Hacking The Great Quest for Wiiflow Plugins™ - A call for adventurers!

[davejsp]

@Tetsuo Shima I have a question which i'm not sure if i should post here or on wiiflow lite thread...
I have never heard of RA Hexaeco version before and decided to test it too, but instead of testing games, i'm testing it as wiiflow plugins, and this is what's happening to me:

NOTE: I only tested FBAlpha, FBAlphaNeoGeo, FBAlphaCPS1 & FBAlphaCPS2 for now.
If i load hexaeco versions via Homebrew Channel or even WiiXplorer (as Wii homebrew obviously), all is fine, it saves any options changes i make and loads any content (games) just fine and plays well as expected; BUT if i make plugins for them to load via Wiiflow, at the moment none is loading (kicking me back to wiiflow again) except for the FBAlphaNeoGeo, which loads the game i select, but doesn't save changes made on the settings. If i go to the core menu, change any options in the settings and exit the core back to wiiflow, the next time i load a game, it's as if i'm opening for the first time.

Hexaeco seems to save into a folder named "private", even tried changing all paths to the regular "retroarch" folder but to no avail.
Any idea what could be the wiiflow issue with RA Hexaeco? Or even regular RA?

 

[fledge68]

@Tetsuo Shima I have a question which i'm not sure if i should post here or on wiiflow lite thread...
I have never heard of RA Hexaeco version before and decided to test it too, but instead of testing games, i'm testing it as wiiflow plugins, and this is what's happening to me:

NOTE: I only tested FBAlpha, FBAlphaNeoGeo, FBAlphaCPS1 & FBAlphaCPS2 for now.
If i load hexaeco versions via Homebrew Channel or even WiiXplorer (as Wii homebrew obviously), all is fine, it saves any options changes i make and loads any content (games) just fine and plays well as expected; BUT if i make plugins for them to load via Wiiflow, at the moment none is loading (kicking me back to wiiflow again) except for the FBAlphaNeoGeo, which loads the game i select, but doesn't save changes made on the settings. If i go to the core menu, change any options in the settings and exit the core back to wiiflow, the next time i load a game, it's as if i'm opening for the first time.

Hexaeco seems to save into a folder named "private", even tried changing all paths to the regular "retroarch" folder but to no avail.
Any idea what could be the wiiflow issue with RA Hexaeco? Or even regular RA?

did you see the post by superrsonic about the args required. here is a little snip:

You have to specify the path of the .cfg as the third argument.
arguments={device}:/{path}|{name}|{device}:/wiiflow/gameboy.cfg
or arguments={device}:/{path}|{name}|sd:/wiiflow/gameboy.cfg

 

[Tetsuo Shima]

@davejsp Yes, the third argument is needed.
arguments={device}:/{path}/|{name}|{device}:/path/to/your.cfg
I must add that the path to your config can be any path (it doesn't have to be /wiiflow/...), but it must fulfill two conditions:
1)the folder(s) must aready exist. They're not created automatically.
2)the folders must be in the same partition of your games. So if you have rompartition=1 you must create the config folders in USB.

I think this is a great advantage over the standard RA. You don't have to hex edit the dols each time you add a new one. And you don't have to duplicate the dol's if they're used multiple times to emulate different systems with different resolutions. (eg. genplusgx)
In my pack I've set the cfg path as a subfolder of the roms folder, to make sure it will be in the same partition where people put their games. I didn't want to create any mess in the wiiflow folder.
Example for CPS1:
arguments={device}:/{path}/|{name}|{device}:/roms/0_HEXAECO_cfg/fba_CPS1.cfg

 

[Tetsuo Shima]

To anyone using Wiimednafen for Atari Lynx, I have two issues with it:
1) it can't run some of my roms (Klax, Rampage, Checkered Flag, Slime's World, Hard Drivin').
It says "Unrecognized file format"
Tried to download those roms from another source but they don't boot (there's a colored screen).

