PDA

View Full Version : GBA Emu for DC Update



DCEmu_Newsposter
January 1st, 1970, 01:00
Ian Michael has posted some great screenshots of the new GBA emu running on his Dreamcast, also he posted this:[br][br]I just got a 8 meg rom to load CASTLE VANIA circle of the moon. It loads Wow dude. Did you try this game. Grafix are messed once you get into the game but it does load and display the title screen [br] [br]Seems some 8 meg games load. [br][br]Check out all the screenshots on this [br] Page (http://www.dcemu.co.uk/gbaemu.shtml) [br][br]Thanks Ian for the screenshots and news, keep it coming. :)[br][br]infact heres more from Ian[br][br]"Ok Ive tested the emulator. It's Amazing to see this running on the dc. Surprizing was it loaded every game i tryed under 4 meg Seems to load the same compatable wize which is great. Menus work, settings and look rather nice colours were a bit off on the menus but perfect when playing games. [br][br]Game speed is about 5 to 10 fps at a guess. On retail games i tryed. I will be taking some photos and puting them up here for him. Emulator is very promising brought a tear to my eye to see the impossable brought to life by Troy davis GPF. Playing with the settings sound does work just sounds wrong did not really effect speed it seems ."[br][br]Cool Stuff

[Modified 05/12/04 18:34:36 by DCEmu_Newsposter]

wraggster
May 12th, 2004, 18:29
cant wait to find out more, wheres GPF and Ian or anyone else when ya need em :)

Darksaviour69
May 12th, 2004, 18:30
my guess, sleeping ;)

wraggster
May 12th, 2004, 18:35
id love to know how fast homebrew is running and whats compatible so far :)

wraggster
May 12th, 2004, 18:46
The Dreamcast scene is on the up :)

anyone tried and what frames per sec etc is possible?

/me looks at GPF and Ian :)

Ian_micheal
May 12th, 2004, 18:55
Can you post some links to some gba homebrew games i should try I dont have any idea were to find any lol When i look i find real roms.

Dr._Zoidberg
May 12th, 2004, 18:59
Try http://www.gbaemu.com/ & http://www.devrs.com/gba/

wraggster
May 12th, 2004, 19:00
http://xboxevo.netfirms.com/gameboyadvance.shtml
318 legal roms to play with :)
l

GPF
May 12th, 2004, 19:02
Got 2 hours sleep last night :)

Now I am at work, but I am working on GBA :) don't tell my boss :)

Actually I can only compile it at work, my home computer doesn't have enough memory to compile the code. And my computer at home is an old Athlon 700 mhz, I got a 2 gighz pentium at work. Still takes about 30 minutes to compile :)

Also I noticed on the new GBA page you created it has information about Chanka :)

I have only tried a couple of PD roms - found a cool port of frogger. I orignally ported the GP32 port of the GBA emulator to the PC and then ported that to the dreamcast.

I ran into some problems along the way, the precompiled sh-elf cygwin tools kept blowing up trying to compile it, so I ended up setting up the DEV-CPP environment precompiled DCFreeDev 1.0 . Spent the next 10 minutes trying to figure out how to switch the language to English :)
Then I fixed and replaced the SDL lib for KOS 1.2.0 with all the patches so I could get sound partially working.

Here is a link to a bunch of PD gba roms
http://www.gameboypower.com/host/gameboy_advance_roms/

Troy

Ian_micheal
May 12th, 2004, 19:06
Just tryed pongfighter it was near playable Did not mess with the setting That was pretty cool little game. Thanks guys for the links.


Im liking the homebrew on gba first real time ive tryed it very cool As you said Troy frogger game is coolies.

wraggster
May 12th, 2004, 19:06
eek fixed the page :-[

nice to hear your still very active on it :)

wraggster
May 12th, 2004, 19:07
is controller support added in yet, oh also does sound make a massive difference to speed?

wraggster
May 12th, 2004, 19:12
my GBA-IQUE site at http://www.ique.netfirms.com has lots of gba downloads too ;)

Ian_micheal
May 12th, 2004, 19:14
No it's keyboard for now No sound has little impact on it Gba sound system is very basic.

Ebooks work.. hehe

wraggster
May 12th, 2004, 19:16
Ebooks are my favourite :)

I read Harry potter at work :)

wraggster
May 12th, 2004, 20:29
hopefully we will have some high quailty shots for you tonight :)

Propeller
May 13th, 2004, 09:55
Minimalistic offtopic: < I'm now finishing DCFreeDev 1.1 (english version). as you'd probably know, I'll be releasing it on MadriDC, but I'll release the english version before that date, probably on next week. There'll be lots of upgrades, as you may know... >

So, Mr. Troy, if you are willing to release the source code, I'd ask you to release also the .dev file, and the makefiles, so if anyone wanted to download it and compile with DCFreeDev 1.1, he'd be able to do it without changing anything.

Hope that you like the idea, I'm incredibly happy that DCFreeDev helped you on anything... Keep up the outstanding work! :)

Propeller

GPF
May 13th, 2004, 16:04
Yeah when I release it I will be releasing the source code since its GPL, which I will also include the .dev file and makefiles.

