I am looking for testing of a WIP build of Dolphin and VBA-M which emulates the GameCube and GBA link cable. The link cable emulation already exists in current versions of both emulators but this test build enhances the speed and reliability of the connection (hopefully).
VBA-M configuration
GC-GBA link emulation requires the GBA bios files. Make sure the GBA BIOS file has a ".BIN" extension (case sensitive). The BIOS is configured in VBA-M (Options > Emulator > BIOS File). Enable the BIOS by selecting the "Enable" option on the right side near the BIOS browse button. Do not enable the "Skip the boot logo" option. The GBA BIOS file has a CRC32 of 81977335.
Enable VBA-M's link cable emulation by selecting "Enable Joybus Connection" under Options > Link > Joybus Options. Enter an IP address of 127.0.0.1.
Do not use frameskip in VBA-M (Options > Speed > Frame Skip). Disable the "Pause when inactive" option found under Options > Emulator
Dolphin configuration
Dolphin is to be configured by selecting "GBA" from Standard Controller drop-down found under the Controller Settings. Up to four GBA's can be configured. This will require four VBA-M instances started up.
Some games require DSP LLE to work. The DSP LLE roms dumped from a Wii are required. The roms supplied with Dolphin will not work. Most notably, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles will not connect more than one VBA if DSP HLE is used.
Starting it up
Start Dolphin first and configure the Controller ports before starting the game in Dolphin. Once the game has started, start VBA-M and load the GBA BIOS file (File > Open GBA).
The Nintendo logo should appear and start flashing below the Gameboy logo. This means that the data is getting downloaded into the GBA. This can be quite slow, so wait a few minutes for it to finish downloading. Once the download completes, the game should start in VBA-M.
Once the game starts in VBA-M, Dolphin takes over the framelimit throttle of VBA-M. Pressing Tab on Dolphin will also affect the throttle of VBA-M. If Dolphin drops in speed, VBA-M will slow down too. This is normal.
The next VBA-M instance can now be started. Connection of VBA-M to the port in Dolphin is random - the first instance of VBA-M may not necessarily connect to port 1 of Dolphin. Successive VBA-M instances download slower. The bandwidth between the VBA-M instances is shared. This is a limitation of the GameCube hardware.
Troubleshooting
The connection does work over wifi but is very slow (slower than 30% speed).
If VBA is stuck on the letter "M" of the Gameboy logo, go into Dolphin and select GBA under the Port option of Controller Settings.
Do not map the same input controls on every VBA-M instance as this will cause input issues.
Some games require that the throttle in Dolphin is disabled to connect. This is a known issue.
The connection uses TCP port 54970. Make sure that this port is open on the firewall.
A TCP/IP monitor can be used to analyse the traffic being sent. If Dolphin is sending a whole bunch of 0xFF bytes, that means the connection is being reset and is not a good sign.
Test Build
Please test this version out and post the results to this thread. Both Dolphin and VBA-M builds have to be downloaded. The WIP build is a Windows build.
http://dl.dolphin-emu.org/prs/pr-2139-do...est-x64.7z
Updated VBA-M and patch:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/d1h8u2..._cable.zip
Update 17 March 2015
The links above have been updated with the latest build. The changes are link speed improvements and improved handling of disconnections. However, I could not get the Pokemon games to work with this version and the spell casting issue in FFCC persists. In FFCC, the radar map has to be turned off for spell casting to work.
Update 20 March 2015
The update has been merged into master 4.0-5899. It requires VBA-M svn 1235. Thanks for all of the testing reports. They were all very helpful.
VBA-M configuration
GC-GBA link emulation requires the GBA bios files. Make sure the GBA BIOS file has a ".BIN" extension (case sensitive). The BIOS is configured in VBA-M (Options > Emulator > BIOS File). Enable the BIOS by selecting the "Enable" option on the right side near the BIOS browse button. Do not enable the "Skip the boot logo" option. The GBA BIOS file has a CRC32 of 81977335.
Enable VBA-M's link cable emulation by selecting "Enable Joybus Connection" under Options > Link > Joybus Options. Enter an IP address of 127.0.0.1.
Do not use frameskip in VBA-M (Options > Speed > Frame Skip). Disable the "Pause when inactive" option found under Options > Emulator
Dolphin configuration
Dolphin is to be configured by selecting "GBA" from Standard Controller drop-down found under the Controller Settings. Up to four GBA's can be configured. This will require four VBA-M instances started up.
Some games require DSP LLE to work. The DSP LLE roms dumped from a Wii are required. The roms supplied with Dolphin will not work. Most notably, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles will not connect more than one VBA if DSP HLE is used.
Starting it up
Start Dolphin first and configure the Controller ports before starting the game in Dolphin. Once the game has started, start VBA-M and load the GBA BIOS file (File > Open GBA).
The Nintendo logo should appear and start flashing below the Gameboy logo. This means that the data is getting downloaded into the GBA. This can be quite slow, so wait a few minutes for it to finish downloading. Once the download completes, the game should start in VBA-M.
Once the game starts in VBA-M, Dolphin takes over the framelimit throttle of VBA-M. Pressing Tab on Dolphin will also affect the throttle of VBA-M. If Dolphin drops in speed, VBA-M will slow down too. This is normal.
The next VBA-M instance can now be started. Connection of VBA-M to the port in Dolphin is random - the first instance of VBA-M may not necessarily connect to port 1 of Dolphin. Successive VBA-M instances download slower. The bandwidth between the VBA-M instances is shared. This is a limitation of the GameCube hardware.
Troubleshooting
The connection does work over wifi but is very slow (slower than 30% speed).
If VBA is stuck on the letter "M" of the Gameboy logo, go into Dolphin and select GBA under the Port option of Controller Settings.
Do not map the same input controls on every VBA-M instance as this will cause input issues.
Some games require that the throttle in Dolphin is disabled to connect. This is a known issue.
The connection uses TCP port 54970. Make sure that this port is open on the firewall.
A TCP/IP monitor can be used to analyse the traffic being sent. If Dolphin is sending a whole bunch of 0xFF bytes, that means the connection is being reset and is not a good sign.
Test Build
Please test this version out and post the results to this thread. Both Dolphin and VBA-M builds have to be downloaded. The WIP build is a Windows build.
http://dl.dolphin-emu.org/prs/pr-2139-do...est-x64.7z
Updated VBA-M and patch:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/d1h8u2..._cable.zip
Update 17 March 2015
The links above have been updated with the latest build. The changes are link speed improvements and improved handling of disconnections. However, I could not get the Pokemon games to work with this version and the spell casting issue in FFCC persists. In FFCC, the radar map has to be turned off for spell casting to work.
Update 20 March 2015
The update has been merged into master 4.0-5899. It requires VBA-M svn 1235. Thanks for all of the testing reports. They were all very helpful.