Hacking Devolution - Public Release

[ederenzi78]

Hello,

Is there a way for the sample loader to use the same directory structure used by Dios Mios? It uses dirs inside the \games directory, I.E. \games\Star Fox Assoult [XXXX]\game.iso ?

Thanks in advance!

Okay, here's the r196 sample loader mod that I added a little options menu to. I don't have any speed problem games or f-zero but it seemed to set the widescreen and no activity light options just fine for me.
http://www.mediafire.com/?zla6rzzemtgtr2b
left and right to choose and 1,2,x or y to set.
source code included.

TEST & REPORT BUGS PLZ

The options that can be changed
WiFi logging
Widescreen
Drive activity light
F-zero GX to AX patch
Timer fix for excessively fast games.

 

[Maxternal]

Hello,

Is there a way for the sample loader to use the same directory structure used by Dios Mios? It uses dirs inside the \games directory, I.E. \games\Star Fox Assoult [XXXX]\game.iso ?

Thanks in advance!

I might have to give that a try.

 

[biolizard89]

Am I correct in gathering that Ocarina codes aren't implemented yet? If so, any idea if that will be added in the future, or if it's not included because of DRM circumvention concerns?

 

[drakorex]

anyone able to get bmx xxx to run? it always blackscreens for me.

 

[Nintendo Maniac]

My hdd works again with r196

D'OH! New revision? I just randomly checked the latest posts since for whatever reason I'm not getting email notification of this topic anymore.. and sure enough it comes back to bite me - I missed a revision update! I'll just blame it on Mindcrack Ultra Hardcore for distracting me.

*goes to read the posts missed*

EDIT: Timer fix? I wonder if that can fix the too-fast countdown/countup timer in Panel de Pon (in "Nintendo Puzzle Collection). Will definitely test along with the GX -> AX option.

EDIT 2: Now I REALLY have to re-test Nintendo Puzzle Collection since my r188 test has been removed due to being "out of date". >_>

EDIT 3: Panel de Pon's timer now runs at the correct speed in r196, and that's even WITHOUT the timer fix.

Also the GX -> AX seems to use an older version of the code currently available (version 8 as of this post) since Devolution lacks the AX title screen, all the AX racers (Devo only has those you've unlocked in GX), and the Pilot Points screen. I've only tested v4 and even that had the previously-listed content.

On a random note, turns out that Nintendo Puzzle Collection and Mario Party 4 work in Devolution with DiscEX compression! Mario Party 4 is compressed to ~500MB while Nintendo Puzzle Collection gets compressed all the way down to ~150MB!

 

[Maxternal]

Hello,

Is there a way for the sample loader to use the same directory structure used by Dios Mios? It uses dirs inside the \games directory, I.E. \games\Star Fox Assoult [XXXX]\game.iso ?

Thanks in advance!

Okay, here it is. r196 sample loader mod2

http://www.mediafire.com/?7l0jaed0ycptv7s

I added that to my existing mod. Now both ISO files will show up AND any folder that contains a "game.iso" file. (like what DM(L) traditionally uses.)
*What I need someone to test is that it will also add the "disc2.iso" file if present as the second disk ... BUT I don't have any 2 disk games to test myself.

EDIT : Here's the latest version (r200)
http://www.mediafire.com/download/kq5xxl5ktybiaem/gc-devo-mod2-200.zip

 

[zerofalcon]

What I need someone to test is that it will also add the "disc2.iso" file if present as the second disk ... BUT I don't have any 2 disk games to test myself.

First of all, I appreciate your time compiling this mod. I tested RE:CVX and switching to disc 2 is working great, I will test more 2 disc games. Thank you!

 

[someperson_12345]

Wow, nice work tueidj - I've been away from the Wii hacking community for quite a while and am pretty suprised this was created

Future Improvements
Things that are already planned:
- Wiimote support
- BBA emulation
- USB microphone support instead of the GC microphone
Things that may be added:
- GBA connectivity to a GBA emulator via TCP/IP

That GBA connectivity thing has really piqued my interest.
I was thinking of using a DS through wireless multiboot (running in NDS mode), but there's some hardware problems with that (GBA addressing is different to NDS, and ARM7 runs differently in DS mode)
Although it can be POSSIBLE to run Zelda Four Swords Adventures connected to a DS with at least a SLOT2 flash card (though even a slot 1 WITH a slot 2) and run the GBA, no emulator required.
That would be a pretty awesome development IMO

 

[OriginalHamster]

On a random note, turns out that Nintendo Puzzle Collection and Mario Party 4 work in Devolution with DiscEX compression! Mario Party 4 is compressed to ~500MB while Nintendo Puzzle Collection gets compressed all the way down to ~150MB!

Interesting, would you test another games?

 

[nakata6790]

Wasn't this known?

I'll chip in, some games that work with Devo while being trimmed: Crazy Taxi (151MB), Starfox Adventures (about 760MB IIRC), Hitman 2 (~840+ IIRC), James Bond Nightfire (1,1GB IIRC)

 

[Nintendo Maniac]

Interesting, would you test another games?

Not all games work. Midway Arcade Treasures 3 and F-Zero GX are two that do NOT work with DiscEX.

