Hacking WiiFlow Lite

[RunningSnakes]

I'm using 5.4.1, not the recent 5.4.2 Beta. WFL 5.4.1 cannot create cover art cache for Open BOR, but using previous WFL 5.2.0 does work correctly. ScummVM also had this same cache bug using 5.4.0, but earlier revisions (5.2.0) did not. In the 5.4.1 (changelog, update,), this fix was listed.

 

[krueger96]

What does the latest devkit pro beta do exactly? Fix some issues with classic controller in menus? Because i i used wiiflow with classic controller often and never had a crash

 

[Wiimpathy]

I'm using 5.4.1, not the recent 5.4.2 Beta. WFL 5.4.1 cannot create cover art cache for Open BOR, but using previous WFL 5.2.0 does work correctly. ScummVM also had this same cache bug using 5.4.0, but earlier revisions (5.2.0) did not. In the 5.4.1 (changelog, update,), this fix was listed.

It may happen because the OpenBor database doesn't exist yet and a check is missing in the WiiFlow's list generator.

One last big update to the databases should arrive soon. It will have the OpenBor xml and a lot more info added in other db files.

 

[kimotori]

when downloading covers, how to stop the process?

​

 

[Tetsuo Shima]

It may happen because the OpenBor database doesn't exist yet and a check is missing in the WiiFlow's list generator.

One last big update to the databases should arrive soon. It will have the OpenBor xml and a lot more info added in other db files.

This is wonderful news!! I have a little request.
Please, would you mind adding Heart of Darkness (hode) and Hexen 2 (Wiihexen2) to the Dos database?
We did the same thing for eduke32 some time ago. Well, technically speaking, they are windows games, but I think the dos database could also group source ports of old pc games.
Both of them are working out of the box as wiiflow plugins. You just have to create a dummy file to launch the games, in the same manner as with the retroarch cannonball engine.
I named them "Heart of darkness.game" and "Hexen II.game"
And here are both plugin .ini's with magic numbers.

Spoiler: hode.ini

[PLUGIN]
arguments={device}:/{path}/|{name}
bannersound=
consolecoverid=
covercolor=000000
coverfolder=dos
displayname=hode
dolfile=apps/hode/boot.dol
filetypes=.game
magic=484f4445
romdir=hode

Spoiler: wiihexen2.ini

[PLUGIN]
arguments={device}:/{path}/|{name}
bannersound=
consolecoverid=
covercolor=000000
coverfolder=dos
displayname=Wii-Hexen 2
dolfile=apps/WiiHexen2/boot.dol
filetypes=.game
magic=48455832
romdir=apps/WiiHexen2/data1

 

[SoulSpawn]

A bit too much indeed.
Untill now, I didn't know anything about how hiscore was working, never tested either. It looks like a general issue for these cores.
Only fba2012 seems to have hiscore support but only for a few games.

To implement hiscore in all the fba2012 cores, one need to add a flag in every damn driver! And not all games are guaranteed to support this. You should also need a specific hiscore.dat. Theorically this one.
hiscore.dat explained here: https://www.fbalpha.com/view/138/

Not even sure that'd be enough. So in short, I can't do that. To be honest, I don't think I'll post any retroarch builds anymore.

And what's this remap saving bug? When does it happen exactly?(version?) All fba2012 cores?
Pff, such a pain to debug...

Wow I didn't realize it was such a pain. I thought that it was easier, like adding "BDF_HISCORE_SUPPORTED" to the cps1 core in some way, so all cps1 games can use hiscore.dat (I have no clue how to compile).

Usage of hiscore.dat is like in mame, almost all important games have it. Hiscores improve replayability and that's why I'm so interested on it.

About the remmaping bug, when I change controls on a game and try to save rmp for that game retroarch crashes and kicks me out!
I tried retroarch 1.8.2 and 1.8.4 and happens, so I went back to 1.7.5 and 1.7.6

Maybe this link could help?
https://git.m4xw.net/Switch/RetroAr...8f0a7ed82799ae55060f01e4af06469?view=parallel

 

[fledge68]

I'm using 5.4.1, not the recent 5.4.2 Beta. WFL 5.4.1 cannot create cover art cache for Open BOR, but using previous WFL 5.2.0 does work correctly. ScummVM also had this same cache bug using 5.4.0, but earlier revisions (5.2.0) did not. In the 5.4.1 (changelog, update,), this fix was listed.

