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ArsTechnica: Hackers unlock NES Classic, upload new games via USB cable

P

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
JP said:
It is, I'm going to try and explain the full process of updating this or installing it for the first time. Bear in mind, I'm in no way an expert about this stuff so others who know more may well correct me

The process is correct though.

I hope this helps somebody, I'm completely new to this stuff and I was confused as hell when I started an I still am about some things. ��

----------

INSTALLING HAKCHI 2.13 ON YOUR PC
Hakch is is the programme that allows us to "hack" the NES Mini.

The first thing we need to do is to install hakchi or to update the version that you have installed already, if it's an older version. Download hakchi2.zip and move to the downloaded hakchi2 folder over to wherever your current hakchi2 folder is, it will ask you if you want to copy over files with the same name that are in the earlier folder. When you do that it won't copy over things like your settings, games and original kernel dump. They'll all still be exactly where they were before.

Done, you've installed hakchi 2.13 on your PC.

----------

PREPARING RETROARCH ON YOUR PC
The "hacking" that we're doing is running additional emulators on the NES Mini, these different emulators are all components of a larger programme called RetroArch. RetroArch allows us to change settings in the installed emulators, to change the emulator that we use for a specific consoles, etc. Download retroarch-clover-master using the green "Clone or Download" button on the right hand side of the screen.

We now need to add the emulator files to wherever you've installed hakchi on your PC, the emulators in this case are known as modules. These modules include the different emulators themselves, the RetroArch program which controls these emulators and any other hacks that we may want to add.*

First of all, you need to add these modules to the hakchi program, you do this by going into the retroarch-clover-master folder that you've just downloaded and dragging the .hmod folders or files over to wherever you just installed hakchi and drop them into the user_mods folder within the main hakchi2 folder. Again, it may tell you that you've already got one in there with the same name that you've copying over.

Inside the retroarch-clover-master folder that you downloaded, there are three .hmod folders as soon as you go into it. The first one, retroarch.hmod MUST be installed as it enables all the other hacks to work, move retroarch.hmod across to the user_mods folder in hakchi2. The other two, bios_template.hmod and libretro_core_template.hmod are templates which are there to assist people who are custom adding their own bios and librettos to hakchi, I don't anything about doing that but you don't have to copy them across if you're not going to use them to do that.

Inside the retroarch-clover-master folder that you were just dragging stuff from there's another folder called core_modules and that's where the majority of the .hmod folders are that you need to copy across to the user_mods folder are. Each one is a different hack and you may again get a message telling you that you're copying something that has the same name as a something that is already inside the user_mods folder.

Done, you've now installed the emulators into Hackchi 2.13 on your PC.

*I've noticed this time that modules aren't always emulators, they've actually included a new XMB styled theme which is also a module.

----------

INSTALLING THE EMULATORS ON YOUR NES MINI
Now, we need to install the emulators from your PC onto your NES Mini

Open the hakchi.exe program that you installed earlier. Remember that the emulators in hakchi are known as modules, so in hakchi select the Modules heading and you'll see two options, Install Extra Modules and Uninstall Extra Modules. I don't know how accurate this is but some people have suggested that if you're adding new modules that it's always best to uninstall the modules that you already have installed. Accurate or not, I always do it though.

Instaling and uninstalling uses the same process, you select either Install Extra Modules and Uninstall Extra Modules which will bring up a list of all the different modules that you've put in your hakchi folder earlier.

Remember, you MUST install the retroarch module for anything else to work, all the others are optional. Select any module and it will show notes for that particular module explaining what it does. Other modules in there will be music_hack which allows you to disable the menu music or change it to whatever music that you want and any template modules that you chose to pace in the core_modules folder earlier.

You don't need the template modules on your NES Mini so don't select them. Once you've selected al the modules that you want to install or uninstall, select the "OK" button at the bottom of the widow and follow any instructions that it gives you.

You've now installed RetroArch and the modules/emulators on your NES Mini.

