#127389 - mrmarc772 - Wed May 02, 2007 4:22 am
i've just started looking around at making gba games and i was wondering if someone could estimate for me how many hours and how much money i should expect to bespending while learning how to do this (making atleast one cartridge).
I do know java, html(javascript), flash(actionscript) so i have done quite a bit of programming for a young kid
EDIT: make sure to tell me if im tottally off base on something
Last edited by mrmarc772 on Fri May 04, 2007 12:07 am; edited 1 time in total
#127396 - Ant6n - Wed May 02, 2007 6:07 am
learning C (or its superset, C++) is probably the most essential step here, depending on how much you know and how fast you are it could take you a week to get the general idea or a couple of months. From there you read tonc, and some of the forum (i.e. the beginnners faq) and it shouldn't be too long to get simple stuff going. To understand how the hardware is used might take a little longer, loading up other people's games in VBA and looking at all the little tools might help here, as well as the gba specs.
as far as cartridge goes, assuming you already have a gba, you either need a standalone cartridge, or one of the adapters to cf etc. These are generally more versatile (imho), and can be found starting ~40$, the flash cards can probably be found cheaper (check http://forum.gbadev.org/viewtopic.php?t=11535)
#127433 - mrmarc772 - Wed May 02, 2007 12:57 pm
thx, can't wait to get started
#127508 - mrmarc772 - Thu May 03, 2007 12:54 am
k, i made the path to devkitpro... wut do i need to do with batch files now???
#127513 - Ant6n - Thu May 03, 2007 1:09 am
#127521 - mrmarc772 - Thu May 03, 2007 1:59 am
that thing says to do some stuff to the e drive... that's my dvd drive... doubt there's much to do there
#127529 - tepples - Thu May 03, 2007 2:28 am
Some people have their computer's hard drive partitioned (like me), and others have multiple hard drives. Substitute the C drive.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#127530 - mrmarc772 - Thu May 03, 2007 2:51 am
sorry, i have no idea wut im doin in dos... but how do i get to C:\> from C:\mydocuments and settings\myname>
#127532 - dantheman - Thu May 03, 2007 3:01 am
Either type "cd .." a few times to go up one directory at a time or type "cd \" (that's a backslash) to go immediately to the root, which in this case is C:\
#127533 - mrmarc772 - Thu May 03, 2007 3:04 am
thx, haven't used dos for years
#127534 - mrmarc772 - Thu May 03, 2007 3:13 am
ohmg... when i go to MSys the command prompt still comes up
#127544 - wintermute - Thu May 03, 2007 4:31 am
| mrmarc772 wrote: |
| k, i made the path to devkitpro... wut do i need to do with batch files now??? |
I don't understand what you mean here.
| mrmarc772 wrote: |
| sorry, i have no idea wut im doin in dos... but how do i get to C:\> from C:\mydocuments and settings\myname> |
Why are you in DOS?
| mrmarc772 wrote: |
| ohmg... when i go to MSys the command prompt still comes up |
The bash shell looks somewhat like DOS but you still don't need to be there.
The best thing you can do is use the devkitPro updater to install devkitARM and all it's support files. This can be found at http://www.devkitpro.org/downloads.shtml - it's the "windows installer" link at the top.
Assuming you install to c:\devkitPro then you will find examples in c:\devkitPro\examples\nds.
Navigate to c:\devkitPro\examples\nds\Graphics\2D\hello_world
double click on the hello_world.pnproj file you find there.
Click on Tools->make or use the ALT 1 key combination.
You should now have built hello_world.nds. You can run this on your DS or a suitable emulator.
_________________
devkitPro - professional toolchains at amateur prices
devkitPro IRC support
Personal Blog
#127590 - mrmarc772 - Thu May 03, 2007 1:31 pm
k, so i got devkitProUpdater-1.4.2 from that site, so once i install that, i should be set?
#127599 - wintermute - Thu May 03, 2007 2:18 pm
Did you read the rest of the instructions?
Did you understand them?
These forums don't tend to operate in real time. Response times can range from a few minutes to several days and sometimes even never. Checking back and posting after every little step is just going to leave you frustrated.
_________________
devkitPro - professional toolchains at amateur prices
devkitPro IRC support
Personal Blog
#127623 - mrmarc772 - Thu May 03, 2007 5:13 pm
well, i read the instructions... but i don't really get it...
as for the reply times, i dont care... im not in a rush
#127625 - wintermute - Thu May 03, 2007 5:29 pm
#127649 - mrmarc772 - Thu May 03, 2007 8:24 pm
k, so i installed the file onto my comp, and it made the right folders and stuff... i went into the command prompt and put in that set Path bit... wut do i do now
#127650 - keldon - Thu May 03, 2007 8:28 pm
Have you looked at the FAQ in the beginners section? Are you following any DevKitPro tutorial?
