Homebrew GBARunner2

[Dartz150]

Mmm, Golden Sun sounds weird now, not sure if it was like that before.

 

[Deleted User]

This build seems to be less stable than the previous dsp test build.
I had to close and restart gbarunner2 5 times, because the audio was completly broken. Not even the gba bios intro sound worked.
Some games have a regress in audio quality.

Spoiler: gbarunner2 issue list

F-Zero Maximum Velocity - quick fuzzy noise before the start of a race.
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - almost perfect.
Fire Emblem - minor fuzzy noise during the map cutscene from the first chapter.
Godzilla Domination - many sounds are missing.
GT Racers - almost perfect.
Hikaru no Go 2 - minor fuzzy noise.
Invincible Iron Man - minor sounds are missing.
Iridion 2 - minor fuzzy noise.
Mega Man Zero 1 & 3 - minor audio crackling during the intro cutscene.
Pokemon Fire Red & Leaf Green - almost perfect.
Summon Night - Swordcraft Story 2 - some sounds are missing during and after the intro battle.
Sword of Mana - no sound yet.
Trick Star - minor noise, some sound fx are missing.

 

[Gericom]

This build seems to be less stable than the previous dsp test build.
I had to close and restart gbarunner2 5 times, because the audio was completly broken. Not even the gba bios intro sound worked.
Some games have a regress in audio quality.

Spoiler: gbarunner2 issue list

F-Zero Maximum Velocity - quick fuzzy noise before the start of a race.
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - almost perfect.
Fire Emblem - minor fuzzy noise during the map cutscene from the first chapter.
Godzilla Domination - many sounds are missing.
GT Racers - almost perfect.
Hikaru no Go 2 - minor fuzzy noise.
Invincible Iron Man - minor sounds are missing.
Iridion 2 - minor fuzzy noise.
Mega Man Zero 1 & 3 - minor audio crackling during the intro cutscene.
Pokemon Fire Red & Leaf Green - almost perfect.
Summon Night - Swordcraft Story 2 - some sounds are missing during and after the intro battle.
Sword of Mana - no sound yet.
Trick Star - minor noise, some sound fx are missing.

Which games are the ones that regressed, and which games have improved? That would be good to know for further testing.

 

[kralde]

I would love to use gba borders, but don't know how to use them.
I just placed a "gbaframe.bpm" which I used in the past in my old original r4 card, ( this one:

)

in the _gba and gba folders but nothing happens.

Thanks

 

[Dartz150]

I would love to use gba borders, but don't know how to use them.
I just placed a "gbaframe.bpm" which I used in the past in my old original r4 card, ( this one:

)

in the _gba and gba folders but nothing happens.

Thanks

GBARunner2 supports frames but them should be converted to another format, it is a custom format Gericom made, but I can't remember if he shared the tool.

EDIT: Here is the frame I use, you should extract it in sd\_gba\frames

 

[Gericom]

GBARunner2 supports frames but them should be converted to another format, it is a custom format Gericom made, but I can't remember if he shared the tool.

EDIT: Here is the frame I use, you should extract it in sd\_gba\frames

I actually still didn't make a tool for conversion. I made them by hand by first generating the raw data and then concatting it in a hex editor.

 

[Deleted User]

Which games are the ones that regressed, and which games have improved? That would be good to know for further testing.

Spoiler: still works

Donkey Kong Country - runs perfect
Donkey Kong Country 3 - runs perfect
Gradius Advance - runs perfect
Groove Adventure Rave - Hikari to Yami no Daikessen 2 - runs perfect
Kururin Paradise - runs perfect
Sonic Battle - runs perfect

Spoiler: improved

Batman - Rise of Sin Tsu - now perfect
Final Fantasy 6 Advance - now perfect
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - less noise
Final Fight One - now perfect
Megaman Zero - almost perfect. now very minor audio crackling.
Mega Man Zero 2 - now perfect
Summon Night - Swordcraft Story 3 - now perfect
Wario Land 4 - now perfect

Spoiler: regress

Donkey Kong Country 2 - minor fuzzy noise during gameplay.
Godzilla Domination - now many sounds are missing.
Golden Sun - minor fuzzy noise. the retreat spell sounds different.
Golden Sun 2 - almost perfect. minor fx sound odd like alex´s arrival spell during the intro.
Groove Adventure Rave - Hikari to Yami no Daikessen - game crashes now during the intro.
Summon Night - Swordcraft Story 2 - some sounds are missing during and after the intro battle.

