MegaLoader v1

[megalomaniac]

MegaLoader v1
A simple graphical interface for Gamecube to "point and click" for loading your favorite emulators or homebrew.
MegaLoader will automatically search SD slot A, B, then ISO9660 Disc.
Drag and drop your favorite emulator or homebrew into your device of choice, select your emulator or homebrew and allow MegaLoader to search for you.

updated versions can be found here
download GC homebrew starter pack here

Search will be performed in the following locations of each detected device:

Code: Select all

sda:/
sda:/emus
sda:/megaloader

sdb:/
sdb:/emus
sdb:/megaloader

dvd:/
dvd:/emus
dvd:/megaloader

Emulators and Homebrew must conform to the following name format:

Code: Select all

FCE Ultra GX = fceugx-gc.dol
Snes9x GX = snes9xgx-gc.dol
Cube64 = cube64.dol	
VBA GX = vbagx_gc.dol
Genesis Plus = genplus_cube.dol
Hugo GX = hugo_cube.dol
NeoGeo CD = neocdredux.dol
NeoGeo Pocket = neopopgc.dol
CubeSX = cubeSX.dol
VectrexGC = vecxgc.dol
Colecovision = collisionGC.dol

ScummVM = scummvm-gc.dol
Chip8 = chip8.dol
Pong = pong.dol
Quake = quake.dol
Fruit Remover = fruitremover.dol
Tetris = tetris.dol
Ascii Fighter = af.dol
Breakout = breakout.dol
Snowlords = snowlords.dol
Super Methane Brothers = methane.dol

Additional features include:
1. Z Button - quick button to search and boot swiss
2. R Trigger - menu swap
3. gamecube icon - search disc drive for GCM and (re)boot to allow IPL to load if present. ( cheesy implementation )
4. simple to understand graphical feedback for any errors detected. ( i hope )
5. autodetect video mode


Testers:
1. Functionality tested only with XenoGC. Please provide feedback for other modchips if installed to flash as initial boot.

2. Not tested with WKF / Wode drive replacements. Please report behavior (especially the behavior when Gamecube icon is selected).
DONE!! WKF confirmed to run MegaLoader and boot selected homebrew title from SD Slots. With WKF installed selecting the "GC" icon will show invalid disc message indicating the program sees the WKF as a drive with no ISO9660 disc type as expected...at least this means it doesnt crash

does not detect files located on WKF SD reader...ill look into that and try to add in support if possible
will now detect WKF but does not search...only added in minimal support to prevent freezing

also awaiting for wode to arrive to verify overall behavior

3. Not tested with Swiss autoboot using boot.dol detection on SD. Please report behavior.
DONE!! Swiss will autoboot boot.dol as expected to allow MegaLoader to become a frontend GUI for easy homebrew loading....and pressing Z button will load Swiss as expected. << im surprised how great this functionality worked (thought i was gonna need to fix something here)
NOTE: only seems to work from WKF firmware. I am having detectability issues for autoboot if Swiss is flashed to WKF

4. My component cable is still packed away in a box so i have not had the opportunity to test video auto detection mode. Please report any video bugs.
DONE!! video auto detection mode works. 480i / 480p / 576i / 576p confirmed

5. Please provide feedback of any other bugs encountered.
happy testing..

[liquitt]

i'll test this later!!

cheers buddy, looks good

[Benni]

Will give it a try...

BUT:
Is there anyway to flash it to a Qoob directly?

I had to burn a disc to use it?
and Swiss? Where to put it?

[megalomaniac]

Will give it a try...

BUT:
Is there anyway to flash it to a Qoob directly?

I had to burn a disc to use it?
and Swiss? Where to put it?

great questions Benni...
i didnt think about compatible distributions...

currently, (for this initial release) use your regular DOL loading method for testing and bug hunting...I understand this may result in "a few extra steps" just to load your emulators / homebrew, at least until i can make compatible distributions...
also, creating a bootable DVD is an option...which the dvd can be loaded with roms and homebrew while emulators can be located on SD...this will allow easy updating of emulators on SD as well as save some data space on the SD card with the roms being located on disc...



i have never had the opportunity to use a qoob...nor a viper...so ill have to read the documentations to determine the requirements for compatible distributions...
same for WKF/WODE...

ill look into this and update the first post when completed...

[bearteam]

Is it a GUI-moded Swiss?

[megalomaniac]

Is it a GUI-moded Swiss?

its simply a GUI loader for emulators or homebrew...not a GUI version of swiss...

[Ashen]

This is very cool Mega, nice job man. *runs to test*

[Benni]

He He!

So, Qoob could be flashed with dol´s BUT which DOL is the one i need?
And what is the .pak for?

How to create a bootable disc?

[megalomaniac]

.pak is the support file for quake

.pak must remain in the directory "ID1"...and "ID1" must be located in :/root.

[julius]

Uhm, at first sight I thought it was something like mednafen, but anyway I´ll test it when I recolect some emus and throw them on my sd. At least it looks cool.

