Play Wii/Gamecube games on Triforce? I know you can do the inverse... Triforce/Gamecube games on Wii

[Finisterre]

I know there is Nintendont and QuadForce, is there something that does the opposite? It would be nice to play Wii Roms, on my Triforce, is that possible?

 

[Finisterre]

I'm still examining how much overlap there is in the Gamecube/Wii modding world for the Triforce (Type 1).

I briefly looked at the .gcm rom format used by F-Zero and realized it uses the same "AppLoader" concept that the Gamecube does.

There are some notes on the loader here:
http://www.gc-forever.com/wiki/inde...everse_engineering_for_CubeDocumented_project

"Apploader is a small program layer between GC bootrom and main application. Since main application's executable binary format may vary, apploader is needed to boot executable in main memory, using bootrom's low-level DVD read routines. In practice, all known game apploaders are using Nintendo's DOL format for executable files."

Linux belongs on everything! GC-Linux (or similar) may be a fun project for the Triforce.
http://www.gc-linux.org/wiki/Building_a_Bootable_Disc
https://github.com/neagix/wii-linux-ngx
https://neagix.github.io/wii-linux-ngx/gumboot

I used GCMTools with a patch to work on OSX: https://github.com/capz/gcmtools-osx

You can see that the common GameCube tools seem to function on the Rom
# ./src/gcmtool F-Zero-AX_fixed.gcm
Filename: F-Zero-AX_fixed.gcm
System ID: G (Gamecube)
Game ID: FZ
Region: J (Japan/NTSC)
Maker Code: 8P (Sega). <------ That is good to see!
Game Name: F-Zero AX
DOL offset: 98304
Apploader: 9280
ApploaderSize: 5460
FST: 3499264
File count: 3499264

The Apploader tool seems to get the wrong data though:
./src/gcmapploadertool /Users/kfinisterre/Desktop/RomBINS/F-Zero-AX_fixed.gcm
Date: GFZJ8P
Entrypoint: 0
Size: 0
Unknown: 1177377381

Don't mind my musings! I'm sort of keeping notes, in case anyone else has crazy ideas too.

 

[SelfDeniedHoarderz]

Nice, would be awesome if Gamecube games can be loaded on TriForce

 

[Finisterre]

It looks like GCIT (GameCube Iso Tool) likes the F-Zero .gcm dump as well. You can explore the innards visually.



There is also a nice trail of bits to follow in the GameCube scene:
In the above attempts to query the F-Zero .gcm file I noted "DOL" mentioned a few times (Probably short for Dolphin of course).

"dol files are the pure binary native executable format of both the Wii and the Gamecube. ELF files are the format output by the linker which contain debugging information, dol files are created from the elf files. The dol format is the preferred and recommended format for distribution."
https://devkitpro.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=83

These old GameCube tools by Stefan Esser for loading the DOL files into IDA pro may be useful too:
https://github.com/heinermann/ida-wii-loaders

Appropriate memory addresses and other details for the DOL Executable are here:
https://emu-docs.org/GameCube/General/yagcd/chap14.html

start end size description
0x0000 0x001B Text[0..6] sections File Positions
0x001C 0x0047 Data[0..10] sections File Positions
0x0048 0x0063 Text[0..6] sections Mem Address
0x0064 0x008F Data[0..10] sections Mem Address
0x0090 0x00AB Text[0..6] sections Sizes
0x00AC 0x00D7 Data[0..10] sections Sizes
0x00D8 0x04 BSS Mem address
0x00DC 0x04 BSS Size
0x00E0 0x04 Entry Point
0x00e4 0x1c unused
0x0100 Start of sections data (body)

 

[Finisterre]

Seems that the Gamecube *extraction* tools work on F-Zero's .cgm file too.

$ strings \&\&SystemData/Start.dol | head
Metrowerks Target Resident Kernel for PowerPC
d|QC
&|RC

 

[Finisterre]

I'm wondering now if the USB Gecko toolset will work with Triforce.

I noticed inside the Triforce that GameCube memory ports exist. I was able to put two old cards in the slots. It is unclear if anything can see them at this point. I did notice that F-Zero does actually have a "memory" card option in the calibration, instead of using the Magnetic media.



Reading further I ran across "Players of F-Zero AC will be able to exchange data with F-Zero GC via a GameCube memory card"
https://www.gamecubicle.com/news-nintendo_gamecube_fzero_f-zero_arcade.htm

http://wiibrew.org/wiki/USB_Gecko
"The USB Gecko is a Wii/Gamecube development and hacking tool which connects to the USB port of the computer, and to the GameCube memory slot of the Wii. It can be used to upload homebrew, to use your computer as a remote terminal under Wii Linux and as a remote debuggingtool."

It looks like there is a clone called Shuriken USB.
http://retro-system.com/shuriken_usb.htm

The prerequisite is of course to be able to run arbitrary code.

 

[Gakman]

F-Zero memory card is to read GC memory cards, and unlock some stuffs in GameCube game.
Triforce has a db15hd (like VGA) port where a GC memory card slot is plugged.