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Can someone test games on real GB hardware?

Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2017 7:14 am
by zerowalker
Does someone have a real GB that they can test games on?

There is one game "Serpent" which behaves very weirdly in it's drawing on mine and other emulators.
I am doubting it's really how the game should act cause it's flickering like mad.

So if anyone has that game and a GB to try it on i would appreciate if it could be tested.

The flickering occur if you wait at the start menu till a character jumps into the Car thing,
then a Demo will occur, and during this Demo, "Serpent" keep flickering on top of the screen while a game is going on in the background.

Re: Can someone test games on real GB hardware?

Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2017 7:43 am
by tepples
I think the flickering in Batman and Serpent is an intentional translucency effect, if ccovell's comment is to be believed. It wasn't noticeable on the original Game Boy because the LCD was so slow. Have you tried enabling frame averaging (also called motion blur) in these emulators to simulate a slow LCD?

I have a working Game Boy Color, tested with Space Invaders two days ago, but a copy of Serpent on eBay would cost about $12.

Re: Can someone test games on real GB hardware?

Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2017 7:48 am
by zerowalker
Tried now on VBA-M.
It does look as one would expect a Demo to look like when this is one.
Can imagine if the LCD was slow that it would look like this cause of the ghosting.

Re: Can someone test games on real GB hardware?

Posted: Sat Sep 02, 2017 6:33 am
by ccovell
The original GB LCD screen is very slow, so, yeah. It's a totally intentional effect.

Re: Can someone test games on real GB hardware?

Posted: Sat Sep 02, 2017 8:56 am
by zerowalker
Good to know, quite hard to understand what the intended effect is.

The same goes with Amida during the intro,
one frame the sprites that are going to turn left are glitched (right before switching from going down, to left).
I thought my emulation was wrong, but it seems other has that as well, no clue how it's on the original hardware though.

EDIT:

Thanks for mentioning Sagaia, it seems i have issues rendering is so this can prove useful for debugging.

Re: Can someone test games on real GB hardware?

Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2017 10:53 am
by zerowalker
Might as well ask this here as the topic is fitting.

Been looking for a Flash Cartridge and Flasher (or both in one thing) as i talked about in the other thread.
As i need those in order to run tests on the original hardware.

Finding these stuff was harder than expected (except super expensive ones).

I also don't live in the US but Europe, so that doesn't make it easier for me.

If ppl have recommendations on what and where to buy, please do tell.
Of if there's something i have missed that can be done to achieve this (though probably not as i can't solder haha;p).

Thanks:)!

Re: Can someone test games on real GB hardware?

Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2017 6:50 pm
by Shonumi
For the cart flasher, I got mine from BennVenn. He's based in Australia if I recall correctly, so for you it's international shipping regardless. There's this flasher from someone based in Spain, so that might be more favorable to you. Unfortunately, both BennVenn's and JRodrigo's flashers are sold out. I think JRodrigo is restocking this month; join the waiting list now if you're interested.

As for flashcarts, an Everdrive is the most expensive option, but you can buy them from resellers everywhere, even in Europe (I remember seeing it for sale at UK and German based webstores). It's very pricey though. BennVenn has a very good flashcart called the ElCheapo, but once again, it's sold out. The GB USB 64M Smart Card is sold literally everywhere (US, HK, UK, EU) and if you're looking for an European seller, I think Retro Towers has them (UK seller).

I'd buy a flashcart first and foremost. You can put ROMs on a flashcart without needed a dedicated cart reader/writer; most flashcarts are USB or SD based. A cart reader/writer is mostly useful if you're in my situation (64M Smart Card user on Linux) or if you want to example real saves from real Game Boy carts.

Re: Can someone test games on real GB hardware?

Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2017 10:33 pm
by zerowalker
Okay bought the The GB USB 64M Smart Card from Retro Towers, wasn't cheap but what can you do,
at least i know it Works haha;P

Now i just need to get a GameBoy, and that shouldn't be too hard, they are kinda cheaply available where i live.
The GameBoy doesn't have any region differences in the hardware right?

Re: Can someone test games on real GB hardware?

Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 2:24 am
by calima
The difference between Everdrives and the old cheap flashcarts is massive, though. Everdrives have almost perfect compatibility, whereas the Smart Card requires a lot of patches, doesn't have a RTC, and even with patches may not work with some games.

Re: Can someone test games on real GB hardware?

Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 3:02 am
by zerowalker
thought the Everdrive didn't have RTC?

Re: Can someone test games on real GB hardware?

Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 3:14 am
by TmEE
It depends on the flavor. X7 has everything (and costs most) while X5 and X3 have less stuff and are cheaper accordingly.

Re: Can someone test games on real GB hardware?

Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 6:50 am
by Shonumi
If you're going to be writing your own tests, having (close to) 100% compatibility isn't really an issue. That is to say, if you want to do your own low-level tests of hardware behavior (the actual Game Boy, not the MBC itself) you often don't need anything much fancier than 32KB of ROM and maybe the ability to save. So, the GB USB 64M Smart Card is perfectly fine, despite the fact that it needs patches for certain games.

As for regional differences between Game Boys, I don't think there are any. The hardware is essentially the same, except the stickers on the back. I think the only thing that probably is different is the Super Game Boy, but that's technically SNES stuff.

Re: Can someone test games on real GB hardware?

Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 6:57 am
by zerowalker
Yeah and for me that's what interests.
Don't care much for the games per see, i mean sure it can be useful for testing too,
but it's easier to write tests and compare results.

Haven't written anything in the Gameboy ASM, but hopefully as i have emulated it's functions using those instructions for stuff shouldn't be too difficult xD

Re: Can someone test games on real GB hardware?

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 11:34 am
by zerowalker
Okay got hold of a GameBoy for about 20 euros, so just waiting for the Flashcart thingy which shipped today, so will hopefully get it next week (Tuesday or Wednesday i think).
Will be interesting to play around with, then i can pretend i know this stuff and act all pro like;P