----------

Install your games as normal, keeping an eye on the new green bar at the base of the window which shows you how much space you still have remaining.
Click to expand...

I tried this exactly (twice actually) and still can't get any games but NES to show up.
 
P

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
radcliff said:
Did you add and install the specific cores for the systems that don't show up (i.e. adding a snes core for snes games or a genesis core for genesis games)?
Click to expand...

I added the proper modules in the "install extra modules" page. It goes through the whole process, and then none of those games show up--only NES. The specific cores are listed in the "cores" folder.
 
R

radcliff

Member
Where is the original kernel stored? Is it in the dump file? I'm thinking of starting from scratch. How do I "flash the original kernel?"
 
P

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
Now I finally got others to show up, but get a C8 error every time I try to run.
 
L

Lakerchick4life

Member
Ok so two issues..I see a few hours ago another module update was released

https://github.com/pcm720/retroarch-clover/releases/tag/0.4-extra5

so not sure if I just need to take all the files, overwrite them into my user_mods folder and go to modules/uninstall and uninstall the old ones that I have and install the new ones or do I gotta do the whole kernel/uninstall thing again, delete the old modules from my user_mods folder, and put in these updated ones and check them off again
Now as far as the new Hakchi update is concerned..I dont want to start from scratch since I worked real hard to put all the games in there, etc..so how can I update my Hakchi without losing everything..just copying and overwriting the hakchi folder to my PC?
 
B

Ben Morales

Member
Spukc said:
for anyone that has no clue what to do sub this guys channel.
all his tut videos are super easy and well explained.

i think he is a teacher irl
Click to expand...

Wow he is really easy to follow. His video on how to add folders is fantastic. I may try to do that now. At first I didn't know where to even start.
 
DonMigs85

DonMigs85

Member
Well guys, I tried to flash with 2.13 this time and it got stuck saying too many ROMs all at once and to wait for the power led to go off and click OK. 10 minutes later, the light is still on...
 
L

Lakerchick4life

Member
DonMigs85 said:
Well guys, I tried to flash with 2.13 this time and it got stuck saying too many ROMs all at once and to wait for the power led to go off and click OK. 10 minutes later, the light is still on...
Click to expand...

Yeah that happened to me before..turns out that I had to remove a game..and I also removed a N64 cover art that might have caused it to not power off
 
O

ocean

Banned
I lost my original "clean" dump :(

Can anybody PM me a google drive link to theirs or something? It's fun having Hakchi2 and stuff but no backup makes me nervous if I need to go back :/
 
R

radcliff

Member
OK, so I decided to start this whole process over from scratch. To do this, I have to flash the original kernal, correct? The problem is that I have been creating multiple folders for each new hakchi release. So I would first need to copy the oldest kernal image I have and paste it into the dump folder of my hakchi version 12 folder and delete the more recent kernal image that is already there?
 
R

runnin_blue

Banned
JP said:
INSTALLING HAKCHI 2.13 ON YOUR PC
Hakch is is the programme that allows us to "hack" the NES Mini.

The first thing we need to do is to install hakchi or to update the version that you have installed already, if it's an older version. Download hakchi2.zip and move to the downloaded hakchi2 folder over to wherever your current hakchi2 folder is, it will ask you if you want to copy over files with the same name that are in the earlier folder. When you do that it won't copy over things like your settings, games and original kernel dump. They'll all still be exactly where they were before.

Done, you've installed hakchi 2.13 on your PC.
Click to expand...
I haven't attempted to update hakchi yet. Is this still the way to update hakchi correctly?


Just wondering because of this:

baconcow said:
Passing on a note: pcm720 (working on the retroarch module with ClusterM) suggests using these instructions as the ones in this post are apparently incorrect.
Click to expand...
 
