VisualBoyAdvance-M and starting it in fullscreen

[retrojoshvc]

Hello all, just looking to see if anyone has an answer to a problem I've had. I'm new to Launchbox and trying to put something together for a friend. The long story is that I began my Launchbox adventure attempting to build a system simply with Retroarch, but when I decided I wanted arcade games to play with an arcade control panel but have console and handheld games control with joypads, I found it difficult (if not impossible) to configure it in a way that would see various cores use various controllers in the Player 1 position. So, instead I split things up into various emulators instead. For simplicity on the user, I've decided to only use emulators that have been found to work with Launchbox's pause menu (using the main Googledoc as a reference: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wuGiwg8I5QqulDncQvGBZP83BVDSXpbSOzdYqDrsCxI/edit#gid=1650496698).

So, for Gameboy and various nintendo handhelds, VisualBoyAdvance-M is the recommended emulator, but unfortunately I am having great difficulty finding a way to make this program open in fullscreen and stay that way. I've tried exiting a game in fullscreen with alt+f4, and although this causes the next game to open in fullscreen - once you escape from a game in Launchbox, you're back to a small window.

I've tried using -f-4, and even grasping at straws and using -fullscreen and such within command line parameters, but this simply gives me an error.

Would autohotkey provide any potential results? Is there a resource that I could learn more about this?

Also, I hope this is the right section to be asking! Thanks for anyone's time or recommendations.

[Retro808]

Not sure about what version you are using, but I just tried the emulator and it has a "Start in Fullscreen" option. With that ticked it worked without issue. I do not use this emulator so not sure if what I have is old or the latest version. 

If that does not work for you, try putting the AHK below in the "Running Auto Hot Key" tab in your emulator setup within Launchbox. I believe when you use the controller automation in Launchbox it sends Escape which is why you see it dropping out of fullscreen when you use it. This AHK will make Escape key act as Alt+F4.

ESC::
 Send !{f4}

 

[retrojoshvc]

I'm curious which version you tried, because at this point I'll go for it. I'm desperate for a "start in fullscreen" checkbox at this point, haha! 

I have VisualBoyAdvance-M v 2.0.0, and under Options > Video there is only a "Select fullscreen mode..." option here and it does not allow you to auto-start in fullscreen, nor open games in fullscreen. The options refer to color depth, device, resolution, and refresh rate. At this point, I'm willing to lose pause menu options in favor of simply an emulator that remains fullscreen with few issues. I found KIGB works well for all GB systems except the Gameboy Advance. So, worst case scenario, I may scrap GBA from this setup until some point in the future.

I tried the AHK, but unfortunately received this error:
 

"Error at line 2.

Line Text: T >> ESC =
Error: Invalid hotkey.

The program will exit."
 

Thinking on it now though, I'm unsure a AHK will solve my problem completely as I'm hoping to have this system without a mouse or keyboard and solely controlled by the joysticks and joypads in the future.

I've also tried the original VisualBoyAdvance v 1.8.0-beta 3.

I gave VisualBoyAdvance Link v. 1.8.0 a shot as well, but unable to find an option that helps.

Also tried BatGBA 2.24b, but found no permanent fullscreen option.

 

Thank you so much for the reply and consideration!

[neil9000]

It sounds like the easiest thing for you to do is just use the standalone MAME for Arcade, and just use Retroarch for everything else. Changing to standalone emulators for all the systems Retroarch does, in order to still use MAME in retroarch seems a strange way around of doing things to me.

[Retro808]

9 minutes ago, retrojoshvc said:

I'm curious which version you tried, because at this point I'll go for it. I'm desperate for a "start in fullscreen" checkbox at this point, haha! 

I have VisualBoyAdvance-M v 2.0.0, and under Options > Video there is only a "Select fullscreen mode..." option here and it does not allow you to auto-start in fullscreen, nor open games in fullscreen. The options refer to color depth, device, resolution, and refresh rate. At this point, I'm willing to lose pause menu options in favor of simply an emulator that remains fullscreen with few issues. I found KIGB works well for all GB systems except the Gameboy Advance. So, worst case scenario, I may scrap GBA from this setup until some point in the future.

I tried the AHK, but unfortunately received this error:
 

"Error at line 2.

Line Text: T >> ESC =
Error: Invalid hotkey.

The program will exit."
 

Thinking on it now though, I'm unsure a AHK will solve my problem completely as I'm hoping to have this system without a mouse or keyboard and solely controlled by the joysticks and joypads in the future.

I've also tried the original VisualBoyAdvance v 1.8.0-beta 3.

I gave VisualBoyAdvance Link v. 1.8.0 a shot as well, but unable to find an option that helps.

Also tried BatGBA 2.24b, but found no permanent fullscreen option.

 

Thank you so much for the reply and consideration!

Version 2.1.3 I downloaded it when I made the last post, took about a minute to set up and works fine in Launchbox. 

[retrojoshvc]

3 hours ago, Retro808 said:

Version 2.1.3 I downloaded it when I made the last post, took about a minute to set up and works fine in Launchbox. 

You are a king, sir, and I'm an idiot. God only knows how I kept searching out all of this information and didn't find out that my version of the emulator wasn't the latest. Yeesh. Sorry, again, for my stupidity, hopefully somehow I'll find a way to actually contribute to this awesome community!

 

3 hours ago, neil9000 said:

It sounds like the easiest thing for you to do is just use the standalone MAME for Arcade, and just use Retroarch for everything else. Changing to standalone emulators for all the systems Retroarch does, in order to still use MAME in retroarch seems a strange way around of doing things to me.

And you are not wrong, man. Not at all. This is just my first go-around with Launchbox and even Retroarch (outside of making a few Raspberry Pi builds in the past), so I'm learning as I go. I spent waaaayyyy too much time configuring mame in Retroarch before deciding on this control panel + joypad configuration. Beginning with a 0.78 romset, finding there were games that I wanted that weren't working when that romset was created, then bastardizing my collection with various roms and toying with different cores until everything just seemed to work. It's an unfortunate house of cards type of configuration that I'm afraid to mess with any further out of fear I'll destroy the whole thing, lol. It's a Frankenmame collection, but it seems to work and I'll keep knocking on wood. When I find a good source and can get a nice, uniform, and updated Mame collection going, I'll probably mess with it again.