MaplePad (VMU) on a Badger 2040 about maplepad HOT 4 CLOSED

Hi! The code will run on the Badger, but I only support SSD1306 and SSD1331 OLEDs for the VMU display right now. Porting the Badger's ePaper library wouldn't be hard, but even with partial refresh some games wouldn't look good due to the low display update rate. Case in point, Power Smash 2:

Games that display static images or simple animations, like Rez, might be OK with partial refresh.

Also, MaplePad isn't a standalone 'VMU emulator'. So you need to be connected to a Dreamcast or other Maple host to get VMU images (unless you gut the codebase and feed in dummy packets or something).

Keep in mind the Badger has a ton of onboard circuitry, so you'd have to remap pins in maple.h for the controller buttons, and cut traces and stuff for the ADC lines if you want joystick/trigger compatibility.

from maplepad.

Thank you for your response. Totally agree that that the e-ink display might not show the best results on games that make a lot of use of the VMU's display. My idea was more about connecting the Badger to the Dreamcast 'just' to save/load games and use the on board buttons to switch between memory pages. Would that be hard to achieve?

from maplepad.

Got it. Wasn't sure what your use case was. Yes, that's doable.

You can connect the Badger to the P2/P3/P4 controller port and use its internal VMUs that way. The Dreamcast will register a controller being present on whichever port you choose, and you won't be able to connect an external controller to that port.

This is because retail software will only talk to subperipherals (VMU, rumble pack, microphone) if they are connected through a parent peripheral (controller or arcade stick). So you can't connect VMUs directly to the Dreamcast without a controller.

If you want to cycle pages with the Badger's buttons, update the PAGE_BUTTON macro in maple.c to the appropriate pin. The codebase is kinda broken right now, so base any edits off commit b187916.

I'd also recommend compiling an arcade stick binary (set these defines in maple.h) because otherwise, the code will read in garbage from the Badger's ADC pins (pic below), and the joystick and triggers will do weird things.

At some point I want to develop a MaplePad-based "Super VMU" that you can plug into a stock controller for these sorts of use cases, but that's a long way off.

from maplepad.

Closing this for now, lemme know if you have any other questions!

from maplepad.