DonMigs85

DonMigs85

Member
Lakerchick4life said:
Yeah that happened to me before..turns out that I had to remove a game..and I also removed a N64 cover art that might have caused it to not power off
Click to expand...
Removed Waku Waku 7 since it was the largest file, have 122 games in total now. Just a couple Genesis games and 6 SNES games. Still the same error and the NES doesn't shut off.
 
B

Ben Morales

Member
DonMigs85 said:
Removed Waku Waku 7 since it was the largest file, have 122 games in total now. Just a couple Genesis games and 6 SNES games. Still the same error and the NES doesn't shut off.
Click to expand...

You may have to flash the original kernel first before you try again. Something similar happened to me before and I had to start over from scratch.
 
L

Lakerchick4life

Member
DonMigs85 said:
Removed Waku Waku 7 since it was the largest file, have 122 games in total now. Just a couple Genesis games and 6 SNES games. Still the same error and the NES doesn't shut off.
Click to expand...

Others are having the same problem makes me think there is something funky going on with this particular release I wont be touching it til its confirmed working
 
L

Lakerchick4life

Member
Ben Morales said:
Yes, on an earlier release something got borked so I uninstalled the custom kernel and then flashed the original kernel so I could use the NES again.
Click to expand...

Did you try that on the latest Hakchi 2.13b if it works I will try that tomorrow..they released some updated modules so I gotta delete the old ones that I Have anyway so I dont mind uninstalling the kernel and doing it again just want to be sure I dont get that red light power issue
 
R

runnin_blue

Banned
Does anyone know, in this scenario:

- already added extra nes roms
- want to add snes

Do i have to check the existing added nes roms everytime i synce new games (like snes or more nes)?
 
B

Ben Morales

Member
Lakerchick4life said:
Did you try that on the latest Hakchi 2.13b if it works I will try that tomorrow..they released some updated modules so I gotta delete the old ones that I Have anyway so I dont mind uninstalling the kernel and doing it again just want to be sure I dont get that red light power issue
Click to expand...

From the minimal research I did, it seems like using the compression option within Hakchi is causing issues. I haven't synced yet, but I'm going to only use uncompressed roms and make sure that option isn't checked and see if everything works. Maybe the previous poster I quoted could check to see if he had compression turned on as well?
 
B

Ben Morales

Member
Flashing complete! I was previously on 2.12. I downloaded hakchi 2.13c. I started off by installing the modules I wanted. Then I unchecked the option for compression under settings. After that, I set up my folders and synced my games. No power light bugs.

Everything seems to be working wonderfully. About to play some Air Zonk right now. 😎
 
R

runnin_blue

Banned
Ben Morales said:
Flashing complete! I was previously on 2.12. I downloaded hakchi 2.13c. I started off by installing the modules I wanted. Then I unchecked the option for compression under settings. After that, I set up my folders and synced my games. No power light bugs.

Everything seems to be working wonderfully. About to play some Air Zonk right now. 😎
Click to expand...
Thanks man. I was having the power led problem myself. I'll try your method when I have time tomorrow.
 
DonMigs85

DonMigs85

Member
Ben Morales said:
Flashing complete! I was previously on 2.12. I downloaded hakchi 2.13c. I started off by installing the modules I wanted. Then I unchecked the option for compression under settings. After that, I set up my folders and synced my games. No power light bugs.

Everything seems to be working wonderfully. About to play some Air Zonk right now. 😎
Click to expand...
Nice, will give this a shot. So this is a new version of 2.13?
 
B

Ben Morales

Member
Yeah looks like it's a new build of 2.13. Last time I looked it was at 2.13b.

Also, if you make custom folders, make sure you don't have too many games in each one. Like, if you have a bunch of games in one folder, click on one of the folder sorting buttons so that it splits the files up alphabetically so you don't get a c8 error when trying to access them.
 
DonMigs85

DonMigs85

Member
Got it working finally, not sure if it was due to using 2.13c or completely eliminating all zip/7z files. I probably won't flash again until they make huge strides.
 
