Hacking cMIOS with Classic Controller support

[Tetsuo Shima]

I was wondering if it would be possible to add CC support to a custom MIOS, to play GC games with the Classic Controller.
I'm no coder, but I'd like to know if this feature could be achieved or if it's totally impossible.
If it's impossible can someone please explain me why?
Thanks in advance...

 

[LexLuthor]

I'm sure someone else can fill you in on the more specific details but I hear the answer is almost certainly no. All Wii functions (ie. Wiimote/Classic Controller) are locked out when running in Gamecube mode.

 

[natemckn]

I was wondering if it would be possible to add CC support to a custom MIOS, to play GC games with the Classic Controller.
I'm no coder, but I'd like to know if this feature could be achieved or if it's totally impossible.
If it's impossible can someone please explain me why?
Thanks in advance...

I hate to say its impossible, there are some very talented people around here, but right now it is not feasible. This is because of the way the wii handles gamecube games. When you boot a gamecube game, the wii locks down its hardware to imitate that of a gamecube. This is so games will play exactly the same as they were intended. Even though the wii has a faster processor and video card, when playing a GC game, they act like GC hardware. So when in GC mode, you have no access to the wiimotes, usb ports, sd card, etc. Without access to the wiimote you cannot use the classic controller

 

[Deleted-171178]

Just use a Gamecube -> CC converter.

 

[Helsionium]

I believe even a custom MIOS could not access any Wii-exclusive hardware. The software responsible for this lock-out mechanism is probably BC, but it's very poorly understood. If a custom BC were made, it would be possible, but I think messing with BC might be dangerous, since it apparently has direct access to the hardware (BC underclocks the processor so it matches GameCube's speed).

 

[Jacobeian]

I think there is hardware problem ,: in GC mode, the Wii is running at a lower speed which may cause some issues with native Wii hardware, not designed to run at lower speed.

Also, access to the Wiimote and its expansion requires access to bluetooth hardware which is turned OFF in GC mode

In conlusion, it requires lot more work than simple MIOS patching, probably also requires BC patching to see where Wii functionnalities are disabled, with no garantuee they would work properly even if enabled...

I guess that the reasons nobody ever suceeded in such thing, even if it's a pretty popular idea

 

[Det1re]

To sum up and make a short answer:

On the hardware side you can do it.
On the software side it's nearly impossible.

 

[Tetsuo Shima]

Ok thanks to everyone

So, basically, it would be a very difficult and dangerous thing for a coder to achieve, because not only the Mios is involved, but probably BC too.
That brings me another question: would it be possible for Nintendo to do such a thing in a future update? Yeah, I know that they won't ever do that, because they prefer to re-sell us the same GC games with "new play controls", but - just in theory - would it be possible for them?

 

[zant]

i wish we could use classic controller too... but im going to say impossible for now.

 

[vergilite]

I feel your pain up until recently i was using one of my friends game cube controllers on legend of zelda collectors edition but he took the controller back Noooooo i was so close to completing ocarina of time and when i say close i mean like in the middle of the game HA HA HA HA

 

[natemckn]

I feel your pain up until recently i was using one of my friends game cube controllers on legend of zelda collectors edition but he took the controller back Noooooo i was so close to completing ocarina of time and when i say close i mean like in the middle of the game HA HA HA HA

http://www.gamestop.com/browse/search.aspx...be%20controller

$15 or $20 at gamestop and it works with vc games.

 

[manias]

so annoying that first party GC controllers are sold out everywhere, 3rd party ones are kinda crap :/

 

[natemckn]

nintendo still makes them in japan:
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/controllers/
hint: scroll all the way down

 

[jwcgator]

It could be possible:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlzVpo5IPdM

 

[nIxx]

The video is from crediar and he only changed one bit

to add Wiimote support it needs a much harder hack.

PS: You can get GC controllers for 20$ on play asia

 

[cwstjdenobs]

I think there is hardware problem ,: in GC mode, the Wii is running at a lower speed which may cause some issues with native Wii hardware, not designed to run at lower speed.

Also, access to the Wiimote and its expansion requires access to bluetooth hardware which is turned OFF in GC mode

In conlusion, it requires lot more work than simple MIOS patching, probably also requires BC patching to see where Wii functionnalities are disabled, with no garantuee they would work properly even if enabled...

I guess that the reasons nobody ever suceeded in such thing, even if it's a pretty popular idea

Good logic but I personally think having a "GC emu" along the lines of qemu with kqemu running on top of an IOS (maybe would need to use a cIOS) is the most likely aproach to work, instead of hacking BC and MIOS to run GC games with Wii peripherals and causing loads of problems. That way the GC game would have no idea it has extra hardware, and seeing as no interpreterer or dynarec would be needed and the biggest problem would be slowing the games down.

So in conclussion I can imagine the people with the skills needed to do this are probably busy perfecting other emus (N64, PSX etc) before moving onto this, or just aren't interested seeing as the Wii can already play GC games natively.

 

[drmarvin]

I suppose that now there is a slim possibility that it would be possible if someone could basically write a cIOS running on MINI that would allow GC games to run in Wii mode. I would be surprised if it oculd be done, but I don't think it's totally impossible now, but it would be very hard, I think.

Maybe I'm way off base, but with the low-level access that MINI now allows, it *might* (big might) happen.

 

[Helsionium]

Well, MINI is one possibility, but would be hard.
The problem is that GC games were designed specifically for the GC, if these games operate in any conditions other than those of a retail GC, their behaviour is no longer well-defined. What may work for one game might or might not work for the others (that's the same problem with high-level-emulation, for example). The BC/MIOS system Nintendo implemented is actually a very smart, if not the only feasible approach to the problem: It creates an operating environment that is identical to that of a GameCube, even though this necessarily means all Wii functionality must be disabled. At the moment, I can hardly see any possible solution to this problem (using MINI) that will work for all games.

 

[drmarvin]

I think that's pretty realistic. I just figure that if we are talking *possibility*, then it might be *possible* with MINI.

 

[Helsionium]

Actually, using MINI for this purpose isn't really feasible, everything would have to be written from scratch.
You wouldn't want to write a whole new BIOS if you wanted to remap keys under Windows, would you?
Implementing additional control options like the Classic Controller is more feasible by changing existing software, in that case BC and MIOS. The problem is that not many skillful coders have tried bothering with BC and MIOS yet, so it remains rather poorly understood (but still better then MINI, which lacks any documentation at the moment, if I am correct, and is not even finished)