Hacking How do I make my own forwarders?

SquackSpencer

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Hello, I'm sorry if there is already a thread for this, I just can't find anything.

Anyway, what I want is this:

I want a way to have a button on my Home Screen (or a bubble / tile / icon / channel.... you know, the thing you click to launch a game? Yeah, that thing.)

... that when clicked, will launch a specific homebrew on my WiiU (in my case, I want to launch RetroArch. A WiiU Homebrew, it is NOT a vWii Homebrew...)

... But I also want to customize the sound and the little logo up top, and the splash image it displays while loading.

From the little I know, I need to generate something I will then install using WUP Installer GX2.... that's what I did on the first.... button/bubble thingie.... that launched RetroArch on the Home Screen (it was corrupted when I tried updating to 1.8.6.... and failed because I don't know if it even is available for WiiU, still at 1.8.5, but now I can only launch it via Homebrew Channel... It's stuck loading when I try to launch via Home Screen.... and it has AWFUL sound and images anyway....)

Therefore I need the actual tool / procedure to generate these files I will install.

I'm a JS Programmer, I'm not a total noobie, so I don't mind if I need to Hex-Edit something.... But I also don't want to end up bricking my console or losing my games progress.... So....

How do I do this thing I want to do?

P.S.: I've used TeconMoon's WiiVC Injector to make GameCube buttons on my Home Screen, and another tool to inject ROMs as a Custom Virtual Console button (as RetroArch isn't very fond of N64 on WiiU).... but I don't know how to make these buttons for Homebrews... Which is RetroArch's case. Also, it'd help to have a shortcut to that SwapDRC homebrew, so I can play Splatoon without turning on my TV, or launching Homebrew Channel...

EDIT: I've stumbled on the post mentioned in here:
However, it's not what I'm looking for, as it has no tutorials / howto's and, the one linked in that thread is for vWii, not WiiU Homebrews.
 
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SquackSpencer

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So, can nobody help me?

I found a lot of info for forwarding vWii stuff, but what I actually want to make is forward WiiU Homebrews without booting Homebrew Launcher....

Can anybody point me to a tool or tutorial of how to do this?
 

Der_Blockbuster

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I stumbled upon that post, however, you'll notice there are no tutorials on it. At least not for WiiU Homebrews, only for vWii.

That post's OP eventually managed to solve his problem, the problem is...... how?
Read the last post! He tells about how he has accomplished it!
Maybe you can change it the same way for Wii U:).
Very experimental tho, try to install a Wii U forwarder and take a look.
You'd probably have better luck writing these people who made them a PM, they maybe help you out.
 
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Jayinem81

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What you're asking for was mostly not done. Most people just used Haxchi and just made shortcuts like hold down a when launching it to go to this homebrew, or b to go to this homebrew etc....
 

emcintosh

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I found a lot of info for forwarding vWii stuff, but what I actually want to make is forward WiiU Homebrews without booting Homebrew Launcher....

YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS HAXCHIS.

Get some extra DS VC games (if you have CBHC, they can be pirated, as you will already be in CFW and can load anything). Install Haxchi on them and edit the config file to automatically launch the homebrew you want.

https://gbatemp.net/threads/how-to-...brew-with-buying-only-one-haxchi-game.458646/

Editing icons: https://gbatemp.net/threads/how-to-create-edit-tga-files-for-haxchi.465027/

https://github.com/FIX94/haxchi says you can only load ELF files this way - RPX files need to be opened from within HBL. Also mentions the boot sound,
which can be generated using: https://gbatemp.net/threads/wav2btsnd-simple-tool-to-create-btsnd-files.447896/
 
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SquackSpencer

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Also, the person did make a forwarder for Wii U? He made one for his region changer Spiik, what do you mean its for vWii?
Well, the tutorial linked in that post is for vWii Homebrew, like Nintendont or USBLoaderGX.... But I want to boot a WiiU Homebrew, like SwapDRC or RetroArch (which also has a version for Wii and.... Goddammit, why did Nintendo gave such similar names to very different consoles?)

Even though that OP has eventually solved his own problem, he didn't put a very detailed guide of how he did it...

YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS HAXCHIS.

Get some extra DS VC games (if you have CBHC, they can be pirated, as you will already be in CFW and can load anything). Install Haxchi on them and edit the config file to automatically launch the homebrew you want.

https://gbatemp.net/threads/how-to-...brew-with-buying-only-one-haxchi-game.458646/

Editing icons: https://gbatemp.net/threads/how-to-create-edit-tga-files-for-haxchi.465027/

https://github.com/FIX94/haxchi says you can only load ELF files this way - RPX files need to be opened from within HBL. Also mentions the boot sound,
which can be generated using: https://gbatemp.net/threads/wav2btsnd-simple-tool-to-create-btsnd-files.447896/
Now, THIS seems like it would solve my problem..... I'll definitely check it out.