I'll be looking into this. I thought we had it fixed. did you try th wf 5.4.1 vidfix download i posted a page or 2 back. its compiled a little different so its a little bigger in size.

What does the latest devkit pro beta do exactly? Fix some issues with classic controller in menus? Because i i used wiiflow with classic controller often and never had a crash

the devkitpro beta was a test to see if i could compile with latest devkitppc and libogc. It isn't any different than the vidfix download a while back. it works fine but apparently has the cache covers issue. I most likely will just go back to compiling the old way with devkitppc r30.

when downloading covers, how to stop the process?

​

you can't. sorry. you could turn off the wii but don't do it while it says creating or saving cache cover because it might be writing to your device at that time.

 

[krueger96]

I'll be looking into this. I thought we had it fixed. did you try th wf 5.4.1 vidfix download i posted a page or 2 back. its compiled a little different so its a little bigger in size.


the devkitpro beta was a test to see if i could compile with latest devkitppc and libogc. It isn't any different than the vidfix download a while back. it works fine but apparently has the cache covers issue. I most likely will just go back to compiling the old way with devkitppc r30.


you can't. sorry. you could turn off the wii but don't do it while it says creating or saving cache cover because it might be writing to your device at that time.

I see, i'm still on your fixed 5.4.2 vidfix and it works like a charm. with gamecube games at least. While testing i realised i didn't play a wii game since last year and only used wiiflow for gamecube titles since then, i'm curious to try the 480p pixel patch, although i don't know if i'll even be able to spot a difference on vwii

 

[RunningSnakes]

I'll be looking into this. I thought we had it fixed. did you try th wf 5.4.1 vidfix download i posted a page or 2 back. its compiled a little different so its a little bigger in size.

I installed the 5.4.2 Beta and the OpenBOR cache problem is fixed. Thank You @fledge68

 

[Wiimpathy]

Wow I didn't realize it was such a pain. I thought that it was simpler, like adding "BDF_HISCORE_SUPPORTED" to the cps1 core in some way, so all cps1 games can use hiscore.dat (I have no clue how to compile).

Usage of hiscore.dat is like in mame, almost all important games have it. Hiscores improve replayability and that's why I'm so interested on it.

About the remmaping bug, when I change controls on a game and try to save rmp for that game retroarch crashes and kicks me out!
I tried retroarch 1.8.2 and 1.8.4 and happens, so I went back to 1.7.5 and 1.7.6

Maybe this link could help?
https://git.m4xw.net/Switch/RetroAr...8f0a7ed82799ae55060f01e4af06469?view=parallel

Yeah, sorry. In theory, for the dedicated cpsx cores, that'd be 'just' adding the flag. But, the hiscore option should also be added, update hiscore.c to check the right paths...Then check all is working in HBC, then in Wiiflow...
Even for simple changes, things often go wrong with retroarch.

And now this nasty remap bug. However, I hope that when you're testing the different retroarch cores, you delete all previous install like it's recommended...
One obvious thing is also checking your paths are set in Retroarch's menu.
Also, please give more details. Which core, which game?

What you're asking isn't really wii specific. You could report the bugs here for example : https://github.com/libretro/fbalpha2012_cps2/issues

And by the way, here's how to compile : https://docs.libretro.com/development/retroarch/compilation/wii/

 

[SoulSpawn]

Ok I'll try to compile it with your instructions this weekend, thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

I use retroarch via wiiflow, and the main reason is only arcade emulation, so I kept using your mame2003plus cores v1.7.6 and fba cores same version.

I tried street fighter alpha 2 in CPS2 core with newer versions (those that changed menu when setting up controls) and crashed when tryed to save mapping per game. BUT I did not delete the previous configuration files, since it took me too long to have everything configured.

