Game Boy Interface

[Extrems]

Game Boy Interface is an alternative to the Game Boy Player Start-up Disc software. It still requires the Game Boy Player hardware.
Game Boy Interface is currently available in three different editions: Standard, Speedrunning and High-Fidelity.

Features:

• Video
  8/14 bits per channel, linear RGB renderer
  full resolution (720x576 PAL, 720x486 NTSC)
  image doubling & scaling
  temporal interpolation
  temporal/spatial dithering
  color gamut mapping
  PNG screenshots
  TPL overlay
  1.5-2 frames latency @ 120 Hz
  2-3 frames latency @ 60 Hz
  3-5 frames latency @ 30 Hz
• Audio
  bit-exact PWM decoding
  linear resampling
  48 kHz sample rate
  ≈33 ms latency
• Input
  1000 Hz polling rate
  up to 4 controllers
  movie recording/playback
  turbo button
  rumble
• Serial
  GBA-as-GC controller joyboot
  Xboo Communicator
• Network
  PNG streaming server
  Remote RetroPad server
  SNTP broadcast listener
  wiiload v0.5 server (*.dol; *.mb; *.tpl)

For speedrunning edition:

• Video
  image scaling
  motion blur
  per-field filtering
  PNG/auto 3D LUT
  TPL overlay
  input viewer
  1-1.5 frames latency @ 120 Hz
  1-2 frames latency @ 60 Hz
  1-3 frames latency @ 30 Hz
  adjustable latency from zero
• Audio
  bit-exact PWM decoding
  linear resampling
  48 kHz sample rate
  ≈16 ms latency
• Input
  1000 Hz polling rate
  up to 4 controllers
  movie recording/playback
  U+D/L+R cancelling
  reset delaying
  rumble (optional)
• Serial
  GBA-as-GC controller joyboot
  Xboo Communicator
  wiiload v0.5 server (*.dol; *.mb; *.tpl)

For high-fidelity edition:

• Video
  4:4:4 color resolution
  extended gamut support
  PNG/auto 3D LUT
  59.7276 Hz refresh rate
  0.25-1.25 frames latency
• Audio
  bit-exact PWM decoding
  linear resampling
  48 kHz sample rate
  ≈16 ms latency
• Input
  1000 Hz polling rate
  up to 4 controllers
  movie recording/playback
  U+D/L+R cancelling
  rumble
• Serial
  GBA-as-GC controller joyboot
  Xboo Communicator
  wiiload v0.5 server (*.dol; *.mb; *.tpl)

For dumping utility:

• Backup
  BIOS
  ROM game data, up to 256Mbit
  EEPROM save data, up to 1Mbit
  SRAM save data, up to 512Kbit
  Flash save data, up to 1Mbit
• Restore
  EEPROM save data
  SRAM save data
  Flash save data

Hold Start + Select in the GBA BIOS to access. Requires the GameCube SD Card Adapter.
Press Reset after writing to ensure file closure.

For more information, visit the GC-Forever Wiki.

Download:
Extract archive to root of SD card. File descriptions below.
https://files.extremscorner.org/gamecub ... gbi/latest