I only had to make a couple of changes to the DCFreeDev 1.0 setup for KOS 1.2.0, I needed the libpng header files and the zlib's zutil.h header files added. I can also send you my libSDL.a which has all of bero's SDL patches applied as well as my fix for SDL cdaudio.

Troy

Propeller
May 13th, 2004, 16:11
I DO really appreciate you offer. Please, send them to me as soon as possible to [email protected] (500 KB limit, please drop me a mail to that account if you have problems to send me the libraries, I'll give you another account)

A BIG (HUGE) THANK YOU, Troy!

Propeller

GPF
May 13th, 2004, 16:57
OK I sent it you the SDL lib.

Troy

wraggster
May 22nd, 2004, 13:45
Troy has the newest alpha got Controller support now, just about to try it now my Dreamcast is fully set up again :)

GPF
May 26th, 2004, 05:35
Little update.

I have added controller support when playing a game, I still have to implement controller support in the menus.

Need some suggestions on what the keys should be mapped as.

Currently I have the joystick mapped to directions. Left trigger is left shoulder button, Right trigger is right shoulder button. GBA - 'A" key is the X button on the dreamcast, and the GBA - 'B" key is the A button on the dreamcast, Start button - Start :) *and finally the select key is the Y button on the dreamcast.

Thanks,

Troy

wraggster
May 26th, 2004, 08:25
Cant wait to try this out :)

Has the speed seen any increase since later builds?

Keep up the good work :)

alexp2_ad
May 26th, 2004, 11:12
I would have the D-Pad mapped to directions as well, I think that works best for other emulators.

How about R+L+Start to return to the menu?

GinsuVictim
May 26th, 2004, 16:38
GPF:
You should map the A and B buttons the otherway.
X = B
A = A

This is more like the B-A setup of a GBA, and is similar to how SNES controllers use the buttons. (Like, X to make Mario run, A to make him jump - just like the BA setup of the NES controller)
See, the Nintendo controller universe has a continuity to it, so you can't mess with it ;D

BBS
May 26th, 2004, 17:57
I think you mapped it right, but can you take an option to remap the buttons, please? ;D

Because, the buttons of some games (like Castlevania) are mapped different in europe, usa and asia
Finally, i like to see and hear about the progress of your GBA emu for DC.

Keep the Dreamcast alive...

best regards
Roland K. (BB Software)

wraggster
May 26th, 2004, 19:23
Mapping buttons is a fine art, ive never been able to get on with half life because of the way the buttons are mapped, saying that it should be easy to get the right layout with this emu.

obelisk
May 26th, 2004, 21:10
ummm. i guess that if possible, could U have a re-map option, like nesterDC? X = B A= A that way the "feel" would kinda be down, 'cause on GBA, GBC, GB, NES the B is on the left. also, if you could put some control on the Dpad that would be more "standard" feeling. The Shoulder buttons, of course, L & R trigs. Menu maybe Ltrig + Rtrig + Start, like DCGnuBoy & NesterDC, but i dunno..... its easy to remember but i don't know hoot RE: programming so... I'll pipe it now.

stormm
May 27th, 2004, 00:23
ou est le liens

curt_grymala
May 27th, 2004, 11:29
A feature that I request in every emu/app/demo/game: Would it be possible to add an "exit" command somehow, that will restart the DC? Since I almost exclusively use DreamInducer, and I know a lot of other people out there do the same, it is really nice to be able to exit the emu and start over again when you want to play something else that's on the disc.

HombreMoska
May 30th, 2004, 03:23
I think a nice way to map the buttosn should be:
X = B
A = A
L Trigger = L
R Trigger = R
Start = Start
Y = Select

And I think that with the B button or with the analog stick you could acces the emu menu [Load Rom, Reset, Screen Position, Save/Load State (Temporary), Save/Load State (VMU) and all that stuff is needed for the emu]

wraggster
May 31st, 2004, 21:21
any news on progression or a new beta GPF :)

anytthing to take our minds off other releases :)

GPF
May 31st, 2004, 21:47
I have gotten controller support implemented for the menu's now.

I ended up using the D-pad for direction, X is the A button and A is the B button. Right and Left triggers are the left and right shoulder buttons and Y button is the Select button. Pressing Start, and the right and left triggers at the same time brings you back to the menu.

In the menu's d-pad for direction, dreamcast A button to select an menu option, and the Start button, returns you to the previous menu, or back to the game if you are at the main menu.

I have been playing alot of Dangerous Xmas, with throttle and frameskip, it plays pretty good. I am having a blast playing it.

Still a lot of work needs to be done for sound and for speed. Editting *the menu graphics, splash screen etc, is ready to be started.

Troy

wraggster
May 31st, 2004, 21:55
Pascal will be pleased your playing his game :)

alexp2_ad
June 3rd, 2004, 11:29
Great news ;)

Cant wait for more info on this, keep up the good work!

dice
June 4th, 2004, 20:16
ummm. *i guess that if possible, could U have a re-map option, like nesterDC? * X = B *A= A *that way the "feel" would kinda be down, 'cause on GBA, GBC, GB, NES the B is on the left. *also, if you could put some control on the Dpad that would be more "standard" feeling. * *The Shoulder buttons, of course, L & R trigs. *Menu maybe Ltrig + Rtrig + Start, like DCGnuBoy & NesterDC, but i dunno..... *its easy to remember but i don't know hoot RE: programming so... *I'll pipe it now.

