Loading game from folder?

[nintendo_nerd]

So, I extracted my copy of Super Smash Bros Brawl into the RSBE01 folder as I do a lot of Brawl hacking (mostly character imports) and somebody inquired of me as to the best way of running said character mods in Dolphin. I told him that extracting the ISO, replacing the files, then recompiling the ISO image was the best way. Oddly enough, a fellow forum member (well, so far two people) told me Dolphin can run the extract ISO from the RSBE01 (or whatever ISO you extracted) folder itself and there is no need to make an ISO image every time you replace the files in Brawl. Is this true? If so, how do yo go about running it from the folder? I tried many times, told Dolphin where to find the folder, but I couldn't for the life of me figure the stupid thing out, maybe at one point, but as far as I can see, I don't know of any means of running directly from the extracted ISO data.


Any suggestions?

Edit: Someone told me you chose the extracted folder under paths/DVD Root, but then what?

[neobrain]

I guess you'll just have to press "play" then while not having selected any game in your game list.

[nintendo_nerd]

(10-14-2013, 12:58 AM)neobrain Wrote: I guess you'll just have to press "play" then while not having selected any game in your game list.

Huh. I did an experiment by deleting the DVD root path and the "play" icon still loaded SSBB. Maybe I could just direct Dolphin to load an empty directory without ISO images and then use the path?


Edit: Tried it, still loads the last played ISO, even if I tell it not to browse for compiled ISO images. I can't tell it to load SSBB even after directing the DVD root, pressing play is loading the last one loaded, Mario Kart Wii. Do I need the apploader file?

Edit: Nope, the bloody thing does not work, it keeps loading the last played ISO

Edit 3: Tried deleting the dolphin config for the emulator itself, didn't help either.

[neobrain]

Hmmm different idea: Set the dvd root path and then open the .dol or .elf file of the game via Dolphin?

[nintendo_nerd]

(10-14-2013, 01:20 AM)neobrain Wrote: Hmmm different idea: Set the dvd root path and then open the .dol or .elf file of the game via Dolphin?

There's a .dol/.elf file for the game? How do I extract it? Maybe that's why it's not working. How do I get the apploader to run? (if that's what I need).

Edit: Okay, I loaded the main.dol

It tells me "please insert the Super Smash Bros Brawl Discs"

WTF? Didn't do a damn thing.


Urrrgh! It keeps telling me to insert the SSBB disc! Dammit!!!

[neobrain]

Mhm from the code it looked as if that should've worked.. I'm out of ideas then :/

[nintendo_nerd]

(10-14-2013, 01:34 AM)neobrain Wrote: Mhm from the code it looked as if that should've worked.. I'm out of ideas then :/

Dammit! I feel bad for wasting your time

Turns out there's an unresolved issues on Google Code

https://code.google.com/p/dolphin-emu/issues/detail?id=6262

[neobrain]

It's fine :p

[nintendo_nerd]

(10-14-2013, 01:36 AM)neobrain Wrote: It's fine :p

Well, okay, but why the crap doesn't this sodding thing work? There has got to be a way to swap and replace files without having to do recompile the image every time I want to play a new hack, etc. This should have worked. Is it because the extracted folder with all the hacks exceeds the game's normal size? Maybe I can re-extract the boot.dol or apploader?

How do I get a new boot.elf?

Edit: This is never gonna work, but there has got to be a way

[nintendo_nerd]

Apparently, the issue was never resolved

https://code.google.com/p/dolphin-emu/issues/detail?can=2&start=0&num=100&q=&colspec=ID%20Type%20Status%20Priority%20Milestone%20Owner%20Summary&groupby=&sort=&id=6262

Here is the fix.
Brawl checks the first 8 bytes of memory for the proper gameID. This may also be used to determine what filename suffix is used for loaded files, so its very imporant to have this correct.

In addition to checking the 4 byte game ID, the next 4 bytes need to be correct as well. In brawl, the bytes have to be 30310001, while if you load the Brawl .dol, they end up as 30310000.

If you launch the Brawl .dol, and change the first 8 bytes to
5253424530310001
It will not give you the "please insert disc" error.
-----------------------
For now, I am using a patched .dol that doesn't have this check to get around the issue, I am not sure the best way to fix this problem

So, pretty much need a hex editor and need to find out where to change this