Topic: Wii tech

[NeoThunder]

If your like me you avoid creating new threads as much as possible but this I thought could use it's own.
A thread to discuss the tech workings and discoveries of the Wii hardware and software, my contribution is as follows

The other day I started a process of backing up all my VC games to my computer's hard drive, and incase there someone who's unfamilier with the file system on the Wii, i'll briefly state.  When you copy data ( game saves of Wii channels) the Wii will store them on your SD card in this fashion, G:\private\wii\title\FDQE\content.bin     where "content.bin" is the actual game and emulator of your VC game and "FDQE" is the directory in which that game and only that game resides.  So if you have 5 games on your SD card, you have 5 different folders labled with 4 capitalized letters.  It should be noted that if you copy the content.bin file to an SD card and it's not in this directory structure, the Wii will not see the file at all and therefor you can't copy it.  If you try to back up your games like I did you should take not of this and make sure you have a system set up so you can retreive and use your games again if need be.

Well, I myself am now up to 27 VC games, but when I started the back-up process I noticed a pattern.  Something I don't think anyone has talked about or really givin much attention to.  That is the 4 letter labels given to the directory in which ever game resides, I have laid out all the ones I own, and you will quickly see a pattern.  It appears that all NES games start with the letter "F", SNES - "J",N64 - "N" Genisis - "M",and T16 - "P" ( i don't own any Neo-Geo so I have no clue about it).  The only other thing I have noticed is that all my games end with "E"...except one, Mario lost levels which is an import and givin the letter "N".  Now, by the math, that means that every system can only have 676 games, and across 6 systems it 4056 games....which is a lot to me.  This probley shouldn't be a worry since I think every system had less than 676 games released on it (think NES had the most).  However, I do wonder about WiiWare, could WiiWare be limited in the games it can release?

FACE - Pinball.  
FAGE - Super Mario Bros.
FBCE - Excitebike
FBKE - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
FBIE - Punch-Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream
FAXE - Pac-Man
FB2N - Super Mario Bros 2: The Lost Levels
FCSE - Super C
FA8E - Kirby's Adventure
FDQE - Double Dribble

JALE - Contra III: The Alien Wars   
JAJE - Street Fighter II: The World Warrior
JADE - The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
JBDE - Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest   
JBCE - Kirby's Dream Course
JAVE - Super Metroid
JAEE - Super Mario World
JAAE - Donkey Kong Country

MAFE - Gunstar Heroes
MAHE - Sonic the Hedgehog
   
PABE - Bonk's Adventure
PAEE - Super Star Soldier
PAWE - Galaga '90

NAAE - Super Mario 64   
NABE - Mario Kart 64
NADE - Star Fox 64
NAHE - Yoshi's Story

[Flames_of_chaos]

Maybe its just how the SD card handles the save, a .bin file is usually exact duplicate of a CD in terms of raw data. I know that there are programs that can turn .bin files into .iso files but I wonder how a PC would handle a .iso  of a VC game.

[Crimm]

A .BIN file is generally useless without a .CUE file.  At least, as I understand the association between the two.

[Ceric]

N on the End is for Japan and E is for English.  So the real question is what do European games end on.  Also isn't this naming schee a lot like what Nintendo uses for the carts.  I'm sure UncleBob would know the answer off the top of his head.

[NeoThunder]

Well, one of the questions I kinda wondered if other peoples VC games were givin the same directory names or if the 2 out of 4 letters would be different from console to console on the same VC game

[stevey]

I have JADE for Zelda a link to the past, also

[BranDonk Kong]

BIN just means binary - you're thinking of ISOs, where a cuesheet (CUE) is generally only for CD/DVD burning. There's no real association between the two. Also, a cuesheet (.cue file) is just a text file that tells the burning software what mode to write, where the ISO (.bin) is located, where to separate the tracks, if need be, etc. You can even edit the cuesheet, change the target file to say, .XZY (or anything), and change the associated file's extension to match what you made it say, and it'll work just fine.

[NeoThunder]

your saying if you rename the extension of the content.bin file your Wii will still reconize the VC game?

[Flames_of_chaos]

Quote
Originally posted by: NeoThunder
your saying if you rename the extension of the content.bin file your Wii will still reconize the VC game?

