GCN Has there ever been a "Homebrew Launcher Disk" for GameCube??

[Kwyjor]

Is it that easy? I have seen the video by Modern Vintage Gamer about the GameCube (and Wii) optical discs containing a very superficial general explanation how the protection works and how Datel managed to get around it.

I was just going to ask about that. Why don't more people find MVG to be absolutely infuriating?

I should add that you can still buy an SD Media Launcher.
https://www.codejunkies.com/Products/SD-Media-Launcher__EF000580V.aspx

I'm told that even though the disc works fine, the SD Media Launcher itself is in some ways inferior to the WiiSD adapters you can get elsewhere. But I have yet to get to the bottom of that. (There's so much outdated information floating around out there.)

 

[KleinesSinchen]

There is already the homebrew launcher from datel, or you can use one of the others softmod available; you only need one of the many supported games (original not burned). It is not possible to create a burned self booting disc, this is why there is no step-by-step procedure. Also many gamecube optical drives do not read burned discs without some tweaking so, since you would need to open the console to calibrate the optical reader, simply install also a 2$ xeno modchip and you're done.

Yes, I have both software exploit (Windwaker) and a XenoGC in one GameCube. Booting Swiss from burned mini DVD-R (Verbatim) works like a charm. @Dragon91Nippon stated whoever produced the pressed "NickDisc" was a moron for not including the same method Datel used for the SD Media Launcher and Action Replay Discs.

I doubt it is very easy to produce discs that are accepted by unmodified consoles. Consumer DVD burners are out of question. Don't see a way in convincing them to burn DVDs in another structure (see explanation by Cyan). I guess writers will simply not do this (on firmware level). No idea if the blank media even would support it.

Mentioning FreeDVDBoot on the PS2 was not the best comparison since this can be written with consumer equipment due to the PS2 officially supporting normal DVDs.

My question is/was: How hard would it be to produce pressed Swiss discs that work on unmodified GameCube (bypassing the need for all the other stuff like XenoGC, software exploits or a Datel Disc for loading Swiss).

 

[Dragon91Nippon]

I was just going to ask about that. Why don't more people find MVG to be absolutely infuriating?

I should add that you can still buy an SD Media Launcher.
https://www.codejunkies.com/Products/SD-Media-Launcher__EF000580V.aspx

I'm told that even though the disc works fine, the SD Media Launcher itself is in some ways inferior to the WiiSD adapters you can get elsewhere. But I have yet to get to the bottom of that. (There's so much outdated information floating around out there.)

I definitely find MVG very infuriating, he's one of those youtubers who for the most part just sits in a chair and talks about politics. Except instead of US or World politics he talks about scene politics. Not much better.

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Yes, I have both software exploit (Windwaker) and a XenoGC in one GameCube. Booting Swiss from burned mini DVD-R (Verbatim) works like a charm. @Dragon91Nippon stated whoever produced the pressed "NickDisc" was a moron for not including the same method Datel used for the SD Media Launcher and Action Replay Discs.

I doubt it is very easy to produce discs that are accepted by unmodified consoles. Consumer DVD burners are out of question. Don't see a way in convincing them to burn DVDs in another structure (see explanation by Cyan). I guess writers will simply not do this (on firmware level). No idea if the blank media even would support it.

Mentioning FreeDVDBoot on the PS2 was not the best comparison since this can be written with consumer equipment due to the PS2 officially supporting normal DVDs.

My question is/was: How hard would it be to produce pressed Swiss discs that work on unmodified GameCube (bypassing the need for all the other stuff like XenoGC, software exploits or a Datel Disc for loading Swiss).

I think a XenoGC is a waste of time and money because inevitably when the drive breaks and you have to replace it, you'll either need to desolder your XenoGC or buy a new one. Why did people choose these over IPL based modchips. Especially when the drives themselves aren't locked, it's the IPL that has restrictions in place.

 

[contezero]

My question is/was: How hard would it be to produce pressed Swiss discs that work on unmodified GameCube (bypassing the need for all the other stuff like XenoGC, software exploits or a Datel Disc for loading Swiss).

Hard not, complicated maybe. Datel did that and recently another seller came out with a bootable minidvd with swiss on it, selling with a sd2sp for $50.
https://gbatemp.net/threads/gd-sd-drive-kit-after-the-gc-loader-another-ode-for-gamecube.572913/
I think it's a crazy price but if people are paying $20 for a non bootable pressed disk maybe there is a market also for that.
There is an interesting thread here about creating a bootable disk with a modified dvd burner. The didn't manage to succeed but plenty of interesting infos.

 

[fille]

I use a sd2sp and a gcloader,perfekt combination with swiss.

