Slashdot Mirror
First Mod Chip For GameCube
Cuber writes "The first modification chip for Nintendo's GameCube console has been announced. It will allow users to boot homebrew applications, loaders and BIOS'. Until now hackers where using an exploit in the game Phantasy Star Online and a broadband adapter to be able to load homebrew software like GC-Linux over a network connection but now they'll be able to run code directly from flash memory.
The mod chip will require to solder only 4 wires and while the device comes empty it's not impossible to think 3rd party loaders will come that allow you to boot copied games."
it's not impossible to think 3rd party loaders will come that allow you to boot copied games."
I believe that you meant "impossible not to think."
To fight the war on terror, stop being afraid.
why did it take so long to get one of these to market?
I mean....there a shitpile of mod chips for X-Box, PS-2, etc......
Just my 2c
First Typo:
Until now hackers where using an exploit in the game Phantasy Star Online and a broadband adapter to be able to load homebrew software like GC-Linux over a network connection but now they'll be able to run code directly from flash memory.
I believe you mean "were".
Well, we could've just quietly assumed that it would be capable of running copied games, and celebrated it for its ability to run homebrewed software and Linux... but no, we had to go and give it that aire of illegitimacy.
Thanks, poster!
But a great tool, nonetheless. Especially with the low prices and great capabilities of the gamecube.
I'm looking forward to getting the chip for myself. The old method was annoying, and lacked the potential this has.
Check thebroken.org for a video explaining how to load software onto the GC using the optional ethernet port. It's Episode III.
Support the First Amendment. Read at -1
it's a gamecube. It's not like your defying a big bloated company like microsoft when you mod your XBOX. Don't pick on nintendo. Nintendo was there (Atari before them though) in the days of the good RPGs and other awesome 8bit games. Never bite the hand that created you
People who buy came consoles suddenly feel an irrational need to put new bits of hardware in and install 3rd party software.
Per.. perso... personal computer?
Just buy your local PC store's Family Friendly Box with Free Internet and achieve the same effect.
How many people can read hex if only you and dead people can read hex?
I have seen Iso's floating around out there, but how can you burn them to a mini DVD, when as far as I know they use a proprietary media for GameCube games? I know thus far they have been running them over the ethernet port (as mentioned in the post) but with the mod chip the theory is that you could run them right in the console...so how would you burn them? Is hardware modification required to boot from a regular DVD, or does the factory hardware read from regular discs once the mod chip is installed?
do you figger it will take Nintendo to begin trying to shut down anyone and their dog that offers to sell these things?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
> Never bite the hand that created you
I don't know about you, but most of us were created by a different body part.
How long till Nintendo DMCA's the crap out of this?
Why did it took so long for a modchip on the Gamecube? Is it because the targeted market isn't hacker friendly? Was there a market for the Gamecube at all, facing Xbox and PS2 competition? Not enough incentive (demand) to create / sell a chip, not enough potential 'customers'?
It doesn't seem related to poor marketshare, as GameCube seem to hold its fair share of the pie.
Eureka Science News - automatically updated
uh.... what? People mod stuff for fun. Who cares what company it is? A company is a company. Microsoft is a company, Nintendo is a company, Applie is a company. They all have people like you and me working for them.
I never understood people who seem to think a corporation has some uber-personality of its own. I guess people just have too much free time, or not enough to worry about.
How much more disappointed XBox users were in their console than Gamecube users. Obviously Gamecube owners, until now, were satisfied with they got, whereas XBox users almost immediately started trying to tinker with it and make mods. :-D
If you like what I've said here, and want to read more, go to http://www.krillrblog.com
So it's a bios replacement chip that does nothing more then load code from onboard flash (attatched to a parrallel port) ... yay.
There is already a product out there that will load shit off the memory card (no soldering required).
The only way this allows you to run pirated games is to use it to load a loader program which wil grab an ISO over network...
What is it about this game that is so conducive to hacking? If I remember correctly, this game was also used to hack the Sega Dreamcast.
I couldn't fail to disagree with you less.
