ZC on the Wii

[Joe_Cracker]

I was wondering about something. Would it be possible to make a program that could be uploaded onto the Wii via SD card that would allow you to play .qst's on your Nintendo Wii.

It wouldn't be a bad idea, as long as it works with the Wii Remote, classic controller and Gamecube controller then you would have something good.

[Revfan9]

Tis a good idea to read the stickied topics, as you would already know that topics like this are basically auto-deleted. The ZC development team currently has no interests in porting ZC to a non-PC platform such as the PSP or the Nintendo Wii. If you're an experienced programmer and the task is something that you yourself are willing to undertake, you'll have to speak with DarkNation. Otherwise, just leave the topic alone. It gets annoying :/

[Joe_Cracker]

Yeah, maybe an outside developer would be intrested in getting .qst files playable on the Wii or PSP or any other console.

[Pielord]

Well, you would need to get ZC downloaded onto the Wii which would mean getting it into a format which the Wii would be able to run and getting the Wii to recognize it as a game it can run. That would mean someone would need to know how a Wii works and how to make games for it to make a Wii version of ZC. It might be possible to make a website with ZC built into and make it so that when you run it, it reads data from your SD card or make a program that runs ZC from your SD card but I don't know anything about websites. I don't know about the PSP, for I don't have one. Also, I think it's a bad idea to post on threads that have been for months.

EDIT: I read your post at general entertainment so by the looks of it, if we get Nintendo to host a Wii ZC on WiiWare and someone who will make it we could be seeing ZC on the Wii. But, I don't want to pay just to play ZC on my Wii if I can play for free on my PC.

[erm2003]

This topic has come up numerous times so people who have been here a while will tell you a quick one-word answer: no.

I remember some of the posts Dark Nation has made in the past. There was a ZC port being worked on at one time, but unfortunately ZC is a bit of a memory hog, and it's not easy to scale that down thus the port idea has been rather difficult to do.

Until any devs have time to work on this, which I am guessing won't be until well after 2.5 is completed (no time table here, but progress is being made), you shouldn't even worry about a possibility.

[bobrocks95]

I suppose it may be possible on the Wii if a homebrew developer ported it, though it still probably wouldn't work well on the Wii due to it being previously stated that it's a memory hog.

[Joe_Cracker]

Yeah your right, the wii isn't big on storage save data like the 360 and the PS3. It's internal harddrive is only 512mbits when like the others are like 20gbits or higher.

I've read that most homebrew on wii runs directly off the SD card without modding, so if some homebrew software was to come along it would have to do just that.

[bobrocks95]

The majority of homebrew software runs directly from the SD Card. But after looking at the Wii system specs, specifically its ~90MB of RAM, I don't think it would be possible to have ZC on it.

[Pineconn]

It will never happen. (http://www.armageddongames.net/zeldaclassic/faq.php?q=27) Thank you.

I mean, it's hard enough to get ZC stable on the computer... ;)

[bluedeath]

I dont even know why people suggests these things if it would be alot easier to just get it on your pc.

[Joe_Cracker]

That's because they don't want to be limited to their pc's and mac. Plus ZC can be ran on a mac thanks to Mac's Paralell Desktop where you can run multiple operating systems where you can even go as far back to Windows 95 all the way to Windows Vista.

[*b*]

Porting ZC to the Wii, however awesome that would be (Yeah, I'll admit it), would require the source code to be given out, which is a massive no-no. ZC is closed source, so unless DN or one of the current developers decided to port it, or recruit someone into the development team, it's not happening

[MasterSwordUltima]

Alright guys, I'll do it. Have it done in two minutes.

[King Aquamentus]

please check the FAQS on www.zeldaclassic.com , our (semi) parent website. thank you.

[cbailey78]

You're just gonna have to dream about it. It's the only light at the end of the tunnel. You know lucid dream? That means you are consciously dreaming and you can have all the possibilities.

[Dell297]

Too bad this will never happen, very good idea in my opinion.