2) for the wonderswan it auto rotates the screen for the vertical games (amazing!) but for the atari lynx it won't do it.
If I try to set the rotation in Game specific settings it works, but it won't let me save that settings, saying:
"an error occurred saving cartridge settings"

 

[RunningSnakes]

That is strange. I just test all the games you mentioned and they all booted & played fine. Klax was rotated correctly as well at 270° at boot up. I most likely already had all vertical games rotated & saved on stand-alone before playing them through WFL if that could cause issue? What is the build date of your WiiMednafen boot.dol? I using the (2012) version in WFL but the version I use in apps/wiimednafen is (2016) 240p version. Evidently the (unrecognized file format) is a common problem with Mednafen. It is picky about which Lynx set/ROMs you load. I have 2 sets, a GoodSet around 15 years old & a reupload or no-intro more recent set. Bad ROM dumps is what I suspect causing the Lynx issue.

 

[Tetsuo Shima]

Thanks for your response @RunningSnakes . You're really helping me a lot!

I'm using wiimednafen-mod3.dol dated 02 July 2012. Is it the same as yours?
About the auto screen rotation in Wonderswan, I'm sure I've never rotated the WS games launching it from the HBC, so I was wondering which kind of black magic did this for me, and why it didn't do the same for the Lynx
I've also tried to move all my roms to wiimednafen/roms/lynx but it's the same.
Ok, I'll try to search for this GoodSet, maybe I'm using a problematic one.

 

[davejsp]

did you see the post by superrsonic about the args required. here is a little snip:

You have to specify the path of the .cfg as the third argument.
arguments={device}:/{path}|{name}|{device}:/wiiflow/gameboy.cfg
or arguments={device}:/{path}|{name}|sd:/wiiflow/gameboy.cfg

Oh, honestly i never payed much attention to that, since never had issues previously, i didn't even considered it was argument related.
The .cfg can be any name i want?

 

[fledge68]

Oh, honestly i never payed much attention to that, since never had issues previously, i didn't even considered it was argument related.
The .cfg can be any name i want?

yes the name of the config can be what you want. but like tetsuo said in the post following mine. any folders in the path need to be made by you before launching a game. so in tetsuo's example {device}:/path/to/your.cfg - you will need to make the folder path and the folder to.

@Tetsuo Shima i'm assuming this config is a core config and not a game override config?

 

[Tetsuo Shima]

i'm assuming this config is a core config and not a game override config?

Exactly.
Theoretically it would also be possible to create game specific overrides.
Here it's explained how to do it when launching the cores from the HBC
https://gbatemp.net/threads/pc-engine-best-options-in-2019.540550/#post-8670817

@RunningSnakes I've used the goodset roms and now every game works. Thank you!
I still can't save game-specific settings with wiimednafen (not just for lynx), I'll try to see if I can do it from the HBC.

I'm having issues with the FBZX emu too. It just returns to Wiiflow. I'm using the one from Fledge's pack, with .z80 roms in the fbzx-wii/snapshots folder. Games are on USB. I don't know what I'm doing wrong

 

[fledge68]

Exactly.
Theoretically it would also be possible to create game specific overrides.
Here it's explained how to do it when launching the cores from the HBC
https://gbatemp.net/threads/pc-engine-best-options-in-2019.540550/#post-8670817

@RunningSnakes I've used the goodset roms and now every game works. Thank you!
I still can't save game-specific settings with wiimednafen (not just for lynx), I'll try to see if I can do it from the HBC.

I'm having issues with the FBZX emu too. It just returns to Wiiflow. I'm using the one from Fledge's pack, with .z80 roms in the fbzx-wii/snapshots folder. Games are on USB. I don't know what I'm doing wrong

you know if wiiflow could detect that plugin dol is a hexaeco dol (probably by using specific magic numbers) then wiiflow could take
{device}:/path/to/your.cfg
and set your.cfg to the rom's filename.cfg and you would have game overrides.

EDIT: actually wiiflow is already set for this.

core config example arg line - arguments={device}:/{path}|{name}|{device}:/wiiflow/gameboy.cfg

game config example arg line - arguments={device}:/{path}|{name}|{device}:/wiiflow/gameboy/{name_no_ext}.cfg

 

[RunningSnakes]

Ive been testing the Hexaeco Arcade cores & the results are promising. For now I can say at least core A2 is not needed as Hexaeco core A boots & plays all games fine through WFL. Core C2 seems unnecessary also but have not finished testing this core completely. Core D2/E2 are next in line and I'll post results later today/tomorrow.

