Hacking Homebrew Question about the Wii U Plugin System..

[Deleted member 571007]

So before I fully get into the question I'm gonna set up a hypothetical situation

Say you find a cool plugin you like a lot. Neat! But sadly you don't feel like it has all the features you feel like it could have used.. So your first thought is to go to the developer's page, but lo and behold they've been inactive for quite a long time with no chance for any sort of contact. Bummer! Seems like it was closed source too, double bummer!

So you being a curious little bean try and edit this nifty little plugin yourself, but oh, what's that? You have no clue how to edit it, or if it's even possible to from the direct .mod file.

So basically that's the situation I have, being honest my expectations are low as I treat most compiled files as EXEs to where it's not really possible to get "source info" unless you have something along the lines of DNSpy (which isnt true source but I digress)

If a way exists for these files to be edited in any way from a third party standing, that would be amazing as I would love to add extra features and fine-tune the experience.. Butt as I've said before my expectations are not exactly the highest for this coming to fruition, so if it's possible; great! If not, oh well.

( If all else fails I'll try to make my own version from scratch :') )

 

[livid_hen]

Might be able to use something like ghidra but things would not be named nicely.

 

[Deleted member 571007]

Might be able to use something like ghidra but things would not be named nicely.

Could definitely try but I've never visited the Ghidra scene, so I'm not sure if a module for .mod plugins exists.

 

[livid_hen]

I think it just counts as an ELF (executable and linking format) which it is able to handle out of the box. There might be a plugin to organize things better though , not sure .

 

[Deleted member 571007]

I think it just counts as an ELF (executable and linking format) which it is able to handle out of the box. There might be a plugin to organize things better though , not sure .

Yeah I dont know if it works that way or not, .mod plugins are a really new aspect for me, and like I've said I've never touched Ghidra before, so it's mostly foreign to me atm

 

[The Real Jdbye]

The plugin system that's in Tiramisu? Tiramisu hasn't even existed for that long. No way the developers of the plugins have been inactive for "quite some time" already.

 

[Deleted member 571007]

The plugin system that's in Tiramisu? Tiramisu hasn't even existed for that long. No way the developers of the plugins have been inactive for "quite some time" already.

Not with Tiramisu no, I'm talking about the older Plugin Loader (WiiU plugin system Loader or WUPS), like with the original Dark Theme plugin, and SwipSwapMe. Remember those? Plus the Tiramisu plugin loader loads RPX format, not .mod

Edit: Talking about this one specifically: https://github.com/Maschell/WiiUPluginLoader/releases

Double Edit: (Is that even a thing? XD) Anyways just to clarify, it's NOT the loader itself I'm trying to edit, but an app that runs through it. (Being it's own plugin, like I said)

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Not with Tiramisu no, I'm talking about the older Plugin Loader (WiiU plugin system Loader or WUPS), like with the original Dark Theme plugin, and SwipSwapMe. Remember those? Plus the Tiramisu plugin loader loads RPX format, not .mod

Edit: Talking about this one specifically: https://github.com/Maschell/WiiUPluginLoader/releases

Double Edit: (Is that even a thing? XD) Anyways just to clarify, it's NOT the loader itself I'm trying to edit, but an app that runs through it. (Being it's own plugin, like I said)

I don't. I didn't even know that was a thing. I thought Tiramisu was the first.
Been a while since I touched my Wii U. Guess it must've happened at some point after the Switch got released and I stopped caring about the Wii U.

 

[Deleted member 571007]

I don't. I didn't even know that was a thing. I thought Tiramisu was the first.
Been a while since I touched my Wii U. Guess it must've happened at some point after the Switch got released and I stopped caring about the Wii U.

It's alright, even people actually invested in the Wii U scene didnt offer it much support. Personally I always found it fascinating and had potential to be the primary way to load backround apps, like Mocha, TCP Gecko etc.

At one point there was development for a TCP Gecko plugin which would allow you to load multiple apps alongside it without crashing. Truly a missed oppurtunity.

 

[QuarkTheAwesome]

What plugin is it? Was under the impression that most newer stuff had modern equivalents, with the exception of some game modding tools (uTAS? whatever closed fork of TCPGecko you're supposed to use?).
.mod is just renamed elf, so ghidra can load it, but it's not for the faint of heart. The code it produces is pretty garbage, so there's an art to caressing it into something usable.
I don't remember any early WUPS plugins being particularly complex, so it's likely to be simple enough to just make anew.

 

[Deleted member 571007]

What plugin is it? Was under the impression that most newer stuff had modern equivalents, with the exception of some game modding tools (uTAS? whatever closed fork of TCPGecko you're supposed to use?).
.mod is just renamed elf, so ghidra can load it, but it's not for the faint of heart. The code it produces is pretty garbage, so there's an art to caressing it into something usable.
I don't remember any early WUPS plugins being particularly complex, so it's likely to be simple enough to just make anew.

I already found a way to load it into IDA Pro with a Wii U plugin loader. It actually lists most function names although things are slightly obfuscated in bare Assembly. It shouldn't be too hard to de-compile as I have someone else with more experience helping me as well. And this WUPS plugin wasn't exactly mainstream and it is slightly complex, it's a "Client" of sorts for games, adds features, makes the game smoother etc.. It's why I wanted to modify it in the first place since I found it quite interesting.

 

[QuarkTheAwesome]

I already found a way to load it into IDA Pro with a Wii U plugin loader. It actually lists most function names although things are slightly obfuscated in bare Assembly. It shouldn't be too hard to de-compile as I have someone else with more experience helping me as well. And this WUPS plugin wasn't exactly mainstream and it is slightly complex, it's a "Client" of sorts for games, adds features, makes the game smoother etc.. It's why I wanted to modify it in the first place since I found it quite interesting.

Well, okay, if you're game? Maybe consider releasing the source of your finished work so people in the future don't have this issue.

 

[Deleted member 571007]

Well, okay, if you're game? Maybe consider releasing the source of your finished work so people in the future don't have this issue.

Definitely will. Although it might take a while. C++ decompilation is proving to be a pain in the ass. It's doable though.