Homebrew [QUESTION] Writing Amiibo .bin Files to Blank Tags With the Wii U Gamepad

[bennyman123abc]

Hey guys! If you read the title, you'll understand the question I have but, I will further elaborate on it so I don't just make a blank post. Now before we get started, I realize this is probably a dumb question but, I will ask anyway. So, I was reading one of the Amiibo card threads and reading how people print them out and how I want some of those fancy cards myself. However, it occurred to me that I do not own any device except for the Wii U with built-in NFC functionality. (Also, it occurred to me that I don't have the money to get cards printed at Staples either but, that's not the point ) So, I was wondering if it would be possible to develop Homebrew (or develop an application with the Cafe SDK) that could write the Amiibo .bin files to blank NTAG215 pieces. Any answer (that's a positive response) is appreciated and I thank you for taking the time to read this message. As always, happy hacking!

~Ben

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Hey guys! If you read the title, you'll understand the question I have but, I will further elaborate on it so I don't just make a blank post. Now before we get started, I realize this is probably a dumb question but, I will ask anyway. So, I was reading one of the Amiibo card threads and reading how people print them out and how I want some of those fancy cards myself. However, it occurred to me that I do not own any device except for the Wii U with built-in NFC functionality. (Also, it occurred to me that I don't have the money to get cards printed at Staples either but, that's not the point ) So, I was wondering if it would be possible to develop Homebrew (or develop an application with the Cafe SDK) that could write the Amiibo .bin files to blank NTAG215 pieces. Any answer (that's a positive response) is appreciated and I thank you for taking the time to read this message. As always, happy hacking!

~Ben

This has been asked before.
Anyway, it's almost certainly possible, it just hasn't been done yet. Not many devs in the Wii U scene and the few who are active are working on other things.

 

[bennyman123abc]

This has been asked before.
Anyway, it's almost certainly possible, it just hasn't been done yet. Not many devs in the Wii U scene and the few who are active are working on other things.

How would I go about developing something like this? Is there any documentation on using the NFC reader/writer in Homebrew?

 

[Heran Bago]

Anything is possible if you believe in yourself.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

How would I go about developing something like this? Is there any documentation on using the NFC reader/writer in Homebrew?

It doesn't seem like it.
And I'm not sure if the Cafe SDK would be of any use either, as it most likely only deals with reading Amiibos and writing to their R/W portion, not writing to completely blank tags. It might be a good starting point for reverse engineering how the NFC reader works and figuring out how to use it for your own purposes though (but remember, under the NDA you can't release anything you make with the help of the SDK other than publishing it through official means, and that's obviously not gonna happen )

 

[bennyman123abc]

It doesn't seem like it.
And I'm not sure if the Cafe SDK would be of any use either, as it most likely only deals with reading Amiibos and writing to their R/W portion, not writing to completely blank tags. It might be a good starting point for reverse engineering how the NFC reader works and figuring out how to use it for your own purposes though (but remember, under the NDA you can't release anything you make with the help of the SDK other than publishing it through official means, and that's obviously not gonna happen )

Well damn. Does Homebrew have that kind of access to the NFC reader or just the same as the SDK?

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Well damn. Does Homebrew have that kind of access to the NFC reader or just the same as the SDK?

No one's used it in homebrew yet AFAIK, so there probably is no support built in to the homebrew SDK for it.

 

[QuarkTheAwesome]

Homebrew has full access to all the hardware - if you're game to make a CFW for it :3

 

[bennyman123abc]

Homebrew has full access to all the hardware - if you're game to make a CFW for it :3

Are you implying that we need a CFW to gain NFC access? Can't we just use IOSUHax if it requires extra permission?

 

[QuarkTheAwesome]

Are you implying that we need a CFW to gain NFC access? Can't we just use IOSUHax if it requires extra permission?

Depends on what kind of access is needed versus what kind of access Nintendo provides. I'd suspect that the Wii U only has code for writing to some kind of save area available to the PowerPC, and nothing for writing on a lower level. If this is true, it would mean that no matter how good your permissions are, you can't write from the PowerPC. Of course the ARM has full hardware access, but to run code on it you need to put it in a CFW.
If Nintendo does provide low-level functions, then yeah, loose permissions is all you need.

 

[bennyman123abc]

Depends on what kind of access is needed versus what kind of access Nintendo provides. I'd suspect that the Wii U only has code for writing to some kind of save area available to the PowerPC, and nothing for writing on a lower level. If this is true, it would mean that no matter how good your permissions are, you can't write from the PowerPC. Of course the ARM has full hardware access, but to run code on it you need to put it in a CFW.
If Nintendo does provide low-level functions, then yeah, loose permissions is all you need.