[###]

Don't they already have ZC (origional NES version) on the Wii for 5 WiiPts? Well, doesn't that mean that it would have enough RAM? Also, can the internet channel (also 5 WiiPts) access zeldaclassic.com? (Im not sure, cause i dont have it yet b/c i ran out of WiiPts):confused:

Well, I could be wrong (likely story) but Wii games (at least most of them) are programmed in C or C++, right? Just like ZC and ZQ here?:shakeno: Well... Take into account the Classic controller (forget the other two) and there you have it. Just add a virtual keyboard for typing your name at the beginning and default the keys to whatever the classic controler uses, and make it available on the WiiShop Channel. Right?

I'd do it, but, *ahem,* my programming skills need some improvement and my scedule needs a lot of improvement before I could consider talking to DN about it...
But, I hope it works out...;)

~###

[bobrocks95]

Don't they already have ZC (origional NES version) on the Wii for 5 WiiPts? Well, doesn't that mean that it would have enough RAM? Also, can the internet channel (also 5 WiiPts) access zeldaclassic.com? (Im not sure, cause i dont have it yet b/c i ran out of WiiPts):confused:

Well, I could be wrong (likely story) but Wii games (at least most of them) are programmed in C or C++, right? Just like ZC and ZQ here?:shakeno: Well... Take into account the Classic controller (forget the other two) and there you have it. Just add a virtual keyboard for typing your name at the beginning and default the keys to whatever the classic controler uses, and make it available on the WiiShop Channel. Right?

I'd do it, but, *ahem,* my programming skills need some improvement and my scedule needs a lot of improvement before I could consider talking to DN about it...
But, I hope it works out...;)

~###

The Wii does NOT have enough RAM, because ZC is reverse engineered, which I'm fairly sure is the main thing keeping it legal. Reverse engineering something usually turns out with it having much, much, less optimized code, thus with it taking up much more RAM and processing power. Thus, no ZC on the Wii.

[DarkFlameWolf]

yes, its like China and all its gadgets reverse engineer and suddenly its legal, its as likely as getting ZC on the Wii as ZC 2.5 ever being finished and release or Duke Nukem Forever being released. Its just not going to happen.

[Revfan9]

The Wii does NOT have enough RAM, because ZC is reverse engineered, which I'm fairly sure is the main thing keeping it legal. Reverse engineering something usually turns out with it having much, much, less optimized code, thus with it taking up much more RAM and processing power. Thus, no ZC on the Wii.

Reverse engineering is legal because you can't copyright or patent the function of something, you can only copyright how it works. "Clean Room" reverse engineering is perfectly legal because it provides similar function to another device or piece of software, without stepping on any copyrights by copying how it actually performs its job. ZC's code is very different from how the original Zelda works, but in the end it provides similar function.

ZC isn't technically legal because it uses names, characters, and levels that are copyrighted by Nintendo. If Nintendo wanted to come and shut us down, they could do it easily. They won't, however, since it would take more money to pay the legal force to sift through all the paperwork than they could possibly profit from rubbing us out.

ZC takes up much more RAM than the original game since the original game is a freaking NES title. The original game was programmed to be able to allow the levels, enemies, and areas that are in the game to function properly, and that's it. Ever tried to edit the original Zelda with ROM hacking software? It's inflexible as hell. ZC has to modularize everything to make sure that every software call is always available, to give quest makers the freedom to do whatever they want. Not to mention that ZC has about 1000 times as many features that Zelda.nes does, and that ZC was coded using Allegro which isn't quite the most friendly or efficient library.

It's increased processing requirements has nothing to do with the fact that it's reverse engineered. It takes up more processing because it has more features. Reverse engineering/cloning itself has almost no actual effect on the quality of the end software. So long as the programmers know what they're doing, it won't have significant impact. In many cases, the resulting cloned software is actually much more efficient than the original. (ReactOS, anyone? :3)

We can't have ZC on the Wii right now because of the Allegro library and because of a lack of developer initiative, as well as ZC being closed source software. The Allegro library pretty much can't be ported to other processor architectures without a complete rewrite. I guess you could come up with some freaky emulation solution, but that would in the end just be more trouble than its worth.

[bobrocks95]

Reverse engineering is legal because you can't copyright or patent the function of something, you can only copyright how it works. "Clean Room" reverse engineering is perfectly legal because it provides similar function to another device or piece of software, without stepping on any copyrights by copying how it actually performs its job. ZC's code is very different from how the original Zelda works, but in the end it provides similar function.