I have a Game Boy Player accessory on my GameCube console. I can use it to boot original Game Boy Advance Game Paks, or I can use it to boot homebrew GBA games that I've developed on my flash card, or I can (rarely) use it to boot copied GBA games on my flash card. So my GameCube already boots copied games, albeit not copied GameCube-native games.
> there a shitpile of mod chips for X-Box, PS-2
Yes, there is.
A friend asked me about the possiblility of running games encoded for a different region on his PS2. I told him that a mod chip could take care of it but that was about the extent of my knowledge on the subject.
Later, I did some googling and found a dozen or so mod chips. Some only work with specific versions of the console (there are 12, including the new slim console), some are flashable, etc.
Unfortunately, I didn't find any site that would compare these chips and expand on their relatives strenghts and weaknesses. Nor did I find a forum where the "residents" are knowledgeable enough to answer such questions yet patient enough with people asking them.
Can you suggest good places to look?
We own personal computers. I don't want to take apart a gamecube and haul out my solder gun. Again. We own personal computers.
The only way this allows you to run pirated games is to use it to load a loader program which wil grab an ISO over network
Unless the loader program loads a driver that can read UDF formatted mini-DVD-R discs (or full-size DVD-R discs with a case mod) instead of proprietary DOL media.
Easy: I write the same thing twice, and keep posting it over and over again.
What a sad little xbox fanboy.
Let me guess you actually still believe the GameCube isn't in 2nd place...
I do, and alot of people I know do; There are many excellent titles available for the GC and it's classification in certain circles as a console for kiddies is unwarrented and frankly incorrect. The majority of people I know who own Gamecubes are 20somethings, partly because as an agegroup we remember the haydays of Sega and Nintendo and partly because we're not drawn to the perception of having a console for 'mature' gamers with 'mature' games; we realise the marketing as such is infact aimed at 13-16 year old boys primerilly. Violence does not make a mature game, silly amounts of needless gore does not make a mature game...
There's mischief and malarkies but no queers or yids or darkies within this bastard's carnival, this vicious cabaret.
Phantasy Star Online downloads a piece of executable code from Sega's server every time you run it. The PSOLoad program pretends to be Sega's server. I'll take an educated guess that the bug was that PSO didn't check any sort of digital signature on the code.
UNIX for the GBA is much cooler.
Even if you have to emu a PD-11.
I'd like to see a poll on how many GC owners will actually take the time to do this?
Insert Pithy Quote here.
Yet the gamecube constantly outsells the Xbox... which is the failure here?
The percentage of mature games vs. childish games is what i'm referring to. Obviously every system trys to touch on all audiences. The gamecubes main audience is children. Its the preteen system.
The mod chip will require to solder only 4 wires and while the device comes empty it's not impossible to think 3rd party loaders will come that allow you to boot copied games.
/PR nazi
How about saying "backups" instead? Saying "copied games" sounds rather warezish for a headline.
Normally if I saw something like this, I'd say let the lawsuits begin! Nintendo is infamous for its fierce protection of its properties. But in this case I don't expect to see that anytime soon. Why? Because of the funky mini dvd format the GC uses, practically speaking, only homebrew software is going to take advantage of the mod chip. So Nintendo will be hard pressed to argue that the mod chip was created to facilitate piracy. By the time anyone comes up with a way to make pirate game GC disks cheap and easy, the GC 2 will be out and no one will care any more.
That said, I'm sure there's some factory in China pumping out pirate copies of GC games like crazy. But that certainly is not in response to the release of this mod chip.
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
You were looking for the "+1 Funny".
That's the one that doesn't fuck with his karma.
Actually, the device just loads code, from a parallel port, into flash memory, so the GC boots from this instead of its own bios.
Still, after this, maybe it won't be long before some idiot manages to make the GC read from a mini dvd or something, and screw up nintendo.
Hey, those hackers should go find something constructive to do, instead of helping piracy. Face it, that is what they do.
I thought GC discs spun backwards? If you wanted to create pirate games with your DVD burner, wouldn't need to modify your burner to burn backwards?
/me breaks out the soldering iron and the ol' 4x CD burner... it's hackin' time.
Would you be able to just reverse the polarity to the motor...?
This really isn't as revolutionary as it sounds.
