Homebrew How to make gba emulator run full speed

[Shadow#1]

It's using the GBA hardware built into the 3DS so yes, stable and fullspeed. The autor has not released it yet likely due to needing polish here and there but in my tests it was pretty much perfect.

Um the autor is Nintendo

 

[AmandaRose]

Emerald needs to be patched for 32k saves to not have issues with saving.

Someone should probably add that to the compatibility list as I don't see it meantioned.

 

[pivix]

EZ-Flash Omega has save states

I don't think so. I damaged my save file few times while using save state (maybe it was because I tried to load SS shortly after saving ?).

 

[TurdPooCharger]

Emerald needs to be patched for 32k saves to not have issues with saving.

This was a true statement at one point. Luckily, not anymore!

Pokémon: Emerald Version can be injected in NSUI beta 27 using the Rom save type:

• Flash 1Mbit (Macronix, ID: 0x09C2) + RTC

-or-

• Flash 1Mbit (Sanyo, ID: 0x1362) + RTC

The SRAM save type patching for certain games made with Ultimate GBA VC injector for 3DS was a thing before AuroraWright (Luma3DS dev) found out this.

• [r/3dshacks] AGB Mode discoveries

Edit - Opps. Wrong link. Meant to post the follow-up.

• [r/3dshacks] 1 Mbit AGB_FIRM lennies ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 

[tfocosta]

It's using the GBA hardware built into the 3DS so yes, stable and fullspeed. The autor has not released it yet likely due to needing polish here and there but in my tests it was pretty much perfect.

That's pretty cool! Thanks for sharing your experience. May test it at some point!

 

[ghjfdtg]

Emerald needs to be patched for 32k saves to not have issues with saving.

Or you use the correct flash 1 Mbit save type. Which is supported by the hardware

 

[The Real Jdbye]

This was a true statement at one point. Luckily, not anymore!

Pokémon: Emerald Version can be injected in NSUI beta 27 using the Rom save type:

• Flash 1Mbit (Macronix, ID: 0x09C2) + RTC

-or-

• Flash 1Mbit (Sanyo, ID: 0x1362) + RTC

The SRAM save type patching for certain games made with Ultimate GBA VC injector for 3DS was a thing before AuroraWright (Luma3DS dev) found out this.

• [r/3dshacks] AGB Mode discoveries

Edit - Opps. Wrong link. Meant to post the follow-up.

• [r/3dshacks] 1 Mbit AGB_FIRM lennies ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Neat. So what was all that about 128KB saves being impossible in open_agb_firm?

 

[placebo_yue]

Did i hear only?

interesting, i wasn't aware of this. It uses 3DS's native support right?

a .CIA release wouldn't hurt.. i don't know how to compile this thing on my own, and having GBArunner2 already running just fine i don't see the point in trying it. But it's still cool to have options

 

[ghjfdtg]

It's not regular homebrew. It's meant to run as FIRM file. And the advantages it has over GBARunner2 is the full screen resolution is available (the 3DS GPU is available for improving scaling and the full 240x400 pixels) and it's 100% accurate for all working games.

 

[DSoryu]

Um the autor is Nintendo

You didn't check what it is right?

 

[Rahkeesh]

Isn't that just an open source replacement for Nintendo's firmware? As in you would still need a VC Inject to actually run anything at the moment? Being open source offers devs more options in the future, but it doesn't sound like it offers any advantage to end users right now.

 

[ghjfdtg]

It doesn't load VC injects at all. It has a crappy file browser to load games directly.

The autor is sometimes uploading test builds in the issues if someone wants to try. The last one in a closed issue.

 

[DSoryu]

Isn't that just an open source replacement for Nintendo's firmware? As in you would still need a VC Inject to actually run anything at the moment? Being open source offers devs more options in the future, but it doesn't sound like it offers any advantage to end users right now.

No, it can load roms directly from the SD, so you don't need to inject the roms anymore, and is a bare metal implementation.

 

[TurdPooCharger]

Neat. So what was all that about 128KB saves being impossible in open_agb_firm?

Beats me. All I know is that open_agb_firm isn't AGB_FIRM. Whatever black magic profi200 is up to and has in store for his re-imagined or take of the 3DS system's GBA hypervisor, only he and close associates in the GodMode9 discord channel can answer.

He has a callout for those to come up with a potentially new name for his project if anyone's interested.

• Project name change

I was thinking about submitting some entries borrowing the naming schemes from Robz8's TWiLight Menu or GNU/Linux/BSD/free/opensource. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

• GBA_loader
• AGB Menu++
• FreeAGB
• OpenAGB

 

[placebo_yue]

It's not regular homebrew. It's meant to run as FIRM file. And the advantages it has over GBARunner2 is the full screen resolution is available (the 3DS GPU is available for improving scaling and the full 240x400 pixels) and it's 100% accurate for all working games.

So how do i run FIRM files? how do i use this thing?

 

[ghjfdtg]

Beats me. All I know is that open_agb_firm isn't AGB_FIRM. Whatever black magic profi200 is up to and has in store for his re-imagined or take of the 3DS system's GBA hypervisor, only he and close associates in the GodMode9 discord channel can answer.

He has a callout for those to come up with a potentially new name for his project if anyone's interested.

• Project name change

I was thinking about submitting some entries borrowing the naming schemes from Robz8's TWiLight Menu or GNU/Linux/BSD/free/opensource. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

• GBA_loader
• AGB Menu++
• FreeAGB
• OpenAGB

There is no magic regarding Flash 1M support as far as i know: https://www.3dbrew.org/wiki/3DS_Virtual_Console#Config below the table.

So how do i run FIRM files? how do i use this thing?

Through Luma's chainloader, GodMode9 or using fastboot3DS as bootloader (instead of boot9strap).

 

[TurdPooCharger]

There is no magic regarding Flash 1M support as far as i know: https://www.3dbrew.org/wiki/3DS_Virtual_Console#Config below the table.

Yah, I kinda already covered that point back in post #24. That wiki entry is for the AGB_FIRM (3DS system's official GBA firmware/hypervisor). This is not to be confused with open_agb_firm (profi200's homebrew GBA hypervisor).

Due to lack of familiarity or firsthand experience with this new project, I didn't know how to answer Jdbye's question on whether or not open_agb_firm supports Flash 1 Mbit save types. (It does btw, made quick saves in Pokemon - Emerald.)

Here's a publicly available test build of open_agb_firm if you're curious to try it out.

• [GitHub, open_agb_firm] Save detection #1

 

[ghjfdtg]

From what i can gather from the source it uses no emulation or hypervisor at all. It just straight loads the game and the GBA hardware does everything else. This is about as accurate as it can get assuming Nintendo did a good job implementing the cartridge and save hardware.