Hacking Converting emulator files to Virtual Console

[Adrikan]

Is it possible to convert a .sra file so that it can be used with a virtual console game?

I spent the better part of today trying to convert a Dexdrive save into a VC-compatible format, with no luck. Fortunately, I managed to use a few utilities I found to make a very similar save on an emulator, but I've run into a brick wall. All of the information I found on the subject of save conversion dealt with either playing a VC save on a PC, or converting it to run on another emulator on the Wii.

 

[Krestent]

Why not just use a rom and emulator to begin with?

 

[Adrikan]

The game that I'm trying to work with has horrible lag on the emulator I have, and using the Virtual Console gives me access to a substantially larger display. Also, i'm not very good at using keyboards as controllers.

 

[Krestent]

The game that I'm trying to work with has horrible lag on the emulator I have, and using the Virtual Console gives me access to a substantially larger display. Also, i'm not very good at using keyboards as controllers.

You could run the emulator on the Wii.

 

[G0dLiKe]

which game are you trying to play?

 

[Adrikan]

I'm trying to play Ogre Battle 64. I've beaten it several times, and I'd like to test something. There's a character in-game that you can get up to three of on a typical playthrough, and I'd like to see what effect that limitation actually has on gameplay.

 

[Nintendo_Chick]

It's called rom injection, you should be able to figure it out from there.

 

[Adrikan]

I already have the game on my Wii, I just want to convert a save into the format used by the VC. Based on what I've read about ROM Injection, it doesn't seem likely that it will address that.

 

[CEpeep]

You can do this with Wii64:
http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Wii64

You can't currently convert a save to VC format, but you can convert your save to Wii64 format using this tool:
http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=256721

Ogre Battle 64 works pretty well in Wii64, according to the compatibility list:
http://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/Wii64_Compatibility_List

 

[person66]

It isn't entirely true that you can't convert saves to VC format, it is just difficult to do (see here)

Also, I tried ogre battle 64 in wii64, and it is playable (27-36 fps), but all the sprites are white (at least they are in the intro part, I didn't play that long...)

 

[Adrikan]

It isn't entirely true that you can't convert saves to VC format, it is just difficult to do (see here)

Also, I tried ogre battle 64 in wii64, and it is playable (27-36 fps), but all the sprites are white (at least they are in the intro part, I didn't play that long...)

Thanks for telling me this.

I actually got someone to look at some Ogre Battle 64 saves, and they couldn't do anything with them, so I'm starting to wonder if there's some special procedure that needs to be used with this game.

I unpacked my save file with FE100 0.22, and got a folder named 000100014e415945, with files inside it called ###banner###.ppm, ###icon0###.ppm, ###icon1###.ppm, ###icon2###.ppm, ###icon3###.ppm, ###icon4###.ppm, ###icon5###.ppm, ###icon6###.ppm, ###icon7###.ppm, ###title###, and RAM_NOBE. The banner file was 37 kb, the eight icon files were 7 kb each, the title file is 1 kb, and the RAM_NOBE file is 32 kb. Is any of this atypical, and what parts would I be changing if I wanted to edit the save?

 

[Nintendo_Chick]

The best way by far to play n64 roms is on the pc with project64 or 1964. If you can't get it to work with them, you won't get it working on the wii.

 

[Adrikan]

The best way by far to play n64 roms is on the pc with project64 or 1964. If you can't get it to work with them, you won't get it working on the wii.

I already have the Virtual Console version of the game I'm trying to convert saves for, and it plays better than both 1964 and project64 in terms of glitches and framerate. I have yet to play a game on an emulator that didn't perform better on a the platform it was mde for. Given that, what do you base your claim that the emulators are superior on?

 

[CEpeep]

The best way by far to play n64 roms is on the pc with project64 or 1964. If you can't get it to work with them, you won't get it working on the wii.

I already have the Virtual Console version of the game I'm trying to convert saves for, and it plays better than both 1964 and project64 in terms of glitches and framerate. I have yet to play a game on an emulator that didn't perform better on a the platform it was mde for. Given that, what do you base your claim that the emulators are superior on?

The Virtual Console is an emulator itself. At best, you are just arguing about which emulator is better. Anyway, the RAM_NOBE in your save is the RAM dump (your save). In that thread person66 posted, there's some basic instructions for how to get certain types of N64 saves working on the VC.

Open RAM_NOBE and your original Dex Drive save up in hex editors and compare them. If you're lucky, you might just have to do some byte-flipping and possibly add padding if the Dex Drive save isn't 32k. After that, run your new save through FE100 (http://wiibrew.org/wiki/FE100) and see if it works. If you are successful, you should document your process. If this is beyond your skill level, playing the game on a PC N64 emulator or on Wii64 are your best bets.