What this mod essentially does. is allow you to store DOL files on the modchip itself. DOL files are Gamecube executable files, so it allows you to send small apps across. Not bioses.
Do you guys remember the old PSO Exploit, where you could send small apps across to your GameCube using a bug in the network connection? From here, you could send across little 'loaders' that could stream the games from your PC...
This mod really doesn't provide anything that the previous method could not... it just saves you from having to boot up PSO.
This is a rather cool little mod if you would like your apps to automatically boot up when you turn in your GameCube... GC-Linux anyone? And you can send across the afrorementioned 'loaders' you boot yer Iso's... but this isn't going to help you play games from disc, nor is it going to help you use a hacked bios replacement. Sorry guys.
The main reason a 'proper' modchip for the GameCube does not exist yet is because it uses proprietory discs, not mini-DVD's as people seem to believe.
I gather it's theorietically possible to boot a DVDR on the Gamecube... but it would require hacking of the drive controller, as opposed to merely hacking the bios.
For the nth time, Super Smash Bros. Melee is not childish.
My understanding is the Gamecube uses a 3" disc which is a proprietary mini DVD format that holds 1.5GB. It cannot be read by the CD or DVD player in your PC meaning you have to invest in some slightly more serious hardware to try and copy these discs, pushing it out of the reach of the average user. A great approach by Nintendo to copy protection, I have heard rumour that the XBox 2 is gonna follow suit and have a proprietary disc format to help combat copying.
Support the First Amendment. Read at -1
I'm not an amerikkkan and couldn't give a rats arse about this so called "first amendment". Should I still read at -1? And if I already read at -1, but I couldn't give a fuck about the first amendment, should I read at 0?
Please - inquiring minds need to know.
but what do i know, i'm just a model.
a nice personal touch making the press photo's of circuitry on someone's bedspread.
:-D
Just like Intel
a well deserved troll name a kid who could develop the mod chip?
It isn't read by spinning the disc backwards, as can be easily verified by opening the lid while it's spinning, but the laser moves from the outer rim inwards.
In other words, GameCube uses the DVD's second layer, right?
I wonder if this could be compensated for with a driver, or if a regular DVD burner could be hacked to write apropriate media with a firmware flash.
Depends. Does your burner support DVD+R DL?
What sort of exploit was found in Phantasy Star Online that enabled them to access the hardware?
I'm happy with my GC. If some could get a serviceable webbrowser or at least have this thing run one from my PC, that would be perfect. I'd like to have a browser handy on my TV, but that is all..
...in Japan!
It would be cool if it didn't suck.
b-b-but, there's no blood! And Mario's boobs don't bounce! How can a game be mature if there's no boobies?! Wait, I meant Peach! Peach's boobs don't bounce! Oh god, now my mature friends will make fun of me!
heh, I love Mario Party, Zelda, Mario Sunshine and these are the just the few good games that spring to mind at first
Whoops, there's another one: Metroid Prime
They may not be the most original, but they are very enjoyable nonetheless (sp?)
This is the sig that says NI (again)
Because bootloaders for import discs were already widely and legally available, and you don't need a modchip, just a bootloader disc, to play GC games in the wrong region.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
Nintendo did a great job locking up the GameCube. It uses a custom-format mini-DVD (CAV, read from inside out, barcodes in different places, etc). There is tough encryption built into the chips that handle the boot process. Basically lots of people has tried and until now, no one had succeeded.
In addition to the Phantasy Star Online hack, there is also a product called MaxDrive available from a UK company. It's an 8MB memory card with a USB cable sticking out of it. You plug the USB cable into your PC and then you can copy files to/from the card whenever you want (even while cube is on, I think). The "professional" version, MaxDrive Pro, comes with a boot disk which looks on the card for an executable, and if it finds one it just launches it. So you have 8MB to get your own boot loader etc. going, after which you can use a broadband adapter (or whatever) to transfer the rest of your game.
