Hacking Devolution - Public Release

[Nintendo Maniac]

If you're playing on a Wii U, then it's the fault of the Wii U upscaling everything to 1280x720 or 1920x1080, however some TVs let you override the aspect ratio and set it to non-widescreen. If you're playing on a Wii then it's purely the fault of your TV and you need to set your TV to a non-widescreen picture mode.

Remember, just like normal Wii games, the source signal is standard definition, and there never was a standardized widescreen signal implemented for standard definition content - the "widest" signal you could get was 720x480, which is "only" a 3:2 aka 15:10 ratio (same as the GBA) which is not as wide as 16:9.


As for the stretching of 2D graphics when using the widescreen hack, most widescreen hacks work that way - that's because there isn't extra 2D content that is offscreen which can be shown - it just doesn't work that way, hence why the 2D consoles like the NES SNES do not have widescreen hacks.

 

[Jinroh]

So there is no way to have a correct aspect ratio without changing each time the wiiu in 480p 4:3? That's cumbersome.

Even if I managed to override the ratio with my TV, it would compress something which is not 16:9 in 4:3, so the ratio would still be wrong.

Why can't Nintendo let us manage the screen ratio in the vwii settings? That's so lazy. If I can't have a native 4:3, it makes devolution useless to me...

 

[Nintendo Maniac]

Even if I managed to override the ratio with my TV, it would compress something which is not 16:9 in 4:3, so the ratio would still be wrong.

No, it would be correct... The process would be the following:

4:3 Wii source -> 3:2 SD signal stretch -> 16:9 Wii U stretch -> 4:3 TV squish

With standard definition signals, the aspect ratio of the signal was usually NOT the same as the aspect ratio of the content. 720x480 was commonly used by both 4:3 and 16:9 content even though the signal is a 3:2/15:10 ratio.


Of course, if your TV CAN'T do the "4:3 squish", then yeah, you're pretty much screwed. I personally think there should be an option to set the Wii Mode's resolution independently from native Wii U content.

 

[Jinroh]

I tried squeezing it in 4:3, but couldn't. I think it works with components, but not with HDMI on my bravia.

Also, even when I turn my wiiu in 480p 4:3, the ration is wrong. It's the exact same problem I had when running gamecube games on my wii, and I thought it would be fixed thanks to the hdmi signal.

The games end up running in something close to a 3.8:3. I'm very sensitive to aspect ratios, and measured it on the TV. Impossible for me to have a proper 4:3 with my wii or wiiu on this tv, and I don't know what causes it. I read that maybe it was the TV having a bad 4:3 scaling, but couldn't find anything on the internet about that.

So the only alternative is playing these resident evil games using Dolphin. But they don't run well enough, filled with slowdowns, audio glitches, etc. The only other alternative would be to connect the wii on an old SDTV... But I find it incredible that there's no way I can run my gamecube games well on a sony Bravia. :-/

 

[Nintendo Maniac]

Haswell-based CPUs are great for emulators, including Dolphin. Heck even the integrated GPU should be enough for 720p.

(disclaimer: I use an old Brisbane Athlon 64 x2)

Regarding the funky 4:3 aspect ratio, that sounds to me like a compromise between the PAL 640x576 and NTSC 640x480.

 

[Jinroh]

A compromise? But it's tighter in length, not high. So that's weird.

Why would haswell work much better? Do they perform better at the same frequencies? I have an I7-960 at 3.2 GHZ. It's a bit old now, but from what I understand sandy, ivy and haswell's increase in performance lies mostly in a lower energy consumption because of the laptop market they are designed for with their integrated GPU.

 

[Nintendo Maniac]

A compromise? But it's tighter in length, not high. So that's weird

A compromise meaning that it sounds like the TV's ratio is half way between the ratio of NTSC and PAL. This would minimize distortion of both resolutions. NTSC is 1.333... PAL is 1.111... Your TV, from your rough measurement, is something like 1.25.

hy would haswell work much better? Do they perform better at the same frequencies? I have an I7-960 at 3.2 GHZ. It's a bit old now, but from what I understand sandy, ivy and haswell's increase in performance lies mostly in a lower energy consumption because of the laptop market they are designed for with their integrated GPU.

