Hacking Nintendont

[pedro702]

Hey I was just joking around.
I am aware of the space that some of those games could save. Luigi's Mansion is around 180MB or so, quite a lot compared to the 1.4GB of the mini-disc.

Just don't take it too harshly.

but those games already get small when compressing them with DMTOOLBOX what is the exact diferent from zip and compressed in DMTB size it cant be that much same for most games.

 

[boomerang42]

Two (non game-breaking) issues with Gauntlet: Dark Legacy (NTSC-U):

1. Most FMVs have stuttering audio after a second or two.

Can be seen in the intro FMV for example. I'm pretty sure this didn't happen in an older version of Nintendont. I wasn't playing Dark Legacy for awhile though so I don't know what version it might have changed.

My best guess is that it was when timing or disc read speed patches were added for some games like Turok (I don't remember what other timing patches were added at the time unfortunately), that might have caused the FMV stuttering. I had stopped stopped playing Dark Legacy shortly before those timing or disc read speed patches were added, and don't remember there being FMV stuttering before I had stopped playing.

2. In the main menu (before getting to gameplay), choosing options (confirming with A) sometimes makes the music stutter in a very unpleasant way. It's not a huge issue but it can be... grating when it happens. It's just a very unpleasant sound, and it doesn't happen on a real Gamecube so I figured it might be worth reporting.

Info:
verified iso with redump.org
Nintendont 3.341
wii through homebrew channel
mcemu 251
no cheats

but those games already get small when compressing them with DMTOOLBOX what is the exact diferent from zip and compressed in DMTB size it cant be that much same for most games.

Even DMToolbox can cause freezes in Nintendont with some games though (actually, because of that it would be handy to have a concise list of just what games are known to be safe/unsafe/untested to compress with DMToolbox and not get freezes or other problems in Nintendont.).

Having 1:1 ISOs inside zips would theoretically allow all games to be compressed and still work fine, because the iso itself would always be 1:1 inside the zip. (Sorry to butt in on the conversation, but being able to compress without having to worry about whether there will be freezes as a result would be a very nice thing. That's what the real advantage would be. Or putting it another way, I only compress one or two games total right now, because compressing an iso is always taking a risk of freezes. Due to that risk, compressing just usually isn't worth it no matter how much space could be saved.)

Of course, that's all moot as zipped isos probably wouldn't even be possible anyway.

 

[pedro702]

Two (non game-breaking) issues with Gauntlet: Dark Legacy (NTSC-U):

1. Most FMVs have stuttering audio after a second or two.

Can be seen in the intro FMV for example. I'm pretty sure this didn't happen in an older version of Nintendont. I wasn't playing Dark Legacy for awhile though so I don't know what version it might have changed.

My best guess is that it was when timing or disc read speed patches were added for some games like Turok (I don't remember what other timing patches were added at the time unfortunately), that might have caused the FMV stuttering. I had stopped stopped playing Dark Legacy shortly before those timing or disc read speed patches were added, and don't remember there being FMV stuttering before I had stopped playing.

2. In the main menu (before getting to gameplay), choosing options (confirming with A) sometimes makes the music stutter in a very unpleasant way. It's not a huge issue but it can be... grating when it happens. It's just a very unpleasant sound, and it doesn't happen on a real Gamecube so I figured it might be worth reporting.

Info:
verified iso with redump.org
Nintendont 3.341
wii through homebrew channel
mcemu 251
no cheats



Even DMToolbox can cause freezes in Nintendont with some games though (actually, because of that it would be handy to have a concise list of just what games are known to be safe/unsafe/untested to compress with DMToolbox and not get freezes or other problems in Nintendont.).

Having 1:1 ISOs inside zips would theoretically allow all games to be compressed and still work fine, because the iso itself would always be 1:1 inside the zip. (Sorry to butt in on the conversation, but being able to compress without having to worry about whether there will be freezes as a result would be a very nice thing. That's what the real advantage would be. Or putting it another way, I only compress one or two games total right now, because compressing an iso is always taking a risk of freezes. Due to that risk, compressing just usually isn't worth it no matter how much space could be saved.)

