Author Topic: Errant pixels on Wii (Read 12701 times)

Level42 · « **Reply #40 on:** March 10, 2009, 06:58:00 pm »

Think I answered that question already:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=90158.msg948320#msg948320

northerngames · « **Reply #41 on:** March 10, 2009, 07:29:43 pm »

Not to knock any chips or start a hardmod/softmod battle but the twilight hack with the homebrew channel installed with some apps does everything chips do and then some without even opening a wii or using any tools and it works on all versions no matter what type drive is in it.

From there you can add more extra channels to the dash and apps in each of the extra channels that most chips will never see, run, or get updated with if they do have some.

Everything is drap drop on a SD card that goes in the front sd slot after the twighlight hack is installed so things can be changed and updated whenever really without tools or taking anything apart ever.

ChadTower · « **Reply #42 on:** March 10, 2009, 07:45:28 pm »

I need to do that too.

patrickl · « **Reply #43 on:** March 10, 2009, 08:51:11 pm »

Quote from: Level42 on March 10, 2009, 06:58:00 pm

Think I answered that question already:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=90158.msg948320#msg948320

Ehm no you didn't, but I guess you answered it with "no" now by not realizing that all three options are installed on the flat cable

Level42 · « **Reply #44 on:** March 11, 2009, 10:06:18 am »

So I'm not checking around for a couple of weeks and now there's a working soft-mod, and all the other mod cards are installed on the flatcable now ?

Last time I looked the soft-mod didn't work 100% yet and all the other mod-cards needed soldering to a number of places. Again, I've most likely got a Wii with an epoxy layer all over to prevent soldering on the board since I only got it pretty recently. And also because of this I have the latest drive (D2E ?) that requires more soldering points than the earlier drives.

knave · « **Reply #45 on:** March 11, 2009, 11:48:51 am »

When I googled "Flatmod" to find out what it was I found that there are at least three other modchips that connect to the flat cable like that with no soldering.

I thought these were pretty interesting...I'm in no hurry to mod my Wii but someday...perhaps.

patrickl · « **Reply #46 on:** March 11, 2009, 05:23:17 pm »

Quote from: Level42 on March 11, 2009, 10:06:18 am

So I'm not checking around for a couple of weeks and now there's a working soft-mod, and all the other mod cards are installed on the flatcable now ?

Last time I looked the soft-mod didn't work 100% yet and all the other mod-cards needed soldering to a number of places. Again, I've most likely got a Wii with an epoxy layer all over to prevent soldering on the board since I only got it pretty recently. And also because of this I have the latest drive (D2E ?) that requires more soldering points than the earlier drives.

Lol, yeah, a few weeks ago the major solder mod manufacturers all introduced a cable mod. DriveKey was first and the other two were announced close after that. Basically it's the same people: Wiikey -> DriveKey, Cyclowiz -> Wasabi and Wiinja -> FlatMod. There are more coming still. Wiinewz.com is usually a good source for info on these mods.

There is also FlatMii which allows you to play ISO files from your PC.

I was looking at the DriveKey myself (mostly because they were first to offer this type of mod and I liked the WiiKey), but I can't really see much difference between these flat cable mods. Guess it doesn't matter.

I don't think soft mods work. Sometimes they do, but Nintendo closes them.

SavannahLion · « **Reply #47 on:** March 12, 2009, 01:26:52 am »

ViciousXUSMC, the general theory behind the overheating is due to the fan not operating during standby and WiiConnect24 enabled.

BTW, I did find a screen shot that illustrates the graphics problem.
img0270cs5.jpg

ChadTower · « **Reply #48 on:** March 12, 2009, 12:59:45 pm »

I hadn't seen WiiNewz yet... that's pretty good. And actually updated regularly. Nice.

Level42 · « **Reply #49 on:** March 12, 2009, 03:45:32 pm »

Well brilliant. I ordered the R4 card plus the Flatmod together with that special kind of screwdriver you need to open the Wii. Turns out that some screws are regular "Phillips" screws, but so tiny that I don't have a screwdriver that fits.....

Anyway, focussed on the R4 and what is there to say ? It's all too easy really ! When I got it I thought, where's the software for it, ah probably have to download it from the site. Not so. You don't need any software. In fact, you simply drag the files to the games directory on the memory card. Works fine on the Mac. Wohoo, that Atari 10 in 1 game is not a bad conversion....

And Bubble Bobble DS, and SI, and.... o wait this is for my son....well OK then New SMB on there too....luv it.

Level42 · « **Reply #50 on:** March 12, 2009, 06:23:23 pm »

By the way, that R4 made me think that there should be a similar cart for the Atari Lynx. Could easily fit the entire collection of games on one card I guess.

