Hacking TempGBA: NDSGBA revival

[mrtofu]

deleted

 

[CrashnBrn]

I found a strange issue. When I install TEMPGBA, after I exit out to the main 3DS XL menu, I can no longer get back into the dstwo card without physically ejecting the card and putting it back in.

If I remove the TEMPGBA folder and plugins everything works normally.

 

[Deleted member 319809]

I found a strange issue. When I install TEMPGBA, after I exit out to the main 3DS XL menu, I can no longer get back into the dstwo card without physically ejecting the card and putting it back in.

If I remove the TEMPGBA folder and plugins everything works normally.

I don't really know about the 3DS stuff, but it sounds like a general case of "DSTwo acts up and isn't recognised until powerdown/powerup or is recognised only 33.3repeating% of the time on a 3DS". There were some threads about those issues in /NDS/Flashcarts/Supercard.

 

[CrashnBrn]

I don't really know about the 3DS stuff, but it sounds like a general case of "DSTwo acts up and isn't recognised until powerdown/powerup or is recognised only 33.3repeating% of the time on a 3DS". There were some threads about those issues in /NDS/Flashcarts/Supercard.

So I did some further testing, just to see exactly what the issue is. It looks like the ROM i was trying to play was causing it. After switching to another ROM (same game) the issue went away. A bit strange but I guess that's all it was.

Edit: After skinning the issue came back. I don't know....

 

[Deleted member 319809]

So I did some further testing, just to see exactly what the issue is. It looks like the ROM i was trying to play was causing it. After switching to another ROM (same game) the issue went away. A bit strange but I guess that's all it was.

Edit: After skinning the issue came back. I don't know....

Looks more and more like a general "3DS and DSTwo" issue. Please search for "3DS" in /NDS/Flashcarts/Supercard to see whether you can find a workaround for the issue or get your DSTwo exchanged.

 

[nl255]

Well TempGBA works fine for me now though I did notice that PocketNES doesn't even show up and will cause the emulator to lock up entirely requiring a power down.

 

[holakingkong]

Your report is incomplete. Please see post #451.

thanks for your reply nebuleon,but what must i do to complete my report ?

from your post it say it,s recommended to post the pic of error form lower touch screen.

or can this help ?
Exception 04: unaligned load exception
at address 80116838
lw $5, 4($5)
= lw $5, 0x4($5)

Registers:
2: 00000069
3: 000000CC

version beta 13 (first time i try beta 14 and now i try beta 13 to find if it can work,but the same error happen when first time select a game)
Commit d373639

 

[Aeter]

Just finished testing Fire Emblem (E) (Rising Sun) on TempGBA β14.
Results at 0 frameskip:

• Main menu and intro don't run smoothly, music is garbled.
• Wait screen (that shows you the classes) runs smoothly.
• Cut scenes before and after chapter are smooth if they are the regular type of cut scenes.
  • The cut scene with the map doesn't run smoothly.
  • Cut scenes different from regular ones after map scene, can run smoothly, differs per cut scene.
• On the battle map everything runs smoothly except for effects like healing and temporary stat boosts. Using a vulnerary and such.

Results at 1 frameskip:

• Everything runs smooth 29/30 FPS constantly, as far as I've tested.

So I recommend using frameskip 1 for a smooth game experience.

Will test Sacred Stones now.

Results at 0 frameskip:

• Intro is a bit garbled at first two characters (Ephraim and Eirika) rest of intro is smooth.
• Main screen seems to be running smooth, wait screen with classes a little less smooth.
• Main menu is not smooth.
• The map with all the places and castles is not smooth.
• Battle map and screens run smooth, same problem as Fire Emblem with vulnerary stuff.

Results at 1 frameskip:

• Everything runs smooth except main menu, but only a little bit.

I recommend playing at 1 frameskip.

Shall I also try them on NDSGBA 1.21?

