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Visual Boy Advance tutorial (gba)

Discussion in 'Tutorials' started by jc_106, Nov 8, 2007.

  1. jc_106

    jc_106 Well-Known Member

    THE BEGINNING

    this is a tutorial on how to use the game boy advance emulator, the visual boy advance. it's the best in my opinion. I'll be posting about the most recent version of it, the version 1.8.0 beta 3. it is available in here. you should get winrar 3.71 too before starting. you could use winzip too, but winrar is recommended by me. if you don't have it already, then check this.

    first of all, download the emulator. put it wherever you want it to be, and then extract the files in that same folder. you are supposed to get 2 more files, one with the name COPYING (17.9 KB)and another one, named VisualBoyAdvance (1.88 MB). you may change their names to whatever you want. from here the real tutorial begins.

    run the emulator file, firstly named visualboyadvance. a small window should appear. we will first configure the emulator. the following is my fully working configuration. this may look a bit confusing, and a bit long, but you'll get my idea.

    THE CONFIGURATION

    options
    frameskip
    automatic
    0
    throttle
    no throttle
    video
    render method
    direct draw
    d draw triple buffering
    d3d nearest
    gl nearest
    gl triangle
    x1
    layers
    (all)
    emulator
    synchronize
    pause when inactive window
    automatic IPS patching
    png format
    sound
    on
    channel 1, 2, 3, 4
    direct sound a, b
    22khz
    volume
    1x
    gameboy
    cgb/gbc
    real colors
    colors...
    default
    priority
    highest
    filter
    interframe blending
    none
    normal
    joypad
    configure
    (as you prefer)
    default joypad
    1 (you must configure joypad 1 for this to work)
    motion configure
    up: 8 (right numbers)
    down: 2 (right numbers)
    left: 4 (right numbers)
    right: 6 (right numbers)
    autofire
    (i use none)
    language
    English


    after having this working configuration, download a game, for example, Fire Emblem 6.

    download it. it's a fully working, English version with no virus, as i myself have it. put the file in whichever folder you want, and extract it, i recommend in the same folder where you put the compressed file, as it will be easier to find. then run the emulator, select ''file'', ''open'' and a new window is supposed to appear, named ''Select ROM''. get to the folder where you have put the decompressed file and select that file. if you have maximized the emulator window, it should minimize to the initial size. then the game should start running. if it doesn't, then redo the configuration step and make sure yours is like mine. if it still doesn't work, re download the game.

    SPECS

    these are the real gba specs.

    CPU: 16 MHz 32-bit RISC-CPU + 8-bit CISC-CPU
    Memory: 32KB WRAM + 96KB VRAM + 256KB WRAM
    Resolution: 240 x 160 pixels
    Display Ability: 32 000 colours

    RECOMMENDED SPECS

    my PC is a bit crappy, but the emulator fully works.

    Pentium IV, 2.4 GHz
    256MB RAM memory
    near 40GB hard drive
    128b video card

    if you have these or better, then you won't have any problems.

    FEATURES

    these are the features of vba.

    save game state at any point
    graphic filters to enhance display: 2xSaI, Super 2xSaI, Super Eagle, Pixelate and Motion Blur
    full screen support
    screen capture (through menu or configured key)
    joystick support
    speed up button
    Gameboy Printer emulation
    Gameboy GB, SGB, GBC and GBC on GBA emulation types
    SGB border support
    auto-fire support
    translation enabled (for emulator only)
    hacking capabilities, including search engine, Gameboy Gameshark and GameGenie support and GamesharkAdvance and CodeBreakerAdvance support
    GBA debugger in the SDL version Linux, windows and BeOS (SDL version)
    import Gameshark Game Saves, codes, etc...
    import battery files from other emulators
    export battery files to other emulators
    sound recording

    CHEATS

    to add cheats, first go to one of these sites:

    The Codebreaker site
    The GameShark site

    then, in the emulator, go to the menu ''cheats'', then select the sub-menu ''cheat list''. a new window will appear. there, click ''add gameshark'' and enter any code. i'll add an example for the game fire emblem 6. the code i'll use are in the gameshark site.

    description: (here you have to put the name of the code) Infinite Funds
    code: (here you have to enter the numbers of the code on the site) 241A814B8FFF
    0A6E7E102066

    you may have to sign up. don't worry, however, both of those sites are safe.

    to make this easier, you should copy/paste the codes and the name. after this, the code will appear in the previous window. add as many as you wish. however, i'll warn you, if you add too many, the software may not know how to work with so many codes, and an error will occur. if this happens, immediately go to the cheats window and start to disable some. if you want to save your cheat list, instead of always add them, each time you play, simply add them once, and then select ''save cheat list'' in the cheat menu, and save it. when you want to load it, select ''load cheat list'' and load the cheat list.

    any further questions, feel free to pm me...