Mulitple Issues on 1.0.8 and 1.0.9 updates.

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Here are some minor, and major issues I have encountered with the update:
1. VBA update 1.0.8 creates a new file for "VBAgx" rather than overwriting 
the old folder "VBAwii" Was this intentional? It shows two loaders on the 
homepage, which could be bad.
2. Picture is cropped MAJORLY. I would say close to 30% of the picture is 
cropped on the sides and bottoms, the issue was not found on the previous 
version.
3. Certain games will not load, or save. For instance Metroid - Zero 
Mission, if I save the game from the old file, when I go to play it on the 
updated version, or 1.0.8, the file is not found, and has to repeat each 
time. You cannot save the game, as it will not notice any new data. This 
occurs with a couple of games as well.
4. The homebrew Browser does not show that the current updates are 
superior and only show that you should update to an obsolete version, 
though this could be because homebrew browser has not been updated for 
these releases.

What steps will reproduce the problem?
1. Please overwrite data on folder rather than creating multiple 
applications, or at least inform us if we may delete old folder "VBAwii" 
in order to continue our updates with the new folder "VBAgx"
2. Bring back the original format! It seemed to work ok, but is having 
major issues on this version.
3. I don't know what can be done to resolve this. It's not fun losing data 
after youve worked hard on a game, then it gets completely lost.
4. Just allow us to know if this is a flaw in homebrew browser simply not 
knowing about the newer updates of VBAgx and SNES9x.

What is the expected output? What do you see instead?
To update VBAwii with only one application and no errors, playing the game 
without cropped pictures, and so that I can save, and load files where 
they were, without having data lost.

What version of the product are you using? On GameCube or Wii?
Wii

Please provide any additional information below.
This is just a notification! You guys are working diligently for free to 
make sure we have an awesome emulator, so I am not being rude or demanding 
in any way. I just thought I would bring up the notifications so you could 
be clear of them. Until then I will be playing on the January 27th version 
of VBA (which ever version that is) until these problems are resolved, 
they are major problems that can setback from allowing me to play the 
games without problems, as I said, they do not save, or load, and 
sometimes even erase.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by Volcano8...@aol.com on 8 Apr 2009 at 4:00

[GoogleCodeExporter]

A quick comment on issues 1 and 4: these are issues with HBB. Please report 
them 
there. Website: http://www.codemii.com/

Original comment by dborth@gmail.com on 8 Apr 2009 at 4:56

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Tantric organised the release, so he will have to comment on the folder name 
change. I 
didn't know about it until I downloaded it.

For video problems we need to know what sort of TV you have, and what video 
setting you 
are using on your Wii. Can you tell us some things?
Is the TV old or new?
Is it CRT, LCD, Plasma, DLP, a projector, etc?
Is it PAL or NTSC?
Is it 4:3 or 16:9?
Are you using component cables?
Which video option did you choose in your Wii's settings?
Which sides of the image are cropped?

It is normal for old TVs to crop all pictures that the TV shows, whether it is 
television, console games, or whatever. New TVs don't do that. Nintendo has a 
rule that 
actual Wii games are forced to not draw anything important, such as HUD 
elements, near 
the edges of the screen. It is likely all Nintendo Wii games also display 
cropped on 
your TV. Gameboys didn't use TVs so there was no such rule. It makes it hard 
for 
emulators because people want the picture to fill the whole screen. 

The old version wasn't designed for PAL, and always used NTSC resolution, 
resulting in 
letterboxing on PAL. It also had some strange scaling that didn't use the whole 
resolution sometimes.

There is a zoom option in the menu. It needs to be enabled before it will work. 
You can 
try using that to fix the problem. Or you can try playing with the scaling 
options and 
see if that helps at all.

Which kind of saving are you using? The save state of the Emulator, or saving 
the game 
at a save point inside the game?
I don't know what the problem could be. We didn't really change any of the 
saving code, 
at least not deliberately.

Homebrew Browser connects to a database that needs to be updated manually by a 
single 
person, teknecal, before it will show new updates. It does not seem to have 
been 
updated since April 2. Homebrew Browser might have a problem with the name 
change 
because their Wiibrew page says "Try to keep using that folder name for the 
homebrew 
applications life." A new version of Homebrew Browser called v0.3 is currently 
being 
developed, you can try it out by going to the "Demos" page in the current 
version and 
downloading Homebrew Browser 0.3.

The "What steps will reproduce the problem?" section is for you to tell us what 
we need 
to do to see the same problem that you see. Because it is quite likely that we 
didn't 
see these problems when we tested it ourselves, we need to know what steps to 
take to 
observe the bug. For example: Step 1: connect your Wii to an old 4:3 PAL CRT TV 
without 
component cables. Step 2: set your Wii to 4:3 aspect ratio and 50Hz mode. Step 
3: In 
the emulator set the scaling to full screen and disable zoom. Step 4: Load the 
GBC game 
Metroid 2 DX. Step 5: Notice that the status bar at the bottom is cropped.

Original comment by Carl.Kenner@gmail.com on 8 Apr 2009 at 5:38

[GoogleCodeExporter]

The folder name has never changed. It's always been vbagx. But HBB has been 
using 
vba and now vbawii. I've mentioned this problem to teknecal.

Original comment by dborth@gmail.com on 8 Apr 2009 at 5:48

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Dborth,
if I have two seperate folders than, should I delete one of them so there 
won't be multiple applications? I want to do this before the issues are 
resolved 
though, the games still wont save or load correctly.