 

[Deleted member 319809]

thanks for your reply nebuleon,but what must i do to complete my report ?

from your post it say it,s recommended to post the pic of error form lower touch screen.


version beta 13 (first time i try beta 14 and now i try beta 13 to find if it can work,but the same error happen when first time select a game)
Commit d373639

That actually doesn't complete the report, now that I look at post #682, but yes, the exact commit (d373639) was what I was looking for. Thanks.

None of us can actually reproduce a Guru Meditation crash that happens when "loading any game (#682)", clearly. Aeter just used beta 13 & 14 to test Fire Emblem games, and if there was really a Guru Meditation screen when loading "any game", then he would have failed. I would also fail to test any game before I shipped a version.

Can you be very specific about which games are "any" - i.e. which ones did you test? What size is your version of TempGBA.plg in /_dstwoplug on your card? What options did you use to reformat your card? Does "Loading..." appear before loading a game crashes the emulator? Does the first frame of the game appear before the crash?

 

[geishroy]

I really have to complement this project, Castlevania Aria of Sorrow was already playable before on NDSGBA, but now it plays remarkably well, full speed and almost smooth.
Metroid Zero Mission played very well as well, kudos you guys you really took Team Supercard's source code above and beyond.

careful with zero mission and the other one. I have random audio cracking and freezing from time to time. save often.

however the emulator is light years better than what I expected it to become. so ty devs.

 

[RupeeClock]

careful with zero mission and the other one. I have random audio cracking and freezing from time to time. save often.

however the emulator is light years better than what I expected it to become. so ty devs.

Although I really commend this project, I don't imagine myself playing with TempGBA very often with the state of my DSi, the d-pad and shoulder buttons sadly are not as responsive as they once were, and the project still has a way to go.

I will sooner be using a GCW Zero for GBA emulation, that should handle it superbly.

 

[Deleted member 319809]

Although I really commend this project, I don't imagine myself playing with TempGBA very often with the state of my DSi, the d-pad and shoulder buttons sadly are not as responsive as they once were, and the project still has a way to go.

I will sooner be using a GCW Zero for GBA emulation, that should handle it superbly.

I agree with this, if only because its CPU is such a powerhouse - but do keep in mind that, until/unless someone picks my changes, the GCW Zero version will be essentially gpSP 0.9 by Exophase with a more efficient scaler. That means that the Golden Suns, Mario Golf and Tennis, Doom II and Duke Nukem Advance might not run so well, Golden Sun 2 will crash in battles at random and have odd-sounding audio that overlaps itself, Tales of Phantasia might or might not get past its title screen, Mario Kart might wharrgarbl, and a few odds and ends like translation gates.

 

[RupeeClock]

I agree with this, if only because its CPU is such a powerhouse - but do keep in mind that, until/unless someone picks my changes, the GCW Zero version will be essentially gpSP 0.9 by Exophase with a more efficient scaler. That means that the Golden Suns, Mario Golf and Tennis, Doom II and Duke Nukem Advance might not run so well, Golden Sun 2 will crash in battles at random and have odd-sounding audio that overlaps itself, Tales of Phantasia might or might not get past its title screen, Mario Kart might wharrgarbl, and a few odds and ends like translation gates.

I'm quite aware, gpSP in its current state needs quite a bit of care still to be as good as it can be. I'm hoping that developers like Notaz (of Picodrive and PCSX ReARMed fame) and Exophase will be attracted to the GCW Zero scene, or at least contribute in some way, but otherwise someone else might always pick up gpSP development for the GCW Zero. d_smagin has already done work for the GCW Zero release of Picodrive, which used an older version of 1.53b I believe, the last version which had its source released. The latest build was 1.9.

In any case TempGBA is a case of how far an emulator can go when give the time, care and effort it needs, and I still have to commend this project.

 

[AngryGeek416]

I just wanna say thank you guys very much for this many games work much better and the gui and all the customization is a beauty keep up the good work. A screen stretch option would be icing on the cake!!

 

[d.d.d.]

Oh!

