Talk:Visual Boy Advance GX/Archive 2

Bug Reports

Save States don't work (Fixed 1.0.6)

Saving snapshots doesn't work correctly in 1.0.5. After trying to save a snapshot the program reports that it saved successfully, but inspecting the SD card shows that no snapshot has been saved. --Botskiz 19:54, 19 November 2008 (UTC)

Same problem here, I remove my gamecube memory cards, erease my old saves, but the problem still with 1.0.5.

Same Problem --Cyndaquil 03:26, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

3 Format Save Conflict (Rejected)

This emulator emulates 3 types of games. GB, GBC, and GBA. The problem is in the way that it handles save files. Save files for the 3 formats are saved in the same folder using the same extension. The problem occurs when you have two games that have the same name but are in different formats. The save files will overwrite each other. The problem could be fixed by using 3 subfolder for saving or... else by using different extensions. Alternatively someone would have to make sure that no GBC / GBA / GB ROMs are named the same. --ajiuO 20:03, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

I don't see this as a bug, it's by design. What would you be doing with two different games with the same filename? As you say if this does occur you can just rename one of the two files. --Tantric 03:14, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

7Zip bugs (Rejected)

Great work!, with 1.0.4 even the sound in Mario VS Donkeykong works! Some roms I packed with the latest 7-Zip (in normal or best mode) cannot be unpacked. They stall at about 20-30% and the emulator gives a white screen. Also when I depack 7-zipped .GB files (Gameboy files) I get the error "no file found". In a ZIP file or uncompressed I don't have these problems. --DigDug 08:37, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

I was having similar problem on Snes9x GX 007. It’s a problem with not enough memory being available to extract the file. Set your compression to fast on 7-zip… I have had a lot better results using that setting. You don’t get the full compression but it’s still a bit better then .ZIP and supports archive browsing. ajiuO 20:19, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

SDHC Support Issues (Fixed 1.0.5)

With the newly released 1.0.4, my PNY 4gb SDHC card fails to be recognized. If anyone else is having any issues, please add them. Solutions are good too. --Notsogr8one 13:24, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

I have the same problem with my Lexar 8GB SDHC card (Platinum II 60x). It sometimes fails to be recognized by the Homebrew Channel, perhaps there is a link? SMR Kurosan 03:41, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

I've had mine work with the HBC on every attempt as well as with FTPii. I guess the apps just have incomplete libraries :( --Notsogr8one 15:27, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Speed/sound issues (Fixed 1.0.3)

There are currently known speed and sound issues with this emulator. --Tantric 06:39, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

Corrected in 1.0.1 version -Yod4z 18 september 2008 GMT+1 11:29

metroid fusion still not full speed--Cert 03:28, 25 September 2008 (UTC)

Wait to the next version Tantric added some new things that can improve the speed and frameskip --Yod4z 25 September 2008 14:16 GMT+1

Hartleyshc has done unofficial recompiles with working SDHC support of several emulator and apps including VBA GX at GBAtemp.net

Savetype Issues (Fixed 1.0.3)

When running Super Mario Advance 4 (SMB3) It won't boot, stating the save data is corrupted. This suggests that you need a placeholder save in order to start the game, but that's not very intuitive.

VBA should probably load a "default" save for each title, or let the user configure the save-type for each game (like the windows VBA) if auto-detection is not possible. Nago 19:04, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

See Pokemon issue below for workaround that applies to all 128kbit saver games.

Pokemon-Games don´t work! (Fixed 1.0.3)

Pls let me know, if theres a chance to start Games like Pokemon Emerald or Firered on VBA GX? Every time i want to load it...i took much time, and then there was just a white screen! hope that youre working on it, much thx! pls reply here!

This is due to the savetype issue I have identified below. VBA GX uses a default sav file of 64kb. However, Pokemon games require an "unusual" 128kb: the maximum for GBA games is naturally 64kb, 128kb games are sort of a hack. This means that games need either the ability to specify 128kb saves manually, VBA GX needs an autodetect for games that use 128kb saves, or VBA GX should use 128kb saves by default. Nago 17:49, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

now i downloaded many Pokemon Games...t.m.10 times emerald...10 times Fire red(from other providers.....and theres 1 version of fire red that works(USA-version)...but it is as big as the other games...128kb, too!?

