No$Zoomer is a zooming utility for No$GBA that also enhances the
emulator's playability for quite some games, both new and old. Here
I'll try to explain the most common functions. I'll also try to keep
the first post up-to-date, so that you won't have to rummage
through an endlessly long thread.
For everything that is not explicitly contradicted here, the general FAQ
still applies.
Table of Content:
1. Basic Setup/GUI language
2. Extras
3. Screen size
4. Rotation
5. Noise suppression
6. Savegame dumping
7. Microphone settings
8. Turbo function
9. Hotkeys
10. Cheats database
11. Disclaimer and final words
------------------------------------------------------------
1. Basic setup/GUI language
The most current version of No$Zoomer is 2.3.0.2, available
in the attachment at the end of this post, now with updated
English language support, courtesy of our own Squall-Leonhart.
If you only need the newest language pack, you can find it here.
Extract it into your No$GBA folder. Vista users will need to set
admin rights for both No$GBA and No$Zoomer. Be sure UAC is
on while you do that, as well.
Should No$Zoomer have no menu-bar, check if you have a Lang
folder in your No$GBA folder that contains at least one .dll file.
If you do not, look for an English (Squall Leonhart).dll in your
folder or the linked archive, create a Lang folder and copy it in.
Should the menu bar only contain kanji (japanese letters) or empty
boxes, open the second menu from the right, then the third option
from the bottom. Here, you can set your language, preferably to
English (Squall Leonhart).
2. Extras
Quite possibly the most important reason to use No$Zoomer over
other zooming programs. Note that this function will only work
correctly with No$GBA 2.6a, which can be downloaded from the developer's
homepage for free since 2.7 released.
Only No$Zoomer 2.3.0.2 has this feature. 2.3.0.1 has some of these
options permanently running, which can cause errors in some games.
Also check that you have selected English (Squall Leonhart) under
Other->Language.
Doing this (or using the japanese language pack) should open up the
Other->EXTRA tab, that will contain options numbered EX0-EX5.
These will alter the emulation process subtly to make some games
playable/more enjoyable. If you ever run into a game that has an error
causing the game to hang up, you should try activating some of these
to see if it fixes the problem.
Note that some EXs in some games will actually cause new errors, so
try to find out which you will need for every given game and stick with
just those. The easiest way to do this (save searching the game's title
in this board to see if somebody has done this already) is to activate all
EXs and then gradually deactivate those that don't actually help.
If the EXs don't get activated/deactivated, you are likely using an older
version of No$GBA. To restate, the Extra options only work with No$GBA 2.6a.
One note on EX5: while it can and will improve some games, it is also
possible that it may cause that game to lock up or send it into an endless
cycle. In such cases, you just have to deactivate it for just as long as it
takes to avoid this error.
3. Screen size
No$Zoomer wouldn't live up to its name if it didn't have a zooming option.
I was generally most satisfied with the View->Maximized Window option.
If you want a custom size, you can set it under Options->Size. If you
want one screen bigger than the other, you can set that under
Options->Screen ratio.
Another thing of interest here is the line between the two screens, that
can be set under Options->Seperator. I found a width of 5 to be the best,
but for some games (e.g. Yoshi's Island DS), a larger seperator may help to
aim better between screens.
Note that if you select View->Full Screen, the menu bar will disappear. In
this case, you can right-click on any of the two screens to make a pop-up
menu bar appear.
4. Rotation
Some games will ask you to turn your DS sideways. If you don't want to
have a stiff neck, you can use the View->Rotate tab. Normally,
you'll need 90°, but some games feature a "left-handed" mode, that will
turn the display counter-clockwise, so you'll need to use 270°. To
return to normal, just select 0°.
5. Noise suppression
Some games, especially those with a higher amount of 3D rendering,
will have a possibly distracting amount of background static in the
audio emulation. To help with that, No$Zoomer has the
Other->Noise Suppression option. Note that this option is not an
on/off trigger and may not mean a significant improvement if you
only use it once, but every further activation of the option will be
cumulative. Just be sure you know when to stop, because after
some clicks the overall sound quality will start to degrade as well.
Think of it like a carpenters' plane: you shave off an amount of
static with every activation. It has been done this way because
different games have different levels of static. Also note that
after a change of scene and music, the noise might reappear.
If this is the case, you have to eliminate it again.
6. Savegame dumping
I can hear your minds race right now, but I have to tell you that
no, not even No$Zoomer has an option for savestates/snapshots,
but it can still save you some nerves. You might already know
that No$GBA (and by that No$Zoomer) normally only writes a
savegame if you end the emulation process (close the window
or load another game). Now if the emulator crashes, all data
since the last restart is lost. You can prevent this by using the
File->Save battery file option, preferably each time you save the game.
