Homebrew Question Is GC/Wii emulation on the Switch a stupid idea? Because it sure looks that way...

[Treeko]

I don't expect gamecube/wii emulation on the switch whether it be through official means by Nintendo or through the homebrew scene, the reasons are simple the hardware is just not capable enough, sure Nvidia achieved wii/gc emulation on shield tv, but they didn't have to deal with a system that is a portable piece of hardware like the switch, not to mention that the switch severely underclocks the gpu in handheld mode for better battery life, these 2 points are fundamental design choices Nintendo made while developing the switch, which means they didn't have plans for virtual console from the beginning, I'd be surprised if Nintendo releases snes/N64 games as part of the online subscription in the future.

 

[Paolosworld]

@Foxi4
What the heck man why’d you get rid of my homie @Conex and his posts?
We were just kidding man I wasn’t getting aggressive.
If you just got rid of the one word reply threads then that would make sense tho

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Nintendont is a loader, not an emulator, it just uses the GC system built into the Wii’s OS to play the games.

no lol nothing like that, there us no such thing as a gc system built in wii os lol.

gc is ppc and uses gx cpu, the wii is ppc also and uses the same gx cpu, what nintendont does is translate gc calls into wii calls so the wii mode understands what to show and whatnot, there is no gc bubble or gc os built into wii mode lol, but wii mode on wiiu uses the same ppc cpu that wiiu uses underclocked and has its own gpu called gx, while wiiu mode has another gpu called gx2, and yes the wiiu has 2 gpus in it.

There *is* a GC compatibility layer in Wii Mode in the form of BC and MIOS but the Wii U's vWii doesn't use them. Nintendont is essentially an open source recreation of that, with more features.

 

[Paolosworld]

There *is* a GC compatibility layer in Wii Mode in the form of BC and MIOS but the Wii U's vWii doesn't use them. Nintendont is essentially an open source recreation of that, with more features.

Somebody already pointed that out but thanks anyway. There were a number of things I got wrong in that original post.

To be real the thread was already answered a long time ago, the only reason why it’s still popping up is because people are still discussing stuff about the specs.

EDIT: never mind I didn’t see that you actually corrected the guy, ignore this post.

 

[Silent_Gunner]

If Nintendo & Nvidia can make a gamecube/wii emulator for the shield tv, they can make one for the switch. Dolphin currently isn't up to the task.

Problem is, as far as my understanding goes, an Nvidia SHIELD is using a more OC'ed version of the Tegra X1 chip. Even MVG, an acclaimed Homebrew dev, doubted the possibility of GCN emulation, let alone Wii emulation. The best you could hope for with anything past N64 is ports with code optimized for the Switch hardware as opposed to emulating code and brute forcing it on the Switch. I want to believe that Reicast has a chance on the Switch, but in spite of some big headlines I've seen in regards to N64 emulation, it still isn't perfect, especially with the need to run RA as .nsp to just get it to go. When N64 emulation is out of the beta stages, then DC emulation may be considerable, but we'll have to see. I've heard Lakka runs it OK, but at the cost of everything Lakka is currently missing.

 

[Foxi4]

@Foxi4
What the heck man why’d you get rid of my homie @Conex and his posts?
We were just kidding man I wasn’t getting aggressive.
If you just got rid of the one word reply threads then that would make sense tho

His initial post was reported as abusive (which it seemed to be) and the following posts were either one-word replies, which are prohibited, or replies to the trashed post, hence they were also removed. Please refrain from using profanities in the future, other forum members may be unaware of your inside jokes.

 

[pedro702]

There *is* a GC compatibility layer in Wii Mode in the form of BC and MIOS but the Wii U's vWii doesn't use them. Nintendont is essentially an open source recreation of that, with more features.

mios is not a compatibility layer its basicaly gc os and hardware, the wii has all its gc components inside with the exception of lan connecter and such.

all in all what i mean is nintendont does not use any compatibility layer or mode since they dont exist in wii mode.

 

[Foxi4]

mios is not a compatibility layer its basicaly gc os and hardware, the wii has all its gc components inside with the exception of lan connecter and such.

That's the definition of a compatibility layer, as opposed to sheer emulation - the hardware is backwards compatible and the clock is lowered accordingly. Additionally, normally idle GC-only sectors of the die are activated. Here's a full diagram:

 

[pedro702]

That's the definition of a compatibility layer, as opposed to sheer emulation - the hardware is backwards compatible and the clock is lowered accordingly. Additionally, normally idle GC-only sectors of the die are activated.

what i meant is he said nintendont is a recreation of it which it isnt, we dont underclock the wii cpu, or trigger any gc stuff for registers, nintendont just makes it so the correct message can be readed from wii mode, and also it does emulate some components like controllers, audio stuff and memory cards among others, there are afew components that are emulated because they arent on wiiu wii mode, so you cant trigger them even like mios does.