I totally agree with this guy apart from a few things. First of I think the controls should be:

Left column = DC
Right column = GBA

Left Trigger * = Left Shoulder Button
Right Trigger = Right Shoulder Button
A = B
B = A* *
START = START
Y/X = SELECT
Y/X = ???

It should be like this (especially the A and B buttons) because they match the same area as the gba for where the buttons are layed out.

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/8886/43.gif

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/3795/195.jpg

MetaFox
June 4th, 2004, 20:38
It should be like this (especially the A and B buttons) because they match the same area as the gba for where the buttons are layed out.Except if you notice (and it's clear even on the image you linked), the a and b buttons are reversed on the GBA and DC. On the GBA, the B button is first. On the DC, the A button is first.

If you mapped A and B on the GBA to A and B on the Dreamcast, the button order would be reversed.

dice
June 4th, 2004, 21:20
yeah sorry about that, I was editing my reply when something came up :D

Alexvrb
June 4th, 2004, 23:31
He's right though, it would feel odd to use X and A.

vipor231
June 5th, 2004, 00:18
what is going on with this emulator,have not heard nothing on it in a while.

curt_grymala
June 5th, 2004, 02:41
Shouldn't the controller be mapped basically the way Nester and Gnuboy are mapped? Obviously you would need to add the functionality of the triggers, but that's about all you would need to change. The Gameboy itself uses A, B, Start and Select as a soft-reset command, so you could use that type of configuration to soft reset the emu (return to menu), or you could use the "two triggers and start" thing that Nester uses. Seems simple enough to me.

guymelef
June 5th, 2004, 06:52
yes I think that x and a should be used for the b and a buttons
as previously stated, you can look at nesterDC but you can also look at the super nintendo controller. most games used a similiar setup because it was a more ergonomic roll of the thumb and easier to hit both buttons at the same time. the b button would be held with the tip of the thumb and the a button with the joint of the thumb.
or you could just do your thing get the emu released and put it in the documentation for future releases along with screen resizing, full button mapping, sound options, optional *.txt loading from the vmu for on screen walkthroughs, pal-ntsc swithching, keyboard shortcuts and key controlls, mouse support for menu, online play, one touch saving, code breaker advance, and big breasted blondes. did I miss anything?

guymelef
June 5th, 2004, 06:56
and don't forget about the trigger sensitivity for the dreamcast as opposed the single action shoulder buttons of the gba. you get what I am saying. maybe some test screen that will let you know when the emu registers that the L R buttons are engaged like test lights for the controller config panel for windows. something that I wish all the fighting games for the dc had.

guymelef
June 5th, 2004, 06:58
but then again everyone knows that the PS dual shock 1/2 are the most superior controllers to date. building on the extrodinary success of the bigN's only kick ass controller the SNES controller. so compatibility blah blah third party acc..... blah blah blah
thank you for your suppport

MetaFox
June 5th, 2004, 08:47
but then again everyone knows that the PS dual shock 1/2 are the most superior controllers to date.That's just opinion. I prefer the Nintendo 64 controller over the Playstation controllers personally. They're sturdier, and they fit my hand like a glove.

Christuserloeser
June 5th, 2004, 10:16
Oh, great: A controller discussion! Now that this thread is going to be completly offtopic, I'd like to throw my two pence in:

Moved to Curt's Controller Discussion topic (http://www.dcemu.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=off;action=display;num=1086480973) ;D

Chris

Ian_micheal
June 5th, 2004, 11:41
best controler Geneis2 pal Australian 6 button. Light nice and great to use. I have never l liked anlog sticks. Ps2 is about the worst. Games using both sticks i think are almost useless to me.

Lately every new game does that. So now i have to rent them make sure it's not a 2 stick game.

Back on topic.

Some tests and idea's

Major problems with this emulator is the cpu is a very high clock speed. Ive tested VBA on a 200mmx intel pvr2 card very close to a dreamcast.

I got 31 to 47% speed on most games. No way to get fullspeed. But with frameskip and some compiler string it was completly playable but skipy.

So there is good hope. Troy If i was you i would look into geting rid of the SDL rending and interface. PVR and or store que's rending would be needed. And the cpu i would think underclocked and a data base of games made up homebrew ones.

Cant think of any other ways to speed it up.
Store Que's and kos rending is about2 to 4 fps faster.

So if done i say 4fps speed up by ditching the SDL rending.

guymelef
June 5th, 2004, 13:16
wow I didn't mean to start a debate about controllers but the post that I replied to was in refrence to controll options for the emu and I think that nesterDC and also Gnuboy had it right. because they let you switch between two popular controller configs. regardless of what grip your using

guymelef
June 5th, 2004, 13:19
but no reply on how dumb the rest of my ideas for all current\future emu. I though that text file loading was ingenious and would seriously kick ass for any emu that could play the poorly translated japenese rpgs {snes}

GPF
June 5th, 2004, 14:44
I totally agree with this guy apart from a few things. First of I think the controls should be:

Left column = DC
Right column = GBA

Left Trigger = Left Shoulder Button
Right Trigger = Right Shoulder Button
A = B
B = A
START = START
Y/X = SELECT
Y/X = ???

