Topic: First GameCube Mod Chip Available

[WindyMan]

It took a while, but now adventurous Cube owners can run their own programs through Nintendo's purple little box.

The PS2 is the leading system in the industry, so modders would naturally flock to it and tinker around with the insides.  The Xbox is a modder's dream, virtually ready to go for mod chips and other alterations.  The GameCube, with those pesky optical discs and lack of standardized connection ports, has basically been shelved by anyone who deems themselves "hardcore" in the modding scene.

Well, not anymore.  The Viper GC chip, once installed in the GameCube, will allow users to run code from flash memory through the GameCube.  Homebrew and other programs (such as Linux) can be run straight off that game console we all know and love.

Obviously, we here at PGC frown upon anyone using this or any sort of mod chip for the purposes of playing "free" games, copied games, ROMs or other such evil things.  It's just nice to see that those who are into this sort of thing see potential in the GameCube hardware for purposes other than a game machine.

Thanks to Ecrofirt for the tip!

[TMW]

Gee, thats great and all, but nowhere does it say where to get one.

Or is it one of those "in the know" things?

[KDR_11k]

I guess this chip won't sell. After all, who truly wants a modchip for playing homebrew software? Come on, we know there aren't millions of people running Linux on their XBoxes.

[BranDonk Kong]

Eh. The chip probably will sell. When combined with a 3rd party BIOS you can play copied DVD-R games, but you're not a dirty pirate, are you?

[Gamefreak]

Um, how do you expect to fit a DVD-R into the gamecube?...

[UncleBob]

They sell mini-DVD-Rs for camcorders...

[ruby_onix]

AFAIK, the GameCube's laser isn't suitable for reading DVDs. Not even mini-DVDs.

They're talking about storing and launching small programs off the memory card.

[Infernal Monkey]

N64/SNES/NES/PlayStation 17 emulator and ROMs on GameCube comin' like what?

[BranDonk Kong]

Go to ps2ownz.com for more info (they had this first). There will be a 3rd party BIOS similar to the Toxic BIOS for PS2, or say Evolution X for Xbox, which will let you play backups on mini DVD-R.

[TheYoungerPlumber]

Yeah, I don't think the laser cannot handle DVD-R media.  I believe the GC simply requires a special formatting + that inner ring found on GC discs.  I'd imagine some hack on the Motherboard could get around that.

[KDR_11k]

The GC tracks are written from the outside in. Unless you mod your writer you cannot burn these discs. Which is why I think it won't sell as you can only use flash media which cannot hold a full game.

[BranDonk Kong]

They're not written from the outside in, or backwards. They're similar to Xbox discs in the sense that they use a file sytem the starndard PC DVD Drive cannot read, but the ISO images created using the Cube and your choice of disc server can be opened.

[KDR_11k]

They ARE written from the outside in. A PC can rip data it doesn't understand (ignoring the file system and only storing the raw data) but GC disks are written in a way the drive cannot accept. You cannot prevent a disk from ripping by putting a different kind of data on it, you must alter the physical layout so the drive doesn't know where the bits are.

[BranDonk Kong]

I've read from several sources (don't wanna link where, I'll get labeled) that the discs are not written from the outside in. PC drives just cannot read the filesystem, just like an Xbox game (FATX).  

[ruby_onix]

GameCube disks don't spin backwards. There's a very easy way to check that. Start a game, turn off the power, and open the door. The Cube's disks spin clockwise, like every other console does.

GameCube disks read from the outside to the inside, which is unlike any other console. Take out your disk, close the door, turn the system on, then off again, open the door, and see where the laser head tried to go. A system like the PSone makes a dive for the inside, while the GameCube makes a dive for the outside. Simple.

Because of this, if you tried to "burn" a GameCube disk you'd have organize the data backwards, and then put a precision amount of blank space on at the "start" of your burning so that the start of your GameCube game ends up landing nicely at the "end" of your burn. That's do-able. But that's not enough. You'd have to mod your burner so that it spins backwards. Why? Look at this quick drawing. Could you replicate the GameCube's pattern just by organizing the data so the Cube's "start" ends up at the normal disk's "end"? Nope. Your burner would have to spin backwards, even though the Cube doesn't. And I don't think a CDR/DVDR is even set up to handle that. You'd have to make your own GameCube disks. Just going into Office Depot and buying a pack of mini-DVDs is not going to cut it.

I've seen a lot of people spout a lot of crap about "Oh, it's just the filesystem. I can break the GameCube's disk format. I'm gonna be famous. You just wait and see." But nothing's ever happened.

I still say that widespread piracy won't be possible on the Cube until they come out with another mod that also lets you wire up an external DVD drive/writer (heck, you may as well throw in a hard drive while you're at it), in addition to this mod chip.


Edit: Made my drawing a little bit clearer.

[BranDonk Kong]

Let's say the data is actually written backwards - if this was the problem, I'm sure someone would be able to write a program that works like the GC disc servers out there, but reverses the ISO that is created in the process. I'm not going to pretend like I'm a tech wizard, but I'm sure someone could create a program that basically takes a full GCM image (with all the garbage data included), and rewrites it from back to front. Then no hack to a DVD burner would be needed. The garbage data would be written first, then the files on the disc, and lastly the .DOL file that's initially loaded.

[KDR_11k]

No, that's what Ruby was talking about. There is just no way to make an unmodified DVD-writer lay out the data like that because it couldn't follow thorse tracks with the laser. That's why inverting the data doesn't cut it, the GC will still see nothing on the disk (because it cannot find any tracks it will assume the disk is empty).

[BranDonk Kong]

I'm in no way trying to promote piracy or anything like that, just so we're clear. I'm into this for the homebrew possiblities. I do hope that we'll actually be able to use mini-DVDRs on this, not for backups (even though I have used backups of games I do own using the PSO exploit, truly for educational purposes), but for the convenience of not having to run crossover cables across my house. It would be great if this blows up the GC homebrew scene like it did for the Xbox.

[KDR_11k]

Well, but it DOESN'T make it possible (I think it can replace PSO for the netboot exploit, though). And when you're developing, wouldn't you want to have the test system near your work system?

[BranDonk Kong]

Yes. But I have a crappy TV in the room with my computer, and out in my living room I have a decent 32" with component hookups and a nice surround sound system.

[BranDonk Kong]

Hate to say I told you so, but...

http://www.ps2ownz.com/modules.php?name=News&file=showarticle&threadid=27922

You CAN play DVD-Rs on the Gamecube using the ViperGC modchip and using the Cobra BIOS. Again, I'm in no way promoting piracy, but I do think this will help Gamecube sales over the next 2 or 3 months.