Here is the brand new version 1.2.0 of VBDE, your full fledged Nintendo Virtual Boy development environment for Windows!

• VBDE 1.2.0 (32 MB)
• VBDE Pro 1.2.0 (239 MB)

New compiler

For this version, gcc has been updated to 4.7 with amazing new patches by ElmerPCFX for wider compatabilty (e.g. frame pointers and prolog functions are now supported), better code optimization and much lower compile times.

Thanks a bunch Elmer! Also thank you to Jorgeche for helping with getting it up and running in VBDE!

Pro updates

For the Pro Version, IDEA has been updated to the latest version, 2106.3.4. Furthermore, the C/C++ plugin has been removed since it was causing slow-downs and broke auto-completion.

Tiled support

A script has been added for converting Tiled maps to VUEngine stages. It not only builds Stage definitions from Tiled maps, but also allows to mark certain object or tile layers as “Composites”, which get combined into single images and converted on the fly.

Most Stages of the VUEngine demos have been converted to Tiled maps and can be converted with the script, but in its current form, it’s not very robust against misconfiguration and more of a hacked together proof of concept. I hope to find the time to refactor this into a clean and highly extensible class structure for a future VBDE release.

New major VUEngine version

The VBJaEngine has been renamed to “VUEngine” and updated to version 5.0, which has seen tons of optimizations and bug fixes, new features as well as new, Doxygen-based documentation.

The VUEngine Barebone and Platformer Demo have also been massively updated. Check out the updated VUEngine Platformer Demo version, it now runs flawlessly on hardware and has some improved graphics, new level elements, new menus and an overhauled save feature! Here’s direct links to the compiled and padded binaries.

• VUEngine Platformer Demo (355 KB)
• VUEngine Platformer Demo (Debug Tools) (368 KB)

Repositories

Keep in mind that you can stay up to date, independent of releases, by grabbing VBDE and the VUEngine directly from their Git repositories at Bitbucket.

• VBDE
• VUEngine
• VUEngine Barebone
• VUEngine Platformer Demo

Attachments:

1. 

   vbde_pro_1_2_0.png
   

2. 

   vbde_pro_tiled.png
   

3. 

   vuengine-adjustment-screen-large.png
   

4. 

   vuengine-platformer-demo-large.png
   

Awesome! Even if I’m not a developer …
And the VUEngine adjustment screen looks beautiful!

It is definitely cool to see new tools for developers continuing to come out. Great job guys.

So the platform demo is supposed to run on hardware? I tried on my flashboy, and just getting a black screen. If this is indeed supposed to work on hardware then i will keep trying, as I definitely want to try it out!

Thanks guys!

speedyink: the demo has been thoroughly tested on hardware and should run smoothly. Which version did you try? Did you pad before flashing?

It works on my hardware. I padded it using option 3 “fill with duplicates” …

To prevent confusion, I have replaced the Platformer Demo ROMs with padded versions, these also include Jorge’s latest bug fixes.

I did pad… I didn’t change any options though, didn’t even know there was any! I usually just drag the rom onto pad.exe, never even opened it to see if there was a gui! Either way, I must have done something dumb.

Thanks for uploading the padded file Kr155e, now I can’t screw it up somehow =P

If You drag ROMs to pad.exe while holding CTRL key, a DOS window opens, which gives You more options how to pad. Option 3 seems to be some high compatibility mode …
I found this info some days ago when I had trouble padding a ROM too – in this post:
http://www.planetvb.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=3241&post_id=5324#forumpost5324

Ahhh, I learned something new today! My pads have always worked as far as I can remember, so never really looked into it. Thanks for the info!

BTW, the platformer demo is pretty sweet. I really like the graphics, looks really nice! Didn’t have much time last night, but I will finish it!

You’re welcome 🙂

@KR155E: If you’ve already an older version of VBDE installed, can you just install the newer one to the same directory or is it better to first uninstall the older one?

EDIT: Oh, I see – you just unzip the archive to a folder named “vbde” – that’s easy

Huh I may have to do a little proof of concept with this. Hm

What’s the platform support on the new compiler? Is it only for Windows?

BTW, the platformer demo is pretty sweet. I really like the graphics, looks really nice! Didn’t have much time last night, but I will finish it!

Cool, thanks!

@KR155E: If you’ve already an older version of VBDE installed, can you just install the newer one to the same directory or is it better to first uninstall the older one?

The best practice is to remove and replace the older version.

Huh I may have to do a little proof of concept with this. Hm

Are you talking about porting Yan’s World to the VUEngine? Yes please, it’s a match made in heaven! 😎

What’s the platform support on the new compiler? Is it only for Windows?

VBDE and the included gccvb are Windows only (though it runs nicely on VirtualBox). But with Elmer’s patches you could build gccvb for other targets, like Linux or OSX. I think he wanted to release his patches once the new VBDE is out.

One more little update: we now have an automated release process, which uploads new ROMs whenever we add new features, fix bugs, etc. I have updated the news post with a link to the release folder.

I have to bust out my mednafen emulator for the Wii to test the New version of VUE plaformer. I hope in the future the engine allow the use of scanned images ’cause i have some pretty good ideas for some hombrew games for the VB. I’m not a coder but a artist so keep that in mind 😉

I hope in the future the engine allow the use of scanned images ’cause i have some pretty good ideas for some hombrew games for the VB. I’m not a coder but a artist so keep that in mind 😉

Hmm, do you mean scanned-in hand-made drawings like your avatar? Well, VBDE supports the conversion of PNG, JPG and other images, so once it’s on your PC, there shouldn’t be a problem to convert it for VB. 🙂

I would honestly port Yan’s World as a proof of concept. I use Tiled to build my levels already.

Main issue would be programming, unless you somehow manage to have legit visual coding on this lol.

This could and would work. I’d be up for it, but I’d need some legit help

We have uploaded new builds containing, besides the usual bug fixes and performance improvements, a couple of cool special effects that we hope you will enjoy!

As before, they are FlashBoy-ready. That is, you don’t need to pad the ROMs. A warning: only the “release” and “tools” builds are meant to be used in the VB; the “debug” is designed for running on Mednafen only.