Development Thread Testers Wanted: GBA GameCube link cable test build

[Shonumi]

This has absolutely nothing to do with the GBA<->GCN connection, so please keep the discussion focused on the topic at hand. DS<->Wii connections will have to wait until someone wants to work on that or gets the time to work on that.

[PapermanZero]

The link for player one is working without any issue. I updated both emulators to the recent versions, posted on the first page.
But if I try to start a second vbam instance (to play FFCC in the multiplayer) no connection can be established.
The flashing Nintendo logo is never appearing on the second gba instance. Also if I load a savestate the vba emulator is going to freeze.
So I have no clue how to setup a multipalyer game for FFCC.

[JMC47]

You need to use LLE audio, read the thread. (Not trying to be rude; just don't feel like reposting the same info over and over )

[PapermanZero]

(03-15-2015, 04:50 AM)JMC47 Wrote: You need to use LLE audio, read the thread.  (Not trying to be rude; just don't feel like reposting the same info over and over )

This is fine thanks for your help. I didn't think it's rude. ^^

If I am using LLE, vba-m is immidiatelly freezing during the boot (animation of gba logo).
That's why I am a little bit surprised how to get several instances working with LLE.
Switching to HLE enables the connection without any issue (however only with one instance).

But I will try it again with savestates and post my results with the newest builds.

Edit: Tried to load instantly the savestate after starting the bios. This was working. Thanks a lot again.
Tomorrow I will try the multiplayer support.

[JMC47]

oh, You can't use the built in LLE audio DSP. You have to dump a real one from an GameCube or Wii. I forgot to mention that because I am dumb.

[PapermanZero]

Not your fault. I copied the LLE files to the Wii folder and not to the GC folder. This was the issue.
Now it's also working with LLE.

The first issue I have seen was about spells and special attacks. There is still a small desync between GBA and GC why the spell/attack will be triggered earlier (without releasing the button). However it's not that often than in previous releases. Should be playable, i will try the multiplayer today to see the behavior during "real" action.

[JMC47]

If you turn off the map, that won't happen.

[megumisonoda]

Using 4.0-5825-dirty (pr-2139) I started up a game of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles with the LLE recompiler option enabled, using a dump from my Wii. Once I was able to successfully connect 2 VBA-M instances to the emulator, I made savestates with the intention of saving time. Since then, I've discovered that:

1. With the version of VBA-M built with skidau's patch, manually enabling the joybus link is not necessary each time the emulator is opened. I am able to just load the BIOS and load a savestate, which will immediately link the emulators.
2. I am able to launch the game with HLE audio and link the VBA-M instances using the savestates, with no problem.
3. By running the game in HLE and ensuring that the two copies of VBA-M have the radars hidden, there is minimal stutter/lag during gameplay. My boyfriend & I cleared year 1 in about an hour, and are halfway through year 2. While some areas (e.g. the Miasma Streams) cause lag where they do not on single player, it is much better than it was with LLE audio enabled.
4. Upon entering new areas, sometimes the GBA screen will continually flicker 'waiting for connection' and it will never be established. This can be halfway fixed by loading a savestate; the player will regain control of the character, but will be unable to switch to GBA mode, and the GameCube screen will display the 'waiting for connection' icon over their character icon until the problem can be resolved by changing areas again.

It appears, from our experiences, that the people who are saying that having the radars up causes the stutter/lag are correct. Spell casting & movement are much more responsive when both players have their radars hidden. Since all GBA connections share bandwidth, and are therefore slower the more you add I would suggest, when the feature itself is more stable, that an option be added to the emulator to toggle between accurate GBA-link emulation (i.e. the emulators are given the same amount of bandwidth for their connection as the real hardware) and enhanced GBA-link emulation, where the speed of the link is allowed to be higher than on hardware.

However, I'm not familiar with exactly how the hardware accomplishes this or if it would be problematic to include an option like that. If it can be done, I think it would be a valuable/popular enhancement, though.

All in all, this branch & VBA-M patch work much better than the vanilla versions of either, and I'm very impressed. Thanks for your hard work!

EDIT: I only just realised that the download link for Dolphin is linked to the buildbot command from the pull request, and I've been using an older build. I am now updated to 5843-dirty, and will edit this post again if I find that any of what I posted here has changed.

[PapermanZero]

So after an afternoon of FFCC, following findings:
- Mogry Stamp game doesn't work in Multiplayer. Player 1 can download the game, but player 2 will stuck on the gameboy booting logo screen (freeze of the emulator).
- Sometimes the "please wait for reconnection" stays very long on screen. Although a player is ready to move on, he has to wait for the second player. Mostly this issue occurs during a transition from one area to another.
- If the map is displayed, sometimes the spell/attack is triggered to early (without releasing the button).

[megumisonoda]

(03-16-2015, 04:28 AM)PapaermanZero Wrote: So after an afternoon of FFCC, following findings:
- Mogry Stamp game doesn't work in Multiplayer. Player 1 can download the game, but player 2 will stuck on the gameboy booting logo screen (freeze of the emulator).
- Sometimes the "please wait for reconnection" stays very long on screen. Although a player is ready to move on, he has to wait for the second player. Mostly this issue occurs during a transition from one area to another.
- If the map is displayed, sometimes the spell/attack is triggered to early (without releasing the button).

You can sort of fix the "Waiting for connection..." screen by loading a savestate. It'll fix the player's input for things like movement but you can't use the GBA screen until it fixes itself, which usually doesn't happen until you move to a new area anyway.