It should be like this (especially the A and B buttons) because they match the same area as the gba for where the buttons are layed out.

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/8886/43.gif

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/3795/195.jpg

Yeah I suspected as much its been awhile since I have played my son's GBA, so I couldn't quite remember the button layout.

I will try to implement it like you stated flipping the a,b :)

Right now I am using

X = B
A = A
L Trigger = L
R Trigger = R
Start = Start
Y = Select

which I prefer because of the ability to push both buttons at the same time easer.

Ian, yeah I am currently looking into how to use the pvr to do the rendering, but it might take awhile since I have never used 3d hardware, or textures.

curt_grymala
I haven't used the gnuboy and its been so long since I have used nesterdc - I don't remember the button layout. But I will look into adding the soft reset feature, its in the code now, just as a menu option. I am using the double trigger, start button combo to get to the menu.

guymelef - the txt file loading idea sounds neat, but I don't think I will looking into anything like that till I can get the core emulator running a little faster.

Also speaking of joysticks, I miss the old atairi/commodore joystick - 1 button, games were so much easier to play :)

Troy

wraggster
June 5th, 2004, 16:45
Thanks for the gba emu news ;)

as for controllers i prefer the xbox/dreamcast controllers over any others :)

bloodyskies
June 5th, 2004, 23:05
the DC controller is great for driving games, but I wasn't as impressed with other genre's. As for the analogue dual shock, I don't like the analogue buttons on v2 either, but then not all games use them like that. I use a dualshock on my PC via an adapter, and it's great for third person games, especially using two stick to run around in GTA3/VC. I was gutted when I got a PS2 and found I couldn't use the right stick to look around/change direction..

as for the GBA emulator layout, I think the point about the A+B buttons, DPAD and triggers is right, with A+B flipped to match the GBA. I actually find it a lot more difficult to hit two buttons on the verticle at the same time than on horizontal, so I'd hate that, but then again, if it's possible, the option to define your own controls would be a definite plus.

curt_grymala
June 6th, 2004, 02:04
Damn - I wish we had a split mod, so that we could split this topic. A discussion about favorite controllers is somewhat interesting, but really doesn't belong here.

Anyway - I think I will start a topic somewhere else so that we can talk about favorite controllers. I will post my comments there.

@GPF - The Nester/Gnuboy controls can be found at the Dreamcast Emulation Knowledge Base (http://dckb.dcevo.com/)

Here is a direct link to a description about the Nester controls:
http://dckb.dcevo.com/nesterdc_controls.htm

The only change I would really suggest, if possible, would be for you to allow us to choose whether to use the d-pad or the analog stick (similar to the way Super Famicast does).

Ian_micheal
June 6th, 2004, 12:11
I have the Same Problem or i try to help out with the video render . Not got to in to the PVR or 3d parts of the dreamcast.

I mostly use frame buffer which is to slow for most emulaton on dreamcast.

kingdagimus
June 8th, 2004, 22:55
any updates this sounds like it will be awesome and am just getting into GBA homebrew and would be GREAT to be able to play on dreamcast (saves fighting over puter use*L*

kingdagimus
June 11th, 2004, 21:34
is this thing still goin on not trying to rush just curious no word in a while :-[

guymelef
June 11th, 2004, 21:42
i know what you mean man the anticipation is killing me.
this way I don't have to fork out the 50 - 80 bucks for the tv adapter.
but it's only been a few days so give them some more time and don't forget that in the world of emulation a year aint nothing to wait for any kick ass emu. and coders usually get a little miffed when you start trying to put them on a time table.
just praise them for the gods they are and make sure to send them a post card.

wraggster
June 11th, 2004, 21:59
actually i might try the latest beta this weekend and give a review of my findings :)

kingdagimus
June 12th, 2004, 03:08
understand man for sure but please Devs understand I was only hopin for any update info etc.... just excited and Wraggster that would be cool just would like to know how its comin along *G*

vipor231
June 15th, 2004, 04:58
the dreamcast controller is cool and the xbox.the ps2 is pretty much regular playstation controller.its ok :|

GPF
June 15th, 2004, 17:31
Little update I have converted the SDL rendering to use DMA PVR instead for a couple of frame speedup. Still needs some work to either make the picture centered or stretch to fit the 320X240 screen, since the GBA resolution is 240X160.

I was able to get the GBA emulator running under Chanka .2a , if I use non DMA PVR rendering.

http://s101533388.onlinehome.us/GPF/chankadcvba.jpg

Troy

wraggster
June 15th, 2004, 20:03
Excellent news GPF

any speed increases?

MetaFox
June 15th, 2004, 20:32
Excellent news GPF

any speed increases?

Little update I have converted the SDL rendering to use DMA PVR instead for a couple of frame speedup.So, in otherwords - that'd be a yes. ;)

wraggster
June 15th, 2004, 20:55
sorry im really tired at the mo, ive so much to do and not enough time

warmtoe
June 15th, 2004, 22:28
When are we going to see a release of this excellent GBA emulator GPF? I want to take a look at the rendering code, see if I can tinker some ;)

Christuserloeser
June 16th, 2004, 20:15
Hey, Warmtoe! Welcome to DCEmu.co.uk :)


Chris

wraggster
June 16th, 2004, 20:41
Yeah welcome Warmtoe :)

i sent you a pm at dcemulation a few weeks ago, not sure if you got it?

im hoping to write a review of the GBA emu tonight once i get spare time. :)

vipor231
June 17th, 2004, 19:53
any reviews wraggster on the emulator?

