How to create a Gameboy Multicart Menu?

[Moneyforthecash]

Hello, i got some MultiGame Cartridge with 32MB 4x8MB Banks.

To create a new .gb file you need a menu.gb file. I have one but it is empty and only the game title is shown. Would like to add the page number and number the games.

Does anyone know how to edit or create this Menu.gb?

 

[Tempylon]

I'm really interested in that, too. But I also don't know how...

 

[Ryccardo]

Without knowing your flashcard (or for that matter any other), you must find out the (custom) mapper it uses and its datasheet or programmer's reference - the "menu" is nothing more than an homebrew which allows you to select the bank*, typically by attempting to write a certain area of ROM, and jump to it or reboot the console to start the program it contains (optional but bonus points if it has a way to figure out which banks* actually contain a rom, display its title/other metadata, manage saves, ...)

* the GB's address space reserved to the gamecard is well less than 8 MB (or for that matter 8 Mb) so the ability to change the base address (the main job of a mapper) will have to be well more fine grained than 8 MB, and this will matter to the individual programs since they'll need to be patched (non-trivially) or outright designed for the mapper of your card

 

[Moneyforthecash]

I think the files here might help us a little.

http://www.cyberstc.com/~erm/flavor.8k.com/GameBoy/

This is the source code (GBDK 2.1.5) for my EMS Multi-ROM Menu program. Version 1.2 of the actual program was released (see below), but I have since changed some of the code. Honestly, I don't know what state this is in, since I haven't touched it for a while. I am releasing this because I realize that there are things that could be added/fixed that would make it a lot better, but I don't think that I will get to do them anytime soon. Hopefully, some of you can fix it up. If you do, please tell me so I can post the new versions here.

 

[Tempylon]

https://gbatemp.net/download/dgb-max.24955
I tested it and it my ROMs showed up!
But they won't start on an emulator (VisualBoyAdvance)!
I don't have a flashcard to test it on my GB.

 

[enarky]

https://gbatemp.net/download/dgb-max.24955
I tested it and it my ROMs showed up!
But they won't start on an emulator (VisualBoyAdvance)!
I don't have a flashcard to test it on my GB.

That's because this menu is for the old GB-Xchanger flash carts and VisualBoy Advance doesn't emulate this flash cart. Like @Ryccardo says, without knowing what particular flash cart you want a menu for and how its memory mapping works there's little chance to help you.

 

[Moneyforthecash]

I got this one:
256M29 / M29W256 / MX29GL256 – 32 MByte (4x 8MB Banks)

The Menu.gb from BennVenn works well

I'd like that EMS Link menu, though. And it also works up to a certain point regarding saving.

No more than 5 games with memory function will be displayed. The Multirom image was created with the BennVenn 256M Rom Compiler where I only replaced the Menu.gb before.
With the BennVenn menu.gb it is possible to create up to 16 games with memory function.
On the homepage of BennVenn you can find under the point BennVenn Multi-ROM compiler for 256M carts (16save bugfix)

 

[jamespoo]

any program like this but for gba roms?

 

[sammikins_th3_kitt3n]

Sorry to necrobump but is there a program like this for gba roms using benvenn's joey jr

 

[jjsl]

The Menu.gb from BennVenn works well

I'd like that EMS Link menu, though. And it also works up to a certain point regarding saving.

No more than 5 games with memory function will be displayed. The Multirom image was created with the BennVenn 256M Rom Compiler where I only replaced the Menu.gb before.
With the BennVenn menu.gb it is possible to create up to 16 games with memory function.
On the homepage of BennVenn you can find under the point BennVenn Multi-ROM compiler for 256M carts (16save bugfix)

hello ，Can you share this software “BennVenn Multi-ROM compiler” ，This download is no longer available on the official website。

 

[FAST6191]

hello ，Can you share this software “BennVenn Multi-ROM compiler” ，This download is no longer available on the official website。

archive.org appears to have something
https://web.archive.org/web/2020111.../0804/0095/files/256M.rar?9879398404582142434
https://web.archive.org/web/20181020105853/https://bennvenn.myshopify.com/pages/downloads might have newer versions as well on later pages.
Attached here as well


Edit. Re GBA stuff I seem to recall covering it in more depth in another thread around this time. Short version is same as the GB/GBC stuff above in that your flash cart has to support it, or you are going to spend a very long time coding things, scanning the ROM, testing things and hoping there is no exotic pointer calculating maths involved in the game somewhere that you discover after everything else is done in a herculean effort that is solved by "buy a real flash cart" for everybody else. Slim exception maybe for some ? in 1 games where you could wipe out the first or transplant a later one.

 

[jjsl]

archive.org appears to have something
https://web.archive.org/web/2020111.../0804/0095/files/256M.rar?9879398404582142434
https://web.archive.org/web/20181020105853/https://bennvenn.myshopify.com/pages/downloads might have newer versions as well on later pages.
Attached here as well


Edit. Re GBA stuff I seem to recall covering it in more depth in another thread around this time. Short version is same as the GB/GBC stuff above in that your flash cart has to support it, or you are going to spend a very long time coding things, scanning the ROM, testing things and hoping there is no exotic pointer calculating maths involved in the game somewhere that you discover after everything else is done in a herculean effort that is solved by "buy a real flash cart" for everybody else. Slim exception maybe for some ? in 1 games where you could wipe out the first or transplant a later one.

thank you. you are right,it is impossible to make a multigame on a undefinite cart