Homebrew GBARunner2

[DSoryu]

This is local. It just sends wifi packets directly to the other ds. There's no way this would ever work via internet.

Wow, this is HUGE, now I can't decide which to choose, mGBA or this, being the current advantages of mGBA the sensors support, the camera and the upscaller/darkening filter.

Awesome work! Can't wait to try it.

 

[Fel]

I noticed this and thinked about a background & HUD scaling method like SNEmulDS but because how the GBA hardware works i don't think will be possibleView attachment 177511

What game is the first game? I'm not sure if I recognize the RPG.

 

[RocketRobz]

Can confirm the WiFi build works with Super Circuit on my DSi and 3DS, both connected to each console, and both running from SD card, via nds-bootstrap.

 

[banjo2]

Wireless GBA linking on the DSi? I didn't think that'd ever be possible, good work! Thank you for dedicating so much time to this project!

 

[Deleted User]

What game is the first game? I'm not sure if I recognize the RPG.

I think that´s the first Breath of Fire game ported to the gba.

 

[DualBladedKirito]

@Robz8 hey how hard do you think it would be for gbarunner2 to take advantage of the 3ds and dsi extra ram? @Gericom mentioned something about that on my github issue for possibly fixing gbarunner2's problems with 32mb sized expanded gba rom hacks.

 

[Gericom]

@Robz8 hey how hard do you think it would be for gbarunner2 to take advantage of the 3ds and dsi extra ram? @Gericom mentioned something about that on my github issue for possibly fixing gbarunner2's problems with 32mb sized expanded gba rom hacks.

The problem is mainly the lack of memory protection regions and my need for an uncached mirror of main memory atm.

 

[RaymanTheHedgehog]

What game is the first game? I'm not sure if I recognize the RPG.

Yep is Breath of Fire, i was checking how that game works without border, is nearly identical to the SNES original just with Out of bounds glitches

 

[Davv]

Wow, @Gericom, great work on the settings. It's amazing how far this has come since I last tried it!

I was wondering, how do you tell what release you need? (Arm7dldi, arm7dldi,wramicache etc...)

 

[Alexander1970]

Thanks!

Making something similar for the 3ds (be it for gba or ds games) is a lot harder, because in 3ds mode most of the ds hardware is not available. Emulating a full 2d and 3d engine costs a lot of cpu for example. The ds has a 2d engine that is an improved version of the gba one, which makes it possible to just use that with some small interventions instead of emulating it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I've finally made a version of the wifi branch that you can actually try out for yourself.
https://github.com/Gericom/GBARunner2/releases/tag/v20190826-172450_7ae1123
With this version you can set the master and slave DS mac addresses in the /_gba/gbarunner2.ini file (example ini in the attached zip file). Note that you shouldn't open the settings when you have set the mac addresses as they are not preserved when the settings are overwritten. Eventually this will be replaced by a proper in-game linking mechanism where you can pair with a nearby gbarunner2 instance.
The wifi linking is still far from perfect, and the results are very dependent on the game and also on the environment (noise and such that can negatively influence the wifi transmission).
I managed to get stable linking in Mario Kart Super Circuit at home with two dslites (I haven't tried with a dsi or 3ds, so it could be that using arm7dldi makes linking less reliable for example). You have to go in and out of the multiplayer link menu a couple of times on both dses before it works (for whatever reason). After that I was able to play a full race on both dses without it disconnecting. I've not tried many other games, so let me know if more games are working for you.

Hello.

Thank you for this great "work in progress" feature.

I do not get it to work,sorry.

I have tried it (the whole last night..) with:

2 Nintendo DS Lite with 2 Flashcards (about 30 times in a row in/out of the Link menu.)
or
1 DSi + 1 DSi XL with TWiLight (also about 30 times in a row in/out of the Link menu.)

The WiFi LED blinks 2 times on both Devices and then stays yellow.

But that does not matter.
Please keep it up.I think you have a breakthrough and it will work.

Thank you.

 

[Gericom]

Wow, @Gericom, great work on the settings. It's amazing how far this has come since I last tried it!