You touch the Touch Screen. And in the menu itself, you can assign a hotkey to the action of bringing up the menu. See /Tools/Global hotkeys.../Return to menu. By default, none is assigned, but you can assign, say, the X key.

Thank you. I think when I was playing a GBA game and I wanted to reset, I just used the old soft-reset that my CycloDS had (all 6 buttons) and I couldn't figure out a combination at first.
I've set it up in there and it works great now. Nice options in those menus too BTW. I love the re-mappable buttons.

One thing I was going to ask after playing with the emulator a bit more now, the CPU speed seems settable per game but, how about a default global option for CPU speed? I just figured that while the emulator is still in beta, it might be good to give it more power for keeping the frame rate up.

 

[Deleted member 319809]

One thing I was going to ask after playing with the emulator a bit more now, the CPU speed seems settable per game but, how about a default global option for CPU speed? I just figured that while the emulator is still in beta, it might be good to give it more power for keeping the frame rate up.

-> Post #397

 

[holakingkong]

That actually doesn't complete the report, now that I look at post #682, but yes, the exact commit (d373639) was what I was looking for. Thanks.

None of us can actually reproduce a Guru Meditation crash that happens when "loading any game (#682)", clearly. Aeter just used beta 13 & 14 to test Fire Emblem games, and if there was really a Guru Meditation screen when loading "any game", then he would have failed. I would also fail to test any game before I shipped a version.

Can you be very specific about which games are "any" - i.e. which ones did you test? What size is your version of TempGBA.plg in /_dstwoplug on your card? What options did you use to reformat your card? Does "Loading..." appear before loading a game crashes the emulator? Does the first frame of the game appear before the crash?

thanks for your help looks like i solved it even i don,t know if it is limitation of this emulator or bug
what i do is delete all my 103 folder game in tempgba / games and left pokemon diamond and pearl
after that when i press load game list it work and play pokemon diamond flawless (well just try for a few minute)

so i have few question
is this emulation have a limit how many game it can load ?
or is it because there is some game that make error screen appear when i try to load game list to play ?

thx for your help,this emulator is fabolous and terrific.
really love to play gba in my dsi xl

 

[AngryGeek416]

Im doing a side by side comparison of TEMPGBA beta 14 and GPSP Kai 3.4 Test 3 Build 152 on the PSP and i have to say TEMPGBA runs better it plays both golden sun games better, mario tennis, mario golf, max payne, botaki games run with no lag either. The only game so far that havn't worked are GTA advance black screen after dialog and Pokemon Pinball white screen as soon as you start it up. Impressed.

 

[Deleted member 319809]

thanks for your help looks like i solved it even i don,t know if it is limitation of this emulator or bug
what i do is delete all my 103 folder game in tempgba / games and left pokemon diamond and pearl
after that when i press load game list it work and play pokemon diamond flawless (well just try for a few minute)

so i have few question
is this emulation have a limit how many game it can load ?
or is it because there is some game that make error screen appear when i try to load game list to play ?

thx for your help,this emulator is fabolous and terrific.
really love to play gba in my dsi xl

I have no idea what happened there. The limit for the file browser is 512, which is more than 103. However, I don't know how the emulator reacts to 103 folders as opposed to 103 files.

 

[d.d.d.]

Not that many games need the extra CPU cycles, and it's better for power consumption if most games run with a reduced CPU frequency - you can raise the CPU frequency yourself if you see it not run well. I had a post explaining why I left the default at 360 MHz, but I can't find it anymore.

Basically, classified by emulation difficulty, there are the "easy" games, which need only 240 MHz to run at 60 FPS; the "medium" games, which need about 360 MHz and crackle once in a blue moon; and the "hard" games, for which 396 MHz isn't even enough. I left the default at 360 MHz because there are more easy and medium games than hard.

Oh, I see. Maybe there should be a CPU speed category on the TEMPGBA compatibility page easier help identify what are "easy/medium" games versus the ones that are still "hard" in emulation?
Thanks for clarifying that though. And the progress in the emulator.