Cap'n 1time
June 19th, 2004, 02:18
Its getting really hard to wait. Every time i think about it a get flutters in my stomache. :)

curt_grymala
June 20th, 2004, 08:55
Having tested this emu myself, here is my review:

This emulator is showing great promise. I am absolutely amazed to see GBA games running on my Dreamcast.

Currently, the games are running pretty slowly, but that is expected with any major undertaking like this.
I tested two different Arkanoid clones, and found that they are playable. 1BitBallWall and Arkanorb run pretty slowly, and with the frameskip turned on, the images are almost like a series of still images (the paddle and the ball will disappear from one spot, and appear in another). However, they are playable, as you can see where the ball is going to go, and you can direct the paddle in that direction.
When I played 1BitBallWall, everything seemed to be working the way it should, but when I played Arkanorb, the color pallette seemed to be off by quite a bit (the colors in Arkanorb were almost monochrome, which is not at all the way this game actually appears in Visual Boy Advance).
The menu system for the emu is set up very nicely, and is very easy to understand. The graphics for the menu system could probably use a little work, but that is the last thing I would worry about at the moment.
The controller is mapped very well.
The "Exit - Reboot Dreamcast" command seems to be currently only set up for people using coder's cables, as it did nothing but stop my Dreamcast (similar to hitting "Start" while using DreamInducer).
It appears that, at the moment, you can only play one game per session. Whenever I would return to the emu menu, and start a different game, the controls would stop working for me.


I hope that I have added some worthwhile information about this emulator, and that I have offered some helpful information to GPF. I will be testing this emu more intensively in the future, and trying many of the homebrew games that are available from GBAX.com and PDRoms.com.

BTW - If you are a fan of Arkanoid, and have not yet tried "Arkanorb", you really should. Of the 15 or 20 different Arkanoid clones I found on PDRoms.com, Arkanorb is by far the best one.

GPF
June 20th, 2004, 22:27
The graphics for the menu system could probably use a little work
Well if anyone wants to design some graphics for me I would be like to check them out.

The background graphic that is tiled across the screen is 32X24 256 colors.
The menu background which overlays the background graphics and has the writing on top of it is also 32X24 256 colors
and the Splash Screen is 160X120 256 colors which I would like to incorporate Visual Boy Advance/ Visual Troy Advance and the dreamcast Please only homebrew/freeware not copyrighted images only. thanks

The graphics sizes and colors are not that important except that they can't be bigger than 320X240 32 bit color, and the background images will be tiled across the screen.

I am currently working on fixing the controls when you start a second rom.


The "Exit - Reboot Dreamcast" command seems to be currently only set up for people using coder's cables

Yeah that what I use it for, but I think if you boot up the emulator from demomenu or something like that it should return you back to it. I think I maybe I should change the text to "Exit Emulator".

thanks again Curt for your excellent review - very helpful and informative.

Troy

guymelef
June 21st, 2004, 01:28
do your thing man, do your thing

curt_grymala
June 21st, 2004, 07:57
Well if anyone wants to design some graphics for me I would be like to check them out.

The background graphic that is tiled across the screen is 32X24 256 colors.
The menu background which overlays the background graphics and has the writing on top of it is also 32X24 256 colors
and the Splash Screen is 160X120 256 colors which I would like to incorporate Visual Boy Advance/ Visual Troy Advance and the dreamcast Please only homebrew/freeware not copyrighted images only. thanks

The graphics sizes and colors are not that important except that they can't be bigger than 320X240 32 bit color, and the background images will be tiled across the screen.

I will see what I can come up with. I don't know if I'll be able to come up with anything great or not, but I will probably give it a try.

Christuserloeser
June 21st, 2004, 10:31
Ive played the (Super) Bomberman Demo by Subbie and it runs too fast with Autoframeskip ;D

Good work it is!

About the other games that I've tested, Nebulus ran slow but flawless. SonyC Demo by Manuel Pazos was slow, somewhat playable but had a graphic display error: It didn't show the grass at the 'Green Hill Zone' (1st stage) and displayed a white border for it instead.

As this port of VBA is based of Chui's VBA32 for GP32 it might still have a lot of tweaks and optimizations applied that were specially made for the GP32 CPU. Further code changes and SH4 optimizations will allow a huge speed up, I guess :)

I'll give you some bugreport on other games soon. GBC seems to run at full speed without any acceleration and and frameskip turned off, sound & music turned on. I'll post a extended report about all my GBC games soon.
Currently I am not completly sure if the sound playback isn't already at a comparable level with DC GNUBoy, as I've only tested one game so far: Toki Tori (U) (seems that it crashed after I played around with the settings)
But as the sound playback of DCGNUBoy is flawless it might be a good idea to add the GNUBoy sound emulation to VBA32, so it switches the sound core when a GBx game is detected. Just an idea that I'll come back to if I checked my other games with it.

