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

ukigh4ie

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RunningSnakes

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Im in the process of uploading reference packs 6, 7, 9, 10 and the new release V10 Final will be uploaded shortly after.

As i mentioned before, there will no longer be an Alternative folder but could not in good concious exclude many plugins that i intended. So only some of the Hexaeco cores are not included since they are inferior to the original RA cores and basically the same otherwise.

I tried to include only emulators that perform very well to excellent and if any dol/core was already present (wiimednafen, vbagx, etc.) all plugins/ini that use these particular dols were included.

There are 3 notable exclusions in this release...
NDS (very slow, limited compatibility)
PicoDrive Mega CD (no save, rough)
Wii2600 (no save option)...if you would like any of these to be included, please post asap.

I did update 5-6 emulators and included the new PS1 2022 emulator, TIC-80 RA, and added RA PCE/TG16 Fast plugins. The Extras has been updated also with a few more inclusions.

The included plugins text has been updated with BIOS info if they are required but i have not yet shown where the files are to placed (a work in progress but not close to complete).

My internet speed has been poor this weekend so the uploads may not be available for a few more hours.
 

matto21

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Im in the process of uploading reference packs 6, 7, 9, 10 and the new release V10 Final will be uploaded shortly after.

As i mentioned before, there will no longer be an Alternative folder but could not in good concious exclude many plugins that i intended. So only some of the Hexaeco cores are not included since they are inferior to the original RA cores and basically the same otherwise.

I tried to include only emulators that perform very well to excellent and if any dol/core was already present (wiimednafen, vbagx, etc.) all plugins/ini that use these particular dols were included.

There are 3 notable exclusions in this release...
NDS (very slow, limited compatibility)
PicoDrive Mega CD (no save, rough)
Wii2600 (no save option)...if you would like any of these to be included, please post asap.

I did update 5-6 emulators and included the new PS1 2022 emulator, TIC-80 RA, and added RA PCE/TG16 Fast plugins. The Extras has been updated also with a few more inclusions.

The included plugins text has been updated with BIOS info if they are required but i have not yet shown where the files are to placed (a work in progress but not close to complete).

My internet speed has been poor this weekend so the uploads may not be available for a few more hours.
reference packs 8 ?
 
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RunningSnakes

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reference packs 8 ?
I actually deleted V8. It was very short lived with many mistakes. It did not offer anything worthwhile after V9 was released which was a major core/emulator update pack. If anyone still has V8, please PM me with a download link and i'll be more than happy to make it available for download with the other packs.
 

RunningSnakes

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After thinking this release over, i have decided to make this release V11. The folder structure has been changed and i think thate are enough other changes to warrant its own release version.
 

chrondelta

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I actually deleted V8. It was very short lived with many mistakes. It did not offer anything worthwhile after V9 was released which was a major core/emulator update pack. If anyone still has V8, please PM me with a download link and i'll be more than happy to make it available for download with the other packs.
i gotchu
V8.1 https://www.mediafire.com/file/9gmtck8u95cly06/Wiiflow+Plugins+Pack+V8.1.rar/file
V8 https://www.mediafire.com/file/mt946he73lwyfx6/Wiiflow+Plugins+Pack+V8.zip/file (still uploading as of the moment i make this post)
 
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matto21

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Thank you @chrondelta. @matto21 sent me the 8.1 download and i have it uploaded my friend. Just have to create the links.
Are you guys ok with this next release being V11? The wii2600 exclusion still hurts since i used that emulator for so long, but it really is sub-par compared to the 2 RA emulators.
wiisxrx_2022
in SD it works fine
USB does not work (black screen)
 

RunningSnakes

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Plugins Pack V11 is up, 220 plugins available.
Merged all plugins after removing Alternative folder.

Updated plugins ...
New plugins...
Removed plugins...
Folder cleaning...

After experimenting with 2 plugin folders (Main-Alternative), it is not worth the hassle of maintaining my opinion of which are best or less plugins. What plugins are included are all very good or excellent while trying to include at least 2 options if worthy.

I find myself going back to WiiMednafen plugins and realizing how great this multi-emulator still performs.

There are still a handful of plugins in the pack i do not have much experience with and hopefully ill be able to invest some time into these soon.
 

ukigh4ie

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whoops, i forgot about my Commodore Demoscene button, for which you would need the platform.ini file I custom use. I should probably just go back and de-customize it, but w/e. This belongs in \wiiflow\plugins_data on your SD card.

Please check the line for LEADHEAD

Code:
#LedHead
4c656448=MATTEL

The buttons and background are named LedHead*.png. So background picture is not shown.
 

chrondelta

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Not sure what you mean. On my end it looks fine? Also, i didn't make those backgrounds and buttons for LEDHead

Edit: I did just notice that the non-sourceflow button for Pokemini IS distorted and doesn't look right, so i'll try to fix that. But i'm not sure what problems you are experiencing with the other things.
 
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locomia

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Can I just install this new 11 release over 10.1? Or should I cleanup files first and do a clean install? (I am also using Rhapsodii Shima and wiimpathy's database)

Off-topic : Some goodies in 10.1 package didn't work here: Descent, Kof: flames of courage, hotel theme and a bit others (maybe I have some missing files?)