I will retest games that had good audio quality in previous build.

 

[Gericom]

This version seems to fix issues in various games.

 

[Deleted User]

Again, testing the latest build with my 3DS and TWl speed. I compared it with previous build.

Spoiler: [B]Games that run fine:[/B]

Alienators Evolution - first level completed.
Batman - Rise of Sin Tsu - first level completed.
Batman Vengeance - first level completed.
Breath of Fire - fought a couple random encounter battle on the overworld map.
Castlevania - Aria of Sorrow - first boss defeated.
Castlevania - Circle of the Moon - played until the first save spot.
Castlevania - Harmony of Dissonance - played until the first save spot.
Donkey Kong Country 1-3 - first 4 level completed.
Doom 2 - first level completed.
Final Fantasy 1 & 2 - Dawn of Souls - fought a couple random encounter battle on the overworld map.
Final Fantasy 4 Advance - fought a couple random encounter battle on the overworld map.
Final Fantasy 5 Advance - fought a couple random encounter battle at the cave near the pirate hideout.
Final Fantasy 6 Advance - fought the first boss battle.
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - fought the tutorial battle. (improvement, less noise)
Fire Emblem - prologue completed. (improvement, less noise)
Godzilla Domination! - fought a battle in story mode. (improvement, more sounds)
Gradius Advance - played the first stage.
Groove Adventure Rave - Hikari to Yami no Daikessen - fought a battle. (improvement, game no longer crashes)
Groove Adventure Rave - Hikari to Yami no Daikessen 2 - fought a battle.
GT Advance - Championship Racing - played a race in championship mode. (improvement, audio is working again)
GT Racers - played a race in championship mode. (improvement, less noise)
Kururin Paradise - 5 training level completed.
Mega Man Zero 1-4 - first stage completed. (improvement, MMZ 2&3 no longer have crackling sound during the intro)
Sonic Advance 1 with patch made by Vague Rant - first level completed.
Sonic Battle - fought a battle.
Sonic Pinball Party - played a game in arcade mode.
Sonic the Hedgehog - Act 1 completed.
Summon Night - Swordcraft Story - fought a couple random encounter battle at the first dungeon.
Summon Night - Swordcraft Story 2 - fought the intro battle. (improvement, no longer crackling sound during the intro battle.)
Summon Night - Swordcraft Story 3 - fought the intro battle.
Super Mario Advance 1-3 - first level completed.
Wario Land 4 - first level completed.

Spoiler: [B]Games with issues:[/B]

Breath of Fire 2 - fought a couple random encounter battle on the overworld map. (regress, minor crackling sound. audio is a bit out of sync.)
F-Zero Climax - finished mute city in the bronze cup on novice difficulty. (improvement, less noise, minor crackling noise during the menu screen)
F-Zero GP Legend - finished mute city in the bronze cup on novice difficulty. (improvement, less noise minor crackling noise during the menu screen)
F-Zero Maximum Velocity - finished Bianca City in the Pawn Series on beginner difficulty. (minor crackling noise before the start of a race.)
Golden Sun - fought a couple random encounter battle on the overworld map. (the retreat spell sounds different.)
Golden Sun 2 - fought a couple random encounter battle on the overworld map. (minor fx sound odd, like alex´s arrival spell during the intro.)
GT Advance 2 - Rally Racing - played a race in world rally mode. (improvement, more sounds, minor fuzzy noise.)
GT Advance 3 - Pro Concept Racing - played a race in quick race mode. (improvement, audio no longer crashes, minor fuzzy noise.)
Hikaru no Go 2 - played the tutorial. (minor fuzzy noise.)
Invincible Iron Man - played the first level. (minor sounds are missing.)
Iridion 2 - played the first planet. (minor fuzzy noise.)
Pokemon Fire Red & Leaf Green - fought a couple random encounter battle. (minor fx sound a bit odd, minor fuzzy noise while saving.)
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - walked around the dungeon. (minor fuzzy noise during the intro.)
Sonic Advance 2 with patch made by Vague Rant - first level completed. (regress, minor clicking sound.)
Sonic Advance 3 - first level completed. (regress, some clicking sound.)
Super Mario Advance 4 - first fortress completed. (regress, mario´s voice sample when you start a level sounds a bit too high pitched.)
Trick Star - played a race in league mode. (improvement, less noise, some sounds are missing.)