SavannahLion · « **Reply #51 on:** March 13, 2009, 12:40:19 am »

Quote from: Level42 on March 12, 2009, 06:23:23 pm

By the way, that R4 made me think that there should be a similar cart for the Atari Lynx. Could easily fit the entire collection of games on one card I guess.

There was, I think it was part of a homebrew devkit at one time. I don't really recall too much about them other than they were ridiculously expensive since Lynx games were a pain to find on the P2P networks and NIB games were selling for pretty cheap on eBay anyways. They were pretty common on eBay at one point (how I found them in the first place, it was during my Lynx library collecting phase) but I haven't seen them since.

There was also a devkit that was(is?) available, but that required a bulky unit and a minor hack to the Lynx. I've seen it maybe two or three times, only once on eBay. I'm not sure where it comes from.

SavannahLion · « **Reply #52 on:** March 13, 2009, 12:49:15 am »

Oh, I should mention, the Lynx cart I remember wasn't really anything like an R4. It was a one-game-at-a-time thing. I'm just illustrating that it certainly is possible.

northerngames · « **Reply #53 on:** March 13, 2009, 03:30:43 am »

I don't think soft mods work. Sometimes they do, but Nintendo closes them.[/quote]

Not true at all twighlight mod with homebrew channel is solid as any chip out there just dont update to a later menu version online and your good to go but that goes for any "chip or softmod" at any time though.

There is also software to downgrade pretty much anything in no time all through SD if it even happend but I dunno if the same could be said for any certian chip as they dont have the software to do so built into them

If nintendo makes a update that somehow did render it useless there is a work around released within days not sure if the chip teams are that fast.

There is thousands that can work with free open source code that gets updated all the time as to somebodys secret chip info that there not sharing with anyone or writing any prgrams for and that was probably taken from a free source code program to begin with.

like I was saying prior though I am not trying to argue over what is better but the softmod options have all chips beat function wise becuase it is always getting something newer/better/upgraded/more compatible all the time and you dont even have to open it up everytime you need to change/upgrade/downgrade something.

Level42 · « **Reply #54 on:** March 13, 2009, 06:11:36 am »

The flatmod can be updated through a DVD so no need to open the Wii once it's installed.

There's a much leaner and probably cheaper dev-cart for the Lynx from Germany:
http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=113219&hl=lynx%20multi%20cart

Not very expensive either (79 not sure dollars or euro's) but it will hold only one game at a time (512k max memory). You can upload games through USB but I'd still prefer a "one cart with all games" solution.

I've got a special Lynx cart that accepts a standard EPROM for some 8 years now. Bought that at some Lynx club that was still around at that time. It still has the one game on it that came with it, I never bothered getting other Eproms. Don't have a burner/eraser either.

I do apologize for completely drifting off-topic here....

ChadTower · « **Reply #55 on:** March 13, 2009, 10:42:25 am »

The Lynx probably can't handle the type of address space you'd need to store all of the games on one card. It's very limited.

northerngames · « **Reply #56 on:** March 13, 2009, 11:47:12 am »

just curious I know the chips flash bios may be upgraded by disk but can the system be upgraded and downgraded for the system menu, mios, and cios and the added extra channels through the chips?

does it allow you to add emu's as extra channels or does it already have them have them built into the chips bios and they to can be upgraded by disk if needed or do you need to put the emu's on disk only in order to run?

if you get a dirty disk error while flashing or a fualty install it is also possible to brick the wii plus you must burn a disk each time you want to do anything custom with it where with a sd card you could put what is needed on it as many times as you need and have it all installed before the cd finish's its burn.

I am just trying to figure out why one would go with a chip nowadays plus they cost money where the other method you need a $5.00 SD card.

the twighlight with homebrew channel is like the PS2's FMCB soft mod ever since they released it there is no need for ps2 chips anymore for the PS2 fat systems or any reason to open them becuase the FMCB rendered them all useless as it is free and does way more then any chip out there for the ps2 and same thing the open source programs, apps, dash's, and what not are always being upgraded and improved now where most the chips are the same today as they were years and years ago and very limited on what they can offer beside just playing backups..

Level42 · « **Reply #57 on:** March 13, 2009, 01:01:46 pm »

Quote from: ChadTower on March 13, 2009, 10:42:25 am

The Lynx probably can't handle the type of address space you'd need to store all of the games on one card. It's very limited.

