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mGBA 3DS homescreen forwarders? (I guess?)
#1
Hi,

I've been looking into the benefits of VC injection for GBA backups rather than using emulators.  Obviously it works better for some games than others (for example, SMA4 or the Pokemon titles requiring a lot of messing around with hex patches etc, and even then not functioning properly).  I have an N3DS, and the framerate in mGBA is just fine (as is sound in the latest nightly), so the only real benefit from injection is having shortcuts directly to games on my home screen - which is the only real feature that I care about.

Is there anyway to create a .cia file that could call mGBA to start and stop with a specific rom?  (ie, the cia is executed and starts the cia version of mGBA with a call that loads a specific ROM, and then when the emulation is stopped mGBA auto closes).

Alternatively, how tricky would it be to build a cut down 'wrapper' version of mGBA that is either hardcoded (or uses a config entry) to start a ROM at launch, and then close when the emulation finishes?  I appreciate that this would require multiple mGBA installs (one for each game) but mGBA is pretty small, and I have a 128GB SDXC with plenty of room to spare.

I'm looking for ways to get those last few tricky games onto my home screen without using injection, as mGBA seems to provide much better compatibility in some cases (and more options are good!).

I'm not necessarily looking for anyone to do this for me - I'd just really appreciate some pointers.  I have done some limited development in the past (for personal use rather than professionally) so I may be able to have a crack at this if I know where to start.

(On the other hand, if anyone more experienced wanted to weigh in with the code I'd be happy to test).

Thanks for reading (and hopefully chiming in!) Smile
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#2
I've actually done some work on this, but I never got it quite working properly. If you can, please file an issue on GitHub so I can keep track of it.
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#3
(04-27-2017, 12:44 AM)endrift Wrote: I've actually done some work on this, but I never got it quite working properly. If you can, please file an issue on GitHub so I can keep track of it.

Good to know that I'm not the only person who's thought about it!

Raised as Issue #713 on GitHub.

https://github.com/mgba-emu/mgba/issues/713


Which approach were you taking before? Launching mGBA from another CIA with variable paramaters, or creating a 'wrapper'?
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#4
The former approach. Making a wrapper for each game would be a bit heavyweight.
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#5
(04-27-2017, 06:18 PM)endrift Wrote: The former approach. Making a wrapper for each game would be a bit heavyweight.

Agreed.  Might be simpler though?

Could an app create the appropriate changes to package a wrapper given a ROM?
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#6
(04-27-2017, 06:18 PM)endrift Wrote: The former approach. Making a wrapper for each game would be a bit heavyweight.

(05-03-2017, 04:48 PM)SeraphTC Wrote: Agreed. Might be simpler though?
Could an app create the appropriate changes to package a wrapper given a ROM?

good day, im just a newbie here. I have lots of concern regarding GBA VC injection on 3DS,
i keep on searching the net to properly load pokemon games (RSE/FRLG/mystery dungeon red/RS pinball)
on 3ds directly from home menu, but because the GBA VC of the 3ds doesnt support the save structure of those games (128kb) lots of issue arises

there are some patches, here:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/tutorial-fix...ba.433266/
but some problems still remain.
another thing is, once the game is patched, the save data of that game would not be compatible on the unpached game.
im a person who plays the game sometimes on a handheld emulator and sometimes on a pc emulator,
and its a hassle if the save file is not compatible on each other...
thats why i give up using GBA VC injection.

but i keep on trying to find other solution, and it comes to my mind that there are several GBA emulator on 3ds (mGBA & retroarch).
i tested both on 3ds and for me, mGBA have more features at the same time have a cleaner look...
unlike the retroarch, the bottom screen have lots of logs...
thats why i keep on looking the developer of the mGBA and thankfuly i found a dedicated forum about mGBA.
i keep on reading and instead making a new thread, i found this thread with the same topic i want to address...

but still the question remains in my mind if it is possible to modify mGBA.cia
change its title ID and redirect a certain GBA file that is located on the 3ds sd card
what i mean is this: currently the mGBA has a title ID of 1a1e
then modify the mGBA multiple times, change the title ID:
mGBA with title ID 9999 - directly detects a gba file on 3ds sd card: eg pokemonruby.gba
mGBA with title ID 9998 - directly detects a gba file on 3ds sd card: eg pokemonsapphire.gba
mGBA with title ID 9997 - directly detects a gba file on 3ds sd card: eg pokemonmyterydungeonred.gba

so there will be 3 installation of mGBA with different game to load.

just a suggestion... how bout make a GBA forwarder using mGBA engine with a PC gui like the one on NDS forwarder
https://gbatemp.net/threads/nds-forwarde...nu.426174/

hope its possible in future...
thanks and have a nice day
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#7
sir?
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#8
Quote:but i keep on trying to find other solution, and it comes to my mind that there are several GBA emulator on 3ds (mGBA & retroarch).
i tested both on 3ds and for me, mGBA have more features at the same time have a cleaner look...
unlike the retroarch, the bottom screen have lots of
writemyessaytoday.net logs...
thats why i keep on looking the developer of the mGBA and thankfuly i found a dedicated forum about mGBA.
i keep on reading and instead making a new thread, i found this thread with the same topic i want to address...

but still the question remains in my mind if it is possible to modify mGBA.cia
change its title ID and redirect a certain GBA file that is located on the 3ds sd card
what i mean is this: currently the mGBA has a title ID of 1a1e
then modify the mGBA multiple times, change the title ID:
mGBA with title ID 9999 - directly detects a gba file on 3ds sd card: eg pokemonruby.gba
mGBA with title ID 9998 - directly detects a gba file on 3ds sd card: eg pokemonsapphire.gba
mGBA with title ID 9997 - directly detects a gba file on 3ds sd card: eg pokemonmyterydungeonred.gba


Hello,

Theoretically, in case the CIA of the emulator supports arguments, will I be able to create a forwarder that passes the rom name? Any updates about mGBA 0.8.0?
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