Nintendo GBA

[vagrant plover]

You've set

[menu]
direct_video=0

in your MiSTer.ini right?
https://consolemods.org/wiki/AV:RetroTINK-4K/System_Specific_Settings#MiSTer

[fierce eagle]

Yeah, main menu looks good.

Osd used to work with dv on all the previous versions of the core, this is new.

[fierce eagle]

Audio drops in dv seem to be fixed though, used to have one pretty much guaranteed within a 5 minute window and now I've played for 20 minutes without one.

[copper yacht]

I also have this exact issue on the newest core, except on my CRT instead of through the RT4K. When I go to the OSD all I get is black screen until I unpause (or get out of the OSD)
Using component out through the VGA port

[low carbon]

yes, this is currently not supported with the new video out timing. It stops completly when in pause

will fix this when borders work. Only makes sense to include it in a given timing when the timing can be used in the end.

[fierce eagle]

👍

[low carbon]

Great to hear the audio drops are gone!

[fierce eagle]

Pun intended? 😂

[sick rover]

RGB out through analogue I/O

image disappears if I open OSD though

I suppose it should not

[low carbon]

it should not anymore when the video timings are finished 🙂

[waxen verge]

what cab is this?

[sick rover]

taito egret 2

[waxen verge]

dope 👀

i bought an egret 3 recently but it needs hella work

[low carbon]

Testversion with fixed border: you can activate it in the video submenu. Not yet customizable!

This is mainly to test if the 320x240 pixel output works fine with CRTs and maybe directvideo/scaler if it makes sense to use there at all

[fossil tide]

works fine (Mister analog board, Commodore 1084 CRT). That are the most hideous borders one could imagine 😉

like I said before, the output is centered on my CRT setup

[low carbon]

Great, thank you. Can go to add loadable borders next

[fierce eagle]

Wow those borders are beautiful, just like a rainbow.

[fierce eagle]

Works fine on rt4k. I don't know why you'd ever play like this on a 4k tv with an external scaler, but you certainly can!

[timid phoenix]

Tell us again how you like to play in 4K

[sick rover]

RGB Nanao MS-9 15KHz

[scenic oasis]

Consumer Trinitron, analog i/o SCART

[crude marten]

so imma need everyone playing MiSTer on their imported Astro City cabinet to stop making me insanely jealous with their photos

-# thank you for your consideration

[crude marten]

for a moment, I thought you were posting a picture of a FW900

[fathom lintel]

I wish haha

[warm galleon]

Feel free to use the high res version of the Mister FPGA GBA lookalike logo. It will likely turn out cleaner when resizing it from the higher resolution.

[lyric gust]

Thank you! I made one of my own probably identical, it doesn't scale well that small because it's literally like 6 pixels tall lol

The size in the image is the smallest I could make it while still being readable and recognizable

Any bigger and it doesn't fit in the black border

[warm galleon]

Yeah, it's quite odd working with such low resolutions. Definitely also try using different scaling methods including nearest neighbor scaling, to find out what works best.

[lyric gust]

I did

I went through the whole list haha

Even tried different text rendering settings

But those didn't do anything at that tiny size

Yeah this low of resolution you're halfway doing pixel art not just photoshopping

[warm galleon]

Yes, and it feels very much outside of what I'm used to be working with.

[lyric gust]

Right 😆

[warm galleon]

@sacred rivet just checking in to see if everything is good with the files I sent you, or in case I can help with anything. As always, there's no rush, I wasn't even able to order the Everdrive yet.

[warm galleon]

Am I assuming correctly that the game screen simply gets placed on top of the border, which acts more like a background layer?

I'm also curious if my design is going to work well, as I'm using a 1px black border around the game screen, however it seems that the border images might not always center correctly? Or does the entire image including the border get shifted around?

[ionic phoenix]

CRTs are just like that.

That's why there are tests for cropping and positioning.

[timber silo]

Component

[lyric gust]

What was the purpose of the black border

[warm galleon]

To have a black border around the game screen area. It looks nice.

[warm galleon]

Your borders also have a bezel around the game screen are. My question is, how do you know if the game screen is going to line up with it correctly across different CRT screens? As in, is there a chance that the game screen could be offset from where you placed it in your border design, or is the game screen always correctly centered within it, but the entire output image could be shifted vertically?

[ionic phoenix]

how do you know if the game screen is going to line up with it correctly across different CRT screens?

That's the neat part; you can't.

[warm galleon]

I'll guess we'll know more after we have tested it with some pixel grids.

[ionic phoenix]

Look, I'm just saying that fundamentally every CRT is going to output the image differently, so it's impossible to have one solution for everything.

[lyric gust]

Oh around the game area sorry I was imagining the entire image

[lyric gust]

I assume the entire output image or that would be crazy

[warm galleon]

Got it, that answers my question, thanks!

[warm galleon]

My question was if the entire screen would be shifted, or if the game screen could get shifted independently from the border, to where these two elements wouldn't correctly align with themselves anymore.

[lyric gust]

I don't know for certain but I assume it's drawing the entire thing at once

[lyric gust]

I think the best we can do is get an idea of what area to leave for overscan even if it's just an average of sets

Then add that to the template

Like make some red guides for the overscan area

[warm galleon]

Yes, as a kind of safe margin, like it's usual to indicate with printing templates.

[lyric gust]

I assume it's why the Gameboy player border I used was so narrow

[wide ember]

and since the image is red in the margin, everyone will adjust their overscan to the same values

genius

[lyric gust]

I'm just talking about a guide in the template

I don't think you actually want a red border it might show on some edge cases

That was a pun

[warm galleon]

You could still however use it to adjust your vertical image position, as long as it wouldn't mess up the image position with other cores or devices.

[lyric gust]

We could make a special image adjustment border lol

[honest viper]

Svideo and composite looking good!

[low carbon]

they are generated as one image output from the core, so borders and game graphics cannot shift against each other, only the combined image

[warm galleon]

Thanks for the clarification. This is great.

[honest viper]

Happy that enabling the border makes the OSD wider too. Much more readable on a CRT now

[sand saffron]

My eyes are bleeding rainbows after looking at all these test boarders! 🌈 👀

[crude marten]

https://tenor.com/view/rainbow-puke-gnome-gif-17332897

rare footage of MARl0

[lone canyon]

Composite looks both terrible and not at the same time lol

Had to just pick a game at random by pushing the arrow keys on my controller cuz I can't see the OSD LOL

[fathom lintel]

Super Mariomon romhack is completable on the core

[zealous nacelle]

What did you think?

[fathom lintel]

I enjoyed it, its has that goofy mario rpg charm but it's a pokemon game. It's not terribly difficult either if you understand how a pokemon game works. I didn't really have to grind levels on any wild Pokemon, i mostly ran away from those and just did trainer battles

I did grind a few levels when i got to the end of the game with elite four but other that

It has alot of modern quality of life improvements like using a koopa shell to surf and you're given a warp pipe item that's basically the fly HM so you don't have to use take up a slot on your Pokemon move list. Didn't feel like a slog to playthrough

[zealous nacelle]

That sounds cool, thanks for your input.

[sacred rivet]

LGTM, lot on my plate lately

[pallid nebula]

Can the borders be used with HDMI or only analog video?

[fossil tide]

they work with both

[fathom lintel]

Shantae copy i recieved from limited run games today

[sand saffron]

So I take it the collector's edition is going out later. Still haven't seen mine yet.

[compact vessel]

I opened up my near enough launch model 2 Mega Drive yesterday (VRAM failure I think), and the chips were remarkably cleaner looking than that!

[hollow leaf]

at least the edge is beveled

[ionic phoenix]

The problem with a lack of audio I had while using direct video was fixed with the latest build. So now I can go back to using that for better scaling with my Morph 4K.

[zealous nacelle]

Was there a warning about sharing saves between this core and the old GBA core or am I imagining things?

[coarse cape]

I don’t recall reading that (but I haven’t been following this one super close)

[fathom lintel]

I don't recall reading that either

[brisk garnet]

I vaguely recall that compatibility from old -> new wasn't guaranteed

[honest viper]

Yeah old saves should work, but there was basically a 0 liability claim if they get corrupted

[ionic phoenix]

So far I haven't encountered any "corrupted save file" error or anything like that.

The Pokémon games in particular really hate corrupted save files.

[fathom lintel]

I had one save corrupt the other day when i opened up the osd while saving in mariomon

Wasn't a big deal because it has a fallback save and i didn't lose more than a couple minutes of progress

[lyric gust]

Yes don't use excessively

Or whatever the fast timings warning was lol

[low carbon]

I wasn't sure at the start, but at this point saves should be fully compatible. If at all, there might still be rare bugs.

Savestates are not fully compatible between old and new core, but usually 99% should be fine.

(to be more precise: i know of some registers that differ, but so far I haven't seen any savestate from one core crashing on the other and I used plenty of them for debugging)

[low carbon]

small teaser. Still need to get the core config string right. Currently loading the border will reset the game 😅

[fierce eagle]

Looks hella good!

