Hacking It amazes me that the Wii is capable of USB loading

[Fellow]

How does a 2006 console have the capability to run games with a USB drive? Can someone break it down how a USB port can be fast enough to read games without stuttering, extra loading, or skipping? I've been running backups from a USB drive for about 3 years now and I never actually stopped to think about it.

On a similar topic, what makes it harder to do on a Slim PS2 than on a Wii?

 

[Sicklyboy]

Because the USB speeds are faster than the 8x speed that Wii disks are read at.

PS2 slim runs at USB1.1. Wii (now) runs on USB2.0.

 

[Thanatos Telos]

How does a 2006 console have the capability to run games with a USB drive? Can someone break it down how a USB port can be fast enough to read games without stuttering, extra loading, or skipping? I've been running backups from a USB drive for about 3 years now and I never actually stopped to think about it.

On a similar topic, what makes it harder to do on a Slim PS2 than on a Wii?

PS2 had USB 1.1, which was slow as hell. Wii has USB 2.0, which is faster than most discs.

EDIT: DAMMIT, 'd

 

[Fellow]

Thanks guys

 

[trumpet-205]

Because the USB speeds are faster than the 8x speed that Wii disks are read at.

PS2 slim runs at USB1.1. Wii (now) runs on USB2.0.

Wii runs official disc at 6x and backup disc at 3x.

Wii originally has USB 1.1, but hackers implemented USB 2.0 into cIOS. Later Nintendo released IOS58, official way of adding USB 2.0.

 

[Coto]

but the USB 2.0 hub (controller) must support 480 mbit/s in first place.

I'd say because the PS2 was released on 2001 and the hardware components were way more expensive and older as well, Wii on 2006 was something like an extended gamecube,

 

[trumpet-205]

but the USB 2.0 hub (controller) must support 480 mbit/s in first place.

I'd say because the PS2 was released on 2001 and the hardware components were way more expensive and older as well, Wii on 2006 was something like an extended gamecube,

Yep, Wii already had USB 2.0 hub, but Nintendo didn't bother adding software support until IOS58.

 

[Oxybelis]

Fellow, It's more amazing that PS2 with OPL can run games through Ethernet (USB, HDD, FireWire too).

Also PS2 is able to output 1080p (a 2000 console).

 

[trumpet-205]

Also PS2 is able to output 1080p (a 2000 console).

PS2 cannot do 1080p, the most it can do is 1080i and only 4 games support it.

If you are talking about GS Mode Selector then be aware that game is still rendered in native resolution (480i or 480p), then stretched to 1080p without applying any upscaling filter.

 

[duffmmann]

It is pretty magical the way the hacking scene has opened up the Wii.

I mean I look at what Nintendo wants you to do with the system, and then what we've done with the system and its night and day.

All the great things done on the Wii:
-Emulators, so many emulators, just about everything up through the N64 working beautifully
-USB loading of Wii and GCN games
-DVD playback, a feature never meant to be utilized on the Wii
-Media (music, videos, picture viewing, comic viewing, etc.) playing via USB and SD
-Homebrew, lots and lots of homebrew, so much homebrew, so many great entries
-Quadforce (sucks this discontinued, still the ability to play both Mario Kart GP games is pretty amazing)
-ALL DLC for games like Rock Band and Just Dance via EmuNAND
-Wiiware installing
-Cheat codes
-The ability to implement new models and programming for games like Super Smash Bros. Brawl, or custom NSMB games
-And the list goes on and on and on

 

[Oxybelis]

PS2 cannot do 1080p, the most it can do is 1080i and only 4 games support it.

If you are talking about GS Mode Selector then be aware that game is still rendered in native resolution (480i or 480p), then stretched to 1080p without applying any upscaling filter.

I was talking about technical ability. afaik SMS can output 720p video and Wii can not.

 

[WiiUBricker]

You can thank this amazing team for allowing people to build warez usb loaders and other impressive stuff.

 

[trumpet-205]

I was talking about technical ability. afaik SMS can output 720p video and Wii can not.

Wii can do 720p video in MPEG-2. It is Xvid and H.264 that has max resolution of 480p, all done via CPU acceleration. PS2 cannot play H.264 and struggles on Xvid (you cannot do standard 720p aka 1024x720, but something like 960x720).

Wii is much powerful than PS2.

 

[FAST6191]

It is pretty magical the way the hacking scene has opened up the Wii.

I mean I look at what Nintendo wants you to do with the system, and then what we've done with the system and its night and day.

All the great things done on the Wii:
-Emulators, so many emulators, just about everything up through the N64 working beautifully.

Given handhelds do up to the PS1 quite happily and others before it have even made a stab at the N64.

-USB loading of Wii and GCN games

GCN maybe given the way things worked on the gamecube and the attendant issues of fiddling at hardware level in real time but otherwise not so much. Equally some of the stuff done to make up for the 3x loading speed in non chip/bad cable chip DVD loaders I can get excited about.

