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

[chrondelta]

Okay, here's a weird issue. I have "SMW - Karoshi Mario (Hack).zip", for the SNES. The file inside the zip has a CRC of 0EA1A6CB. Whenever i try to select this game from the Wiiflow menu, it crashes immediately, like, from within Wiiflow's menu. Like when you would normally select a game and it'd show you the up close box art and the snapshot? it just crashes and restarts. Nothing seems off with my snaps, cart disk, or XML, or the boxcover.png itself. Even when i delete the .wfc file associated with the ROM it still crashes. If you select another game and try to scroll over to it, it crashes. Seemingly just on this specific game. Is anyone else able to replicate the behavior?

Edit: I've managed to disconnect the ROM from my database files, and this problem doesn't happen. So i'll be uploading the relevant database files to try it for this ROM. Just copy the contents of the zip onto the root of your SD. I'd feel weird about publicly posting my ROM here though unless yall think it's fine. I gave the CRC for th .sfc file i have above.

 

[Okko]

Hi @RunningSnakes ,

For your information, I have just found out that the ECWolf RetroArch core works pretty well as a Wiiflow plugin. As a reminder, ECWolf aims at supporting all games which use the Wolfenstein 3D engine including Wolfenstein 3D, Spear of Destiny, and Super 3D Noah’s Ark, among others.

For my own, I have decided to replace the "Wolf3D" and "SoD" plugins existing in your pack, with a new single one based on ECWolf RetroArch core (v1.10.3). The reasons why I decide to do so, are the following :
1. It makes the pack more wiiflow-oriented, i.e. one single plugin based on arguments
2. It allows playing other games like Super 3D Noah’s Ark, Spear of Destiny additional missions, etc.

If you are interested in such a move, here is what the new plugin looks like, in my installation :
[PLUGIN]
magic=574f4c46
dolfile=apps/retroarch-wii/ecwolf_libretro_wii.dol
arguments={device}:/{path}|{name}
romdir=roms/ecwolf
rompartition=-1
filetypes=.game
displayname=ECWolf

Moreover, I have organised the data files in the roms/ecwolf directory in this way :
__ecwolf
____wolf3d
______Wolfenstein 3D.game
______*.WL6
____SoD
______Spear of Destiny.game
______*.SOD
____SuperNoa
______Super 3D Noah's Ark.game
______*.N3D

Hope you will feel interested in this piece of information.
Have a nice day.
Okko

 

[RunningSnakes]

@Okko

I have tried around a dozen different nightly dols and have not been able to find one that is stable.

Can you post the dol you are using please? The games i am testing are Wold3D, SOD, SOS Mission 2, SOD Mission 3. I have not tried SUPER 3D Noahs Ark. But it seems for me that SOD Mission 2 is the only one stable. Usually the others will code dump when pressing map button or crash immediately.

 

[matto21]

@Okko

I have tried around a dozen different nightly dols and have not been able to find one that is stable.

Can you post the dol you are using please? The games i am testing are Wold3D, SOD, SOS Mission 2, SOD Mission 3. I have not tried SUPER 3D Noahs Ark. But it seems for me that SOD Mission 2 is the only one stable. Usually the others will code dump when pressing map button or crash immediately.

this should be it, taken from RetroArch-v1.10.3-Wii

 

[RunningSnakes]

@matto21

Tested this just now and yes this code/stack dumps immediately after going through first corridor on Wolf3D.

 

[Okko]

this should be it, taken from RetroArch-v1.10.3-Wii

@matto21 , @RunningSnakes ,

That’s it. I’m using the ecwolf_libretro_wii.dol from the official RetroArch 1.10.3 download link : https://buildbot.libretro.com/stable/1.10.3/nintendo/wii/RetroArch.7z

By the way, with this dol as Wiiflow plugin, I’ve successfully played Wolfenstein3D, Spear of Destiny (standard missions), and Super 3D Noah.