EDIT:

Spoiler

Core A Hexaeco:
Boggy 84 - No Problems (Improvement)
Boot Hill - Can Move & Shoot (Improvement)
Dig Dug - No Problems (Check For Correct Rom) (Improvement)
Galaga - No Problems (Check For Correct Rom) (Improvement)
Ninja Baseball BatMan - Still Very Slow (No Improvement)

Core C Hexaeco:
Danny Sullivan Indy Heat - No Problems (Improvement)
Defender - No Problems (Improvement)
Mortal Kombat - Returns To WiiFlow (Needs Core C2)
Mortal Kombat II - Returns To WiiFlow (Needs Core C2)
NBA Jam - Returns To WiiFlow (Needs Core C2)
NBA Jam TE - Returns To WiiFlow (Needs Core C2)
Rampage World Tour - Returns To WiiFlow (Needs Core C2)
Robotron 2084 - No Problems (Improvement)
Slick Shot - Controls Still No Working Properly (No Improvement)
Smash T.V. - Returns To WiiFlow (Needs Core C2)
Total Carnage - Returns To WiiFlow (Needs Core C2)
Trog - Returns To WiiFlow (Needs Core C2)
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 - Returns To WiiFlow (Needs Core C2)
WWF Wrestlemania - Returns To WiiFlow (Needs Core C2)

Core D Hexaeco;
Bonanza Bros - Still Very Slow (No Improvement) (D2 May Be Better)
Captain America Avengers - No Problems (Improvement)
Digger - No Problems (Improvement)
Golden Axe Revenge Of Death Adder - Black Screen (Needs Core D2)
Karate Champ - No Problems (Improvement)
Michael Jackson Moonwalker - No Problems (Improvement)
Rygar - No Problems (Improvement)
Spider-Man The Video Game - Black Screen (Needs Core D2)

Core F Hexaeco:
Asteroids - No Problems (Improvement)
Black Widow - No Problems (Improvement}
Circus - No Problems (Improvement)
Gravitar - No Problems (Improvement)
Lunar Lander - Works (No Video Problems) (Improvement)

Im going to start testing Core E Hexaeco & post results later tonight.

Ok. Hexaeco core E does not fix any of the 20-25 games not previously working. Core E2 is mandatory for MAME.

Also @Tetsuo Shima ...I had ZX Spectrum installed not long ago. I'm almost positive it was working correctly? I'll plug it back into WFL to confirm one way or another & report back with results.

Quick re-setup of ZX Spectrum & yes it is definitely working. I'll upload my setup.

 

[Tetsuo Shima]

@RunningSnakes thanks for the tests. I see many other arcade cores in Ra hexaexo:
fbneo_20pacgal.dol
fbneo_cps1.dol
fbneo_sega.dol
mame078.dol
mame2003_midway.dol
pacman.dol
sailormn_fba2012.dol
segasonicbros_coreD.dol
tmnt_xmen_twin_ultra_coreE.dol

I don't know what purpose they are serving. The lack of any kind of documentation doesn't help.

Thank you for the FBZH, it's working perfectly . The dol and ini files are identical to mine, same thing for the bios files, but I see I had some missing and different date files in fbzx-wii/fbzx, so that must have been what caused issues to me.

I've tried to launch wiimednafen from the HBC (downloaded from Wiibrew) and to save game-specific settings from there. It still throws at me the same error message: "an error occurred saving cartridge settings".

Last thing, is anyone able to use tyrquake from RA / RAHexaeco? I remember last time I've tried (long ago) it was unplayable (no right analog stick support). I think that the Quake Wii FPS (a Quake GX mod) is the best way to play Quake, with Wiimote/Nunchuck motion controls it's a blast to play. There's just a little bug when loading a saved game, but there's a simple workaround: you have to start a new game first, then load your saved game and it works.

 

[RunningSnakes]

mame078.dol
mame2003_midway.dol
tmnt_xmen_twin_ultra_coreE.dol

I wouldn't bother with these 3, they either don't work or do not offer anything we need.

