[wibble1]

I know this isn't really a VBA-M specific issue, but I couldn't find a more appopriate forum to discuss this under, and this issue seems to affect every GB emulator I've tried.

Basically, you know the Gameboy version of the marvellous Rodland, right?

I've played both the Japanese and the English versions, and while the former is fully completable to the end, the English version always freezes on a blank screen after I beat Level 10 (which IIRC is the level just before the first boss (the multiple crocodiles) of the game). It may not be a specific emulator issue as I've seen the crash happen on Goomba, Lameboy and of course VBA-M (using the latest revision available, M878).

Has anybody had any experience with this particular title before? Did the game crash on real hardware too? I'm just puzzled as to why it seems you can only play the first ten levels of the game before it keels over all of a sudden! =[

All help would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[SCHUMI_4EVER]

If you want discuss something that applies to more than one emulator then it belongs in misc discussion section of whatever system it is so I am moving it there.

GBA Emulators like VBA-M would not be the best to try got GB/C emulation by the way.

Have you tried VisualBoy and Gambatte?
Other than suggesting you try those I can't really help.

 

[wibble1]

VisualBoy (old skool VB I assume you're talking about) and Gambatte both produce the same effect. =[

Either this game has some obscure protection that all known rom dumps of the English release choke on, or the game really was commerically released in this unfinished state.

 

[SCHUMI_4EVER]

Yeah I meant old skool VB...hmmm...well yeah...as I said I am afraid that's all the advice I have in me.
It's not neccessarily protection they are choking on by the way, it could just be something incorrectly emulated which no other game accesses in quite the same way.

The only other bigname Emulators you have not tried yet are No$GMB and TGB Dual (which may just crash all on it's own anyways)...

 

[wibble1]

Tested No$GMB and TGB Dual under your suggestion - no difference at all.

I'd love to test an original cart under real hardware and see if it has the same problem even then - although Rodland seems to be a scarce thing on eBay judging by my latest check on there earlier.

It's not neccessarily protection they are choking on by the way, it could just be something incorrectly emulated which no other game accesses in quite the same way.

But how come the Japanese version works without a problem? The two versions are essentially the same game code-wise - the only difference being the language used during the little cutscenes between levels.

 

[shashClp]

(...)
But how come the Japanese version works without a problem? The two versions are essentially the same game code-wise - the only difference being the language used during the little cutscenes between levels.

Are you 100% sure about that? Did you check the disassembly?

Any way, check KiGB, it's one of the most (if not the most) compatible emulator around.

 

[wibble1]

Well, KiGB also failed dismally. As did bgb.


So it's clearly not an emulator issue, but something to do with the rom. Thing is, I'd need to do a real hardware test to determine once and for all whether the game itself is broken - such a shame that Rodland stuff is so scarce online!

 

[Exophase]

It could be a bad dump as well - those do happen, especially for a more obscure game like this. Have you tried looking for other copies?

If you believe it's not a bad dump then you can get a flash cart to play it on a GB, instead of getting the real version. That way you'd at least rule out if it's something inherent to the ROM you have.

I'd say it's much more likely to be the ROM's fault than every emulator. Gambatte, for instance, is extremely accurate.