We don't really know exactly way, but there are some theories, the main one being that Haswell beefed up the SSE portions of the CPU. See this topic for more info on Haswell's emulator performance:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1402557/...y-fast-at-emulation-20-over-ivy-30-over-sandy

 

[EtahnJay144]

Thanks tueidj!

Mario Kart DD works perfect, memory card file now works fine.

Will this work on the "Family Edition" Wii, that has no gamecube ports?

 

[EtahnJay144]

Will this work on the "Family Edition" Wii, that has no gamecube ports?

 

[Maxternal]

Will this work on the "Family Edition" Wii, that has no gamecube ports?

yes, read the included readme file for more details.

 

[Nintendo Maniac]

Will this work on the "Family Edition" Wii, that has no gamecube ports?

Yes it will, but to verify the discs you'll need only one of these 3 things:

1. access to a Wii system that you KNOW accepts GameCube discs - this includes some older Family Wii systems
2. a 3-inch disc expander
3. a modified newer Wii disc drive that allows the reading of GameCube discs

 

[EtahnJay144]

Yes it will, but to verify the discs you'll need only one of these 3 things:

1. access to a Wii system that you KNOW accepts GameCube discs - this includes some older Family Wii systems
2. a 3-inch disc expander
3. a modified newer Wii disc drive that allows the reading of GameCube discs

OK thank you! do you think maybe sometime soon someone will change the coding so you dont have to verify the disc

 

[Nintendo Maniac]

OK thank you! do you think maybe sometime soon someone will change the coding so you dont have to verify the disc

The creator of Devolution is extremely insistent on anti-piracy, so that would most likely only happen if he had quite a paradigm shift in his beliefs.

 

[MassiveRican]

OK thank you! do you think maybe sometime soon someone will change the coding so you dont have to verify the disc

Most definitely not.. unfortunately but hey Devo works great so no complaints. Ninja'd

 

[Nintendo Maniac]

Hey look what I found:


Perhaps using a wired GameCube controller in Devolution on a Wii U isn't out of the question after all?

 

[Bart Lemming]

Can I just ask a noob question?

So, all I have to do is copy the gc_devo folder into my apps folder on my Wii SD card, run it through HBC and then I can play GC with the Class Controller? Is it really that easy?

 

[Cyan]

yes, it's that easy.
There is a missing step in your post : Dumping the Disc to ISO file (use CleanRip to do that), and put the ISO into the /games/ folder. you can rename the file if you want to give it the Game's title (Zelda.iso, Mario.iso etc.)

There is another step before playing the game which is done once for each game: You need to verify the ISO against your retail Disc. When you launch a game for the first time, the Wii drive's light is blinking: put your original game disc and wait a little, the game will launch.
This step is done only one time, after that you can play every time without putting the Disc in the drive as long as you use the same Wii+Same device (SD or USB) with your ISO.


If you want to play on WiiU, there are additional steps to follow.

 

[Bart Lemming]

Thanks for the clarification. It will be nice to finally dispense with the 'Cube controller and memory card and make my Wii look pretty again. Nintendo should have had this out the box...

 

[Nintendo Maniac]

Also, you MUST press the Home button on a wiimote and/or CC controller in order to use it after launching Devolution. If your wiimote isn't on, you have to turn it on like normal (press any button) and THEN press the home button.

I personally am not a fan of this requirement (my nearly 60-year-old parents especially have trouble with it) but tueidj is quite insistent on it so as to prevent the Wii from assigning the wrong wiimote order. My only real beef is that it's a two-step process for wiimotes that aren't already on, making the whole process seem a bit nonsensical for such situations.

There's also the fact that no other homebrew nor official Wii game or application follows such wiimote-connection methodology, making it seem somewhat like a case of this:

I seriously feel that there could be a secondary slip-streamed connection alternative in addition to the current home-button method, such as holding A and/or B to autoconnect a wiimote (and mapping the current button commands on A & B to 1 & 2 and X & Y - much like the sample loader already uses). This would allow the user to turn on and connect a wiimote for devolution purely by just holding down the A and/or B button once (preferably syncing to the next empty controller slot, but tueidj claims there are technical issues that may prevent that).

 

[Bart Lemming]

Yeah, it's not the most intuitive but I got there in the end.

Is there an easy way to have a Devolution Channel on my home screen?

Sorry if this has all been answered it's just this is a pretty long thread to sift through!