I mean, the save size for pokemon games is 128kbit, whereas most GBA games only use up to 64kbit. To get pokemon working, you will have to make a blank 128kbit file and rename it "Pokemon Emerald.sav" or whatever your rom name is. To create a blank 128kbit save file easily, just go into MS DOS and type something like this: copy /B "sav1.sav"+"sav2.sav" "128kbit.sav" where sav1.sav and sav2.sav represent any 64kbit saves you happen to have. they can have data in them already, it doesn't really matter. the output will be 128kbit.sav, a save that is... 128kbit. rename that to Pokemon Emerald.sav (or whatever your rom is named.) and put it in the VBA GX saves folder. Pokemon Emerald should then work just fine. --Nago 15:42, 21 September 2008 (UTC)

Thx Very much works great!

GBA L and R buttons don't work (fixed 1.0.1)

With the version 1.0.0 the Button L and R can't be mapped. Tried with doom II and classic and wiimote controls. -Yod4z GMT+1 22:26

Fixed in 1.0.1 version Yod4z 18 september 2008 GMT+1 11:30

Main Menu BG Screen Flicker (Fixed)

The new Main Menu's background in version 1.0.1 is constantly flickering, possibly seizure inducing for people sensitive to it. SMR Kurosan 21:23, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

Probably due to the fine comb of the background image being resized poorly for your television. It looks fine on my LCD. (16:9, component out.) Nago 02:31, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

Sounds plausible. Hopefully something gets done about it soon. SMR Kurosan 08:42, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

Looks like it will be taken care of: http://www.tehskeen.com/forums/showpost.php?p=40012&postcount=7 --Nago 15:43, 21 September 2008 (UTC)

Marking this as fixed, it was in the changelog, but if anyone sees otherwise, say so.

In-Game Controls (fixed)

The In-Game controls appear not to be functioning correctly (Tested with Classic Controller and Gamecube Controller.) IE, In Castlevania - Aria of Sorrow, the B button causes the character to attack left, use his subweapon (UP + B) and use his 'R Button' attack all at once. While the A Button appears to act as SELECT, despite the Select button functioning perfectly. SMR Kurosan 21:23, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

After completely wiping and reinstalling VBA GX, the problem appears to be solved. I suspect an XML file left over from my previous installation of 1.0.0 to have been the source of the problem. SMR Kurosan 08:46, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

Yes, if you have used the 1.0.0 version and next juste put 1.0.1 verions on your SD card without removing the vbagx.xml file the controls for A and B buttons are note correct. Please before laucnh new version delete your old xml config file from /vbax/save directory on the root of your SD card. -Yod4z 19 september 2008 12:24 GMT+1

SD card hot-swapping issues (Fixed: 1.0.6)

This does not appear to be functional when swapping from SDHC to SD. Haven't tried other methods. SMR Kurosan 04:29, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (Invalid)

I'm here to report a problem, Visual Boy is not loading KH:CoM, please say to User: Tantric to fix it. The rom size is 32,00MB.Sunshiner123 15:30, 22 November 2008 (UTC) Thanks in Advance

Loads fine for me! --Tantric 06:01, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Feature Requests

Warning for locked SD cards (Fixed 1.0.5)

I lost 4 hours of Mother 3 due to a locked SD card and as we all know, once you eject a card you can't read off of it anymore. So I would suggest adding either a warning message if the emulator detects a locked SD card, or at least emergency automatic GC Memory card saving if the SD card has any sort of problem. --Homestar92 12:40, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

Use real cartridges? (Rejected)

What do you think of using real cartridges? Could the GBA connected with the Wii through this cable load cartridges to the Wii? Or maybe through Datels Gameboy Player? I ask this, because I don't like the idea of downloading ROMs of games I already own (and do not want to start again). --Woku 07:58, 21 September 2008 (UTC)