The GBC screen is centered so it's okay. I'd suggest the same with the GBA display. It would look pretty good, just to center the display. Stretching the screen would be the next step.

As a first little report I'd like to mention the following critics and suggestions for the frontend (menu), as it would speed up bug testing:

I had problems opening any directories, so I placed all my GBA PD ROMs in the root folder. Might be just me not finding the proper controls/buttons to open a directory, though ;D

If I scroll thru the game list, I've recognized that I had to push (left) on the d-pad to scroll from A to Z but with all the other emus that I am used to it's (right) on the d-pad.

Also it would be fantastic to allow more space for the game names like NesterDC v7.x does.
GoodTools adds descriptions to the ROM versions (like e.g. author or version number) so testing different ROMs would be easier if you can actually differentiate between them, atm it allows 18 letters, 29+3 would be great!

About the menu discussions: I am aware that it's a bit early to discuss it, but it would be fantastic if you'd allow a special user customizable menu like e.g. SuperFamicast or GenesisPlusDC v01 ( that's similar to the one of NesterDC or DCGNUBoy) has.


Chris

Cap'n 1time
June 23rd, 2004, 08:44
there is absolutly no point to this.. but i drew a gba crossed with a dc, and its really really small. i have a high quality one saved. this is mainly just to look cool to me but any one that wants the high quality one can use it. or draw your own.

Christuserloeser
June 23rd, 2004, 08:50
that's nice :)

curt_grymala
June 23rd, 2004, 09:47
there is absolutly no point to this.. but i drew a gba crossed with a dc, and its really really small. i have a high quality one saved. this is mainly just to look cool to me but any one that wants the high quality one can use it. or draw your own.

That's kind of a cool idea. I was thinking of working on a new splash screen for this emu, so I may incorporate that idea into it.

Nice thought 1time.

/*me runs off to Boob!Covers Central to get some GBA hardware pics. */

Christuserloeser
June 23rd, 2004, 14:39
mmh seems I can't reply to this topic anymore!?
???

Edit: Okay I can, it was just my browser... :)


Chris

curt_grymala
June 23rd, 2004, 14:45
Wasn't your browser - it was just the whole server issue that LyonHrt explained a few days ago.

curt_grymala
June 23rd, 2004, 14:51
BTW - I sent GPF a PM with this image, but I thought I would show it off here, too, so that 1timeuser could see what I came up with, using his idea (damn that's a long run-on sentence).

http://www.grymala.com/~curtiss/GBA/splash2.jpg

Christuserloeser
June 23rd, 2004, 17:22
:) Very nice one! I like the Dangerous Xmas display!


If I scroll thru the game list, I've recognized that I had to push (left) on the d-pad to scroll from A to Z but with all the other emus that I am used to it's (right) on the d-pad.

An additional comment that I've forgotten to mention in my first bug report:
To skip pages of many ROMs (and I have many!) it would be a good feature to allow it using (L) + (R) - the shoulder buttons - so one could easily find the ROM that last was played / tested (e.g. before the emu crashed).

A good thing would be too, if the emu would "save" the position of the last loaded ROM, so one could start testing / playing with browsing from that position to load the next ROM.

Chris

law56ker
June 27th, 2004, 06:11
Here is my cocept beta ideas what do u think.

http://www.lawspc.com/images/dreamlogo.jpg

http://www.lawspc.com/images/dreamlogo1.jpg

http://www.lawspc.com/images/dreamlogo2.jpg

law56ker
June 27th, 2004, 06:23
I checked out my black neon gba logo and it looks really good on the tv screen. Hope u will consider using it.

Christuserloeser
June 27th, 2004, 07:12
I like the idea. The black one certainly looks best.

Maybe someone could combine the idea you had with the one from 1timeuser and Curt's GBA/DC combo :)

Chris

yellowcake
June 28th, 2004, 20:58
Wow impressive work on the GBA emulator for DC. I would very much like to help alpha/beta test. I have experience beta testing emulators and i can provide valuable feedback. I am currently beta testing Little John Z for the tapwave zodiac, a SNES/NES/Genesis/GB emulator. I also have experience working with homebrew apps/games for dreamcast. Thanks, and good luck coding!

Brian

WaCk0
July 3rd, 2004, 12:28
I liked the 1timeuser s, used 1timeuser idea and made with real visual

http://www.geocities.com/wackoemu/gba-white.gif.txt

curt_grymala
July 3rd, 2004, 17:44
That's really awesome WaCk0. I knew you'd be able to do something better than I did. Now, you need to figure out something that should appear in the VMU window, and get some text on there. I think GPF has decided that he's going to call it "Visual Troy Advance".

WaCk0
July 3rd, 2004, 23:35
Thanks Curt. I really like "Visual Troy Advance". The "Boy to Troy" idea is realy cool.
Dunno if the emulator name will be ok, maybe its a bit small. At same time, I think its not right put the name inside the screen... so I put the author name.

Edit: I resized to 320x240, like GPF needs.

Alexvrb
July 4th, 2004, 11:29
Very nice, Wacko.