Not sure why my comment was modded as a troll given that it's true. Look at the latest NPD numbers. In October (in the US), PS2 software sales were up 56%, Xbox software sales were up 45%, Gamecube software sales were down 13%. Gamecube sales were down 57%. I own all three consoles, and the only games worth playing on the Gamecube was Mario Sunshine (not much different from Mario64, although it is fun), Zelda (not much different from Zelda64), Metroid Prime (not much different from 2-D Metroid). My Gamecube has been sitting in my closet for months. PS2 at least has some games worth playing: Jak3, Ratchet&Clank3, San Andreas.
I do.
I wrote a 3D Linux kernel driver for it. You should check it out.
How about a mod that let's you take advantage of the Gamecube's SD->memory card adapter without having anything else hanging off the system?
What, no USB/Firewire/Ethernet connection? No worthy pirates ever use aging connection standard like this!
In Soviet Russia, the Gamecube mods you!
One thing i hate about copy protection schemes in the PS2, for example, is that people aren't allowed to program their own games and distribute them. No, you have to get a contract with Sony, so they distribute your games in their uncopiable format, and they get their share. Oh, you haven't got the money? Sorry. "But the game..." NO DEAL!
Sometimes i wonder... have Sony forgotten their roots, when they were trying to sell transistor radios in Germany?
I'm glad that this has happened, but not so I can play copied games.
I'm looking forward to being able to play my imports without using a boot disc (I currently use freeloader). And being able to patch and update it against bugs in such handling (Japanese Namco games are quite well known for having serious problems with freeloader and save cards).
Homebrew software development also appeals to me, but not as much as the ability to handle those imports.
And why am I so interested in imports? Well, our local Nintendo office has seen it fit to destroy the gamecube by keeping the prices high, failing to promote the cube sufficently, being slow on the uptake of titles and withholding new accessories for the gamecube from market.
In Australia, you can't even buy the Official Nintendo 1019 block memory card, whereas I bought one during a visit to the US for the same price that a 251 block memory card costs us here. The broadband adapter was announced at one point, but you certainly can't buy them here.
Not only that, imported gamecube games cost LESS than their local counterparts, even after shipping in most cases. I bought R: Racing (US) for a whole US$20, whereas it was still priced at AU$90 back home. Given express shipping from Lik-Sang costs around AU$25, we still keep just below the $90-100 line for most games here.
Now, given the choice, would you give money to that division when you could just buy from overseas, with one of the foreign divisions of that company earning the profits instead?
As far as I'm concerned, it means I get my games, and I get them cheaper than buying locally, and Nintendo still gets the money they deserve for producing such a good (underrated) platform.
And, with some luck, I hope that the local branch will get their act together and start giving us prices that are even vaugely competative against their neighbouring branches.
If the hackers want to get homebrew going on gamecube, the guys building mod-chips should be working out a way to wire a standard dvd drive to the GC. Something along the lines of flip a switch, and it uses the DVD drive instead of the built in mini drive.
Heh, my friends and I can get pretty childish when we play it though.
"I may not have morals, but I have standards."
Your firm has to make a name for itself on the Sony VAIO PC platform, and then Sony will listen to you on its other gaming platform.
That said, GBA has been hacked for a long time, and GameCube plays almost all GBA titles (except tilt games, sun games, and GBA Video).
That was an awesome post.
Why oh why isn't there a Dance Dance Revolution for the freakin' gamecube. I'm a console holdout, I like the Gamecube the most (they seem to have the games that interest me the most) but I would really like to be able to play some Dance Dance Revolution.
Is there any hope?
Now this is something id like to see... Ive got more damnable copies of OSX to myself than ill ever use and no urge to go buy hardware to run them on... so getting my gamecube to use my OSX copy sounds wonderful
XML - A clever joke would be here if
Feh.
Paper Mario owns your soul.
Here's a workaround for Non-MIL-CD Dreamcast units. Which DC versions couldn't boot any audio/data or data/data CD-R discs?
Write Konami? They might be receptive to it. I mean, hell, they even had one for the Dreamcast, surprisingly enough.
SNACKS ARE AWESOME
Get a Game Boy Player and DDR for Game Boy Color.
Or just break down and get StepMania for your PC.
Don't give the ethnocentric jerks any fuel for their fire. We Blue Staters are awfully proud of our First Amendment. Even if you don't have a "First Amendment" where you live, you should support ours. As amendments go, it's one of the best.
