Release Gambatte w/QT gui


I just tried this for the first time, and it seems like game saves aren't being created, nor are any configuration changes being saved. Do I have to create some folders in appdata manually?
 
I found the problem. Launch any game, press Esc->Settings->Miscellaneous->Save path->Right Click->Show Hidden Files->.config->New Folder->saves

It appears the custom palette saving is also currently broken. If anyone else is interested in maintaining this, please PM me.
 
Sorry for necroposting, But I just cant for the life of me get Gambatte to save config settings, and it's wierd because it used to work just fine. Where does it save by default? This is driving me completely insane because there is no reason something should just suddenly stop working out of spite :) Also Gambatte qt was the only emulator that plays Operation C Without messed up sound (I must have ocd or something because I cant play it otherwise). Do you guys have any suggestions for a person unfimiliar with the linux file system?
 
Copy your saves to a safe location and delete pandora/appdata/gambatte-qt. Then, download the updated PND from the repo, run it, and copy your saves back to pandora/appdata/gambatte-qt/.config/saves/

Custom palettes should also be fixed now.
 
Okay, That fixed it, thank you very much for the quick reply! Too bad my Zelda save was lost in the battle, you win some you lose some. Is the version on pndmanager out of date? I thought it pulled its data from the repo.
 
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First, thanks for offering this emulator!

Does Gambatte for the Pandora support battery saves?

Battery save = Data saved by the Game Boy to the game catridge, where it resides on volatile memory, for data like hi-scores, game progress, custom names, variables, etc.

Whereas a save state, saves the entire virtual machine (RAM/registers/etc) at its current state, not a function from the Game Boy, but from the emulator software.

I played Bubble Ghost, and it's highscore is not kept on further playing sessions. Save state though works fine.

I searched the Gambatte code base for "battery save", and found gambatte / libgambatte / src / mem / cartridge.cpp likely to contain this functionality.

But I am not certain wether it's included AND properly implemented in the Pandora version.

If it does not work, and one wants to ressemble original behavior as close as possible: Save the state before you quit Gambatte, then you essentially have the same outcome.
 
@apersonthinks, thanks!

Meanwhile @notaz has made me aware that relatively few game cartridges on the SEGA Megadrive had saving cababilities (160 of 952 = 17% as listed on on MobyGames), similarly so for the Game Boy. Although relatively more Game Boy games had game saves (251 of 620 = 40% on MobyGames), likely because the SEGA Genesis focused more on casual / arcade style games, whereas the Game Boy more on continuos games, where a fresh start each time would be a PITA..

Btw, the labeling of the MobyGames flag "Battery Backed RAM" (BRAM) is not optimal, as MobyGames use it as an umbrella term for "any game cartridge with saving capabilities", regardless with which technique (EPROM, battery power RAM, etc).

Regarding the current Gambatte:

I checked the list of Game Boy games, which have save capabilities on MobyGames , and your link as well @apersonthinks, and it turn out like this:

  • Bubble Trouble has no battery save, thus the lack of a .sav game is obvious,
  • another game which I have, Super Mario Land 2, is reported as having BRAM, and Gambatte correctly saves BRAM!
 
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Bug report: Gambatte does not properly enter into and awake from low power mode (aka sleep, aka standby)

If you awake from Low Power Mode (aka Standby), Gambatte acts weird as it tries to "catch up the time sleeped" (fast forwarding all the missed frames), regardless wether you have had emulation running or paused (via "P" key)! Either you wait until the catchup is finished (can take long) or you quit ("q" key), which is luckily responsive enough, executed immediately, although the app seems "busy catching up" (high cpu load I guess).

This problem with app state with sleep/resume of the OS in general was documented by me earlier, but some apps have mechanisms to work fine on this nevertheless, also see the answers from @notaz "cannot freeze it", me @porg and @ED "the old powersave mode sent a sigpause to all running PNDs, right?".

Sadly I cannot play, (then pause if necessary, either in-game pause function or emulation pausing), sleep the Pandora, and simply resume playing.

Workaround: Save state, sleep, wake, experience the weird behavior only as long until you press your hotkey for state loading ("L" for me), state loaded, continues fine.
 
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Feature suggestion: Assignable hotkeys to cycle through color-palettes or dedicated keys to call up certain color-palettes for use during gameplay

As of now cycling through color palettes is cubmersome:

deep within menu, no live visualization but need to apply, and bring up dialogue again fur each further try, plus it does not work during paused emulation.

GnGB has this ability.
 
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