Homebrew GBARunner2

[Ziko]

The Magical Vacation build on the pre-release still doesn't work with the latest english patch applied. Sword of Mana doesn't even boot either.

 

[Zense]

The Magical Vacation build on the pre-release still doesn't work with the latest english patch applied. Sword of Mana doesn't even boot either.

I haven't tested it with the English patch applied but it, as well as Sword of Mana, do run on latest github release (bb15d71).
Have you checked your roms to be good according to the gbarunner2 wiki?

 

[Ziko]

I haven't tested it with the English patch applied but it as well as Sword of Mana do run on latest github release (bb15d71).
Have you checked your roms to be good according to the gbarunner2 wiki?

I didn't try Magical Vacation without the patch and I haven't tested Sword of Mana without a quality of life patch applied yet. This is what I'm referring to here: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4913/. They could be related to the roms after all. I'll try again later and report back.

EDIT: You're right about Magical Vacation as it boots ok without the english patch. Truth is, the patch itself may be the issue as others have report the game works on some but not all emulators plus emulating this game screws with the sound a bit for some reason plus they fixed a bug related to startup in general a while back. This is awful as the game is lengthy and knowing what's going on in english helps a lot but I guess I could use a guide for all this stuff. Sword of Mana didn't work no matter what I did so that needs to be investigated a little more.

 

[Gericom]

I didn't try Magical Vacation without the patch and I haven't tested Sword of Mana without a quality of life patch applied yet. This is what I'm referring to here: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4913/. They could be related to the roms after all. I'll try again later and report back.

EDIT: You're right about Magical Vacation as it boots ok without the english patch. Truth is, the patch itself may be the issue as others have report the game works on some but not all emulators plus emulating this game screws with the sound a bit for some reason plus they fixed a bug related to startup in general a while back. This is awful as the game is lengthy and knowing what's going on in english helps a lot but I guess I could use a guide for all this stuff. Sword of Mana didn't work no matter what I did so that needs to be investigated a little more.

Maybe you don't have a clean no-intro rom. Sword of mana should work fine.

 

[Ziko]

Maybe you don't have a clean no-intro rom. Sword of mana should work fine.

Yeah let me see if I can find one somewhere. Also, the english patch worked perfectly on mGBA for Magical Vacation so maybe there's a way to get it to work on GBARunner2?

 

[Deleted User]

Yeah let me see if I can find one somewhere. Also, the english patch worked perfectly on mGBA for Magical Vacation so maybe there's a way to get it to work on GBARunner2?

You tested the games with a flashcard and a DS lite? Is that correct?
It´s possible that those patches don´t work on a base ds system.

 

[Ziko]

You tested the games with a flashcard and a DS lite? Is that correct?
It´s possible that those patches don´t work on a base ds system.

Yep can confirm. This may be another highcode game for me. The games worked ok on mGBA. I did use no-intro roms each time. I'm thinking the same thing for Magical Vacation with its english patch as it still has some lingering issues but I know the big ones were fixed a while ago. Magical Vacation with the english patch just gives me a black screen while without it, it's fine.

 

[Gericom]

Ah yeah, sword of mana doesn't work on the ds version of GBARunner2. When I tested with my is-nitro I had to use expanded main memory to run it.

 

[foreverimages]

Using R4 Gold Pro cart on DS Lite. Cannot get Castlevania: Circle of the Moon to launch at all. Just a black screen after selecting it on the GBARunner menu. Have tried multiple builds with same results.I have bios.bin in the root of the SD card.

 

[Zense]

Yep can confirm. This may be another highcode game for me. The games worked ok on mGBA. I did use no-intro roms each time. I'm thinking the same thing for Magical Vacation with its english patch as it still has some lingering issues but I know the big ones were fixed a while ago. Magical Vacation with the english patch just gives me a black screen while without it, it's fine.

