piuGBA

piuGBA
General
Author	[r]labs
Type	Music
Version	1.5.3
License	MIT License
Last Updated	2023/02/27
Links
Pre-built ROMs Download
Website
Source

piuGBA is a PIU emulator for the GBA that uses StepMania SSC charts.

Features

• Full .ssc files support, including:
  • Normal, hold and fake notes.
  • BPM changes.
  • Scroll speed changes.
  • Stops/Delays and async-stops.
  • Warps and fast-BPM warps.
• Multiple game modes:
  • Campaign - Play, unlock songs and defeat bosses.
  • Arcade - Play songs in any numerical difficulty level.
    • Single - 1 player, either Single (5-panel) or Double (10-panel) charts.
    • Multi VS - VS battles via Link Cable.
    • Multi Coop - Double (10-panel) charts via Link Cable.
  • Impossible - Hardcore charts with insane mods.
• Speed multipliers can be changed in-game.
• Mods support:
  • Stage break.
  • Pixelate - Mosaic effect.
  • Jump/Reduce - Moves game area.
  • Decolorize - Inverts/removes colors.
  • Random speed.
  • Mirror and random steps.
  • Training mode - Rate and checkpoints.
• Hardware integrations:
  • Rumble.
  • I/O LED Sync.
  • SRAM LED Sync.
• BGA DARK background with blink effect.
• Song selector with names, backgrounds and sound previews.
• Optimized to support ~70 songs per ROM file.

User guide

How does it work

A node.js script (the importer) converts a list of SSC/MP3/PNG files into binary files which the GBA can understand. For audio, it uses GSM audio files which are very small in size.

Charts are converted into a format created for this project called PIUS. Then everything is bundled in a GBFS file (a filesystem created by the GBA scene) and appended to the final ROM.

Read the wiki for more details and guide of how to build a ROM.

You can also join the official Discord server to find pre-built ROMs and user-created content.

Screenshots

Media

piuGBA - Impossible Mode w/ Rumble (Rodrigo Alfonso)

Compatibility

Tested and works on mGBA, VBA-M, and NO$GBA.

Changelog

v1.5.*

• (v1.5.1) Fixed random crash in wireless multiplayer sessions due to audio DMA conflicts with serial IRQs
• (v1.5.1) Fixed wireless multiplayer slowdowns by moving time-critical code to IWRAM
• (v1.5.2) Fixed graphical glitch when the initial multiplier is set to 6x
• (v1.5.3) Fixed invalid memory read that affects SRAM LED Blink, but might cause other crashes
• (v1.5.3) Fixed vsync method (changed in v1.5.0) for better battery life

v1.5

• New features:
  • Wireless Adapter support
  • Wireless adapter support.
• Bugfixes:
  • Now multiplayer scores will always be in sync after a game (fixed Link Connection's packet loss).
  • Fixed errors where individual difficulty levels could get out of sync in multiplayer sessions.
  • Fixed glitch when confirming a song selection while crossing a page.
  • Fixed admin menu key combo handling

v1.4
New features:

• Hardware integrations
  • Rumble.
  • I/O SD Blink.

SRAM LED Blink.

• Arcade improvements:
  • Added Double charts support inside Single player mode.
  • Added mark as deffective option for broken charts.
  • Added Reduce Mod variant: MICRO.
  • Added save file reset options.

Impossible mode changes:

• Removed decolorize.
• Added reduce=micro.

Engine improvements:

• Added fake notes support through the {1|v|1|0} SSC syntax.

Graphical improvements:

• Improved screen transitions.
• Now the selection screen background looks cleaner (less dithering below the lights)

Bugfixes:

• Fixed random crash due to invalid read after winning a song
• Fixed random crash due to a memory leak during screen transitions
• Fixed metronome. It was sometimes blinking on weak beats
• Now the random is more random
• Now "random steps" is more humanly usable, since it tries to avoid repeated notes

Release notes.

Credits

Open-source projects involved:

• wgroeneveld/gba-sprite-engine Dec 18, 2019.
  • Forked at: rodri042/gba-sprite-engine.
• pinobatch/gsmplayer-gba Feb 9, 2020.
• rodri042/gba-link-connection.

External links

• GitHub - https://github.com/rodri042/piugba
• DIscord - https://discord.com/invite/JE33cc2