New GameCube Optical Drive Emulator

[nitrostemp]

Today SmokeMonster posted on twitter that there is a new Nintendo Gamecube Optical Drive Emulator made by citrus3000psi.
From the looks of it, it is a drop in drive replacment.

Source/Photos:
https://twitter.com/SmokeMonsterTWI/status/1190665891056357377

citrus' twitter:
https://twitter.com/citrus3000psi

 

[sTo0z]

Not bad but Nintendont on Wii is so nice...

Still cool to see.

 

[Wuigi]

An ODE for the PS2 would be even better.
The drives are so picky with scratched PS1 discs and the only good way to play PS1 on a PS2 is the official way, POPStarter doesn't work with many games and if it does they have issues.
One could buy a modchip for 5 bucks to solve the PS1 problem this way, but an ODE would be even cooler.

 

[nitrostemp]

Not bad but Nintendont on Wii is so nice...

Still cool to see.

im mostly keen to use it to boot gbi, since that is really the main use for cubes now and i have a cube with a dead disc drive.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

I thought people use gamecubes for playing Gameboy on their tv with the Gameboy player.

Nice to see flashcarts... I mean a ODE mod. I never had one of those since I have backwards compatible systems and homebrew, but if new people like them, I hope it reduce load times.

 

[Ryccardo]

This has a long discussion on gc-forever since before its first design so here's the executive summary:

- The "current" "GC" ODEs are Wii ones with a custom connector: this means that not only materials are scarce, but you get the fun of tiny soldering to a flat cable, or paying a premium to people making custom boards with chips desoldered from a Wii ODE
- They also don't support audio streaming (since the days of inline Wii chips, "supports audio streaming" only means the unsupported sound data is muted instead of blaring in your ears or causing a read error)
- Even with the "alternate read patches" that have significantly improved in Swiss's latest couple of versions, the EXI bus is still fundamentally slower than the optical drive; patching games to read from SD/IDE is also fundamentally inaccurate (and audio streaming is still unavailable with the now-default "alternate reads")
- While evidence was pointing to this project not ending up vaporware, non-negligible R&D effort was clearly involved... and it looks like it' going forward!

 

[nitrostemp]

another picture
https://twitter.com/SmokeMonsterTWI/status/1191181812908855296/photo/1

 

[contezero]

This is the project of menerbeer;
I wrote about that... 9 month ago, here:https://gbatemp.net/threads/old-news-for-old-console-2018-2019-roundup.534549/

 

[Alexander1970]

A GCemu....
Why not ? But please to a reasonable Price.
Then YES,of course I will make an "Relative" for the Dreamcast.

 

[nitrostemp]

A GCemu....
Why not ? But please to a reasonable Price.
Then YES,of course I will make an "Relative" for the Dreamcast.

confirmed that it will be a fair price https://twitter.com/citrus3000psi/status/1191060805896290305

 

[Ryccardo]

confirmed that it will be a fair price https://twitter.com/citrus3000psi/status/1191060805896290305

And that's the curse of every non-DS-and-maybe-nowadays-GBA flashcard - 80 dollars "2 original games at launch" (for a kit or a complete product?) may well be a fair price after considering design effort and the ripoff that is small scale electronics manufacturing, but when the console costs 50 (nevermind competition from the Wii/U for the person who just wants GC games instead of actually modding a GC)...

 

[nitrostemp]

update: now listed on citrus' site with and eta for stock of December with 500 units
https://shop.dansprojects.com/gc-loader.html

 

[tech3475]

An ODE for the PS2 would be even better.
The drives are so picky with scratched PS1 discs and the only good way to play PS1 on a PS2 is the official way, POPStarter doesn't work with many games and if it does they have issues.
One could buy a modchip for 5 bucks to solve the PS1 problem this way, but an ODE would be even cooler.

Maybe I should buy a modchip for the PS2, recently it seems that every time I buy something a new version comes out soon after.

I literally just ordered a modchip for the GC for a few quid to make it easier to boot GBI.

 

[Jayro]

Finally, I can get my portable GameCube project up and running without trying to hunt down a Wiikey/WASP!

 

[nitrostemp]

adding info for people that dont want to click links:
"
GC Loader is Gamecube DVD drive replacement that allows you boot homebrew and your existing library of games on DOL-001 and DOL-101 models. No longer do you need to worry about when your laser will burn out on your DVD drive. The GC Loader is a full replacement and acts exactly* like an original DVD drive but uses memory cards for its media.

*Some titles will load noticeably faster compared to the original DVD drive. GC Loader also has full audio streaming support.


Basic Usage:

FAT32 format a 512GB* or lower memory card. Place an ISO file on the memory card called boot.iso and insert the memory card.

If you would like to take advantage of a full menu, Swiss is needed. Simply place swiss on the memory card called boot.iso. Drag your other homebrew and backups to memory and insert it in the GC Loader. Swiss will automatically boot and you will have access to your library.

* 1TB cards are untested but should work. There might be some memory cards that will not work but is not expected.

Capability:
Over 400 titles have been tested but there might be some issues that still exist that we have not found. The firmware is easily updated so if there are any problems they will be fixed. We expect and strive for 100% compatibility.


Installation:

A flex cable is supplied with each unit that is easily soldered to the bottom of the Gamecube’s DVD drive port. The flex lays over through hole pins so soldering is simple. You can desolder your existing DVD drive connector and solder this to bottom of the GC-Loader but this requires advanced desoldering skills. The flex installation performs identical to this.

Existing wasp installations can plug directly into the GC Loader. However it is recommened you remove your existing setup and install the new flex for a cleaner installation.

A full length video will be linked here in the future. But the total installation is fast, simple and only requires basic soldering skills."

 

[Jayro]

I don't even think there's 400GB of trimmed games that are good, so I'll just throw in a 400GB card and call it a day.

 

[pikachucrackpipe]

An ODE for the PS2 would be even better.
The drives are so picky with scratched PS1 discs and the only good way to play PS1 on a PS2 is the official way, POPStarter doesn't work with many games and if it does they have issues.
One could buy a modchip for 5 bucks to solve the PS1 problem this way, but an ODE would be even cooler.

I ended up breaking down and getting a JFJ disc cleaner for my discs. I couldn't stand the lag with HD McBoot and most games. Too much stuttering.

 

[Wuigi]

@pikachucrackpipe I ripped mine and played them on my PSTV, but the compatibility isn't that good with some of the best games like Valkyrie Profile(even though it's a bad example as there is a definitive version for PSP).

 

[pikachucrackpipe]

@pikachucrackpipe I ripped mine and played them on my PSTV, but the compatibility isn't that good with some of the best games like Valkyrie Profile(even though it's a bad example as there is a definitive version for PSP).

what I used was the intro to ffx2
on hdd, it took quite a while boot the game and still had lag, even in battle. the fmv froze occasionally.
on smb, it took far less to boot but still had lag in fmvs.

for ar tonelico, both hdd and smb had sound issues (personal rip of the game)

 

[Wuigi]

@pikachucrackpipe Do you use SMB from your PC?
I only had lag problems with my raspberry pi zero when I used a too weak power supply in the Persona 3 FES intro, but SMB can really be a mixed bag at times.