Hacking Dios Mios Lite

[WalkerOfTheDay]

Elliander, does yer black Wii even have GC controller ports?
My fam got a black one for xmas (for netflix), and it's one of the crippled ones that has no GC hookups for controllers and memory cards.

Yeah, that's the 'slim' family edition. But earlier black wii's do have GC ports.

 

[Elliander]

Elliander, does yer black Wii even have GC controller ports?
My fam got a black one for xmas (for netflix), and it's one of the crippled ones that has no GC hookups for controllers and memory cards.

Yes, mine does. It reads GC games just fine from disc and I use the Gamecube port to play Nintendo 64 ROM games (which means I get to keep my old N64 games in storage) and I use the controllers for some Wii games like Super Smash Bros.

I heard about those crippled ones. Just out of curiosity: Are they any cheaper, or did Nintendo just cut costs without cutting price? I'm also curious to see how the emulation community responds. I would personally boycott those. If Wii w/o gamecube support sales suddenly fail it might convince Nintendo to bring Gamecube support back into the Wii-U.

I wonder if maybe some hard modder can just come up with a wireless gamecube style controller for the Wii-U when it comes out and then try to emulate the gamecube on the Wii-U with it's increased power. That is assuming the power of an Xbox360 or PS3 can emulate a gamecube effectively considering that the Wii-U won't be much more powerful. I personally would not buy a Wii-U without the ability to consolidate my older consoles into it....... On the other hand, the Wii-U (and probably slim Wii) runs the same software that will run the Wii games as an older Wii so in theory if this project is a success it should be able to be applied to the Wii-U the moment someone comes up with the custom hardware to support gamecube games. Since the Wii-U can support bluetooth any company could just start making blue tooth gamecube controllers for the Wii games that are better with it, and that will in turn help the soft modding community enable gamecube support.

 

[Lucif3r]

The new ones are supposed to be cheaper... However... Since they (the new ones) were released, the old ones has gone down in price and (around here) is priced equal, often lower, as the new one.

Also, theres already an adapter that allows you to plug a GC pad into the wii remote. Obvioulsy you cant use that for gamecube games on the Wii though.

 

[VatoLoco]

The gimpy Wii was a bargain for sure, good for a secondary media and Wii disc player.
...and ive got my main old launch era Wii for Gamecube discs, a SDGecko for iso/gcm back-ups, and a working sneekDI w/DML setup.
Also, now i wont get irritated when the kids wanna DDR for hours=)


I'd love to see my fav off-road dune buggy game, Smuggler's Run working (it freezes a few minutes into gameplay) from DML (or Swiss), at the moment Im fairly certain only the retail disc is playable.

 

[Elliander]

The new ones are supposed to be cheaper... However... Since they (the new ones) were released, the old ones has gone down in price and (around here) is priced equal, often lower, as the new one.

I haven't even seen a Wii Slim around here now that I think about it. I heard they aren't even coming to the US market yet (thankfully).

Also, theres already an adapter that allows you to plug a GC pad into the wii remote.

I haven't seen any of those. Do you have a link?

Obvioulsy you cant use that for gamecube games on the Wii though.

Why not? Or do you just mean the Wii Slim? I think it would be very interesting to find out if there are any software differences between the Wii or Wii Slim or if they just gutted some of the hardware and put some kind of block up to keep Gamecube games from running. If the Wii Slim still has the same core components I wonder if a project such as this could work on the Wii Slim at some point in the future as a USB loader in which case that could bring hope to the Wii-U.

 

[Lucif3r]

Also, theres already an adapter that allows you to plug a GC pad into the wii remote.

I haven't seen any of those. Do you have a link?

I do not. I saw it in a thread on these forums a few months ago.

edit: I think the thread was called something like "GC on Wii-U SOLVED" or something...

Obvioulsy you cant use that for gamecube games on the Wii though.