The File->Load/Save states option is used to make several
battery backups, in case the game's preset number of save slots
is not enough for you. These options have been changed to
Import/Export battery in the most current language pack.
7. Microphone settings
To those of you that encounter the infamous "Microphone wave-in error",
No$Zoomer has an option to not fix, but limit the probability of this error.
It only occurs when the mic is being emulated, which you can deactivate
with the Options->Disable Mic option. Note that an earlier version of
Squall's language pack had this option as Enable Mic and a checkmark
here meant the mic was off.
If you need the mic in the game somewhere, just flip it on, use it and
deactivate it afterwards.
8. Turbo Function
If you have ever used other emulators or 3rd party joysticks/joypads,
you might have come across the turbofire/autofire feature.
In a nutshell, everytime you need to repeatedly press a button
in a game, you can just activate this feature (autofire) or
hold the corresponding button (turbofire) for it to take care
of that problem for you without strain for your nerves, fingers
and controller.
As of now, these options do not work with keyboard settings,
but yeshuachrist informed us that at least turbo works with joysticks.
Options->Turbo->Turbo settings... will let you customize
what buttons you want affected, at what rate.
The Automatic fire option, unfortunately, doesn't work
either way.
9. Hotkeys
More of a commodity than a nessessity, you can set hotkeys for
any and all options under Other->Key Assignments.... I'd
recommend you do so for all options detailed above, save maybe
the ones concerning screen size.
10. Cheats database
Other than No$GBA's own Action Replay/Codebreaker menu (under
F2), No$Zoomer supports external cheat databases. Since the old
database is down, your best bet is to Google "usrcheat.dat".
To use it, copy said file into your No$-folder and access it under
Other->R4.dat. Games are identified by header, so you'll always
only see the codes for the selected game. Select any cheats you
want to use (incompatable ones are often filtered out, but be
mindful about it, nevertheless) and click Enable.
Thanks go out to red zero for this info.
11. Disclaimer and final words
I claim no ownership over either No$Zoomer, its translations or
No$GBA. I'd like to keep this thread to discussions over this post
and requests on what to add or clarify. Please don't ask questions
about specific games. Please don't ask when/if there will be a new
version of either No$GBA or No$Zoomer.
emulator's playability for quite some games, both new and old. Here
I'll try to explain the most common functions. I'll also try to keep
the first post up-to-date, so that you won't have to rummage
through an endlessly long thread.
For everything that is not explicitly contradicted here, the general FAQ
still applies.
Table of Content:
1. Basic Setup/GUI language
2. Extras
3. Screen size
4. Rotation
5. Noise suppression
6. Savegame dumping
7. Microphone settings
8. Turbo function
9. Hotkeys
10. Cheats database
11. Disclaimer and final words
------------------------------------------------------------
1. Basic setup/GUI language
The most current version of No$Zoomer is 2.3.0.2, available
in the attachment at the end of this post, now with updated
English language support, courtesy of our own Squall-Leonhart.
If you only need the newest language pack, you can find it here.
Extract it into your No$GBA folder. Vista users will need to set
admin rights for both No$GBA and No$Zoomer. Be sure UAC is
on while you do that, as well.
Should No$Zoomer have no menu-bar, check if you have a Lang
folder in your No$GBA folder that contains at least one .dll file.
If you do not, look for an English (Squall Leonhart).dll in your
folder or the linked archive, create a Lang folder and copy it in.
Should the menu bar only contain kanji (japanese letters) or empty
boxes, open the second menu from the right, then the third option
from the bottom. Here, you can set your language, preferably to
English (Squall Leonhart).
2. Extras
Quite possibly the most important reason to use No$Zoomer over
other zooming programs. Note that this function will only work
correctly with No$GBA 2.6a, which can be downloaded from the developer's
homepage for free since 2.7 released.
Only No$Zoomer 2.3.0.2 has this feature. 2.3.0.1 has some of these
options permanently running, which can cause errors in some games.
Also check that you have selected English (Squall Leonhart) under
Other->Language.
Doing this (or using the japanese language pack) should open up the
Other->EXTRA tab, that will contain options numbered EX0-EX5.
These will alter the emulation process subtly to make some games
playable/more enjoyable. If you ever run into a game that has an error
causing the game to hang up, you should try activating some of these
to see if it fixes the problem.
Note that some EXs in some games will actually cause new errors, so
try to find out which you will need for every given game and stick with
just those. The easiest way to do this (save searching the game's title
in this board to see if somebody has done this already) is to activate all
EXs and then gradually deactivate those that don't actually help.