Spoiler

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*.cli – For static configuration using Swiss. Can be appended to *.dol for other loaders.
*.dcp – For dynamic configuration using Swiss.
gbi.dol – Game Boy Interface Standard Edition
gbi.cli.example – Game Boy Player Start-up Disc emulation preset
gbihf.dol – Game Boy Interface High-Fidelity Edition
gbisr.dol – Game Boy Interface Speedrunning Edition
gbisr-ossc.dol+cli – Game Boy Interface Speedrunning Edition + Open Source Scan Converter optimized preset
gbisr-xrgb.dol+cli – Game Boy Interface Speedrunning Edition + XRGB-mini Framemeister optimized preset
gbisr.cli.example – Game Boy Player Start-up Disc emulation preset
gbi/default.mb.gz – Game Boy Advance Dumping Utility
gbi/lutrgb.png – Identity 3D LUT
gbi/lutrgba-3ds-a3ax.png – Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 for Nintendo 3DS
gbi/lutrgba-3ds-afzx.png – F-Zero Maximum Velocity for Nintendo 3DS
gbi/lutrgba-3ds-amkx.png – Mario Kart: Super Circuit for Nintendo 3DS
gbi/lutrgba-3ds-amtx.png – Metroid Fusion for Nintendo 3DS
gbi/lutrgba-3ds-awax.png – Wario Land 4 for Nintendo 3DS
gbi/lutrgba-3ds-azwx.png – WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ for Nintendo 3DS
gbi/lutrgba-3ds-b8kx.png – Kirby & The Amazing Mirror for Nintendo 3DS
gbi/lutrgba-3ds-be8x.png – Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones for Nintendo 3DS
gbi/lutrgba-3ds-bm5x.png – Mario vs. Donkey Kong for Nintendo 3DS
gbi/lutrgba-3ds-bzmx.png – The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap for Nintendo 3DS
gbi/lutrgb-gba.png – Pokefan531's GBA colors (gamma 2.7)
gbi/lutrgb-gba-light.png – Pokefan531's GBA colors (gamma 2.2)
gbi/lutrgb-gbc.png – Gambatte/higan
gbi/lutrgb-gbp.png – Game Boy Player Start-up Disc
gbi/lutrgb-nds.png – Pokefan531's NDS colors
gbi/lutrgb-vba.png – Pokefan531's VBA colors
gbi/lutrgb-wiiu.png – Wii U Virtual Console
mcbackup/*.gci – dol2gci boot.dol *.gci

https://files.extremscorner.org/gamecub ... test-extra

Spoiler

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boot.gcm – Memory Card Boot Disc
controller-gc.bmp – GBA-as-GC controller for e-Reader
controller-gc.gba – GBA-as-GC controller
controller-n64.gba – GBA-as-N64 controller
dol2gci.exe – Samson's DOL2GCI
gbi/frame.tpl.gz – Game Boy Player Start-up Disc borders for gamma-correct rendering
gbi/frame-srgb.tpl.gz – Game Boy Player Start-up Disc borders
gbi/gifvex-pokemonblue.txt.gz – GBC Pokémon: Blue Version "warp glitch" by gifvex in 10:11.25
gbi/luckytyphlosion-pokemonblue-gottacatchemall.txt.gz – GBC Pokémon: Blue Version "Gotta Catch 'Em All!" by luckytyphlosion in 37:54.11
gbi/mukki,ruadath-sonicadvance.txt.gz – GBA Sonic Advance by Mukki & ruadath in 10:49.75
gbi/mukki-sonicadvance.txt.gz – GBA Sonic Advance by Mukki in 11:02.64
gbi/mukki-sonicadvance2.txt.gz – GBA Sonic Advance 2 by Mukki in 18:09.45
gbi/tikevin83-pokemonyellow.txt.gz – GBC Pokémon: Yellow Version by TiKevin83 in 1:36:34.55

Discussion:
https://discord.gg/2dhfaHN

See also:

• Booting Homebrew – How to get started with GameCube homebrew.
• Enhanced mGBA – An enhanced port of the Game Boy Advance emulator.
• Swiss – The swiss army knife of GameCube homebrew.

[ShadowOne333]

Wait, so what's this exactly?
A GBA emulator of some sort or is it some sort of IP streaming app?

I got really confused, I only see a gbi.dol in there so I suppose it is a Wii/GC homebrew app but I can't test it right now.

[Duhasst0]

This looks like an alternative to the disc entirely.

[emu_kidid]

Once audio is implemented, I'm finishing the last half of A Link to the Past on it

[Duhasst0]

Ooooo

[theclaw]

Hmm, less filtering than the Game Boy Player disc would be nice. Perhaps 240p too.

[MockyLock]

So it's a app that allow to boot GB Pak from GBA player, right ?
CoOol !

[BenoitRen]

What's this "2-3 frames latency" feature? Is it an option, or is this the expected latency when streaming the game from the network or something?

[emu_kidid]

It sounds like it's a feature in that he's got it working so well with such minimal lag compared to perhaps the official disc.

[Extrems]

2-3 frames latency is considered high and is higher than the Game Boy Player Start-up Disc.
It was a necessary sacrifice in order to support framerate conversion.

