Mednafen Game Boy Advance Documentation

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# Game Boy Advance Documentation

Last updated March 19, 2024
Valid as of 1.32.1

Table of Contents:

- Introduction
  - BIOS
  - Custom Palettes
  - Backup Memory Type
- Default Key Assignments
- Settings Reference

## Introduction

Mednafen's GameBoy Advance emulation is based off of VisualBoy Advance.

### BIOS

Built-in high-level BIOS emulation is used by default; however, a real BIOS can be used by setting the gba.bios setting.

### Custom Palettes

Global Filename: | Description:
--- | ---
gba.pal | GBA 15-bit BGR 32768 RGB triplets

### Backup Memory Type

To specify the backup memory type on a per-game basis, create a file with the same name as the ROM image but with the extension replaced with "type", in the "sav" directory under the Mednafen base directory.

Example: SexyPlumbers.gba -> SexyPlumbers.type

One or more of the following strings(on separate lines) should appear in this file:

- sram
- flash
- eeprom
- sensor
- rtc

Additionally, the flash size can be specified by specifying the size(real size, or divided by 1024) after the type, like "flash 128" or "flash 131072".

## Default Key Assignments

Key(s): | Action: | Configuration String:
--- | --- | ---
ALT + SHIFT + 1 | Activate in-game input configuration process for GameBoy Advance pad. | input_config1

Key: | Action/Button:
--- | ---
Keypad 2 | B
Keypad 3 | A
Enter/Return | Start
Tab | Select
Keypad 5 | Shoulder Left
Keypad 6 | Shoulder Right
W | Up
S | Down
A | Left
D | Right

## Settings Reference

Caution: Any settings that change emulation behavior as seen from the emulated game are shown with the setting name bolded in the table. One should be conscious of these settings if one has changed them from the default values when using network play or movies, as they can cause desychronizations if not set the same among hosts(or between the recording emulator and the playing emulator).

Setting: | Value Type: | Possible Values: | Default Value: | Description:
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
gba.bios | string |  |  | Path to optional GBA BIOS ROM image.

