Hacking The Great Quest for Wiiflow Plugins™ - A call for adventurers!

Ripster · Dec 16, 2020

I'm having trouble getting WiiApple II to work with the covers. I'm not sure if it's an plugin issue or anything else. The covers are showing up correct, but as soon as I'm loading a game (.dsk format) it just kicks me to the WiiApple II screen. By pressing F2 for restart didn't work either. Any clues?

Tetsuo Shima · Dec 16, 2020

Ripster said:
I'm having trouble getting WiiApple II to work with the covers. I'm not sure if it's an plugin issue or anything else. The covers are showing up correct, but as soon as I'm loading a game (.dsk format) it just kicks me to the WiiApple II screen. By pressing F2 for restart didn't work either. Any clues?

Same thing for me. I never fully understood how this emulator works and never managed to run a game on it (and on the TRS80 and VG5000 as well). They're old systems I'm unfamiliar with.
No one responded to my help requests, so I limited mysef to just include them in the pack as they are.

Tetsuo Shima · Dec 16, 2020

pcjco said:
@Tetsuo Shima In the HEXAECO configuration files [LCD TV].rar there are missing .cfg files that are referenced in some of the RA-HEXAECO plugins:

intellivision.cfg (from Intellivision_RA-HEXAECO.ini)

gbc.cfg (from gambatte_GBC_RA-HEXAECO.ini)

fba_neogeo_vm.cfg (from neogeo_vm_RA-HEXAECO.ini)

fba_cps3.cfg (from FBA_CPS3_RA-HEXAECO.ini)

Yes, I'm aware of this.
These cfg files will be automatically created by Retroarch, as I've edited every .dol to do it.
Saving configurations is still working.
But I didn't configured them for LCD displays for various reasons:
- GBC: I couldn't set the grid scanlines properly on RA-Hexaeco. It works differently than in standard Retroarch, and I couldn't reproduce a pixel perfect scanline resolution on it. Looks blurry and horrible, no reason to include it. Retroarch is the way to go.
- FBA Neogeo VM: shame on me. I've yet to try it. I don't play these games, not my cup of tea, so I still have to convert the roms to be able to play the games. I always forget to do it.
- CPS3: similar to the above reason, plus I know they still don't run fullspeed.
- Intellivision: my bad, I forgot it.

pcjco · Dec 17, 2020

Tetsuo Shima said:
- FBA Neogeo VM: shame on me. I've yet to try it. I don't play these games, not my cup of tea, so I still have to convert the roms to be able to play the games. I always forget to do it.

I have issues with FBA Neogeo VM and NeoGeo VM (RA-HEXAECO) and have not been able to use them correctly with wiiflow yet (but dol works as standalone app)

Arcade\FBA_VM\dols\fbalpha2012_*.dol seems to not be edited (use the string "retroarch.cfg" when reading in Hex editor)
NeoGeo VM works from wiiflow but seems to not read the retro_neo.cfg file in usb:\retroarch\ and always read/write some config files from/to sd:\retroarch\. Even if .dol is edited to use "retro_neo.cfg" and if wiiflow is using USB and rompartition=-1 in neogeo_vm.ini. But I have a similar issue if I install FBA NeoGeo VM 0.6 as a standalone app. It seems to only works if it is installed in sd:\apps, that's maybe why.
NeoGeo VM (RA-HEXAECO) can be launched and run games if used as a standalone app in usb:\apps but have a DSI crash after unibios logo when the same game is launched directly from wiiflow neogeo_vm_RA-HEXAECO plugin

Tetsuo Shima · Dec 17, 2020

yes, as stated in the readme, the cfg files are configured for wiiflow in SD,
You can hex edit them and replace every SD instance into USB

Ripster · Dec 17, 2020

Tetsuo Shima said:
Same thing for me. I never fully understood how this emulator works and never managed to run a game on it (and on the TRS80 and VG5000 as well). They're old systems I'm unfamiliar with.
No one responded to my help requests, so I limited mysef to just include them in the pack as they are.

This might not have to do with the plugins because I did not change anything, but I think you will like this information regarding VG5000! I actually mange to boot up the emulator with wiiflow (with covers and everything) and the game runs! It seems that there must be a Keyboard connected when booting it. Also the dcvg5k should be on an SD card (even tho wiibrew telling it should work with USB as well) That's what I did to make it boot.

Wiimpathy · Dec 18, 2020

The bug and 'solution' for the vg5000 plugin has already been pointed by @Zael here : https://gbatemp.net/threads/the-gre...l-for-adventurers.563575/page-24#post-9258022
The emulator's ini is hardcoded in sd:/apps/dcvg5k/dcvg5k.ini. That's why it's failing without the dcvg5k folder.

USB keyboard is not essential to start the games. You only need it to play non-action games where the mapped buttons on wiimote aren't enough.

