Tutorial  Updated

Emulator and Homebrew to ISO/WBFS on Wii Mode

Hey guys, I found this tutorial that show you how to create emulators and homebrew to iso and/or wbfs on Wii Mode. I also found this on WODE website forum (http://www.wodejukebox.com/) few years ago, but its gone. And I have to copy, paste it, and save on the notepad or wordpad before it deletes. It create same guy (https://gbatemp.net/members/giantpune.173011/) that create PunEmu (https://gbatemp.net/threads/punemu.269893/). And he wrote left this tutorial so it might help you. And He saids:

-I have recently created a Wii image (.wbfs file) that lets you store emulators and roms on your wode HDD and play the game from the disc channel or a homebrew game loader. This is working in WII mode, so you can use all your classic controllers and wiimotes. I thought I would share the process for those of you that wanted to try it out for yourself.

-Before I get into the nitty-gritty, heres a video of the thing in action...

.

-I do not have anything all packed up, so this will require some coding and/or haxxoring on your part. This IS the homebrew forum, so I assume that people here will have knowledge of making and using wii hombrew. I don't know that I have all the source code readily available, so distributing a binary of an emulator I modified would be a violation of the GPL.

-you need...
  • devkitPPC​
  • source code & required libs for the emulator to be modified​
  • the fst devotab library from wiixplorer/FTPii​
  • a banner to use, or knowledge of how to make your own​
  • wit ( wiims ISO tool ). get the most recent version you can. ive tested this using r1214.​
  • wii homebrew ISO template (http://hackmii.com/2008/08/open-source-apploader-iso-template/)
  • IOS with the signing bug on your wii​
1) Editing the emulator ( this is without a doubt the hardest step )...
a) Either build the fst library and install it or add the files to the source code of the emulator.

b) maybe not necessary, but change the entrypoint of the emu to 0x80004000 to match official dols.

c) tweek the emulator so that it correctly uses the new "DVD" devotab. i used wiixplorer as a guide for this part.

d) remove the update code so that if snes9x ever gets a newer version, you wont be bothered to update every time you play your ISO.

2) creating the first draft of an ISO...
a) using wit, unpack the homebrew ISO template
Code:
wit COPY <path/to/iso> <path/to/where/you/want/to/extract/the/files> --fst


b) go into the folder where you extracted the files and find "DATA/sys/main.dol" and replace that with your modified emulator.

c) recompose the ISO. you need to make sure to use an IOS that has the fakesigning bug, the correct region ( or just let wode patch that ), and a TID that the system menu will accept. (4.2 system menu can be extra picky). here is as example command to create a .wbfs file
Code:
./wit CP <path/to/extracted/files> /media/wiiHDD/wbfs/snes9x.wbfs --region=1 --ios=36 --id=SNSE9X '--name=Snes9x emulator Disc' --modify=DISC,BOOT,TMD,TICKET

* the name here will not be shown in the system menu. this is the default name shown in most homebrew loaders.

d) now you should have a wbfs file with the emulator as the main.dol. booting this game should start your emulator. if you start the system menu with a trucha-bugged IOS, you will get the "gamecube" banner but it will still boot the emu.

3) adding a banner...
a) i kinda cheated on this step. i just found a wad for a snes9x channel floating around on the interwebz. then i unpacked the wad, opened the 00000000.app in a hex editor, and chopped off the first 0x40 bytes. this wont work for all wad banners out there, but theres a good chance it will. you can see the name right there near the start of the file. this is the text that will show when you use the system menu. now is a great time to change that name if you want to.

b) save that as "DATA/files/opening.bnr" inside your extracted files. it has to have this path and no other name or folders in it.

4) adding roms...
a) simply put all your roms in any folder structure inside "DATA/files/". whatever makes you happy should work.

5) build the ISO again...
a) issue the exact same command to wit that you did before. it should spit out a complete game image.


The paths used in the fst devotab and wit while talking about the ISO are not actual paths. This is to say, there really is nothing in the ISO that says "DATA/files/" is a path. The path is just a way to deal with imaginary files. Because of this, the filesystem will appear a bit different when you load it in the emulator.
"DATA/files" in wit is the same as "DVD:/0" in the fst devotab.

If I can find all the necessary source code, I will try to remember to post a compiled dol and/or pre-built ISO ( without roms ). This should allow even the noobiest of noobs to create an emulator disc.
 
Last edited by knm,

knm

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Ohhh I almost forgot according to the creator of Punemu on another page (https://gbatemp.net/threads/best-way-to-make-a-boot-snes-dvd-for-wii.265172/), it said:

The only way to have a wii-mode disc that will be shown in the system menu and can be booted from any game loader is to use the wii disc structure, with partitions and encryption and whatnot.

so, you want to make a disc image that has your homebrew as its main.dol. and if you want to store roms on the disc and allow your program to read them, you need to store them in the wii disc structure as well since your disc is already in that format.

then you need to make your homebrew able to read this structure. there is an fst devotab in ftpii & wiixplorer that allows reading this structure. i started out by using this devotab, but soon found out that it wasnt the best for what i was doing, so i re-wrote much of it and slimmed it down. basically i gutted the normal DVD reading stuff in the emulator and replaced it with a devotab that can read the wii disc structure.

and from there, youre golden. you have a disc that you can boot with any available loader ( but requires an IOS with the sign checking bug ), and the disc contains all your roms, and your emulator knows how to read these roms. my first attempt took a couple days, so you could have it done by this weekend.
 
Last edited by knm,

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I'll almost forgot, but I need some help. I stuck on the guide of the first step where it said, "1) Editing the emulator ( this is without a doubt the hardest step)" on one through three and try to understand what it talking about, but I have a question what does it mean:

a) Either build the fst library and install it or add the files to the source code of the emulator?

b) maybe not necessary, but change the entrypoint of the emu to 0x80004000 to match official dols?

c) tweek the emulator so that it correctly uses the new "DVD" devotab. i used wiixplorer as a guide for this part?
 
Last edited by knm,

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