GameBoy Interface (GBA Player) recommended settings?

[SuperDeadite]

Finally gotten around to setting up GBI, but can't quite decide on best version and settings for my setup.

Official GC D-Terminal (Component) cable.
X-Select D4 for transcoding to RGBHV.
Display is tri-sync CRT arcade monitor.

What do you video pros recommend?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

This what I use:

A modded Japanese GCN D-Terminal cable to output in VGA (it'll be in 640 x 480p mode, of course)

an Ultracade UVC device to down-convert 480p to 320p via a 56-pin jamma interface to run on a 15.7kHz arcade monitor setup (in using this device, it'll only process the video portion and not audio portion -- so an alternative method to pipe in audio from the GCN would have to be devised/implemented).

Note: in using this particular setup, the overall GBA Player screen won't presented in "full screen" but black borders will be displayed on all four sides -- due how it's being processed by the GBA Player itself.

Running the homebrew GBA port of "Super Star Shooter Advance" stg with a KriKzz GBA X5 flash cart through the above listed setup works like a charm.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[RebeL9]

Use use the GBI SR as it have the least input lag.

These are the settings I’m using:

CLI settings for GBISR (save to GBISR.cli)

--zoom=2.53125:3
--scan-mode=non-interlace
--vfilter=.5:.5:.0:.5:.0:.5
--format=custom,offset=0,scaled-size=0
--no-overlay

Optional DCP presets (save to GBISR.dcp):

I’ve been using a DCP file to toggle between GBA and GBC/GB settings.

Name={--zoom, Zoom}
Values={2.53125:3, GBA 16:9}, {3, GB/GBC 4:3}

Name={--scan-mode, Scanlines}
Values={non-interlace, Yes}, {progressive, No}

Name={--vfilter, Scan Filter}
Values={.5:.5:.0:.5:.0:.5, Yes}, {1.0, No}

Name={--matrix, Color Matrix}
Values={identity, Identity}, {gba, GBA}, {gbc, GBC}, {gbi, GBI}

[Extrems]

This what I use:

A modded Japanese GCN D-Terminal cable to output in VGA (it'll be in 640 x 480p mode, of course)

an Ultracade UVC device to down-convert 480p to 320p via a 56-pin jamma interface to run on a 15.7kHz arcade monitor setup (in using this device, it'll only process the video portion and not audio portion -- so an alternative method to pipe in audio from the GCN would have to be devised/implemented).

Note: in using this particular setup, the overall GBA Player screen won't presented in "full screen" but black borders will be displayed on all four sides -- due how it's being processed by the GBA Player itself.

Running the homebrew GBA port of "Super Star Shooter Advance" stg with a KriKzz GBA X5 flash cart through the above listed setup works like a charm.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

You know you can simply use 360p120 with black frame insertion and then it'll be fullscreen, right?
https://www.gc-forever.com/wiki/index.php?title=Game_Boy_Interface/High-Fidelity_Edition#Computer_monitors_(Cathode-ray_tube)

Use use the GBI SR as it have the least input lag.

This is factually false. GBIHF is a whole frame ahead of GBISR at 60 Hz.

[BazookaBen]

Always stick to integer scaling my people. I run XXXx480p (don't remember the horizontal) as it's an integer scale of 160 and also native 60hz.

This is factually false. GBIHF is a whole frame ahead of GBISR at 60 Hz.

Wait what? I thought they had identical input latency. I've been running GBISR this whole time!

But now that I think of it, I don't even remember why I chose SR in the first place. Probably just because it had "speed" in the name.

[Gara]

It has been a awhile since I last played a GBA game on the Gamecube Player so I don't really call exact settings. From what I remember I stuck to using the GBI Speedrunning edition. My main monitor is also multiformat and I couldn't quite decide on 15khz or 31khz. 240p (or is it 360p?) made the game library look like an extension of the SNES. I quite like that appearance. With 480p the result looked closer to what I would be seeing on an actual GBA LCD screen. I often alternated depending on the game.

I would sometimes wonder how well something like a Retrotink would look with an artificial LCD mask or some other type of mask on 480p on a CRT. Trying to emulate a low quality handheld LCD on a CRT seemed a bit silly, but it sounded fun.

[BazookaBen]

running in the 240p container on a CRT, you already have the horizontal "gridlines", so it would be neat to add some artificial vertical gridlines. To have the pixel-y look of a GBA screen while also having the motion clarity of a CRT

I could probably try this in Retroarch on my CRT sometime.

