XBoyAdvance - GBA/GBC/GB/SGB/SGB2 Emulator for XBox v24

http://xport.xbox-scene.com
goto http://www.ressurectionxtras.net/ for latest cheats, rumbles, synopsis and skin updates.

recent changes..

* Whoops didn't quite have "auto configuration" working right. Fixed now.
* Keep user within ROM directory tree works now. Honest!

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XBoyAdvance - GBA/GBC/GB/SGB/SGB2 Emulator for XBox v23

http://xport.xbox-scene.com
goto http://www.ressurectionxtras.net/ for latest cheats, rumbles, synopsis and skin updates.

recent changes..

* New feature "Seconds before playing movie" determines how long the emu will wait before playing a movie. The default is half a second. This will help speed up rom browsing. Especially useful for people streaming stuff (like movies) across the network.

* If streaming movies from across the network and the user press on the dpad or a, b, x or y the emulator will abort the transfer. This should help speed up rom browsing and allow the user an "out" especially for the larger movies.

* Fixed an issue with the software filters displaying garbage.
* Activated the "Keep user Within ROM Directory Tree?" which I somehow missed.
* Fixed up the box/cart art position on a few skins.
* Fixed a problem where setting the box/cart orientation was screwed up.
* Fixed the bug that screwed up Gilou's skin to begin with (too weird to explain).

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XBoyAdvance - GBA/GBC/GB/SGB/SGB2 Emulator for XBox v22

First off...

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Special thanks....
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X-port for porting a great collection of emu's over to the xbox, releasing the source code, and answering my stupid questions.
Atariage (Albert in particular) - For providing a place for me to ramble on. For encouragement in general.
RessurectionX for all that Xtra's stuff, synopsis, suggestions, etc.
Gilou9999 for a new PM3 skin, synopsis, suggestions, etc.
Comments of support from various interested parties.
If I missed anybody shoot me an email and I'll update this file.

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*** Changes To XboyAdvance Core ***
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* Given the full "Madmab Edition" treatment.
* New dual-preview skin to support Ressurection Xtra's. Say thank you to Gilou9999 for the skin.
* Three yummy skins to choose from. GB, GBA, or GBC.
* "Auto Game Configurations (aka Configuration defaults)" added (see below description). Use with caution.


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*** To Do For XboyAdvance ***
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- Eh?


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*** Interface Related Changes ***
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* Hopefully addressed weird issues with "Force Reload D:\\*.ini Settings".
* New option to "Keep user Within ROM Directory Tree". You can find it in "General Settings, Page Two". Useful for keeping n00bs from getting lost while selecting games.
* Hoperfully cleaned up all instances where the current "game select" directory would get trashed.
* Transparency control for keypad and keyboard should now function properly.
* Tightened up the Synopsis parsing code (sorry RessX )
* Fixed issue where cycling thru screenshots when non-available would create an infinite loop.

Fixes to the keyboard/keypad including. These affect emu's that use a keyboard/keypad (Winuaex, AdamX, Atarixlbox)
* Keyboard/keypad no longer corrupts portions of the screen when being moved.
* Keyboard/keypad can be moved diagonally in ALL directions now
* Keyboard/keypad transparency now works properly when "Pause game while using Keyboard/Pad" is set to ON.
* Fixed issue with screen blurring when Keyboard/keypad is activated. I'm surprised I did not notice this earlier.

* Created a new overlay system. The file "overlay.ini" contains configuration information for each overlay, including the color of the transparent button.

* Fixed issue with the "Music Control Menu" where the "Go to next/previous song" options were not working.
* Fixed issue where "View playlist" did not show the first two songs.
* Fixed issue where "pause" would still display even after changing songs while viewing the playlist in "clear screen" mode.
* Add song to playlist now functions correctly.

* Added a seperate "Volume Control Menu". It can be accessed by pressing "Y" in the "In Game Options" menu, or from the "Game Configuration" menu. It lets the user set the volume for in game sound, mp3_cdda, cdda, movie and mp3 music player from 0-100.

* Fixed issue where games that had more than 48 CRCs in the cheat code database would cause a crash when game is selected while searching for cheat codes.

* Rumble codes and cheat codes are now stored in seperate files. ( "rumblelist.inf" and "codelist.inf" respectively). To make it easier to search for "rumble codes" only. Note to cheat code makers: be sure to make your cheat codes and rumble codes seperately now. For those importing rumbles, the rumble does not have to be "activated" in order to work, it just works. Remove it from the list if you no longer wish to use it, or set it to "Rumble Enabled On - Nothing".