I'm going to set up WiiMednafen from scratch to see if i can find out where the saving problem might exist. It is fully working for me but i've had it set up for quite a long time & i do remember it giving me so problems in a few areas. I have never set up the quake emulators on Wii, Ill give it a try using Hexaeco.

EDIT:
I installed WiiMednafen from scratch with both 2012, 2016 versions through HBC & are both working with no saving problems. I also set up new setup through WFL 2012 and there are no problems for me here either just using USB for these tests, but ill try SD/USB later today. Maybe the wiimednafen/wiimednafen.conf file is corrupted?

I gave TryQuake Hexaeco a go but it seems a keyboard is needed (press f4 to map button commands). I was not able to start the game, only watch demo screen without using keyboard. I'd like to install Quake but am not positive which version you speak of Tetsuo.

I started working on Computers awhile back (Amiga, C64, ZX, MSX) and have them all working through WFL & also want to install DOSBox, WiiApple. It is very time consuming, tedious, busywork, collating good ROM files & placing in separate folders. Plus image.png files are another monster battle I'm not ready to hunt down for most of these systems. In the mean time I've been cleaning up most other plugins & want to install these...

Quake
PrBoom (Compatible)
Bermuda
ResidualVM
HODE (Compatible)
Giana
Wolfenstein
Cannonball (Compatible)
NXEngine (Compatible)
Other Homebrews

Most of these I have installed but not all directly into WFL. My question is, are any others compatible through WFL plugins I listed? and are there others I did not list that should be installed? I'd really like to keep these all in same source menu. I have ResidualVM working but have had no success tonight through WFL plugin.

 

[Tetsuo Shima]

@RunningSnakes
Wiinmednafen: I'll try to remove the cfg file to see if it was corrupted. I have the plugin on SD and the games on USB. Not sure where the cfg it's being read from.

Yes, the computer emulators can be sometimes tricky to set up. I have some issues just with the Apple II and the TRS-80 model1, but there are a few others that I still have to test.

About the Source Ports:
Quake Wii FPS: it was an updated Quake GX plugin by Wiimpathy and kaisersozeh. I'll send it to you via PM.
Prboom: both RA 1.8.8 and RA-HEXAECO are good. Doom1 and 2 are running perfectly. Sigil is supported but there are many slowdowns.
Bermuda Syndrome: unfortunately I was not able to make it work as a wiiflow plugin. Not sure what the correct argument line is. See here
Residual VM: still have to try it
HODE: working
Giana: never heard about it.
Wolfenstain: I couldn't run the RA core. Is there a standalone too?
Cannonball: both RA and RA hexaeco are working good. Don't know if there's a standalone too.
NxEngine: works perfect with RA.

Other:
Wiihexen2: working
Eduke32: working
WiiDoom, WiiRott, Wiihexen etc.. : not working in wiiflow

 

[davejsp]

Using the not64 emulator as a WFL plugin, when selecting a game on WFL it goes to the emulator and loads the game, but doesn't start it automatically, i have to press the "play" button.
Is this normal with this emulator, or is it arguments related?

 

[fledge68]

Using the not64 emulator as a WFL plugin, when selecting a game on WFL it goes to the emulator and loads the game, but doesn't start it automatically, i have to press the "play" button.
Is this normal with this emulator, or is it arguments related?

yes.

@Tetsuo Shima @RunningSnakes what are you guys using for FDS games? It seems you like FCEUMM but you said it doesn't run FDS games?

 

[Tetsuo Shima]

@fledge68 I'm using fceugx for fds. With fceumm lr I can't turn the disk sides, I try to press the L button on Classic Controller but it gives me an error msg. I don't think it's for bad roms, because on fceugx it works with the same roms.

 

[RunningSnakes]

I have WiiMednafen currently for FDS. I could never get official RA FCEUmm to work but have not tried Hexaeco version. I think the only options are WiiMednafen and GX/FX emulators.

 

[Hakaisha]

I also use FCEUGX for FDS games. Dedicated disk swap button on both Wii remote/Classic controller keeps things simple and easy.

 

[MrSW]

FCEU GX doesn't support saving for FDS games (aside from savestates), WiiMednafen does