NES Hacks

Thanks to user gygabyte666 for the tip!

SoftMii has been one of the most complete “hack packs” ever created for the Wii. If you caught or last post, you would have been amazed at it’s features, just like the rest of the world. This all in one package will allow you to change your Menu Theme, load Games from the Disc Channel, play region free games, and a massive host of other features.

The package has now been updated to 2.1.1. No changelog of sorts has been released. so I will attempt to list everything I see that has changed from v2.0:

• Ability to run GC Backups from the Disc Channel
• Updated applications (Preloader v0.28 etc)
• SoftMii NAND Browser
• NAND Dumper
• Bug Fixes are assumed.

If you manage to find anything else new, comment on this post, and we will update this section.

Also, a helpful tip: If you have SoftMii previously installed, you can install this newer version of SoftMii without uninstalling your previous version. Just start the installation instructions (included in the download) from Phase 3.

Source

Download from SoftMii.com (~43MB)

Preloader has quickly become one of the most downloaded and developed applications in recent Wii history. Crediar’s nifty piece of code will run before the System Menu is loaded, and allow you to choose whether to boot into the Sytem Menu, the Homebrew Channel, boot straight from a disc, or enable some tweaks, among other useful features.

Some quick patches, features, and fixes have been added in v0.28:

0.28:

• rewrote the hacks parser, it’s more solid now and detects syntax errors much better
• added a new font
• optimized the menu layout
• you can now add unlimited offsets/value in one hack entry
• added beta version related code
• added a setting which allows to always turn you Wii off even when standby is enabled
• fixed that when shutting down from the System Menu, the Wii always got powered down instead of using the set shutdownmode.
• fixed a bug which prevented updating to a non beta version during beta testing
• fixed a bug in the System Menu hacks scrolling code

Why was there a delay in posting this to the front page? If you have a previous version of Preloader installed, you can obtain this by simply running Preloader, and looking for an update over Wifi. Hopefully, you will find an update, and be able to install it directly on your Wii.

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Download

You know the banner, you know the name, so now the only question is: what is the release?

Infamous Wii Developer Waninkoko has released a development utility of sorts, aptly titled DVDInfo. If the name did not clue you on, this application is meant to display some internal information about your DVD Drive. Remember the “helper” application released a while ago to help the Team Twiizers team to better develop BootMii? Think of this application in the same manner: it does not have much use to the end user, but will help Waninkoko and other Wii developers:

Wii DVD Info is an application that allows us to obtain some data on the DVD drive of the console.

We need as many people as possible to use this application to create a database with information of different DVD drives.

I opened a thread in the forum where users can post the information obtained with the application:

http://www.teknoconsolas.es/foro/vie…p?f=95&t=66188

Remember that post you need to know in advance that the controller takes the DVD drive of your Wii (DMS, D2B, D2C …). If such data, information obtained with the application is useless.

So do your part and chip in!

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Download

Seems “rise from the dead” is a key phrase this week. Nevertheless, that’s exactly what should be said about the Wii64 project, developed by the guys at EmulateMii.

If you recall, the porject started out with a flash, when a working BETA was a part of the apps that came default with the Homebrew Channel. Well, the project seems to have died since then, and the development has slowed. At least,  until tehpola made a blog post about the development of the Emulator, which can be read below:

As its been a while since our last binary release, we wanted to clarify why its been so long and what we’re waiting for for our next release.  Early on in development we were making relatively big changes which significantly improved the emulator; however, we’ve gotten to the point where a lot of the big things have been done, and only need perfecting (with the exception of the dynarec).  Thus, we haven’t felt the need to make several binary releases as most of the users who aren’t interested in compiling the source themselves are mostly uninterested in the kinds of changes that have been made.  We do indeed have a milestone for our next release planned: a working, stable dynarec.  Most of the work that has gone into the emulator since our last release has been focusing on the dynarec, and since we still don’t have a completely working dynarec, there haven’t been many noticeable changes.  So we’re holding out for a dynarec which supports at least most games without crashing before we make our next release.  After getting it running initially, there will likely be more room for optimization if there are still any performance issues.  In that case, we will likely have frequent releases once again as there will be noticeable improvements with each optimization that is made.  As always, please be patient.  We’re working hard to make the next release something worth the wait.

On an unrelated technical note, we have managed to free up 1.75MB in RAM by consolidating the various memory LUTs (look-up tables) into a single LUT for all memory operations.  In Mupen64, there are 8 different memory LUTs which are used to determine how to handle memory accesses at different addresses.  These 8 are split up by read/write byte/half-word/word/double.  Instead of having 8 large LUTs, I created one LUT for all memory operations which points to smaller LUTs which handle the different memory operations in the specified segment.  Memory operations only require an additional load for the second level LUT so there is no performance impact by this change.  We are still looking into other ways to further reduce our memory usage to make sure that we have plenty of room in memory for recompiled code produced by the dynarec.