Why not? Or do you just mean the Wii Slim? I think it would be very interesting to find out if there are any software differences between the Wii or Wii Slim or if they just gutted some of the hardware and put some kind of block up to keep Gamecube games from running. If the Wii Slim still has the same core components I wonder if a project such as this could work on the Wii Slim at some point in the future as a USB loader in which case that could bring hope to the Wii-U.

Because the Wii shuts off all Wii features (such as bluetooth) when it enters GC mode, so the Wii remotes aint working. This applies to all Wii's.
Also, theres no software differences between a "slim" and a normal. Only difference is the GC ports are missing and the DVD spits out the mini-DVDs.
If you would solder a GC port back and change the DVD, Im pretty sure it could run GC games just as well as the old model. But to my knowledge, no one has tried this yet.

 

[ploggy]

So if I got this right DML is basically a prog to re enable the front SD card slot in gc mode?
Would it be possible to enable other Wii mode features in GC mode like Bluetooth so you can use Wiimotes in GC mode.? It would be cool if it was possible to use the Wiimote in games like Wind Waker or Mario Sunshine but I dunno if it's possible.

 

[Elliander]

So if I got this right DML is basically a prog to re enable the front SD card slot in gc mode?
Would it be possible to enable other Wii mode features in GC mode like Bluetooth so you can use Wiimotes in GC mode.? It would be cool if it was possible to use the Wiimote in games like Wind Waker or Mario Sunshine but I dunno if it's possible.

That's exactly what I was thinking. I mean, it has to shut off the wii functions in software anyway. Anything that can be shut off can be turned on. In that case the impact of this project is much farther reaching than the Wii. It would have a lasting impact for an entire console generation.

 

[WiiPower]

The gimpy Wii was a bargain for sure, good for a secondary media and Wii disc player.
...and ive got my main old launch era Wii for Gamecube discs, a SDGecko for iso/gcm back-ups, and a working sneekDI w/DML setup.
Also, now i wont get irritated when the kids wanna DDR for hours=)


I'd love to see my fav off-road dune buggy game, Smuggler's Run working (it freezes a few minutes into gameplay) from DML (or Swiss), at the moment Im fairly certain only the retail disc is playable.

I don't have the game myself, but i saw that MIOS has some patch for it. So i think that it is not wii compatible if it's not patched by MIOS. If i had the game, i could dump that MIOS patch the same way i dumped the Wind Waker patch. Do you have an usb gecko? Do you have any hex editor skills?

I'm thinking of a way to get DML to work with the MIOS patches enabled, but i'm not sure it would work.

 

[VatoLoco]

I've got the retail disc, but that would be cool if running a backup of the game could be fixed with a MIOS patch=)
I unfortunately dont have a usb gecko (just a sdgecko), but maybe i'll pick one up if i can find a place that still has 'em in stock.
As far a hex editing, ive only got rudimentary knowledge- but i have messed around with it a li'l bit to change some text in my DStwo.nds file.

 

[WiiPower]

I've got the retail disc, but that would be cool if running a backup of the game could be fixed with a MIOS patch=)
I unfortunately dont have a usb gecko (just a sdgecko), but maybe i'll pick one up if i can find a place that still has 'em in stock.
As far a hex editing, ive only got rudimentary knowledge- but i have messed around with it a li'l bit to change some text in my DStwo.nds file.

Maybe i'll write a patch dumper for DML, then you would probably not need an usb gecko. But i think for this i would need to change some asm code, and that's something i can't do. I'll come back to you if i write it.

 

[Elliander]

I've got the retail disc, but that would be cool if running a backup of the game could be fixed with a MIOS patch=)
I unfortunately dont have a usb gecko (just a sdgecko), but maybe i'll pick one up if i can find a place that still has 'em in stock.
As far a hex editing, ive only got rudimentary knowledge- but i have messed around with it a li'l bit to change some text in my DStwo.nds file.

