Visual Boy Advance Version 1.7.2 Port to Wii - GBA Emu for Wii

[wraggster]

Emu kidid (http://www.tehskeen.com/forums/showpost.php?p=29321&postcount=84) has released the first GBA Emulator for the Nintendo Wii, heres the release details:


Here's a beta version just to show how progress is going.

It requires a SDGecko though cause I haven't come across a decent enough front
SD library to use (which supports writing+LFN's)

The GUI is non-existent at this stage as it is just a quick hack together of things,
however it should still be usable.

Source is included in case I don't find the time to move further on with coding this.


Code:
Visual Boy Advance Version 1.7.2 Port to Wii

Please note, this is just a WIP build for testing. I'm not responsible for anyones
SD cards becoming corrupted/formatted/etc.

Features:
SD Gecko ROM loading (for now)
SD Gecko Native save/load support
Gamecube PAD support only (for now)
Up to 32mb (256MBIT) ROM support

Usage:
- Place all ROMS on the SDCARD in /VBA/ROMS/
- Create a directory /VBA/SAVES/
- Place your BIOS.GBA in /VBA/BIOS/ (if you have one)
- Boot boot.elf with the tp loader (or whatever else).
- Once loaded, put the SDCARD into your SDGecko (SlotA) and press A.
- Load a ROM, enjoy.
- To access the ingame menu, press X+Y.
- For now, you'll have to exit to the loader to load another ROM.
- To save your game, after saving in a game, go to the menu and then save.
- Saves are loaded automatically if they are found.

The source is provided but I've set the optimization level to -O0 so you can
compile it on dkPPC r14 (but it won't be 100% speed).
To compile this properly, it was quite a mess, as I had to use dkPPC R13 to
compile GBA.cpp and then R14 for the rest.. I'll try to sort out the issues, but for
now, the binary provided works fine.

Thanks to:
Forgotten for VBA (http://vba.ngemu.com/)
shagkur/Wintermute for libOGC
bushing,segher,tmbinc for making wii homebrew possible
softdev for his GC port of VBA172

Download and Give Feeedback and Compatability Reports Via Comments

[supersoni88]

AWWW i need an SD gekko D:
i'll just wait for front SD support
:(

[____anders____]

AWWW i need an SD gekko D:
i'll just wait for front SD support
:(

me too..

[DimensionT]

Shouldn't be too long. Someone will either pick up on the source or help this guy do what he needs to add front SD support.

I'm really looking forward to it.

[Nintendo Maniac 64]

Aww dang it, even when this gets front SD support, I won't be able to use my GBA saves from my M3 Perfect Lite because the M3 has them stored in the folder "GAMESAVE" >_<

(note, I use the same SD card for Wii and DS homebrew so I won't have to replicate saves, music, etc.)

[DPyro]

For some odd reason, my front SD is broke ie. spring doesn't pop the card back out, so I have to use tweezers :(

[____anders____]

that's too bad your spring is broken..
or you can use the TCP loader ;) hehe
maybe it's good, i haven't had the time to test it yet though..

[slipknot1564]

Can't wait front front sd support

[DarkUser89]

add front SD ^^

[Auriono]

Any news on updating this?

[linkinworm]

dam the sorce is messy, i can hardly read it, what am i ment to open it up with? im useing notepad at the moment, but everyting just seems to be one big mess, i cant tell whats what, and im not sorting through it

[tehnoir]

Notepad = bad option to view it with. I think it has to do with how it handles the carriage returns. Go grab notepad++. Great free, open-source app for working with code.
Sourcforge Page (http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm)

[mooseknuckle2000]

*bump*
I'm dying for front sd support.....any news?
please...please...please

[rokumanxes]

Same here.
FRONT SD, FRONT SD!

*Starts mob*

[PeyeRate420]

you guys are all telling the wrong thread ;) tell emu kidd here at the source!

http://www.tehskeen.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5356

[tehnoir]

you guys are all telling the wrong thread ;) tell emu kidd here at the source!

http://www.tehskeen.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5356

Not cute. Bitching about the lack of certain features isn't a great way to show appreciation to the dev nor is it a good way to try and get the feature implemented. For you to encourage such behavior is disgraceful.

