Hacking Fixing vWii Mode

[GaryOderNichts]

I've spent the past few weeks reverse engineering the DMCU firmware and trying to fix some of the issues mentioned with vWii mode.
This resulted in the following Aroma plugin which can apply DMCU patches to achieve a custom viewport and maybe more things in the future: https://github.com/GaryOderNichts/evwii
Note that I'm definitely not a video quality enthusiast so any feedback would be appreciated : P
Also thanks to @Vague Rant who helped a lot with this!

 

[kingjinxy2]

I've spent the past few weeks reverse engineering the DMCU firmware and trying to fix some of the issues mentioned with vWii mode.
This resulted in the following Aroma plugin which can apply DMCU patches to achieve a custom viewport and maybe more things in the future: https://github.com/GaryOderNichts/evwii
Note that I'm definitely not a video quality enthusiast so any feedback would be appreciated : P
Also thanks to @Vague Rant who helped a lot with this!

Underrated feature: holding the power button to shut off the Wii U. It always boggled my mind that you couldn’t do that in vWii mode. You’re a legend!

 

[Nomado]

Underrated feature: holding the power button to shut off the Wii U. It always boggled my mind that you couldn’t do that in vWii mode. You’re a legend!

Wow, that is the feature I always wished vWii mode had. Was hoping Priiloader on vWii would have this. You are a legend @GaryOderNichts Now all those vWii freezes due to HDD spindown, IOS reload, Emulator freezes etc won't be an issue.

 

[kingjinxy2]

Wow, that is the feature I always wished vWii mode had. Was hoping Priiloader on vWii would have this. You are a legend @GaryOderNichts Now all those vWii freezes due to HDD spindown, IOS reload, Emulator freezes etc won't be an issue.

What was Nintendo thinking, making you unplug your console if it froze in Wii mode??

 

[Clector]

I tried it on my system and I can make these observations as of now.

With the 480p output mode the 1:1 output is a clear improvement over Nintendo's default setting, the power down by holding it also works correctly and it's useful when the Wii mode crashes:

Spoiler: 480p Tests

The console switches to 50Hz and 576p with European software (if set on an SD resolution) automatically, while 576p output seems to work and output correctly at 50Hz, a lot of the right side of the image is green (at least for 576i sources), this isn't a problem with the 720p otput which is also correctly switched automatically to output at 50Hz,

Spoiler: 576i Software

-576p:

-720p:

The ever present chroma shift is a little annoying as always, specially on it's worse occurence, green borders can even be seen on the empty sides of the empty border... it can't be that Nintendo did the zoom just because they didn't wanted to fix the chroma shift problem, right..? It also seems the worst chroma shift mostly affect most homebrew than official software (albeit it still affects some official software launched through normal methods).

Also not sure if it's the chroma shift or something else that seems to cause a little "ghosting" vertically:

Spoiler: Fine Chroma Shift

Spoiler: Less Worse Chroma Shift

No changes seen with the VI emulation incompatibilities with "unusual" video configurations (examples, some possible emGBA video settings, the version of Super Mario Sunshine used on the 3D Collection for the Switch or the PAL GameCube IPL).

 

[NinStar]

What was Nintendo thinking, making you unplug your console if it froze in Wii mode??

It is extremely rare to happen unless you are homebrewing your console in some way, I don't blame them for not considering this.

 

[Nomado]

What was Nintendo thinking, making you unplug your console if it froze in Wii mode??

Indeed, works like a charm. I even migrated from haxchi to aroma just for this. I mostly use Wii homebrews on vWii side and it was my sole gripe with vWii on WiiU. Now i can finally use vWii without fear of freezes.

 

[GaryOderNichts]

a lot of the right side of the image is green (at least for 576i sources),

Oh looks like I made a typo in the 576i TV patch, can you test this build and see if it fixes it? https://nightly.link/GaryOderNichts/evwii/actions/artifacts/616920251.zip
Will make another release if it does.

 

[Clector]

That fixes the 576p output green portion:

 

[Oby]

This is amazing, thank you for your work and efforts @GaryOderNichts !

I am actually trying to CROP the overscan border on the TV, not enable it on the GamePad view as well. The app itself doesn't seem to have a pre-set for this so I've been trying to edit the config manually to do this on this file:
F:\wiiu\environments\aroma\plugins\config\evWii.json

Would anybody know what values to set to properly crop out the overscan border on the TV? These are the variables controlling the zoom on the TV (ignore the numbers):

"dmcuTV_xEnd": 724,
"dmcuTV_xSize": 700,
"dmcuTV_xStart": 8,
"dmcuTV_yEnd": 480,
"dmcuTV_ySize": 460,
"dmcuTV_yStart": 0,

I've been trying to change the numbers little by little and I am slowly getting there but it just takes a long time to have to keep rebooting back and forth into Wii U/ Wii mode and then taking the SD card out, putting in PC, edit, etc. Any help would be appreciated, if I figure it out before then I'll edit this post with the values I set

Note: My output resolution is set to 1080p.