That can hardly be the problem. There have been tricks to adress more memory ever since the old 8 bit machines were around (like the bank-switching in the Atari 130XE).
First: I don't know how the Lynx works, but seeing that there's a regular EPROM on that card without _any_ further electronics, I suppose the Lynx simply adresses the ROM as needed. So, to have a working multi-Lynx-cart you'd need to load the game into a fixed memory area of 512KB from the "main" area.
Again, I have no clue HOW that can be done, but there are similar carts that work like this I guess like the Vectrex multi.

ChadTower · « **Reply #58 on:** March 13, 2009, 01:06:11 pm »

Okay, let me rephrase what I actually meant: The Lynx can't do that without a complex enough cartridge that would cost so much to produce that it would sell 5 copies.

You can't do it straight up - and there really isn't much of a Lynx following now.

Level42 · « **Reply #59 on:** March 13, 2009, 01:06:38 pm »

Quote from: northerngames on March 13, 2009, 11:47:12 am

just curious I know the chips flash bios may be upgraded by disk but can the system be upgraded and downgraded for the system menu, mios, and cios and the added extra channels through the chips?

does it allow you to add emu's as extra channels or does it already have them have them built into the chips bios and they to can be upgraded by disk if needed or do you need to put the emu's on disk only in order to run?

if you get a dirty disk error while flashing or a fualty install it is also possible to brick the wii plus you must burn a disk each time you want to do anything custom with it where with a sd card you could put what is needed on it as many times as you need and have it all installed before the cd finish's its burn.

I am just trying to figure out why one would go with a chip nowadays plus they cost money where the other method you need a $5.00 SD card.

the twighlight with homebrew channel is like the PS2's FMCB soft mod ever since they released it there is no need for ps2 chips anymore for the PS2 fat systems or any reason to open them becuase the FMCB rendered them all useless as it is free and does way more then any chip out there for the ps2 and same thing the open source programs, apps, dash's, and what not are always being upgraded and improved now where most the chips are the same today as they were years and years ago and very limited on what they can offer beside just playing backups..

Sorry, I don't understand half of what you write about. I'm a simple Wii user. Play games. Don't do much with channels and I don't even know what Cios and Mios are ?

I figure flashing the flatmod will not be needed every week, so a disc more or less. And can't the Wii read DVD-RW's ?

Really, I'm pretty green to all this. The soft solutions tend to be a bit harder to do....need to know what you're doing where the mod chips are pretty much plug and play.

northerngames · « **Reply #60 on:** March 13, 2009, 07:48:05 pm »

Mios is the main menu's OS

Cios is the custom OS overall

Cios is kinda like going from windows 98 to xp OS wise in a way.

Changing the way your desktop/main menu layout look would be the Mios part.

SavannahLion · « **Reply #61 on:** March 14, 2009, 01:53:49 am »

Quote from: Level42 on March 13, 2009, 01:01:46 pm

Quote from: ChadTower on March 13, 2009, 10:42:25 am

The Lynx probably can't handle the type of address space you'd need to store all of the games on one card. It's very limited.
That can hardly be the problem. There have been tricks to adress more memory ever since the old 8 bit machines were around (like the bank-switching in the Atari 130XE).
First: I don't know how the Lynx works, but seeing that there's a regular EPROM on that card without _any_ further electronics, I suppose the Lynx simply adresses the ROM as needed. So, to have a working multi-Lynx-cart you'd need to load the game into a fixed memory area of 512KB from the "main" area.
Again, I have no clue HOW that can be done, but there are similar carts that work like this I guess like the Vectrex multi.

Well... have you actually handled a Lynx I, II and cart? The Lynx I has very little wiggle room due to the placement of the cart in the right grip. Lynx II is more typical of most handhelds with the cart slot at the top behind the screen. The carts themselves are PCB thin. You can hold the cart up to the light and see the IC inside (probably held right behind the sticker). Unless the PCB fits inside the Lynx I, you'll easily alienate... ah, who am I kidding, any collector with a Lynx I will have the II so it's really a moot point.

Schematic

Level42 · « **Reply #62 on:** March 14, 2009, 04:02:56 am »

I have both a Lynx 1 and 2 (and lots of carts) but I've always preferred the 1. The controls just feel better on that one. And I think the overall build quality is better. Yes the way the cart is in the machine is a pita though.
The LCD of the 1 is better than the 2 as well.

And indeed, the EPROM board I've got only fits in the 2, that is, it fits in the 1 but you can't close the lid and thus it's almost unplayable.

ChadTower · « **Reply #63 on:** March 14, 2009, 09:50:55 am »

It's not so much the hardware as it is the fact that the games aren't even as good as monochrome gameboy games and there are so few that stood up to time. I'm usually one of the last to write off an old console but this one just isn't all that much fun. $:-\$

Level42 · « **Reply #64 on:** March 15, 2009, 07:49:07 pm »

I beg your pardon ?