[zealous nacelle]

Yeah, that’s pretty incredible.

[short anvil]

so keen!

[low carbon]

• added loadable borders. Format is raw 32bit color 320x240 with centered 240x160 area being used for game
• enable YC/Composite in build
  To create a .bor file you can use a 320x240 .bmp and the python script(AI generated) attached. Example border from image above is also attached.

If there is any reason that stands against using this format, file ending or whatever, let me know. Currently it's just the first version and I'm open to changes

[fierce eagle]

With Robert teasing I was sure it'd be done this evening.

But 30 minutes is a new record I think. 😅

[low carbon]

I had luck with the very next build. Added logicanalyzer and my best guess, but didn't even have to check the logicanalyzer.
Typically it takes me several builds until i figure things out, but by chance this time the mister framework core config string works just as one would expect, haha

[fierce eagle]

I'm sure when @warm galleon and @lyric gust see this we'll be hit with a barrage of borders.

[wide ember]

HOT

[low carbon]

yes, the example border is from Dinierto. I scrolled up and picked the first I could find 😅

[fierce eagle]

The ||best|| you mean.

[low carbon]

To be honest: most important was for me that all colors(RGB) are in, so i get the mapping right 🙂

(but i also like the wood)

[timid phoenix]

Could PPM work? It’s almost the same thing but somewhat standard. The only problem is that it’s RGB not RGBA - do you use A for anything?

(Ref: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netpbm)

[short anvil]

just trying the core now, i have an issue when trying to open the OSD. the screen goes blank and no OSD appears. and when i press OSD again, i see the gameboy screen

[low carbon]

yes, 24bit would make reading from ddr3 a pain as that is always 64bit words

[fathom lintel]

Looks awesome on component. Opens OSD fine but loses signal if pause when osd is open option is on

[low carbon]

the sync loss on pause will be fixed in the next build

[timid phoenix]

I just looked and apparently there’s a 32 bit format (PFM) which is supported by photoshop, gimp etc

[low carbon]

isn't that format 32bit float per color?

[timid phoenix]

It’s a pretty ugly format though. What you have is probably better suited 😅

[low carbon]

could easily accept any header by just adding a fixed offset, but would prefer the color to either be 32bit (ARGB) or 16 bit (565 or 555 rgb)

[timid phoenix]

Looks like it 😓

[low carbon]

and top to bottom, left to right, not like .bmp

[lone canyon]

@low carbon you said 32bit above for the borders, but would that effect anything that has gradients with outputting with analog? Even the pro board isn't 32-bit I don't think no?

[low carbon]

it's 8 bit per color. To be save maybe the lower 2 bits per color should be left out by border creators if they want to fully support old analog boards

looks like .png does support uncompressed mode with 32bit ARGB, will take a look

[lone canyon]

Saving 2 bits would still be 24 and the old analog is 18 I thought. 🤔
But yeah, regardless, if someone wants to make a border that works well with analog board they'll need to just not get too complex and fancy with it

[timid phoenix]

But then you have the problem of people accidentally compressing things and that screwing things up, right? Maybe the explicit conversation to your format is less error prone

Just thinking about the “why doesn’t this png border work?” questions

[lone canyon]

True. Many people will just see "PNG" and not care about the nerdy details and bother to understand that it's just a container

[timid phoenix]

Anyway, I’ll stop bike shedding 😅

[lone canyon]

Like how there's many who don't understand that MP4 is just a container and what's inside if it can be very different depending on who encoded it and how

[low carbon]

yes, could lead to such issues. Also my test png has a header size of 401 bytes...who thinks that would be a good idea to have this one stray byte...

So i guess unless someone comes up with a really good idea, we stay with this format for now. The only annoying thing is that you cannot just open the .bor file in any image viewer

[wide ember]

tga? bmp?

I used both for uncompressed "skip the header" use back in dos days

[short anvil]

testing out the borders, it seems the image is shifted to the right? note the spacing on the left is more than the right.

and included is the grid pattern which shows my tvs are pretty spot on with the geometry. one crt is widescreen, other 4:3. i used 240p test suite with the snes core for the grid

[fierce eagle]

Gba border with good center pattern would be helpful

[wide ember]

isn't there a gba 240p I mean 160p test suite?

[short anvil]

seems like from this screenshot left border is slightly more than the right too?

[lean remnant]

I like a lot the border 🙂

[low carbon]

Can easily shift the image if it turns out it's not centered. Last collection some days ago showed that on average it was ok. Maybe it's easier now with grid border to fully see it

[short anvil]

i think the vertical position might be slightly off on my second monitor (see second picture), so feel free to disregard that for now

what seems consistent across both monitors though, is that the horizontal position appears to be shifted 1 colour band too far to the right

i used this border grid (thanks dinierto). here it is converted to .bor

[timid phoenix]

The original idea for the border was to make CRTs happy, right?
What happens on the other GBA (or other handheld) cores?

[copper needle]

there's just an empty black border around the image

[timid phoenix]

Ahh, I see. Thats what I assumed

[copper needle]

there's nothing really wrong with it its just a bit boring

[timid phoenix]

Yeah, this is a cool feature. I was just curious

[copper needle]

i think its un-ideal for the crt too since the geometry on it is often unusually messy

[timid phoenix]

Maybe if you tubemen moved into the 21st century…

(I’m kidding)

[copper needle]

just another 5-10 years and oleds might finally match crts for motion clarity 😛

[wide ember]

we are so far ahead it appears outdated

[zealous nacelle]

someone make a Shrek border so I can watch the Shrek movie as the retro lord intended

[fierce eagle]

That's... actually a really good idea.

[lyric gust]

I'm gonna have to convert that test border so we can see where overscan hits

[lyric gust]

Oh nevermind lol

You already did

So how do we use the python script is it for one border at a time or can it do batch

Those bands are 5 pixels each

[timid phoenix]

Will Shrek work on the new core? 😂

[zealous nacelle]

Yeah that was my underhanded attempt to convince someone to support that mapper, lol

[copper needle]

the only way to make it happen is to get a sticker made proclaiming its impossibility

robert cant resist these

[fierce eagle]

I miss the random people asking if n64 isn't impossible on mister after the first games were already running.

[copper needle]

i miss people asking what TLB is

[timid phoenix]

One at a time, but you can just loop with bash.. something like:

for input in *.bmp; do python convertBorder.py $input ${input%.bmp}.bor; done

(Typed on my phone and not tested so YMMV)

[fierce eagle]

Wtf, I should really learn some computer language if even arnrh can do it.

[lyric gust]

Oof

I don't know script stuff lol

I can try it thanks

[timid phoenix]

It’ll probably break if you have spaces in your file names, so… don’t

If they do, put speech marks around the variables and cross your fingers 😅

[lyric gust]

I think they're all one word titles

Uh what do I do with that command

Sorry I'm dumb

[timid phoenix]

😂

Do you use Linux?

[lyric gust]

Windows

[timid phoenix]

Yeah, that won’t work then

Sorry

[lyric gust]

Ahh

[timid phoenix]

I don’t use windows

@zealous nacelle might be able to help. He’s a Windows Adonis

[delicate python]

Did somebody say Shrek?

[honest viper]

I tried one of @warm galleon 's WideBoy templates but I had to move the black box down and move the logo up.

#1347219390130688024 message

[low carbon]

for all .bmp in the same folder as the script is in @lyric gust

[timid phoenix]

Did AI write that one too? 😄

[low carbon]

i don't know why, but I got too lazy to do this kind of stuff myself, just copied the last script + "do for all .bmp in the same folder as the script is" to chatgpt

[timid phoenix]

I guessed as much 😄

[fierce eagle]

Vibe coding.

[honest viper]

Here is the border file. Renamed to credit Bear. I can upload the paint.net pdn file if anyone wants it.

[low carbon]

i think it's a big chance for everyone not being able to code to do small things.

[warm galleon]

So you actually had to move both the border and logo to match the positions on screen?

It does look really good actually, especially the logo is quite smooth.

[honest viper]

Yes, the game output was not lined up. I used your png files, created the logo and black box layers and shifted them until they looked right.

[lyric gust]

We'll have to assemble a community pack and see if they can get installed with update like the Gameboy borders

Those get installed automatically right?

[delicate python]

You could also have a supplementary pack that contains any potentially copyright or trademarked logos etc that are deemed too risky to be in the official project that is grabbed by unofficial update all. I.e. any borders with Gameboy logo on them

So whoever wants to take the reins on a community pack and border testing, you just need to make a DB, if you read here it is really straightforward, will just take a couple of minutes. Then you put all your borders in a folder structure that matches where it will be on the MiSTer and upload to GitHub. Really simple stuff. Then people testing these can add a line to their downloader ini and will get any added when they run update script

https://github.com/theypsilon/DB-Template_MiSTer

It is so simple even I figured it out.

