Trading

[Death Eye]

Rather than continue to use the Rare Borg topic for my trading-related updates, I decided to make a topic for it.
But it's a bit late for it to really matter at this point, since I've pretty much gotten everything figured out (I think).
I should be able to utilize an exploit in either Super Smash Bros. Brawl or Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga to run a homebrew application to copy my Gotcha Force save file to an SD card that I can insert into my laptop's SD card slot (that I believe exists and functions properly) and copy it to my computer, but I have yet to try it because I don't know exactly how to do it and doing it will require loss of either my save data in Lego Star Wars or my custom stages in SSBB, unless I can transfer either of them to the SD card before doing it.
More on that when there is more on that to mention.

Unfortunately for the ability of some of us to trade, it seems that transferring files to and from a computer can only be done safely and efficiently by those among us with a Wii, willingness to run homebrew applications on the Wii, (possibly) a third-party memory card, and either Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Wheelie Breakers, Lego Batman: The Videogame, SSBB, or Lego Star Wars. Unless there is GameCube homebrew that serves the same purpose or a reliable USB memory adapter (which I don't believe exists).
And there is also a possibility that it won't work at all because of the copy protection on the file.
Again, more on that later.

[Deleted]

best of luck to you, be sure to tell us how its done once you've figured it out!

[Deleted]

Since I already have the Homebrew Channel on my Wii (SSBB version), I'd love to hear if you can figure out a way to be able to make such a transfer a possibility.

[Death Eye]

I have successfully backed up my Gotcha Force save to my computer!!!!!!!!!! ;D
(Haven't confirmed if trading can be done yet, because I only have 1 memory card I can do this with... I'll download a save from GameFAQS later to determine this.)
EDIT: Trading functionality tests are inconclusive... Could be that the file there is corrupt (EDIT: Yes it is. Won't even work in Dolphin.).
I also just realized that save format differences between regions will be quite a hurdle... (EDIT: No it won't. There's software for this.)
But at least I figured out how to back files up! ;D

As for how it's done...
Necessary materials:
1) A Wii.
2) An SD card. But not just any SD Card; there's a specific compatibility list, but anything between 256MB and 2GB will probably work (I think). The bigger the better, because more space is always a good thing.
3) Some way to access SD cards on your computer.
4) One of the following games:

• Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
  
• Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Wheelie Breakers
  
• Lego Batman: The Videogame
  
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl
  
• Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga
  
• Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
  

But if your Wii hasn't been updated since June 2010 (System Menu 4.3) you shouldn't need any particular game, apparently.
5) A THIRD-PARTY memory card. First-party doesn't seem to work. Ever.
6) This homebrew application. There's a download link at that page.
7) This homebrew application to launch that other one. Again, there's a download link at that page.
8) A GameCube controller. But we all have them anyway, so it's almost not worth mentioning. Like the Wiimote you're also going to need for obvious reasons.
9) 7-ZIP on your computer, probably.

Procedure:
This is where it gets complicated. Depending on what game you're using to do this, your procedure will be completely different. But there are pages that explain all this to you. But pay attention to the region on those links; the methods there only work for specific regions, but there should be a way to do it with every game in every region in which the game was released

• Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
  
• Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Wheelie Breakers
  
• Lego Batman: The Videogame
  
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl
  
• Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga
  
• Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
  

If you happen to not have system menu 4.3 and don't have any of those games, clicking this link will provide another possible method.
Of course, that's just how to run the exploit. There's also the matter of setting up the SD card for the process, which I can explain.
1) Did you download that Front SD ELF Loader? Good, now do you have 7-Zip? Then extract the .tar file from the .tgz file, then extract the folder from the .tar file.
2) There should be a file in there called something along the lines of tp-hack-loader.elf. Copy that to the root of your SD card (meaning it's not in a folder in the SD card) and rename it "boot.elf" (without the quotes, of course).
3)You also downloaded the GCMM thing, right? Good, extract the "apps" folder from that RAR and put it on the SD Card.
That should be all you need to do with the actual homebrew applications themselves, the rest should be explained in those links in that second bulleted list.

And unless I forgot exactly how I did this (which is a remote possibility), that should pretty much be everything.

NOTE: I CAN NOT GUARANTEE THAT YOUR WII WON'T GET F***ED UP. I CAN, HOWEVER, GUARANTEE THAT MINE DIDN'T, SO YOURS PROBABLY WON'T.

