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Beginners > Visual Studio 2008 (or 2005) Pro?

#166923 - miamicanes - Tue Feb 24, 2009 4:07 am

Has anyone figured out how to get a build environment set up that involves Visual Studio 2008 Pro (or even 2005 Pro)? All of the examples I've seen up to this point involved an old version of Visual C++ Express Edition. I'm afraid to even think about installing an old version of VC++ EE alongside VS2k8pro. I've learned over the years that trying to install an old version of some major app that sinks its hooks deeply into Windows (Office, Visual Studio, etc) when a newer version already exists is almost guaranteed to smoke Windows badly enough to need reinstallation...

#166935 - bean_xp - Tue Feb 24, 2009 1:34 pm

If you just create a VC++ Makefile project I don't see why it shouldn't work.

Are there any specific problems you are having in getting it set up?

#166946 - dantheman - Tue Feb 24, 2009 4:19 pm

My college CS class is using a setup involving Visual C++ 2008 Express, and it seems to work fine after adding the correct path variables, but I'm fairly certain that we're using some modified form of DevKitAdvance (and contains old unused Visual HAM makefiles from previous years) and so it would probably be a bad idea to post the setup files here.

#166960 - miamicanes - Tue Feb 24, 2009 10:25 pm

(blushes). Oops. It looks like VS2k8 DOES have "Makefile Project" as an option. For some crazy reason, I wasn't able to find it the last time I tried a few days ago. I'll have to give it a try later tonight :)

#166961 - elhobbs - Tue Feb 24, 2009 10:30 pm

does the "Visual Studio Wizard" from drunkencoders only work with the express edition?http://www.drunkencoders.com/index.php?system_id=1&page=Tools

#166965 - miamicanes - Tue Feb 24, 2009 10:52 pm

Not sure... I'll give it a try later tonight.

#166967 - DiscoStew - Tue Feb 24, 2009 10:56 pm

I use VS2008 Professional, and it seems to work with it. Gotta love cheap student copies. :P
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#166977 - miamicanes - Wed Feb 25, 2009 6:05 am

Well, the wizard ran without incident, and I was able to launch vs2k8Pro and create a GBA project (not blank) without drama.

Problem #1: It looks like one or more settings need to be manually tweaked. When I build, it creates HolaGameboy_mb.gba. That's a problem, because when I try to execute Debug->Start without Debugging, it's apparently expecting to find a file named HolaGameboy.gba.

Problem #2: If I cheat & manually rename the file, I get an error message that Windows doesn't know how to launch a .gba file. Is the emulator even SUPPOSED to be launched by doing the equivalent of double-clicking a .gba file? Or do I need to edit something else so VS will know that when I tell it to start without debugging, I REALLY mean, "Launch the emulator if it's not running right now, then do whatever it is that the IDE is supposed to do to get the emulator to reset itself with the new rom image?

Problem #3: If I power-off my SP with the XBOO cable attached, then power it back on, the green LED is dimmed, and it just hangs with a black screen. The only way to get it into multiboot mode is to unplug the xboo cable, turn it on while holding in start+select, then plug in the cable after I hear the sound of the SP acknowledging that I powered it up while holding in the two buttons. This behavior is ONLY exhibited if the cable is physically connected to my computer. If I disconnect the cable from the parallel port, the SP reboots normally.

Thanks! I appreciate the help :-)

#166983 - Pete_Lockwood - Wed Feb 25, 2009 12:03 pm

For 1 & 2.. Edit the properties of the project. In "Configuration Properties" on the "Debugging" settings change "Command" to something akin to "C:\devKitPro\emulator.exe". Then change "Command Arguments" to point directly to something like "C:\ndsProjects\HolaGameboy.gba".

Can't help you on 3, I only do software :D
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#166997 - miamicanes - Wed Feb 25, 2009 6:41 pm

Well, I was able to kludge problem #1 by creating a symlink to the _mb file (fortunately, Vista doesn't try to be 'helpful' and delete the symlink when the file it's pointing to gets deleted, so it survives the deletion and replacement of the _mb file).

Problem #2 ended up getting solved by a newer version of VirtualBoyAdvance, which did actually allow me to associate it with .gba files.

I'm not sure whether problem #3 is happening due to something I did wrong, or due to the parallel port having some default default state than the one XBOO's developers had.

I'm still trying to figure out how to implement burst boot (as mentioned in the xboo.txt help file)