Here is the WIP DB for reference, you can see how the files are in folders that match where the files should go on the MiSTer SD card

https://github.com/ajgowans/wip

So if someone takes the reins and sets this up then you can all submit your templates, have them quickly added to DB to check them out, and then removes ones that don't work etc. and then when happy the ones that don't have any copyright stuff in them could be added to Main project, and any others can stay in DB and that be added as an option on update all

[valid barn]

The use of borders is cool with HDMI too, I found the feeling of playing on a handheld more appealing using borders.

[lyric gust]

Yeah but you'd want scaled borders these would be tiny at 1x

On hdmi

If we could figure out a standard for hdmi I could make a template. Problem is some people are going to scale to fit, some are going to do integer, etc.

[honest viper]

I think following the Super Game Boy method and just using pixel art at 240p will be the fine. That way any scaling will match the game output. I think high res RetroArch style borders would look weird.

Maybe a 640x360 mode for widescreen TVs could work though. That would evenly scale at higher resolutions and fill the screen.

[warm galleon]

I found these border for GBC recently, they were custom made in the same style as the SGB borders: https://www.deviantart.com/blueamnesiac/art/Super-Game-Boy-Color-Border-Pack-412996463

I'd love to have these for GBC and then the default SGB border for GB.

[warm galleon]

Got it. I'll wait a bit until the borders gets ironed out and positioned so that they appear centered on most CRT sets. Unfortunately I don't have too much time for testing things right now.

We should then update the existing template to correctly reflect the game screen position and include an approximate safe margin for all important elements to be located within. I will then re-work my borders according to this template and export them all in the required format.

[zealous nacelle]

V-integer scaling takes the border into account, no?

@low carbon when using a border, is the GBA window v-integer scaled on HMDI?

[honest viper]

Yeah it does - this is at 1280x1024

[lyric gust]

eh? There is no game screen position to update

The only thing we need to add is a guide for overscan

The screen position is handled on Robert's end it just sets the position of what we make + game graphic

[warm galleon]

@honest viper just mentioned earlier that he had to modify my border so that it was lining up correctly with the game screen, if I understand correctly.

[lyric gust]

Wasn't that one of your offset ones that weren't centered

[honest viper]

I modified the pinned PNG files

[warm galleon]

Well, I actually wouldn't know. The most recent ones I posted were centered.

[timid phoenix]

I feel like the border itself should be centered, and if the game is offset, that's a change for Robert to make to the core

Hacking at the border to make it look right is the wrong solution imo

[low carbon]

I tested the game output to be centered in the 320x240 area, but if you find any issues, let me know.
About borders with HDMI: sorry, but I don't plan to do special high-res HDMI borders or widescreen or so. Only this format.
It would just open to many pitfalls.

[hushed narwhal]

Is GBA link still planned?

(via a GB link Snac adapter)

[low carbon]

I don't know what exactly v-integer means. without borders is 240x160 with 3:2 aspect ratio and with border 320x240 with 4:3 aspect ratio.
This should scale pixel perfect with the integer scaling option in mister.ini

[hushed narwhal]

I might have asked before and I think someone said yes. But I can't remember.(and not sure how to search this thread)

[low carbon]

Yes, I have the adapters and cables here but haven't yet looked into it.
My plan is to fulfill (most) mGBA serial tests first, then see how well it works when coupled with a real GBA or second mister

Can easily be june before i have something due to that.

[hushed narwhal]

Sweet, if you need any help testing that I should be able to help.

Ive got one of them GB link Snac adapters. And a multitude of cables. I can test it connected to a GBA, I can even test the core connected to a GB player

[ionic phoenix]

Are there still plans for e-reader support?

[low carbon]

not from my side

that comes even below the shrek mapper 🤣

[hushed narwhal]

Love how the Shrek mapper is just labelled as "Shrek Mapper"

[timid phoenix]

I'll probably watch Shrek if it ever gets implemented 😂

[fierce eagle]

Yeah, let's have a big shreck watch party.

[lyric gust]

The game is centered

[delicate python]

More proof today for @sacred rivet that there is indeed a disproportionate amount of Shrek Mapper chat on this Discord 🙂

[timid phoenix]

So the borders aren't?

Or rather, weren't?

[lyric gust]

The game and border move as one so if the screen is off centered it's something in the core

Timings or whatever

[timid phoenix]

Gotcha

[zealous nacelle]

I’m going to treat this as the Game Boy Player core lol

[sacred rivet]

I've been hacking on the GBATang project ngl

port wasn't that hard

you might get your Shrek movie soon :p

[zealous nacelle]

I knew you were the cooler Mario. Bros.!

[lyric gust]

What did you port to what

[sacred rivet]

GBATang -> MiSTer

They've made interesting architectural decisions off the base from Robert I found really interesting

[lyric gust]

Is there a reason to run the core or was it just an exercise

[sacred rivet]

I wanted more control over timing and signaling in link cable and SIO situations

It has not panned out yet as I need to figure out how the heck people use those features

[delicate python]

As an aside Luigi, have you ever dug into the GBA E-reader?

[sacred rivet]

A few times, and know a lot of people working on it

[delicate python]

Does anything emulate it?

[sacred rivet]

Maybe, lemme check

I recall seeing this added

[delicate python]

Ah that's cool

I wonder how they do the loading of the cards

[sacred rivet]

I think they're .bin of the magnetic strip

you load a file in the UI

[delicate python]

Ah, that's a good way to do it

I assume there will be a pack out there with them all in .bin files

[wide ember]

will you integrate it in your GAMECUBE core?

[zealous nacelle]

Yes

[fathom lintel]

https://github.com/afska/gba-remote-play i feel like this was made for robby lol

[lyric gust]

wow that's nuts

okay so I suppose I can host the border files on my github but I may need assistance sorting out how to integrate it into downloader, etc.

We'll see once I get that far. I'll start by converting them

[lyric gust]

At this point what's the difference between "official" and "unofficial" if I'm hosting them all on my github anyway

[delicate python]

Eventually the "best" ones could be added in to Main repo and downloaded to everyone automatically

Right now this isn't an issue if you are hosting and managing your own DB that people manually add the lines to their download ini file, like how people do with the WIP DB

[lyric gust]

Okay so like, for now I just use my github then later there will be a main repo?

[lone canyon]

there would be a main repo only for borders that are allowed that don't contain any copyrighted material/content

[lyric gust]

right

[delicate python]

That seems the logical way to do things while people are making these and testing them out

[lyric gust]

That's good I was hoping it would be that way

so for now I'll just toss what I have on github and do the theypsilon database thing and y'all can see if they download

Then later we can figure out what goes into main and what to put into my github

[delicate python]

But for right now if you use the DB template I linked and make your own DB you can add and remove the border files as people make them and they are reviewed, and people here who want to try them out and review can add the line to their .ini of your DB

[lyric gust]

yeah I already got the repo made with the template

[delicate python]

Nice one

[lyric gust]

gotta convert the files next and add them

What's the folder structure we want

does this core look in GBA

[delicate python]

Where is the core looking for these files on the SD?

[lyric gust]

that's what I'm also asking 🙂

@low carbon what folder is ideal for borders

I'm guessing perhaps /media/fat/games/GBA/Borders or something?

so on my github it would just be /games/GBA/Borders?

[lone canyon]

if it's to be part of mister, I think it needs the full linux path from root

hmm, after looking at the template I think it assumes the media folder already as root, so then ye, just subsequent folders from there being games/GBA/borders

#1347219390130688024 message

[delicate python]

Check my WIP DB for help on folder layout

#1347219390130688024 message

[lyric gust]

Okay I don't have a clue how this python script works

I ran it in the directory and got an error

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Users\the_d\My Drive\Pictures\MiSTer Gameboy Advance Borders\Metallic\convertBorder.py", line 2, in <module>
from PIL import Image # pip install Pillow
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I am not a script guy lol

[sacred rivet]

PIL strikes again

have you tried pip install Pillow? If it still doesn't work I've seen this before and I think you need an older version

[lyric gust]

do I just type that in at the command shell?

[sacred rivet]

ye

[lyric gust]

wow that maybe worked lol

okay I think it's working but it wants input/output instead of just automatically doing every file in the directory

which is fine just more tedious

okay let's test this

[short anvil]

Need to use this file @lyric gust put it in the same folder with all the .BMP files

[lyric gust]

What file

[short anvil]

This one

[lyric gust]

Huzzah!

[lyric gust]

Oh cool thanks!

Alright they're all converted sending to MiSTer now. This was all super easy, barely an inconvenience

[lyric gust]

Maybe pin this, or we can make a readme or something?

We're in business

[delicate python]

Might be good if you write up the steps to do this on your DB page read me, that would be a good place for one

[lyric gust]

Yes thanks

[sacred rivet]

It was in the comment next to the import line that failed :p

I agree it should have a doc though

[lyric gust]

ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

was it though

"from PIL import Image # pip install Pillow"

as a layman who doesn't understand scripts, that doesn't mean anything to me

[timid phoenix]

The bit after the # was a comment

[lyric gust]

I get that but I would have never put that together that I was supposed to type "pip install Pillow"

[timid phoenix]

Sure

[lyric gust]

wait should that be uncommented

[timid phoenix]

The script can be improved to give you a better error

[timid phoenix]

No

[lyric gust]

oh

okay well either way I'll add it in a readme? Also should I just upload the two scripts to my github

Okay so if I did this right

db_url = https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Dinierto/MiSTer-GBA-Borders/db/db.json.zip```

Should be what we add to the end of downloader.ini?