 

[Foxi4]

what i meant is he said nintendont is a recreation of it which it isnt, we dont underclock the wii cpu, or trigger any gc stuff for registers, nintendont just makes it so the correct message can be readed from wii mode, and also it does emulate some components like controllers, audio stuff and memory cards among others, there are afew components that are emulated because they arent on wiiu wii mode, so you cant trigger them even like mios does.

Oh, I was talking specifically about the Wii, not the Wii U. Things are a wee bit different on Broadway. You're basically taking advantage of the legacy die components.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

what i meant is he said nintendont is a recreation of it which it isnt, we dont underclock the wii cpu, or trigger any gc stuff for registers, nintendont just makes it so the correct message can be readed from wii mode, and also it does emulate some components like controllers, audio stuff and memory cards among others, there are afew components that are emulated because they arent on wiiu wii mode, so you cant trigger them even like mios does.

At its core, it is essentially a recreation of MIOS/BC (translating GC syscalls to Wii ones, that sort of thing - although MIOS runs instead of IOS and accesses hardware directly, whereas Nintendont sits between the software and IOS and lets IOS do the grunt work for most things) but yes, there is far more to it than just that. In layman's terms though, it can be considered a recreation of MIOS/BC.

 

[Techjunky90]

Problem is, as far as my understanding goes, an Nvidia SHIELD is using a more OC'ed version of the Tegra X1 chip. Even MVG, an acclaimed Homebrew dev, doubted the possibility of GCN emulation, let alone Wii emulation. The best you could hope for with anything past N64 is ports with code optimized for the Switch hardware as opposed to emulating code and brute forcing it on the Switch. I want to believe that Reicast has a chance on the Switch, but in spite of some big headlines I've seen in regards to N64 emulation, it still isn't perfect, especially with the need to run RA as .nsp to just get it to go. When N64 emulation is out of the beta stages, then DC emulation may be considerable, but we'll have to see. I've heard Lakka runs it OK, but at the cost of everything Lakka is currently missing.

From my understanding, you bring absolutely nothing to this conversation. You quote me, yet your response has absolutely NOTHING to do with what I said.

 

[Conex]

Wait my post was flagged as abuse?..... literally couldn't be more wrong but okay (Jeez temp has gone down the toilet)

 

[Paolosworld]

Wait my post was flagged as abuse?..... literally couldn't be more wrong but okay (Jeez temp has gone down the toilet)

I think he was referring to my post.
Y'know, the one that told you to fuck off...

I wouldn't be surprised though, every website has a fare share of abusive moderators.

 

[coffinbirth]

From my understanding, you bring absolutely nothing to this conversation. You quote me, yet your response has absolutely NOTHING to do with what I said.

Except it does. The Shield TV has double the clock speed of the Switch, which is why what he is saying is in direct conflict with your claim. Overclocking a Switch to that level will give you battery bulge at the very least, just ask Nat...
That is beside the obvious fact that Joycon controllers and the Pro controller do not have analog triggers, which is absolutely necessary for 1st Party GC titles to even function properly. Official GC emulation on Switch will almost certainly never happen.

 

[pedro702]

Except it does. The Shield TV has double the clock speed of the Switch, which is why what he is saying is in direct conflict with your claim. Overclocking a Switch to that level will give you battery bulge at the very least, just ask Nat...
That is beside the obvious fact that Joycon controllers and the Pro controller do not have analog triggers, which is absolutely necessary for 1st Party GC titles to even function properly. Official GC emulation on Switch will almost certainly never happen.

shield tv emulation is official lol, and no you dont need the triggers for most games, and there is mods you can do to avoid using them or needing them. its not that hard to do a single line of code to change how the pressure works.

 

[coffinbirth]

shield tv emulation is official lol, and no you dont need the triggers for most games, and there is mods you can do to avoid using them or needing them. its not that hard to do a single line of code to change how the pressure works.

Well aware, still doesn't change the fact that it has double the clock speed. And as far as the controls go, you would have to put those analog values...somewhere, which would mean additional inputs for a singular task, i.e. RT + X =RT 1.0 & RT=.5... which would be cumbersome and conflict with onscreen prompts.

 

[ZachyCatGames]

Except it does. The Shield TV has double the clock speed of the Switch, which is why what he is saying is in direct conflict with your claim. Overclocking a Switch to that level will give you battery bulge at the very least, just ask Nat...

That part that has "double the clock speed of the switch" is the CPU, and increasing the CPU clock speed on Switch has already been shown not to cause battery bulge (even at 2ghz)

Edit: Also note. The OC test that resulted in a bulged battery had the CPU and GPU running at full speed without proper fan control in lakka

 

[Paolosworld]

Lol @coffinbirth just got shot down by everyone in the thread.
RIP my dude.

On the other hand, it seems like the switch CPU is better than I thought, on paper overclocking it would be a death wish but it seems like people are having no trouble doing it.

 

[Trice]

Where did you actually get the idea from that the Switch's CPU is weaker than the Wii U's?