Also, just how DOES the "disc2" thing work? My father has a single two-disc game that I'd like to get working properly, but I don't play the game myself and therefore wouldn't be able to do trial & error since I don't even know where disc2 is used in-game.

 

[Maxternal]

Also, just how DOES the "disc2" thing work? My father has a single two-disc game that I'd like to get working properly, but I don't play the game myself and therefore wouldn't be able to do trial & error since I don't even know where disc2 is used in-game.

If I understand what you're asking, (from what I understand, anyway) if the loader doesn't specifically tell Devolution where to find the second disk it will look directly in the /games folder to find it. If it realized it's started with disc 2 it will try to switch to disc 1 until it's needed. At the point when it's needed I think you press the eject button on the console for it to perform the swap.

The normal sample loader doesn't tell it anything about where disc 2 is so it HAS to be right in the /games folder (but so does disc 1 so that shouldn't be a problem.). Other loaders like WiiFlow, GX, and the sample loader mod I made can also tell it that disc 1 is
/games/blahblah/game.iso
and that disc 2 is
/games/blahblah/disc2.iso
as long as they're named like that (and I think there are some other file names they'll pick up on, depending on which loader it is.)

You'll usually get to a point in a game where it will ask you to switch disks to go on. Also, if you try to open a game save that is before or after that point and you have the wrong disk in the drive it will ask you to make the change at that point.

I'm not sure is any of that was what you were asking.

 

[Nintendo Maniac]

OK, what you told me is what I figured, but there's one thing I don't get...

With the sample loader, all ISOs are in one folder. If you have two games that use 2 discs, how do you set that up? I mean, you can't have two files with the exact same filename, in this case "disc2.iso"

 

[Maxternal]

OK, what you told me is what I figured, but there's one thing I don't get...

With the sample loader, all ISOs are in one folder. If you have two games that use 2 discs, how do you set that up? I mean, you can't have two files with the exact same filename, in this case "disc2.iso"

When the games are directly in the /games folder it doesn't matter the file name. All it basically does is open them all one by one and read the first few bytes of the file until it finds the right file it's looking for and loads it.

The "disc2.iso" is only needed when it's in a subfolder because that's the only filename that DM(L) will look for for a second disk.

 

[Nintendo Maniac]

The "disc2.iso" is only needed when it's in a subfolder because that's the only filename that DM(L) will look for for a second disk.

DM(L)? I was asking about Devolution...

 

[Maxternal]

DM(L)? I was asking about Devolution...

Well, DM(L) is the ONLY reason why that filename is used at all. It's only when using a loader like WiiFlow or GX that was originally made for DM(L) that having the disk images in a separate folders with those names is needed because they make Devolution use the same naming convention they were already using previously with DM(L) instead of also accepting the files that the Devolution sample loader could see. With the sample loader, the DM(L) naming convention is irrelevant. I just added it to my sample loader mod because other loaders CAN'T see the files that the sample loader can see and visa-versa and I thought some people would like to share files between them.

 

[ederenzi78]

Thanks for mod2 Maxternal!
One thing I noticed is that when I cycle through the games, sometimes a new line of text showing the directory is created below the current one.
By the way, can someone help me understand why my Hard disk doesn't work with Devolution? It is formatted in NTFS and as soon as I press X (or Y, I don't remember) in the sample loader I get a DISCID error ...

Thanks!

 

[Maxternal]

Thanks for mod2 Maxternal!
One thing I noticed is that when I cycle through the games, sometimes a new line of text showing the directory is created below the current one.
By the way, can someone help me understand why my Hard disk doesn't work with Devolution? It is formatted in NTFS and as soon as I press X (or Y, I don't remember) in the sample loader I get a DISCID error ...

Thanks!

Hmm, the directory or whatever shown below ... I can only guess that would happen if you have really long names on your files or folders that go off the screen?

Anyway, NTFS is not supported. It has to be FAT32.

 

[Nintendo Maniac]

I wonder what the technical reasoning is for Devolution's requirement of only FAT32... (vs also supporting something like NTFS and/or ext3)

 

[Maxternal]

I wonder what the technical reasoning is for Devolution's requirement of only FAT32... (vs also supporting something like NTFS and/or ext3)

Actually, it supposedly can support other filesystems with the help of a loader since all the loader, itself, actually gets once the Devolution engine starts is the first disk sector of game's disk image so, theoretically, a loader such as CFG, WiiFlow, PostLoader or GX (or a further modded sample loader ... which would, as yet, be beyond my personal programming skills) that supports those filesystems could find the disk image and memory card file for it and just pass it the first sector of each. This would work as long as there wasn't any fragmentation in the files.

It's partially the fault of the sample loader that it isn't supported at the moment. There's also the point that once the loader closes and Devolution itself is running, if it needs to get anything from the disk (like when it wasn't told where disc 2 is and it has to look for it by itself ... same with the DVV files, I think.) THAT part of Devolution was just never programmed to read anything but FAT32 or FAT16 since tueidj wanted to write everything in that part completely from scratch and FAT32/16 is a whole lot easier to program from scratch than any other file system.

(come to think of it, I don't know if there's a place for the loader to pass it the first sector of the DVV file. I'll have to check. If there's not, that would be the ONLY thing stopping it from supporting other filesystems...as long as the drive's well defragmented, that is.)