So if it dumps on your side, maybe it would be worth checking the game data files hashes?…

 

[RunningSnakes]

I know @matto21 uses USB almost exclusively and believe @Okko uses USB also. I wonder if this issue is with SD? I will test using USB to see if it makes a difference for me.

BTW, which version of WFL are you using to test this? Just want to cover other differences in our setups.

 

[Okko]

I know @matto21 uses USB almost exclusively and believe @Okko uses USB also. I wonder if this issue is with SD? I will test using USB to see if it makes a difference for me.

BTW, which version of WFL are you using to test this? Just want to cover other differences in our setups.

IMPORTANT : sorry, I forgot to tell it before => did you put the ecwolf.pk3 file (bootrom) in the retroarch/system directory, cf. requirement of RetroArch (https://docs.libretro.com/library/ecwolf/) ?

Anyway, you’re right, my installation is USB only, and I’m using WFL 5.5.3.

 

[RunningSnakes]

IMPORTANT : sorry, I forgot to tell it before => did you put the ecwolf.pk3 file (bootrom) in the retroarch/system directory, cf. requirement of RetroArch (https://docs.libretro.com/library/ecwolf/) ?

Anyway, you’re right, my installation is USB only, and I’m using WFL 5.5.3.

Yes, i have the ecwolf.pk3 in the correct folder.
A few of the nightly releases seem much more stable for me than the official 1.10.3 release. But using SD, they All code dump for me.

It makes me believe this quite possibly could be an SD issue.

 

[RunningSnakes]

Through USB the code dumps still exist for me. I must be missing files or not have the correct files needed. It is possible my files are not named correct but do not think that is the case. All games i have tried code dump on me through both SD and USB, trying several different dol versions.

I've tested this core way more than what should be necessary over the past few months and always have the same end result. For now i'm just going to consider it not working until further notice.

 

[Okko]

Through USB the code dumps still exist for me. I must be missing files or not have the correct files needed. It is possible my files are not named correct but do not think that is the case. All games i have tried code dump on me through both SD and USB, trying several different dol versions.

I've tested this core way more than what should be necessary over the past few months and always have the same end result. For now i'm just going to consider it not working until further notice.

Got it.
That's a pity, but I understand your point.
Anyway, as far as it can help, if you want to compare, here are my game data file hashes for "Wolfenstein 3D" :

Algorithm Hash Path
--------- ---- ----
MD5 A41AF25A2F193E7D4AFBCC4301B3D1CE roms\ecwolf\wolf3d\AUDIOHED.WL6
MD5 2385B488B18F8721633E5B2BDF054853 roms\ecwolf\wolf3d\AUDIOT.WL6
MD5 E952B88A6E4E8B2DDB7F46B0CBE356F0 roms\ecwolf\wolf3d\config.wl6
MD5 A4E73706E100DC0CADFB02D23DE46481 roms\ecwolf\wolf3d\GAMEMAPS.WL6
MD5 B8D2A78BC7C50DA7EC9AB1D94F7975E1 roms\ecwolf\wolf3d\MAPHEAD.WL6
MD5 CCAD1A688EBAFAD9856ECA085A20DFC4 roms\ecwolf\wolf3d\VGADICT.WL6
MD5 F18B07D6BA988B8505415F7446235366 roms\ecwolf\wolf3d\VGAGRAPH.WL6
MD5 9059AFB104A51140BD0C127B73717197 roms\ecwolf\wolf3d\VGAHEAD.WL6
MD5 A6D901DFB455DFAC96DB5E4705837CDB roms\ecwolf\wolf3d\VSWAP.WL6
MD5 848D72414FA68249B1C790AA331B8362 retroarch\system\ecwolf.pk3

Next, for your information, in my installation, RetroArch cores are located in apps\retroarch-wii.
Last but not least, I've loaded the games successfully via RetroArch through Homebrew Channel, before loading them successfully too via Wiiflow plugin. Not sure it may have changed something, but at least, now you know.

Have a nice day,
Okko

 

[RunningSnakes]

@Okko

Comparing the hash, all VGA, VSWAP and eceolf.pk3 differ from your files.

