I’ll leave it searching for a half hour and when it’s finally done, no results
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Windows search has become a PITA the last decade really. Specially when it tries to be intelligent.
I would say do not use that.
Search with any other tool, or index your files with any other software e.g. cathy.

If you don't want to use any other software but bare Windows, a simple "dir c:\*.gba /s/a" on the command line should suffice.
Unless they are on e.g. drive d, then "dir d:\*.gba /s/a", etc.
 
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I'm really glad we get this, though I'm also intrigued by what this could mean for the legacy of these originally very pixelated games in the future...
 
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Mr. Looigi said:
Yeah, for some reason it isn’t that simple for me. Sometimes I’ll leave it searching for a half hour and when it’s finally done, no results
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Get "everything". It's a small but very handy tool that'll show every file you possibly have on your computer and/or hard drive.
 
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SexySpai said:
Anyone know good games that use this feature? Just give me like 5 or less.
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On the SNES, which popularised the effect, it was known as mode7 for the hardware mode it used there. It is not mode7 on the GBA but the name stuck for reviews/discussions of the time, though if you do a search then you will probably find more about the ROM release group called MODE7. Today it is not as well known but that might help. http://www.coranac.com/tonc/text/affine.htm and https://www.coranac.com/tonc/text/mode7.htm and http://problemkaputt.de/gbatek.htm#gbalcdvideocontroller if you want some technical discussion of it.

Many racing games will use it. Fzero being among the more notable along with mario kart, however there are plenty of others. Some will be more "race to the horizon" approaches where it is not as useful but still plenty in that style.
The GBA FPS efforts might also yield something here. Most are not good games, made worse by only having dpad input (it was bad then, however many years on this is when we have all had free look games for longer, and analogue sticks on controllers... yeah), but might be worth a look.
The iconic chocobo scene from Final Fantasy 6 also made it to the GBA version of that game, as did the world map part, the former comes fairly early in the game too.
I mentioned payback above. I don't know if it will do anything here as I have not properly looked into what payback does (it is full 3d but I don't know if it is just software or borrows what it can from hardware).
There are a load of demos that will make use of it. http://www.pouet.net/prodlist.php?platform[0]=Gameboy+Advance&order=thumbup (my favourite http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=24571 ). https://www.gbadev.org/demos.php?listby=popularity&offset=100

http://www.thunderboltgames.com/fea...he-game-boy-advance-how-well-could-it-be-done might also yield some possibilities.

Tetnus on Drugs/Lockjaw (one of my favourite tetris homebrews) could also be worth a spin.

https://pdroms.de/files/nintendo-gameboyadvance-gba/lockjaw-v0-42 should have a download.
 
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nice, i remember asking if this was a thing about 3-ish years ago, nice to see it finally exists
 
Jayro

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Looks amazing. Can we get some bilinear filtering next like the SNES got? That would be a blessing on the cake, especially for FPS games like Ecks vs Sever.
 

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