The minimum latency achievable with the Game Boy Player is near zero as it uses a line buffer.

Hmm, less filtering than the Game Boy Player disc would be nice. Perhaps 240p too.

240p is the default mode.

[sindrik]

Rocking the boat, extrems. Thanks for this!! Really handy for not swapping discs, and even more if it's planned to be better than the original disc.

[Streetwalker]

2-3 frames latency is considered high and is higher than the Game Boy Player Start-up Disc.
It was a necessary sacrifice in order to support framerate conversion.

Wait, isn't the GBA's framerate 60fps ? In this case why do you even need to convert it ?

[RetroRGB]

Woah, this looks awesome. It even has 16:9 support! I can't wait to test this thing out!!

I just have a basic mod chip in my GC and don't have an SD loader. How could I burn this to a disc?

[Streetwalker]

You need to make an ISO like so : http://www.gc-forever.com/wiki/index.ph ... ebrew_disc

[RetroRGB]

Thanks, but I actually found that same page and tried to make a bootable iso, but it didn't work: It just sat at the GC title screen. I tried testing it by first booting to swiss and then launching the GBI disc I created, but it didn't seem to work right and was stuck in 480i mode (I'm sure that was my fault, not the GBI software).

I'm all out of mini-DVDr's, but ordered more that will arrive tomorrow. If anyone has a tested and working .iso they can share, I'd really appreciate it.

[Extrems]

480i suggests you're using a component cable. 240p isn't available when signalling EDTV capability.

[RetroRGB]

480i suggests you're using a component cable. 240p isn't available when signalling EDTV capability.

Right, component. Is it possible to have a startup screen for the disc, where you can select what resolution and aspect ratio you'd like?

Also, is there any way to offer button mapping, maybe on the same startup screen? Anyone who uses controller adapters (such as NES-to-GC, or SNES-to-GC) can't use "select", since it's not mapped.

Once again, thanks so much for making this!

[Extrems]

Not yet.

Which adapter in particular? They seem to map Select to Z, as this does.

[blizzz]

Cool project, but I'm having problems getting it to run properly. I'm using the Datel SD Loader on a PAL Cube that's connected with an RGB cable to a CRT. When I try to boot the dol directly through the SD Loader I only get a black screen. When I load it through Swiss it boots up, but seems to be 576i, even though it shows 288p on screen.

I assume the arguments would allow me to start it in 240p, but I have no idea where I can enter them. Is there an option for it in Swiss?

[RetroRGB]

I've only tested with these:
http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.ph ... ucts_id=30
http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.ph ... ucts_id=31

It's not just the Select button though, I often find that when using a SNES controller, it's more comfortable to use Y and B as the B and A buttons (respectively). Button mapping is obviously a low priority compared to everything else, I just wanted to mention it. I'd be happy to help with any testing if you'd like.

[Extrems]

I assume the arguments would allow me to start it in 240p, but I have no idea where I can enter them. Is there an option for it in Swiss?

Set Swiss Video Mode to 480i. The only loader that supports arguments on GameCube is GBI itself through wiiload, using a Broadband Adapter.

[theclaw]

480i suggests you're using a component cable. 240p isn't available when signalling EDTV capability.

Ugh, those blasted TV makers who leave out 240p component support. Ruining our fun.

[Extrems]

• Added digital PWM sound, with some glitches.
• Added turbo button.
• Fixed 288p, probably?

[RetroRGB]

Extrems, this works REALLY well. The sound is excellent and everything played very smooth. In fact, it was still smooth, even when stretching to 2.375x. I've tried almost every GB-on-TV solution available and I've never seen one scale this smoothly. Thanks so much for the excellent work.

The only problem I have is I can only use it in 480i mode, since I'm using component video cables. The ability to switch resolutions in the same menu as screen zoom would be amazing (or even a startup title screen): 4:3/16:9 | 240p/480i/480p

Is that something that's possible? Once again, thanks SO much for this!

[Extrems]

No frames will drop until 3.5x zoom, and that's under certain conditions.

You can trick it into using 240p by momentarily disconnecting the cable.
However, non-integer scaling in 240p is suboptimal.

480p is used if progressive scan has been enabled in a GameCube title.