Where could I find what processor has what permissions to what hardware? Is it documented on WiiUBrew or do I need to look in the "magical manuals"?

 

[Deleted User]

Where could I find what processor has what permissions to what hardware? Is it documented on WiiUBrew or do I need to look in the "magical manuals"?

Google. Wii U has two processors, ARM one and PowerPC one. ARM one governors PowerPC one so you should look at ARM one first.

 

[QuarkTheAwesome]

Where could I find what processor has what permissions to what hardware? Is it documented on WiiUBrew or do I need to look in the "magical manuals"?

Generally, the ARM can do anything, and the PowerPC can only do what the ARM tells it to (which depends on the title in action and cos.xml.)

I took a quick peek at wiiubrew and there does seem to be a low-level NFC library so I'd start looking into that ASAP if I were you, could save yourself a lot of work!

 

[bennyman123abc]

Generally, the ARM can do anything, and the PowerPC can only do what the ARM tells it to (which depends on the title in action and cos.xml.)

I took a quick peek at wiiubrew and there does seem to be a low-level NFC library so I'd start looking into that ASAP if I were you, could save yourself a lot of work!

There are high and low level API's for NFC. ntag.rpl and nsysccr.rpl. nsysccr.rpl seems more like generic gamepad communication however so, I have no clue whether I can use it or not.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

There are high and low level API's for NFC. ntag.rpl and nsysccr.rpl. nsysccr.rpl seems more like generic gamepad communication however, so I have no clue whether I can use it or not.

 

[Jbrighton]

Hey guys! If you read the title, you'll understand the question I have but, I will further elaborate on it so I don't just make a blank post. Now before we get started, I realize this is probably a dumb question but, I will ask anyway. So, I was reading one of the Amiibo card threads and reading how people print them out and how I want some of those fancy cards myself. However, it occurred to me that I do not own any device except for the Wii U with built-in NFC functionality. (Also, it occurred to me that I don't have the money to get cards printed at Staples either but, that's not the point ) So, I was wondering if it would be possible to develop Homebrew (or develop an application with the Cafe SDK) that could write the Amiibo .bin files to blank NTAG215 pieces. Any answer (that's a positive response) is appreciated and I thank you for taking the time to read this message. As always, happy hacking!

~Ben

There's an app for that.

How would I go about developing something like this? Is there any documentation on using the NFC reader/writer in Homebrew?

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[OrGoN3]

Hey guys! If you read the title, you'll understand the question I have but, I will further elaborate on it so I don't just make a blank post. Now before we get started, I realize this is probably a dumb question but, I will ask anyway. So, I was reading one of the Amiibo card threads and reading how people print them out and how I want some of those fancy cards myself. However, it occurred to me that I do not own any device except for the Wii U with built-in NFC functionality. (Also, it occurred to me that I don't have the money to get cards printed at Staples either but, that's not the point ) So, I was wondering if it would be possible to develop Homebrew (or develop an application with the Cafe SDK) that could write the Amiibo .bin files to blank NTAG215 pieces. Any answer (that's a positive response) is appreciated and I thank you for taking the time to read this message. As always, happy hacking!

~Ben

Get an Android smartphone with an NFC reader in it. Done. Or get a cheap NFC set up for your PC. I saw someone do a setup guide for around $40 with an Arduino Uno.

 

[Deleted User]

Get an Android smartphone with an NFC reader in it. Done. Or get a cheap NFC set up for your PC. I saw someone do a setup guide for around $40 with an Arduino Uno.

I think, you can do that even with Banana Pro.

 

[bennyman123abc]

There's an app for that.

Get an Android smartphone with an NFC reader in it. Done. Or get a cheap NFC set up for your PC. I saw someone do a setup guide for around $40 with an Arduino Uno.

I think, you can do that even with Banana Pro.

The entire point of this is to be able to flash NTAG's without spending any extra $$$ on a reader/writer. Why not use the NFC reader/writer we all already have?

 

[OrGoN3]

The entire point of this is to be able to flash NTAG's without spending any extra $$$ on a reader/writer. Why not use the NFC reader/writer we all already have?

Most people have NFC on their phone.

 

[bennyman123abc]

Most people have NFC on their phone.

Others don't however which is why I am taking this approach