[jade wraith]

No

[lyric gust]

Running update all now it's a big one apparently

Hell yes it worked

I kind of like the wood 😆

I saw it

[timid phoenix]

That brushed metal looks real 😄

[lyric gust]

CAUSE IT IS

Well y'all can just add that line to downloader.ini if you want to grab what I have. I'll get with @warm galleon and add his too

Add this to the end of your downloader.ini to grab the current Gameboy Advance borders. They will go to \games\GBA\Borders

db_url = https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Dinierto/MiSTer-GBA-Borders/db/db.json.zip```

@zealous nacelle can we pin the comment above

[timid phoenix]

Don't do it @zealous nacelle!!!

[lyric gust]

https://tenor.com/view/do-it-star-wars-emperor-palpatine-palpatine-gif-799657800635657398

[timid phoenix]

Don't let the tubemen win!

[warm galleon]

I'll be away for at least a day or two. I'll convert them to the required format when I come back and then check back with you.

[lyric gust]

No rush

[honest viper]

these look great @lyric gust thanks!

[delicate python]

Great work Dinierto!

Have all the official Gameboy Player borders been converted to the new format?

[lyric gust]

You're welcome!

[lyric gust]

No, I couldn't find anywhere that had the actual borders so I just recreated them

if someone finds them somewhere I can try and convert

There's this, but they're too big and blurry

https://imgur.com/gallery/gamecube-gameboy-player-frames-cOTjZ

[fathom lintel]

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/16506/game-boy-player-bezels-overlays-complete-set-for-game-boy-advance

Took a look earlier and found this

[lyric gust]

hmm okay I'll have to dig into that spriter's resource link and see if I can find the originals. Those are all resized for 1080

[fathom lintel]

Yea i didn't look too hard haha

[lyric gust]

aha!

https://www.spriters-resource.com/gamecube/gameboyplayer/sheet/72829/

but that's not all of them 😕

[zealous nacelle]

@lyric gust I mean, they look ok

[lyric gust]

Weirdly they're not 320 x 240 but I can resize

608 x 448

[hardy fox]

I'm excited to draw my own borders. I'm a pixel artist too, so it should look fantastic

[lyric gust]

gimme a holler when you want to add them to the collection!

[zealous nacelle]

Is this like a genuine you’ll do a good job or you’re terrible and it’ll look so bad that it will do full circle and also be amazing?

[timid phoenix]

Profile picture suggests genuine

[hardy fox]

Collection? There isn't a folder to add your own?

[lyric gust]

I have a github set up right now, I mean you can make your own github but I think to make things easier we were going to make a community collection, and then you can have your own folder inside that if you want

It's up to you

unless you don't want to add yours

[hardy fox]

I mean I could draw some for the collection itself, too, depending on what people want

I was going to make some with some OC's of mine, and I kinda wanted to keep those on my own system lol
Sorry

[warm galleon]

It would actually be really cool to have someone who is a pixel artist design custom borders from the ground up.

[lyric gust]

if you wanna add them to the group colleciton let me know 🙂

right!

[hardy fox]

I'll keep this in mind. Could be fun!

I'll stick around for this, totally!

[lyric gust]

wow some of these need "assembled" as they have multiple sprites

[zealous nacelle]

Ok that’s awesome

[hardy fox]

Genuine indeed, lol

[zealous nacelle]

I hope I didn’t come across as rude. I was genuinely excited for both outcomes.

[hardy fox]

Nah, not rude at all. I forget sometimes that pixel art is still a bit niche XD

[zealous nacelle]

Yes I am ignorant on it, apologies.

But I love it.

[hardy fox]

Np, thanks!

[lyric gust]

Yeah these gameboy player ones will need some work

Also I would like to find the rest of them

I don't understand where they got some of theirs

Like this isn't in spriter's resource that I'm seeing:

[delicate python]

I can across this, not sure if the official ones or community ones

https://github.com/libretro/common-shaders/tree/master/borders/gameboy-player/sample-borders

[lyric gust]

excellent that's a big help actually

Still missing some, for some weird reason

The raw files from spriter's resource don't have the shading and such

[delicate python]

Maybe @sacred rivet has a source for them all, he seems deep into this stuff

[lyric gust]

Interestingly they seem to have a built in buffer for overscan

see the wood texture that's where 320 x 240 would extend

so I guess I'm going to have to set up a black outline or something

[sacred rivet]

Oh no not the shaders

Anything but the shaders

I’ve dabbled in those specific shaders what’s the question?

I think the effects you’re looking for are a result of running the shader

Not sure it’s a static image reference

[lyric gust]

ignore the shader part

we're just looking for the gameboy player frames

some of them are easy to find some we haven't found yet

Okay guys I've figured out the resolution

They're exactly 2x big

so I just need to resize them in half and I guess add a buffer around the edges

[delicate python]

Yeah, came across this but seems some are missing, would be great to get the whole collection of official Gameboy Player borders

#1347219390130688024 message

[lyric gust]

Alright I got a healthy start

Should I fill that outer space with:

1. Black
2. White
3. AI generated
4. Other?

AI generated fill on this one looks great

But might not on others

[warm galleon]

AI generative fill seems to work fine, it's not really possible to notice anything that looks off.

[lyric gust]

If it doesn't look right I'll just fill with black I think

[lyric gust]

Okay so dumb question, how do I add files to the repository and prevent them from syncing when someone uses the downloader?

like if I add the python scripts I don't want those to get sent to someone's MiSTer

[delicate python]

Hmm, good question, I am not sure if you can with DBs. @crimson grove would know if it is possible

[lime heath]

maybe have a different repo for the scripts.

[vagrant plover]

You can setup exclusions, lemme find an example for you

[lyric gust]

Theyspilon helped me

[vagrant plover]

k

[lyric gust]

I think I got it thanks 🙂

going to try it out after I finish processing these borders

So far only one is going to be difficult to fill the border

[short anvil]

Anyone had a chance to test the grid border on analog output? To see if the game screen is slightly shifted to the right

[lyric gust]

one person had it shifted like a half bar in one direction

I'd like to see more testing so we can let Robert know

[honest viper]

It looks good to me. Here are a couple examples

[lyric gust]

Shifted to the right maybe one bar?

And down one bar?

[lyric gust]

Try the grid

[delicate python]

Would the Super Game Boy borders work in this format?

[lyric gust]

uhhh the problem would be gba is wider

so depending on what the border looks like it might cover stuff on the left and right?

[honest viper]

Yeah GBA games use more of the screen

[lyric gust]

is gba the same as GB just wider, like the same height?

[delicate python]

Ah got you, so would need to be cropped or extended

[lyric gust]

oh no it's bigger all around

[smoky loom]

how can I use this border with the core

[honest viper]

Is it in the DL repo?

[lyric gust]

240 x 160 vs 160 x 144

No it's up above one sec I'll try and find it

#1347219390130688024 message

There

I didn't see a reason to add it to the repo since eventually we'll get the core where we want it so it'll be superfluous

[lyric gust]

So all of yours are slightly to the left and down lol

[fathom lintel]

Yea these are all different sets

i got two more

[honest viper]

is there access to the original bmp file for a sanity check just in case the test template is off?

[short anvil]

this is the grid Dinerto made

[honest viper]

Cool thanks. If you look at one of your borders there seems to be an extra row and column starting in the top left

[lyric gust]

well no clue why that would be

There is no extra anything

looks off center

[honest viper]

Well if the game output is indeed offcenter to the right and down, then there would more visible black in the top left

[lyric gust]

I don't follow

There does seem to be distortion though as some of those bands seem to meld together like the organge on the right

so I wonder if that's what's happening

[honest viper]

It's just the composite mess. I think the game output needs to be shifted one pixel left, and maybe one pixel up.

[lyric gust]

the game or the entire thing

[honest viper]

I think the area circled has a little extra black, like the game is down and to the right

[lyric gust]

The "frame" is shaded so it's black on the top and left and grey on bottom and right

I think you're having some bleeding judging by your prior image

everything is bleeding to the right

[honest viper]

It just matches what everyone else is reporting I guess

[lyric gust]

eh? I don't think anyone else has reported the game area being shifted

[short anvil]

the game area is shifted. thats what im reporting

[lyric gust]

it should be mathematically centered unlike the entire display area which relies on timing

[lyric gust]

oh okay

well maybe needs looked into then

[short anvil]

i've noticed the game being slightly to the right even before this cycle accurate core. but i never raised it. its just more obvious now because of the borders

[lyric gust]

I will double check my template but if it's centered than it would be on robert

[honest viper]

It could be the effect of the CRT too since the beam travels from left to right

[lyric gust]

right

[honest viper]

Honestly I think it looks fine the way it is

[short anvil]

i think you fluked it copy save, your geometry is a bit off and it's luckily put your game pretty spot on in the middle

[lyric gust]

I checked my template and it has 240 x 160 perfectly centered in 320 x 240

[ionic phoenix]

Like I said earlier, CRTs are just inherently imperfect so each one will have a slight variance. Fussing over everyone getting the same results is just a waste of time.

