run retropie on WII?
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has anyone done this before? I have read that the Wii can run linux.
I have had godo results with the wii recently with emulators etc, but the loading process is such hassle that it makes me miss Retropie. I bet with the more powerful hardware it has that it could be a beast of a retro gaming station. -
@spruce_m00se wii runs retroarch, however it's not as powerful as a raspberry pi 3. it can do gamecube "emulation" natively, which is awesome, though.
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@dankcushions its not as powerful as a pi? I guess I need to look on wikipedia, I thought it was more powerful, based mainly on its ability to emulate the gc and n64.
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@spruce_m00se said in run retropie on WII?:
@dankcushions its not as powerful as a pi? I guess I need to look on wikipedia, I thought it was more powerful, based mainly on its ability to emulate the gc and n64.
it doesn't really emulate those systems. GC code is run natively (the wii is essentially a GC on steroids) so it's not emulated, and the n64 games that are emulated are effectively re-engineered to work on it. if you try an inject an n64 rom that is not available on the virtual console, it won't work.
spec-wise, it's less powerful by quite a way.
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@dankcushions thats interesting, I wonder if it stands any chance of running ps1 games then? there is an emu for it, I havent tried it yet.
to be fair though, the virtual console collection has most of what I would want, and with usb loader for gc and wii games, I think Im fine, but I would have liked the nicer interface of retropie
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@spruce_m00se said in run retropie on WII?:
I wonder if it stands any chance of running ps1 games then? there is an emu for it, I havent tried it yet.
I've used it a fair amount and it's really nice during in-game play and runs very smoothly for most games. The issues come with the emulator's unintuitive user interface. It's a bit difficult to navigate, settings are sometimes confusingly labeled and the controller mapping is a chore. All that said, I got many hours of enjoyment out of it and felt lucky to have it, considering the lack of PSX alternatives on the system.
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@dankcushions said in run retropie on WII?:
@spruce_m00se said in run retropie on WII?:
@dankcushions its not as powerful as a pi? I guess I need to look on wikipedia, I thought it was more powerful, based mainly on its ability to emulate the gc and n64.
it doesn't really emulate those systems. GC code is run natively (the wii is essentially a GC on steroids) so it's not emulated, and the n64 games that are emulated are effectively re-engineered to work on it. if you try an inject an n64 rom that is not available on the virtual console, it won't work.
spec-wise, it's less powerful by quite a way.
My first thought is... If it's less powerful and successful runs those games... Surprised no one has tried to create a device similar to the pi, or have tried to modify the pi, to replicate these settings.
I'm by no means a technical geek and the above statement may prove that!!
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@jste84 yeah, it doesn't work like that :) the wii runs wii code. the raspberry pi cannot without an emulator. at which point, even if such a thing would work on the pi, the emulated performance is a fraction of a wii.
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@dankcushions said in run retropie on WII?:
@jste84 yeah, it doesn't work like that :) the wii runs wii code. the raspberry pi cannot without an emulator. at which point, even if such a thing would work on the pi, the emulate performance is a fraction of a wii.
That actually makes sense even to someone like me. Cheers
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@dankcushions Not to mention once you did get this theoretical emulator built that could run on the pi effectively you would have to come up with a way to replace the motion controls.
The seventh generation is going to be a headache for future emulation.
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@dankcushions So the question would be, since the wii can do it without having as much power as the pi, why cant the pi emulator be improved in order to better the emulation?
surely its just down to the efficient use of resources from the emulators?
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@spruce_m00se said in run retropie on WII?:
@dankcushions So the question would be, since the wii can do it without having as much power as the pi, why cant the pi emulator be improved in order to better the emulation?
surely its just down to the efficient use of resources from the emulators?
like i said, the wii literally has gamecube hardware. it doesn't emulate GC games - it runs them. it's not a question of power.
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@dankcushions and the psx emulation ?
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@spruce_m00se said in run retropie on WII?:
and the psx emulation ?
As you say, it's emulation. The Wii can't run PSX games natively in any way, so it has to jump through some hoops to make it happen. Considering it's limited resources, it does a pretty fair job outside of the issues I mentioned above.
WiiSX is developed by a small team that have all but disbanded. The only vocal team member goes by the name 'emu_kidid' and can be found discussing the project here. They've been talking about releasing a minor update to WiiSX for years, or at least releasing the source. Apparently, they did turn over the code to a developer named 'Mystro256', who began work on a new fork. While it looks like things have slowed down again recently, it's still more activity than has been seen in well over five years.
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@mediamogul so does WIIsx work well? I havent got a gamecube controller, and I assume I need one since my wiimote disconnects as i open wiisx.
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Other than the GUI issues I mentioned above, it works pretty well in game play. You can either use a Gamecube Controller, or a Wii Classic Controller/Pro. I would recommend the latter, as it has the four shoulder buttons that are needed for more than a few titles.
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@mediamogul I tried with the pro last night, I found that many WII games said it wasnt possible to use. It worked well with N64 VC titles, and didnt in the WIIsx menu to load a rom neither the wiimote nor the pro controller did anything at all! :( I made a sad face and went to bed.
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@spruce_m00se said in run retropie on WII?:
and didnt in the WIIsx menu to load a rom neither the wiimote nor the pro controller did anything at all!
If I remember right, there's a place to switch between controller types. It could be that it needs to be set one way or another. I've tested it out with all three control schemes in the past and was always able to at least load and play a game. It could also be that there's a newer version that has issues.
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@mediamogul when i load WiiSX I get only two controller icons that dont populate, the same interface when using the n64 emulator gives 4 icons and the first one populates with the icon of the controller I am using,
My guess is that the emulator is expecting something to be plugged into the gamecube ports, the same as the gamecube emulator that doesnt respond, I think the chap who setup the Wii for me must have been using a GC controller, hopefully the chineasium one from ebay will arrive soon.I just played a lot of n64 titles with about 75% success rate, southaprk and pod racer dont work, they have a lot of glitches, and some games are missing the HUD, but most of them worked almost perfectly, mariokart 64 literally runs perfectly, as does diddykong racing. Revolt is a bit slow, but wont even get past the menu on the pi. lego racers has shadow issues. I have to play with the settings a bit on each game, but goldeneye for example, which I cant get to run on the pi, with double textures off, runs at a solid 55 - 60 fps. Considering its an emulator and not the VC, I think thats pretty good.
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@dankcushions injection may not work, but I have run a lot of titles this evening in the emulator and they work just fine.
some titles dont work at all , like southpark and podracer, they would induce an epileptic fit if the wrong people tried to play them
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