Christuserloeser
July 4th, 2004, 11:31
:) That looks awesome!

guymelef
July 5th, 2004, 00:35
come on let's go. I can't wait. please (just kidding no rush. do your thing)

vipor231
July 6th, 2004, 07:53
cant wait for this emulator to be released

Christuserloeser
July 6th, 2004, 10:20
Hm I got problems when browsing this thread as I couldn't read page 7 of it -just page 6- until I posted this?

Strange...


Chris

WaCk0
July 6th, 2004, 10:32
Hm I got problems when browsing this thread as I couldn't read page 7 of it -just page 6- until I posted this?

Strange...

Chris
Same here! :P

dice
July 7th, 2004, 11:57
God damn do you know just how many people are waiting to play this? NOOOOOOO I can't wait anymore! I'm going to explode

Hola
July 7th, 2004, 12:58
Shut up random noob. The emulator would disopoint you in its current state because I'm sure you're not using it for HB and comerical games arent up to the test yet. I have full faith that they will be in the future tho as the emu is progressing nicly.

Christuserloeser
July 7th, 2004, 15:31
Shut up random noob.

Please don't flame anyone for nothing.


The emulator would disopoint you in its current state

The emu is in its early beta test phase. There's still a lot of work needed to release it to the public such as optimizations, a new menu system etc etc.

Chris

Hola
July 8th, 2004, 12:30
Hence why it would disopoint him in its current state....

wraggster
July 8th, 2004, 12:38
Hopefully ill have a new review of how far the emu is as soon as i have the newest beta :)

vipor231
July 8th, 2004, 13:14
welcome back wraggster havent seen in you in a while

wraggster
July 8th, 2004, 13:28
yeah had 2 weeks in Spain and then i got back and no internet :P

so im getting to catch up on everything

GPF
July 8th, 2004, 22:51
yeah, just got back from 2 weeks in Arizona. 15 hour drive each way from/to Dallas, Texas. I need a vacation from my vacation.

All of the splash screen ideas are great.

I am very busy right now, but I have a couple of things I would like to finish first though, but it depends on my freetime. I might just release it and let others help me finish it.

Troy

curt_grymala
July 9th, 2004, 04:37
It's great to see you back, GPF. I hope things went well on your vacation.

Christuserloeser
July 9th, 2004, 13:11
I am very busy right now, but I have a couple of things I would like to finish first though, but it depends on my freetime. I might just release it and let others help me finish it.

I'd wait at least a bit with the release, atm it's just another GBC emulator.
IMO if you release the emu in this early status, it would disappoint too much people that won't believe that it is possible to emulate GBA at a proper speed. That would be bad for the interest in your promising project.

Another thought:
What's with this 'store qeues' thing that speud did with NeoCD? It speeded the emulation up a lot.

PS: Great to you around again :)


Chris

GPF
July 12th, 2004, 12:47
I'd wait at least a bit with the release, atm it's just another GBC emulator.
IMO if you release the emu in this early status, it would disappoint too much people that won't believe that it is possible to emulate GBA at a proper speed. That would be bad for the interest in your promising project.

Another thought:
What's with this 'store qeues' thing that speud did with NeoCD? It speeded the emulation up a lot.

PS: Great to you around again *:)


Chris

Good to be back :)

Its more a matter of my time depending on when I will release it. I have had some big changes in my family life, and my computer room is now my son's bedroom/computer room, so I don't get to do any more late night coding anymore, untill I get my wife'
s laptop wireless access, so I can vnc to my computer to code. or code at work using Chanka to test.

I am actually alreading using DMA to render to the PVR for the GBA video rendering, I am only using SDL to render the GBC emulation. Don't know if Store Queues are faster than using PVR dma rendering in this emulator.

Troy

curt_grymala
July 12th, 2004, 21:42
I have had some big changes in my family life, and my computer room is now my son's bedroom/computer room
I know how that goes. It's not easy, but you'll get used to it. I hope everything is ok.
I know this is easy for me to say, seeing as how I have the beta, but take your time. We'll still be here when you get things straightened out.

Also, kungpow told me that the GBA emu on Xbox actually uses a frameskip of 5 or 6 to play commercial GBA games, so your emu is really not all that much farther behind that one. You will get it straightened out. Maybe you should just increase the maximum frameskip to around 10 for now, and see how that looks.

curt_grymala
July 13th, 2004, 16:07
This silly topic never actually shows the latest post.

GPF
July 13th, 2004, 16:15
yeah I added a topic I can see page 8, but if I remove it again I can only see page 7 :)

Troy

wraggster
July 13th, 2004, 16:36
wierd :P

curt_grymala
July 13th, 2004, 17:38
Yup. Now I can see page 8, but I couldn't until Wraggs posted.

Alexvrb
July 15th, 2004, 00:35
Hmm... I haven't noticed anything crazy with the thread. Anyway, release it when you feel its ready for release. It doesn't matter how fast it is, all that matters is that you feel ok about a given release. If you want to release it now, go for it! I mean, it does pretty good with GB and GBC, right?

As for upping the frameskip, I wouldn't bother. It gets bad if its too high, and I'm not sure you'd even gain much.

obelisk
July 15th, 2004, 13:48
good to hear yer okay, GPF. stay mello.

GPF
August 5th, 2004, 14:08
I have updated the Splash screen with Wacko's design and I am now using curt_grymala's background images in the menus. Let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Troy

Hola
August 5th, 2004, 14:15
I really dont like the idea of a controller being the menu but the tiles are much better than the orginals. However I just like plain art better.