 

[Rahkeesh]

Man, you got my hopes up. Iridion II still crashes around the final boss on the first world.

 

[Gericom]

The dsp audio branch can now be found on github. I added the teak compiler to the azure pipeline, so it will also properly build the dsp code. I also made some slight improvements that can be found here: https://github.com/Gericom/GBARunner2/releases/tag/v20200328-135755_844ffca_dsp-audio
It seems that more games are crackle-free now.

 

[justjack]

Finally trying this dsp version on N3DS. Tested some games and they sound pretty good. Only real problem is that opening the menu brings an annoying noise, like a struggling printer .

This is very exciting. Thank you, Gericom!

 

[Gericom]

Finally trying this dsp version on N3DS. Tested some games and they sound pretty good. Only real problem is that opening the menu brings an annoying noise, like a struggling printer .

This is very exciting. Thank you, Gericom!

Yeah I am gonna fix that. I just need to add some commands for muting/unmuting.

 

[Deleted User]

Man, you got my hopes up. Iridion II still crashes around the final boss on the first world.

Iridion 1&2, Final Fantasy 1&2 Advance, Final Fantasy 4 Advance, Doom, Tactics Ogre and Sword of Mana crash in the build I tested.
I´m focusing on the sound quality for now.

 

[Gericom]

Iridion 1&2, Final Fantasy 1&2 Advance, Final Fantasy 4 Advance, Doom, Tactics Ogre and Sword of Mana crash in the build I tested.
I´m focusing on the sound quality for now.

They really crash? That shouldn't happen. I should look what the issue is there

 

[RocketRobz]

Can confirm the new DSi/3DS DSP builds also work on CycloDS iEvolution.

 

[Zense]

Great job! It's interesting to see how things go with the 3DS version now as well.

Tested out some games across the different DSP versions assuming they play the same 'cept for roms of 32MB:

Spoiler: Findings

Bomberman Tournament - DSP versions - A new weird effect where sound is what can best be described as unstable like a slightly distorted sound when entering and exiting status and save menus, might be a very subtle case of crackling. This might have desynced the sound when it happened once but I could not recreate it because it stopped happening after a while. General regression compared to before. Noticed an occasional visual glitch when entering save menu which DOES happen in agb_firm as well.

Contra Advance - DSP Versions - Sound effects play correctly now meaning game seems to be running perfectly. Might need minor pitch adjustments eventually.

Dragon Quest Monsters Caravan Heart Japanese and Translation - DSP versions - Still single popping sound when overture music in intro starts and a new game is started. Also still single popping sound when entering battle. Still single black bar tearing across screen when exiting battle.

Fire Emblem - DSP Versions - No more regular crackling. Experienced one single right after loading a save game accompanied by a black bar tearing across screen. No single popping sound when different actions were done like it used to before, like attacking, ending turn etc. Still occasional black bar tearing across screen when changing between player turns.

Fire Emblem The Sacred Stones - DSP versions - No more regular crackling nor popping sounds when loading a game or changing turns. Still occasional black bar tearing across the screen when changing turns etc.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - DSP versions - Still regular crackling as before.

Hikaru no Go 2 - 3DS DSP version only - Plays perfectly in 3ds. DSi still has visual glitches and crackling sound.

The Legend of Zelda Minish Cap - DSP Versions - Crackling that did not happen before.

I'll update as soon as I find more. Just to add FF1&2 and Iridion II do boot but probably crash at the same points. Will update as soon as I test more games.

 

[Deleted User]

They really crash? That shouldn't happen. I should look what the issue is there

Doom, Iridion 3D, Sword of Mana crash during the intro.
Final Fantasy 1&2 Advance game crashes after the lich battle.
Final Fantasy 4 Advance crashes after Cecil, now a Paladin passes through Devil's Road.
Iridion 2 after the first boss battle.
Tactics Ogre doesn´t boot at all.

 

[justjack]

Iridion 2 after the first boss battle.
Tactics Ogre doesn´t boot at all.

Iridion 2 crashed for me too when fighting the first boss.

Tactics Ogre does boot in my case.

 

[Deleted User]

Iridion 2 crashed for me too when fighting the first boss.

Tactics Ogre does boot in my case.

Can you play Tactics Ogre? And do use the latest dsp test build?