I’ll chuck my hat in the ring too. I’ll test anything Emulation related 
Retroarch NEEDS to be on WiiU 
Hey guys, I would like to ask what exactly Retroarch for Wii U entails? I’m going to assume native HD support without being locked to 480p max which then gets upscaled by the Wii U (referring to Retroarch on vWii of course). What other delicious things are there to look forward to?
[QUOTE=Retrovkit;49056]Hey guys, I would like to ask what exactly Retroarch for Wii U entails? I’m going to assume native HD support without being locked to 480p max which then gets upscaled by the Wii U (referring to Retroarch on vWii of course). What other delicious things are there to look forward to?[/QUOTE]
Off the top of my head
1.Off Screen play. (Native WiiU Gamepad Support) 2.Fuller Mame Support. (Bigger Rom Sizes) 3.Possible N64 Core. 4.Possible PS1 Core. 5.Possible DC Core?. 5.HD Resolusion Loveliness.
- More probably but you get the idea.
That I do. Did not even consider some of those things you listed so that is very nice indeed! I forgot about gamepad support in particular.
The Wii port is severely limited by the small amount of RAM and weak CPU, this prevents many cores from even being on there; that, and there’s no XMB GUI support either, which would be nice.
That makes sense. There is something I’m wondering about that doesn’t quite make sense though.
Now I’m not sure if this is the correct place to ask and I don’t want to come across as if I’m blaming anyone, but it seems to me like Wii U homebrew is not as advanced as it should be by this point? If that makes sense to you guys. Feels like there is a certain barrier that impedes rapid progress to be made. The fact that Retroarch is on Wii but not Wii U would be evidence of this. That’s really interesting to me because the Wii U is supposed to share a similar architecture as the Wii. And clearly people figured out that console. I realise that only 1/10 of the Wii homebrew scene are available for Wii U because of lower sales numbers, but I thought to myself “isn’t half the work already figured out from the Wii days?” Well clearly it’s not that easy.
If anyone has some details on this I’d love to hear the insights of someone who actually knows their stuff. Is the Wii U just that much of a pain in the ass to work with?
[QUOTE=Retrovkit;49102]That makes sense. There is something I’m wondering about that doesn’t quite make sense though.
Now I’m not sure if this is the correct place to ask and I don’t want to come across as if I’m blaming anyone, but it seems to me like Wii U homebrew is not as advanced as it should be by this point? If that makes sense to you guys. Feels like there is a certain barrier that impedes rapid progress to be made. The fact that Retroarch is on Wii but not Wii U would be evidence of this. That’s really interesting to me because the Wii U is supposed to share a similar architecture as the Wii. And clearly people figured out that console. I realise that only 1/10 of the Wii homebrew scene are available for Wii U because of lower sales numbers, but I thought to myself “isn’t half the work already figured out from the Wii days?” Well clearly it’s not that easy.
If anyone has some details on this I’d love to hear the insights of someone who actually knows their stuff. Is the Wii U just that much of a pain in the ass to work with?[/QUOTE]
The Wii U does indeed have a similar sort of architecture to the Wii (which is why devKitPPC didn’t need any work, just needed some linker script tomfoolery) although the actual OS is different. It’s a bit like Linux/Mac development: the compilers are the same(ish), but the libraries and things are completely different; you can’t just copy-paste over a complete Wii app and expect it to work. At very least you have to rewrite the UX stuff. In addition to that, the community is… interesting. It’s all a bit toxic and there’s about 10 people actually working on the system; my guess is around 5 actively working on homebrew. While there’s no technical barrier there’s certainly a human one.
[QUOTE=QuarkTheAwesome;49109]The Wii U does indeed have a similar sort of architecture to the Wii (which is why devKitPPC didn’t need any work, just needed some linker script tomfoolery) although the actual OS is different. It’s a bit like Linux/Mac development: the compilers are the same(ish), but the libraries and things are completely different; you can’t just copy-paste over a complete Wii app and expect it to work. At very least you have to rewrite the UX stuff. In addition to that, the community is… interesting. It’s all a bit toxic and there’s about 10 people actually working on the system; my guess is around 5 actively working on homebrew. While there’s no technical barrier there’s certainly a human one.[/QUOTE]
Oh dear, it seems I asked a question that ultimately came down to a somewhat delicate topic. It’s a shame that apparently, people can’t just work together for a good community cause. I wished I was born as some sort of coding genius because then I’d love to contribute and work together with people to achieve my goals. I try to be a reasonable online so I believe it’d work.
You know it’s times like these were it feels terrible being unable to contribute. It makes me feel like a parasite who just ends up leeching off the works of others. But I guess that’s just how it is.
Nobody is born knowing how to code. It’s a skill, just like learning to play guitar or learning sign language, etc. I’m not particularly good or knowledgeable at coding but I pitch in when and where I can and find other ways to contribute when it’s outside of my skill level.
[QUOTE=Retrovkit;49112]Oh dear, it seems I asked a question that ultimately came down to a somewhat delicate topic. It’s a shame that apparently, people can’t just work together for a good community cause. I wished I was born as some sort of coding genius because then I’d love to contribute and work together with people to achieve my goals. I try to be a reasonable online so I believe it’d work.
