Hacking WiiU Virtual Console finally fixed! [No More dark filter, and widescreen support!]

[bootmonster]

Well, I can't use Wii U USB help now, can I? Sure, I could do that way, but I've no recollection on how to dump it myself as decrypted folders, so...

Well sooooo sorry for derailing, oy vey.

Wii U USB helper still works if you follow the guide on Reddit. Just need to edit your hosts file to point the title keys site at an alternative.
Downloaded the entire US n64 library the other day

 

[DonCaballero]

Neither Ogre Battle nor Harvest Moon 64 were released originally in Europe

Seriously? I had no idea about that. I'm so glad this is pretty much behind us now, it's ridiculous that a game would release in Europe but not in the US and vice-versa. It truly makes no sense and it feels amateur.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

So can anyone get Mario Party 3 to run? I tried it but it's not perfect. I replaced the mario party 2 rom with 3 and manage to load the game but it got some shuddering problems. I doubt it's caused the resolution mod. Also does each nintendo 64 game has it own resolution?

 

[George miller]

So I have been playing around with this and it really is great, the difference is quite striking.

Standard

Filter Removed and Frame resized to 1920x1080 (in game widescreen setting turned on also)

However the black bars I still found annoying. So it got be wondering about the scale option in Frame. I did a bit of testing and this does indeed scale the image up or down.

I took the all of the screenshots using the Wii U browser, and did some calculations using the black bars. Oddly the image isn't centered exactly, so I calculated the scale of each side to fill the black space.

Black space in above image (1280x720);

Area    Pixels   Scale

Top     30px     1.090909
Bottom  33px     1.100917
Left    40px     1.066667
Right   44px     1.0732826

I decided to keep both x and y the same so not to distort the image (that's assuming it's not already distorted), but it does mean you lose a few pixels from the left and right. Though you could try x 1.08 and y 1.11 if you want to get those pixels back and maybe that is the 'correct' aspect ratio.

So I tested both 1.09 and 1.1 scales to see if my calculations were correct, and the resulting screenshots are below;

1.09 Scale for both x and y (1 pixel at the top and small black bar at bottom)

1.1 Scale for both x and y (maybe 1 black pixel at bottom) but not really noticeable on hardware.

I am pretty pleased with the results, and looks like my calcs were pretty much spot on. I'd maybe recommend 1.11 to drop that last pixel, but I do wonder if playing around with Origin: OriginX and OriginY values or the Transformaton: Translation values could allow you to centre the image, and reduce the scaling slightly and not lose any pixels.

If the image were perfectly centred the ideal scaling would be x =1.070234 and y = 1.09589

This is just for US retail Donkey Kong 64 haven't checked any other games yet.

Did everything, but on the WiiU gamepad and my tv screen I don´t get a centered image, can you please help me?

 

[ShadowOne333]

Apparently some games get different layout settings (for some reason).
I am using the same FrameLayout.arc file for all my VC injections, and so far only Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness doesn't fill the full screen (using the non-scaled .arc).
Legacy of Darkness still has some dark areas around the game screen, and on the lower right corner you get some sort of mirror flickering image of the main game screen.
No biggie though, as using the .arc with the scale settings modified should fix this little bug.

 

[George miller]

Hey guys! Recently, I found out a few things about the VC software of the WiiU. First of all, since the recent breakout of hacking the iQue Player, we were able to dump the ROMs of that Chinese console. Surprisingly enough, the chinese roms worked perfectly in the VC emulator!

(Thanks Jhynjhi for the screenshot.)

For those who don't know, it is possible to replace the rom inside any N64 VC title by just replacing the file inside the "rom" folder.

Another fun fact is that placing multiple ROMs and starting the software will display a debug menu where users can choose their ROM.

I wanted to see if there was a way to fix the problems a lot of people were having with the WiiU Virtual Console, being the dark anti-epilepsy filter. For those who don't know, there was a filter on each game in the Virtual Console library, making them render way darker and way less colorful than any other emulator.

After looking around at the files, the file called "FrameLayout.arc" caught my attention. I know .arc files were openable in Wexos' Toolbox, so I took a look at it in that tool.

As you can see, there is a file called "FrameLayout1080.bflyt".
After openning it again with Wexos' Toolbox, we get this:

If we change the scale of element "frame_mask" to 0, it completly removes the dark filter!
If we want the game to be widescreen, simply change the element "frame" to have a size of 1920x1080.

