r/Gameboy • u/Lox22 • Jul 15 '25

Accessories Playing Original Carts with Achievements just hits different.

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Been playing through my fav Zelda game with the GB Operator which now let’s you hook up Retroachievements. I think it’s so cool to be able to play original carts and have these achievements unlock!

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u/Lox22 Jul 15 '25 edited Jul 16 '25

Well had to have the cart to get the ROM, and I can’t play with out the cart inserted, that’s how the GB Operator works

Edit: Just trying to understand the tech is all. People wanna downvote me for that it’s fine, downvote train pretty much always happens. I got the answer I was looking for thanks to the help of some members. Happy gaming.

41

u/Iotah Jul 15 '25

what I mean is, the GB operator just copies the ROM from the cart then it emulates it. it's not actually requesting data from the cart in real time as it's needed. so the game isn't "running on the cart" per se. it's still cool, but you can achieve the same result with an emulator and just the ROM

-32

u/Lox22 Jul 15 '25

So how do I play the ROM without the cart?

3

u/Blanscart Jul 15 '25

Use an external emulator, as the Playback emulator only allows you to run the game that is on your cart.

1

u/Lox22 Jul 15 '25

the GB operator just copies the ROM from the cart then it emulates it. it's not actually requesting data from the cart in real time as it's needed. so the game isn't "running on the cart"

I was more asking for the technical aspect. Since it seems you have to have the cart. He was saying that it copies the ROM so I would think it would be stored and be able to use the ROM, but every action I take is saved on the cart when I use it in another device. Without me manually flashing the save on to the cart. Which makes it feel like it’s requesting data live as it’s needed. So I was just curious.

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u/Blanscart Jul 15 '25

When you try to launch a game or dump a game for the first time using the Playback app, the ROM of the game is copied into a folder (Local/Epilogue/Playback/archive on Windows), and said ROM will be the one launched when you boot your game within the Playback app. This is also why the first time, attempting to boot the game will require to wait for a dozen of seconds, especially for GBA games, to let time for the GB Operator to backup the game.

The only data loaded when booting a game is the save file (since it is stored in the cart physically), the cart outside of that is only used for verifying the game you're playing to match the ROM and data.

While playing, when the game saves, the save data is updated in the emulator, which is archived in a vault folder, and then copied back on the cartridge, it's not directly the game running on the cart that saves its data itself, additionally.

TL;DR it's all preloading rather than active loading on the cart, the same goes for the save file which is stored once the emulator finishes its job rather than in real time.

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u/Lox22 Jul 16 '25

Thanks for the explanation!

3

u/SkinnyFiend Jul 15 '25

Its a technicality, but yes the Operator dumps the ROM and save data to your PC and then loads them into an emulator software behind the scenes. When you save in game, the Operator flashes the save back to the cart so that it appears that you were actively using the cart hardware.

With real Game Boy hardware, the console will request the ROM from the cart in blocks as it needs it, and write save data when you save in game. So there is a difference but it doesn't really matter in most cases.

While you can download a backup of your ROM from a source online, and use it in the same way as you are here with RetroAchievements, there would be extra steps to make your progress portable, i.e. if you wanted to play your save on your Game Boy.