TRS80(sdltrs) is another story. Not as simple to run games. The default setup won't work with all games. The readme tries to explain the basics and different commands to load. There was no real standard in computer systems back then.
Pretty hard to have a simple emulator/plugin for this, or writing clear and concise instructions.

Ripster · Dec 20, 2020

Wiimpathy said:
The bug and 'solution' for the vg5000 plugin has already been pointed by @Zael here : https://gbatemp.net/threads/the-gre...l-for-adventurers.563575/page-24#post-9258022
The emulator's ini is hardcoded in sd:/apps/dcvg5k/dcvg5k.ini. That's why it's failing without the dcvg5k folder.

USB keyboard is not essential to start the games. You only need it to play non-action games where the mapped buttons on wiimote aren't enough.

TRS80(sdltrs) is another story. Not as simple to run games. The default setup won't work with all games. The readme tries to explain the basics and different commands to load. There was no real standard in computer systems back then.
Pretty hard to have a simple emulator/plugin for this, or writing clear and concise instructions.

I see, glad it's sorted out now! TRS80 I'm still trying to figure out how to run it. All I get is a message saying "Memory Size?" nothing else. WiiAppleII I finally mange to run the games tho, but it won't load with WiiFlow, unfortunately. To make it run, I put the roms folder in apps/wiiapple/roms then hit F2 to run the game. I did not mange to get it work by having the roms in the root of SD card. I might have just been lucky, I don't know. Maybe something needs to be changed in the WiiApple.ini to make it run with wiiflow? Since I had to hit F2 by running it via the homebrew.

Wiimpathy · Dec 20, 2020

About TRS80, I know it's not fun but have you read the README. You don't say which game you're trying... Well, anyway.

Example:

- Launch Apple Panic in WiiFlow. Once the emulator starts, you should see the Newdos screen.
- Open main menu with Home button. Select Virtual Keyboard, select DIR and press A button.
- Press + button to validate the command. It lists the executable: APPLE/CMD.
- With the Virtual Keyboard(or much better with an usb keyboard!), type APPLE. And press + button.
- Bingo. You can admire a great animation and hear this wonderful digitized voice from the past!

Notes
A real keyboard is very, very helpful. Even for starting games. With the virtual one, you can only type 1 letter at a time. There are a few commands in there but it's still annoying. The controllers input is quite bad. Maybe the games themselves and my code surely.
It's still very interesting and refreshing to see the inventiveness in some games with the limitations of these computers.

Zael · Dec 25, 2020

Wiimpathy said:
The bug and 'solution' for the vg5000 plugin has already been pointed by @Zael here : https://gbatemp.net/threads/the-gre...l-for-adventurers.563575/page-24#post-9258022
The emulator's ini is hardcoded in sd:/apps/dcvg5k/dcvg5k.ini. That's why it's failing without the dcvg5k folder.

I was testing some ways to solve definitively this dcvg5k.ini issue. I tried to make an empty and unwritable dcvg5k.ini but it didn't work. But yesterday I found a way to make a working dcvg5k.ini file. I proudly present the "Ultimate Dcvg5k Solution" :teach:

:

1) Make (with Notepad) an empty, plain, "dcvg5k.ini"
2) Compress it to "dcvg5k.zip"
3) Rename it again to "dcvg5k.ini"
4) Open it, erase all its content and type something like "hola" ("hello")
5) Copy to sd:/apps/dcvg5k folder
6) Play and change your VG5000 games from Wiiflow everytime you want without the bug...

But the most bizarre thing about this is that when you run VG5000, it re-writes again the file, making the very same "dcvg5k.ini" (60bytes and rare characthers inside) that never worked before. But it works now... don't ask me why. :wacko:

In order to make things easier I leave here the "dcvg5K.ini" that is working for me now (I uploaded it on an external server because the forum server doesn't allow to upload .ini files):

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/778265058752200744/792063030913269771/dcvg5k.ini

I hope this could help those with the same problem and if it works add it on next plugins pack. Thanks again to all of you for keeping alive the Wii scene and merry Christmas to all of you! :grog:

Zael · Dec 25, 2020

Ripster said:
I see, glad it's sorted out now! TRS80 I'm still trying to figure out how to run it. All I get is a message saying "Memory Size?" nothing else.

About TRS80 emulator, as @Wiimpathy said, the README file has all the clues to get full management of this emulator. As he said, pressing HOME button a green virtual keyboard appears on screen...

It is very slow because types only one by one character, but it works great. But if you can't get this virtual keyboard on screen it may be cause you are using SDLTSR 0.1, instead of SDLTSR 0.2 by @Wiimpathy (this happened to me). If so, get the 0.2 version on this thread...

https://gbatemp.net/threads/sdltrs-xroar-trs-80-tandy-coco-and-dragon32-64-emulators.469317/

Aslo, you must have in your disk folder a file named "Newdos80.dsk" along with the other games, if not, your games may not run.

