Useless!ĭon't forget that we can also input control commands while using Frame Advance.įor example, to move your character to the right while paused, you'd simply hold down on the → key and tap Ctrl+N.ĭon't let go of the → key or you'll stop walking. The emulator has a built-in screenshot function, mapped to the F12 key by default, but for some reason it doesn't seem to work when the game is paused. Every time the sprite you're trying to rip changes, simply use Alt + PrintScreen on your keyboard to take a screenshot, then paste it into your graphics editor. You should be able to take a screenshot of every frame in a sprite's animations this way. Once the game is paused, use frame advance to move the action forward. To advance a frame, use the hotkey Ctrl+N. Pause & Frame AdvanceĪnother crucial feature is the ability to pause gameplay and advance the action one frame at a time. Just the sprites, with nothing else to get in the way. Here's the above Street Fighter Alpha 3 screenshot, as seen when we remove one layer at a time.įor screenshot ripping, this is ideal. To do so, go to Options > Video > Disable status messages. This is a pain for sprite ripping but luckily, you can turn it off. You may notice that when you enable or disable a layer, the emulator displays a message on top of the game. GBA games have 4 background layers and 1 sprite layer.

There is no menu option for layer disable - instead, you must use hotkeys. Layer Disable Like any good ripping emulator, VBA-M can disable background layers. Now then, let's go over the basic ripping features. That's about it for setup - there are a few other options you can tinker with, but nothing that matters for sprite ripping, anyway. Make note of the Speed Up feature (spacebar by default) which will help you fast forward through those boring or slow parts of the game. The default controls are fine, but if you want to change them, go to Options > Input > Set > Config 1. You may also want to turn off sound, which you can do in Options > Audio > Core Settings - just drag the Volume slider to Mute. To do this, go to Options > Video > 1x Window Size. The first thing you'll want to do is shrink the window down to 1x GBA resolution. Installation and SetupĬlick here to download VBA-M. For this tutorial we're going to be using the VBA-M version of the emulator, which is more up-to-date and feature rich, but most of this information should apply to the original releases too.

The Game Boy Advance is a great system for sprite rippers, thanks to the excellent features of the VisualBoyAdvance emulator. Tutorials » GBA Ripping with VisualBoyAdvance

Rip game boy sprites sheets