Chips Challenge is one of the best games I've seen on any system.

Period.

That game alone justifies the system.

And how about that great shooter Gates of Zendocon.

It also has a number of great arcade translations, Ms.Pac is probably the best conversion I've seen (including great easter eggs). Joust, MC are very nicely done too although MC obviously misses the trackball.

Other great games: Shadow Of The Beast, Pinball Jam (to me the first _really_ fun pinball videogame), STUN runner,Toki and of course Klax. I haven't by far got every game, but those I've either played or own them

I never liked the Gameboy, always saw it as a child's toy. I could barely see wtf was going on on that lousy, not back-lit B/W display. Even my 1983 LCD watch had a better contrast

The Lynx smoked it and the Sega portable, but it just was a battle it couldn't win.

Sorry Chad, but either you haven't played enough games on this system or have only seen the worse one's (which there were plenty of too of course).

Back to topic (well not really): I've installed the Flatmod and the good news is that at least the Wii is still working. Weird thing i that the red LED is not on when I switch it off though, but it runs fine otherwise. I haven't tried a backup game yet though....

ChadTower · « **Reply #65 on:** March 16, 2009, 09:11:12 am »

At one point I had a Lynx and about 75% of the library for it... just didn't think it was that good.

Sold if off long ago since I didn't think it was worth keeping. I think I still have one Lynx around and maybe two games. Keep in mind this was out around the same time as the TurboExpress... vastly superior in every way and what I was usually playing.

ChadTower · « **Reply #66 on:** March 17, 2009, 11:59:32 am »

Oooh... I see they're starting to come out with some really good homebrew for the Wii... I see a v0.3 on what looks like an XBMC equivalent. That would rock.

Level42 · « **Reply #67 on:** March 18, 2009, 06:54:13 pm »

Well that Flatmod is not giving me much joy yet.

I've tried burning the config disc which you can download from their site. It's an ISO file so you'd expect it to be easy enough to burn and run. However I tried burning it with Toast, says it's a CD-XA iso and refuses to burn it on a DVD (which I should according the support). So I downloaded Disco and it happily burnt the iso but I only get a disc error on the Wii.

They suggested to burn on a PC, so ran Deepburner under Vmware Fusion to burn the ISO and it behaves a bit different, after a lot of disc access going on, I get a black screen telling me there was an error and to turn off the Wii.....

This sucks. WTF don't they include a known working disc for an extra buck

Will try a game next...

northerngames · « **Reply #68 on:** March 18, 2009, 09:30:17 pm »

try the recommended imageburn program

also make sure your chip or whatever it is accepts dvd-r media and puts the wii in the correct mode to read dvd-r otherwise that is the problem it knows there is a disk there but it is not going to read it if it was not made to override that function.

patrickl · « **Reply #69 on:** March 19, 2009, 06:04:41 am »

Indeed the fact that it didn't need a config disk was the only thing that set the Drivekey apart for me. The config/update disks for WiiKey were always horrible to get done.

You need to burn disks:
- low speed (4x or something)
- a good burner (no slimline burners)
- on good media

The last item is always up for some debate. I think it should be Verbatim disks. I had lots of bad results with all kinds of brands (including Verbatim and both +r and -r), but I now use Samsung Pleomax 16x DVD-R and haven't had a faulty disk in ages.

ChadTower · « **Reply #70 on:** March 19, 2009, 08:53:07 am »

I haven't run into a decent brand yet that my Wii has problems with. Occasionally I'll run into a single disc that is a little skippy but most of them read just fine.

ImgBurn is definitely the way to go. I use that and it does a great job.

northerngames · « **Reply #71 on:** March 19, 2009, 03:46:38 pm »

Ritek

radio shack sells disk called gigaware and they are made by the Ritek manufacture company.

they were the recommended manufacture for gamecube and also work on the wii.

There alot cheaper then the straight up Ritek labeled ones but in reality there the exact same disk with a different label but the material is the same and there made from the same place.

they can be caught on sale for $5.00 for 25 or $9.99 for 50 DVD-r's at most radio shacks every other week.

they also have a thick black label so the laser does not protrude right through the disk like some other brands can almost be seen right through and thats not a good thing for reading on any drive.

Level42 · « **Reply #72 on:** March 19, 2009, 07:12:05 pm »

Well I used the drive in my Mac Mini (Matshita DVR-UJ486) which has never done a bad job before.
I use TDK media DVD-R.

The low speed burn is a wide-spread myth. Lots of tests indicated that faster burners actually burn better at higher speeds.