Of course, that's all moot as zipped isos probably wouldn't even be possible anyway.

what are you using to load the gc games? audio stutter happens only when you use SD cards or slow flashdrives.

There are only 5 or so games that cant be compressed with DMtools becuase they creat an oversized iso, but every game that is an md5 checked iso and gets compressed with dmtools with the 32k allign option checked works perfectly incase you didnt know, DM does not break any game besides those that creat an oversized iso.

 

[Etheboss]

I had some time and tried Gauntlet, i even tried the PAL version, i can confirm both have stuttering audio.
I also use 3.341 and start nintendont from HBC.
iso is a 1:1 and verified with redump.org.
The settings for me are the same as boomerang42, and i have a external powered HDD.
I notice that the videos require constant loading, and i know my HDD seems to have a problem with it...
I can try older Nintendont versions to track down when it changed but then i must know from Boomerang the version he knows for sure worked.

 

[Sheimi]

Been playing more Melee to finish everything from my old save from years ago. Noticed some button lag with the official gc controller adapter. I don't know if it's from playing a USB and loading Nintendont off a USB.

For whatever reason with the official gc adapter. The stick is perfectly still and the character moves in SADX. Shooting the credits in Melee shows it's tilted to the right.

 

[Rizzorules]

Im having a problem with usb loader gx while trying to play gamecube games , it says this version doesnt supports usb

 

[boomerang42]

I can try older Nintendont versions to track down when it changed but then i must know from Boomerang the version he knows for sure worked.

I tried testing the backup versions of Nintendont that I have (2.295, 3.305, 3.328) with Gauntlet and all of them have stuttering in the intro FMV. So it seems I must have remembered completely wrong that there was an older version which didn't stutter on Gauntlet FMVs. Sorry about that. I don't know why I thought I remembered so clearly that there wasn't FMV stuttering in an older version.

what are you using to load the gc games? audio stutter happens only when you use SD cards or slow flashdrives.

I'm using a hdd, and I haven't noticed stuttering issues with other games.

There are only 5 or so games that cant be compressed with DMtools becuase they creat an oversized iso, but every game that is an md5 checked iso and gets compressed with dmtools with the 32k allign option checked works perfectly incase you didnt know, DM does not break any game besides those that creat an oversized iso.

Now I'm confused. The first post conflicts with that in a couple places (bold added for emphasis):

The recommended format is a CLEAN ISO dump. It has the best compatibility and faster reading speed.
Do not compress or extract your games, don't use DiscEx, don't use GCReEx, don't use DMToolbox.

and

My compressed/extracted/aligned games are very slow, why?
compressing ISO can result in bigger file size than original ISO, but GC ISO reads are getting limited to a maximum offset of 1.35GB for security reasons.
Aligning the ISO makes the speed worse and converting to fst is MUCH slower.
So please only use the original clean ISO files without touching them to get maximum speed and compatibility.

Also, original clean ISO have better compatibility ! never compress, align, edit, extract your game.

and sort of

My game doesn't work but it's marked as working on the compatibility list
DO NOT USE COMPRESSED ISO.
only play with full 1:1 clean ISO, unless you are sure compressed ISO are working.

Actually the first post even somewhat conflicts with itself, after all that other "Don't ever use compression" stuff:

My Console shuts down when running a game
Your game most likely uses Audio streaming feature and the stream isn't aligned to 32k which happens when getting bad dumps or compressing with programs that don't care about alignment (ex. GCISOTool).
It's recommended to use a Full Clean 1:1 ISO. Make sure its md5 matches the redump.org checksum.
If you really need to compress the ISO because of space issue, compress it with DMToolbox and enable the 32k alignment option.

It's understandable that something as long as the first post could end up with errors/conflicts. But if it's known that there's only a handful of games that don't compress right with DMtoolbox, the first post should really say something like:
"Only ever use DMtoobox (with 32k alignment!) for compression. No other compression tool can be trusted to work right with Nintendont.