-DVD playback, a feature never meant to be utilized on the Wii

Lawyers and licensing did that one- the MPEG LA is not a cheap date. Given that the 3x read speed stuff existed as did prerelease stuff on the matter, "never meant to be utilized" might be a bit strong.

-Media (music, videos, picture viewing, comic viewing, etc.) playing via USB and SD

For what amounts to a static file it really does not matter what it reads from. Also mplayer was well developed and used in things like XBMC before it.

-Homebrew, lots and lots of homebrew, so much homebrew, so many great entries

I love hombrew and there is probably a large amount of evidence on the site to demonstrate that. True technical marvel.... less so.

-Quadforce (sucks this discontinued, still the ability to play both Mario Kart GP games is pretty amazing)

Mad respect for crediar and all but going for the true technical marvel bit I am not so sure.

-ALL DLC for games like Rock Band and Just Dance via EmuNAND

Given data can come from anywhere I am not so sure I should stand in awe at it all.

-Wiiware installing

I like discussing security bypasses as much or more than the next guy but I am not sure it ranks as a technical marvel, indeed it is not even much of a high end security bypass (install time check, no other protective measures really worth speaking of).

-Cheat codes

For my money doing it on a wii like setup is less amazing than doing it on a DS or another non multitasking system.

-The ability to implement new models and programming for games like Super Smash Bros. Brawl, or custom NSMB games

It is called ROM hacking and has been going on for decades or more (see POKE codes) at this point. I admit some of the loading methods are somewhat novel (abusing exploits to do it) but nothing truly groundbreaking.

-And the list goes on and on and on

 

[JoostinOnline]

Yep, Wii already had USB 2.0 hub, but Nintendo didn't bother adding software support until IOS58.

You mean firmware support.

Also, this is ridiculous. There is nothing amazing about a USB 2.0 hub being faster than a disc drive. The main reason I use a USB loader is because I get smoother gameplay.

 

[duffmmann]

@FAST6191

I was just pointing out all the great things the wii can do once hacked, I dunno why you'd shit all over everyone's work that has gone into making it do all these things. Not amazing to you? Cool, I guess. Its pretty neat to me. Of course everything could be better if the Wii was more powerful, but I'm just pointing out how great the Wii can be if you softmod it, don't know why that would make you want to go through each itemized thing and scrutinize it. Makes me think you're something of a sad person.

 

[JoostinOnline]

@FAST6191

I was just pointing out all the great things the wii can do once hacked, I dunno why you'd shit all over everyone's work that has gone into making it do all these things. Not amazing to you? Cool, I guess. Its pretty neat to me. Of course everything could be better if the Wii was more powerful, but I'm just pointing out how great the Wii can be if you softmod it, don't know why that would make you want to go through each itemized thing and scrutinize it. Makes me think you're something of a sad person.

I noticed that almost every single argument he had was basically "I'm not that impressed."

 

[FAST6191]

I do not know if that rates as shitting all over the work of others and the going through the list took no more time than any other post. Most of what you listed was more of an inevitability or fairly obvious application of the system once it was properly hacked save perhaps the GCN/triforce stuff, something that did not get glossed over in the post in question, and maybe the earlier stages of the USB 2.0 EHCI work (at the time it was a lot of work on an undocumented feature and one that looked like it was more or less locked out but "technically" possible).

I think it is more of a case of "once you know how it works it is considerably less impressive". I do not doubt for a moment that dozens of hours of work went into various aspects of all of them and I am right there when the argument that "scientists/engineers plugging away for decades are just as useful as those rare individuals making massive leaps" needs to be made but going wide eyed and using lots of four lettered words is not really the appropriate response.

 

[JoostinOnline]

I do not know if that rates as shitting all over the work of others and the going through the list took no more time than any other post. Most of what you listed was more of an inevitability or fairly obvious application of the system once it was properly hacked save perhaps the GCN/triforce stuff, something that did not get glossed over in the post in question, and maybe the earlier stages of the USB 2.0 EHCI work (at the time it was a lot of work on an undocumented feature and one that looked like it was more or less locked out but "technically" possible).

I think it is more of a case of "once you know how it works it is considerably less impressive". I do not doubt for a moment that dozens of hours of work went into various aspects of all of them and I am right there when the argument that "scientists/engineers plugging away for decades are just as useful as those rare individuals making massive leaps" needs to be made but going wide eyed and using lots of four lettered words is not really the appropriate response.

I think the problem is you DON'T understand how it works. You just expect it to happen because a system is hacked. Just because something is possible for other systems, that doesn't make it any less impressive. What makes it impressive is based on the resources given and the obstacles that had to be overcome.

 

[smf]

I was talking about technical ability. afaik SMS can output 720p video and Wii can not.

SMS can output 1080i video as well, which works out better for resizing. The Wii can only output 480p.

I'm not sure if it's the lower resolution or whether it has a lower colour resolution, but macro blocks artefacts are much more noticeable on the Wii. I tried WiiMC for streaming and ended up back with SMS.