One werid question i'm wondering the offical VBA allows up to 1000% throttle. WHy only use 200 on DC?

GPF
August 5th, 2004, 14:24
I really dont like the idea of a controller being the menu but the tiles are much better than the orginals. However I just like plain art better.

One werid question i'm wondering the offical VBA allows up to 1000% throttle. WHy only use 200 on DC?

The controller is only the startup splash screen that Wacko designed for me.

The GP32 port of the code only had it to 200%, and I haven't look furthur into that yet.

Troy

quzar
August 5th, 2004, 15:05
Does this mean a release is impending ;)

Cap'n 1time
August 5th, 2004, 15:26
ahh... i wasnt around when you all discussed useing my idea! That looks really really cool! nice work on the logos. It would be nice to see someting other than tiles and textures being used on the menu...

GPF
August 5th, 2004, 15:44
Does this mean a release is impending *;)

I haven't decided yet, more then likely it will be sooner than later :)

Troy

wraggster
August 5th, 2004, 17:58
would the throttle thing make any difference?

curt_grymala
August 5th, 2004, 18:09
Is there a way to adjust the throttle in-game? or do you have to do it from the menu?

GPF
August 5th, 2004, 18:36
Right now only in the menu and exactly what it does right now, I am unsure of.

Troy

wraggster
August 5th, 2004, 18:38
from the menu as far as i can remember

wraggster
August 5th, 2004, 18:39
test

post went missing

curt_grymala
August 6th, 2004, 05:27
I'm not sure exactly what it does, but I've been told that it's kind of like adjusting the frameskip. It speeds everything up, somehow. Apparently it's intended to allow you to quickly run through long cut scenes, etc (kind of like when you set the frameskip to 2 on Nester to skip through stupid parts of the game). That's why I was curious if it was accessible without going back to the menu at all.

Eric
August 6th, 2004, 07:59
Okay this looks pretty amazing i do have to say something aswell about the title menu its not to great but its not to bad (WE HAVE A GBA EMU COMEING SOON) sshhhhhhh lol. *The reason why i dont like it is it looks to retro and GBA isnt really all that retro i think it should look a lot better graphics wize cause its a 32bit system but all and all its your guys ideas and thats all that matters.

Eric

Cap'n 1time
August 6th, 2004, 09:26
I kind of like the idea of the Visual Troy Advance actually looking like the gameboys text. feel free to use this.

Cap'n 1time
August 6th, 2004, 09:52
I was trying to make a dc swirl with rainbow colored text "VISUAL TROY ADVANCE" but i cant do it easily in photoshop. I think it was Illistrator with the swirly options. I was thinking that differant colors of the DC swirl would make a nice little texture for a background. You could also incorperate the black neon idea into that and make it look cooler.

Segata_Sanshiro
August 6th, 2004, 14:20
Well, I'm more worried about the small amount of RAM the DC has...

You can increase the amount of RAM of a GP32 and take advantage of it by using the special BIOS Mr. Spiv? wrote, but things in Dreamcast seem to be much different...

Eric
August 6th, 2004, 19:59
1timeuser that pic looks decent to stick somewhere

HombreMoska
August 6th, 2004, 23:38
I think the GameBoy Advance style text is cool, but I donīt think the dreamcast controller with the advance theme is retro like the other guy said... I Think Itīs nice cuz itīs a port for the dreamcast!

johnnylee_hang
August 7th, 2004, 00:17
so this is like a beta gba on a dc?

Can it play real gba games yet?

Seem like the picture above showing that the speed of Visual Troy Advance maxed.

GPF
August 7th, 2004, 00:46
so this is like a beta gba on a dc?

Can it play real gba games yet?

Seem like the picture above showing that the speed of Visual Troy Advance maxed.



The speed is maxed only in the menus :)

It already will play every <8 meg GBA rom I have tried as well as GBC and GB roms.

The GBA emulator is still pretty slow 5-10 fps maybe faster depending on the rom, but the GB and GBC are around 30+ fps

Troy

Eric
August 7th, 2004, 04:56
So it sounds like GBC and GB are pretty much playable but GBA still needs a lot of work?

Cap'n 1time
August 7th, 2004, 08:29
When you release the emulator it would be cool to pack it with the pd roms you think run the best for it.

Hola
August 7th, 2004, 12:38
Shouldnt GBC and GB getting 60fps? and wouldnt that mean GBA should be getting 30fps?
I mean isnt that how much the other GBC emulators get?

quzar
August 7th, 2004, 13:15
AFAIK GBA dosnt play GB and GBC completely natively, it is semi emulated. That would be why it dosnt get 60fps.

quzar
August 7th, 2004, 13:16
afaik GBA emulates the GB and GBC to a certain extent. That is probably why its not fullspeed.

Hola
August 8th, 2004, 02:26
Can anyone see the latest post in this thread?

Eric
August 8th, 2004, 02:33
what yours lol?

curt_grymala
August 8th, 2004, 08:42
Yeah - for some reason, this thread seems to lose the first two or three posts on each new page. How's about we lock this thread and start a new one to see if it behaves any better.