Anyway, it looks like I have other problems. My wife called me today and said the Wii was giving errors while playing (original) games........

ViciousXUSMC · « **Reply #73 on:** March 19, 2009, 11:40:21 pm »

I do not want to get involved in a debate but I have a softmoded wii and have no problems.

A few important pieces of information I picked up along the way. The wii reads dvd-r's not dvd+r's you MAY get it to read a dvd+r but its few and far between and some say it can hurt the wii by straining it to read. I have half of my disks burned to dvd+r HOWEVER I manually changed the bookmark type of the disk into dvd-r (some programs do this automatically)

Next is burn speed, I use verbatim lightscribe disks and not one coaster yet, I use 3.2 or 4x it is proven that this is the optimal speed for the wii. the actual drive in the wii is a 4x drive. the optimal burn speed is actually dependent on your media & burner. newer stuff is designed to burn better at a higher speed while old stuff had to be done at a low speed, but there are several characteristics to a burn, if you take them all into account on average 4x seems to be the best.

patrickl · « **Reply #74 on:** March 20, 2009, 06:50:20 am »

Quote from: Level42 on March 19, 2009, 07:12:05 pm

The low speed burn is a wide-spread myth. Lots of tests indicated that faster burners actually burn better at higher speeds.

Better for the Wii or better when put back in that DVD writer? I sure had much more misses when I burned Wii games at max speed. Or that I could hear the Wii struggle to read it.

knave · « **Reply #75 on:** March 20, 2009, 01:25:03 pm »

Quote from: Level42 on March 19, 2009, 07:12:05 pm

The low speed burn is a wide-spread myth. Lots of tests indicated that faster burners actually burn better at higher speeds.

I know for a fact that playstation games perform better when burnt at 4x. In my day I made lots of coasters trying to burn faster.

Heck, even the stock head unit (CD player) in my car wants CD's to be burnt at 4x or it has problems. It is not a myth.

ChadTower · « **Reply #76 on:** March 20, 2009, 01:31:25 pm »

What's wrong with 1x? I still burn most things at that speed and almost never burn a coaster for anything.

SavannahLion · « **Reply #77 on:** March 20, 2009, 04:05:22 pm »

Quote from: ChadTower on March 20, 2009, 01:31:25 pm

What's wrong with 1x? I still burn most things at that speed and almost never burn a coaster for anything.

Mostly patience. It consumes quite a bit of time burning a full blown DVD at that speed. Of course, burning a bunch of costers at 4x+ speed probably makes the whole point moot.

Quote from: northerngames on March 19, 2009, 03:46:38 pm

Ritek

radio shack sells disk called gigaware and they are made by the Ritek manufacture company.

they were the recommended manufacture for gamecube and also work on the wii.

There alot cheaper then the straight up Ritek labeled ones but in reality there the exact same disk with a different label but the material is the same and there made from the same place.

That's interesting, I'll have to check them out. I have/had this utility (can't remember the name off the top of my head) that checks your blank DVD tags and compares them against an online database of known discs. The only thing is, I checked it against a new spindle of DVD's just recently and was disappointed to find out the "service" is no longer available??

Major suckage. I have never successfully found Ritek discs in the wild. Even those that other people claim are Riteks. I always have to end up ordering them online and paying through the nose or getting someone else in a different region buy them and paying for shipping.

What is everyone using to find that information out now?

Level42 · « **Reply #78 on:** March 25, 2009, 06:06:19 pm »

Well the Wii sometimes freezes while playing original games and I can't get the config disc to load whichever way I try. The third (and last) disc I burnt was on my business laptop (which is a PC) using ImgBrn as suggested, still won't load.

I've had it with this POS. E-mailed the seller for support.....

northerngames · « **Reply #79 on:** March 26, 2009, 12:14:19 pm »

Does the device you have come with dvd-R mode?

dunno if this will help but I had came across this

By default, the Flatmod’s config menu is set to RegionFree ON, UpdateBlocker ON, Multigame ON and Autoboot OFF. These can be changed by burning and running the Config Disc. It also has a “Config Express Mode”, which uses a “preinstalled secondary temporal configuration”. This mode is accessed by hitting the eject button while the dvd drive is empty. If the Wii is open, you see a blue light activate on the modchip. The default settings for the Config Express Mode are: RegionFree ON, UpdateBlocker OFF, Multigame ON and Autoboot OFF. It is designed to allow updates to run from the disc that would otherwise be blocked. The Config Express Mode is a convenient feature, saving you from having to download and burn the config disc everytime you wanted to allow an update, though I personally prefer DriveKey’s built in Config Menu.


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