Gamecube now fully cracked

[Stezo2k]

http://pictures.xbox-scene.com/4/vipergc/vip04xs_s.jpg

Well it looks like it, the first gamecube modchip has now been released, so we probably will see more homebrew stuff for it and possibly piracy

Source: Xbox Scene (http://xbox-scene.com/)

[Remote]

Did take a while though.. :P

[revl8er]

About time.

[Stalkid64]

GameCube..? GameCube..? Hmm. That sounds familiar...*checks under vast piles of CD's and finds a dust-coloured purple box.*
Ah yes, now I remember. So when they start releasing games for it people can pirate them now...

[Doomulation]

About time.
About time!? That's bad! Let's see what ninty does 'bout this, though. I don't need a friggin' mod chip :P I can still play my games NTSC.

[2fast4u]

uh, the way i see this the modchip so far doesnt enhance the possibilites any further than they had already been through the pso exploit. still no own-burned dvds, probably only a matter of time though...
/me sighs

[Stalkid64]

Nintendo will kill this deader than *insert-own-cliche-here*. It's my (admittedly limited) understanding though that the 'Cube just can't be made to read anything other than its own special disk format. Datel had to hack their own compatible boot-type for the AR/Gameshark. Would the laser even be capable of the job of reading non-proprietary standard discs? I don't think that can be forced without any laser-tinkering.

[Gorxon]

I believe it is a 650nm laser, but it's been very long since I was into this stuff so I can't remember for sure. That means however that it can read some DVD media if I'm not mixing things.

As for this chip, as 2fast4u mentioned, it doesn't do anything which cannot be done already really. I could be wrong though of course.

[sheik124]

hmm, what stalkid said interests me, is it possible that someone figure out how Datel made their crap AR work, and do the same to make GC Discs (personally, i only back up games i have bought and currently own) or would we need to press them in some undergroud factory in hong kong?

[Gorxon]

In short, no. You need a barcode on the discs which isn't possible to reproduce without special pressing equipment.

[Modem]

About time.

In case you didn't know, that's a BAD THING. Don't you ever buy your games LEGALLY? Sheesh, all I've seen lately is you having the latest emulation releases ect. ect. Try buying the actual consoles/games, I hear developers actually prefer it that way. :P
- Modem

[JinXD]

Thought I'd bump this:

http://www.maxconsole.com/?mode=comments&newsid=3107

[2fast4u]

A new release group, Mental Cube, have developed a hacked BIOS for Viper GC, called Cobra BIOS.The hacked BIOS will make it possible to play backups from Mini DVD-r, just by swapping with an original disc after the Cobra BIOS on screen prompt!

right, i think maxconsole should be considered a reliable source. by all means thats no good news though.

[Stalkid64]

So this requires;
A GameCube.
A chip (which lets face it, Nintendo's legal department will kill dead because it has no other purpose but to circumvent copy protection. Very dead.)
A hacked BIOS (again more fun ahead for Nintendo lawyers. Anyone else curious they chose to show the BIOS screen but NOT actually have a mini-dvdr being booted as "proof"?)
A .GCM (I hear those lawyers a-callin'!)
Mini-DVDr's. (which I still have doubts the laser in the NGC will read correctly if they've kept up the security other than just having proprietary media... I'll concede I'm not up on laser ratings.)
An original paid for NGC game. Well Nintendo make their money from the hardware sales unlike others... whatever the result they get some more cash from this.

[Gorxon]

Ok, this is confirmed as being real. It does boot backus, but the GC is very picky about the media. It also reads normal sized DVD-R's better than the mini's. The chip is also quite expensive (~€60).