 

[contezero]

I think a XenoGC is a waste of time and money because inevitably when the drive breaks and you have to replace it, you'll either need to desolder your XenoGC or buy a new one. Why did people choose these over IPL based modchips. Especially when the drives themselves aren't locked, it's the IPL that has restrictions in place.

The reason of existence of a drivechip like che xenogc is that the drives are locked. Ipl chips were out of stock for years and NOS were expensive. Now there is the hyperboot on sale but not easy to buy. Also for $25 plus S& is a waste of money since for the same amount you can buy a wii with a broken optical drive and play all gamecube (and wii!) games from usb.

 

[JaapDaniels]

i see no real disc options, but there are savegame exploits to get swiss running.
this means you either need a savegame card reader/writer for pc.. or if you got a wii, you can use the savegame manager gx (i don't know if they excist) or a memcard to sd converter.
see for list of exploitable games: link

 

[Koldur]

The reason of existence of a drivechip like che xenogc is that the drives are locked. Ipl chips were out of stock for years and NOS were expensive. Now there is the hyperboot on sale but not easy to buy. Also for $25 plus S& is a waste of money since for the same amount you can buy a wii with a broken optical drive and play all gamecube (and wii!) games from usb.

If you want to play GameCube games on a modern TV, the Wii is a bad choice since it doesn't have digital video output. The GCN does and is way better to play games with on a HDMI TV.

 

[contezero]

If you want to play GameCube games on a modern TV, the Wii is a bad choice since it doesn't have digital video output. The GCN does and is way better to play games with on a HDMI TV.

There is a native hdmi interface also for wii (not plug'n play) but the most cost effective choice (hdmi interface for gamecube is not cheap) is a wiiu if you have a modern tv.

 

[Koldur]

There is a native hdmi interface also for wii (not plug'n play) but the most cost effective choice (hdmi interface for gamecube is not cheap) is a wiiu if you have a modern tv.

While it is true that it works, the vWii quality is blurred and zoomed compared to the GCN/Wii modes. Also, you'd have to buy a Wii U if you didn't have one already, including the GCN controller accessory. You can get a DV plug and play converter for the GCN for $/€50 nowadays that is perfect, without lag and you get to use the Game Boy Player.

I have all the devices, GCN, Wii, Wii U, but GCN games play at a very noticeable better quality that way.

 

[Dragon91Nippon]

While it is true that it works, the vWii quality is blurred and zoomed compared to the GCN/Wii modes. Also, you'd have to buy a Wii U if you didn't have one already, including the GCN controller accessory. You can get a DV plug and play converter for the GCN for $/€50 nowadays that is perfect, without lag and you get to use the Game Boy Player.

I have all the devices, GCN, Wii, Wii U, but GCN games play at a very noticeable better quality that way.

He was talking about Wii Dual, FYI those have a high chance to fry your Wii. Especially though BootMii

 

[Koldur]

He was talking about Wii Dual, FYI those have a high chance to fry your Wii. Especially though BootMii

That sounds like a way worse solution than just use my GCN with a digital gcvideo based converter. Wii dual is very expensive, need to solder it and on top of that doesn't go higher than 2.4d fw.

 

[Archerite]

Wow, this old thread got a lot of new posts

To be honest I actually hate the usage of any disk based system! In some cases you have a rare game that's woth a lot of money but the disk it's on is fragile, easily scratched, attracts fingerprints like a magnet..... and worst of all eventually it will die completely because of bitrot!! While I have many second hand disks that have scratches I have not found one with bitrot myself. All the disks I currently have for GameCube and Wii have been backed-up to my NAS and where possible I use those instead of the original disks.

A few months ago I got a notification that GC Loader was going to be available for ordering (in September I think). And since it turned out that the site selling it (or maybe even the creators) are from the Netherlands it arrived really quickly. Less than a week or two!

I did install it into my gamecube and it worked....but the last few month's I have not been playing games that much. So the gamecube is just sitting there on a shell collecting dust. . Biggest thing that still bugs me is the fan noise and that the GC Loader SD card is practically unreachable without an adapter. I do have the SD extender now and just yesterday finished printing the required bracket on my 3D printer.

It will still require an SD card swap to load new code, as my main purpose is going to be homebrew testing, it should boot up instantly into swiss! I do have an idea in my head for months now to create a new kind of launcher myself based on the simplicity of the Switch menu. At first just to launch homebrew and for anything else swiss ofcourse But I simply don't think I have the time for such a project at the moment.

The other promising thing I saw mentioned here was HyperBoot. I personally think that is the most cost effective option for the gamecube itself if it delivers on it's claims and has a good menu. It was actually HyperBoot and it's low price that made me hold off on digging into the IPL replacement stuff myself. Not that I claim it would be easy or even that I could do it though