A summary? Expect to see a new release that will be significantly faster! Performance is a big issue, and will likely be addressed in the following revisions.

Good things will come to those who wait!

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PDF Files are becoming somewhat of the standard for storing large quantities of information. eBooks, Manuals, some Comics, and various other documents now come in the form of PDF files. With so many mobile platforms hardcoding PDF capabilities into their Operating Systems, developers are trying to tell you that it is a popular format that will be here for a while.

On that note, you always have your DS on you, so why not be able to open any PDF file at any time? That’s the idea behind JDB’s PDF Viewer for the DS. After noticing the DS did not have any PDF viewers, JDB set out to program his own Homebrew reader, and he presents you with one of the very first releases!

There is quite a list of features and development notes for such a new release. To see all of them, check out JDB’s blog by clicking on our Source link!

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Download

Does anyone still own a working Commodore 64? The most successful “Home Computer” of all time predated the NES, and is considered a massive step in the technological revolution. I mean seriously, $595 for a whopping 64k of RAM is a deal! (Actually, that’s 64 kilobytes…)

Anyways, you will likely get more mileage out of Simon Kagstrom’s Frodo, a Commodore 64 emulator for the Wii. Simon has been hard at work since his last release by optimizing the code for the emulator, so that it will run faster, and more efficiently on the Wii’s hardware.

v7

• Make binding joystick directions to other buttons as well (to be able to jump with e.g., 1)
• The direction buttons can also be bound to keyboard keys
• Exit with SYS_RETURNTOMENU to make WAD’s work
• Some restructuring and minor bug fixes here and there
• Lots and lots of new code which won’t get executed here :-)

Source

Download

I bet some of you were startled at the revision number. Take a look more closely!

Splatter Castle is a 2D Platform game developed and coded by Spider Dave. The game functions really well as what one should imagine when they think of a classic platform game for the NES. Spider Dave plans to put a lot of effort into this game, with this newest release modifying the games physics, and adding levels!

Status

• No sound yet
• No game save function
• Kind of short, and lacking in enemy types.
• Enemy collisions are a little awkward.

Added in v.20090225

• Various tweaks.
• Improved player collision with blocks.
• New Enemies:
  • Will-O-the-Wisp
  • Turbo Zombies
• The skeleton’s bones now bounce, and there are skeletons with different weapons.
• New Levels
• Added lives system. If you run out of lives, you’ll continue at the start of the level.
• Item shop (WIP). For now, everything is free, and most are similar to each other.

Source

Download

UPDATE: Seems Ripper D made a slight error in putting together all of the packages. In spite of this, he quickly corrected his error and sent us a new revision: Wii Mega Installer 4.5 . This minor update mainly fixes some package errors, and has since been updated to support v2.11 of Softmii.
The download links, the image, and the ReadMe that you can read further on in this post have been chahnged to reflect the release of v4.5

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Once again, arising from the shadows is Ripper D with his all-in-one Wii bundle. Whether you are new to the Wii, want to get caught up with the scene, or would like to see what packages you may be missing, try out the Wii Mega Installer. As usual with Ripper D, the feature list and updates are huge, so to see everything you get by using this application, continue reading after the download link. What we can tell you is that the newest version of every application is included, along with SoftMii, and a few other goodies!

(Click the image to see it in full resolution)

As a note, the .exe is about 138MB in size, so the downloads will be hosted off-site. Choose whichever site you like, as downloading from both sites is not necessary.

Download v4.5 (Rapidshare)

Download v4.5 (MegaUpload)

Read the rest of this entry »

WiiGator has posted an unexpected update to the popular Gamecube Backup Launcher. WiiGator chose not to even update the revision number of the application, but nevertheless, some features that were missing from the original release are present here:

- There is now an audiofix included, which should work for most games.
- Fixed memory card bug
- Disc can be changed, if started by pressing B
- Support to switch game ISO on multigame disc (press Z to select second disc, eject and insert again)

Source

Download

For many people who use Teknecal’s Homebrew Broswer, it’s hard to see where you can improve the application. It is one of the most complete and easy ways to download Homebrew straight onto your Wii. Teknecal hasn’t released an update in a while because he has spent a lot of time into making v0.3 an eye-popping release. Now, prepare your eyes to be popped:

Homebrew Browser v0.3 is new the version HBB which is being developed. This is a preview video of how HBB v0.3 looks and what it offers. HBB now has background music, threading, better sorting, a scrollable list of applications, text printed at run time which means no more large images, etc.

As of yet, no release date has been announced, but after a preview video such as this, you should be expecting an update sometime in the near future.

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