[SuperDeadite]

Thanks for the advice everyone, but after spending hours testing and fooling around with settings, I actually found myself to prefer the look of the official Nintendo GBA Player (usa 1.6) disc after using Swiss to run it in 240p. Granted, I only plan to run GB Color and GBA on this setup, as I prefer SuperGameBoy2 for standard GB.

[BazookaBen]

Thanks for the advice everyone, but after spending hours testing and fooling around with settings, I actually found myself to prefer the look of the official Nintendo GBA Player (usa 1.6) disc after using Swiss to run it in 240p. Granted, I only plan to run GB Color and GBA on this setup, as I prefer SuperGameBoy2 for standard GB.

Nintendo's disc is running at the incorrect refresh rate, which causes stutter every 2 seconds, and 2 frames of input latency

[Xan]

But now that I think of it, I don't even remember why I chose SR in the first place. Probably just because it had "speed" in the name.

This page sure says that you are supposed to use SR on a CRT with 240p output. Also, IIRC when I tried this last time, you can still disable the frame buffering to have it behave like the old ULL, where it outputs something very close to the correct refresh rate but will start tearing after an hour due to clock drift.

Also, SGB2 has the same issue in principle as far as stuttering, it just happens much less often.

Personally, I find myself almost never using GBI and just stick to an AGS-101. The small viewport on the screen along with concerns of unequal screen wear are probably the main reasons. I actually set a busted CRT aside for GBI, one that I taped some magnets to the side to fix the geometry, but don't even use that due to space reasons.

[SavagePencil]

But now that I think of it, I don't even remember why I chose SR in the first place. Probably just because it had "speed" in the name.

This page sure says that you are supposed to use SR on a CRT with 240p output.

Pretty sure you should trust Extrems' guidance, as he wrote it.

[Xan]

The page doesn't necessarily contradict what he wrote in this thread. HF could be faster because there is less leeway for extra lag with digital displays than with a CRT, just to name one possibility.

Also FYI, he edits that wiki page as well.

[Extrems]

That page also says to use 360p120 with black frame insertion for a cathode-ray tube computer monitor.

[bobrocks95]

But now that I think of it, I don't even remember why I chose SR in the first place. Probably just because it had "speed" in the name.

This page sure says that you are supposed to use SR on a CRT with 240p output. Also, IIRC when I tried this last time, you can still disable the frame buffering to have it behave like the old ULL, where it outputs something very close to the correct refresh rate but will start tearing after an hour due to clock drift.

Also, SGB2 has the same issue in principle as far as stuttering, it just happens much less often.

Personally, I find myself almost never using GBI and just stick to an AGS-101. The small viewport on the screen along with concerns of unequal screen wear are probably the main reasons. I actually set a busted CRT aside for GBI, one that I taped some magnets to the side to fix the geometry, but don't even use that due to space reasons.

I picked up an AGS-101 recently, had never seen one in person. The screen looks beautiful when nothing is moving, but then it has one of the slowest most smeary panels I've seen in a long while. Hopefully an OLED option comes along like the GameBoy Color has, not that that kit's perfect either.

[Xan]

I know, it's not perfect for certain game types. I wonder if anyone figured out if by now if they used different panel types like Sony did with the PSP. They can have quite varying color temperature/tint as well, as with the DS. Is your slow panel on the warm/yellow side?

I had the AGS-001 back in the day and really disliked that milky frontlit screen even back then, despite it still being an upgrade over the unlit screens. Sure, the AGS-101 is a bit too garish, but it's official as Nintendo released it that way. The color gamut on the original GBA screens was just bad given the hardware and I have a hard time accepting that games were even really optimized for it, except for the very few ones that offered different modes. If you compare the different GBI LUTs, the GBA screen is way out of line with promo art or what the SNES was outputting.

[SuperDeadite]

Thanks for the advice everyone, but after spending hours testing and fooling around with settings, I actually found myself to prefer the look of the official Nintendo GBA Player (usa 1.6) disc after using Swiss to run it in 240p. Granted, I only plan to run GB Color and GBA on this setup, as I prefer SuperGameBoy2 for standard GB.

Nintendo's disc is running at the incorrect refresh rate, which causes stutter every 2 seconds, and 2 frames of input latency

Interesting, any games where this is a clear issue? I'd guess the fighters, but I have no interest in them personally. For testing I've been using Gradius Galaxies and Galaxy Angel (long intro that mixes FMV with sprites), and everything feels smooth and fluid to me so far.

[BazookaBen]

Every game is affected the same way, but it's easiest to see the stutter on side scrolling platformers like castlevania.