[honest viper]

If you look at Insane Fiend's pics one looks more right depending on the scene. I think it just depends on the on screen color from left to right at the edge of the game area

#1347219390130688024 message

[lyric gust]

Yeah I'm just looking for an overall trend

If everyone is reporting 3-7 pixels to the right then something's up

But if one guy has 3 pixels left, another guy 2 pixels right, etc., then I don't think we need to bother

[short anvil]

i think its unreliable for robert to rely on screenshots from us to determine if the game output is shifted. everyone has different geometry, thats why i tried showing 240p suite with my geometry being pretty spot on

im not sure how the logic works to center the game for analog output. is there a better way for you to determine if the game output is centered@low carbon ?

if not the only solution i can think of, and if it's feasible, is to make the position customisable in the core settings. then no matter how correct or incorrect someone's crt geometry is, they can dial it to how they want

[lyric gust]

The only other thing I'm interested in is approximately how much overscan we have on average so I can mark a dead zone on the template

[copper needle]

don't forget anyone doing it on rgb is going to be shifted slightly right vs composite/svideo

[lyric gust]

oof lol

[short anvil]

tell me more, because i am using RGB.....

[honest viper]

I'm on composite and Svideo lol

[copper needle]

yeah rgb shift its famous even from back in the day

it's not mister specific you get it on everything

[lyric gust]

So I'm kinda thinking leave it lol

[copper needle]

a centering control in the core osd would be nice but nbd

[honest viper]

It should just be an even 40 pixels all around for 240x160 container inside of the 320x240 view. If that's what Robert set it to then the math shouldn't lie

Our TVs just have personality

[lyric gust]

I don't think it's that simple I think it's based on timing?

like analog doesn't know pixels

[lone canyon]

So what we have discovered is that HDMI and composite are centered, but component/RGB are shifted?
In that case is it possible to just have a toggle or have the core recognize which output mode from the ini and select accordingly?

[lyric gust]

Nevermind for what you're talking about yeah

[short anvil]

no pls then im screwed with RGB 😦 😦

[ionic phoenix]

Filthy RGB peasants kneel before the power of composite!

[lyric gust]

You're talking a system wide thing

the problem goes beyond GBA

[honest viper]

My lumpy composite is perfect!

It jiggles as the colors change! (But there is very little noise and dot crawl on the MiSTer with the YC timings)

[short anvil]

it doesnt make sense though. with the snes core 240p suite i have geometry perfectly centered. so if i was shifted to the right with RGB, i would have corrected it on my CRT settings. and that correction should be there no matter what core i use...?

[lyric gust]

I assume every core relies on its own timing

I'm guessing there's not a magic centering number since it's analog

[copper needle]

the snes cores centering, while fairly average, is still just like, the snes cores opinion...man

[lyric gust]

so every core, aka every console is a little different

is there 240p suite for gba

[copper needle]

there's a 160p test suite

[lyric gust]

Looks way low

[short anvil]

what analog output? rgb, composite?

[fathom lintel]

Composite on everything except my first pic

[copper needle]

maybe it would help if everyone posted a screenshot of their grid from 240p test suite on the snes core, then the new gba core, and note your connection type

at least we can maybe aim to match snes?

[fathom lintel]

First time trying this back alley find truflat rca, tried component and colors looked screwed so switched to composite where apparently its fine

Last one i got to test on composite

[honest viper]

These borders do make the core feel more complete. So glad we have them now! Definitely makes me want to play more GBA

[lyric gust]

the Gameboy Player ones will be ready shortly, minus the metallic looking ones

I wonder if Dolphin has them

[fathom lintel]

Ok component vs composite on same set difference since i figured out it was user error on my part

[honest viper]

pam.same.picture.gif

[fathom lintel]

Slightly shifted image xD

[lyric gust]

Okay gameboy players are done I'll upload them. Sadly they won't be 1:1 simply because the originals are 2x size and I had to scale them down

I'm not sure how the gamecube handles that

[honest viper]

Gamecube was 480i only. Had to hack it to get 240p

Another reason why the MiSTer is king

[fathom lintel]

True

[lyric gust]

Right but I don't know the exact method it used to scale these down to 240

I just used photoshop lol

[honest viper]

Yeah, just have to try to resize with nearest neighbor, or maybe a sharp bilinear. Should be an even half res resize though

At least it's easy to count the pixels

[lyric gust]

Boop

[fathom lintel]

Space gameboy

[honest viper]

Monolith

[fathom lintel]

Looks tasty

[lyric gust]

Grab em now they should load from the Github

11 borders in the Gameboy Player folder

[fathom lintel]

Sexy

[lyric gust]

https://tenor.com/view/its-breathtaking-nora-griswold-christmas-vacation-its-beautiful-its-amazing-gif-19529845

So judging by screenshots it seems like the overscan hits somewhere in the green bar. So currently I'm thinking about 12 pixels from each edge

Nintendo cuts off 16!

[low carbon]

SNES has different pixel clock and timing, it behaves different.

If it really bothers so many here, i could add some +- offset

[fierce eagle]

But make it so it shifts 1 pixel every 5 minutes in a random direction, for fun.

[fathom lintel]

I was playing Castlevania Aria of Sorrow and noticed the moon is flashing weirdly so I looked up a walkthrough video to see and doesn't appear to do that on the video I watched

I have a save and a save state here if anyone wanted to confirm

[lone canyon]

Is frame blending enabled?

[fathom lintel]

I'll check it out, not sure if i enabled it

Ok yea i never had it enabled and that seemed to fix it haha, that makes sense

Guess i'll make sure to keep that enabled from now on 😂

[lone canyon]

Except for maybe the select games that having it enabled on is worse. But I wouldn't know what games those are LOL

[fathom lintel]

Me either 😛

[fierce eagle]

Same thing with the golden sun world map. Flickers like crazy without frame blend. Afaik frame blend is more accurate but it's turned off by default since appearently some people don't like it.

[fathom lintel]

It doesn't bother me if it makes games display as they should 😂

[ionic phoenix]

Frame blending is pretty bad for taking screenshots.

[lone canyon]

Oh well, in a scenario where frame blending isn't necessary for visual thing, and you would prefer to have cleaner frames instead of a more motion blurred effect, then I can see why people would want to turn it off. I'm not one of those people. Games feel stuttery to me, especially stuff where I move around in an isometric view like tactics advance or Kingdom hearts chain of memories.

[fierce eagle]

Yeah but I feel like it should be turned on by default. It's more accurate, same as vi options in the n64 core.

[low carbon]

It's off by default with the other core for 4 years now, so I don't think it makes sense to have it active for the new.
Overall the feel of 90% of the games will be worse with it due to blurry image in movement and feeling not as fluent and lagfree. E.g. I would never play Aria with it on.
Not all accuracy is better by default in my opinion. Best example is: should i make the image super dark so it feels like the original screen?

[compact vessel]

Can understand that. I'll be enabling the dark option, but by choice. Can make colours look nicer (on some games that is)

[low carbon]

Even desat 75% is way better than the horrible GBA screen i have here. Desat 95% might be enough to replicate it 🙂

[lyric gust]

Yes so I can buy a worm light for my TV

[fierce eagle]

That gba looks worse the more you zoom in...

[north jay]

Just added them. How do I activate in game?

[lyric gust]

Make sure you have the newest core that has them, then it's under the video settings

Turn them on then select one

[north jay]

Is that the new core?

I tried on old core that's available via Update all

[lyric gust]

Oh no we're way beyond that

[north jay]

could you ink me the core plz?

[lyric gust]

Unless you added a line to grab the new cores

[lyric gust]

Check out the pins my friend

[north jay]

nah

[north jay]

Will do

[lyric gust]

This is a rewritten core independent of the old one

[north jay]

I've added this, this is how I got he boarders.

[lyric gust]

Yep

Grab the new core next

It's later in the pins

[north jay]

This one?

[lyric gust]

Yep

[north jay]

cool

[lyric gust]

If you follow the link it says it has border support

[north jay]

sweet

Thanks

[lyric gust]

My pleasure

[north jay]

Will release a video showing these.

[lyric gust]

Nice! We'll have more soon

[north jay]

PCN ❤️ @lyric gust

[lyric gust]

I'll be updating the Readme on the Github too I have the template and python scripts uploaded in the tools section

[zealous nacelle]

Yeah, it’s definitely a case by case basis but it’s good to have the option for that kind of accuracy but like you said, not all accuracy is best. Especially when it comes to replicating screen deficiencies, although for a handheld it’s technically part of the hardware, it’s just a limitation at the time.

