No$gba : A beginner's Guide

Before I begin, I'm using no$gba version 2.6a

official site: http://nocash.emubase.de/gba.htm

This is by far the most compatible and speedy emulator of the DS system available. It isn't 100% compatibility but its still at a very decent state. So, enough rambling, lets get
to the meat of the tutorial.

• First you need to download the emulator. Grab it here.
• Extract the contents into a new directory named "no$gba". Preferably to my documents or a folder in your local drive.
• Inside the newly formed folder, NO$GBA.EXE and Read me should be found. Run NO$GBA.EXE.

As soon as you execute the file, you see the Insert Cartridge... dialogue box. Point the Dialogue to a .nds file (a ROM file you download either from the DS ROMS NEWS rss feed to the right, or anywhere else.)

Suddenly, your game starts. You'd be surprised to see how accurately most games are emulated, and on decent hardware, how fast. The control scheme is very strange to say the least, so you might want to set that up the way you like. Its simple : hit options controls setup or just the F11 key. If you wont be using a gamepad or a joystick, disable it for an improvement in speed. When a game is being emulated, the number on the top of the screen shows how closely the emulator is emulating a real DS. If its 100%, then you re getting exact DS speed. Usually that number will be lower than 100, but then again this isn't a real DS. Well that's basically how you play all the games you ever wanted to on no$gba.

However, if you want to do more than just play DS games on your PC, then read along because the whole point of an emulator is not only to play games. Say for instance you wanted to rush through a game to a later part quickly? You would need to speed up the emulation speed. Its very simple to do so. Press F11 and adjust it as required. For example, realtime*1.5 means the game will be running at 150% of normal speed (assuming 100% is normal speed). Unlimited disaster means there is no speed limiting, the emulator runs as fast as it can. This i do not recommend.

To milk out more performance, try the following little tweaks:

• Set the sound output to Mono or consider disabling it all together.
• Drop the sample rate of the audio to 22 or even lower.
• Close all other running applications.
• Disable visual themes and the like for your windows operating environment.
• Increase the process priority (i don't recommend this but if you're desperate you can try it) Open the task manager and increase NO$GBA's process priority to Above normal or high.

Finally, when you're happy setting up your emulator, You MUST save your settings so you don't start from square one next time you open up the emulator. To do this go to Options>save options.

Quick Tip: To take a screenshot, press the print screen button.

FAQ:

Q: I want to take screenshots from my savegame on my R4/M3/Cyclo/flashcart... how can I do this?
A: The save files are stored in the BATTERY folder. These directories are automatically created when you boot a game in the emulator. Pop your save files in this folder and make sure the rom you're running has the same name as the save file. Example:

Rom you're trying to run: FFIV.nds, you have the save file named FFIV.sav

Put the FFIV.sav file into the BATTERY directory, then boot up FFIV.nds as usual. It will pick up the savegame.

If you guys have any further questions, do not hesitate to ask. Any comments are welcome! If you liked this post, or any other posts on this blog, why not consider subscribing, you'd be doing yourself and us a favor! Thanks!