Magical Vacation might work with the rom3m branch and with the patch. It's worth an effort trying:
https://github.com/Gericom/GBARunner2/releases/tag/v20190911-201047_371815e
Not sure if Sword of Mana gets through the cutscene or not on this one. Also sound will at best be silent on these two, if not it probably won't be pleasant (not sure Magical Vacation ever can be).
As you can see that branch hasn't been updated since september 2019 so many updates and improvements will be missing.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Using R4 Gold Pro cart on DS Lite. Cannot get Castlevania: Circle of the Moon to launch at all. Just a black screen after selecting it on the GBARunner menu. Have tried multiple builds with same results.I have bios.bin in the root of the SD card.

Please answer these:
1. Has your rom been patched? If yes then that's it
2. Have you confirmed your bios working according to the gbarunner2 wiki:

Spoiler: How to confirm BIOS

BIOS Checksums
The BIOS used should have the following checksums (checking one should be enough):

• CRC32: 81977335
• MD5: a860e8c0b6d573d191e4ec7db1b1e4f6
• SHA1: 300c20df6731a33952ded8c436f7f186d25d3492
• SHA256: fd2547724b505f487e6dcb29ec2ecff3af35a841a77ab2e85fd87350abd36570

You can check the MD5 with WinMD5Free for example.

3. Have you confirmed your ROM on DAT-o-MATIC?

Spoiler: How to confirm you have a good ROM

Alternatively, or if the ROM still doesn't work, then you will need to verify that it is a good dump by calculating its checksum hashes (CRC32, MD5 etc.) and comparing them with the ones found on DAT-o-MATIC. WinMD5Free is linked to on the mainpage and can be used to calculate the MD5 hash. You only need to calculate one and compare that one. A good dump on DAT-o-MATIC will have a green colored background, a bad one will have a red one.

 

[foreverimages]

1 - I have no idea on ROM. It works on my hacked Vita and other emulators. I just tried multiple other ROMs that work everywhere else and all I get is a black screen after launching the game.

2 - Yes, confirmed BIOS checksum.

3 - Once again, all these roms (other Castlevania GBA titles) all work on every other emulator and system I have tried.

4 - I am new to DS/3DS modding so this is my first experience with that. The R4 Gold Pro boots perfectly and launches DS games both on my 3DS and DS Lite but I am looking to play GBA titles as well. I have tried both Arm7 and Arm9 DS versions of GBARunner2 and the program launches but no ROMs will.

 

[Zense]

1 - I have no idea on ROM. It works on my hacked Vita and other emulators. I just tried multiple other ROMs that work everywhere else and all I get is a black screen after launching the game.

2 - Yes, confirmed BIOS checksum.

3 - Once again, all these roms (other Castlevania GBA titles) all work on every other emulator and system I have tried.

4 - I am new to DS/3DS modding so this is my first experience with that. The R4 Gold Pro boots perfectly and launches DS games both on my 3DS and DS Lite but I am looking to play GBA titles as well. I have tried both Arm7 and Arm9 DS versions of GBARunner2 and the program launches but no ROMs will.

Okay, even if the roms work with emulators they still might not work with GBAR2. I advice you to check if they are good according to no-intro/dat-o-matic. What are your settings in GBAR2? Find them by pressing R in the file menu. Make sure to not have skip bios enabled.

 

[foreverimages]

Okay, even if the roms work with emulators they still might not work with GBAR2. I advice you to check if they are good according to no-intro/dat-o-matic. What are your settings in GBAR2? Find them by pressing R in the file menu. Make sure to not have skip bios enabled.

I will check on the roms with no-intro/dat.

On settings for emulation, all boxes are unchecked. I have also tried with just the top two checked (default?) and that has the same result. Should I be using the arm7 DS or arm9 DS build?

 

[Deleted User]

I will check on the roms with no-intro/dat.

On settings for emulation, all boxes are unchecked. I have also tried with just the top two checked (default?) and that has the same result. Should I be using the arm7 DS or arm9 DS build?

A rom intro example.

 

[Zense]

I will check on the roms with no-intro/dat.

On settings for emulation, all boxes are unchecked. I have also tried with just the top two checked (default?) and that has the same result. Should I be using the arm7 DS or arm9 DS build?

For Castlevania you can enable both cache settings in the settings and it should be fine and probably better. Btw do you get the gameboy bios intro after running the gba rom or does it go straight to a black screen?

