Hacking Possibility of packing a wii DVD disc to a wad.

[toejam316]

There are two ways we could do this, really.
First off, either way we'll need to write a mload module for one of the cIOSes that'll point it to the location of the files on the NAND, and secondly we'd need to either A.) store a WBFS file (which'd require the least work) on the NAND, or else we'd have to (harder, but probably better working) create a new method of storing the files on the NAND (we could also just store the files unencrypted like SNEEK, but I have no idea if we can load them).

Making a WAD would SORT OF work - in essence, we'd be setting up a channel which would load our dol - this dol would then feed the mload module to the cIOS, and do all the normal functions a loader does.
But then, we need to get these files on to the Wii for the actual disc itself - I have no idea how we'd go about that or if it'd even be possible in a WAD.

Working this stuff out though (especially in a way that can be used with cIOS rev 19) would be especially useful for SNEEK - if we could setup a uniform, easy way to do this, we wouldn't even NEED to use SNEEKs redirection functionality to emulate a disc drive - we could just run a single UNEEK nand and install discs just like WADs.
Of course, we'd still be limited by the number of channels SNEEK is able to display, and I don't think anyone could easily implement extra pages in the system menu.

 

[ChuckBartowski]

There are two ways we could do this, really.
First off, either way we'll need to write a mload module for one of the cIOSes that'll point it to the location of the files on the NAND, and secondly we'd need to either A.) store a WBFS file (which'd require the least work) on the NAND, or else we'd have to (harder, but probably better working) create a new method of storing the files on the NAND (we could also just store the files unencrypted like SNEEK, but I have no idea if we can load them).

Making a WAD would SORT OF work - in essence, we'd be setting up a channel which would load our dol - this dol would then feed the mload module to the cIOS, and do all the normal functions a loader does.
But then, we need to get these files on to the Wii for the actual disc itself - I have no idea how we'd go about that or if it'd even be possible in a WAD.

Working this stuff out though (especially in a way that can be used with cIOS rev 19) would be especially useful for SNEEK - if we could setup a uniform, easy way to do this, we wouldn't even NEED to use SNEEKs redirection functionality to emulate a disc drive - we could just run a single UNEEK nand and install discs just like WADs.
Of course, we'd still be limited by the number of channels SNEEK is able to display, and I don't think anyone could easily implement extra pages in the system menu.

Sounds difficult. But i get the gist of what your saying. I dont see why we cant just pack disc info into a wad though (probably because i dont know enough of what im talking about). How are game files in wad normally laid out?

 

[ChuckBartowski]

OK! So i got a reply from waninkoko! I gave him a link to this thread, and he says he can help with code and that it shouldn't be too hard.

 

[geoflcl]

OK! So i got a reply from waninkoko! I gave him a link to this thread, and he says he can help with code and that it shouldn't be too hard.

Wonderful!

Good ol' Wanin.

Despite this only having only one real use (at this point in time), having an actual Netflix Channel is definitely worth it.

 

[smash_brew]

Glad to hear waninkoko is willing to help out.

 

[person66]

How big is wii sports? It might be smalll enough too. Or wii play.

 

[ChuckBartowski]

They are, but it would take quite a bit of NAND. Not worth it. Like said above, netflix is really the only practical application for this right now.

 

[s3phir0th115]

I think it'd have its uses. I for one can think of one game that would easily fit on the Wii's nand. Offroad Extreme.

Assuming scrubbing methods and all are used, that game takes only 90 MB if you have the updates removed.

So while it won't be very useful without nand emulation for most games, I know there is more than the netflix disc that would benefit from it.

 

[AetherMaster]

I really hope Waninkoko comes through and helps release this soon. I'm sick and tired of having to load my Netflix disc to watch movies, even WITH a USB Loader.

 

[jakejm79]

I really hope Waninkoko comes through and helps release this soon. I'm sick and tired of having to load my Netflix disc to watch movies, even WITH a USB Loader.

You dont need the disc with the USB loader, in fact I was watching Netflix movies before my disc arrived. Which is why I don't really understand the need for this? Unless you don't have a HDD connected to your Wii, a simple crap forwarder or the like would do the job just the same and take up a lot less space. I mean I understand the principal behind it, but in reality it isn't really needed on a mass scale.

 

[bwillb]

I really hope Waninkoko comes through and helps release this soon. I'm sick and tired of having to load my Netflix disc to watch movies, even WITH a USB Loader.

You dont need the disc with the USB loader, in fact I was watching Netflix movies before my disc arrived. Which is why I don't really understand the need for this? Unless you don't have a HDD connected to your Wii, a simple crap forwarder or the like would do the job just the same and take up a lot less space. I mean I understand the principal behind it, but in reality it isn't really needed on a mass scale.

its not really required, works fine without it, but it would give a nicer presentation in my opinion. Netflix should have been a channel to begin with.

 

[ChuckBartowski]

Yeah. Its more of a why not thing. And like bwillb says, it should've been a channel. Its small enough for it.