To save the .arc with the edited .bflyt, you need to save the .blfyt as a seperate file, then right click the original one in the .arc and select "Replace".

This is the final result of the hack:

(Thanks gamemasterplc for the Widescreen patch for the rom.)

In any case, I hope the information here was useful. Have a good day everyone!

Any way to get a fullscreen centered image on an actual WiiU, not CEMU?

 

[Jhynjhiruu]

Any way to get a fullscreen centered image on an actual WiiU, not CEMU?

Same as CEMU, I would imagine. That zhipian maliou image is from an actual Wii U, if that's what you were asking.

 

[George miller]

Same as CEMU, I would imagine. That zhipian maliou image is from an actual Wii U, if that's what you were asking.

Not, not working for me, image moves to the left and big black inverted L, all bottom and right of the screen.

 

[Jhynjhiruu]

Not, not working for me, image moves to the left and big black inverted L, all bottom and right of the screen.

You probably messed something up then, to be honest. Is the game definitely compatible?https://gbatemp.net/

 

[MattKimura]

Apparently some games get different layout settings (for some reason).
I am using the same FrameLayout.arc file for all my VC injections, and so far only Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness doesn't fill the full screen (using the non-scaled .arc).
Legacy of Darkness still has some dark areas around the game screen, and on the lower right corner you get some sort of mirror flickering image of the main game screen.
No biggie though, as using the .arc with the scale settings modified should fix this little bug.

So basically once you get one game with dark filter removed and widescreen edited into the FrameLayout.arc file, you can use the same exact file with other games as well and I can use FTPiiu Everywhere to replace files. I'm deciding between reinstalling my N64 VC ot using ftpiiu everywhere. Finding the titleid's would be a challenge.

 

[ShadowOne333]

So basically once you get one game with dark filter removed and widescreen edited into the FrameLayout.arc file, you can use the same exact file with other games as well and I can use FTPiiu Everywhere to replace files. I'm deciding between reinstalling my N64 VC ot using ftpiiu everywhere. Finding the titleid's would be a challenge.

That won't work for you.
Thing is that I'm using Loadiine for all my N64 injections, I don't have anything installed (since I only have like 20MB free in the Wii U storage, thanks Breath of the Wild).

Two things of importance should be taken into consideration for this to work for all games:

1. ALL games you have (injected or not) should use the same N64 VC release as the base.
   In my case, this VC base is F-Zero X, because this release is the one with the latest known SVN compiled vessel.rpx/emulator.
   Latest compiled emulator = Better compatibility with settings inside .inis and new files (.arc)
   
2. The FrameLayout.arc you use should be copied across all your games too (assuming you fulfill point #1) inside the /content/ folder of each N64 VC.

Once you do those two points, then yeah my method for sharing the same FrameLayout.arc across all N64 VC games should work.
I don't think it's as easy for installed VC games though, as that would require updating all your original N64 VCs to use F-Zero X's files as the base (excluding the inis and ROM itself of course).

 

[George miller]

You probably messed something up then, to be honest. Is the game definitely compatible?

Totally compatible, Banjo and Kazooie, but image is just not centered nor widescreened. But someone got me a link with main menu installation of the games and they work like a charm.

 

[Fgamer]

So basically once you get one game with dark filter removed and widescreen edited into the FrameLayout.arc file, you can use the same exact file with other games as well and I can use FTPiiu Everywhere to replace files. I'm deciding between reinstalling my N64 VC ot using ftpiiu everywhere. Finding the titleid's would be a challenge.

That won't work for you.
Thing is that I'm using Loadiine for all my N64 injections, I don't have anything installed (since I only have like 20MB free in the Wii U storage, thanks Breath of the Wild).

Two things of importance should be taken into consideration for this to work for all games:

1. ALL games you have (injected or not) should use the same N64 VC release as the base.
   In my case, this VC base is F-Zero X, because this release is the one with the latest known SVN compiled vessel.rpx/emulator.
   Latest compiled emulator = Better compatibility with settings inside .inis and new files (.arc)
   
2. The FrameLayout.arc you use should be copied across all your games too (assuming you fulfill point #1) inside the /content/ folder of each N64 VC.

Once you do those two points, then yeah my method for sharing the same FrameLayout.arc across all N64 VC games should work.
I don't think it's as easy for installed VC games though, as that would require updating all your original N64 VCs to use F-Zero X's files as the base (excluding the inis and ROM itself of course).

