Best Quality & Performance for VBA emulator.

[Axelmorph]

So, since I've seen a lot of people using the VBA emulator to play any kinds of old school pokèmon games, I've decided to make a guide on how to obtain the best quality and performance from it. :)

1 - So first of all we'll look through "Options" in the VBA emulator.
- The first thing you wanna look for is the "Video" options; I suggest setting the screen size to 2 x 2, it is a good resolution for the game texture and also works for older PC's.

- The second thing would be the "Sound" option, look down, make sure that the sound is set to 44Khz, this will provide your game a good sound quality, especially if you're using Headphones.

- The third thing will be the "Gameboy" option, tick the CGB/GBC setting if it isn't already and also tick the "Real Colors" setting.

-The last step is how to make your game's filtering in HD. It's pretty simple, go under "Options" then move your cursor to the "Fliter" option and look down, you should see the "hq2x" option, tick it, your game's colors will be improved and you will see every single detail of it in HD.

2 - Fixing the "White screen" problem.
- In many pokèmon games there will be a chance for you to encounter a white screen when you load the rom, the problem's easly fixed, all you have to do is go under "Options", "Emulator" and then move your cursor over the "Save type" option, choose from 64K to 128K then simply reset your ROM by pressing CTRL + R.

3 - Low FPS.
- If you're using an old PC/Laptop the best option is to turn off Vsync and Sound, this will greatly improve your VBA's performance.

I hope it helped, if there are any questions referring to this topic, just ask. :)

 

[GoGoJJTech]

What version are you using?
I'm using the one from coolrom.com and I can't get past the white screen in Pokemon Light Platinum even with flash 128k.
It works on my Kindle Fire perfectly though, and I didn't need to touch the settings.

 

[Axelmorph]

I am using the 1.8.0.603 Version, the latest. It should work on the version that I have, try to search for it. :)

 

[GoGoJJTech]

I have the same one. I wonder what the problem is... :\

 

[Axelmorph]

Hmm... Is it beta 3 one? Try checking that, also, it might fix the problem re-downloading the VBA emulator. :)

 

[Satoshi Ookami]

Just use VBA-M and don't care about the old, lousy VBA =D

 

[GoGoJJTech]

I checked and it is... O.o
It's ok because since they work on android I dont need to sit at my computer with this problem. I play hacks on the go

 

[Axelmorph]

I've downloaded my version of VBA from emulator zone. The file may differ even though it's the same name and version, it can depend from where you download it in some cases.

 

[GoGoJJTech]

Ill try once my computer is on

 

[RichterSnipes]

Nice little guide for people having issues with VBA(-M) on their computers!

Just to be a bit technical. Even when considering the forced display change the hq2x filter does (or similar ones, for that matter), the calculated resolution will still be below 720p (which is what many consider to be the minimum for HD; others have it higher at 1080p).

Plus, I find the effect of it to be quite jarring, as certain pixels might be handled messily and make parts of the image look off. This is especially true for older games. But that's just me.

 

[Aryan143]

Wow, great advice for playing games on VBA. Now I can play Gameboy games without any problem.

 

[tealwing]

I'm using your settings for the VBA now and the graphics & sounds are greatly improved from before. Thanks for sharing!