Last, if you play often some TRS80 games, you can load them the first time (through virtual keyboard syntax mode), but then make a savestate (.ts8) that you can add to your games folder and load the games directly next time you play. This is also well explained on README.txt.

As @Wiimpathy said, this old computer emulators (VG5000, TRS80, BBC Micro,Thomson, etc.) may seem boring and hard to configure, but with a keyboard and a CRT screen these emulators become an incredible opportunity to know about them and enjoy them fully. Keep a try!

P.D.: About WiiApple I didn't have any problem. Some games likes Karateka or Donkey Kong run properly and the can be played fully with Wiimote, try with that games. I'll check if this emulator requires some bios files or something similar.

Tetsuo Shima · Dec 25, 2020

Thanks @Wiimpathy @Zael . Your help with these computers emulators is really appreciated.
The Plugins pack will receive an update... someday. Time is scarce, and I was thinking about including blank covers for every plugin. This will take some time...
Here's a sample:

pcjco · Dec 28, 2020

Hi @Tetsuo Shima , inside Pack v5, in plugins\Arcade\FBA 2012\FBA_NeoGeo_libretro.ini, the magic number should be 464E454F (and not 4e474c52 which is the magic string already used for a different DOL in plugins\Arcade\FBA_VM\neogeo_vm.ini)

pcjco · Dec 28, 2020

About the same NeoGeo topic, for the large memory titles, there are 2 Neo-Geo VM plugins (neogeo_vm.ini and neogeo_vm_RA-HEXAECO.ini) which both use a separate romdir than other neo-geo roms (roms\neogeo_vm) which is better but one of this neogeo_vm plugin is using a coverfolder=neogeo and the other one is using coverfolder=neogeo_vm. I would propose to use coverfolder=neogeo for both of these neogeo_vm plugins as I dont see any advantage to split neogeo covers between large and small titles.

Tetsuo Shima · Dec 28, 2020

@pcjco You're right. Thanks for spotting these issues, your help is really appreciated!

SuperrSonic · Jan 24, 2021

Made a small update to RA-HEXAECO:

- Added an alt Genesis Plus GX core that disables need_fullpath, this allows RA to load roms from zip/7z to memory without writing to sd/usb, so it's faster but breaks SCD support. A zipped 8MB Genesis rom takes 30 seconds to load on my slow sd card, with this new core it takes 2 seconds.
- Both GPGX builds have a setting for tiled rendering, when paired with 'auto-switch res' allows displaying the full border without any scaling.
- Added the particle effect system from official RA.

Tetsuo Shima · Jan 24, 2021

Thanks @SuperrSonic !
Your RA Hexaeco is really a masterpiece! By the way, do you plan to ever include the C64 and Dosbox cores?

Tetsuo Shima · Jan 25, 2021

SuperrSonic said:
it's faster but breaks SCD support

Is SegaCD the only platform affected? Does it work good with Master System, Game Gear and SG-1000 aswell?
So, to summarize I'd have to set:
- genplus_gx_fastboot.dol for Genesis. MS, GG, SG1000
- genplusgx.dol for Sega CD
...and there's a genesis_plus_gx.dol. What does it do?

I see that most of the cores are dated 01/24/2021, are there any notable changes apart from the GPGX cores?

SuperrSonic · Jan 27, 2021

Tetsuo Shima said:
Is SegaCD the only platform affected? Does it work good with Master System, Game Gear and SG-1000 aswell?
So, to summarize I'd have to set:
- genplus_gx_fastboot.dol for Genesis. MS, GG, SG1000
- genplusgx.dol for Sega CD
...and there's a genesis_plus_gx.dol. What does it do?

I see that most of the cores are dated 01/24/2021, are there any notable changes apart from the GPGX cores?

Games that cannot fit in memory are affected, so SCD only.

genplusgx got renamed back to be less confusing, the update only has 2 genesis plus gx cores.
All cores should have that date, they've all been recompiled to include the particle effects. Nothing else is different, for now I'm looking to not need multiple builds as there are some other cores that could use the speed boost like fba/fbneo and the pc-engine cores. As for dosbox and c64, I can put them on the todo list.

Tototi · Jan 27, 2021

SuperrSonic said:
Games that cannot fit in memory are affected, so SCD only.

genplusgx got renamed back to be less confusing, the update only has 2 genesis plus gx cores.
All cores should have that date, they've all been recompiled to include the particle effects. Nothing else is different, for now I'm looking to not need multiple builds as there are some other cores that could use the speed boost like fba/fbneo and the pc-engine cores. As for dosbox and c64, I can put them on the todo list.

__________________________________

SuperrSonic, I saw that you created a version of WiiSX that, among other things, supports 240p video mode. This is amazing. I wonder if you could make it available to the community.

Hacking The Great Quest for Wiiflow Plugins™ - A call for adventurers!

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