The GP32 fun/help thread

[Rev. Link]

I've had a GP32 since November, but only just recently got around to going out and buying a smart media card to use in it. I came home, popped the SMC in, hooked the GP32 up to my PC, and followed all the instructions on the english GP32 website about how to transfer files to it. And I succeeded.

Well, I haven't tried putting any games on it yet (I'm not much for emulators, usually), but I did get some MP3s onto it. They play just fine, but I do have some questions I'm hoping someone can help me out with.

I put a Tenchi Muyo song on first. It shows up on the playlist as simply the filename, with no length. Then, I put on Aerosmith's Walk This Way. It shows up as "Aerosmith - Walk This Way" and it lists the length. Then, I put on the nWo theme music. It shows up as the filename, but lists the length. So why are all these different? Does it have to do with which version ID3 tag you use?

Secondly, the GP32 website had a download for a program called Free Load, or something like that. It said it was necessary to use the multimedia functions of the GP32. Does that mean the GP32 can view movie files and/or pictures? The manual does mention creating a folder called GPMM for multimedia and GPETC for miscellaneous files. But other than that, there's no explaination.

I tried downloading and installing the Free Load program, but it's in a file format I've never heard of and my PC doesn't know what to do with; ZPK.

If anyone can help me out with any of this, I'd really appreciate it. It'd be nice to have my MP3 playlist look good, and even better to be able to put some pics or videos on my GP32. Thanks!

[Sph1nx]

I don't know the answer but....


Ohhhhhh. Wheel of time quote in your sig.
Best series ever.... except for the last book. Stupid dragged out nothing book. (Not refering to the new legends one)

[Rev. Link]

Yeah, WoT is great. I tend to agree about the last book, though. Only the ending was worth anything, but it did its job; it's got me really looking forward to book 11.

Now if only Jordan would hurry up and get to it instead of messing with this prequel trilogy! I'd like to read the prequels, but I'd rather finish the series first!

[Rev. Link]

Apologies for the double post.

Okay, I figured out the MP3 thing. They do, indeed, have to use ID3 version 1 tags. Version 2 messes it all up.

I also managed to get that ZPK file (the program was called Free Launcher, I was mistaken before) loaded onto my GP32. However, I'm still drawing a blank about the multimedia stuff. I found what is supposed to be a JPG viewer, but it uses another file format I'm unfamiliar with; FXE. I know it's supposed to be a proprietary format for GP32 apps, but I don't know how to install it, and no help docs came with the program.

If anyone can point me in the right direction, I'd greatly appreciate it.

[Flack]

FXE files can just be copied over and run on the GP32 with Free Launcher. Most games will tell you what directory they need to be installed in.

If you're not into emulation, you're going to end up being pretty disappointed with the GP32. It seems like 3/4 of programmers resources are being spent on emulators. Atari 2600, Atari 5200, NES, SNES, Genesis, PC-Engine, C64, Atari ST and GB/GBC all run great on it. The rest of the games are either homebrews which range from pretty good to really awful, or official games which look great but for the most part are in Korean.

Here are two websites that are dedicated to the GP32 and have tons of FAQs and friendly forums to help you get started and answer any questions you may have:

http://www.gp32x.com
http://www.gp32emu.com

[Rev. Link]

Thanks Flack, I'm sure those will help me out.

But I'm not disappointed in my GP32 at all. I knew all about it when I bought it, and I bought it mainly to use as an MP3 player. I figure I may buy one or two of the official games, but I never planned on using it to play emulated NES games, or etc.

I don't do much gaming on the go, anyhow.