Like sprite limitation on NES hardware. It’s good to have that off by default, even if it is intrinsic to the original experience.

[lyric gust]

I don't know of any time it would be better to have the sprite limit turned on

Are there games that use it for an effect?

[honest viper]

Here's a short list:
Boktai - The Sun Is in Your Hand
Boktai 2 - Solar Boy Django
Final Fantasy I & II - Dawn of Souls
F-Zero - GP Legend
F-Zero - Maximum Velocity
Golden Sun
Golden Sun - The Lost Age
Harvest Moon - Friends of Mineral Town
Harvest Moon - More Friends of Mineral Town
Mario Golf - Advance Tour

Source:
https://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2019/05/screen-persistence-and-gba-lcd-abuse.html?m=1

There are definitely more though. Some may just use the flicker effect in a few spots

[zealous nacelle]

Frame blending is a requirement for the Pokemon Mini core tho, lol

[strange drum]

Appreciate nostalgia. Warts and all.

[north jay]

USA people, you are all up early

[zealous nacelle]

I get up at 6am every day

[lyric gust]

I meant are there nes games that use sprite limit in a productive way

[north jay]

The Robby way, no alarm

[lyric gust]

https://tenor.com/view/epic-handshake-powerful-explosion-nuke-gif-13985253

[north jay]

I wake up at 5amweekdays. But have a little extra sleep on the weekends.

Anyway my peeps, just gotta gve a shout out to how good and wholesome the MiSTer community is.

I always get th help I need and quickly.

[lime heath]

The nes 8 sprite tiles per scanline limit was a really annoying limitation, you had to design your whole game around that. It's like don't make the character too big, can't have long arms, want a sword? nah better use a knife. Don't have too many fireballs. Don't have too many enemies, better keep those on separate planes. Oh that big boss you wanted, better make it out of little balls that stretch vertically. That's what it's like.

[low carbon]

sprite limit is not an option anymore on the new core, PPU will always render with sprite limit now. (unless bug 😉 )
Some games need this to show properly, yes

[zealous nacelle]

I personally only play NES with the sprite limit because of personal preference. But I wouldn’t subject someone new to that system with that lol.

[north jay]

Can I use this in a thumbnail?

[lyric gust]

😆 sure

[zealous nacelle]

wtf and the worm light too

You’re getting too good at this

[glad igloo]

Forgive the ignorance, well out of the loop and for some reason just cant see pins on the mobile site, but reading between the lines it looks like this new core is already nearly complete? Is that a fair assessment?!

[copper needle]

pretty much

[zealous nacelle]

On mobile you’ll want to tap the name of the thread at top, in this case “Game Boy Advance”, then select “Settings”, and then select “Pinned Messages”

It’s very bad UX

[safe fog]

the bezels are great, will it be able to pick which one based on loaded game?

[lyric gust]

Maybe with an MGL?

[safe fog]

i'm imagining game level bezel sets like emulators have... doesn't seem so far fetched now with this functionality and the templates

bezel support per core or something that could be in framework so all cores could use?

[sand saffron]

Womp womp. Guess I'll have to wait a lot longer to find out how dirty my chips are!

[crude marten]

not even got the decency to say “sorry for any inconvenience”

[fathom lintel]

Imagine still getting crappy dirty chips after that delay

[delicate python]

How are these chips so dirty? I don't understand how that is even possible if this is a new game cart...

[zealous nacelle]

What does the collector’s edition come with

[fathom lintel]

Free dust

[crude marten]

https://tenor.com/view/pirates-of-the-carribean-johnny-depp-captain-jack-sparrow-jar-of-dirt-gif-5235618

[low carbon]

• add CRT HV adjust
• video timing independent of core timing and re-synced automatically (no sync loss on pause, reset, load)

please test if the HV adjust works as expected, can't test that on HDMI

[lyric gust]

Thank you, playing with the core last night the sync loss was frustrating

[low carbon]

i only used vsync adjust 0 due to that, now 2 is fully stable in all tests i did 🙂

(only sync loss when loading the core first time from menu)

[sand saffron]

Honestly, I couldn't even remember, so I had to look it up!

[lyric gust]

Yeah this is expected with a setting of 2, so I'm at least used to that 😆

Is there a way to disable the bios animation booting with each game? I didn't see it last night anyway

[low carbon]

in theory yes, fast boot could be done. But some games don't work properly with it...

[wide ember]

unscheduled cart washing

[lyric gust]

Looking at this page, I'm still missing quite a few Gameboy Player frames/borders. If anybody can find a source let me know. They're 608 x 448 resolution I believe

The images in that page don't count as they're blurry scaled screenshots or something

https://imgur.com/gallery/gamecube-gameboy-player-frames-cOTjZ

[fossil tide]

works fine here (older analog board, Commodore 1084 CRT)

[timid phoenix]

Was there ever a decision on the name of the new core based on how it will co-exist with the old one?

[timid phoenix]

Worst case scenario you might be able to AI them into submission

[lyric gust]

Lord no that would be awful lol

[timid phoenix]

Upscaling is good, right?

I don’t mean with chat gippity

[low carbon]

not yet

[delicate python]

New core in WIP DB, have left old one in for now incase anyone needs to regression check anything

[fierce eagle]

GBA2: electric boogaloo.

[timid phoenix]

GBA: Remake

[hushed narwhal]

Gameboy ReAdvance

ReGBA

AGB would be funny

[lyric gust]

No

[dapper marsh]

Actually, it looks like Discord changed this and now “Pins” has it’s own section next to “Members”…a welcome improvement

[fossil tide]

Did you have this already: https://github.com/rwebster85/RW-GBI-Borders ? But that does not look like the official borders

[dapper marsh]

if someone hasn’t already done it, there has to be a way to extract the original border assets from a rip of the GB Player disc, right?

[lyric gust]

Oh hey you're right that's cool

[lyric gust]

Yeah not official

I found a guy that ripped most or all of the GBP borders in the libretro forum but they're "unassembled"

Gonna see about messaging them

[lyric gust]

Seems like that's what this fellow did

https://forums.libretro.com/t/using-overlays-as-borders/1060

See the borders are weird they sometimes have sprites that go on them or need to be assembled and the "window" with its shaded border seems to be an effect that's added after the fact

In fact I need to add the four little knobs to the wood one

[zealous nacelle]

on mobile?

[lyric gust]

Aye

[zealous nacelle]

wow!

[dapper marsh]

yep

[delicate python]

That's great and it only took them...

[zealous nacelle]

Ok cleaned up pins and added latest core link

[lyric gust]

https://tenor.com/view/its-been84years-titanic-rose-dawson-gif-5372593

[wide ember]

try blowing on them

[timber silo]

Mario Advance 4 has very jittery scrolling if flicker blend is on

[wide ember]

flicker blend is and always will be a hack

I guess the core could feed the filter info about BG movement though

[lyric gust]

That's punishment for playing any of those on gba

[crude marten]

the only great handheld mario is Land 2

DK94 honorable mention

how’s the GBA DKvsMario

i remember thinking the audio was very tin-can esc

[copper needle]

are we not counting mario oddysey as a handheld game?

[zealous nacelle]

Ok so, any reason at all why one would use the old GBA core over this new one?

Fast forward? Turbo?

[copper needle]

its retro

the old core has that 2x resolution mode

[waxen verge]

i do quite like the turbo setting in the old core. helps with slowdown in the mega man zero games

[zealous nacelle]

I like the turbo too but I can live without it. FFW is important to Robert and I get why.

The 2X mode is only helpful with mode7, right?

[slim dust]

As long as it has save states, I would go for the more accurate core. I will switch as soon as it hits update all, even filtering out the old version, as I did with the Genesis core.

[zealous nacelle]

Yup, has save states.

[timid phoenix]

I’ll move over to the new one too. I never use the extra features 🙂

[lyric gust]

I wish every core had pause on OSD and save states

It's such a nice QOL feature

[timid phoenix]

Pause on OSD is the big one for me

[lyric gust]

the two go hand in hand from what I understand

[timid phoenix]

I think being able to pause is a prerequisite, yep

[lyric gust]

right

[zealous nacelle]

Yeah, hitting pause before opening the OSD is so difficult for me too

[timid phoenix]

Lunar doesn’t have a pause!

[lyric gust]

some games don't have pause

[timid phoenix]

So bite me, Roberto

[lyric gust]

like memtest

[zealous nacelle]

git good

[zealous nacelle]

Lunar GBA?

or the PS1 one

[timid phoenix]

No. SegaCD worst version!

[lyric gust]

GPBS1

[fathom lintel]

I think the main reason i might use the old core is for fast forward if i was grinding levels in a pokemon game or something similar

[timid phoenix]

@fierce eagle said we should enjoy the pace of RPGs - this is the real reason fast forward isn’t supported on the new core

[zealous nacelle]

omg the pew pew sound lol

[lyric gust]

We appreciate your contributions

[timid phoenix]

it was the blood punch sound

[zealous nacelle]

If I may be forthright with my bias about gamers. I feel gamers possess a higher than average IQ than the average human. Not only because they are frequently fully engaged and challenged mentally with real-time systems and information technology, but they are highly socially connected as well. Like the ocean, a gaming community is an ecosystem - places like the MiSTer community can and should be a conduit to join these realms.

