sGBA: News

sGba is a Gameboy Advance Emulator project that's currently in progress. Presently it's not available to download, but it should be soon.

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August 4, 2005: Rewrite Imminent

This first version of sGba has been very much a learning experience for me, as I've never actually written an emulator before. In the process, I've learned a lot about what to do, and what not to do. The long and short is, there are some design issues in the current core that make it difficult to emulate some of the hardware correctly, and as I'd like correct emulation, I've decided to rethink my strategy and rewrite the emulator from scratch. So, whenever I find some time to work on it, I'll start a new emulator designed to be faster, and have more correct emulation. Keep an eye out if you're interested :)

March 3, 2005: WIP Build 1

Ok, I've finally decided to release something for a change. As development has been slowed on this project considerably, I'm releasing a Work In Progress build, so people who want to can play with it. This version requires a gba bios file for full functionality, the bios should be named gba.rom and put in the same directory as the emulator.
Bugs that I know about already include items listed on the compatibility pages as not being done, and:
  • Sprites don't flip yet, rotation/scaling sprites not supported.
  • There is a bug that causes pc to move to an odd-numbered location (probably when returning to thumb mode) - the cause of this is presently unknown, and prevents several commercial games from running
  • A few instructions are still unimplemented, specificly the memory SWP instructions in the arm core. (used in practically nothing though)
  • The memory loading/storing doesn't mimic the gba for unaligned writes.
  • There are probably other small problems, but I don't remember/feel like listing them.
    •

    If you have questions or comments, or would like to report a bug, please email sGba@akkit.org.

    Now that you've read that, here's the download link: sGBA WIP build 1 (build has been updated to include a readme)

    January 14, 2005: Long time, no update

    Well, now it's been almost 2 months since my last update. Needless to say I've been a bit busy and haven't been working on this project much, but since it's so close to being done I can't keep this up forever :) So, in the next few weeks I'll make an effort to get a release version out there for all of you to play with. Just keep watching :)

    November 16, 2004: More bugs fixed, more to go...

    I found and fixed some major bugs in the core, there are probably a number of others I haven't got to yet though :\ On the top of my list of things to do are hblank dma and timers - this will probably fix a lot of the compatibility problems I'm having. A whole ton of stuff now works right that didn't used to, but I still don't consider the emulator to be fit for release... I've been swamped with stuff to do lately as well, so the emulator hasn't got much attention lately. Well, stay tuned, I'll try to get something out soon :)

    November 7, 2004: Nearing a release

    There haven't been any updates in a while, I've had other things to do lately. Another math bug in the cpu is plaguing me, makes fr018 look reaaaaly intersting. Also, I've been lazy and don't have sprites done yet... that's coming up soon. All in all, I'd like to release this thing pretty soon, I'll be working on it in my free time for the next few days. (and before you ask, the emu isn't that slow; that's just the debug version)

    October 16, 2004: (Yet) More bugs eliminated

    More cool screenshots, mainly from 3d stuff that now works due to bugs being eliminated in the cpu core! A few more things need to be done before a release is possible... firstly I need better video emulation, secondly I need input emulation... I'll be working on those this weekend, hopefully they'll be done soon :)

    October 14, 2004: Additional bugs eliminated

    There are more screenshots up, and the compatibility list has been updated to reflect recent bugfixes in the core. Still working towards a release, but I don't have thumb ldr/str done yet :)

    October 13, 2004: More compatiblity, more screenshots, better colors

    I've managed to do color conversion and still preserve most of the speed of the emu, as well as adding some new features. Now, if I ever get around to finishing LDR/STR in thumb, I might actually release a version for everyone to play with :) Anyway, that can't be far off, I'm getting tired of seeing the debugger break on thumb ldr/str instructions and refuse to continue. so, keep watching, and see the screenshots page for more screenshots (only 3 posted here for space reasons)




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