r3dux.org

Update: You can convert compressed ISO images (.ciso files) using this method, too…

If you need to translate a Wii DVD image from the newer .WBFS format (which has lovely sparce-file support) to an old-school .ISO image, well you can jolly well do so with Wii Backup Manager! Now, WBM is a really useful program so congrats to the author (xzxero) – but it uses non-standard GUI elements in that it uses what looks like the category list as a second main-menu, and this makes it a little non-intuitive to use. But in fairness to the author, the download page has a tutorial (which I didn’t find until after completing this post!). Still, it’s easy enough once you’ve figured that out. The entire conversion process goes like this:

1.) Grab yourself a copy of Wii Backup Manager. Version v0.3.5 beta 1 is the most recent version available at the time of writing, and although it’s Win32 only, it works fine in VirtualBox…

2.) Extract and launch it

3.) From the Files tab, click on what looks like the Add category title, select Files and go pick a .WBFS image from the navigation dialogue box

4.) Still in the Files tab, tick the checkbox to the left of your .wbfs image, and then click on what looks like the Transfer category title and select ISO..

5.) Pick where you want the converted .ISO file to be created and click the [OK] button

That’s it – job done! Transfer your ISO to your WBFS formatted USB drive and launch it as you normally would via USBLoaderGX or whatever your poison is…

If you happen to turn your softmodded Wii on today (the 1st of April) you’ll notice it comes up with an error saying:

Now repairing…
DO NOT POWER OFF

It turns out it’s just an April Fools Day joke by the Preloader people – it’s not repairing anything! Just press the A button on your Wiimote for it to go away!

Those cheeky preloader scamps!

It’s really easy to get this emulator up and working – but you do have to compile it yourself in linux – still, it’s only a couple of commands and you’re set. I did it on Ubuntu 9.10 64-bit and it worked like a charm…

Update (29/06/2010): Easiest way yet – simply add the PPA and get it (for Ubuntu 10.04 32/64 bit only) like this:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:glennric/dolphin-emu
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install dolphin-emu

Update (Older than above): I found that you can download pre-compiled .deb files for Ubuntu 9.10 here (PPA addition required) – be careful with that sudo apt-get upgrade command in the instructions though – I don’t really think you need it and you probably don’t want to upgrade your entire linux distribution just to play an emulator… Really, I’d recommend you just compile it yourself – it only takes a couple of minutes, and only get the deb if you’re having serious compilation issues.

#Get the project dependencies
sudo apt-get install subversion scons g++ wx2.8-headers libwxbase2.8-0 libwxbase2.8-dbg libwxbase2.8-dev libwxgtk2.8-0 libwxgtk2.8-dbg libwxgtk2.8-dev libgtk2.0-dev libsdl1.2-dev nvidia-cg-toolkit libxrandr2-dbg libxrandr-dev libxext6-dbg libxext-dev libglew1.5-dev libcairo2-dbg libcairo2-dev libao2 libao-dev libbluetooth-dev libreadline5-dev
 
# Make a directory to get the source and go into it
mkdir dolphin
cd dolphin
 
# Grab the latest source code through subversion
svn checkout http://dolphin-emu.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ dolphin-emu-read-only
 
# Get to the right location to build the emulator (it needs to be the one with the SConstruct file in it)
cd dolphin-emu-read-only/stable
 
# Build it!
scons flavor=release

Issues: If you’re getting errors along the line of Looking for lib Cg… no. Plugin_VideoOGL must have cg and cggl to be build, then the fix is to install the nvidia-cg-toolkit package with:

sudo apt-get install nvidia-cg-toolkit

With all that done, it takes around five minutes to compile and build, then you can go to the Binary folder inside your source-code download location to find the executable and launch it. Once it’s up and running just go File | Open and point it at an Wii or Gamecube ISO and you’re in business!

By default you get a gamecube controller bound to the keyboard (Enter = Start button, x = A button, cursor keys up/down/left/right) and an emulated Wiimote is bound to the mouse (where the left mouse button is the A button), but you can use joysticks, real Wiimotes etc as well without too much fuss. Fantastic stuff

If you’re having any issues, just read more about linux confix/setup/dependencies here, while the main Dolphin wiki lives here.

Assuming you’ve got a soft-modded Wii, most games will work fine with USBLoaderGX, however some newer games just won’t work with your standard Waninkoko cIOS 249 using cIOS 38 rev 14 (GH5, RB2, Band Hero, Mercury Meltdown Revolution etc.). To fix this you need to install Hermes’ cIOS 222 in 38 merged with 37 mode, and then tell USBLoaderGX to use IOS 222 to launch the game.

Here’s how I did it when I was fixing up my Wii:

1.) Grab a copy of Hermes’ CIOS 222 v4 from here and extract it.

2.) Connect your SD card or USB drive (wherever you store your homebrew apps) to your PC and copy the folder cios_installer (found in wherever you extracted the above archive/apps ) to the apps folder on your SD card or USB drive.

3.) Fire up your Wii and launch the app from the Homebrew Channel

4.) In Hermes’ cIOS 222 installer app choose:
- Use IOS249 to perform the install

- Select to install cIOS 222

- Select to install it in IOS 38 merged with IOS 37 mode

5.) Let the download and install process complete

Now, when you want to run something like Rock Band 2, just use USBLoaderGX as normal, but when you select the game, select Game Load from the game settings and choose to use IOS 222 instead of the default IOS 249. Save the setting and the game will always use IOS 222, and always work.

That’s it – job done

On top of installing CIOS 222, I’ve read that some folk will run CIOS 222 installer again, this time using IOS 249 to install IOS 223 with the option IOS 60 merged with 38 – which gives you the option of using IOS 223 to try to get games working which might be particularly stubborn, but I didn’t bother doing this additional step as I don’t have anything that won’t run anymore! Worth bearing in mind in case sometime down the road some software does get narky about using 249 or 222 though…

If you’ve tried some Wii Virtual Console stuff out and the game appears to start – you hear things happening, but there’s just a black screen, and if you pause the game using the Home button on the Wiimote you can see the game screen – this is the problem we’re talking about.

The reason for this is that you’re using Component cables (likely to connect your Wii to a LCD or Plasma TV) and for bizarre Virtual Console-y reasons, the game isn’t set to use, or doesn’t support, Wii Component Cable Interlace Mode. Some games do, some games don’t – you can find a list of Component Interlace Mode Compatible titles here.

The bad news is that if your game doesn’t support interlace mode, the only way you’re going to be able to play it Wii VC style is to use your composite cables.

The good news is that if your game does support interlace mode you can switch it over as follows:

- Pause the game by hitting the Home button on the Wiimote
- Go to the Operations Manual for the game
- Plug a Nunchuk into your Wiimote
- To enable Component Interlace mode, hold down: Z, A and the 2 button at the same time
- To disable Component Interlace mode, hold down: Z, A and the 1 button at the same time

If the game supports it, and you’ve done it right, you should hear a chime-type sound indicating the game has switched modes. Now just get out of the operations manual and unpause and you should be able to play away to your hearts content.