* Skin can now have a "Startup Movie" on loading menu. Please use with discretion (no long movies)
* "Startup Movie" can be displayed full screen or in a window. If fullscreen is used the loading menu will not be displayed.
* Transparency for "Startup Movie" can be set as well.
* Moved the network initialization code to run before the loading menu. This moves the delay caused by network init to before the display of the loading menu, not after.

* Files when selecting within a zip are sorted.
* Added a seperate timer for alternating Box/Cart art.
* Ability to view synopsis from within game. (press right analog stick down).

* Movies! The ability to display movie previews!
You can set the movie/previews directory in the "Change Default Directories" section.
The movie name has to be exactly the same as the ROM name. Only one movie per game.

* Display order can be set to. None, Screenshots Only, Movies Only, Screenshots 1st- Then Movies, Movies 1st- Then Screenshots.
* Sound for movies can be turned on/off
* Box/Cart art can be displayed in seperate window.
* Skin author can now designate two locations where Boxart or Cartart will display based on width vs height.
* Movies display over screenshots so if you want you can see screenshots when no movie exists.
* Can now stream videos and screenshots from Samba or Relax.
* Old Screenshots are now sorted and displayed in proper order.
* Old Screenshots can be named anything (as long as it has .png extension)
* In Game Options Screen can be sized and positioned now.

* New option to "Force Game Screen Size/Position". There are two configurable screensizes. (To deal with multi-core systems like MekaX and XboyAdvance). This will be useful when switching from HDTV to SDTV or vice versa. It will save the user the trouble of resizing the screens for something that is likely temporary.

* Numerous changes to menu system see above (current menu configuration layout)
* Sprites can now be named for easier manipulation. Directory names must be of the format "0_spritename", "1_spritename", etc. Do not use underscores for the spritename. It is a delimiter.
* Added "Select Skin Configuration Used" and "Save Skin Configuration as" to the "Configure SKin" menu in place of the above moved options. This allows multiple skin configurations in one skin allowing the user more "pre-defined" options on how a skin looks. For example the placement of the games list and the preview screens. Gilou's Dynamic skins really take advantage of this, check 'em out!
* Sprites now show when sizing the preview screens.
* Changed "Seconds before auto-advancing Screenshot" to "Seconds Before Auto-Advancing Artwork".
* Changed "offset X" and "offset Y" to "Offset X (left/right)" and "Offset Y (up/down)" in the Sprite Settings menu.
* New Option to pause or not pause emulation when keyboard or keypad is up.

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Finished the "Media browser"
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* Ability to display documentation (text or graphic) and commercials.
* Assigned buttons (white/black) to go to next/previous files when viewing documentation. See below graphic/text file viewer controls.
* Once the user opens a document - the emulator remember this document as long as the game session is running.
* View settings for each document viewed are now stored in a "bookmark" file so next time you view a file your settings are restored. Back to "reset" as if reading document for first time.
* "View Text File" changed to "Browse Manuals/Videos"

* In screenshot viewer. If the image is smaller than your text file screensize settings it will work as follows.
a) If the image is taller than it is wide it will continue expanding the image ( based on aspect ratio) until the width fits within the width of your text file screensize width. (Most normal manuals)
If the image is wider than it is tall it will continue expanding the image ( based on aspect ratio) until the height fits within the height of your text file screensize height. (For example NES manuals).

This seems to effectively stretch the image in the best manner possible for scanned manual reading.

* Browsing manuals/videos should dump you into the media directory correctly.
* Unmapped controls that allow you to move the screen around since word wrap should work correctly now.
* Change Fixed Width font controls are mapped to the right analog stick (left/right) like the help screen says it should be.
* Set font size keeps seperate settings for Fixed Width fonts and proportional fonts since they produce different results.
* Graphic documentation can now be stored in a ZIP file and still work with the media browser functions (next/previous and bookmarks).
* Music no longer starts playing after viewing text file in game.
* Number of lines displayed in the text file viewer now properly match user set text screen size.
* Number of lines displayed updates properly if user modifies text screen size within text file viewer
* Text file viewer functions turn off FixedWidth before displaying any menu.

* Added a fixed width font for the text file viewer. If you wanna use it you have to make sure that a file named (included in zip) "FixedFont.ttf" is located in the emulator directory. Press "Y" in the text file viewer to switch to the fixed font.

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Controls for text browser

A -> Start Search
B -> Exit
X -> Continue Last Search
Y -> Simulate width font

White -> Previous file
Black -> Next file

Start -> Help screen
Back -> Reset view as if document was loaded for first time.