And just a friendly reminder, we don't allow talk about where to get illegal things. We do not want this bios spread here on the boards (even though it is not using copyrighted code, it is not clear whether it's built using any copyrighted SDK's etc). Discussion about it is allowed though of course, as long as you stay within the forum's rules :)

[sheik124]

hmm, this is extremly interesting as my gamecube is the "family" system, and my little sisters treat the discs like crap, i can just make DVD-Rs for em, but unless you hacksaw the top of the gamecube up, how can you play full sized discs in there, they just don't fit

[Hexidecimal]

This is interesting indeed. The videos I saw dont make me want to run out and disassemble my gamecube then solder in a chip, and have a shell-less NGC reading real DVDs, but if you can solder it in and boot minis, it means 2 things:

1) Ninty is going to shit a brick
2) The gamecube mod scene should spring up quick.

[sheik124]

Ninty is going to shit a brick
judging by what they've done before, i think they might shit two

[JinXD]

On the plus side, this could mean alot of emulators being ported to run on the cube...... Surreal64 anyone? :D

[Stezo2k]

1) Ninty is going to shit a brick

Thats ironic with the console being a cube and all ;)

I aint really fussed about GC modchips myself, I mean theres always the LAN method, plus mini-dvd-rs are hard to get hold of

[Doomulation]

Ninty's going to flip out...
This chip is still a long way from being complete... as is it to play backup games.
Quite intresting news, but I don't like 'em.

[Stalkid64]

Can someone remind me if Nintendo actually profit from games sales? IIRC, this is the way Nintendo differ from the other console manufacturers; GameCube sells at a profit, the games are sold for less to make the hardware sell (thus software sales actually make minimal amounts for them anyway). Now if most of their profit is from the hardware sales, they actually stand to gain from this in a funny way.

[deftonesmx17]

last i read into this i found that booting a back up disc is near impossible. the format and file system of GC disc is like an alien from outer space to any dvd burner in exsistance. in order to even read a GC disc in a dvd drive you have to hack the hell out of the firmware. no one has yet to hack the firmware to allow burning of GC filesystem and format.
this is information i obtained from my scene site and one person who makes the PSO trick images. even if someone hacks their firmware for their dvd burner it wouldnt help the scene in any way because everyone would have to hack their own firmware because of the overly wide number of dvd burner types

[Stalkid64]

ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ±² ÄÄÄÄÄÄ ±² ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ±² ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³X °ÛßÜÜ °Ûßß ÜÛßß ²Ûß ßßÜ ²Û °ÜßÛ °Ü Û ²ÛßÛ °Ûßß X³
³ ÛÛ Û Û ÛÛß ÛÛ Û ÛÛ ²ÛßÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ Ü ÛÛ Û ÛÛ Û ÛÛß ³
³ ° ± ² Û ²Û ² Û ßÛ²Û ÛÛ ² ßÛ²± ßÛÛ² ßÛÜ ßÛ²Û ßÛ²Û ÛÛ²ß ßÛ²Û Û ² ± ° ³
ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´
³ ³
³ ³
³ - COBRA FOR VIPER GC V0.2 - ³
³ (Proof Of Concept Version) ³
³ ³
³ 15th of december, 2004 ³
³ ³
³ ³
³ You didn't expect it to be true, right? Well, guess what... it IS! ³
³ As of today, no need for PSO anymore, you can boot your code directly ³
³ from the GC drive using DVD-R or Mini-DVD-R! This also includes the ³
³ ability to boot your backups. ³
³ ³
³ So what do you need exactly ? ³
³ - A Viper GC chip ³
³ - This very flash file ³
³ - Some Compatible Media and a DVD- burner ³
³ ³
³ In fact, we wanted to release the first version of our Viper BIOS ³
³ around Xmas time, but it appears that some fucker leaked a -PRE-ALPHA- ³
³ version two days ago together with a screenshot (fuck you Vincenzo), ³
³ together with a screencap. We decided to release a proof-of-concept ³
³ version as soon as possible so that people can stop spreading rumor ³
³ about it (and DON'T USE the pre-alpha as it has some major bugs). ³
³ We feel it's totally natural that most people did doubt it was true, ³
³ as most of them have been waiting for such a solution for years! So ³
³ now those people can try the thing for REAL :-). ³
³ ³
³ USER MANUAL ³
³ ³
³ - Flash the Viper GC with this BIOS then remove the parallel port ³
³ connector from the programmer (well, their manual says so) ³
³ ³
³ - Turn on your GC with an ORIGINAL DISC in the drive. ³
³ If there's no Title Screen coming, but the original BIOS instead ³
³ it's probably that you messed up your viper install:-) ³
³ Check that it's clean (and no wires crossing each other etc...) ³
³ If you have a black screen coming, it's probably because you have ³
³ some wierd BIOS we don't support (and don't know about) yet. ³
³ ³
³ - While turning on your GC: ³
³ - Hold X if you want to boot Original BIOS instead ³
³ - Hold Y if you want to boot Original BIOS with region-free hack ³
³ - Don't hold any button if you want to run DVD-R :-) ³
³ ³
³ - "PLEASE WAIT" should appear. then "SWAP DISC NOW!" and the GC ³
³ disc is stopped (and laser off). As soon as you see the disc is ³
³ slowing down it's safe to remove the original disc and put your ³
³ DVD-R instead. After a few seconds the drive will start to spin ³
³ again and disc will boot (if you didn't have enough time to do the ³
³ swap trick, turn off the GC and try again) ³
³ ³
³ - Remove the top of your GC if you want to use full-size DVD-R ³
³ ³
³ THE MEDIA ³
³ ³
³ The GC drive only eats DVD-R, MINI-DVD-R and single-layer silver DVD, ³
³ it doesn't work with + media or DL at all. ³
³ But, like Xbox thomson drive, it is very "sensitive" to the brand of ³
³ media you're using. Some are working better than others, some even ³
³ NOT AT ALL! So better check what media other users recommend. ³
³ ³
³ After a few tests here is what we think: ³
³ ³
³ - For DVD-R, most media are working, except some cheap no-names. On ³
³ some drives only the best media is working really fine. ³
³ ³
³ - BUT FOR MINI-DVD-R it's more tricky. We tested the following brand: ³
³ SONY DVD-R 1.4GB handycam: doesn't work ³
³ TDK DVD-R 1.4GB scratchproof: doesn't work ³
³ MAXELL DVD-R 1.4GB: sometime boots, but then loose sync ³
³ DATAWRITE DVD-R 1.4GB: on some drives it works 100% like the ³
³ best DVD-R, but on some other drives it just can't sync ³
³ (when it does its working perfectly) ³
³ ³
³ In fact, we have some idea on how to improve the compatibility with ³