[rokumanxes]

Not cute. Bitching about the lack of certain features isn't a great way to show appreciation to the dev nor is it a good way to try and get the feature implemented. For you to encourage such behavior is disgraceful.

Well now, that's not exactly the easiest thing to do now, is it?

Appreciating their work, I mean.

It's hard to do that without being able to use
it first.

So please... You sound more like you're bitching than us. We can't appreciate what we're unable to use,
so don't expect me to be giving him an award for the work that can't be used.

I've not even seen this work, so I'm not totally certain it does, or if, how well.

Thanks for understanding. Hopefully.

[DimensionT]

The fact that you can't use it isn't anyone's problem but yours.

What Tehnoir said is right. The author knows what people want. Loads of people asking him to add it isn't going to do anything other then piss him off.

[tehnoir]

It's hard to do that without being able to use
it first.

So please... You sound more like you're bitching than us. We can't appreciate what we're unable to use,
so don't expect me to be giving him an award for the work that can't be used.

I've not even seen this work, so I'm not totally certain it does, or if, how well.

Thanks for understanding. Hopefully.

Sorry, I guess I didn't realize that lack of FrontSD support made this application completely useless.

It was also very naive of me to not consider the opinions and feelings of those who haven't even used this.

I'm hoping to get more insight into your perspective: Once FrontSD is supported, will people then find this unusable due to a lack of Wiimote support? I just want to know so I don't jump to the same crazy conclusions when people start demanding for that after a FrontSD version has been released.

Hopefully emu_kidid won't put out another release until it has every feature that everybody wants...you know, a release we can actually use.

[rokumanxes]

The fact that you can't use it isn't anyone's problem but yours.

What Tehnoir said is right. The author knows what people want. Loads of people asking him to add it isn't going to do anything other then piss him off.

Or perhaps he'll see it and think, "hmm... that's a good idea. It would allow others to view and offer useful input to my hard work."

All I'm saying is, if it can be done, which it can,
why not do it?

And no, it would not be 'useless' without wiimote support. That's stupid. While it's nice to not have to use a gc controller, at least it will be able to be tested.

Why should anyone buy an SDgecko when front SD support could be implemented quite easily.

I can't offer any other input to this until I at least SEE it running.
For all I know, it doesn't.

Thank you.

[PeyeRate420]

paradox and his friends on the spanish devs are looking into this for us ;) he just wanted to know if we could provide him with the source of both the port and the original PC version source and he will have them look into this (BTW paradox is a very active member of this scene...the GBA scene...The DS scene... I personally think the spanish developers are doing alot more for the "front SD" and "wiimote" than the officials but each to there own though im sure to be judged i wont be judging ive found it a waste to argue here...however i will speak my peace and let you argue About that if you have nothing better to do...

All im saying is i have a lot of faith in the spanish devs for the future of wiibrew :P they are more like the psp scene developers :P

ALSO for the record Emu_Kidd is just TOO BUSY with mupen 64 to bother adding front sd support if you HAD followed the link you would see the comment he made to me last at tehskeen describing what needs to be done for front sd loading to be a reality! he has said its very much able to be done but if we wait for him we have to be patient...if we provide the source to our spanish friends however they may well be able to create a unofficial build to tie us over and the folks at tehskeen tell us that we should try if we dont want to wait...askot himself said that "if you want sd support then do it yourself" i beleave was the snooty quote we got when asking about updates Emu_Kidd was the only person not being prudish it seemed....

[hjfbv1]

ya really, isnt the source out? for both the macintosh and wii versions (i say mac cause mac uses powerpc like the wii.)
if u ppl want front sd loding, do it urself.

i say this cause i want emu_kid to finish wii64 asap:P

[jmack19]

How well does this work?

[tehnoir]

ya really, isnt the source out? for both the macintosh and wii versions (i say mac cause mac uses powerpc like the wii.)


Um...I don't believe it works quite like that.

[PeyeRate420]

your right bro it does'nt emulation is a bit tricky (hopefully PaRaDoX's frinds over at eltrolarado can help the gba with front loading :) we will have to see!) where as homebrew already has a few nice libraries :) ;) have a look at development as it happens by typing " wiibrew " in your fav search engine go to the site and have a look around ;) theres things like grrlib for new developers also avalable is a brand new library VFSlib 0.1a A simple library to read from different sources, like KDE's KIO by frontier