Dpad -> Up/down, Left-> Up Page, Right-> Down Page
Left Analog button -> Set font size
Left Analog Up -> Top of file
Left Analog Down -> End of file
Right Analog button -> Set text screen size
Right Analog left/right -> decrease/increase fixed-width font size

Left/Right triggers - Move up/down text file.

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Controls for screenshot browser

B -> Exit
Y -> Delete file (Utilities-> browse screenshots only)

White -> Previous file
Black -> Next file

Back -> Reset image to default settings/view.

Dpad -> Up/Down/Left/Right -> Move image 1/4th the total size of the image.
Left Analog button -> Music Control Menu
Left Analog up/down -> Move screen up/down.
Right Analog left/right -> decrease/increase screen size. Size changes proportional to distance the stick is pressed.

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********************************************
**** Carryovers from Atarixlbox ****
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* Ability to pick a file from within a zip file.
* Fixed a few interface "quirks" regarding playing game sounds while emu is paused.
* select save state screen tells you whether your "loading" or "saving", it also now displays whether a save file has a record session ( R ) associated with it.

* When a new save state is created it deletes any recordings. If you press the "back" button while in the save state select screen it will allow you to delete that save state (as well as it's recording).

* Utilities menu display modifed to state "stop or start recording/playback" depending on whether they are turned on or off. It also displays total minutes remaining or played so far.

* Record/Playback turn off when exiting a game. Boy that sure caused some confusion.

* Switched positioning control of sprites in the skin menu to the left analog stick, that way you don't have to worry about unintentionally lowering the volume.

* Savestate load screen is a little more informational when sent to it from the save/record option.
* When you save a picture it removes the screenshot save path making it easier to see long names.
* Changed order of some of the entries in the "Music Control Menu".
* Playlist repeat mode, and View Name setting is saved in INI file. Although song name only shows in the music control menu.

* (cheat codes)When "adding a code" from the "edit code" screen the current code is copied as a template.
* You can activate/deactivate a code from the "cheat code list" menu by pressing start.

* Deleting a cheat code now asks you if you are sure (I got tired of accidently deleting my codes ).

* Fixed up the problem created from using multiple files in a Zip file.
* Fixed problem when a filename inside a zip contains too many characters. While I was at it I fixed the space as the last character when trimming to 42 characters behavior. Zip files where the path was saved now unzip correctly.

* Rewind and Fastforward are de-activated during record/playback and netplay mode. It even tells you so when you try!!
* Modified YesNoMenu so it doesn't clear m_menuText.

* Added ability to add in cheat codes from a Gameshark compatible database (see description below). This includes the ability to export the cheat codes in a game to "share" with your friends. Cheat/rumble codes are included for most games. When "adding" codes from the gameshark DB it will move you to the entries with a matching CRC. If not you'll have to manually find the game.

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*** "Auto Game Configurations (aka Configuration defaults) for select emulators ***
********************************************************************************
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In the "General settings" menu there will be a new option.

"Automatically Use Default Game Configuration - Yes/No"

If the user sets it to "Yes" it will bring up the game configuration screen and let the user define the default (if no default.stg and default.key file exists).

In the "Configuration" menu there will be a new option... "Set default game configuration"

The user can go in anytime thru the "Configuration" menu to change these "defaults" to something else if they wish.

Once set to "Automatically use Default Game Configuration" the user will not see the game configuration screen again unless they... a) press X when selecting a game. Change "Use Default Game Configuration" back to "No".

Keep in mind when it is set to "Yes" the game will use your "Default game settings" and not the normal x-port behavior. If set to "No" the emulator will behave like it usually does. Each emu is typically different. But all, at the very least carry the controller settings over.

This feature will only be added to emulators in which it is feasible to use.

Thanks again Madmab you rule! Its so amazing to see these emulators in action with the ressXtras


P.S. I know this isnt the proper forum but i dont think my question deserves its own thread, Was just curious what was planned for snes9xbox (the snes is my personal fav XD) and ive been using xsnes9x since the bugs (sound,video filters,etc.) in snes9xbox and i cant wait to see ressxtras for the SNES ^^

Currently the changelog for snes9xbox is

* Added multiplayer5 support for games that use more than 2 controllers (aka Bomberman)
* Tweaked around with the rewind system fixed a couple potential xbox lockers. Rewind works well in 480i/p and fair in 720p. See below.
* Screen memory allocated depends on whether filters are active or not. This is done to help relieve memory issues when running at 720p and higher.
* Software filters should work now (I think I got it right).
* Given the full "Madmab Edition" treatment.
* New dual-preview skin to support Ressurection Xtra's. Say thank you to Gilou9999 for the skin.
* Two skins to choose from. Snes and Snes 2.0.
* "Auto Game Configurations (aka Configuration defaults)" added (see below description).