Maybe i'll write a patch dumper for DML, then you would probably not need an usb gecko. But i think for this i would need to change some asm code, and that's something i can't do. I'll come back to you if i write it.

What are the current capabilities of DML? If I were to buy extra hardware to test what specifically is required to be able to at this time? Will it eventually be comparable to WODE?

Also, theres already an adapter that allows you to plug a GC pad into the wii remote.

I haven't seen any of those. Do you have a link?

I do not. I saw it in a thread on these forums a few months ago.

edit: I think the thread was called something like "GC on Wii-U SOLVED" or something...

Obvioulsy you cant use that for gamecube games on the Wii though.

Why not? Or do you just mean the Wii Slim? I think it would be very interesting to find out if there are any software differences between the Wii or Wii Slim or if they just gutted some of the hardware and put some kind of block up to keep Gamecube games from running. If the Wii Slim still has the same core components I wonder if a project such as this could work on the Wii Slim at some point in the future as a USB loader in which case that could bring hope to the Wii-U.

Because the Wii shuts off all Wii features (such as bluetooth) when it enters GC mode, so the Wii remotes aint working. This applies to all Wii's.
Also, theres no software differences between a "slim" and a normal. Only difference is the GC ports are missing and the DVD spits out the mini-DVDs.
If you would solder a GC port back and change the DVD, Im pretty sure it could run GC games just as well as the old model. But to my knowledge, no one has tried this yet.

I found a link. (personally I think it would be better if it just plugged into the wiimote directly without bothing with that extra wireless which is redundant) It tricks the Wii into thinking that the Gamecube controller is a classic controller and works like a classic controller. That will solve the problem of emulation of old games on the Wii (like N64), but you are right in that it won't work for a gamecube mode as things are right now. Even hard mod projects like WODE probably won't be able to get a slim wii to play gamecube games with the wiimotes powered down, but if there is a way to get in software the wiimotes to remain active somehow then it will be possible to a soft mod project like this to do with the slim wii and wii u what otherwise would not be possible.

 

[WiiPower]

[...]
What are the current capabilities of DML? If I were to buy extra hardware to test what specifically is required to be able to at this time? Will it eventually be comparable to WODE?
[...]

Run gamecube games from sd cards inserted in the front sd card reader. And requirements are a compatible sd card and a working Sneek+DI setup. But right now, if you only got BootMii IOS, then your games compatiblity is c**p. And the read speed seems to be faster than the one Swiss has, but still slower than NeoGamma's read speed. Luigi's Mansion and the 2 Baten Kaitos games for example might not not be compatible, just because of slow read speed.

But i haven't done much compatiblity testing yet(with my BootMii boot2 Wii), so i can't really say where DML is right now in terms of compatibility or where i can get it to.

 

[Elliander]

[...]
What are the current capabilities of DML? If I were to buy extra hardware to test what specifically is required to be able to at this time? Will it eventually be comparable to WODE?
[...]

Run gamecube games from sd cards inserted in the front sd card reader. And requirements are a compatible sd card and a working Sneek+DI setup. But right now, if you only got BootMii IOS, then your games compatiblity is c**p. And the read speed seems to be faster than the one Swiss has, but still slower than NeoGamma's read speed. Luigi's Mansion and the 2 Baten Kaitos games for example might not not be compatible, just because of slow read speed.

But i haven't done much compatiblity testing yet(with my BootMii boot2 Wii), so i can't really say where DML is right now in terms of compatibility or where i can get it to.

Thanks for the information. I did some extra reading and learned that there were more differences than just a drive replacement. Well, whenever the project moves forward enough that would require the testing of a newer Wii I would love to help.

 

[zerofalcon]

If somebody with BootMii boot2 really wants to do some testing, i got the following to offer:
- Test if Metroid Prime (still?) works
- Test if games with multiple .dol files work, like Zelda: Collector's Edition. Some benchmarks would be nice for those games as well. 1st run of the game and 1st run of the games inside vs 2nd run. On the 1st run, DML searches the patches and writes them to a cache file, so the 2nd time loading should be faster.