Carl,
Apologies for not being specific. I have a 16x9, LCD, NTSC, HD-TV, I am also 
not 
using component cables at the time either. Product details can be found here 
about 
it: 
http://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-tvs/rca-l26wd26d/4505-6482_7-32460967.html

As for the image cropping, it seems that the picture has been slightly cropped 
from 
both sides, top and bottom. Like it was almost zoomed in too much. Playing 
Gameboy 
Advance, the games would usually automatically display in their "widescreen" 
type 
format, and fit perfectly, however, they seem to cut off the image to the left 
and 
right sligthly now, and also to the top and bottom.

With the saving issues, it seems to be ANY game that is having problems, though 
I 
did recently try "Donkey Kong 94" with the 1.0.9. update and it seemed to save 
both 
in the game, and snapshots fine. Metroid - Zero Mission does not however, and 
there 
are a few other GBC games, such as Wario Land 2 and Pokemon Gold and Silver 
which do 
not save. I do not know the reason behind this, even after multiple 
experimenting.

Original comment by Volcano8...@aol.com on 8 Apr 2009 at 6:10

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Are you saving with snapshots or at save points?

Oh, and do your ROM names have spaces at the front? Any strange characters?

Are you saving to an SD card or something else?

Do you have a mod chip? Do you have any custom IOS modules installed?

It may be an issue with the updated libraries, since I don't think we changed 
anything about saving and loading.

Original comment by Carl.Kenner@gmail.com on 8 Apr 2009 at 6:26

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Carl, if the saving library was unchanged, then I don't believe there should be 
issues. It seemed to save fine until the update. I am saving on save points 
(states) 
but I tried a snapshot, and that does not seem to be recognized either, they 
are 
done on an SD card sent right to the ROM and Save folder, but just aren't 
recognized. I am not using a modchip.

There seems to be issues with several ROMs, I can make a list of the ones 
having 
problems with save states and snapshot issues.

Original comment by Volcano8...@aol.com on 8 Apr 2009 at 6:33

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Alright, did some testing.

* Metroid - Zero Mission saves fine in-game (.sav) for me. 

* But, indeed, tested Pokémon Gold (GBC), and doesn't save in-game. It creates 
the
.sav file just fine (checked the SD card), but only shows "New Game". Probably
related to the RTC?

Original comment by reyes.ch...@gmail.com on 8 Apr 2009 at 5:34

[GoogleCodeExporter]

strange, the only game that i don't see the cropping issue in is Yoshy Topsy-
Turvy.

Original comment by azman2000@gmail.com on 9 Apr 2009 at 2:05

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Reyes, I had some same problems with certain games. I will have to go back and 
test 
the ones which I did earlier, Metroid - Zero Mission was definately one of 
them. 
(excuse me for asking, but what is RTC?)

As for the cropping issues, it seems to be a problem for all games with me. I 
also 
have a 16x9 television which strangely does it. Somehow on the older release, 
the 
stretching on the screen, and scaling was perfect.

Another minor error I noticed today while testiing is that some of the games to 
use 
the wii function (wii wheel for example, especially on Mario Kart GBA) seem to 
be 
very case sensitive; but that is expected, especially with such a fresh new 
update, 
can anyone can confirm if they have the same issue?

Original comment by Volcano8...@aol.com on 9 Apr 2009 at 5:48

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Real Time Clock. When a gameboy cartridge needs to know what time it is in the 
real 
world, it needs a clock built into the cartridge. Many games have them. Some 
games 
use the same registers for other purposes, such as sensors.

Can people please not post unrelated bugs on the same bug report? It makes it 
hard to 
keep track of the bugs. It also gives people the wrong idea that bugs are 
connected.

Each bug needs its own bug report.

Original comment by Carl.Kenner@gmail.com on 9 Apr 2009 at 9:25

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Carl, I will not post any other errors I had encountered unless making a new 
issue 
page, sorry about that.

I did however do some testing on all ROMs, and their display settings and 
here's 
what I came up with. (All involving the issues I had posted on originally)

Save Errors: The following ROMs do not save or load on my update, as they did 
before; this includes BOTH saved in game, and snapshot states.

- Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (GBC)
- Metroid - Zero Mission (GBA)
- Super Mario Land 2 - 6 Golden Coins (GB)

It appears that I am not the only one having save issues, however as mentioned 
above 
that Pokemon Gold did not save, I tried my ROM and it seemed to save and load 
fine 
with both in game saving, and snapshot states.

Video Scaling errors occured on all types of ROMs (GBA, GBC, GB) for Partial 
Screen 
Size, including 'cropping' on the bottom and top of the screen not displaying 
some 
information that makes gameplay somewhat hard (barely visible stats, lives, 
information that is usually placed on these parts of the screen). Maintaining 
OAR 
(Original Aspect Ratio) seems to reduce the problem however there is still 
minor 
cropping. Stretching the picture to fit screen size also does this.

Original comment by Volcano8...@aol.com on 9 Apr 2009 at 5:41

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Video cropping is something your TV does. That's normal. It happens on original 
consoles (eg: SNES). It's not cropped for everyone, so if we shrink the size, 
they'll have a letterbox effect. The next version will have an adjustable video 
zoom, you'll be able to zoom out to fix that problem.

Original comment by dborth@gmail.com on 9 Apr 2009 at 6:04

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Original comment by dborth@gmail.com on 27 Apr 2009 at 7:22

• Changed state: Completed