[SuperDeadite]

Every game is affected the same way, but it's easiest to see the stutter on side scrolling platformers like castlevania.

Did some Circle, Harmony, and Aria last night. The only stutter I noticed always happened in the exact same spots everytime. Otherwise smooth and responsive... I don't doubt the facts, but if not mentioned, I don't think I ever would have noticed lol. Visually, it's a big step up from the HD collection and good enough for me.

[SavagePencil]

Every game is affected the same way, but it's easiest to see the stutter on side scrolling platformers like castlevania.

Did some Circle, Harmony, and Aria last night. The only stutter I noticed always happened in the exact same spots everytime. Otherwise smooth and responsive... I don't doubt the facts, but if not mentioned, I don't think I ever would have noticed lol. Visually, it's a big step up from the HD collection and good enough for me.

One of the Sonics was really noticeable for me with stutter. I'd be surprised if any shmups didn't exhibit it.

[Extrems]

Just walking/running/cycling around in Pokemon in a straight line is enough. Don't cross town/road borders though, there's an unavoidable loading stutter.

[SuperDeadite]

Played through half of Gradius Galaxies, totally smooth.

Will try Sonic later, but I have no interest in Pokemon so not gonna bother with that series.

[BazookaBen]

Played through half of Gradius Galaxies, totally smooth.

Will try Sonic later, but I have no interest in Pokemon so not gonna bother with that series.

Gradius Galaxies scrolls so slowly it would be harder to notice.

As I said, this isn't a "per game" thing, every game runs at the same refesh rate on GBA (as far as I know) and Nintendo's official GBP software does not run at that refresh rate.

We're just talking simple mathematics here

[SuperDeadite]

Tried all 3 Sonic games. Didn't notice any stuttering on them.

Then tried Metroid Zero Mission and finally noticed some stutter, it certainly didn't occur "every 2 seconds" but I did see it occasionally. But after an hour of play I realized Zero Mission is a shitty game and turned it off lol.

I wonder if maybe my display setup is affecting my results. I use X-Select D4 to transcode the 240p D-Terminal to VGA. Display is tri-sync arcade monitor, and it happily syncs to almost anything. Also, while X-Select is considered a transcoder, I really don't know details on how it functions internally...

[bobrocks95]

I think you're just bad at seeing stutter/judder and should consider yourself thankful and stop hunting to try and find it. You might even be able to play Unreal Engine 5 games on PC if you want to give some of them a try lol

[SuperDeadite]

I think you're just bad at seeing stutter/judder and should consider yourself thankful and stop hunting to try and find it. You might even be able to play Unreal Engine 5 games on PC if you want to give some of them a try lol

Honestly I think it's just lack of anything to compare to. Long time ago I had a GBA-SP but it got lost in move and only had a few games. Always thought I missed out on it, hence I went for a GBA Player. Since I have nothing to compare with, the games don't feel different from those of you who spent years with the handheld.

[RebeL9]

Tried all 3 Sonic games. Didn't notice any stuttering on them.

Then tried Metroid Zero Mission and finally noticed some stutter, it certainly didn't occur "every 2 seconds" but I did see it occasionally. But after an hour of play I realized Zero Mission is a shitty game and turned it off lol.

I wonder if maybe my display setup is affecting my results. I use X-Select D4 to transcode the 240p D-Terminal to VGA. Display is tri-sync arcade monitor, and it happily syncs to almost anything. Also, while X-Select is considered a transcoder, I really don't know details on how it functions internally...

lol Zero Mission is the best 2D Metroid. Amazing game!-
Also if you think Nintendos GBP disc looks better than GBI I’m doubting your eye sight.

[SuperDeadite]

Tried all 3 Sonic games. Didn't notice any stuttering on them.

Then tried Metroid Zero Mission and finally noticed some stutter, it certainly didn't occur "every 2 seconds" but I did see it occasionally. But after an hour of play I realized Zero Mission is a shitty game and turned it off lol.

I wonder if maybe my display setup is affecting my results. I use X-Select D4 to transcode the 240p D-Terminal to VGA. Display is tri-sync arcade monitor, and it happily syncs to almost anything. Also, while X-Select is considered a transcoder, I really don't know details on how it functions internally...

lol Zero Mission is the best 2D Metroid. Amazing game!-
Also if you think Nintendos GBP disc looks better than GBI I’m doubting your eye sight.

Does Zero Mission actually let you just play it? The "go here next" on the map turned me off quickly.

Never said GBI wasn't better. Just that the 1.6 disc in 240p looks great as is on my setup.