DMtoobox isn't perfect however. It can be used to compress all games (using 32k alignment!), except for these few:
[list of the games that get an oversized iso when compressed with DMtoolbox]"


I had thought there could be (probably rare, but still) unpredictable random freezes in various games after compressing with DMtoolbox. So that is not actually true after all, except for the few games that become oversized isos?

Is there a list of what those few games are?

 

[tswntk]

Im having a problem with usb loader gx while trying to play gamecube games , it says this version doesnt supports usb

Isn't the message quite clear? Your apps are outdated. READ the OP.
Always specify your apps versions and provide as much details as possible when asking for help.

Now I'm confused. The first post conflicts with that in a couple places (bold added for emphasis):
....
Actually the first post even somewhat conflicts with itself, after all that other "Don't ever use compression" stuff:
....

If you ran into problems when running GC iso, the first thing you want to make sure is that your iso is a known good dump.
1:1 iso have a good checksum database (redump.org) to check against while compressed iso do not.

The OP is there to help ppl solving problems. It is foolish to encourage ppl to use compressed iso there.

The compatibility list has a column specific for shrunken iso, check that if you really want to use compressed iso but you will be on your own. Don't ever ask for help on compressed iso without verifying the problem with a known good dump.

 

[FIX94]

I tried testing the backup versions of Nintendont that I have (2.295, 3.305, 3.328) with Gauntlet and all of them have stuttering in the intro FMV. So it seems I must have remembered completely wrong that there was an older version which didn't stutter on Gauntlet FMVs. Sorry about that. I don't know why I thought I remembered so clearly that there wasn't FMV stuttering in an older version.

I did notice that while trying the game quite a while back too, it was the only problem though so I didnt bother trying things out to fix it.

I had thought there could be (probably rare, but still) unpredictable random freezes in various games after compressing with DMtoolbox. So that is not actually true after all, except for the few games that become oversized isos?
Is there a list of what those few games are?

so the whole 32k alignment being better is wrong, its an option for these people who use really, really messed up ISO files downloaded from the most illegal places on the internet, they can be all sorts of wrong and can break something called "audio streaming", so if you have no background audio in a game or the game crashes when music should start playing it is most likely the cause of that, in that case you can of course try the last desperate option to force 32k align it but I rather very much suggest you to either rip the games yourself via cleanrip or get them from friends of friends who did a proper, 1:1 rip. If you did that and the rip is redump.org verified you can feel free to compress it with most tools like for example discex, my gc iso compressor or dmtoolbox, it doesnt really matter. I think the only game which knowingly from devs verified has problems being compressed is kirby air ride btw.

 

[AbdallahTerro]

my kirby air ride is compressed and works like a charm!
I remember using wiped_gcm_fixer_v1.5f for this game iirc so maybe that's why it worked

 

[FIX94]

my kirby air ride is compressed and works like a charm!
I remember using wiped_gcm_fixer_v1.5f for this game iirc so maybe that's why it worked

I didnt say its uncompressable, it just has issues with some compressing programs for no known reason as of yet.

 

[titaniuml]

Hi guys,

Just signed up to say thank you for this awesome software. I was using MIOS DIOS for so long and I've only found out about this today. Playing Crazy Taxi in 480p is lovely.

I have a weird issue, which is mentioned in the OP, this:

My Console shuts down when running a game
Your game most likely uses Audio streaming feature and the stream isn't aligned to 32k which happens when getting bad dumps or compressing with programs that don't care about alignment (ex. GCISOTool).
It's recommended to use a Full Clean 1:1 ISO. Make sure its md5 matches the redump.org checksum.
If you really need to compress the ISO because of space issue, compress it with DMToolbox and enable the 32k alignment option.

So I'm guessing my only hope is to find another copy? Just wanted to double check this is the issue and there aren't any others with this specific game before I go looking for another copy.

 

[RCJayce]

Hi guys,

Just signed up to say thank you for this awesome software. I was using MIOS DIOS for so long and I've only found out about this today. Playing Crazy Taxi in 480p is lovely.