³ bad media in our next BIOS. For now we really suggest you to find ³
³ a good full-size DVD-R media, and get the opinion of other users. ³
³ ³
³ You don't need to encrypt the disc or use a special burner firmware ³
³ to write the disc. Just burn your ISO/GCM (we use Nero). ³
³ ³
³ Maybe different burners will lead to different results too, for now we ³
³ just tried a cheap NEC burner. ³
³ ³
³ ³
³ TROOBLESHOOTING ³
³ ³
³ REMEMBER, THIS IS A PROOF-OF-CONCEPT-VERSION ! ³
³ There are probably lots of bugs we need to fix including: ³
³ ³
³ - Sometime the "SWAP DISC" message doesn't appear (or disc doesn't ³
³ slow down/laser is still on). If this happen to you just turn off ³
³ your GC and try again (ok, this is clearly our fault :-) ³
³ ³
³ - If sometimes after you swapped a disc there is a sync problem with ³
³ the DVD-R and origial BIOS is not loading, then try again. If this ³
³ happen very often, then you need a better media. ³
³ ³
³ - If the drive becomes idle for a couple of minutes, depending on the ³
³ media you're using it might loose sync, and hang. This is also a ³
³ bug of ours we will track. For now, if this happens to you, avoid ³
³ "PAUSE MODE" in games. ³
³ ³
³ - Audio Streaming doesn't work. So, the games/programs using the ³
³ special streaming commands will work, but instead of a nice MUSIC ³
³ you'll hear annoying NOISE :-). We'll have a look at those issues as ³
³ well ! ³
³ ³
³ - Doesn't work with multi-discs games yet ³
³ ³
³ REMEMBER, THIS IS A PROOF-OF-CONCEPT-VERSION ! All those problem ³
³ could be fixed in a next update, except for media maybe (if someone ³
³ wants to try laser tweaking we'd be interested by the results!) ³
³ ³
³ Note that on screen there's a two digit number corresponding to your ³
³ GC version (right after the Cobra Version). Here are the current ³
³ versions we support: 14,16,18,24,26,28,34,36,38,44,46,48. If you have ³
³ another version, then we don't know about it yet... ³
³ ³
³ IF YOU MAKE BACKUPS, DON'T USE ANY "WIPE" TOOLS TO SAVE SPACE. Unless ³
³ you know it's REALLY working. Most of thoses tools only work because ³
³ the current pso loaders patch libraries routines to emulate DVD. But ³
³ on REAL HARDWARE, each file/fst has to be aligned on a 4-byte boundary! ³
³ Else nothing will work. Audio Files (for audio streaming) even need ³
³ to be aligned on a 32kb-boundary ! So forget current "WIPE" tools until ³
³ they are fixed. ³
³ ³
³ THE FUTURE ³
³ ³
³ Apart from fixing the current bugs, we have plans to make a (better ³
³ looking) real GUI, and some other surprises :-) ³
³ ³
³ For coders it's a bit(!) annoying to burn DVD-R for each test. We'll ³
³ try to work on a better solution (either using BBA or viper debug ³
³ IO) ³
³ ³
³ CLOSING WORDS ³
³ ³
³ Special thanks to E*Flash for his help, and RoM for the early units. ³
³ ³
³ You are free to redistribute this package as long as it's not changed, ³
³ patched, ported, or whatever. ³
³ ³
³ Our code is free of any copyrighted code from third party. ³
³ It is also free of any GPL licensed code, we have strong respect for ³
³ other people's hard work. We only ask you to show similar respect ³
³ toward our work. To put it in other words, if you are in the "right" ³
³ side, draw the line between learning and stealing. Thank you. ³
³ ³
³ That's it for this NFO, hope we didn't missed some important point. ³
³ ³
³ Have a nice day :-) ³
³ ³
³ ° ° ° ³
ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ±² ÄÄÄÄÄÄ ±² ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ±² ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´
³ °ÛßÜÜ °Ûßß ÜÛßß ²Ûß ßßÜ ²Û °ÜßÛ °Ü Û ²ÛßÛ °Ûßß ³
³ ÛÛ Û Û ÛÛß ÛÛ Û ÛÛ ²ÛßÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ Ü ÛÛ Û ÛÛ Û ÛÛß ³
³X ° ± ² Û ²Û ² Û ßÛ²Û ÛÛ ² ßÛ²± ßÛÛ² ßÛÜ ßÛ²Û ßÛ²Û ÛÛ²ß ßÛ²Û Û ² ± ° X³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ


Right... well given the brand info suggests that most will not work, and the two that do will not be in synch, I'm still extremely skeptical.

[JinXD]

The BIOS flash has been released only as a proof of concept. Given time I'm sure these sync issues will be ironed out (firmware upgrade?).

[Stalkid64]

Possible but the difficulties of getting compatible brands will surely not do this much favour.

[AlphaWolf]

IMO it was the modding scene that made the xbox so much more popular than the gamecube, how can this be a bad thing for the GC's sake?

[2fast4u]

imo for a homebrew author the possibility to use self burned media really doesnt help a lot. there isnt much sense in burning your bins to a disc everytime to test it .... the pso exploit is a lot easier and more useful in that respect. the gc modding scene is far from being inactive too.

on another note piracy might actually help the system sell. it has worked for the ps2 ... while microsoft has undertaken a lot of hassle through soft- and hardware changes to put a stop to any software modding. seems quite reasonable since they sell consoles at loss so probably should make money with the software sales.

[JinXD]

imo for a homebrew author the possibility to use self burned media really doesnt help a lot. there isnt much sense in burning your bins to a disc everytime to test it .... the pso exploit is a lot easier and more useful in that respect. the gc modding scene is far from being inactive too.
True, it likely won't help the homebrew authors, but for the likes of using emulators the end user will find it useful (N64 roms burned to DVD along with the emu).

[deftonesmx17]

once again to make a backup you have to first rip the image to your computer. NO standard dvd drives/burner can read the GC discs. So even if you can boot backups they really wont be backups because you have to be a moron to believe that people download games on BT or edonkey just to backup a copy they already have :P it will all result in piracy and if it does go down then yes nintendo will stop it quick

[JinXD]

NO standard dvd drives/burner can read the GC discs.
Nae shit sherlock, luckily I have a BBA and rip my own games. I wouldn't have a chance of d/l them since I'm on dial-up........

[Stezo2k]

NO standard dvd drives/burner can read the GC discs

Well we know that, but you can still copy/rip the gamecube discs without a modchip though, all you need is PSO and a broadband adaptor

[deftonesmx17]

chill guys. i know about the PSO trick and i was talkin about the "spoof" bios that boots dvds. :homestar:

[JinXD]

The way you wrote your post, by saying "once again" and capatilsing "NO" made it seem you were speaking down to everyone. I just give as good as I get ;)

[Stalkid64]

I actually went to the trouble and expense of importing a BBA (given that UK shops *suck*) and a copy of PSO (note to customs; IMPORT DUTY SUCKED.) to be able to rip my own games just to try Dolphin. I wonder if I'm the only one with one LAN card hooked up to my NGC and another one hooked up to the XBox..? Not strictly speaking your standard LAN now is it? ;)

[JinXD]

I bought PSO when it came out in the UK, and I can't member the online shop I bought my BBA from, was in the UK though. I don't have an XBox though....

[2fast4u]

I wonder if I'm the only one with one LAN card hooked up to my NGC and another one hooked up to the XBox..? Not strictly speaking your standard LAN now is it? ;)

this might strike you as funny but i actually do have that exact same setup here.

[JinXD]

A German review of the mod chip >> http://www.gamefreax.net/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=00009 9

[2fast4u]

pretty interesting. this confirms that the cube is picky about media (certain brands of dvd-rs dont seem to work). also it seems there is somewhat of an issue with space in the small-ish case ...

http://pirate.sparkhost.com/~arakon/viper/back.jpg

[Hacktarux]

There's finally a more convenient solution to run homebrew code on the gamecube: www.gcdev.com

I haven't tried the SDLOAD yet but it seems very interesting. I'm a little bored of the PSO loading screen :P And this solution is much cheaper than a chip (well it can't be used to burn games on dvd-r but nobody's pirating there right ? :P )

[2fast4u]

There's finally a more convenient solution to run homebrew code on the gamecube: www.gcdev.com

I haven't tried the SDLOAD yet but it seems very interesting. I'm a little bored of the PSO loading screen :P And this solution is much cheaper than a chip (well it can't be used to burn games on dvd-r but nobody's pirating there right ? :P )

aye, sounds terrific :D dont care about running copied games anyway so that just might be the perfect solution.

[Stalkid64]

this might strike you as funny but i actually do have that exact same setup here.
Whoa, scary. Aside from the fact I added my laptop via WLAN over Xmas. Best network ever. ;)

[2fast4u]

Whoa, scary. Aside from the fact I added my laptop via WLAN over Xmas. Best network ever. ;)

the solution came from the simple fact that i had 2 nics spare and no motivation to buy a switch. oh that laptop im lacking ;)