For my part, I support your equivalent, and in absence of that, your formation of the equivalent.
Does this modchip address the speed limit of using the PSO hack for clean streaming?
"Plans are for fools! Oglethorpe, the plutonian (Aqua Teen Hunger Force)
I own a Gamecube.
Metroid Prime. And #2.
Eternal Darkness.
The Super Monkey Balls.
Super Smash Bros.
I have a PS2 also. For RPGs, it's where it's at. But the GC has a *lot* of high quality games, especially the ones coming from Nintendo. Yes, many of them are rehashes of old franchises... but they're well done, entertaining rehashes. And I just want fun games to play, so that suits me just fine.
---
Mod me down, you fucking twits. Go ahead. I dare you.
(I read with sigs off.)
But the important thing is that it won't play "silvers" (pressed pirate discs) or burned CD-R/DVD-R discs, not even homebrews. As far as I know, nobody has yet gotten the GC's drive to read any data from a burned disc. Whether it's the reverse spiral or a wrong wavelength laser, proper piracy can't be done without being able to slap in a bootleg disc and hitting the power button. You can use this mod to play ripped game images, but only with a lot of effort, and only with a PC handy. Having to load ISOs over the Ethernet port is only for true die-hards, and is enough of a pain in the arse that you might as well go legit... or mod an X-box instead.
*The broadband adapter is connected via a 27Mbit serial interface, shared with the memory cards, and probably a few other things. And early attempts to use the 100Mbit mode of the Ethernet port weren't reliable.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
Doesn't have a fucking thing to do with at which level you read slashdot, Wal-mart's stocking policies, operators in chat rooms, or anything else that isn't DONE BY THE GOVERNMENT.
Do you really believe that noone would associate a mod chip with piracy if the poster of a Slashdot article hadn't mentioned the possibility?
Come on now.
Now, if a Suicide Girl posted online about modding her GC... would Nintendo's legal department explode? ;)
Sony ha
Try pydance.
Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.
I would really like to be able to play some Dance Dance Revolution. Is there any hope? -- "Crack a glow-stick for 9/11!"
Hope for the game you want, maybe. For the future of our youth, apparently not.
*ducks and runs*
Sony ha
MC Groovz Dance Craze
Mad Catz is creating their first ever game, it's a DDR clone with dance pads (officially licensed too) for Gamecube.
I call it "using the hardware I paid for however I damn well feel like using it". There's nothing illegal or immoral about it.
At least as far as an Babelfish translation of the amazon.co.jp Nintendo DS product page goes
:)
# For you if Sega which it can die
Oh and they are already sold out so back to the drawing board to track one of these suckers down pre the beginning of next year (and for the release price of $150US not the ridiculous $200+ prices)
FYYFF!
The Xbox has it better. You don't even need a mod chip. There are sophisticated software exploits that are free, easy to use, and totally undo-able. One such exploit is the Ultimate Dash Eploit (UDE). With it you can turn a new $150 Xbox into a modded-Xbox capable of playing burned CDs, DVDs, games copied to the internal harddrive, etc.
I don't really use my UDE modded Xbox for playing pirated Xbox games, as there aren't many Xbox games that I care to play. Instead, I use it to run Xbox Media Center so that I can play my MP3s and watch my Xvid and Divx movies, and classic console emulators such as FCE Ultra X, a high-quality NES emulator and MameoX a high-quality Multi-Arcade emulator.
Mod chips are expensive, harder to get, and harder to install than the Xbox's new software exploits like UDE. If you want to check out more info about modding your Xbox, go to Xbox Scene.
"why has the lack of piracy on the GC not caused them to sell their products for less?"
Because piracy has the effect of lowering prices not raising them.
Look at it this way...if you sell out every game you make at $60, why would you ever price your game lower?
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
There was always a rumor that "this month's version of the Dreamcast has a block to stop it from booting from CD-R's"
It never happened.
The Dreamcast is still always a great system to get at a console because the disks are readily avabilable on usenet, and the system is still reasonably state of the art.
In fact, Super Smash Bros: Melee is apotheosic.
