[Epsilonsama]

I know this might be a stupid question but because I bought Sonic Advance 2 from release day I never use it on an emulator till now. I cant get it to run.(Im using VBA-M btw). I get some stupid lines with some music and doesn't matter what I do it still there. I even soft reset it a couple of times. How can I play this game on an emulator?

The Lines in question.

Also I tried using a gba bios to see if its a piracy check but it also didn't work.

This post has been edited by Epsilonsama: 08 June 2011 - 03:14 PM

[Blue Blood]

Change the memory settings perhaps? I used to have that problem, but I don't remember what causes it. That screen is essentially a blank multiplayer menu.

[Epsilonsama]

Change the memory settings perhaps? I used to have that problem, but I don't remember what causes it. That screen is essentially a blank multiplayer menu.

What's the memory format of the game?

[Blue Blood]

No idea. Just try each one until you get one that works, if that IS the problem.

[Xilla]

IIRC that's indeed a piracy check. Sonic Advance 1 had it too, I think I got around it by doing something with a savestate.

[GerbilSoft]

This is not a piracy check; it's an emulation bug. I could've sworn this was fixed in an earlier version of the original VBA, but it seems that VBA-M has a regression.

Anyways, it's caused by some register not being set properly if the GBA firmware isn't loaded. Make sure you're using the actual final GBA firmware file (there's some incorrect versions floating around). Another way to bypass it is by pressing A+Start (or some button combination).

For the record: That screen is the multiplayer connection screen. It normally appears with character selections when playing a multiplayer game using the GBA link cable.

[Epsilonsama]

This is not a piracy check; it's an emulation bug. I could've sworn this was fixed in an earlier version of the original VBA, but it seems that VBA-M has a regression.

Anyways, it's caused by some register not being set properly if the GBA firmware isn't loaded. Make sure you're using the actual final GBA firmware file (there's some incorrect versions floating around). Another way to bypass it is by pressing A+Start (or some button combination).

For the record: That screen is the multiplayer connection screen. It normally appears with character selections when playing a multiplayer game using the GBA link cable.

I downloaded a Bios but its not working. How do I know which is the correct one?

Well I checked this guide and apparently the Bios I have is correct. I checked the first 32 bytes and they are the same as the one in this guide.

http://www.pocketheaven.com/ph/wiki/GBA_BIOS

And yes I belive you are right because the version in my Wii VBA does not have this problem but my version on my machine has it.

This post has been edited by Epsilonsama: 08 June 2011 - 07:36 PM

[GerbilSoft]

Well I checked this guide and apparently the Bios I have is correct. I checked the first 32 bytes and they are the same as the one in this guide.

http://www.pocketheaven.com/ph/wiki/GBA_BIOS

And yes I belive you are right because the version in my Wii VBA does not have this problem but my version on my machine has it.

Try verifying the checksums of the GBA firmware.

• CRC32: 81977335
• MD5: a860e8c0b6d573d191e4ec7db1b1e4f6
• SHA-1: 300c20df6731a33952ded8c436f7f186d25d3492
• SHA-256: fd2547724b505f487e6dcb29ec2ecff3af35a841a77ab2e85fd87350abd36570

If those verify correctly, it just might be some weird regression in VBA-M. I'd recommend checking VBA-M's bug tracker to see if there's any information about it.

This post has been edited by GerbilSoft: 08 June 2011 - 07:51 PM

[Epsilonsama]

Well I checked this guide and apparently the Bios I have is correct. I checked the first 32 bytes and they are the same as the one in this guide.

http://www.pocketheaven.com/ph/wiki/GBA_BIOS

And yes I belive you are right because the version in my Wii VBA does not have this problem but my version on my machine has it.

Try verifying the checksums of the GBA firmware.

• CRC32: 81977335
• MD5: a860e8c0b6d573d191e4ec7db1b1e4f6
• SHA-1: 300c20df6731a33952ded8c436f7f186d25d3492
• SHA-256: fd2547724b505f487e6dcb29ec2ecff3af35a841a77ab2e85fd87350abd36570

If those verify correctly, it just might be some weird regression in VBA-M. I'd recommend checking VBA-M's bug tracker to see if there's any information about it.

Well the bios is the correct one. Gonna go check the bug tracker.

[sonicblur]

In addition to having the bios, you also need to start up using it. Having "Skip Bios" enabled defeats the purpose of the BIOS.
But as someone else has stated, I recall this also being triggered by the incorrect save type. It should be set to auto.

[BlazeHedgehog]

As I recall, the button combo to bypass that screen was L+R+A+B+Select+Start. They're kind of hard to hit all at once (especially if you have the misfortune of trying to play this on a keyboard), but that should do it.

If it doesn't, I have no idea what to tell you :p

[Epsilonsama]

As I recall, the button combo to bypass that screen was L+R+A+B+Select+Start. They're kind of hard to hit all at once (especially if you have the misfortune of trying to play this on a keyboard), but that should do it.

If it doesn't, I have no idea what to tell you :p

That does not work buddy. It just restarts the screen. I already informed the developers of VBA-M and apparently is a bug in the GTK+ version. Its been fixed in the windows version so that means its a simple regression and I don't think it will take long to fix.

[BlazeHedgehog]

As I recall, the button combo to bypass that screen was L+R+A+B+Select+Start. They're kind of hard to hit all at once (especially if you have the misfortune of trying to play this on a keyboard), but that should do it.

If it doesn't, I have no idea what to tell you :p

That does not work buddy. It just restarts the screen. I already informed the developers of VBA-M and apparently is a bug in the GTK+ version. Its been fixed in the windows version so that means its a simple regression and I don't think it will take long to fix.

It used to work when the bug was first discovered all those years ago!

[Epsilonsama]

As I recall, the button combo to bypass that screen was L+R+A+B+Select+Start. They're kind of hard to hit all at once (especially if you have the misfortune of trying to play this on a keyboard), but that should do it.

If it doesn't, I have no idea what to tell you :p

That does not work buddy. It just restarts the screen. I already informed the developers of VBA-M and apparently is a bug in the GTK+ version. Its been fixed in the windows version so that means its a simple regression and I don't think it will take long to fix.

It used to work when the bug was first discovered all those years ago!

Well thats odd, I tried every button combination and all that happens is a restart that goes back to the initial screen.