Setting: | Value Type: | Possible Values: | Default Value: | Description:
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
gba.enable | boolean | 0 1 | 1 | Enable (automatic) usage of this module.
gba.forcemono | boolean | 0 1 | 0 | Force monophonic sound output.
gba.scanlines | integer | -100 through 100 | 0 | Enable scanlines with specified opacity. Opacity is specified in %; IE a value of "100" will give entirely black scanlines. Negative values are the same as positive values for non-interlaced video, but for interlaced video will cause the scanlines to be overlaid over the previous(if the "video.deinterlacer" setting is set to "weave", the default) field's lines.
gba.shader | enum | none autoip autoipsharper scale2x sabr ipsharper ipxnoty ipynotx ipxnotysharper ipynotxsharper goat | none | Enable specified OpenGL shader. Obviously, this will only work with the OpenGL "video.driver" setting, and only on cards and OpenGL implementations that support shaders, otherwise you will get a black screen, or Mednafen may display an error message when starting up. When a shader is enabled, the "gba.videoip" setting is ignored. none - None/Disabled autoip - Auto Interpolation Will automatically interpolate on each axis if the corresponding effective scaling factor is not an integer. autoipsharper - Sharper Auto Interpolation Same as "autoip", but when interpolation is done, it is done in a manner that will reduce blurriness if possible. scale2x - Scale2x sabr - SABR v3.0 GPU-intensive. ipsharper - Sharper bilinear interpolation. ipxnoty - Linear interpolation on X axis only. ipynotx - Linear interpolation on Y axis only. ipxnotysharper - Sharper version of "ipxnoty". ipynotxsharper - Sharper version of "ipynotx". goat - Simple approximation of a color TV CRT look. Intended for fullscreen modes with a vertical resolution of around 1000 to 1500 pixels. Doesn't simulate halation and electron beam energy distribution nuances.
gba.shader.goat.fprog | boolean | 0 1 | 0 | Force interlaced video to be treated as progressive. When disabled, the default, the "video.deinterlacer" setting is effectively ignored with respect to what appears on the screen, unless it's set to "blend" or "blend_rg". When enabled, it may be prudent to disable the scanlines effect controlled by the "gba.shader.goat.slen" setting, or else the scanline effect may look objectionable.
gba.shader.goat.hdiv | real | -2.00 through 2.00 | 0.50 | Constant RGB horizontal divergence.
gba.shader.goat.pat | enum | goatron borg slenderman | goatron | Mask pattern. goatron - Goatron Brightest. borg - Borg Darkest. slenderman - Slenderman Spookiest?
gba.shader.goat.slen | boolean | 0 1 | 1 | Enable scanlines effect.
gba.shader.goat.tp | real | 0.00 through 1.00 | 0.50 | Transparency of otherwise-opaque mask areas.
gba.shader.goat.vdiv | real | -2.00 through 2.00 | 0.50 | Constant RGB vertical divergence.
gba.special | enum | none hq2x hq3x hq4x scale2x scale3x scale4x 2xsai super2xsai supereagle nn2x nn3x nn4x nny2x nny3x nny4x | none | Enable specified special video scaler. The destination rectangle is NOT altered by this setting, so if you have xscale and yscale set to "2", and try to use a 3x scaling filter like hq3x, the image is not going to look that great. The nearest-neighbor scalers are intended for use with bilinear interpolation enabled, for a sharper image, though the "autoipsharper" shader may provide better results. none - None/Disabled hq2x - hq2x hq3x - hq3x hq4x - hq4x scale2x - scale2x scale3x - scale3x scale4x - scale4x 2xsai - 2xSaI super2xsai - Super 2xSaI supereagle - Super Eagle nn2x - Nearest-neighbor 2x nn3x - Nearest-neighbor 3x nn4x - Nearest-neighbor 4x nny2x - Nearest-neighbor 2x, y axis only nny3x - Nearest-neighbor 3x, y axis only nny4x - Nearest-neighbor 4x, y axis only
gba.stretch | enum | 0 full aspect aspect_int aspect_mult2 | aspect_mult2 | Stretch to fill screen. 0 - Disabled full - Full Full-screen stretch, disregarding aspect ratio. aspect - Aspect Preserve Full-screen stretch as far as the aspect ratio(in this sense, the equivalent xscalefs == yscalefs) can be maintained. aspect_int - Aspect Preserve + Integer Scale Full-screen stretch, same as "aspect" except that the equivalent xscalefs and yscalefs are rounded down to the nearest integer. aspect_mult2 - Aspect Preserve + Integer Multiple-of-2 Scale Full-screen stretch, same as "aspect_int", but rounds down to the nearest multiple of 2.
gba.tblur | boolean | 0 1 | 0 | Enable video temporal blur(50/50 previous/current frame by default).
gba.tblur.accum | boolean | 0 1 | 0 | Accumulate color data rather than discarding it.
gba.tblur.accum.amount | real | 0 through 100 | 50 | Blur amount in accumulation mode, specified in percentage of accumulation buffer to mix with the current frame.
gba.videoip | enum | 0 1 x y | 0 | Enable (bi)linear interpolation. 0 - Disabled 1 - Bilinear x - Linear (X) Interpolation only on the X axis. y - Linear (Y) Interpolation only on the Y axis.
gba.xres | integer | 0 through 65536 | 0 | Full-screen horizontal resolution. A value of "0" will cause the current desktop horizontal resolution to be used.
gba.xscale | real | 0.01 through 256 | 4.000000 | Scaling factor for the X axis in windowed mode.
gba.xscalefs | real | 0.01 through 256 | 1.000000 | Scaling factor for the X axis in fullscreen mode. For this setting to have any effect, the "gba.stretch" setting must be set to "0".
gba.yres | integer | 0 through 65536 | 0 | Full-screen vertical resolution. A value of "0" will cause the current desktop vertical resolution to be used.
gba.yscale | real | 0.01 through 256 | 4.000000 | Scaling factor for the Y axis in windowed mode.
gba.yscalefs | real | 0.01 through 256 | 1.000000 | Scaling factor for the Y axis in fullscreen mode. For this setting to have any effect, the "gba.stretch" setting must be set to "0".