 

[Clector]

If what you want to crop is the blank space that would have been cutted normally on old TVs (and some modern ones still do that), there won't be an universal amount per say, different games uses different input and output resolutions.

It won't always be the same amount.

 

[Oby]

If what you want to crop is the blank space that would have been cutted normally on old TVs (and some modern ones still do that), there won't be an universal amount per say, different games uses different input and output resolutions.

It won't always be the same amount.

Yeah, completely get that and it is ok for me. I just want to crop the black/ blank space around the Wii Menu. That is usually enough for most games and I can tolerate the few games that have more black/ blank space since that is what Im used to on my Wii.

 

[Vague Rant]

Yeah, completely get that and it is ok for me. I just want to crop the black/ blank space around the Wii Menu. That is usually enough for most games and I can tolerate the few games that have more black/ blank space since that is what Im used to on my Wii.

Looks like the Wii System Menu runs at 686*456.

 

[Oby]

Looks like the Wii System Menu runs at 686*456.

Thank you! I was actually just updating my findings right as you posted. I'll give those values a try later cause I am BEAT, I got super close to them!

**Here's the original update for anybody who wants to do this as well:**

I believe I have gotten pretty close, but may be a few pixels off. Did my best to test this by using a Classic Controller and putting the cursor on each corner of the screen & then comparing the TV output to the GamePad.

These are the config values I used:

"dmcuTV_xEnd": 720,
"dmcuTV_xSize": 687,
"dmcuTV_xStart": 16,
"dmcuTV_yEnd": 480,
"dmcuTV_ySize": 458,
"dmcuTV_yStart": 10,

Pictures of result:

and here is before:

Someone else who understands this stuff more than I do may want to optimize the config values a bit more but this seems very close to a perfect crop.

Would be great if the evWii plugin had this as a preset or an option

 

[september796]

@GaryOderNichts do you think it'd be possible to add an extra brightness step (plus + up/down) lower so we can actually turn off the gamepad screen while still using it as a controller and/or audio output?

 

[Windi]

@GaryOderNichts do you think it'd be possible to add an extra brightness step (plus + up/down) lower so we can actually turn off the gamepad screen while still using it as a controller and/or audio output?

Padcon might be the plugin you are looking for: https://github.com/WiiDatabase/Padcon-Plugin-Mod

 

[september796]

Padcon might be the plugin you are looking for: https://github.com/WiiDatabase/Padcon-Plugin-Mod

doesn't work on vWii, does it?

 

[Windi]

doesn't work on vWii, does it?

You might be correct, I did not think that far

 

[Tur7L3]

Hi! I wonder if you're aware of the stretching Wii games do to get full widescreen
I ask because I used to be just like You but ever since I found out I gear more towards having a clean, original Quality image rather than filling the screen. ()

One of those issues exposed can be fixed in Priiloader (only in the Wii menú) which is being ported by the same fella @GaryOderNichts (no pressure) but I suspect that the same aspect ratio (the ORIGINAL one for most games) can be achieved with what we currently have of evWii. I currently don't have My consolé with me, but I wanted You to know about these issues on both Wii and vWii outputting now that we have this useful plugin

Post automatically merged: May 4, 2023

Thank you! I was actually just updating my findings right as you posted. I'll give those values a try later cause I am BEAT, I got super close to them!

**Here's the original update for anybody who wants to do this as well:**

I believe I have gotten pretty close, but may be a few pixels off. Did my best to test this by using a Classic Controller and putting the cursor on each corner of the screen & then comparing the TV output to the GamePad.

These are the config values I used:


Pictures of result:
View attachment 362659

and here is before:
View attachment 362660

Someone else who understands this stuff more than I do may want to optimize the config values a bit more but this seems very close to a perfect crop.

Would be great if the evWii plugin had this as a preset or an option

I believe I have gotten pretty close, but may be a few pixels off. Did my best to test this by using a Classic Controller and putting the cursor on each corner of the screen & then comparing the TV output to the GamePad.

Someone else who understands this stuff more than I do may want to optimize the config values a bit more but this seems very close to a perfect crop.

Hi! I wonder if you're aware of the stretching Wii games do to get full widescreen

I ask because I used to be just like You but ever since I found out I gear more towards having a clean, original Quality image rather than filling the screen. ()



One of those issues exposed can be fixed in Priiloader (only in the Wii menú) which is being ported by the same fella @GaryOderNichts (no pressure) but I suspect that the same aspect ratio (the ORIGINAL one for most games) can be achieved with what we currently have of evWii. I currently don't have My consolé with me, but I wanted You to know about these issues on both Wii and vWii outputting now that we have this useful plugin

 

[Cerotti]

I have a question: does this plugin work also with Wii games purchased on the Wii U eshop? Are those games launched using the same vWii?