If the EXs don't get activated/deactivated, you are likely using an older
version of No$GBA. To restate, the Extra options only work with No$GBA 2.6a.
One note on EX5: while it can and will improve some games, it is also
possible that it may cause that game to lock up or send it into an endless
cycle. In such cases, you just have to deactivate it for just as long as it
takes to avoid this error.
3. Screen size
No$Zoomer wouldn't live up to its name if it didn't have a zooming option.
I was generally most satisfied with the View->Maximized Window option.
If you want a custom size, you can set it under Options->Size. If you
want one screen bigger than the other, you can set that under
Options->Screen ratio.
Another thing of interest here is the line between the two screens, that
can be set under Options->Seperator. I found a width of 5 to be the best,
but for some games (e.g. Yoshi's Island DS), a larger seperator may help to
aim better between screens.
Note that if you select View->Full Screen, the menu bar will disappear. In
this case, you can right-click on any of the two screens to make a pop-up
menu bar appear.
4. Rotation
Some games will ask you to turn your DS sideways. If you don't want to
have a stiff neck, you can use the View->Rotate tab. Normally,
you'll need 90°, but some games feature a "left-handed" mode, that will
turn the display counter-clockwise, so you'll need to use 270°. To
return to normal, just select 0°.
5. Noise suppression
Some games, especially those with a higher amount of 3D rendering,
will have a possibly distracting amount of background static in the
audio emulation. To help with that, No$Zoomer has the
Other->Noise Suppression option. Note that this option is not an
on/off trigger and may not mean a significant improvement if you
only use it once, but every further activation of the option will be
cumulative. Just be sure you know when to stop, because after
some clicks the overall sound quality will start to degrade as well.
Think of it like a carpenters' plane: you shave off an amount of
static with every activation. It has been done this way because
different games have different levels of static. Also note that
after a change of scene and music, the noise might reappear.
If this is the case, you have to eliminate it again.
6. Savegame dumping
I can hear your minds race right now, but I have to tell you that
no, not even No$Zoomer has an option for savestates/snapshots,
but it can still save you some nerves. You might already know
that No$GBA (and by that No$Zoomer) normally only writes a
savegame if you end the emulation process (close the window
or load another game). Now if the emulator crashes, all data
since the last restart is lost. You can prevent this by using the
File->Save battery file option, preferably each time you save the game.
The File->Load/Save states option is used to make several
battery backups, in case the game's preset number of save slots
is not enough for you. These options have been changed to
Import/Export battery in the most current language pack.
7. Microphone settings
To those of you that encounter the infamous "Microphone wave-in error",
No$Zoomer has an option to not fix, but limit the probability of this error.
It only occurs when the mic is being emulated, which you can deactivate
with the Options->Disable Mic option. Note that an earlier version of
Squall's language pack had this option as Enable Mic and a checkmark
here meant the mic was off.
If you need the mic in the game somewhere, just flip it on, use it and
deactivate it afterwards.
8. Turbo Function
If you have ever used other emulators or 3rd party joysticks/joypads,
you might have come across the turbofire/autofire feature.
In a nutshell, everytime you need to repeatedly press a button
in a game, you can just activate this feature (autofire) or
hold the corresponding button (turbofire) for it to take care
of that problem for you without strain for your nerves, fingers
and controller.
As of now, these options do not work with keyboard settings,
but yeshuachrist informed us that at least turbo works with joysticks.
Options->Turbo->Turbo settings... will let you customize
what buttons you want affected, at what rate.
The Automatic fire option, unfortunately, doesn't work
either way.
9. Hotkeys
More of a commodity than a nessessity, you can set hotkeys for
any and all options under Other->Key Assignments.... I'd
recommend you do so for all options detailed above, save maybe
the ones concerning screen size.
10. Cheats database
Other than No$GBA's own Action Replay/Codebreaker menu (under
F2), No$Zoomer supports external cheat databases. Since the old
database is down, your best bet is to Google "usrcheat.dat".
To use it, copy said file into your No$-folder and access it under
Other->R4.dat. Games are identified by header, so you'll always
only see the codes for the selected game. Select any cheats you
want to use (incompatable ones are often filtered out, but be
mindful about it, nevertheless) and click Enable.
Thanks go out to red zero for this info.
11. Disclaimer and final words
I claim no ownership over either No$Zoomer, its translations or
No$GBA. I'd like to keep this thread to discussions over this post
and requests on what to add or clarify. Please don't ask questions
about specific games. Please don't ask when/if there will be a new
version of either No$GBA or No$Zoomer.