I was wondering, how do you tell what release you need? (Arm7dldi, arm7dldi,wramicache etc...)

The easiest way is specify it when you run make (look at the azure yml for example). When you do it that way you need to clean before making a different configuration though. You can also change the defines in 2 files.

Edit: I think I interpreted your question wrong. If you mean which should be used on which device, then arm9 is for most flashcards, arm7 for dsi/3ds sd card. Wramicache speeds up most games, but there are a few that may crash or so.

 

[ber71]

Would it be possible to pack gbarunner2 as (dsiware) cias? For example, Drenn manged to do that for gameyobDS.
This would be useful for 3ds users that only have interest in gba emulation. TwilightMenu++ is excellent but way too complex for just gba rom loading.

 

[Gericom]

I made a video showing off the wireless linking here:

 

[Alexander1970]

I made a video showing off the wireless linking here:

Ok,now we know how you spend your nights.

Thank you,I will try it again.

 

[Gericom]

Ok,now we know how you spend your nights.

Thank you,I will try it again.

It's just day here xD. It's hot, so the curtains are mostly closed.

 

[Alexander1970]

It's just day here xD. It's hot, so the curtains are mostly closed.

I give it up for now.
After 1 h 45 min pressing buttons and changing MAC adresses and trying the 4 different GBARunner Builds
with 2 DS Lites,2 DSi´s and 1 DSi XL - finish.

Sorry I can give you sadly no success message.

I will patiently wait.....

Thank you for your work.

 

[Gericom]

I give it up for now.
After 1 h 45 min pressing buttons and changing MAC adresses and trying the 4 different GBARunner Builds
with 2 DS Lites,2 DSi´s and 1 DSi XL - finish.

Sorry I can give you sadly no success message.

I will patiently wait.....

Thank you for your work.

Are you using the same ini file on both dses? (Cause you should) The mac address of dsi and 3ds can be found in the settings and for a ds you can use the wifi utility in mario kart ds for example.

 

[Alexander1970]

Are you using the same ini file on both dses? (Cause you should) The mac address of dsi and 3ds can be found in the settings and for a ds you can use the wifi utility in mario kart ds for example.

1.Yes
2.Yes
3.Yes



What I noticed,that the DS Lite WiFi LED is not flashing while on the Status Connect Screen in "Super Circuit".
The DSi´s LED´s does it 2 times.

I have tried:

DS Lite - Ds Lite
DS Lite - DSi
DSi - DSi
DSi XL - DSi
DS Lite - DSi XL

In none of that combinations the LED on the DS Lite´s flashes.

This is the ini file:

[emulation]
useBottomScreen=false
centerMask=true
skipIntro=false

[link]
masterMac=A4C0E11062BB
slaveMac=0019FDA2DDD0

Of course evertime I have changed the MAC Adress for the DS Lite´s/DSi´s which are in use.

Thank you.

 

[Gericom]

1.Yes
2.Yes
3.Yes



What I noticed,that the DS Lite WiFi LED is not flashing while on the Status Connect Screen in "Super Circuit".
The DSi´s LED´s does it 2 times.

I have tried:

DS Lite - Ds Lite
DS Lite - DSi
DSi - DSi
DSi XL - DSi
DS Lite - DSi XL

In none of that combinations the LED on the DS Lite´s flashes.

This is the ini file:

[emulation]
useBottomScreen=false
centerMask=true
skipIntro=false

[link]
masterMac=A4C0E11062BB
slaveMac=0019FDA2DDD0

Of course evertime I have changed the MAC Adress for the DS Lite´s/DSi´s which are in use.

Thank you.

The ds lite wifi led does not automatically flash, I have to enable the flashing pattern manually (so it does not represent actual data being send or received).
Could you verify that the whole file is using single line endings (the \n character)? It may give problems if it doesn't. You can also send me the file on discord so I can check it.

 

[RaymanTheHedgehog]

The multiplayer will be compatible with NiFi? it should be easy to do, most emulators on the DS can play multiplayer with NiFi