You know it’s times like these were it feels terrible being unable to contribute. It makes me feel like a parasite who just ends up leeching off the works of others. But I guess that’s just how it is.[/QUOTE]
Even if you don’t want to learn to program (which trust me, everyone can do) you’re in no way being a parasite. All the developers I’ve talked to have different motivation strategies and I know a few who work almost completely for the community. If all the reasonable people decide they’re parasites, the community will be completely ruled by the unreasonable ones and that’s a bad thing in anyone’s book. Trust me; a few good words go a long way with us even if that’s all you end up doing. Heck, even if you don’t say anything it bumps a download counter somewhere and that’s more than enough for some. One thing I will mention is that the few active Wii U developers are all really tight-knit and work together brilliantly. Sure, I wish others would join in and that it wasn’t just us, but what we’ve got is workable and we do get stuff done in the end.
(I think I need to look at my writing style; I seem to give off the impression I’m upset all the time… I’m not (upset), by the way.)
That’s true. I guess what I was really referring to is my assumption that today’s homebrewers got interested in doing these kinds of things when they were relatively young. Maybe they even liked tinkering with electronic devices and computers at a young age and therefore became naturally interested in the kinds of things we find in the homebrewing scene today. I know this is not the case for me, so any coding that actually ends up doing something just seems like voodoo magic to me. But I guess with enough discipline and the right teachers even I could wrap my head around it.
[QUOTE=QuarkTheAwesome;49139]Even if you don’t want to learn to program (which trust me, everyone can do) you’re in no way being a parasite. All the developers I’ve talked to have different motivation strategies and I know a few who work almost completely for the community. If all the reasonable people decide they’re parasites, the community will be completely ruled by the unreasonable ones and that’s a bad thing in anyone’s book. Trust me; a few good words go a long way with us even if that’s all you end up doing. Heck, even if you don’t say anything it bumps a download counter somewhere and that’s more than enough for some. One thing I will mention is that the few active Wii U developers are all really tight-knit and work together brilliantly. Sure, I wish others would join in and that it wasn’t just us, but what we’ve got is workable and we do get stuff done in the end.
(I think I need to look at my writing style; I seem to give off the impression I’m upset all the time… I’m not (upset), by the way.)[/QUOTE]
I did not not expect such an uplifting post, but I definitely appreciate it! I guess you’re right that even the little things can end up making a difference in the end. And it’s fantastic to hear that you good Wii U people are on good terms. With you guys’ help, the Wii U can hopefully get the kind of homebrew it “deserves” at the end of the day.
Aliaspider, who has done much of the work on the 3DS port, made some preliminary moves toward a wii u port: It’s still very early, though. Games don’t load yet or anything, but it seems like some things from the Wii port can be reused.
[QUOTE=hunterk;49821]Aliaspider, who has done much of the work on the 3DS port, made some preliminary moves toward a wii u port: It’s still very early, though. Games don’t load yet or anything, but it seems like some things from the Wii port can be reused.[/QUOTE]
Wow, this week has been crazy with Wii U related news; awesome 
[QUOTE=hunterk;49821]Aliaspider, who has done much of the work on the 3DS port, made some preliminary moves toward a wii u port: It’s still very early, though. Games don’t load yet or anything, but it seems like some things from the Wii port can be reused.[/QUOTE]
That’s exactly the kind of kickstart needed to maybe get things going in the future. This is a big deal in my eyes. Really nice work there!
[QUOTE=hunterk;49821]Aliaspider, who has done much of the work on the 3DS port, made some preliminary moves toward a wii u port: It’s still very early, though. Games don’t load yet or anything, but it seems like some things from the Wii port can be reused.[/QUOTE]
Awesome, that’s fantastic News!! Thanks to aliaspider, he did great Things with the 3DS port already, hope he manages to get it working on Wii U eventually! I hope that Mupen64 core will work on Wii U, that’s the one core I really missed in the original Wii port…
[QUOTE=geheim;49842]Awesome, that’s fantastic News!! Thanks to aliaspider, he did great Things with the 3DS port already, hope he manages to get it working on Wii U eventually! I hope that Mupen64 core will work on Wii U, that’s the one core I really missed in the original Wii port…[/QUOTE]
Same here!
I cannot express enough just how wonderful these news are!
And yes, I would love to see a Mupen64 core support on Wii U too, hope it becomes a reality someday
I have been patiently waiting for this for a long time. So glad its finally happening interesting time ahead.
Thank you to all involved.
Here we have a first glimpse of Yoshi’s Island on Wii U with Retroarch. Sound isn’t working yet, but everything else seems just fine.
I’ve got a question btw: Would a Wii U release support the Wiimote and Classic Controllers like its Wii counterpart?
Looks awesome, can’t wait for the first release
Just hoping that Mupen64 will run as good as this!
There are some significant roadblocks to fullspeed n64 emulation on wiiu, namely a GL-to-GX2 wrapper and a PPC dynarec. That’s not to say it won’t happen, just don’t expect it tomorrow.