ZC isn't technically legal because it uses names, characters, and levels that are copyrighted by Nintendo. If Nintendo wanted to come and shut us down, they could do it easily. They won't, however, since it would take more money to pay the legal force to sift through all the paperwork than they could possibly profit from rubbing us out.

ZC takes up much more RAM than the original game since the original game is a freaking NES title. The original game was programmed to be able to allow the levels, enemies, and areas that are in the game to function properly, and that's it. Ever tried to edit the original Zelda with ROM hacking software? It's inflexible as hell. ZC has to modularize everything to make sure that every software call is always available, to give quest makers the freedom to do whatever they want. Not to mention that ZC has about 1000 times as many features that Zelda.nes does, and that ZC was coded using Allegro which isn't quite the most friendly or efficient library.

It's increased processing requirements has nothing to do with the fact that it's reverse engineered. It takes up more processing because it has more features. Reverse engineering/cloning itself has almost no actual effect on the quality of the end software. So long as the programmers know what they're doing, it won't have significant impact. In many cases, the resulting cloned software is actually much more efficient than the original. (ReactOS, anyone? :3)

We can't have ZC on the Wii right now because of the Allegro library and because of a lack of developer initiative, as well as ZC being closed source software. The Allegro library pretty much can't be ported to other processor architectures without a complete rewrite. I guess you could come up with some freaky emulation solution, but that would in the end just be more trouble than its worth.

Well, I was around half right or so.

[Revfan9]

Actually you were wrong on all accounts, except maybe the Wii not having enough RAM for ZC (which I'm honestly not sure if that's entirely true, and even if it is a dedicated Wii version could surely have some features removed or extra optimizations made to reduce footprint).

[bobrocks95]

Way to put a guy down. I see how some people aren't very fond of you.

[Joe_Cracker]

Alright guys, I'll do it. Have it done in two minutes.

It's been longer then two minutes, so what do we have so far?

Maybe this Zelda Classic being ported to Wii, would be much easier if we had someone with experience in making homebrew for the gamecube and wii. If we really want this then maybe we should call on one of the experts from teksheen.com

[Daputti]

Way to put a guy down. I see how some people aren't very fond of you.

Ehheh. Winner right here.

Back to topic. I would see this quite possible. The Wii has the Broadway
processor of 729Mhz, and the Hollywood GPU of 243Mhz, 88MB of RAM.
When we cut out ZQuest, and optimize a bit, take out some features,
I could see this happening. Through homebrew, of course. But nobody
will ever make it, so it's a big no-no for ZC Wii.

[DarkFlameWolf]

Basically, you'd have to start from scratch to make it run smooth on the Wii. Furthermore, if you'd want to have custom quests on the wii utilizing this 'homebrew ZC.' You'd have to program this version to accomodate all the features each of the quests you're porting over are using. Its just too many variables and nobody really has time as it is to do that type of workload. I mean, look at ZC 2.5, its like Duke Nukem Forever at this point. So why push the devs to start a new project to get ZC on the Wii? Its pointless.

[MasterSwordUltima]

It's been longer then two minutes, so what do we have so far?

Maybe this Zelda Classic being ported to Wii, would be much easier if we had someone with experience in making homebrew for the gamecube and wii. If we really want this then maybe we should call on one of the experts from teksheen.com

Its been done. Its just that I need to raise the thousands of dollars to pay the various ratings boards, not to mention the big N itself, in order to make it available on the Shop Channel like you guys wanted. I'm going for a price range of 1337 WiiPoints. Oh, it'll also be in the Playstation Store and XBL Arcade for much more, because this is a nintendo game and I have to pay nintendo and sony and microsoft and...I'm going to stop before I turn into zelda64gld.

[Joe_Cracker]

Its been done. Its just that I need to raise the thousands of dollars to pay the various ratings boards, not to mention the big N itself, in order to make it available on the Shop Channel like you guys wanted. I'm going for a price range of 1337 WiiPoints. Oh, it'll also be in the Playstation Store and XBL Arcade for much more, because this is a nintendo game and I have to pay nintendo and sony and microsoft and...I'm going to stop before I turn into zelda64gld.

Why don't you just give it away as a .wad Zelda Classic is free on the PC, why not let Zelda Classic on the Wii be free as well?

You just PM a download link to me, I know the right guy to distrubute it.