I found a different ecwolf.pk3 file on github and although the hash does not match your file it is finally working without code/stack dump.

So this whole time, it was never the ecwolf.dol or my game files. The ecwolf.pk3 bootrom i was using was junk. I do not remember where i got this file, i thought it was from my PC installation but am not positive.

Thank you for posting, if not i would have never guessed the pk3 file was the culprit.

I had already set up ini files but like your structure better and will be included next pack release.

Now to hunt down Super 3D Noahs Ark which i have never played or watched gameplay. Is this game any good?

 

[chrondelta]

does anyone have any clue why WiiFlow is crashing when i look at that one game in the SNES menu? Or rather, can anyone else replicate the issue with the files I provided above? If you can replicate the issue, that alone would be really useful knowledge.

 

[RunningSnakes]

I meant to reply to your first post about this but got distracted and totally forgot. Sorry.

I had a similar issue with a few Japan VC/WiiWare games. I believe there were 3-4 games causing this issue "Poles Adventure" being one of the games. Scrolling across the games would freeze the console and require a hard reset or crash/code dump when attempting to start the game.

I never found a fix for these Japanese released games but can tell you they did work in GX loader

 

[chrondelta]

TBF, i never use WFL for the virtual console/WiiWare titles, as i never was able to get them working correctly from WFL. Only have them working from the Wii System Menu.

So uh, huh. That's kinda interesting. And again i must emphasize, if i disconnect the file from the database by removing the ROM's and Zip's CRCs, it works fine. And there's nothing in the XML or anything that seems off or broken, checked with xmllint, and nothing bizarre about the game preview images. Hmm, i wonder what would happen if i tried to use a different ROM with the same database entry?

ANy suspicions about what could be causing this? Like it's not like the database is vibrating at the resonant frequency of the Wii or something silly like that. Is there some specific sequence of data that WFL just isn't able to handle? TBF I've never had to hard reset with this particular error, nor did it code dump. It just crashes and reloads WFL. Like, it kinda hangs for a moment when you try to bring the preview screen for the game up and then goes black and reloads WFL.

 

[RunningSnakes]

@chrondelta

So i went and downloaded the patch for Karoshi Mario and patched the rom.

My new patched rom has a different crc and added to your existing ini and i am experiencing the very same issue as you posted with this hack.

Tested the game through Snes9xTX and it is running with no issues. I have no idea what is causing this issue through WFL.

 

[Okko]

@Okko

Now to hunt down Super 3D Noahs Ark which i have never played or watched gameplay. Is this game any good?

Nice to read that it works on your side. I’m really happy for you regarding all your efforts to make it work.

I can’t say Super 3D Noah’s Ark is any good, it is more a funny-to-play game. Moreover, this game has got an history in the video game world : actually it is a violenceless spin off of Wolfenstein 3D!

 

[RunningSnakes]

I will make a note of this in the pack release of which Hash is compatible for RA ecwolf.

Working:
Size = 175kb
CRC = 26DC3FBA
MD5 = C011........

Not Working:
Size = 127kb
CRC = 90518C89
MD5 = E49D........

Also including your Hash as verified working.

 

[chrondelta]

@chrondelta

So i went and downloaded the patch for Karoshi Mario and patched the rom.

My new patched rom has a different crc and added to your existing ini and i am experiencing the very same issue as you posted with this hack.

Tested the game through Snes9xTX and it is running with no issues. I have no idea what is causing this issue through WFL.

im gonna try a RIDICULOUS experiment and try deleting the entire goddamn database EXCEPT for Karoshi Mario and see what happns.

Edit: also, are you implying you didn't zip up the ROM? It's with the ROM? But if you switch the emulator to SNES9x TX, you can get the game? Hmm..

 

[chrondelta]

So, switching to SNES9x TX doesn't make it load right. I will not, it's not playing the ROM that's the problem, it seems to be the database. So back to that ridiculous experiment.
Edit: before the ridiculous experiment i tried one more thing: i can zoom right past it in the coverflow as long as i dont try to "focus" on it in the Preview window.