Depends, someone has to really extract the .bin file to see whats really inside it since any device that can run it treats it just like a replica of a disc(or insert any media storage) and runs it normally. I think thats why theres a brief pause when you boot up a VC game its because the Wii has to run everything in the .bin file and the emulators are in place to probably let the game recognize the inputs of the Wiimote,Classic Controller or gamecube controller.  I wonder if thats the reason why  that VC games can't run off the SD card.

Edit: Neo what do you mean by changing the extension? Do you mean by changing the .bin part? If you do that you pretty much are changing the whole bit/byte structure of the file. If you mean by taking the content.bin file from the folder and move it somewhere else, will probably make the file an unknown or invisible since probably it looks specifically for where a would the file be when the Wii is looking for it but thats no big deal since you can always re-download the VC game free of charge if you already paid for it.  

[Athrun Zala]

Quote
Originally posted by: NeoThunder
Well, one of the questions I kinda wondered if other peoples VC games were givin the same directory names or if the 2 out of 4 letters would be different from console to console on the same VC game

they are the same in every Wii, with the exception of the last letter, as that one depends on region...

Quote
Originally posted by: Lord_die_seis
Depends, someone has to really extract the .bin file to see whats really inside it since any device that can run it treats it just like a replica of a disc(or insert any media storage) and runs it normally. I think thats why theres a brief pause when you boot up a VC game its because the Wii has to run everything in the .bin file and the emulators are in place to probably let the game recognize the inputs of the Wiimote,Classic Controller or gamecube controller.  I wonder if thats the reason why  that VC games can't run off the SD card.

uh, what?

the .bin file is not an image file, it's just a binary file, whose data in this case is encrypted. So, trying to open that file in anything other than a Wii would not work (pretty sure not even a hex editor would help much...)

in any case, I'm willing to bet that the reason the games take a just a little bit to boot (and can't be played from the SD card) is due to the encryption...

[UltimatePartyBear]

The only thing I don't get is the J for SNES.  F is for Famicom, M is for Mega Drive, P is for PC Engine, and N is for Nintendo 64, but why J?  Why not S?  Also, I assume the E or N on the end is for the language.  E stands for English, and N stands for Nihongo (Japanese).

[NeoThunder]

anyone know or have a neo-geo game, to know what that starts with

[BranDonk Kong]

No, if you changed the name of the file, the Wii would not recognize it. I was referring to .BIN that is associated with a .CUE as well. Can you even change the filenames on VC games? I would imagine that they're write protected files, so renaming wouldn't work, maybe I'm wrong as I've never tried, and maybe that protection (if it exists) is lost once you transfer from file from the Wii's internal flash to the SD card.

[Flames_of_chaos]

Zala,

I know it is an image I was explaining that a bin is an exact bit to bit replication of a file that would be found on any form of media such as disc, cart, cds you name it. If there is no .cue then perhaps the Wii just reads and executes the .bin file natively without any issues. I know you cant change names on the Wii since theres no such option I  dont own a SD card or a SD reader yet so I can't try renaming the file on my macbook or see if the macbook can mount  the .bin file.  

[BranDonk Kong]

You don't need to mount it, it's not a CD image, it's a ROM, an emulator, and a manual, compressed and packed into one file. I don't think anyone read my post, or maybe some don't understand it - .BIN essenitally means *nothing*. Nintendo could have chosen to name these .VC files, or .WII, or anything that they wanted, they chose .BIN, there is no CUE, and there would be no need or reason for one.

[NeoThunder]

I agree, I never thought the .bin extension ment anything other than thats the extension they chose.  I did do some messing around and tried to take a content.bin file and stick in the the "wrong" directory to see how the Wii would respond to it.  It did see the data, but it put a big question mark on it.  It allowed me to copy it, but then when it tried, it would say it did not copy.

Has anyone tried to copy a VC game from someone elses console to see what it says or if it even registers.  I often wonder myself if my shop channel account was deleted off my Wii, if it would somehow assign a different "code" to my Wii for all future games.

[Flames_of_chaos]

Well considering this is the internet and all two people could perhaps swap  two VC games over the net put it on their respective SD cards and try it?

[DAaaMan64]

Well lets hack these .bin files and edit in our own changes or roms or Linux operating systems :p.

[Athrun Zala]

Quote
Originally posted by: DAaaMan64
Well lets hack these .bin files and edit in our own changes or roms or Linux operating systems :p.

well, you'll have to beat the RSA encryption first... which is, quite honestly, highly unlikely

[NeoThunder]

Well, i'm not recommending hacks and stealing