GCN Has there ever been a "Homebrew Launcher Disk" for GameCube??

Archerite · May 29, 2019

While I was searching if there might have been some kind of Homebrew Channel or Launcher for the GameCube I found this image on google:

source: google search - could not link directly as the site seems to be some kind of auction site in Portuguese (thx: @masterboot for the correction)

Did this disc actually exist at some point or is it just a fake? I think it's fake since Swiss seems to be the best option for everything homebrew and backup related these days. I have been looking at the Wii Homebrew Channel and thought it would be awesome to have it on the GameCube too. Should be possible to port at least some parts of it and merge it with swiss or something

KiiWii · May 29, 2019

SDML or action replay iirc. I had a disc and a gecko looking adaptor that did this.

It’s probably just a custom job.

contezero · May 29, 2019

The name is fake but the Datel SD media launcher was marketed as a homebrew launcher. It came with a printed disk so it can work on non modified gamecubes.

Alexander1970 · May 29, 2019

Hello.

As you say,the only one is SWISS.
I do not know something like an Homebrew Channel like Tool/Disc.

Maybe this interests you:
https://github.com/suloku/dolaunch

Archerite · May 29, 2019

The sd media launcher is my only homebrew method at the moment but getting tired of it, this case just looked so 'real' that I started thinking it might have been a limited thing. But already feared is was a fake like I said. Good job though by the one who made it

Guess that if I want a GCHBL (and I do) I have to start porting it over myself then! The feature I want most is the ability to test my homebrew over the network without swapping SD cards like I can on the Wii and 3DS. Or just finish the mod I started 8 months ago with a XenoGC clone

Thanks for answering my question

@alexander1970: That looks more like something to use with a game exploit, and I have a SD MediaLauncher already so I do not need it. But I do like to learn how things work and did not know that one yet. Thanks

Lumstar · May 30, 2019

Initial boot MUST be a pressed disc. Burning won't work until/unless arbitrary code is already enabled (like with a game exploit).

KleinesSinchen · May 30, 2019

The closest thing to the Homebrew Channel is Swiss at the moment. It does load homebrew after all. Just the time it takes with Datel SD launcher or a save exploit to get there for repeated testing is so tedious.

The best would be to get Wiikey Fusion, WASP Fusion or something like that(Are these still for sale? Would be awesome!) to replace the DVD drive altogether, put Swiss.iso there and the homebrew on the SD(-gecko).

Starting Swiss from DVD with a XenoGC clone is also an option and I got it – finally – to work a few times. The cube does not like this one disc (why?!) and struggles a while before succeeding in loading Swiss but it is a lot faster than starting Windwaker first:

http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=01009940756516981653
(Sorry for the bad video. My only device for videos is a crappy mini camera with a fisheye lens)

contezero · May 30, 2019

KleinesSinchen said:
The best would be to get Wiikey Fusion, WASP Fusion or something like that(Are these still for sale? Would be awesome!)

They are not for sale anymore; you can find them second hand but expect to pay around 100$ or more. There are two replacement being developed, with even more functions but no ETA or price yet. More info in this huge post:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/old-news-for-old-console-2018-2019-roundup.534549/

Another possibility is to install a xeno clone with the payload to start software from a memory card (and this software could be swiss). You need a working drive and a disk but you do not need to burn a disk with swiss, any printed disk should be ok. You can find everything here:
https://github.com/emukidid/xenogcfork

Lumstar · May 30, 2019

KleinesSinchen said:
The closest thing to the Homebrew Channel is Swiss at the moment. It does load homebrew after all. Just the time it takes with Datel SD launcher or a save exploit to get there for repeated testing is so tedious.

The best would be to get Wiikey Fusion, WASP Fusion or something like that(Are these still for sale? Would be awesome!) to replace the DVD drive altogether, put Swiss.iso there and the homebrew on the SD(-gecko).

Starting Swiss from DVD with a XenoGC clone is also an option and I got it – finally – to work a few times. The cube does not like this one disc (why?!) and struggles a while before succeeding in loading Swiss but it is a lot faster than starting Windwaker first:

http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=01009940756516981653
(Sorry for the bad video. My only device for videos is a crappy mini camera with a fisheye lens)

While discs have the overall best game compatibility, it's finicky. The proprietary Gamecube blank discs, readers, and burners, were not available to the public.