I have a weird issue, which is mentioned in the OP, this:



So I'm guessing my only hope is to find another copy? Just wanted to double check this is the issue and there aren't any others with this specific game before I go looking for another copy.

Get another copy, my Crazy Taxi works great.

 

[pedro702]

Hi guys,

Just signed up to say thank you for this awesome software. I was using MIOS DIOS for so long and I've only found out about this today. Playing Crazy Taxi in 480p is lovely.

I have a weird issue, which is mentioned in the OP, this:



So I'm guessing my only hope is to find another copy? Just wanted to double check this is the issue and there aren't any others with this specific game before I go looking for another copy.

get a full iso copy and before compresisng check to see if its a good iso by seeing if the md5 matches the ones on redump, if they match just get DMTOOLBOX and compress it with 32k allignemnt option checked and it will work great mine works great.

 

[RCJayce]

get a full iso copy and before compresisng check to see if its a good iso by seeing if the md5 matches the ones on redump, if they match just get DMTOOLBOX and compress it with 32k allignemnt option checked and it will work great mine works great.

Compressed the size of the ISO is around 150mb mostly used by the music

 

[pedro702]

I did notice that while trying the game quite a while back too, it was the only problem though so I didnt bother trying things out to fix it.



so the whole 32k alignment being better is wrong, its an option for these people who use really, really messed up ISO files downloaded from the most illegal places on the internet, they can be all sorts of wrong and can break something called "audio streaming", so if you have no background audio in a game or the game crashes when music should start playing it is most likely the cause of that, in that case you can of course try the last desperate option to force 32k align it but I rather very much suggest you to either rip the games yourself via cleanrip or get them from friends of friends who did a proper, 1:1 rip. If you did that and the rip is redump.org verified you can feel free to compress it with most tools like for example discex, my gc iso compressor or dmtoolbox, it doesnt really matter. I think the only game which knowingly from devs verified has problems being compressed is kirby air ride btw.

This, some people have bad full isos from the start and compress them and of course they are bad compresses, or they have a good iso and compress them with gcisotool and break the alligment becuase that tool doesnt care about the alligment.

Gonna give an example if you google the Naruto: Gekitōu Ninja Taisen! 3(jap only game) your first choice on a famous website gives you a full iso, and yet this full iso is bad, it doesnt match redump and since naturo uses audiostreaming its out of alligment, and it will crash the first time it tryes to play the music, shutting down the console.

This is an example among manny, people should realy make sure their md5s match before anything else and never compress with GCISOTOOL, only with tools that are known to work with 32k alligment.

 

[Cyan]

The guide on the first post is written with "clean 1:1" ISO in mind.
it's not conflicting by telling users to compress after telling them not to do it, it's giving better choice for compatibility and read speed.
I wrote the compressing + 32k align option in the troubleshooting section only as a last resort "if you REALLLLLLLLY" need to compress the game (which can break it!), use the 32k align feature to be sure the audio streaming is working.


if you know your full clean ISO is working, then try compressing it to save space and see the result.
but don't try only compressed game and report issue with it. if there's an issue, it's often because it's compressed so before reporting or editing wiki, first be sure it's not due to your ISO format.
The full iso has better result for speed than extracted format too. that's why it's not recommended to use that format, but sure it's works.
Any user is free to try all compatible format and use the one he likes better.


The guide can't list all working game with compressed or align or extracted or mixed using specific region and format etc.
There's a compatibility list for that.

 

[sonictopfan]

Im having a problem with usb loader gx while trying to play gamecube games , it says this version doesnt supports usb

Update USB-Loader GX, your version for USB-Loader GX is outdated!

 

[darkseekerliu]

Im having a problem with usb loader gx while trying to play gamecube games , it says this version doesnt supports usb

Grab this version http://www.mediafire.com/download/gmomw40pwa4aswa/R1246.7z - the most update version is always at Cyan's signature?

 

[Cyan]

latest version available from the online update (r1239) is working fine with nintendont
revisions released after that are only some bug fixes or minor changes, not affecting nintendont.
1239 is the "last stable" version.
1246 is more like a beta