That took a while to type!

Jul 11, 2011 4:46:29 GMT eviipaladin said:

Since I already have the Homebrew Channel on my Wii (SSBB version), I'd love to hear if you can figure out a way to be able to make such a transfer a possibility.

I don't know exactly how to do things from the Homebrew Channel, as I did this without it, but I recall reading something about some kind of Homebrew Browser or something that allowed you to download this stuff directly or something.
Alternatively, just putting the files in the "apps" folder for GCMM into the "apps" folder I think you have to have to use the Homebrew Channel should work, I think.
But, like I said, I don't know much about the Homebrew Channel.

Rather than add this to the beginning of the post, I'll put it at the end so it'll get more attention.
I'm going to need some assistance.
I only have one third-party memory card, so I can't take a save file from one card, put it on another card, and see what happens.
Since I can't do that, I can't confirm the possibility of trading because I can't determine if a file will work on a different memory card.
So if any of you happen to have two third-party memory cards and intend to do all this homebrew stuff anyway, could you, perhaps, attempt to backup your files and put them on the opposite third-party memory card, then see if you can trade between them?

[Death Eye]

To determine if anyone actually gives a s*** about all this, I've added a poll.
You probably know where this post is going.

[Stove]

it's an awful lot of stuff, but i give a crap.

In other words, i'll do it.

[Deleted]

mmm, yeah i would do it if i can actually be bothered.
also, i use macs, will it still work?

[Deleted]

I'm so definitely in. Unfortunately, I can't test the thing for two memory cards because I only have a single third-party one.

Also, Smash Stack was how I got Homebrew on my Wii... Or maybe it was the other way around... Either way, definitely remember it.

[Death Eye]

Jul 12, 2011 18:52:46 GMT @alberenza said:

mmm, yeah i would do it if i can actually be bothered.
also, i use macs, will it still work?

All you need the computer for is managing files on the SD card, so as long as your Mac is capable of that, I have no idea why it wouldn't work.

Jul 12, 2011 19:39:40 GMT eviipaladin said:

I'm so definitely in. Unfortunately, I can't test the thing for two memory cards because I only have a single third-party one.

No big deal. It occurred to me that even if it doesn't work, trading could be easily done in Dolphin. Doing it on an actual console would be preferable, but it can still be done even if doing it on a console is impossible.

[Deleted]

Alright, so once I get/find an SD card, anyone have the following crystals they'd be willing to trade? In order of want...

-Shadow Gatling Gunner part A
-Silver Drill Robot part A
-Silver Cyber Girl part A
-Silver Blizzard Dragon part B
-Silver Plasma Dragon part A
-Shadow Cyber Ninja parts A and C

I will be willing to trade one of the parts I have of a set to complete one higher up. Ex. I will trade my Silver Drill Robot part B for a Shadow Gatling Gunner part A.

[Stove]

on that note, anyone got a Silver Gatling Gunner B?
I'd trade my silver Beam Tank crystal, or even both my Silver Death Head and Cyber Dragon crystals for a Silver Gatling Gunner B.

[Death Eye]

^As it turns out, I do have a silver Gatling Gunner B crystal.
Which Beam Tank crystal do you have?

[Stove]

Not sure, I'll check later.

I believe it is C.

[Death Eye]

Well, as long as it isn't B, that would be excellent.

[Stove]

well, I know that.
I know it's either A or C, so we're both in luck!

[Death Eye]

Indeed, we both are.
...So I suppose if we know what we want to trade then all that's left is to do it.
Not sure how well it will work, since it hasn't been done before, but it'll work somehow, I'm sure.

[Stove]

well, It may be a bit, I need to get ahold of my 3rd party Memory card. ;D

[Death Eye]

Oh.
Well, at least we have a plan.

[Deleted]

Anybody willing to trade actual "shinies" (I play Pokemon so I stick to what I know)? I have a crystal or silver Machine Head I would be happy to trade as well as my crystal Death Borg Omega.

[Death Eye]

Uh, yeah, I just found out that these backups I've been making are useless to anyone who doesn't use an emulator, as they can't be restored to the memory card for some reason...
So all of this talk of trading can only be carried out usefully by those among us who play Gotcha Force in the emulator.

(All that effort for basically nothing... *bottles rage, burns hands off in the process due to the sheer concentration of rage being bottled*)