Emulator Issues #2764
closed
Feature Request: Riivolution like game patcher (patch any file of any game on the fly without directly changing the ISO)
0%
Description
I apologize in advance if this was requested already in some shape or form.
But I was wondering if it were possible to have something like Riivolution
(see: http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Riivolution) for Dolphin? Basically what this
does is patch any files that's loaded during game play (like music, video,
model, texture, configuration files etc) with a customized version of those
files. This can lead to custom levels, music, models, etc - just as long as
it's kept in the same exact format and can be identified and loaded by the
game. However, like Riivolution, I don't expect nor do I see the idea of
adding support for adding NEW files to a game - not yet anyway. But, you
can have each file be any size you want. So you don't have to make sure
each file is smaller or EXACTLY the same size as the file you're trying to
replace. This patcher should also work with anything that can be considered
a game (except for maybe WAD files, not sure if that's do-able since you
can't explore a WAD's file system for the moment within Dolphin)
However, Riivolution makes it easy to modify files without having to
manually replace each file within an ISO. Replacing files within an ISO can
also cause some nasty side effects. With this game patcher, you can
eliminate the need to create a second iso and scrub it/truncha it/etc.
Also, since this patcher never changes the ISO file itself - you never have
the risk of corrupting the ISO.
This patcher can be useful for me in several capacities. I enjoy messing
around with any configuration/script files to enable debugging features,
etc. For developers however, I don't see any use of having this. But the
dolphin-emu community can create patches that might eliminate certain bugs.
I know how unlikely it is to fix something with this, but it might work in
some situations.
The patcher could work like this:
1.) A folder under the "User" folder called "Patches" can be created to
hold Patch data.
2.) You can distinguish each game by using their Game IDs as folders (for
example, let's use SMNE01 - New Super Mario Bros Wii NTSC).
3.) For Wii games, or anything else with mutliple partitions on the ISO,
you can have another directory for each Partition (Partition 0, Partition
1, etc).
4.) In order to modify the files, my guess is that everything has to be
listed and categorized exactly as it is on the ISO. So if I wanted to
modify Stage 1-1 in NSMBW, I have to put my modified file of this stage
(01-01.arc) in Stage/01-01.arc. So it would be like:
/dolphin-emu-dir/User/Patches/SMNE01/Partition 1/Stages/01-01.arc). If
you want to have multiple versions of the same file modifications, you
could have distinct patch directories that help label what each patch does,
and you can enable which patch you would like under Game Properties. For
example, let's say I just wanted to have a patch that modified the layout
and another one to modify the object placement. You could set have the
directory set up like this
/dolphin-emu-dir/User/Patches/SMNE01/PATCHNAMEHERE/Partition
1/Stages/01-01.arc.
5.) After the game has files to replace, you can either have something for
the "Patches" tab of each game under Properties. Or, you can enable Patches
for all games under Options>Configure... like you would with enabling
Cheats for all games. And of course, you can have a ticker for enabling
patches for each game individually.
Of course, this is just an idea. I'm sure you can think of easier ways to
have something like this if you choose to include it.
I think it'd be interesting to have, and I know that people WILL use this
for things like translations, map modifications, etc. Just to make dolphin
more interesting, I guess. I hope this issue request was alright. If it
wasn't, please don't bash my head in. :P
Let me know what you think.
Updated by knuckles500 almost 14 years ago
Just adding this here for reference, but I remember someone on IRC saying that Riivolution takes advantage of the IOS within Wii consoles - which isn't emulated yet. So this means that you can't simply load up the Riivolution binary and go from there...
Updated by mccunyao almost 14 years ago
Well, the Riivolution idea is simple: You put a folder with the file structure or file patches and let the app replace them on the fly. Maybe for Dolphin it's just a matter of making their own "Riivolution".
Updated by Anonymous
Updated by wow-mario almost 13 years ago
this Should be made
since we can´t add more Files inside the .iso only replace
and that means we can´t use more Stages/Char. Slot(coming soon) for SSBB
+we dont have to use Hours for replace one by one File inside the .iso
Updated by wespipes69 over 12 years ago
Can I ask why this was closed out? Is there trully no way to accomplish this? I would really like to play hacks like "Another Super Mario Bros." and the much antisipated "Newer Super Mario Bros.". They apparantly only work with Riivolution, but sorry I hate using my Wii now given all the amazing features of Dolphin.
Hopefully, this can be reviewed and you guys can come up with something. I know a lot of users would LOVE this ability. Thanks!
Updated by knuckles500 over 12 years ago
I forget what was said, but it was explained on IRC that it wasn't possible at the moment (for other reasons besides the IOS). Not a big deal anyway, you can still replace files inside ISO files and do memory patches and things like that. So there are other ways of getting those modifications in.
Updated by wespipes69 almost 12 years ago
Is there still a chance we could get support for this? With the release of these Newer hacks, it would be awesome if this got working one day. Replacing the files doesn't always work (can't be larger)- not too mention additional files. So the only choice we got to play these hacks in full is to use a real wii (which again, sorry, I don't want to play in SD and with crappy controls).
Anyway, here's a taste of what the Newer team is putting out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDB9R1VS2Rc
Updated by delroth almost 12 years ago
You can already kind of do this using the "Set DVD Path" config settings + extracting the DVD contents in a folder and patching the files manually.
Updated by wespipes69 almost 12 years ago
Doesn't work the same. That's no different than just swapping/adding the files in an iso. ASM stuff and other things won't load the extra files and you only get a portion of what hacks like Newer offer.
I hope this can at least be investigated to determine the feasibility of add Riivolution support or something similiar to play Mario hacks.
Updated by unas.zole almost 12 years ago
Agreed with the original poster : actually, Riivolution and file patches are the reason I hacked my Wii in the first place.
I discovered Dolphin only a few days ago, and it's really awesome (Gamecube and Wii games in HD o_o), but that's the one feature that it lacks.
At least, it means I'll still have a reason to boot up my Wii once in a while, I guess, but still, dynamic file patching would be a huge improvement in my opinion : Brawl without the Okami stages and characters almost feels dull to me now :-P
And, even more awesome would be somthing similar to Riivolution's patch management feature, that allows defining different patches for a game and enabling any combination of them at will.
knuckles mentioned above a technical problem blocking it : what is it ? Isn't it quite similar to the way Dolphin already allows loading HiRes textures to replace original ones in games ? :-)
Updated by JasonMP27 over 11 years ago
This feature I've been wishing would be included since 2010. I've been working on DUSMBAE, a hack of NSMBW, and testing via Riivolution, but unfortunately I can't use my Wii very often. Progress on the hack would go much faster if I were able to test changes quickly in Dolphin. Unfortunately due to the sheer amount of changes and extra files that are part of the game, compiling an ISO using Partition Builder has started to yield corrupt graphics and such, meaning my only means of testing is via Riivolution now.