Is there a place to download the cps1 & 2 cores source for v1.7.6 to compile? I only founded compiled versions.

 

[Wiimpathy]

If you mix versions, you'll surely have more bugs/crashes. One trick to avoid this: https://gbatemp.net/threads/retroarch-one-configuration-file-per-emulator.545488/

To download an older source code, you can browse a project's repository. For example : https://github.com/libretro/RetroAr...bae318dbc23cb2ede151c2df10a465e06233ce2f+3340

You see the date at the top? Commits on Jul 12, 2019. At the bottom of the page, you can push the 'Older' button to go even further.
Or if that version suits you, at the top right, click on a <> to browse 'at this point in history'.

Now you're here : https://github.com/libretro/RetroArch/tree/dacf25c1a146d9d35a7e1a6d2d5a3e56dd940c15
Click on the green button, clone or download then Download ZIP.

Same principle for an older fba core.

 

[kimotori]

.........
you can't. sorry. you could turn off the wii but don't do it while it says creating or saving cache cover because it might be writing to your device at that time.

Thanks for the reply.
is it possible to stop the process in the future? Like for example: press "-" to exit​

 

[Tetsuo Shima]

@fledge68 I'm trying to have N64 VC emunand channels alongside the N64 plugin games (using N64 horizontal covers and with n64 background).
Here's what I did, but it's not working.
-I made a copy of my emunand folder inside /nands and renamed it 'N64'. In Wiiflow I deleted every other game from that nand, leaving only N64 games.
-I made a copy of my wiiflow/plugin/emuchannels.ini and renamed it emuchannels-N64.ini
-I created a new magic number for it. It's 454e3634 (EN64). Used it in plugin, source menu and platform.in (as N64).
-Inside emuchannels-n64.ini I used romdir=nands/N64, and coverfolder=N64

With these settings it doesn't work, it shows the correct background, but it says no roms found.
Is there a way to do it?

 

[fledge68]

@fledge68 I'm trying to have N64 VC emunand channels alongside the N64 plugin games (using N64 horizontal covers and with n64 background).
Here's what I did, but it's not working.
-I made a copy of my emunand folder inside /nands and renamed it 'N64'. In Wiiflow I deleted every other game from that nand, leaving only N64 games.
-I made a copy of my wiiflow/plugin/emuchannels.ini and renamed it emuchannels-N64.ini
-I created a new magic number for it. It's 454e3634 (EN64). Used it in plugin, source menu and platform.in (as N64).
-Inside emuchannels-n64.ini I used romdir=nands/N64, and coverfolder=N64

With these settings it doesn't work, it shows the correct background, but it says no roms found.
Is there a way to do it?

The problem is that the emu nand plugin magic number is compiled in the code. You cant just makeup one. So the only way your idea would work is if your n65 emunand was the only one you used.

 

[Tetsuo Shima]

Oh that's why it wasn't working. I was trying this method to add some games to my poor collection of n64 working games.
Mainly I was aiming to do this with N64, VC Arcade (basically just for 2 games, not possible on mame) and maybe MSX and C64 (no disk swapping, instant load) and PC (just for MDK2)
But I wanted to leave my main Emunand untouched.
Maybe I could use categories, but then again, it wouldn't use the correct flow in platform.ini.
Well that's all right Not a problem if this can't be done.

 

[Demetris]

@fledge68 i really hope you stick with the updated devkitpro, works bug less here or if you go back please in next version would be great to we have two releases (old and new sdk)

 

[fledge68]

released v.5.4.2 today.

get it here - https://github.com/Fledge68/WiiFlow_Lite/releases

still compiled with ppc r30.

newer devkitpro compiled version coming soon just in case any one wants it.

 

[fledge68]

Can someone please test cheats?

 

[Alexander1970]

Can someone please test cheats?

Some special Game or testing the Download of the Cheats ?

Thank you.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Can someone please test cheats?

After the Cheat Download it says:

"Done!"

but then

"Downloaded cheat file has no cheats!"
(Tested several NTSC Games).