Hacking mGBA Discussion Thread

sj33

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I've created this topic because I've just tried the latest nightly build and it seems we've had some massive improvements over the past few days. Sonic Advance is now FULL SPEED, as is Sonic Advance 3. In other words, mGBA on the Vita is now a viable emulator.

I recommend everybody check out the latest nightly.

Where can we download the latest nighty? How often is it updated?

You can get the latest nightly from here, updated daily at 13:00 UTC. It doesn't specify which version you are downloading however, so just download once daily.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/mgba/mGBA-nightly-latest-vita.7z

Where should we put our roms?

Anywhere you want. Remember that if you put them anywhere in ux0:/pspemu/PSP/, you'll be able to use the same roms with ePSP/VHBL emulators such as gpSP.

Super Mario World doesn't work! It just shows a black screen!

mGBA doesn't seem to like the cracktro used at the beginning of the US dump by Mode7. Use the EUR release dumped by Cezar instead. Do this also if you have trouble with any roms showing a black screen - the cracktro might be breaking it to try another dump.

Do zip roms work?

It seems they don't, for now. They crash the emulator. You may save a bit of space by trimming your roms. http://eden.fm/ndstoykotrim/

Can we change the screen size? Or get rid of the border?

Use the square button to do this. We don't seem to be able to map 1:1 yet, however.

Do we need a bios?

No. In fact, although the emulator does support bios loading, it doesn't seem to work.

How can we access the configuration menu? Can we load and save states?

Use the triangle button.

Does this use dynarec?

We don't know, although I doubt it because dynarec is not utilised on other formats such as the 3DS. It seems to just be very good emulation!
 
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ArugulaZ

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This is good news. mGBA ran rather poorly before. If it's improved that much, I'm inclined to give it a second chance.
 

sj33

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I agree - it was still unusably slow before. I tried the latest nightly today out of boredom and am blown away by the improvement!

The best non-LibRetro emulator on the Vita right now.
 

ErniShinny

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It would be wise to post a link of some sort for those who are not aware of the thread. I mean in the emulation section. Something like a Q&A.
 
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ArugulaZ

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I just tried this myself. It does indeed run incredibly well; more than playable. So far every official game I've tried is smooth as silk. My old GORF homebrew crashes, but it's never played nice with emulators other than VBA.
 

sj33

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Sorry for the double post. Updated the main post with information about zip roms, They DON'T work, although trimmed roms DO.
 

sj33

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What games have you tested?

So far, the following games have run almost perfect for me, minor drops aside:

Sonic Advance
Sonic Advance 3
Golden Sun
Donkey Kong Country
Donkey Kong Country 3
Yoshi's Island
F-Zero Maximum Velocity

The following games have dropped enough frames for it to be a problem:

Super Mario World.

Added more info to the OP. For people unable to load Mario World, avoid the dump by Mode7 - use the dump by Cezar instead.
 

ErniShinny

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Can confirm that:
Pokemon Fire Red - 60fps
Yu-Gi-Oh! the Sacred Cards - 60fps
Yu-Gi-Oh! the Reshef of Destruction - 60 fps (renders the intro movie correctly)

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ErniShinny

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More games:
Metroid Fusion - 60 fps (minor sound glitches)
Megaman Battle Network 2 - 55fps (sound glitches)
Megaman Battle Network 6: cyber beast gregar - 53 fps (sound glitches)
Metroid Zero Mission - 50 fps (sound glitches)

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ErniShinny

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I use the mgba atomic (recent nightly build from endrift) just in case :)

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