I do not think you will be able to obtain a rom image from a cable such as that. The OS of the GBA/GBASP/GBMicro has a specific purpose, and it is very unlikely you'd be able to use a cable for this purpose unless you had a modified firmware or something on your GBA, which... doesn't really exist. You can purchase a linker for GBA carts if you'd choose to prefer to make your own backups instead of downloading them, however. (I own two for this purpose myself.) Nago 16:15, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

And what about this thing: http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Game-Port-cube/dp/B0001EPWSA ? The disc seemingly only works as an emulator, too, but our could be much better. Well, how much does an linker cost? --Woku 07:58, 21 September 2008 (UTC)

You might be able to use the thing you linked, though I doubt anyone would spend time coding support for it. You'd need code to be able to retrieve the game from the GCN memory card slot, and I doubt any such code exists. And it's probably a peripheral not many folks have, so I can't imagine it'd be the fore-front feature request. I think your best bet would be to get a dumping device for your carts and just use roms as are already supported. You can get a flash linker for the GBA (usb <--> gba cart) if you can find one, or, if you have a slot 1 devkit for your NDS, there are programs available that can dump the GBA game in slot 2 to the sd card in slot 1. Nago 15:34, 21 September 2008 (UTC)

Actually, Nago, GCN file recieving code exists, like in NuGaSa...availible right here on this site, you should really make sure that the code doesn't exist before saying that. But I think that the linkage is very possible, and a good idea. Zoombus GMT-5 17:29 21 September 2008 (UTC)

Receiving code for that specific cable? Color me surprised. Either way, I never said "there isn't", just "I doubt", "I can't imagine". Does the code that exists have the ability to retrieve the entire rom from the second cable Woku posted? ...Either way, there are many methods of dumping already, and having that ability straight in the emulator sure would be neat, but I am not sure if it is neccessary as such ... how easy is that cable to get, anyway? --Nago 00:30, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

Nago said it all. Sorry, I won't be adding this to the emulator. --Tantric 05:06, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

I don't see anything wrong ethically with downloading roms you already own. This would be lots of work for not much benefit. Felix 08:19, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

Help

RTC (Real Time Clock) Support

Am I dreaming? It seems as though VBA GX supports the RTC for Pokemon Emerald without additional configuration. I am not playing a patched or clockfixed version of Emerald, however I never get the "Battery Dry" message. This is really impressive :) Maybe this should be added to the features list on the wiki? Nago 22:07, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

can u upload this version?pls

eSKape

Upload what? I am using a stock image of emerald and I'm saying Thanks since it works flawlessly. Additionally, the uploading of copyrighted material here is prohibited. --Nago 15:41, 21 September 2008 (UTC)

VBA has RTC support, and VBA-GX has a functional version fo this, thanks to softdev. VBA-M, which I've now successfully ported, has even better support. I'll be releasing a new version after it's been fully tested. --Tantric 05:15, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

Hot damn. Allow me to say that I am your biggest fan as of this week with the new VBA, Snes and FCEU GX releases. Absolutely brilliant work, and don't let all the bug reports and endless feature requests get you down. These emulator ports are pure brilliant, and trust me, they're quite well appreciated. --Nago 03:07, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

buttons acting weird!!! (Solved)

the 2 button in pokemon ruby acts like start, and in all games pressing 1 the cracters actt weird... Can anyone solve this???

Read Talk:Visual_Boy_Advance_GX#In-Game_Controls_.28fixed.29 -Yod4z 21 september 2008 12:58 GMT+1

Type of Saves

what is the type of saves used .sgm or .sav??? New version suports Pokemon saves, what type???

VBA uses a raw .sav format. As of the latest release, I believe the default saver size is 128kbit. The new version supports pokemon, but I don't know what you mean by "which type". --Nago 22:00, 11 October 2008 (UTC)

Mother 3

Whenever I go to the menu to save or load a game, I get a "code dump" error and I have to restart the Wii. It only happens when I go to the menu (wether I'm trying to save, load or change my preferences). I've tried two different versions of the ROM and it still happens everytime. Does anyone else get this problem and is there a way to fix it? -shagywashere 18:20 January 8, 2009

I've had the problem again and it seems I might've figured it out. Whenever I load the ROM from the default folder, and I press the menu button (home) it does the code dump. However, I put my ROM file in a different folder and now the game works fine in the menu screen.