[lyric gust]

Based on my sample of me, you're spot on. I'd say gamers are damn geniuses

Okay so I snagged some more gameboy player borders, they're missing the "frame" graphic that blocks out the screen area, I'm hoping I can snag it from one of the existing frames I have and retrofit it onto these frames to get something close enough to what it's supposed to look like. Then I'll add them to the github. I think in theory this will give me all of them, although one is the official "metallic" looking one and you have to literally just recolor it to get the other 3 colors so that will also be an approximation

[tranquil abyss]

I'm in love with this Core!

[honest viper]

Hey @vagrant willow
You able to improve the YC timings of the GBA to clean up the composite?

[vagrant willow]

Can give it a go, can't say I've had a look at it. What's it look like at the moment?

[honest viper]

Pretty jagged - appreciate your attention!

[vagrant willow]

Ah ok so kind of like megadrive

[lyric gust]

Alright I got the frame sorted out, so now I have 12 more borders to process. One of them will produce multiples because it's just recoloring

But it's going to take me a while to fill them all in so they don't have a black border

[low carbon]

You will need to wait until code is uploaded before working on anything.
It will likely be in may, but i need some cleanup and bugfixes (mostly CPU fix for quake/Apotris) done before

[copper needle]

i mean, i shouldn't be surprised, but there's a quake port for gba?

[fathom lintel]

Cancelled prototype demo with one level as far as i know

[copper needle]

neat

[onyx lynx]

Can we get the image to fill the screen on HDMI

I would prefer not to use a border

[lean remnant]

yes it depends of the screen you used to fill it

the aspect ratio is 3:2

[onyx lynx]

yeah Im assuming there will be bars on the left and right

I just dont want that kind of border

[lean remnant]

it is an option on the OSD you can activate or not

[onyx lynx]

cool

I am fine with the older core atm (doing a playthrough of metroid fusion and don't want to fuck that up atm)

so I'm gonna wait a while before I start messing with the new core

[fathom lintel]

Awe too bad you're on the old core, would be cool to mark metroid fusion completable on the test sheet on the new core when you finished it

[onyx lynx]

yeah but I started it like

before the core was even announced

I've just been slow because life is terrible lol

[fathom lintel]

Understandable

I'm terrible at finishing metroid games if i spend too much time between sessions so i basically need to dedicate all my gaming time to it so I don't too confused on where the heck i should be going

[onyx lynx]

Well if its any consolation Metroid Fusion gives you clear targets/goals on the map to reach

[fathom lintel]

Haven't got to fusion yet but I finished zero mission and it gives you an idea of where you need to go on the map but not exactly where you should go to get there and that's where the confusion sets in

Not sure how it compares to fusion

[short anvil]

Thank you Robert!

Adjustment works excellent

[fierce eagle]

If I was a tubeman I'd be so happy about this.

[short anvil]

This tubeman is pleased

[fierce eagle]

Makes me want to get a tube tbh.

But got no space for one. And I like dualram.

[short anvil]

@lyric gust thanks for your efforts getting all the borders in too, greatly appreciated

it would be so nice if all the handheld cores had HV adjustment. or be part of the mister framework so it's available to all cores? 🧐

[smoky loom]

where can I get this border to check the position on my crt?

[lyric gust]

My old save loaded so technically when you finish it you could just load your save up again and finish the final boss lol

[lyric gust]

My pleasure

Should be able to finish them tonight then in theory I have all of the GBP borders ported

Last night I was able to fill the blank space on all of them

[short anvil]

i dont think i spotted it, maybe have your grid border in there too? to help people get it aligned all nice. it helped me

[lyric gust]

Yeah I can do that

[lyric gust]

#1347219390130688024 message

[fierce eagle]

I sometimes have the same issue with the rt4k. The picture looks centered. The tink tells me it is centered. But from different angles it looks not quite centered and it drives me crazy.

[lyric gust]

There are a couple of actual game borders in that pack I downloaded that the game viewscreen is way way off and I don't know what to do with them or why that is. I tried resizing them and it didn't help

It's a shame cause they look cool

[zealous nacelle]

Random idea here but could a border be auto loaded if it’s in the same location as the game and shares the same name?

[valid barn]

I see that we have more to thank Robby for, besides the Pew Pew sound of Doom eternal

[lean dune]

Hey all. Just starting testing out the new GBA core and it's great so far. Quick question though: I like to use Scandoubler FX: HQ2X in most of my cores and it doesn't do anything when you enable HQ2X in this version of the GBA core, but it works in the legacy GBA core. Is it possible to get this functionality ported over?

[fierce eagle]

Core is still wip and the core itself works pretty much 100% but doesn't yet have all features mister usually provides.

[low carbon]

will likely come back at some point, yes

[low carbon]

You want it for every game?
Then best to do it in mister main.
Better to wait until the core is officially released,
otherwise Sorg will not be pleased 😅

[copper needle]

i was thinking it'd be kinda cool if it followed the same rules as psx bios files where you can put them in a folder and all games inside use it

[zealous nacelle]

I actually wouldn't really use it. Just struck me as something I could see someone wanting to do. Making a custom border for their favorite games.

But yeah, was thinking of it being a GBA only thing. If it's not as simple as it sounded in my head then it's no problem.

[copper needle]

people will 100% do that and make one for every game if you let them i suspect

[zealous nacelle]

I personally like the borders in so far in that it emulates GB Player functionality. So I slap on the GameCube one that Dinierto made and I'm happy. I personally am not a fan of using borders for systems that never originally supported it. But that's me.

[copper needle]

i think it makes sense for portable cores

[ionic phoenix]

Wasn't there a portable MiSTer in the works? Is that still a thing?

[zealous nacelle]

There is always a portable MiSTer in the works. I'm not being smarmy, there's usually someone out there futzing around with the idea. The closest anyone got was "What's Ken Making" who put all his hard work out there as open source files.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrycyjIemgY

https://github.com/whatskenmaking/DIY-MiSTer-Handheld

Retro Remake did say they were planning on making one but I'll beleive it when I see it. It's at least a year and a half away anyways.

The one I linked above is available right now. Just need to make it yourself or have someone else do it.

[honest viper]

I think QMTech is doing portable handheld R&D too based on Lu's latest video

[lyric gust]

Finally a way to play GBA games on the go

[dapper marsh]

it would be cool if there was a default.bor file it used if no matching border with the same filename as the game was found

[timid phoenix]

Can’t you use MGLs?

[zealous nacelle]

You can’t : (

[timid phoenix]

<Nelson.gif>

[wide ember]

Metal Gear Losec

[fierce eagle]

Hope @warm galleon is toiling away in the audio filter mines.

[warm galleon]

It's going to take some time. Right now I'm waiting for Luigi to get back to me with the roms that play back the pcm audio test tone files, plus I still have to order a GBA Everdrive, which I should be able to do so next week, which will take a few weeks to arrive.

It was actually nice to focus on the borders in the meantime for a change. I'll still have to get them exported when I find some time.

[sand saffron]

Fusion is the most linear game in the series. By far. So it's nearly impossible to get lost in the game, even after months between play sessions. Still love the game mind you. It's a classic.

[ionic phoenix]

I do want a portable system for the simple fact gyro controls for Game Boy titles feels a lot more natural when you have the physical hardware.

Ever tried to play something like WarioWare Twisted or Yoshi's Topsy-Turvy using a control stick? It feels rancid and wrong.

[wide ember]

are Metroid games metroidvanias?

[zealous nacelle]

They’re “search action”

[wide ember]

hmmm

[lyric gust]

I get lost in everything and I don't get lost in Fusion

[honest viper]

no (no leveling, no gear, no melee combat)
I think metroidvania is a variant of castlevania, since there are different types of castlevania

like that bad fighting game one is called streetfightervania

actually since it's 3d tekkenvania

[wide ember]

are castlevania games metroidvanias?

[lyric gust]

Newer ones yes unfortunately

Ruined the series IMO

@zealous nacelle what happened to the pin for installing borders

[fathom lintel]

I like metroidvania's but i also enjoy the original style too

[lyric gust]

I really strongly dislike the Castlevania Metroidvanias

SOTN especially

I wish they still made the classic ones too

[fathom lintel]

It's all SOTN's fault they went in that direction with all the future games, i've never actually finished it so I don't have much of an opinion on it

[copper yacht]

Sotn imo was amazing I also liked harmony of dissonance and Aria of Sorrow a lot

[sand saffron]

They just did a remake of Haunted Castle!

[honest viper]

They're good zone out games since they get easy really fast and you're jumping around, hitting stuff and filling in the map

[sand saffron]

And back on the Wii Adventure ReBirth!

