WiiWare Tutorial

Dan Chang
Senior Software Engineer
Software Development Support Group
 Roadmap
• How to build a WiiWare game
• How to incorporate the Users Manual
• Summary
 Requirements
• Revolution Development Environment
– NDEV, Firmware 17.2.0 or 21.2.2, RVL SDK
2.4 patch 2+, RSO Library (2006/12/19),
CodeWarrior RVL v3.0 Alpha 5, Cygwin bash,
make, OpenSSL v0.98b-1 (older version;
get it from WarioWorld)
• NADK v1.5 Nmenu patch + common patch
• VCMV v1.8 patch 5
• NAND Application Guidelines & Lotcheck
documents
 NADK
• NAND application development kit
• Usual game on NDEV: data files stored in
DvdRoot folder
• NAND applications: collect into .wad file
• Use CNT API to access files in .wad
• NAND apps cannot access optical drive
 Steps
• 1. Create the application
• 2. Convert to a NAND application
• 3. Import into NAND
• 4. Execute NAND application
 1. Create the Application
• Place data in special location
• Write code to access data using CNT API
• Build and test .ELF
 Data Files
• Pick N sequentially starting from 2
– VCMV demo uses 2 through 5
• We'll use N = 6 for this demo
• Create a folder contentN in DvdRoot
• Place all data files in a contentN folder in
DvdRoot
 CNT API
• CNT API modeled on DVD API
• Code Changes Overview
– Write code using CNTxxxx API calls
– Or change existing DVDxxxx calls to CNTxxxx
• Can switch between DVD or NAND
versions of CNT API through build process
– No need to change code or #ifdef code
 Initialize
#include <revolution/cnt.h>
#define TARGET_CONTENT 6

s32 rv; CNTHandle Cnt;

CNTInit();
rv = CNTInitHandle(TARGET_CONTENT,
&Cnt,
&Allocator1);
 Open File

CNTFileInfo fileInfo;

rv = CNTOpen(&Cnt, fileName,
&fileInfo);
 Read File
fileSize = CNTGetLength(&fileInfo);

buf = (u8*)MEMAllocFromAllocator(
&Allocator1,
OSRoundUp32B(fileSize));

rv = CNTRead(&fileInfo, (void*)buf,
(u32)OSRoundUp32B(fileSize), 0);

CNTClose(&fileInfo);
 Build and Test .elf
$ make dvdrun

• Internally, performs these steps:

$ make
$ ndrun bin/RVL/cntdemoD.elf
 2. Convert to NAND app
$ make nandrun

• This actually
– Builds the .wad file
– Runs N Menu
– Imports the .wad file
– Runs the .wad file
 Making the .wad
• Internally, performs these steps:
• darchD.exe
– Packs files in contentN folder into .arc file
• makedol.exe
– Converts .elf file into a Revolution executable
format call .dol
• makeWad.exe
– Converts the .dol file + .arc file into a .wad file
– Use -m switch to add a banner
 3. Import into NAND
• Use N Menu to import, delete or run
NAND apps
– Text version of System Menu's Wii Channels
 N Menu
• Three interactive modes
– Import Mode
• Import .wad from viewer folder in DvdRoot
– Title List Mode
• View .wad files in NAND
• Select .wad file to execute
– SD Browser Mode
• Import .wad from SD Card
 Import
• If N Menu isn't in Import Mode, press B
Button repeatedly until screen says
"Import List"
• Highlight .wad file and press A Button to
Import
 4. Execute NAND app
• If N Menu isn't in Title List Mode, press B
Button repeatedly until screen says
"Title List"
• Highlight title and press A Button to launch
 Setting Game Information
• setncountrycode [ jp | us | eu ]
– Specifies the region encoding
• setnparentalcontrol ESRB6
– Sets E for Everyone (see manual for all)
– Also CERO, USK, PEGI, OFLC
• Issue commands before makeWad.exe
• Use makeWad.exe to set game code
 Roadmap
• How to build a WiiWare game
• How to incorporate the Users Manual
• Summary
 Operations Manual
• No printed manuals!
• On-line manual accessed via Home Button
Menu
• Author manuals in HTML using provided
templates
• Archive all pages using darchD.exe
• Use Virtual Console Manual Viewer
(VCMV) package to display manual
 VCMV
• Manual viewer based upon Opera browser
• Memory footprint while running
– 7 MB of MEM1 for component browser RSO
– ~28 MB of MEM2 during usage (component
browser heap, memory resident fonts,
rendering buffers & texture buffers, browser
work memory, HBM resources, manual
contents (up to ~1.5 MB)
• Memory released when browser not in use
Custom Home Button Menu
 NAND Memory Limits
• 40 MB limit for the WiiWare game
• 16 MB limit for the save data
 Roadmap
• How to build a WiiWare game
• How to incorporate the Users Manual
• Summary
 Summary
• You can start today!
• Use CNT API instead of DVD API to work
with files
• Write manual using HTML
• Incorporate manual using VCMV
• Limit of 40 MB code + data size
 Questions?

Ask me during the