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VisualBoyAdvance-M Portable Development Test 2

Zach Thibeau's picture
Submitted by Zach Thibeau on February 25, 2008 - 11:43pm

Application:VisualBoyAdvance-M
Category:Games & Emulation
Description:Combine the best features of the VBA forks in one build.
Multi-platform support so that your GBA emulation experience is more complete.
Release Notes:

  • Development Test 2 fixes the efficiency Drive letter handling pointed out by ZachHudock
  • Updated VisualBoyAdvance to include vba-m svn 470
  • Development Test 1 Initial Release

Download:VisualBoyAdvance-MPortable

‹ DeskLinkz Vr. 1.5 Portable Development Test VisualBoyAdvance - (update 29.06. - final) ›

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I'll look at this tonight,

ZachHudock's picture
ZachHudock - March 11, 2008 - 1:49pm

I'll look at this tonight, report back on any issues, then add you to the Development Test list.

The developer formerly known as ZGitRDun8705

thanks

Zach Thibeau's picture
Zach Thibeau (Homepage) - March 11, 2008 - 2:47pm

thanks Zach and any constructive criticism would be nice, in Fact I am working on Dev Test 2 but with the Original VisualBoy Advance as vba-m will not work on some computers such as my desktop (due to SSE) so it will roll back to original build until that issue is fixed with the Author

Because somewhere out there, there's a hacker who needs a hug

"I don't fear Computers. I fear the lack of them" - Isaac Asimov

Ok I noticed a few issues

ZachHudock's picture
ZachHudock - March 11, 2008 - 9:41pm

Ok I noticed a few issues with this one. It's fine that you use your own scripting style, but keeping things in the same setup as John's does make it easier to compare/follow along. that's not a big deal though.

Issues:
you are using an outdated newadvsplash command to hide the splash screen. It should now be "newadvsplash::stop /WAIT" (no quotes)

your code for updating the ini file is very inefficient. it can easily be replaced with something like

UpdateLocations:
		;=== Update files for new location
		${GetRoot} $EXEDIR $0
		ReadINIStr $1 "$SETTINGSDIRECTORY\VBAMPortableSettings.ini" "VBAMPortableSettings" "LastDriveLetter"
		StrCmp $1 "" StoreCurrentDriveLetter
		StrCmp $1 $0 StoreCurrentDriveLetter
		IfFileExists "$PROGRAMDIRECTORY\vba.ini" "" DisplaySplash
		${ReplaceInFile} "$PROGRAMDIRECTORY\vba.ini" "$1\" "$0\"
		Delete "$PROGRAMDIRECTORY\vba.ini.old"

I recommend looking at my Synkron Portable launcher for an example of how to fully implement this.

The developer formerly known as ZGitRDun8705

Glad

Zach Thibeau's picture
Zach Thibeau (Homepage) - March 11, 2008 - 10:04pm

Glad you brought that up, I've been reworking the launcher since my last post instead of my using my script I've been using a combination of SumatraPDFPortables script plus already updated NewAdvSplash already so I'll be updating asap but thanks for the tip though Zach ;)

Because somewhere out there, there's a hacker who needs a hug

"I don't fear Computers. I fear the lack of them" - Isaac Asimov

VisualBoyAdvance-M Portable Update

Zach Thibeau's picture
Zach Thibeau (Homepage) - April 4, 2008 - 10:12am

Updated to Development Test 2 See Original Post

Because somewhere out there, there's a hacker who needs a hug

"I don't fear Computers. I fear the lack of them" - Isaac Asimov

Hmm

The MAZZTer's picture
The MAZZTer (Homepage) - April 4, 2008 - 5:07pm

I never knew about this fork, I am now enlightened. :) Thanks for sharing!

Why thanks

Zach Thibeau's picture
Zach Thibeau (Homepage) - April 4, 2008 - 6:11pm

Thanks, I'm actually working with the dev team my self (not coding though :() but Working with them via IRC and their forums as a moderator I am getting more valuable information on whats coming up and also bug fixes for the new release, eventually they are going to a more universal Gui for VBA using QT, actually it seems that most emulators are going there, for the ZSNES forums they are already discussing of using QT for an interface

Because somewhere out there, there's a hacker who needs a hug

"I don't fear Computers. I fear the lack of them" - Isaac Asimov

Feedback

Patrick Patience's picture
Patrick Patience (Homepage) - April 4, 2008 - 6:34pm

Zach, this looks good. Here's the small stuff I caught.

  • In the root directory:
    • In the help.html file, fix that MPlayer typo (you knew that. :)) and remove the indent on Acknowledgements.
  • In App:
    • Add Readme.txt from another app.
  • In App\AppInfo:
    • The appicon.ico should only contain 48, 32, and 16 pixel sizes in both 256 (XP) and (32 bit) 8 color formats.
    • Update your appinfo.ini to the latest version (0.9.8) from a recently release app. Also change the website to PortableApps.com\DevelopmentTest or /NamePortable.
  • In App\VisualBoyAdvance:
    • Put vba.ini in App\DefaultData and have it copied to Data\settings if nothing exists in Data\settings.
    • Possibly rename that folder to include -M.
  • In Other\Source:
    • Add AppSource.txt from another application.
    • Add your copyright below Johns in Readme.txt.
    • Change the 3 times Readme.txt mentions SumatraPDF to VisualBoyAdvance-M
    • In the source, the VER is for the launcher, which is about 1.5.7.0.
    • Change the 200 on line 210 to 0 as we're dropping splash fades.
    • Change the LegalCopyright in the source to PortableApps.com & Contributers.