[honest viper]

2009 - almost 20 years old...

[sand saffron]

Anyway, I love the Metroidvania style games in the series, but I do prefer classic-vania overall.

[sand saffron]

Pretty much as long as the last metroidvania game in the series!

Actually Order of Ecclesia was 2008! So the last two games in the mainline series were both classic-vania games. Dinierto has been gas lighting us all along!

[copper yacht]

Dawn of sorrow was good, just needed to patch it so you don't have to do those stupid spell scribble things on the other screen

[zealous nacelle]

It got rolled into the Important Info pin - #1347219390130688024 message

[lyric gust]

True I forgot about that

I wish I could get it without the collection

[lyric gust]

Thanks!

[timber silo]

Where does it download those GBA borders?

[honest viper]

/games/GBA/Borders

[lone canyon]

Isn't that what direct video is for

[lyric gust]

Glad someone said it lol

[lean remnant]

we can put anywhere we want also

[valid barn]

These borders make a really cool difference even via HDMI

[lyric gust]

Yeah they're pretty fun!

How's this readme look?

https://github.com/Dinierto/MiSTer-GBA-Borders/blob/main/README.md

[valid barn]

Very good and very clear, I think it only needs to be explained that if you use an external HD you have to copy it to the GBA folder on the HD

[lyric gust]

alright what's the best way to word that

[valid barn]

I use external ssd that's why I say this

[lyric gust]

sure that's cool

what should I add

[valid barn]

That the borders folder must be copied to the GBA folder on the external HD or SSD

The core does not look for a specific folder, it looks in the GBA folder

[lyric gust]

Gonna be a bunch more Gameboy Player borders with this update including some changes to existing

sucks I have to shrink that to half size lol

[vagrant willow]

@honest viper kind of like megadrive, might be some wobble
GBA_59.7=78195347290
GBA2P_59.7=78195347290

[lyric gust]

I'm making an executive decision. I'm not adding the logos to these borders:

Because they're already barely readable at 2x resolution if I halve them they'll just be a clump of pixels

So we'll just have this:

[lyric gust]

Alright get em while they're hot, all the new borders and fixes are uploaded!

26 total Gameboy Player frames/borders are now available, potentially that's all the default borders plus a couple of bonus

[lyric gust]

May I use your picture in posts on facebook and Reddit?

[deep cargo]

Looks amazing, thank you for this!

[timid phoenix]

That convertfolder.py border looks amazing

[tranquil abyss]

Yes man

[lyric gust]

Thanks!

[lyric gust]

You're welcome!

[crude marten]

just thought, can my taito spinner be used on GBA?

The spinner itself is mapped to mouse x axis, nothing unusual.
and that would be a great alternative to motion controls for Wario Ware Twisted

[lyric gust]

I think the analog stick is used for motion controls

Although not sure if this core supports them yet?

[crude marten]

unfortunately it never worked to well for it’s intended purpose

if you moved the stick to the edge, the game just spun uncontrollably at a million miles an hour in that direction until you turned the pad off

[lyric gust]

Advanced mode

[fathom lintel]

Git gud

Tested both diddy kong pilot prototypes and they both boot to a white screen but they work on real hardware with an everdrive

Maybe same issue as quake

[lyric gust]

Makes sense as it uses the Quake engine

[zealous nacelle]

lol Naruto?

[lyric gust]

It exists 🤷🏻‍♂️

I don't judge

Apparently there are a ton of individual game borders out there for someone to rip

[zealous nacelle]

Yeah those all sound fan made

[fierce eagle]

Believe it!

[lyric gust]

There is Naruto on GBA so I dunno

According to this site they are real releases

https://forums.libretro.com/t/using-overlays-as-borders/1060

[lyric gust]

@zealous nacelle you had me curious so I did some digging

Seems to be from Naruto collection which includes a gba emulator

https://gbatemp.net/threads/naruto-collection-gc-includes-gba-emulator.346289/

[fierce eagle]

VBA doesn't run them well... now I want to try them on original hardware and mister.

[zealous nacelle]

Look at all these fanmade woah holy shit so it’s like real

that was half a typed sentence

[lyric gust]

It's okay you're still awesome

[zealous nacelle]

I do that a lot, I type something up then lose interest and don’t reply

[lyric gust]

Yeah sometimes I

[zealous nacelle]

Once this core gets pushed out to the public through official means it would be nice to bundle a few borders with it IMO. Can’t use the GBPlayer ones of course but didn’t you and @warm galleon make your own?

[lyric gust]

Yes that was my thought. We can bundle community made ones that don't have copyright material and then the remainder can be stored in the Github

I think it's going to be integrated into update_all

I'm ready to add Bear's when they have them converted

[zealous nacelle]

omg please make a mister Kun one

[lyric gust]

Working on it

Wasn't sure how I wanted to do it yet lol

[zealous nacelle]

add it to the Naruto one and call it a day

[lyric gust]

Good thing Naruto isn't trademarked

Dodged a bullet there

[zealous nacelle]

It’s Japanese folklore, you can’t trademark folklore

[lyric gust]

#facts

[honest viper]

WOW - awesome work as always. This looks way better, thanks! I'll post some pics later

[zealous nacelle]

@lyric gust can you rename the Pokémon borders to use an “e” instead of “é”. It doesn’t play nice with the MiSTer fonts.

[lyric gust]

Yeah it's on my list I noticed it right before I went to bed lol

[zealous nacelle]

thank you!

[lyric gust]

Thanks for the heads up

[crude marten]

can the core auto boot a border?

like a matching one to the game rom

[zealous nacelle]

Not yet but I asked for that earlier. I think it’ll be something the community would naturally ask for.

And also really take advantage of.

[crude marten]

like the n64database txt file

heck saturn could do with one for similar reasons

[zealous nacelle]

Don’t know what the preferred solution is but it could be done like the Vectrex. If you have an OVR file the same name as the rom and in the same folder then it’ll be auto loaded.

So there’s already an implementation of that request working on the MiSTer.

[lyric gust]

That seems the simplest solution

[fringe comet]

Dropping this in here

it's am unscaled version of the previous one

[deep cargo]

https://x.com/josembarroso/status/1920116346626490735?s=46&t=ze8hUEylbwJqTh3RUS6Jqg

Jose BG (@josembarroso) on X

Great tutorial! This will be simpler pretty soon, you'll be able to enable it in update_all's setting screen ⬆️

X · May 7, 2025, 1:59 PM

Borders on update_all soon 🔜

[lyric gust]

That's right baby

We been taaaalking

https://tenor.com/view/yeah-baby-gif-18779448

[lyric gust]

DM sent

[zealous nacelle]

Ok cool, good thinking!

[lone canyon]

Why would you ever want to try and play the Naruto GBA ROM that's clearly been modified to work better with the emulator it was packaged with instead of just getting the ROM for the actual GBA game?

[fringe comet]

woo

but also that flickering line is still there in SSF2TR

[warm galleon]

I'll have time over the weekend to figure out exporting my borders. Right now I just have them as png files.

@lyric gust so do the borders line up perfectly when the game screen is centered? How does it behave with the lower portion of the screen, does anything noticably get cut off?

[lyric gust]

I don't think anybody was suggesting to do so

[lone canyon]

You're right. I read the embedded info in the link and for some reason my brain went ahead and just thought it was part of the message 😂

But also, apparently the person who extracted them was looking to play them on an emulator LOL

So to some degree the question I posited earlier still stands

[lyric gust]

Yeah, download my template it has the game area marked and also roughly where overscan will cut stuff off

It's a rough estimate based on 3-4 screenshots of people's CRTs

[lyric gust]

Yeah I dunno there may be differences or quality of life changes on that version 🤷🏻‍♂️

Sometimes that's the case

I think the Castlevania collection has some improved Gameboy roms or colorized or something

For example

[zealous nacelle]

@lyric gust fix the Pokemon names before it gets added to update_all

[lyric gust]

https://tenor.com/view/iron-man-tony-stark-rolls-eyes-here-we-go-again-gif-21381032

Hmm how can I rename on mobile

Yeah I don't see a way

Probably have to wait until tonight when I'm at my computer

Wow I can't even change the name on the mobile app lol

[zealous nacelle]

lolol

[lyric gust]

Sorry

[fierce eagle]

So the problem is that a border is called pokemon and Nintendo will get angry?

[lyric gust]

No the E with accent grave doesn't show up in mister menu

So I gotta change it to regular E

[fierce eagle]

Ok, that's at least not as stupid. 😅

[obsidian apex]

C'est parce que la langue de Molière est trop compliquée ✌️

[dull thorn]

just did some quick testing, borders look awesome, and this new core seems to fix the AV Pro 9.2 analog audio issue of the previous core (no crackling/popping)

[zealous nacelle]

But crackling/popping is the quintessential GBA experience

[dull thorn]

not this kind 😛 makes me worry for the life of my speakers

[lyric gust]

Sounds like the audio will improve even more after @warm galleon finishes their work