* Background Music now stops when you start a game..

I'm hoping to add some support for GameGenie and Action Replay cheat codes.

Once I release all the other emulators I'll be able to focus on other things. For now outside of bug fixes I'm just trying to get them all out the door.

I have to start updating my box!
Thanks!

- Bender

Fantastic work again ...
Thanks a lot ... GB black and white is for all the console when we are childrens lol

And good chance for the SNES ... you have many works while you prefer use SNES9X and not the last ZSNES, but it is good idée to have finaly two good emulators and not just one lol

The cheat database and rumble codes seem to be missing.

Also, I have a suggestion for this emulator. What about having a background border behind the gameplay itself? Like the borders on the Gamecube GBA player for instance.

There are no cheatcodes or rumbles at the moment...

Maybe in the future when I can circle back round to this emu.

I was gonna try to get game genie codes working with this since I don't think any mechanism exists for them yet.

Thanks for this as well Madmab, awesome work.

Are you working on a MEKA update as well?

Hey, this might be a silly request (and I'm not sure if you can already do it) but;

Is there any way you could put in a feature to move the "Main Menu (Madmab edition Version...)" text around? I am trying to make new skins and its posing to be an issue because it is such a long title I have to make weird shaped menu background, you can see what I mean in my video,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO0HU6HiAGg

It would be a lot cooler if I could move that bit of text to the top or something. I'm sure other skinners will be frustrated by this too.


sorry if there is already a way to move it, I just couldn't figure it out

You can move this text around through the edit main menu skin options, I have been doing that...

Can you move just the "Xboyadvance Main Menu (Madmab edition Version...)" text though??

When I move the text it all moves, I just want to move that one line to the top corner, but keep the menu where it is.

At work at the mo, but pretty sure that moves as well.

When changing the software filter in the other video configurations it never saves what filter you choose for all roms.

Anyone else have much luck getting old save states that they have renamed to work on this version?

I had save states from the non-Madmab version that I couldn't get working, but I figured it was for that reason. I haven't tried to save state with the new version and then rename and then load.

Yeah same with old xport saves. The weird thing is that alot of load states actually load the saved game but it will stay on screen for a second and then go back to playing what was playing.

Hello,

Just noticed another pixel perfect thing that is off for GB/GBC. Native res is 160x144, so the PP for this should be 320x288. I test it and it looks great.

Again, another awesome emu update.

Thanks!

True but since there is more screen space available I expanded it out by a factor of 3 than the usual 2. Does it look wrong at *3?

Ya, it did to me. Since I run the emus through an Emotia unit to get 240P (not really necessary for portables) it makes it very obvious when the pixels are off.

Hi Madmab,

I noticed one little issue with the skin. (I think) When the resolution is set to 1080i, any XMV movies, such as the intro play too large and are positioned off the screen. Pretty much, you can only see the center-most, top 50% of the movie. This happens when you try to play a movie with the media browser as well.

I'm setting up the emus at 1080i, so I'll let you know if I find this is an issue in the other emulators as well.

Thanks again

EDIT: This seems to happen with all the released emus. Let me know if you need my help testing.

1080i
wow, that's pushing it, is it not.
This is probably gonna cause multiple problems.

Good luck

Note 2:
Hey someone should make a cheat datebase for these gameboys!

Yeah that's on the long list of things to do related to cheat codes.

It's a little different in that GB/GBC and GBA had different cheat systems. But I would like to have it incorporated a little more into the interface and not part of the "in-game options" like x-port is currently doing it.

Hmmm, I haven't had any issues. What problems did you think it would cause? Could you elaborate?

My TV's native resolution is 1080i, so it makes sense. Also, 1080i is basically 540p with interlacing. 720p is a higher resolution since it doesn't use any interlacing.

Am I the only person using 1080i?

Well you saw my reply in the irc chat that a few of the emu's don't like 1080i so much.

But anyways I'll look into this when I get a chance.

OK, sounds good. I'll let you know if I run into any problems. However, I think the affected emulators are mostly the computer ones that I don't really use.

Maybe for those that have issues a warning could be next to that option or pop-up when 1080i is selected? For instance:

"1080i has been known to impact performance. Would you like to proceed?"

I'd rather see that than: "are you really, really, super sure you want to select this video option, really? positive?" That seems to come up for all the hi-res settings. Actually, maybe this could be removed from the emus entirely? I think at this point, people know the difference between 480i, 720p, etc more so than in 2003.

