Hi all,
so this is something that I've been obsessing over for quite some time now but now I finally have the time to make this thread.
First, some background info:
In the last few months, I've created some binary patches for every single mainline Zelda game from Legend of Zelda on the NES up to BotW on the Switch.
Basically, I modded the executables of these games with my own cheats, so that I have unlimited rupees and items and so that when my health reaches zero, the game jumps into my own subroutine and instead of getting a Game Over, I'm actually just given my full health back and the game carries on normally.
I did this for two reasons:
1. to improve my reverse engineering and binary hacking skills on all of the different architectures of those consoles and handhelds
2. because I own every single Nintendo console and handheld from the NES to the Switch along with the corresponding flashcards (Everdrives) and just modding the games themselves is often the best (or only) way to use cheats on those flashcards.
Now, that's working perfectly fine. I can play every Zelda game using my hacked ROM or a patched ISO etc. without using another cheat engine like Ocarina on the Wii.
However, recently I successfully completed my collection of every single mainline Zelda game as an original, physical release.
Now, I'm somewhat obsessing over trying to be able to combine my patches with the original games.
It's somewhat easy (given enough money and time) on the NES to just burn my ROM onto some sort of EEPROM and replacing the original MaskROM on the cartridge with my own EEPROM to accomplish that. Even easier on the 3DS thanks to Luma because you can just replace game files on the fly.
My goal is, as stupid as it may sound:
Being able to boot my modded versions of all those games while maintaining everything about the original, vanilla process of booting the game. Meaning, turning on the console, putting in the game in its original form (original disc, original cartridge...at least its case) and the game would just boot without having to jump through any extra hoops.
One of the consoles where this is going to be very difficult is the Wii. I know that there is Riivolution, which does pretty much exactly what Rosalina/Luma does on the 3DS: it replaces game assets on the fly. However, that would mean that if I want to play my modded game, I'd always have to open Riivolution and boot the game from there. Because I am a huge idiot, this is not good enough for me ^^.
I also know that I could just boot the game with Gecko OS or something to load and use GCT cheat files but again, no extra hoops allowed
Is there any possible way for me to do this?
Could I use SNEEK(+DI?) to accomplish this? Like, it would boot the game from the original disc channel but check my SD card or a USB drive for an alternative main.dol?
I mean I'm pretty sure that none of this is actually possible but I'm not willing to give up just yet
If someone could point me in the right direction I would be more than willing to try and code a solution for this myself. I just don't really know what would be a good place to start, though my best guess is that SNEEK would be the only possible entry point for this kind of thing.
If all else fails, I can always install a forwarder channel with WiiGSC and just pretend like I'm playing from the original disc
If you've got this far in this wall of text then thank you very much.
Cheers!
so this is something that I've been obsessing over for quite some time now but now I finally have the time to make this thread.
First, some background info:
In the last few months, I've created some binary patches for every single mainline Zelda game from Legend of Zelda on the NES up to BotW on the Switch.
Basically, I modded the executables of these games with my own cheats, so that I have unlimited rupees and items and so that when my health reaches zero, the game jumps into my own subroutine and instead of getting a Game Over, I'm actually just given my full health back and the game carries on normally.
I did this for two reasons:
1. to improve my reverse engineering and binary hacking skills on all of the different architectures of those consoles and handhelds
2. because I own every single Nintendo console and handheld from the NES to the Switch along with the corresponding flashcards (Everdrives) and just modding the games themselves is often the best (or only) way to use cheats on those flashcards.
Now, that's working perfectly fine. I can play every Zelda game using my hacked ROM or a patched ISO etc. without using another cheat engine like Ocarina on the Wii.
However, recently I successfully completed my collection of every single mainline Zelda game as an original, physical release.
Now, I'm somewhat obsessing over trying to be able to combine my patches with the original games.
It's somewhat easy (given enough money and time) on the NES to just burn my ROM onto some sort of EEPROM and replacing the original MaskROM on the cartridge with my own EEPROM to accomplish that. Even easier on the 3DS thanks to Luma because you can just replace game files on the fly.
My goal is, as stupid as it may sound:
Being able to boot my modded versions of all those games while maintaining everything about the original, vanilla process of booting the game. Meaning, turning on the console, putting in the game in its original form (original disc, original cartridge...at least its case) and the game would just boot without having to jump through any extra hoops.
One of the consoles where this is going to be very difficult is the Wii. I know that there is Riivolution, which does pretty much exactly what Rosalina/Luma does on the 3DS: it replaces game assets on the fly. However, that would mean that if I want to play my modded game, I'd always have to open Riivolution and boot the game from there. Because I am a huge idiot, this is not good enough for me ^^.
I also know that I could just boot the game with Gecko OS or something to load and use GCT cheat files but again, no extra hoops allowed
Is there any possible way for me to do this?
Could I use SNEEK(+DI?) to accomplish this? Like, it would boot the game from the original disc channel but check my SD card or a USB drive for an alternative main.dol?
I mean I'm pretty sure that none of this is actually possible but I'm not willing to give up just yet
If someone could point me in the right direction I would be more than willing to try and code a solution for this myself. I just don't really know what would be a good place to start, though my best guess is that SNEEK would be the only possible entry point for this kind of thing.
If all else fails, I can always install a forwarder channel with WiiGSC and just pretend like I'm playing from the original disc
If you've got this far in this wall of text then thank you very much.
Cheers!
JM 