 

[giantpune]

did anybody else think about doing the opposite of this? it would allow you to turn channels into iso. right now, to list & play a channel in a usb loader, you need to use triiforce or something like that and set up a forwarder and a nand emulator. its actually quite a bit of things that have to work correctly for the game to play.

i noticed some function the other day in some official software that was called something like "IsDiscGame()". Basically it just looked like the game checks something to see if it is running from DVD or nand. Then it uses the result of that check to decide which read functions to use. maybe just extracting a VC game to mirror the layout of the VC partitions in SSBB and using a patch or ocarina code to make this function say it is being played from a disc is enough to directly run games from iso.

 

[nl255]

Yeah. Its more of a why not thing. And like bwillb says, it should've been a channel. Its small enough for it.

Exactly, it is a matter of principle even if it isn't as useful as a forwarder channel. Just like making (with uLoader) Wiiware/VC work from SD without full NAND emulation or letting you keep your game saves on SD (again, uLoader).

Also, is it OK to post CRAP channels here, if so I have one for Netflix that will not only run it from the SD card but will return to the system menu even if you have return_to_channel set in cfgloader (the trick is to use clear_patches=1 to disable the return to channel feature for the forwarder).

 

[AetherMaster]

I really hope Waninkoko comes through and helps release this soon. I'm sick and tired of having to load my Netflix disc to watch movies, even WITH a USB Loader.

You dont need the disc with the USB loader, in fact I was watching Netflix movies before my disc arrived. Which is why I don't really understand the need for this? Unless you don't have a HDD connected to your Wii, a simple crap forwarder or the like would do the job just the same and take up a lot less space. I mean I understand the principal behind it, but in reality it isn't really needed on a mass scale.

I realize you don't need the disc. By 'disc,' I meant 'disc image' I suppose. The problem is that I only have one hard drive and lack the budget to buy another. I use it for much more than just Wii, and it's annoying having to always disconnect it from my PC and hook it up to my Wii just to load up a Netflix ISO when it's something that should be a channel in the first place.

 

[ChuckBartowski]

Yeah. Its more of a why not thing. And like bwillb says, it should've been a channel. Its small enough for it.

Exactly, it is a matter of principle even if it isn't as useful as a forwarder channel. Just like making (with uLoader) Wiiware/VC work from SD without full NAND emulation or letting you keep your game saves on SD (again, uLoader).

Also, is it OK to post CRAP channels here, if so I have one for Netflix that will not only run it from the SD card but will return to the system menu even if you have return_to_channel set in cfgloader (the trick is to use clear_patches=1 to disable the return to channel feature for the forwarder).

Eh. I could make one of those myself. And i also think you cant anyway, it contains the banner files.

 

[jakejm79]

I really hope Waninkoko comes through and helps release this soon. I'm sick and tired of having to load my Netflix disc to watch movies, even WITH a USB Loader.

You dont need the disc with the USB loader, in fact I was watching Netflix movies before my disc arrived. Which is why I don't really understand the need for this? Unless you don't have a HDD connected to your Wii, a simple crap forwarder or the like would do the job just the same and take up a lot less space. I mean I understand the principal behind it, but in reality it isn't really needed on a mass scale.

I realize you don't need the disc. By 'disc,' I meant 'disc image' I suppose. The problem is that I only have one hard drive and lack the budget to buy another. I use it for much more than just Wii, and it's annoying having to always disconnect it from my PC and hook it up to my Wii just to load up a Netflix ISO when it's something that should be a channel in the first place.

I see your point, I guess I am spoiled, I have 320GB for the Wii, 2TB for the HTPC and a 500GB not in use for backup.

 

[smash_brew]

did anybody else think about doing the opposite of this? it would allow you to turn channels into iso. right now, to list & play a channel in a usb loader, you need to use triiforce or something like that and set up a forwarder and a nand emulator. its actually quite a bit of things that have to work correctly for the game to play.

i noticed some function the other day in some official software that was called something like "IsDiscGame()". Basically it just looked like the game checks something to see if it is running from DVD or nand. Then it uses the result of that check to decide which read functions to use. maybe just extracting a VC game to mirror the layout of the VC partitions in SSBB and using a patch or ocarina code to make this function say it is being played from a disc is enough to directly run games from iso.

I'm intrigued. Sounds like a wonderful idea to me. Definitely think it warrants further investigation.

 

[vexing]

The problem is that I only have one hard drive and lack the budget to buy another...

use your sd card... even if you switch amongst multiple cards, it's only 25mb or whatever on each.

 

[minjeeta]

did anybody else think about doing the opposite of this? it would allow you to turn channels into iso. right now, to list & play a channel in a usb loader, you need to use triiforce or something like that and set up a forwarder and a nand emulator. its actually quite a bit of things that have to work correctly for the game to play.

i noticed some function the other day in some official software that was called something like "IsDiscGame()". Basically it just looked like the game checks something to see if it is running from DVD or nand. Then it uses the result of that check to decide which read functions to use. maybe just extracting a VC game to mirror the layout of the VC partitions in SSBB and using a patch or ocarina code to make this function say it is being played from a disc is enough to directly run games from iso.

I'm intrigued. Sounds like a wonderful idea to me. Definitely think it warrants further investigation.

ditto. I'd really love to have my favorite wiiware (art style collection) as iso's on my hdd...m