[siphoned]

So can I mix the dol files for emulators between the sd card and the dvd? In otherwords, can I put the NeoGeoCD emu dol on the dvd (because I don't think it is being updated anymore) and keep the SNES emu dol on the SD card (so I can update it with new versions)? Hmm.. Could I put all the latest emus/games/homebrew on the bootable disc and still use the SD card for versions made after I burned my disc? Does it check the disc first or the SD card (in case of same dol on each)? I look forward to testing it out.

[megalomaniac]

So can I mix the dol files for emulators between the sd card and the dvd? In otherwords, can I put the NeoGeoCD emu dol on the dvd (because I don't think it is being updated anymore) and keep the SNES emu dol on the SD card (so I can update it with new versions)? Hmm.. Could I put all the latest emus/games/homebrew on the bootable disc and still use the SD card for versions made after I burned my disc? Does it check the disc first or the SD card (in case of same dol on each)? I look forward to testing it out.

Yes...locations can be mixed between SDA, SDB, and DVD...just conform to the path / name requirements.


Just keep in mind search is preformed in the following order:
First look in SDA
Second look in SDB
Last look in DVD


It does not matter which device MegaLoader is booted from, search will always be performed in the same order as long as the devices are detected...what does this mean??

Ex..no SD card in slot A, it won't search slot A.
Ex..Tetris homebrew in slot B and DVD, it will find Tetris in slot B and boot.
Ex..Tetris homebrew in sda:/root and also in sda:/emus, MegaLoader will find :/root first then boot and not even look in :/emus
Ex..make a MegaLoader bootable DVD, search will still be performed in SD first, then DVD.

[liquitt]

looks good - first test successful

[megalomaniac]

looks good - first test successful

thanks...keep testing and let me know if anything unexpected happens...



on another note, i finally dug my component cable out of a box and had the chance to test video display detection..it automatically switched to 480p...so the display test was successful

[megalomaniac]

improvements in compatibility for WKF, does not attempt to search WKF SD if detected to avoid freezing
added vectrex
added super methane brothers


distribution download is now available as full size dol, compressed, viper compressed and iso
download v1.1

[turnerl]

thanks megalomaniac, looks awesome will test today !!!

[turnerl]

tested every emu, works perfectly.

sorry I should say I was using SD.

[megalomaniac]

hmmm....think i finally found a useful place for megaloader....

currently to load any dol needs a dol loading method, or burn to disc and boot the disc at startup....
i never liked the idea of having to use a dol loading method to run megaloader just to start an emu...
this created additional steps that are unnecessary just to use megaloader...
well, with the WKF adapter boards, since the drive is now connected back to the GC once again...using megaloader on dvd works great and is an amazingly simple solution to quickly boot emus /homebrew via GUI....


1. remove sd card from WKF and power on GC...(removed SD card means WKF will read from DVD with WKF firmware 1.3 or even dvd autoload with swiss on WKF flash)
2. with a xeno and megaloader on dvd, boot immediately into megaloader and quickly select an emu..


i think im finally happy with megaloader now....just maybe make a few more code improvements/enhancements

[siphoned]

Megaloader as a bootable disc on a xeno cube is great. Direct boot from one disc, straight to the emu logo menu and launch whatever emu you want. At first I had the emu dols on the disc with some games, but it wasn't enough space on the mini disc. Second burn was megaloader (as a bootable disc) with just the emu dols on the disc and the games managed on the SD card. It was still kind of pointless to put the emu dols on the disc. The final burn was just megaloader as a bootable disc and than managing everything from the SD card (latest versions of the emu dols and the games). Runs perfect.

[megalomaniac]

yea i wouldnt suggest burning a dvd with the actively updated emus...
meaning, every time an emu update is released would require a new dvd...
(however, megaloader will first look on the SD card, and if not found then boot from DVD if found there...)


if anything, i would suggest for the few available homebrew games to be burned to dvd...and maybe hugo since thats not getting an update anytime soon...along with the roms for hugo..possibly even neogeocd??

[siphoned]

NeoGeoCD gave me the most problems. Not because of megaloader but the emu itself (I think). I wanted to use the version that would seek the SD card for the games and not the one that looks for games on the disc. It would never find it's bios file. I thought the problem was having the emu dol on the disc and the bios on the SD card but I had the same problem after moving everything to the SD card. After testing with some different SD cards, it looks like NeoGeoCD just doesn't like 32GB SD cards. It works fine with 2GB SD cards but copy/paste to my 32GB card and its no good. Its not a megaloader fault, I just wanted to use a large SD card (for SEGA CD stuff). Yeah, looks like I'll move NeoGeoCD to the disc after all.

[megalomaniac]

created a quick and simple banner..
NTSC header data with unique gameID data also....not sure how much it really matters to have a PAL and JNP banner....

[emu_kidid]

nice

Pretty sharp capture or Dolphin?

[megalomaniac]

nice

Pretty sharp capture or Dolphin?

both

[diosoth]

I just attempted to use the ISO burned to disc and my Gamecube wouldn't read it. I have the same problems with Swiss. I can burn ISP rips of commercial games just fine but these homebrew ones aren't working for me.