--
Wiki de Ciencia Ficcion y Fantasia
I just got a gamecube last week. I don't like to buy things when they are all shiny and new, because they usually cost more than they are worth. I don't really see what this modchip offers over the PSO hack. So, what you can load stuff from whatever small amount of flash memory they have available. The PSO hack allows you to load stuff from the network. All without doing any warranty infringing changes to the GameCube. I can't see why anyone would want to void the warranty when there's a much better solution out there.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
I always chuckle at 15 year olds looking for "mature" games.
The best part is they don't understand irony.
This might be an alternative solution to the non-standard media problem of the GC.
Just a thaught. I didn't see it mentioned.
I very much did like Zelda on GC but thats about it. Sunshine was rather uninspired i think.
I havent tried Paper mario though. Looked interesting.
I've recently sold my GC so my GC days are over.
I could not stand the controller.
get over it
"Whoa, GIBBED! GIBBED! This game is so fucking mature!"
So, if Nintendo "know whats good for them," they will stop producing game consoles? Even tough they are beating the Xbox in worldwide sales and turn a large quarter-after-quarter profit on everything they make (unlike their competition, particularly Microsoft)?
Let's all thank goodness that the world doesn't work according to the ill-informed whims of one boy.
Besides some of us have young children as well, the cube is fun for everyone.
Me lost me cookie at the disco.
Once you can load a program and run it from a memory card, what prevents people from making interfaces that you can read from the GC discs and load huge programs through the memory card port?
Since the memory card port is likely something standard in a different form factor (e.g. USB, IDE, etc.) making interfaces to large storage devices are not far-fetched at all.
I thought someone here would know this...
:)
The secret is that GC games are encrypted to a degree. if you look closely at the data area (not the hub) there is a barcode. this is actually a decryption key for the disk. the only reason is that cheat devices will boot is that they are pressed on the same type of machine the retail games are (although the media has a differently shaped hub, and obviously they didn't use Nintendo's equip.) and that they use the barcode from a retail game. (NHL Hits was used for the freeloader if i remember corectly)
For those of you with a GC check the disk. if you take the cover off the gc and then hold back the 2 lid switches (redundancy...i like it) and turn on the GC you will see the lazer go to that barcode, read it, then seek to where it needs to.
or a simpler method is to take a game you don't like and take a sharpie and cover that barcode area (once again in the data area, not the hub) the game will not boot, even if you cover a small area. (iso. alchohol and a paper towel will take it off usually incase you like the game)
Nintendo also did tons of other things. while the actual game of Animal Crossing is less than 40 megs (provable by taking out the game, it functions regularly) the whole disk is full of data. the rest is randomly generated data (theirby making it hard to compress for internet distrobution)
there was also alot of questions about the bios. some believed that it was actually on the die of the GPU (which if you look at the GC block diagram is in the center performing I/O duties) others believing it was only stored in parts in multiple places being assembled at boot. (less likely) but finally someone found it.
by far the hardest to crack system so far. it wasn't untill the pso server spoofing thing came along that people were able to run demos on it. (and AFAIK not an official game)
since dvd burners don't have the level of accuracy needed to burn that barcode, let alone the whole reverse track thing, you can't pirate games for the system. (which in my opinion is a GOOD thing) there are disk dumps, minus the random data thanks to a prog someone wrote on the net but they are WORTHLESS. (till a real, working emu comes out, but that could be awhile)
i don't pirate games, just a fan with an interest in hardware
Nintendo does software right. The GC while a decent peice of hardware, simple has a poor controller and the only games worth owning are the nintendo games on it.
All of the other titles are pretty much ported to all of the other consoles. With a few exceptions like viewtiful joe etc.
What I would like would be a widget that records, stores and plays back controller signals. Or edited and tweaked versions of same. Why aren't there more of these?
The problem with the GameCube is that it seems it gets ignored with all the attention going to the GameBoy market instead. Some interesting games are announced. Save a once or twice a year, if that often, Miyamoto designed game, there is NOTHING for the system. Announced 3rd party developed games never make it to market, and release is hoarded until holiday time. These games play quickly, and then there is nothing for the system for months.