Instead, burnt games have to be on regular DVDs the original console (excluding Panasonic Q) was never intended for.

Archerite · May 30, 2019

KleinesSinchen said:
The closest thing to the Homebrew Channel is Swiss at the moment. It does load homebrew after all. Just the time it takes with Datel SD launcher or a save exploit to get there for repeated testing is so tedious.

The best would be to get Wiikey Fusion, WASP Fusion or something like that(Are these still for sale? Would be awesome!) to replace the DVD drive altogether, put Swiss.iso there and the homebrew on the SD(-gecko).

Starting Swiss from DVD with a XenoGC clone is also an option and I got it – finally – to work a few times. The cube does not like this one disc (why?!) and struggles a while before succeeding in loading Swiss but it is a lot faster than starting Windwaker first:

http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=01009940756516981653
(Sorry for the bad video. My only device for videos is a crappy mini camera with a fisheye lens)

I am glad to hear you got swiss working from disc now. The picture I found is by far the worst quality and your video looks like Ultra 4K resolution in comparison

. I have been reading through the sources of the XenoGC and a few clones on github and the struggle you describe might be just part of the patching processes. Or your laser needs some adjustment as I have read that is required for the drive to have better compatibility with burned discs. But that is from what I read and not personal experience. But the loading time you have into swiss now is AWESOME!!!

contezero said:
They are not for sale anymore; you can find them second hand but expect to pay around 100$ or more. There are two replacement being developed, with even more functions but no ETA or price yet. More info in this huge post:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/old-news-for-old-console-2018-2019-roundup.534549/

Another possibility is to install a xeno clone with the payload to start software from a memory card (and this software could be swiss). You need a working drive and a disk but you do not need to burn a disk with swiss, any printed disk should be ok. You can find everything here:
https://github.com/emukidid/xenogcfork

That list of recent projects for different consoles was great and I did not even know there were newer drive emulator projects going on. Thanks. Really need to look at gc-forever a bit more for GameCube stuff later. I have actually been looking to get a WODE or similar thing but could not find any trustworthy looking shop that sells them. I did recently found out about something called "megaDRIVE v3" but can't remember what shop it was. And a quick search for it only gave me the Sega Megadrive...but I do remember it costs $150 so not exactly a cheap option to consider anyway.

The XenoGC clone is the option I am going to start (or continue) with and hopefully get it working in the next few hours on one of my gamecube's I had prepared with wires a few months ago already. For my homebrew development needs I moved almost exclusively to the Wii and 3DS but came back the the GameCube to make sure it still worked on that too. I was quickly reminded why I stopped using it as my primary development machine.....as @KleinesSinchen said the repeated loading time using exploits or the SD MediaLauncher get's tedious. Although as I write this......without the early exploits there would not have been any homebrew possible at all! And while slow the SDML does what it's made for quite well.

I am going to be doing some testing to get a XenoGC clone up and running and hook it up to my GameCube....finally!

Lumstar · May 30, 2019

Yeah the simplicity is a double edged sword. XenoGC is affordable and all that, but other modchips have some nice extra features.

Ryccardo · May 30, 2019

Lumstar said:
The proprietary Gamecube blank discs, readers, and burners, were not available to the public.

Instead, burnt games have to be on regular DVDs the original console (excluding Panasonic Q) was never intended for.

They wouldn't help anyway - they would be dev encrypted* so you'd need to replace your console's optical drive anyway, might as well take some time to adjust your drive for backups as seen on http://www.gbatrump.net/gamecube/gamecube-en.html **

* not exactly (as it actually is with Wii/DSi and newer) but you get the idea

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masterboot · Jun 2, 2019

That is a Portuguese sales website. That is probably a swiss cd because it seems the seller installs xeno gc modchips...