However, nobody has really found out how to make a custom channel, yet?

I mean, essentially, I'm hacking a Virtual Console DS to run whatever I want, but then I see software like those Virtual Console Injectors, or even TeconMoon's WiiVC Injectors, and they seem to create an individual channel for specific games... They probably override that channel's ID with a custom one?

Seems like I'll need to spend a good chunk of time learning to develop a homebrew if I REALLY want to solve this the "proper" way (I mean, creating a tool to do this for me, with a Custom ID and everything, if that's even possible) but.... that goes a bit beyond what I'm asking on this thread.

Meanwhile, I think hacking a DS with HaxChi will be the way to go.

Thank you all for your help! ^_^
 

emcintosh

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However, nobody has really found out how to make a custom channel, yet?

I mean, essentially, I'm hacking a Virtual Console DS to run whatever I want, but then I see software like those Virtual Console Injectors, or even TeconMoon's WiiVC Injectors, and they seem to create an individual channel for specific games... They probably override that channel's ID with a custom one?

Seems like I'll need to spend a good chunk of time learning to develop a homebrew if I REALLY want to solve this the "proper" way (I mean, creating a tool to do this for me, with a Custom ID and everything, if that's even possible) but.... that goes a bit beyond what I'm asking on this thread.

I am not clear what you want to do that isn't already possible.

You can roll your own forwarders to ELF homebrew as described above, with custom icons and sound. You're using a security flaw in the Virtual Console code to allow you to run your own code.

Retroarch has a build you can install with WUP Installer to generate an icon on the Home Menu (but you need already to be in CFW to run it as this title won't have legitimate signatures as it's not an official game). Presumably this is the 'proper way' you mention, but you want to be able to change the icons &c.?

Both processes must generate a unique game ID, so you don't interfere with a copy of the base game that you might want to play. Similarly, you need to choose a game you never want to actually play for use with CBHC.
 
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SquackSpencer

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Retroarch has a build you can install with WUP Installer to generate an icon on the Home Menu (but you need already to be in CFW to run it as this title won't have legitimate signatures as it's not an official game). Presumably this is the 'proper way' you mention, but you want to be able to change the icons &c.?

Exactly, but a little more automated. Like, a little tool that converts the files to the format you want (which i found a tool that does that, but it does only for already installed software, and only if it's installed on NAND), and generates the files you need to directly boot the homebrew, without extra code (like a bunch of virtual console stuff you won't even use, since you're not going to play a Virtual Console game anyway...) in a format that you either need to install via WUP Installer, or directly copy to the right folder using FTPiiU_Everywhere...

P.S.: I guess now I'm asking for tips on developing a homebrew/PC app to do what I want more efficiently, not simply solving the problem XD

I did some extra research right now (mainly to find the bloody tool I linked above) and stumbled upon NUSPacker.... Which, if I understand correctly, is the tool that packages stuff to the format that WUPinstaller installs, right?

So, maybe if I manage to make a package containing only the homebrew (and the proper shenanigans to direct the WiiU to that homebrew when loading the package) I could have something without useless code? I mean, something that doesn't actually require modifying a VC title? Something that could generate a "new title" and install a simple redirector to the homebrew location?

I mean, when you load a VC Game, there's something that loads a specific RPX on the installed thing that then boots the Virtual Console, right?

However, if you somehow replace that RPX, you could safely delete the VC assets, and leave only the assets your new RPX would use, right?

That's my end goal, a tool that generates the package, or a installable format of that package, without extra stuff.

While HaxChi redirects me to a RPX, he still leaves the VC content there, does it not?
 
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SquackSpencer

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Sorry for double-posting, but.... after some research and some experimenting, I've managed to understand how WUP Installer works:

Basically, you use NUSPACKER to convert everything inside a folder to installable format, and if you need to, you use Cdecrypt to convert it back to a folder, in the format WiiU will read.

So, nothing new to anyone but me, but here's the catch: I've downloaded a RetroArch forwarder and.... it was already on the format I wanted.

That is, it had a RPX, a dummy file on the content folder (since it can't be empty) and the needed files that the WiiU needs to load everything correctly.

So, all I need now is to find out how to actually generate that RPX. Some tinkering with a HEX Editor shows me it'd probably load whatever was at sd:/retroarch/retroarch.elf

upload_2020-5-28_9-15-21.png


Which won't do, since my RetroArch is at sd:/wiiu/apps/retroarch/retroarch.rpx. However, it seems that RetroArch itself does some sort of redirection of RPX's, as it looks like every one of its cores is a different RPX.

So, I'll need to study a little how the hell does RetroArch does this. But creating a tool that will do what I want seems more possible every second.
 
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