Game Boy Interface is a free alternative to the Game Boy Player Start-up Disc software. It still requires the Game Boy Player hardware.
Overview
The standard edition is ideal for sample-and-hold displays (LCD, OLED). By default, it emulates some aspects of the color and sound of the original handheld. With a Broadband Adapter and USB Gecko in hand, it can be used as a small Game Boy Advance development kit.
The speedrunning edition is ideal for impulse displays (CRT, 1ms MPRT LCD, Plasma). It attempts to be a non-controversial improvement for speedrunners. To ease transition, it can be configured to closely mimic the Game Boy Player Start-up Disc.
The high-fidelity edition is ideal for use with the Open Source Scan Converter, XRGB-mini Framemeister, or using solely a video capture device and software processing. Given the right setup, it can offer audiovisual quality comparable to emulation on newer platforms. It is less than suitable for direct display connection, with some exceptions.
All editions can emulate the color and sound of the original handheld if desired.
TL;DR
- Open Source Scan Converter? → gbihf-ossc.dol+cli, gbihf-carby+ossc.dol+cli or gbihf.dol
- XRGB-mini Framemeister? → gbihf-xrgb.dol+cli or gbisr-xrgb.dol+cli
- Nintendo GameCube Component Video Cable? → gbihf-cmpv.dol+cli, gbihf.dol or gbi.dol
- GCVideo-DVI/HDMI? → gbisr-gchd.dol+cli or gbi.dol
- Anything* else → gbisr.dol or gbi.dol
If you have something truly exotic, hopefully you don't need a tl;dr.
GBA-as-controller
Turn your Game Boy Advance into a Nintendo 64 or Nintendo GameCube Controller using the Game Boy Advance Cable.
Rumble is supported using the following Game or Option Paks:
- Drill Dozer
- Nintendo DS Rumble Pak
- Nintendo DS Slide Controller
- WarioWare: Twisted!
e-Reader dot codes and multi-bootable ROMs are provided in the extra package for untethered use from Game Boy Interface.
It also prolongs battery life over the Game Boy Player Start-up Disc with power saving trickery, while maximizing performance.
GBA dumper
Holding Start + Select in the Game Boy Player while the Game Boy logo is visible will grant you access to a dumping utility. From there, you can dump your GBA BIOS, ROM, or save data.
An SD Card and SD Card Adapter is required. In the speedrunning edition, this is substituted by a built-in GBA ROM checksumming utility.
TAS playback
Game Boy Interface has a built-in movie playback feature, allowing for the console verification of GBC-on-GBA and GBA tool-assisted speedruns, all without hardware modification.
A few console-verified movies are included in the extra package. An SD Card and SD Card Adapter is required.
Installation
Further information: Booting Homebrew
SDSC Card
- Obtain the SD Media Launcher.
- Format the SDSC Card as FAT(16).
- Extract the main package to the root directory of the SDSC Card.
- (Optional) Extract the extra package to the root directory of the SDSC Card.
- (Optional) Rename the desired .dol or .dol+cli file on the SDSC Card to autoexec.dol.
Important: Do not move the folders away from the root directory.
Memory Card + SD Card
- Restore Home Bros. to a Memory Card.
- Obtain an SD Card Adapter.
- Format the SD Card as FAT(16) or FAT32.
- Extract the main package to the root directory of the SD Card.
- (Optional) Extract the extra package to the root directory of the SD Card.
- Rename the desired .dol or .dol+cli file on the SD Card to boot.dol.
Important: Do not move boot.dol or the folders away from the root directory.
Memory Card
- (Optional) Backup the Memory Card.
- Format the Memory Card on a system of the same region.
- Restore a usable game save exploit to the Memory Card.
- Restore the desired .gci file from the main package to the Memory Card.
Note: An SD Card is required for data files. Some features won't be available.
IPL + SD Card
- Install iplboot to a supported IPL replacement.
- Obtain an SD Card Adapter.
- Format the SD Card as FAT(16) or FAT32.
- Extract the main package to the root directory of the SD Card.
- (Optional) Extract the extra package to the root directory of the SD Card.
- Rename the desired .dol or .dol+cli file on the SD Card to ipl.dol.
Important: Do not move ipl.dol or the folders away from the root directory.
DVD + SD Card
- Install an available drive chip.
- Obtain an SD Card Adapter or SD2SP2.
- Format the SD Card as FAT(16) or FAT32.
- Extract the main package to the root directory of the SD Card.
- (Optional) Extract the extra package to the root directory of the SD Card.
- Rename the desired .dol or .dol+cli file on the SD Card to boot.dol.
- Burn boot.gcm from the extra package to a DVD-R.
Important: Do not move boot.dol or the folders away from the root directory.
DVD + Memory Card
- Install an available drive chip.
- Restore the desired .gci file from the main package to a Memory Card.
- Burn boot.gcm from the extra package to a DVD-R.
Note: An SD Card is required for data files. Some features won't be available.
DVD
This method is unsupported at this time.
Configuration
Using Swiss
When loading a .dol file, Swiss first look for a .dcp file. This file contain a limited set of options that can be interactively changed before starting Game Boy Interface. This set of options can be expanded upon, but is limited to 16 options with 8 choices of 31 characters. Note that the default shown positions don't represent the default settings.
For a more permanent or advanced configuration, a .cli file can be used. This file contain command-line arguments on separate lines.
A list of options and example configurations can be found in the subpage for each edition.
Using wiiload
Game Boy Interface can be reloaded using its built-in wiiload server with command-line arguments passed on to the wiiload client.
New overlays can also be uploaded in this fashion.
Other
The contents of a .cli file can be appended to a .dol file to form a .dol+cli file. The file must end with a blank line due to the hacky nature of this method.
When using a game save exploit, the resulting .dol+cli file can be converted to a .gci file using dol2gci.exe from the extra package.
by Extrems.