I'm not exactly sure if it's arm7 or arm9 as I can't remember exactly what the difference is.

 

[foreverimages]

For Castlevania you can enable both cache settings in the settings and it should be fine and probably better. Btw do you get the gameboy bios intro after running the gba rom or does it go straight to a black screen?

I'm not exactly sure if it's arm7 or arm9 as I can't remember exactly what the difference is.

Great point -- No GBA bios screen. Just goes straight to black no matter what I do. I've tried different BIOS files just in case, different ROM dumps, black screen after game launch no matter what. So strange!

 

[Zense]

Great point -- No GBA bios screen. Just goes straight to black no matter what I do. I've tried different BIOS files just in case, different ROM dumps, black screen after game launch no matter what. So strange!

Then it would seem to me that gbarunner2 does not find your bios file for some reason. Make sure it's all in lowercase bios.bin. Try putting a copy of it in a folder in root called _gba as well. I guess you could try running it through twilightmenu on your flashcard if you're able to run that on it.

 

[Deleted User]

Then it would seem to me that gbarunner2 does not find your bios file for some reason. Make sure it's all in lowercase bios.bin. Try putting a copy of it in a folder in root called _gba as well. I guess you could try running it through twilightmenu on your flashcard if you're able to run that on it.

Maybe the flashcard kernel is not compatible with gbarunner2? Perhaps @Gericom know´s something about this?

 

[foreverimages]

Maybe the flashcard kernel is not compatible with gbarunner2? Perhaps @Gericom know´s something about this?

That may be it. I see that a .sav file is creating after trying to launch the game but I have to do a power off/on to get back to GBARunner2.

Also, on bios, I have tried bios.bin in the root and in the _gba directory. Same deal.

Is there a way to launch it under a different kernel/alternative method? Backing WAY up, is this really the best way to play GBA ROMs from a DS Lite? I don't want to buy another $50 Omega/EZ Flash cart just for GBA games if possible.

Here is my launch menu BTW:

 

[Deleted User]

That may be it. I see that a .sav file is creating after trying to launch the game but I have to do a power off/on to get back to GBARunner2.

Also, on bios, I have tried bios.bin in the root and in the _gba directory. Same deal.

Is there a way to launch it under a different kernel/alternative method? Backing WAY up, is this really the best way to play GBA ROMs from a DS Lite? I don't want to buy another $50 Omega/EZ Flash cart just for GBA games if possible.

Here is my launch menu BTW:

I got the kernel for my M3 simply flashcard from this thread:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/retrogamefan-updates-releases.267243/
I couldn´t find a R4 Gold Pro entry.

 

[foreverimages]

I got the kernel for my M3 simply flashcard from this thread:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/retrogamefan-updates-releases.267243/
I couldn´t find a R4 Gold Pro entry.

Got it working by doing a whole new RetroGame kernel! Besides some choppy music (Any way around this?) after starting a game on Circle of the Moon,at least it launches now! Thank you all--

My final question would be, if I were to get a GBA (slot 2) flash so I can play GBA ROMs native on DS Lite, what is the best/most cost effective nowadays?

 

[Zense]

Got it working by doing a whole new RetroGame kernel! Besides some choppy music (Any way around this?) after starting a game on Circle of the Moon,at least it launches now! Thank you all--

My final question would be, if I were to get a GBA (slot 2) flash so I can play GBA ROMs native on DS Lite, what is the best/most cost effective nowadays?

Glad you were able to fix it. Circle of the moon is reported as running perfectly so sound should be good. Did you enable wram i-cache and main memory i-cache? Which version are you using?

Either use the one dated this: b740476 (2019/12/24) as per the wiki, or try the latest on github: https://github.com/Gericom/GBARunner2/releases

I can't speak from experience but EZ Flash Omega gets a lot of praise around here. Some reported issues about corrupting sd cards though I'm not sure that was resolved or even an issue. If not there's the Everdrive-GBA which costs a lot.

Also cost effective depends on what you need. You could probably get an older slot2 card without real time clock (RTC) support and other fancy stuff and save some money.