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GBA Emulator Help- Retropie

Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2017 7:48 am
by petran1420
Hi all,

I may take this issue to the retropie forums but I figured I'd try here first since it's on a mintyPi :)

My first mintyPi is up and running great, and I've been transferring roms lately. I've noticed that all of the games on systems that are cleared for play on the Pi 0 W work great with one exception. Some GBA games (notably Pokemon Emerald Ruby Sapphire) don't load up, while the rest do (even pokemon firered and leafgreen load up fine). I read on a forum that the default GBA emulator for Retropie doesn't run those games and to use a different emulator, but none of the suggested emulators show up on the list of installable emulators in RetroPie config. I even updated the retropie setup script and they haven't appeared.

My only guess why is that this is a Raspberry Pi 0 version of RetroPie and it doesn't have the option to install those emulators, while the Pi3 version does. Its also possible I just missed the GBA emulators because the font on the screen is so small :) I'll check again soon, but in the meantime does anyone have any clarity on this topic? Thanks,

Re: GBA Emulator Help- Retropie

Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2017 8:01 am
by VeteranGamer
petran1420 wrote:
Thu Aug 17, 2017 7:48 am
Hi all,

I may take this issue to the retropie forums but I figured I'd try here first since it's on a mintyPi :)

My first mintyPi is up and running great, and I've been transferring roms lately. I've noticed that all of the games on systems that are cleared for play on the Pi 0 W work great with one exception. Some GBA games (notably Pokemon Emerald Ruby Sapphire) don't load up, while the rest do (even pokemon firered and leafgreen load up fine). I read on a forum that the default GBA emulator for Retropie doesn't run those games and to use a different emulator, but none of the suggested emulators show up on the list of installable emulators in RetroPie config. I even updated the retropie setup script and they haven't appeared.

My only guess why is that this is a Raspberry Pi 0 version of RetroPie and it doesn't have the option to install those emulators, while the Pi3 version does. Its also possible I just missed the GBA emulators because the font on the screen is so small :) I'll check again soon, but in the meantime does anyone have any clarity on this topic? Thanks,


as the game/rom is loading.... you'll be quickly presented with the run command box....

press start (or select, not sure) and you'll should be able to change the emulator...

you have a few options, change emulator for all games/roms or change emulator for just this game/rom

Re: GBA Emulator Help- Retropie

Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2017 8:13 am
by Lphillimore
petran1420 wrote:
Thu Aug 17, 2017 7:48 am
Hi all,

I may take this issue to the retropie forums but I figured I'd try here first since it's on a mintyPi :)

My first mintyPi is up and running great, and I've been transferring roms lately. I've noticed that all of the games on systems that are cleared for play on the Pi 0 W work great with one exception. Some GBA games (notably Pokemon Emerald Ruby Sapphire) don't load up, while the rest do (even pokemon firered and leafgreen load up fine). I read on a forum that the default GBA emulator for Retropie doesn't run those games and to use a different emulator, but none of the suggested emulators show up on the list of installable emulators in RetroPie config. I even updated the retropie setup script and they haven't appeared.

My only guess why is that this is a Raspberry Pi 0 version of RetroPie and it doesn't have the option to install those emulators, while the Pi3 version does. Its also possible I just missed the GBA emulators because the font on the screen is so small :) I'll check again soon, but in the meantime does anyone have any clarity on this topic? Thanks,
You shouldn't need to download any additional emulators for these games. Sure they do not run off of the default emulator but they do run (I have tested on my mintyPi) off of lr-mgba which should be the second and final emulator in the list of pre-installed ones.

Just hit start while the rom is booting and change to lr-mgba as the default for these roms.

Re: GBA Emulator Help- Retropie

Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2017 8:15 am
by Lphillimore
:D Veterans post wasn't there when i started to reply...took my time and made a brew now i look foolish :p

Re: GBA Emulator Help- Retropie

Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2017 8:26 am
by VeteranGamer
Lphillimore wrote:
Thu Aug 17, 2017 8:15 am
:D Veterans post wasn't there when i started to reply...took my time and made a brew now i look foolish :p
when dishing out the knowledge you never look foolish.....

enjoy the brew..... ;)

[SOLVED} Re: GBA Emulator Help- Retropie

Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2017 10:30 am
by petran1420
Just hit start while the rom is booting and change to lr-mgba as the default for these roms.
Thanks! I thought there was only one default gba emulator loaded, I should've checked first! I tried booting up to the start screen and it works now (huzzah!) but the music felt a little choppy. I didn't have enough time to try actual gameplay, is there some lag playing emerald or ruby with this emulator?

Re: GBA Emulator Help- Retropie

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2017 8:24 pm
by Lphillimore
I'll test on mine this weekend but wouldn't have thought so. Battery not flat? Might also be that that game doesn't play well with that emulator. Happens sometimes. I think there are some additional ones you can download from optional packages.... I'll check it out.

Re: GBA Emulator Help- Retropie

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2017 9:03 pm
by dryja123
Have you tried dropping the gba bios file into the bios folder? I was unable to play minish cap due to choppy sound and gameplay until I added the bios file.

Re: GBA Emulator Help- Retropie

Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2017 9:06 am
by joao
Hi, I also had problems with gba roms before uploading the bios file.

Re: GBA Emulator Help- Retropie

Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2017 9:20 am
by petran1420
Have you tried dropping the gba bios file into the bios folder? I was unable to play minish cap due to choppy sound and gameplay until I added the bios file.
Hi, I also had problems with gba roms before uploading the bios file.
I do indeed have the BIOS file uploaded, but this is always a good thing to check! After some research I do believe that the default retropie emulator for GBA on pi 0s doesn't function with every game correctly. After I switched the default emulator to lr-mgba for said games, they loaded up fine. I just have to check and see if they play well. I should have time this weekend to confirm.