But now there is another problem I've came across. Whenever I do Load Game Screenshot, the sound goes off in the game for no apparent reason. Everything else works fine but the sound. And it's only when I Load my save state. Before then the sound works great

If you get a code dump, give me the version number and the stuff above the words CODE DUMP with the arrows (24908442 --> 29049044 --> 24909429 --> 294902902). Report that to the official site. Sound disappearing, it sounds like you're loading an older save state. Old state files won't work on the later versions due to some code changes, you could get a crash or the sound can shut off. If you load a .sav (SRAM battery) file or start a new file it should work fine. --Tantric 05:35, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

The fan translation of Mother 3 won't let me save my game using 1.0.3--Arikado 15:12, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

Same problem that the guy above, can't save. The in-game save system works well.

First I couldn't save at all (it said save failed) so I used the snapshots to save. Then I patched my rom. Now it doesn't say "save failed" but when I restart the game, my only options are "New Game" and "Sound Test" ! No "Load Game" ! So I have still to use snapshots ! Why doesn't the save work ? BTW I tried to create a blank 128k savefile but it still doesn't work.--John smith 18:56, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

The ROM needs to be patched (after the translation patch is applied) so that is saves in 64k save files. Patch this M3 Save Fix IPS file with GBATA's GBATA07 IPS patcher and you will be good to go. Make sure you delete your old saves and snapshots out of your "saves" directory first before you try to save your game after you patch it. --DrunkPunk 21 October 2008

So does that mean that I must start a new game ? If it does, I don't think I will because I already have about 6hrs and I don't want to start all over again... Well, I guess I'm gonna stick with snapshots...--john_smith 16:35, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

Oh! Sorry, if I had seen this, I would have helped earlier. My girlfriend is a fan of the Mother series and she was pretty deceived when we found out that the emulator wouldn't let her save, so I experimented and found an easy fix. Simply play the Japanese version of Mother 3 until you can save, then rename the save file so that it matches the translation version; the file size will be different, but don't worry about it. Once that's done, start playing the translated ROM until you can save; your saved game from the Japanese version will show up with incorrect name, but just save over it. Congrats, you can now save normally! SMR Kurosan 09:33, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

OK, so now that it has been updated to 1.0.4, it can save correctly, but you'll need to mess with the file to continue your game if you were using Snapshots (states). I have instructions as to how to do this at TehSkeen's forums ([1]). Thank you DrunkPunk for the save patch and the GBATA patcher. I hope this helps everyone who needs it! --Platypus222 01:45, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

A new issue has arisen with the new update (1.0.4). Despite the new sound core, sound in general in Mother 3 appears to have gotten worse; there was little distortion in the last update, but 1.0.4 appears to cause more distortion. This is particularly noticeable in the equipment and status menus. Moving the cursor or selecting options causes the sound to temporarily get better. Maybe related to frame skip? SMR Kurosan 03:49, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

VBA won't remember my preferences. Also, Invalid ROM size

For some reason, VBA 1.0.4 won't remember my preferences. Also, Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Four Swords won't load off of the DVD, but it will load fine off a USB drive. ---strongfan 17:02, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

see Visual Boy Advance GX#Installation, sounds like you didn't make the vbagx, vbagx/roms and vbagx/saves directories on your SD card. LoganA 01:51, 10 November 2008 (UTC)

Wiimote IR seems to stay on unnesscisarily

I notice that the emulator seems to be draining a large amount of battery from the wiimote very quickly. I beleive this could be related to the IR sensor staying on, even though it's not needed. Has anybody else noticed this? Toagac 15:54, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

Since I always use a gamecube pad for the closer experience actually playing on a gba, I do not notice the battery drain. I don't believe that the IR camera on the front of the wiimote uses too much power. Its not like it sends IR or anything, remeber it just picks it up from the sensor bar which is sending it. You probably already knew this, but I am just trying to get on the same page as you as to what you mean. Justing6 08:45, 10 January 2009 (UTC)