DonMigs85

DonMigs85

Member
Oh wait, now there's a new problem - some games like Super Mario Kart, Sonic 2 and Mario World work fine, but others like the DKC series don't start and just return to the menu. Maybe it's due to the command line argument, I unchecked the compress option after adding a few games.
 
J

JP

Member
There's now a hot fix which is supposed to take care of the issues that that a few people have been having, it's now v2.13d. Not everybody is having the issues and it takes time for some people to get them so I suppose it's worth updating even if you're not having any issues.

EDIT:
DonMigs85 said:
Oh wait, now there's a new problem - some games like Super Mario Kart, Sonic 2 and Mario World work fine, but others like the DKC series don't start and just return to the menu. Maybe it's due to the command line argument, I unchecked the compress option after adding a few games.
Click to expand...
Or. maybe it's not worth updating at the moment. Ah, the wonders of DIY emulation software.
 
R

radcliff

Member
So how does adding arcade games work? I got Donkey Kong to work, but not Street Fighter II Turbo even though I used the same method.
 
hikarutilmitt

hikarutilmitt

Member
I did this last night on my fresh system and all was well. Went to add some more games to it this morning,updated to 2.13e and now I get audio lag on the whole thing.

The only things I can think of that changed are the version number and I added the fba cores to it. Anyone else use this e revision and get lag? It's also just the audio.

EDIT: found the issue. It was, somehow my TV! I discovered that there's a brief audio sync between the bedroom TV and the sound bar I have in there if using a source that doesn't handshake with the TV a certain way. Even after doing a full restore and FR on the thing it still did it. I set the inputs to my satellite box for a moment to check, everything was good, then went back to the NCE input and suddenly i was synced properly again.
 
R

radcliff

Member
gingerbeardman said:
ROM needs to be the correct version the emulator it's looking for.
Click to expand...

What does this mean? They are both mame roms and I have the mame cores installed. I even changed "zip" in the command line to "mame2003." It worked for Donkey Kong, but not for Street Fighter II Turbo

So what am I doing wrong for Street Fighter II Turbo? I:

- Downloaded the rom
- Added to hakchi
- Installed the 2 fba modules
- changed the command line from "bin/zip" to "bin/fba

The game won't launch. I did the exact same for Donkey Kong except I used "bin/mame2003" and it worked.
 
R

runnin_blue

Banned
radcliff said:
What does this mean? They are both mame roms and I have the mame cores installed. I even changed "zip" in the command line to "mame2003." It worked for Donkey Kong, but not for Street Fighter II Turbo

So what am I doing wrong for Street Fighter II Turbo? I:

- Downloaded the rom
- Added to hakchi
- Installed the 2 fba modules
- changed the command line from "bin/zip" to "bin/fba

The game won't launch. I did the exact same for Donkey Kong except I used "bin/mame2003" and it worked.
Click to expand...
You're probably missing the parent rom. Can't really get into it on GAF, just Google it to find out more.
 
L

Lakerchick4life

Member
Ben Morales said:
Yeah looks like it's a new build of 2.13. Last time I looked it was at 2.13b.

Also, if you make custom folders, make sure you don't have too many games in each one. Like, if you have a bunch of games in one folder, click on one of the folder sorting buttons so that it splits the files up alphabetically so you don't get a c8 error when trying to access them.
Click to expand...

I have a question..I just downloaded the new Hakchi..I always unzip my games before I put them on my PC so do I still have to have "Compressed" option unchecked or do I just leave that alone..I also have 30 games in each custom folder I assume that is OK
 
DonMigs85

DonMigs85

Member
I've also been leaving folder creation on automatic, if I wanna make custom folders do I arrange games from within the NES CE menu?
 
C

Chairhome

Member
giving the newest version a try now. Excited!
For PSX, what core are people using? I guess not very many games run well on it right now though, correct?

EDIT:
NM. Saw its PSX rearmed. And doesn't look like many PSX games run well at all on it...
 
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