It will work. You can use the same FrameLayout.arc for any game regardless of SVN. I would recommend making two FrameLayout.arc files:

One FrameLayout for use with widescreen patched titles (+DK64): Filter removal + Widescreen parameters adjusted
One FrameLayout for use with unpatched 4:3 titles: Filter removal parameter adjusted only

For already installed titles the easiest method is to FTP in to existing installations and replace the FrameLayout and rom (if widescreen patch applied) files.

You would find F-Zero X's files for replacement like this for example:

F-Zero TitleID: 00050000-101EBC00
Paths (for a USB installation):
storage_usb/usr/title/00050000/101EBC00/content/FrameLayout.arc
storage_usb/usr/title/00050000/101EBC00/content/rom/Ucfze0.242

 

[ShadowOne333]

I know that perhaps this won't be related to the thread at hand but...
I injected Doom 64, and it is playing awesome with the new FrameLayout.arc

However, I am struggling a bit to get it control properly.
Has anyone found a proper button layout which makes Doom 64 not control like crap for the movement? XD
I hate it that Nintendo didn't give the option to map individual analog stick movements to certain buttons, otherwise I wouldn't be having this issue.

What I want mostly is to make it control like a modern FPS with the left analog stick moving up/down and the right analog stick being used for lef/right movement, while leaving the L/R triggers for strafing (I can manage the rest of the controls I think).

Anyone has managed to do so?
I have a backup plan in case I cannot get a proper button layout working with the available in-game/VC options.

 

[Fgamer]

1

I know that perhaps this won't be related to the thread at hand but...
I injected Doom 64, and it is playing awesome with the new FrameLayout.arc

However, I am struggling a bit to get it control properly.
Has anyone found a proper button layout which makes Doom 64 not control like crap for the movement? XD
I hate it that Nintendo didn't give the option to map individual analog stick movements to certain buttons, otherwise I wouldn't be having this issue.

What I want mostly is to make it control like a modern FPS with the left analog stick moving up/down and the right analog stick being used for lef/right movement, while leaving the L/R triggers for strafing (I can manage the rest of the controls I think).

Anyone has managed to do so?
I have a backup plan in case I cannot get a proper button layout working with the available in-game/VC options.

Yes, this is the best control method: https://doom64ex.wordpress.com/

 

[xLothwenx]

The Wii Pro controller, as in the Wii Classic controller with nubs? Are you saying that both the Wii Pro and Wii Classic controllers exhibit noticeably different (less) input lag in N64 Wii U Virtual Console than the Wii U controllers? You're the first person I've heard on the entire Internet say this. Hilariously sad if it's true. But better than nothing...?

I've tested the Wii Classic controller, and it exhibits the same input lag as the VPADs. No input lag-free N64 Wii U Virtual Console.

 

[Osakasan]

I've tested the Wii Classic controller, and it exhibits the same input lag as the VPADs. No input lag-free N64 Wii U Virtual Console.

Do you really don't see the difference?

It obviously isn't lag free, but it is way more responsive than the Wii U Gamepad

 

[the_randomizer]

Do you really don't see the difference?

It obviously isn't lag free, but it is way more responsive than the Wii U Gamepad

The Wii U gamepad is pretty garbage for N64 games, to be honest Pro controller all the way.

Edit: It's a nightmare to play a platform game with this controller, esp. Mario 64.

 

[Osakasan]

The Wii U gamepad is pretty garbage for N64 games, to be honest Pro controller all the way.

Edit: It's a nightmare to play a platform game with this controller, esp. Mario 64.

Tbh ergonomically it's fine to me

But the input lag on N64 games with the GamePad is INSANE. The only playable game with it in my small collection is Paper Mario, and I still fail all the timed button presses.

Once i Switch to the Wii classic controller it's buttery smooth

 

[the_randomizer]

Tbh ergonomically it's fine to me

But the input lag on N64 games with the GamePad is INSANE. The only playable game with it in my small collection is Paper Mario, and I still fail all the timed button presses.

Once i Switch to the Wii classic controller it's buttery smooth

Wii Classic Controller is pretty good for me for Snes, Megadrive, etc, but I tried Ocarina of Time last night, and my thumb started to hurt bad Just found my Wii U pro charging cable, and now that N64 games look freaking amazing on Wii U, heh, looking forward to it May buy a couple more games on the eShop, dump them, and then remove the filter.