Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
Even in my head this question sounds kind of stupid...but it's worth a shot.
Is there any way to use the link function in the VBA. Perhaps even linking it to another VBA emulator? Namely for the GBC, as if i could get this function to work i could greatly improve Primo's pokemon run.
VBAlink made tons of changes, so don't expect a small update to integrate link support into re-recording VBA. It might be easier to apply it the other way around, actually, but either way it won't be simple to do or likely to happen soon.
So when will we have VBA Link Rerecording? I want to see some multiplayer runs.
<klmz> it reminds me of that people used to keep quoting adelikat's IRC statements in the old good days
<adelikat> no doubt
<adelikat> klmz, they still do
Kirby and the Amazing Mirror could be GREATLY improved by VBA Link re-recording due to having four players able. We could also then finally do Zelda: Four Swords.
See Youtube page (GIRfanaticTAS) for all runs and stuff.
However, splitting the screen in four pieces can produce controversy since some people including me don't like several sound effects or musics all at once. I'm referring to the Megaman Quadrupel run.
I am trying to merge VBAR v20 with VBAL 173, and it seems to work. However the compiling is anoying me since the source is involved in MFC.
<klmz> it reminds me of that people used to keep quoting adelikat's IRC statements in the old good days
<adelikat> no doubt
<adelikat> klmz, they still do
VBA can't emulate it, but there is link system support in an unofficial version of VBA that seems to work by letting an application start as the server, then multiple instances of VBA (possibly on different computers, I assume) can connect to that server and think they're linking with other GBA systems. But it would be difficult to record such a thing into a movie and allow it to play back - certainly possible, but the modifications required would be substantial. (How to represent playback, 4-way split-screen by emulating 4 GBA systems simultaneously? My computer can barely emulate 1 at a time.)
I've been thinking about this. I don't really like the way VBALink does multiplayer. You have to open separate windows, meaning that for recording you would have to worry about keeping them synched up so they all start at the same time, receiving the same inputs from the system; but I don't think you can even use savestates the way it is now. And that may be okay for just playing a game with friends online. But the multiplayer in NO$GBA seems much more stable, and I would advocate mimicking that emulator when designing link support.
put yourself in my rocketpack if that poochie is one outrageous dude
VBA can't emulate it, but there is link system support in an unofficial version of VBA that seems to work by letting an application start as the server, then multiple instances of VBA (possibly on different computers, I assume) can connect to that server and think they're linking with other GBA systems. But it would be difficult to record such a thing into a movie and allow it to play back - certainly possible, but the modifications required would be substantial. (How to represent playback, 4-way split-screen by emulating 4 GBA systems simultaneously? My computer can barely emulate 1 at a time.)
I've been thinking about this. I don't really like the way VBALink does multiplayer. You have to open separate windows, meaning that for recording you would have to worry about keeping them synched up so they all start at the same time, receiving the same inputs from the system; but I don't think you can even use savestates the way it is now. And that may be okay for just playing a game with friends online. But the multiplayer in NO$GBA seems much more stable, and I would advocate mimicking that emulator when designing link support.
I actually tried playing it (VBALink) online. It was a pain in the ass. The one time I actually got it to work, it started chewing up CPU time and slowed to a snail's pace.
Utilizing such a system to make a TAS with linked GBAs would require additional coding to deal with not only making a movie file that controls more than one GBA, but also (possibly) a "master" instance of VBA or some kind of server to facilitate synchronizing the other VBAs and recording/playing them.
Yeah, that's why I'm saying that VBA ought to have multiple screens within the same instance of the program, so they can be all neatly managed together.
put yourself in my rocketpack if that poochie is one outrageous dude
Yeah, that's why I'm saying that VBA ought to have multiple screens within the same instance of the program, so they can be all neatly managed together.
That seems to be harder to implement than sync-ing up multiple instances of the same program. But it can make things easier in linked TASing. Even FCEU and Snes9x can also benefit from such design in multi-tuple TASing.
<klmz> it reminds me of that people used to keep quoting adelikat's IRC statements in the old good days
<adelikat> no doubt
<adelikat> klmz, they still do
Is there anyway for several windows to accpet a Ctrl+P command simultaneously (in windows)? The idea is to pause or unpause several unactive GBA emulators at once to synchronize them.
If there is anyway to do so, please tell me.
It is currently possible in VBA-Link to play a multiplayer VMV movie (but not a VBM one). To do so, you would need to advance in all the emulators until the point they try to connect each other. You must pause them all there to syncrhonize them. Then, with the "synchronize" option enabled and a long enough link timieout, advance them frame by frame taking turns until the emulators start waiting for each other so that you can unpause them. Once you unpause the last one, the movie plays at normal speed.
Recording, on the other hand, is a pain. You must have the emulators take turns to advance frame by frame. To use savestates you need to save the same frame of all the emulators in order, and then you must load them in the same order (and I'm not sure it will allways work). Only one emulator menu can be selected at a time, the other emulators hang while waiting for the selected one. And on top of that you can only record VMV files, not VBM ones.
I've being trying to synchronize four emulators with the "Kirby and the Amazing Mirror" game and, for the moment, it has worked for me. But I can't record the whole game going frame by frame.
klmz, if you manage to merge VBAL and VBAR, please upload it somewhere so that we all can use it.
Thankyou