This is not important, because i will test some of my games when i implemented all of my ideas. But i was thinking, in case if somebody is bored...

Also, there's no need to (re)test all games, i still have some ideas that might change the compatiblity for good or bad. Hopefully good...

Recently I tested those 2 games and here's my results:


Metroid Prime (NTSC-U) full size & shrink iso
DiosMios Lite (Bootmii boot2) - Not working (black screen) (MicroSD 2gb Sandisk FAT Cluster 64k)
DiosMios Lite (Bootmii ios) - Not working (black screen) (MicroSD 2gb Sandisk FAT Cluster 64k)

The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition (NTSC-U) full size & shrink iso

DiosMios Lite (Bootmii boot2) - Not working (black screen) (MicroSD 2gb Sandisk FAT Cluster 64k)
DiosMios Lite (Bootmii ios) - Not working (black screen) (MicroSD 2gb Sandisk FAT Cluster 64k)

I'm dumping some of my games just to test how they run, last game I tested was Resident Evil 3 (NTSC-U) and so far with sneek+DI (DML) loaded with bootmii as boot2 the game runs perfect, no lags no crackling sfx, everything smooth as the retail disc.

Resident Evil 3 (NTSC-U) full size & shrink iso

DiosMios Lite (Bootmii boot2) - Perfect (MicroSD 2gb Sandisk Fat Cluster 64k)
DiosMios Lite (Bootmii ios) - Good - crackling sfx (MicroSD 2gb Sandisk Fat Cluster 64k)

 

[Lucif3r]

Could someone give a very short, brief and simple explanation why DML works a lot better on Wiis with bootmii@[member='boot2490'] than Wiis with bootmii@IOS?

 

[SifJar]

It's not known exactly why it doesn't work. With BootMii/IOS, a certain memory allocation doesn't work correctly, that does work with BootMii/boot2.

 

[WiiPower]

[...]
Recently I tested those 2 games and here's my results:


Metroid Prime (NTSC-U) full size & shrink iso
DiosMios Lite (Bootmii boot2) - Not working (black screen) (MicroSD 2gb Sandisk FAT Cluster 64k)
DiosMios Lite (Bootmii ios) - Not working (black screen) (MicroSD 2gb Sandisk FAT Cluster 64k)

The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition (NTSC-U) full size & shrink iso

DiosMios Lite (Bootmii boot2) - Not working (black screen) (MicroSD 2gb Sandisk FAT Cluster 64k)
DiosMios Lite (Bootmii ios) - Not working (black screen) (MicroSD 2gb Sandisk FAT Cluster 64k)

[...]

Did you test the old release from Crediar? That one used some hack to get Metroid Prime to work, i suspect it was for the PAL version, which is why the NTSC version does not work. The lastest DML version, that you need to compile yourself, might work for you. And Zelda Collector's Edition has no chance to work with Crediar's version, and with the latest version it should boot. But it might have some problem somewhen later, comparable to the dungeon map freeze in Wind Waker.

Could someone give a very short, brief and simple explanation why DML works a lot better on Wiis with bootmii@[member='boot2490'] than Wiis with bootmii@IOS?

Some register or whatever is in a different state if the system only went from BootMii boot2 to Sneek+DI to DML instead of boot2 -> system menu -> homebrew(HBC or IOS254 loader) -> Sneek+DI -> DML. What it is exactly is unknown, Crediar said something about aram(audio memory) mem2 conversion.

 

[WiiPower]

Ok, i uploaded the latest version(r9) as download:
http://code.google.com/p/dios-mios-lite-source-project/downloads/list

It still requires messing with NUS Downloader and FixELF, but it's not required to compile.

 

[SanGor]

Maybe when trying games you should also look at the sd:/dml.log file for debugging.