#127652 - mrmarc772 - Thu May 03, 2007 8:31 pm
yes, but i don't understand it
#127654 - wintermute - Thu May 03, 2007 9:19 pm
| mrmarc772 wrote: |
| k, so i installed the file onto my comp, and it made the right folders and stuff... i went into the command prompt and put in that set Path bit... wut do i do now |
I don't understand why you set a path, the instructions I gave you were these
- use the devkitPro updater to install devkitARM and all it's support files. This can be found at http://www.devkitpro.org/downloads.shtml - it's the "windows installer" link at the top.
- Assuming you install to c:\devkitPro then you will find examples in c:\devkitPro\examples\nds. Navigate to c:\devkitPro\examples\nds\Graphics\2D\hello_world
- double click on the hello_world.pnproj file you find there.
- Click on Tools->make or use the ALT 1 key combination.
How can I make this clearer?
You do seem to be following random instructions from other places which makes it difficult to help you. If you humour me and ignore all other instructions you're getting then we should be able to get you up and running.
_________________
devkitPro - professional toolchains at amateur prices
devkitPro IRC support
Personal Blog
#127667 - mrmarc772 - Thu May 03, 2007 11:57 pm
is this what should come up?
| Code: |
> "make"
main.cpp
arm-eabi-g++ -MMD -MP -MF /c/devkitPro/examples/nds/Graphics/2D/hello_world/build/main.d -g -Wall -O2 -mcpu=arm9tdmi -mtune=arm9tdmi -fomit-frame-pointer -ffast-math -mthumb -mthumb-interwork -I/c/devkitPro/examples/nds/Graphics/2D/hello_world/include -I/c/devkitPro/examples/nds/Graphics/2D/hello_world/build -I/c/devkitPro/libnds/include -I/c/devkitPro/libnds/include -I/c/devkitPro/examples/nds/Graphics/2D/hello_world/build -DARM9 -fno-rtti -fno-exceptions -c /c/devkitPro/examples/nds/Graphics/2D/hello_world/source/main.cpp -o main.o
linking hello_world.elf
built ... hello_world.arm9
Nintendo DS rom tool 1.33 - Jan 28 2007 21:02:20
by Rafael Vuijk, Dave Murphy, Alexei Karpenko
built ... hello_world.nds
> Process Exit Code: 0
> Time Taken: 00:03
|
EDIT: reguardless, thank you very much for helping me/for your patience i appreciate it greatly
#127668 - wintermute - Fri May 04, 2007 12:10 am
That's exactly what should come up, you've successfully built your first nds file.
To start your own projects the best place to start is with the arm9 template found at
C:\devkitPro_test\examples\nds\templates\arm9
copy this folder somewhere else and rename it - using it in place will destroy a working template if you break anything.
Start Programmer's Notepad by double clicking the .pnproj file and use Tools->make or ALT 1 to build. Tools->clean or ALT 2 will delete all the files added by building.
There are other editors you can use but PN2 has the advantage of being simple, free and not tied to any particular compiler.
_________________
devkitPro - professional toolchains at amateur prices
devkitPro IRC support
Personal Blog
#127672 - mrmarc772 - Fri May 04, 2007 12:21 am
now comes the fun part, i get to learn it all :]
cool, thanks for the help
#127683 - Ant6n - Fri May 04, 2007 1:20 am
notice that .nds is a DS rom which can be on hardware or emulator (i.e. desmume). A .gba is a gba rom and can be run on hardware or in visual boy advance.
#127686 - wintermute - Fri May 04, 2007 1:25 am
Oh yeah, I do apologise. I'm so used to DS support I didn't notice you were wanting to work with the GBA.
The same principles apply but use the project found at
C:\devkitPro_test\examples\gba\template
instead of the nds template I specified earlier.
The best set of docs for GBA programming can be found at http://coranac.com/tonc/text/toc.htm
They go into considerable detail and can be quite hard going but they're worth persisting with.
_________________
devkitPro - professional toolchains at amateur prices
devkitPro IRC support
Personal Blog
#127689 - mrmarc772 - Fri May 04, 2007 1:49 am
yeah, i figured out the diff.
well thanks for everything, good luck in the future