Some of them worked : Tyrian, Abuse (cool game 👍) and that metroidvania-style game.. Not tested everything though..
 
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RunningSnakes

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@locomia

I would suggest a clean removal, but you can...

1. Delete current wiiflow/plugins folder.
2. Copy & Paste V11 wiiflow/plugins folder to your SD/USB.
3. Copy & Paste V11 wiiflow/plugins_data folder to your SD/USB.
4. Copy & Paste wiisxrx folder to your SD/USB.
 

RunningSnakes

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@niuus updated Snes9xRX to version 5.1.0. Copy & Paste the folders & file to your SD/USB.

Edit:

I also meant but forgot to include these NES & Game Boy palettes with the Extras. So ill link them here if anyone wants these.

One folder works with WiiMednafen NES and Game Boy with instructions.

The other folder works with RetroArch Gambatte and FCEUmm/Nestopia with instructions.
 

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  • Snes9xRX 5.1.0.zip
    2.5 MB · Views: 40
  • RetroArch & WiiMednafen Palettes.zip
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Last edited by RunningSnakes,

chrondelta

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I whipped up a database and assets for a TIC-80 plugin button. Maybe at some point I'll figure out what @ukigh4ie is talking about with the incorrect image formats. If someone could point out to me the issues, i might be able to fix them. That being said, i seem to be having problems saving things as 32Bit RGBA instead of 24 bit RGB when there are no transparent pixels in the image. So what I submit here is the best i got for now, and it all seems to work for me.

I have also included a sound effect for TIC-80 as well as a plugin update that references the new sound effect. These assets are for widescreen.

There's a lot of missing snapshots and cart_disks, and screenscraper's database isn't current. That being said, i have made a script that should trivialize the process of creating new DB files out of a gamelist.xml that can be pulled from the gamelist section of screenscraper.fr's "Skraper" tool.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/wrvpticxtsd2870/TIC80fullDB.7z/file

I still have yet to adjust the boxcovers too.
 

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  • TIC80.png
    TIC80.png
    165.7 KB · Views: 22
  • TIC80.png
    TIC80.png
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  • TIC80.png
    TIC80.png
    3 KB · Views: 22
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fledge68

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I whipped up a database and assets for a TIC-80 plugin button. Maybe at some point I'll figure out what @ukigh4ie is talking about with the incorrect image formats. If someone could point out to me the issues, i might be able to fix them. That being said, i seem to be having problems saving things as 32Bit RGBA instead of 24 bit RGB when there are no transparent pixels in the image. So what I submit here is the best i got for now, and it all seems to work for me.

I have also included a sound effect for TIC-80 as well as a plugin update that references the new sound effect. These assets are for widescreen.

There's a lot of missing snapshots and cart_disks, and screenscraper's database isn't current. That being said, i have made a script that should trivialize the process of creating new DB files out of a gamelist.xml that can be pulled from the gamelist section of screenscraper.fr's "Skraper" tool.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/wrvpticxtsd2870/TIC80fullDB.7z/file

I still have yet to adjust the boxcovers too.
LMAO at your icon pic and text!
 
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AdamCatalyst

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I THINK i'm optimizing my PNGs, but could you clarify what it means to do so? I've just ben mostly using photoshop to make new buttons and stuff and assuming it's at the best settings. If you can tell me what the correct settings or the correct thing to do is, i can go back and make sure that's done. So far i haven't encountered problems with it though.

I can pipe in here real quick!

As for optimizing images, there are two concerns:

1. Taking up as little space (and bandwidth) as possible for the images. It is important to note that (unless something has changed) this as NO affect on the storage space taken up by the rendered boxes in Wiiflow. They each take up the same amount of storage space.

2. Avoiding crashes or errors in Wiiflow when converting images to boxes. It is important to understand this this ONLY affects Wiiflow when it is converting images to boxes, and runs into an out of memory error. Once the boxes are created, they each take up the same amount of memory load.

So, to address #1, I have tried numerous PNG optimization algorithms, and have found that there is a surprisingly wide range of performance from various algorithms, with the exact same pixel for pixel quality. Some of them will create very bloated PNG files and some will create very small PNGs that are incompatible with Wiiflow. The best I have found, is the algorithm used in recent versions of Photoshop. If you choose the "Smallest file size (Slowest Saving)" option, it will write files that are within ~1–2% of the smallest file sizes achievable, with seemingly 100% Wiiflow compatibility.

Now, if you want to go even further with #1, and address #2, you need to save the PNG with a reduced colour palette. There are numerous ways to do this, I won't detail them here. The more you reduce the colour palette the worse the image looks, but it also tends to get much smaller. In some cases the loss in quality is barely perceptible. This obviously saves more space for problem #1, and I am told that it allows Wiiflow to convert way more images to boxes at once in #2.

My personal $0.02 is to just bother with #1. People can always convert images to boxes on a PC, or in batches (I've never had a problem doing 300 at a time). However, some people may appreciate the effort with #2, or providing both.

If anyone has any additional info they can share on #2, please do! I have literally never seen this error myself, so I know very little about it.
 

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  • Screen Shot 2022-06-29 at 12.28.13 PM.png
    Screen Shot 2022-06-29 at 12.28.13 PM.png
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