NAME

mgba —

Game Boy Advance emulator

SYNOPSIS

mgba [-123456dfg] [-b biosfile] [-C option=value] [-c cheatfile] [-l loglevel] [-p patchfile] [-s n] [-t statefile] file

DESCRIPTION

mgba is a Game Boy Advance emulator. The options are as follows:

Scale the window 1×.

Scale the window 2×.

Scale the window 3×.

Scale the window 4×.

Scale the window 5×.

Scale the window 6×.

-b biosfile, --bios biosfile

Specify a BIOS file to use during boot. If this flag is omitted, mgba will use the BIOS specified in the configuration file, or a high‐level emulated BIOS if none is specified.

-C option=value, --config option=value

Override the given config option with value.

-c cheatfile, --cheats cheatfile

Apply cheat codes from cheatfile.

-d

Start emulating via the command‐line debugger.

-f

Start the emulator full‐screen.

-g

Start a gdb(1) session. By default the session starts on port 2345.

-l loglevel

Log messages during emulation to stdout. loglevel is a bitmask defining which types of messages to log:

1 – fatal errors
2 – errors
4 – warnings
8 – informative messages
16 – debugging messages
32 – stub messages for unimplemented features
64 – in‐game errors

The default is to log warnings, errors, fatal errors, and status messages.

-p patchfile, --patch patchfile

Specify a patch file in BPS, IPS, or UPS format.

-s n, --frameskip n

Skip every n frames.

-t statefile, --savestate statefile

Load initial game state from statefile.

CONTROLS

The default controls are as follows:

A: x
B: z
L: a
R: s
Start: ⟨Enter⟩
Select: ⟨Backspace⟩
Load state: F1–F9
Save state: ⟨Shift⟩‐F1–F9
Frame advance: ⟨Ctrl⟩‐n

DEBUGGER

When mgba is run with the -d option, the command‐line debugger is enabled. It supports the following commands:

b[reak] address
b[reak]/a address
b[reak]/t address: Set a breakpoint – ARM (‘/a’), Thumb (‘/t’), or the current CPU mode – at address.
c[ontinue]: Continue execution.
d[elete] address: Delete a breakpoint at address.
dis[asm] [address [count]]
dis[asm]/a [address [count]]
dis[asm]/t [address [count]]
dis[assemble] [address [count]]
dis[assemble]/a [address [count]]
dis[assemble]/t [address [count]]: Disassemble count instructions starting at address, as ARM (‘/a’), Thumb (‘/t’), or the current CPU mode. If count is not specified, only disassemble the instruction at address. If address is not specified, only disassemble the current address.
h[elp]: Print help.
i[nfo]
status: Print the current contents of general‐purpose registers and the current program state register, and disassemble the current instruction.
n[ext]: Execute the next instruction.
p[rint] value ...
p[rint]/t value ...
p[rint]/x value ...: Print one or more values as binary (‘/t’), hexadecimal (‘/x’), or decimal.
q[uit]: Quit the emulator.
reset: Reset the emulation.
r/1 address
r/2 address
r/4 address: Read a byte (‘/1’), halfword (‘/2’), or word (‘/4’) from address.
w[atch] address: Set a watchpoint at address.
w/1 address data
w/2 address data
w/4 address data: Write data as a byte (‘/1’), halfword (‘/2’), or word (‘/4’) to address.
w/r register data: Write data as a word to register.
x/1 address [count]
x/2 address [count]
x/4 address [count]: Examine count bytes (‘/1’), halfwords (‘/2’), or words (‘/4’) from address. If count is not specified, examine 16 bytes, 8 halfwords, or 4 words.

ENVIRONMENT

XDG_CONFIG_HOME: The location where mgba will look for the configuration directory. If not set, ~/.config is used.

FILES

$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mgba/config.ini: Default mgba configuration file.
portable.ini: If this file exists in the current directory, mgba will read config.ini from the current directory instead of $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mgba.

AUTHORS

Jeffrey Pfau <jeffrey@endrift.com>