Archerite · Jun 2, 2019

Ryccardo said:
They wouldn't help anyway - they would be dev encrypted* so you'd need to replace your console's optical drive anyway, might as well take some time to adjust your drive for backups as seen on http://www.gbatrump.net/gamecube/gamecube-en.html **

* not exactly (as it actually is with Wii/DSi and newer) but you get the idea

** Advertisement

Reading through that guide and searching for the laser tuning resistence values...I saw there were none!...but the test point there is not what I measured and was worried about like I said here. Measuring across only the potentiomer itself I started at 200Ω and had to go down to 120Ω to get my swiss disc to read at all! Now I might have to remeasure again to find out if the total value is actually perfectly fine after all with the included fixed value resistor in there.

masterboot said:
That is a Portuguese sales website. That is probably a swiss cd because it seems the seller installs xeno gc modchips...

Thanks for clearing up what language the site really was, my bad for not looking more into it. Really nice of the seller to include such a nice case with the XenoGC as an extra service.

Don't get me wrong here since Swiss is awesome and a huge improvement when looking at smaller options included with the XenoGC sources SDLoad and GCOS, but that disc's cover makes me want to either port the homebrew launcher/channel to the GameCube or integrate it's GUI into swiss!

Mostly I would just like a "menu entry" with an icon like HBC on the Wii and an easy way to "upload a dol" through the BBA (don't have an USB Gecko unfortunately)

Deleted User · Jun 29, 2019

Datel already managed it to get a HBL Disc known as SD launcher or something like that.
but i wouldnt buy

Dragon91Nippon · Jan 28, 2021

There is a Product that launches swiss called the NickDisc, but the person who designed it was a moron and didn't include the watermark for it to boot on an unmodified GameCube (FYI I'm pretty sure the NickDisc is a pressed disc so there's no excuse for this.)

Alexander1970 · Jan 28, 2021

Hello.

Dragon91Nippon said:
There is a Product that launches swiss called the NickDisc, but the person who designed it was a moron and didn't include the watermark for it to boot on an unmodified GameCube (FYI I'm pretty sure the NickDisc is a pressed disc so there's no excuse for this.)

This one ?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/NickDisk-S...pter-for-Nintendo-Gamecube-NTSC-/114049732850

The NickDisk Swiss Boot Disc is a brand-new, factory replicated mini-DVD disc.

...strange,the SD2SP2 Adapters are not that long on the "Market" but the Homepage is not there (anymore) ?

mrgone · Jan 28, 2021

FreeLoader? Was that it's name?

KleinesSinchen · Jan 28, 2021

Dragon91Nippon said:
There is a Product that launches swiss called the NickDisc, but the person who designed it was a moron and didn't include the watermark for it to boot on an unmodified GameCube (FYI I'm pretty sure the NickDisc is a pressed disc so there's no excuse for this.)

Is it that easy? I have seen the video by Modern Vintage Gamer about the GameCube (and Wii) optical discs containing a very superficial general explanation how the protection works and how Datel managed to get around it. There is some information about the discs available. The eBay offer @alexander1970 linked above clearly states that a modchip is required.
However, sadly the available information does not give a step-by-step manual how to produce discs that are accepted by a GC (Wii) as legit. If you can do it: Go ahead and do it! That would be awesome and bring the GC to the same state we have on the PS2 since FreeDVDBoot: Insert homebrew disc in unmodified console → Boots

contezero · Jan 28, 2021

KleinesSinchen said:
Is it that easy? I have seen the video by Modern Vintage Gamer about the GameCube (and Wii) optical discs containing a very superficial general explanation how the protection works and how Datel managed to get around it. There is some information about the discs available. The eBay offer @alexander1970 linked above clearly states that a modchip is required.
However, sadly the available information does not give a step-by-step manual how to produce discs that are accepted by a GC (Wii) as legit. If you can do it: Go ahead and do it! That would be awesome and bring the GC to the same state we have on the PS2 since FreeDVDBoot: Insert homebrew disc in unmodified console → Boots

There is already the homebrew launcher from datel, or you can use one of the others softmod available; you only need one of the many supported games (original not burned). It is not possible to create a burned self booting disc, this is why there is no step-by-step procedure. Also many gamecube optical drives do not read burned discs without some tweaking so, since you would need to open the console to calibrate the optical reader, simply install also a 2$ xeno modchip and you're done.

GCN Has there ever been a "Homebrew Launcher Disk" for GameCube??

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