Thanks again!

Does that warning really pop up when you use those settings...?

I was just thinking more along the lines of memory issues and having it possibly buckle in some places.
I think if you are determined about using 1080i, then you will be madmab's best tester to identify any possible issues.

Good luck guys.

Which skin and skin configuration are you using? I don't see the problem showing up at all on my xbox.

I'm using the default Dynamic skin by Gilou9999. The configuration I use is big box art | big movie.

These seems to happen across the board on every emulate that is set to 1080i.

Let me know if you need any other info from me and thank you for taking the time to look into this!

My bad Darth Mingus.. I was thinking the movie previews in the file browser..

Yes for some reason the xmv helper doesn't play a movie full screen properly in 1080i. I'll have to look into this more because I really didn't think someone would be insane enough to try to go full blown 1080i..

In the meantime.. try setting it to "play movie at original size either with black background or synopsis background". Just press left/right on the dpad to switch between the three options in the media browser.

Alright I did a work around for this rather odd bug with the xmvhelper library. So future builds will have the fix.

Great, thanks!

Just an FYI, 1080i works well even on a stock XBOX. I've been doing it for about a year now. Some more intensive emulators like the PSX will see a performance hit, but others are fine.

Im not sure if this fall's under auto configuration but when you change the software filter in the video configuration it dosn't change it and you have to do it individually for each game.

I added that into later releases so whenever I get around to re-releasing this emu it will be in there.

Ok, i've been googling for two days now and can not find anything similar to my problem. I just updated from v20 to v24 last night, and for some reason, while playing games, the emulator will randomly save/load states and will also randomly change the software filter as i'm playing. I tried downgrading back to v20, because I did not have this problem with it, but after I did this, I can no longer play the roms that i opened with v24. So now, i'm back to v24, and trying to fix this random save state/load state/filter change problem....oh ya, it did actually crash once when changing to a filter the game didnt like. Please help!

Are your buttons mapped to this, and your possibly pushing that combo of buttons during gameplay? Check your button mapping for UI interface and make sure save/load state and filters are not mapped to any combination of buttons.

That was actually one of the first things i checked was the controller mapping and the UI mapping, as well the combo list. Save/load states are still the default black/white + trigger that they come with, and the combo list was empty. Also, i forgot to mention that these problems occur without pressing anything. A few times, i've just loaded the rom, and sat the controller down on the table, and i've watched save/load states all by itself, as well as change the software filter without any input. There also doesn't seem to be and consistency to it either, as in its not happening every few seconds/minutes on queue, its random in the times. Its even changed filters twice in a row within a second or two.

EDIT: Just to be clear, this is not happening on a specific rom, but all of the ones i've tried. (Pokemon Fire Red, Pokemon Gold, couple of Yu-Gi-Oh! games.....Golden Sun 2)

There is an "auto load last save state" option in the "general setttings" menu. Are you sure you didn't set that to yes by accident?

Yep, its still set as "No".

EDIT: Guess I should also clarify that this is a fresh install of v24. Did not change any settings. Problems started right away. I've tried messing with some of the general, video, skin, game, etc... settings trying to fix it, or at least lock the filter onto one setting instead of randomly changing, to no avail. I've even tried to find any instance of auto saving/loading state in the settings and utilities, and aside from the "auto load last save state" option you mentioned, which is set to "No", I cant find any reason why its doing this. Just new, i even tried unplugging my controllers (thinking i'm somehow hitting the default hotkeys for this or something", sat there for a few seconds, and it still auto saved/loaded state, and automatically changed the software filter.

(didn't want to double post, but i guess this board has an edit time limit, or i'm just blind)

I was finally able get v20 working again on all my games, so, I'm gonna give up on the v24 update for now. Its probably something I'm doing wrong since I can find this same situation ANYWHERE on Google, but, v20 has always worked for me. I was only upgrading to v24 to see if it would let me fix my Fire Red game that I accidentally saved in 64k flash, instead of 128k, without loosing my progress. (I tried the VBA, IPS patch, gbata, and vba-over.ini fix, and nothing worked). Thanks for you're time madmab!

I have one of Trusty's upgrades - the 1.4ghz, 128 RAM version. It can play anything I throw at it GBA-wise at 60 FPS, with no frameskip enabled.

Hey all. I recently added Xboyadvance v24 to my xbox. The install went fine. I managed to play a game and everything but for some reason the "emuskins" and "media" folders didn't want to transfer over. I tried FTP and File manager. Anyone have any idea why this would be? Thanks.