And don't ever tell me PAF doesn't matter until it's official. Pshh. :P

P.S. I have this minor bug where the program doesn't launch for me and the process of the exe or the portable exe aren't running.

It's kinda sad when my desktop is messier than my room.

Just downloaded the test 2

Warhawk - April 5, 2008 - 4:17am

Just downloaded the test 2 version, but when I double click it to start, it comes up with alpha or beta screen then doesn't load...
I even checked the task manager and didn't find it loading anywhere.

Hmmm

Zach Thibeau's picture
Zach Thibeau (Homepage) - April 5, 2008 - 10:39am

It could be an issue with either the app or i fudged up. Anyways i got the next few days off and will try to fix it asap ;)

Because somewhere out there, there's a hacker who needs a hug

"I don't fear Computers. I fear the lack of them" - Isaac Asimov

Same here

Stevoisiak - April 11, 2008 - 1:16pm

Same thing here, except it may be because I'm using a school PC. I could not check task manager.

Stupid Question

enderandrew - April 5, 2008 - 12:41pm

But where are you getting the builds?

I thought they didn't have a public build yet.

Nihilism makes me smile.

he's on the development team

ZachHudock's picture
ZachHudock - April 5, 2008 - 12:50pm

he's on the development team ;)

The developer formerly known as ZGitRDun8705

Well

Zach Thibeau's picture
Zach Thibeau (Homepage) - April 5, 2008 - 10:02pm

There are no 1.0 version there are svn builds but it's not the final product and they are precompiled and available for people to download

Because somewhere out there, there's a hacker who needs a hug

"I don't fear Computers. I fear the lack of them" - Isaac Asimov

Why it doesn't run.

Strife89 - April 11, 2008 - 4:34pm

I think VBA-M will simply not run if the PC lacks DirectX 9 -- I attempted to launch it directly (without using the Portable Apps launcher app) and got an error message saying that a .dll (I forget which one) was missing. Using the launcher gets me the "development" splash screen, then nothing more.

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!

Check out forums.brighthand.com and look for me (as the same username).

Why do I say "huzzah"? Play this and see! http://www.miraigamer.net/cavestory/

Yeah

Zach Thibeau's picture
Zach Thibeau (Homepage) - April 11, 2008 - 11:15pm

Yeah I know the launcher bug, Fixing that and yes it does require Dx9 but I can't include it so you need to update to the latest Directx Release for XP but thats all

Because somewhere out there, there's a hacker who needs a hug

"I don't fear Computers. I fear the lack of them" - Isaac Asimov

...

Bruce - April 17, 2008 - 7:21pm

Vista includes DX10 (therefore also DX9) and it still crashes at startup. Running VisualBoyAdvance.exe directly reveals that d3dx9_37.dll is missing. This is why I hate D3DX--there's about a hundred different versions of it and there's no forward NOR backward compatibility--you have to have the EXACT version the developer used installed, otherwise you're screwed.

Well

Zach Thibeau's picture
Zach Thibeau (Homepage) - April 17, 2008 - 9:34pm

What I can do is maybe possibly include that DLL file in the next release and go from there but really no guarantee, I'll speak with the devs about this and see if we can fix this

Because somewhere out there, there's a hacker who needs a hug

"I don't fear Computers. I fear the lack of them" - Isaac Asimov

Works 110% for me Have 13

horusofoz's picture
horusofoz - April 30, 2008 - 1:55am

Works 110% for me ;-)

Have 13 roms and all work

Live To Learn. Learn To Live.

Great

Zach Thibeau's picture
Zach Thibeau (Homepage) - May 4, 2008 - 10:15pm

Great, Be expecting an update for a Development Test 3 release with fixes in the launcher :)
EDIT: It should be ready by May 16th or 17th

Because somewhere out there, there's a hacker who needs a hug

"I don't fear Computers. I fear the lack of them" - Isaac Asimov

DL link not found

Emrys - June 23, 2008 - 8:56am

is this project still active?

Yes and no, currently due to

Zach Thibeau's picture
Zach Thibeau (Homepage) - June 23, 2008 - 9:42am

Yes and no, currently due to some people who have claimed vba-m as their own project, the crew at vba-m.ngemu.com has come up with some protection that does not allow modification through upx and reshack, Currently I am working with mudlord to possibly come up with a way to downsize the executable size so that I can continue the work until then I am not working on it

Because somewhere out there, there's a hacker who needs a hug

"I don't fear Computers. I fear the lack of them" - Isaac Asimov

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