Switch Hackers Add Controller Pak Support To N64's Online Library

At least Nintendo seem to be adding that in the future. Alright then.

As far as I can tell when I looked, Controller Pak emulation existed since Wii U Virtual Console, but they simply never used it for some reason.
There's also a bit of Transfer Pak but don't get too excited, it's pretty much nothing.

There was also 64DD emulation code dating since the Wii U too, but it was unfinished and unplayable and this code was finally removed in the Banjo update (1.2.0).

Kinda hope so as there are games that ONLY saved on a Controller Pak. Rayman 2 being one.

It would limit the selection library even more so without it.

@Angelic_Lapras_King Well what's sad is that Winback is a Controller Pak only game. It doesn't use it. You need to use save states in the app.

@Angelic_Lapras_King "It would limit the selection library even more so without it"

Not really, since you can save all games (including Rayman 2 if it came) within the app itself.

@LuigiBlood You can save your progress on WinBack from within the app using Save States. Not sad.

@Clyde_Radcliffe I edited my comment right before you mentioned it but it's still pretty sad imo because you shouldn't be forced to use save states, ever.

While I’m certainly not going to hack my switch for this I’d love to use my lovely FRAM Controller Pak with NSO.

For a premium service, I think they really should add this in. It should be perfectly possible, right? Even with making the games remember it upon closing and rebooting.

I'm kind of hoping they will add it in, including transfer pak support, and then add Gameboy NSO that is able to transfer data to the N64 game so you can unlock new characters in Mario Golf and Tennis.

And then there's Pokemon Stadium 1 and 2. Those will never be added though so it doesn't matter there. It was a miracle they added the original 2 generations to the 3DS eShop to begin with.

It never fails to amaze me what some of the community are capable of doing, modding, data mining etc. It would be nice to think their skills were recognised and put to good use

The fact that WinBack can't save whatsoever on this service is one of the stupidest things about it.

There are a ton of N64 games that use the controller pak to save. If they ever want to start releasing games such as Castlevania on this service, they NEED to get this sorted out. It's already unacceptable as it stands.

"The fact that WinBack can't save whatsoever on this service is one of the stupidest things about it"

That's just not true. As I mentioned you can save it using the Save State functions from the app.

It's pretty shambolic of Nintendo not to support controller pak games in its own emulator, they really do treat their own back catalogue shoddily most of the time and then wonder why people use other means to play them

@LuigiBlood well said. I’m sick of Nintendo apologists on here.

@Clyde_Radcliffe regardless of how they worded it, you shouldn't be forced to use save states in any of these games. This is a service they're charging for and they can't be bothered to implement controller pak support, its nonsense and we all know it

I just don't understand why they released a premium service that could arguably called unfinished, but is undeniably inferior to fan-made emulators.
I don't think anyone would have noticed a two month or so delay.

@Clyde_Radcliffe I can't believe someone is defending having to use janky save states to save in a game, all because Nintendo couldn't add this functionality properly themselves. Ridiculous.

Just remember that this is supposed to be a premium offering, not some jank fan made homebrew.

@TheCrabMan @toasterbath @carlos82 It's because Nintendo prioritised rumble over it and it would be impossible to include both as they used the same slot in the N64 controller.

If they had prioritised saving in the game some of you lot would be complaining about lack of rumble no doubt, especially as Save States can easily be used to save those few games, whereas there's no secondary way to implement rumble.

@Clyde_Radcliffe The problem is that Nintendo also implemented a pretty advanced hacking system in the emulator and clearly have taken the time to reverse engineer games with some advanced stuff to the point that I find it 100% possible to do automatic pak switching through that system.

So, no, it's not impossible, and they clearly could have taken that time to implement this.

@Clyde_Radcliffe You're forgetting that this is an emulator and not a real console. If this feature was not possible to support, then surely adding a pak switching option should be possible, as has been the case with fan emulators for years - if they haven't worked out game specific hacks to enable both already. We know Nintendo actually applied a hack to Winback to remove a save pak nag it gives you.

The issue we are having is that we are being served an experience that is incomplete or missing functionality for a premium price that is double the standard subscription (in my country). Don't forget that on top of this, we are also getting some incomplete and otherwise poor emulation and I'm sure you'll start to see where a lot of people are getting frustrated with this.

@Clyde_Radcliffe wow, theres no way to both emulate a controller pak and have rumble? Seriously stop making excuses for them when this has been possible for a very long time

I do really want to insist there: Nintendo has the possibility to have better emulation than on PC, in terms of user experience especially, and not a lot of it requires a lot of work especially when the bulk of what makes for a better experience is actually already there and only needs to be used properly.

• Controller Pak emulation is fully working, all it needs is a way to save it outside of save states, and handle some logic like maybe have one on Controller 1 and only on that so you could maybe use it on netplay with other players perhaps? Reminder, this was implemented since the Wii U and hasn't changed since as the emulator is an evolution of the Wii U VC one.
• The ability to switch between Controller Pak and Rumble Pak is not complicated, and the emulator's Lua script system definitely allows them to do an automatic switch. All it needs is the functionality to do so and a bit more reverse engineering of the games (which, again, they already do, sometimes with some pretty advanced hacks in the scripts too).

Save states get corrupted and should NEVER be used in lieu of native saves.

@Clyde_Radcliffe Do you know what Outride doesn't have...? Rumble pak support. Turning it off for that game would make no difference. They already have per-game setups for each title that enable different features implemented (that's why they turn off fog in OoT for some horrible reason despite it being in other titles).

Just imagine the potential of this if certain games in had DD support...

Why is using save states an issue for some people? I only use save states on NSO, never had an issue.

@mikegamer I’ve been using save states for the past 20 years and never had corruption.

You know what DOES suffer from corruption, though? Bad sectors on hardware. Very common. Usually, if you are suffering from that sort of thing, it’s on a hardware level, more than likely!

@EarthboundBenjy Oddly the Japanese version of Castlevania 64 did have cart saving.
I actually opened up my JP cart (opening N64 carts isn't something I'd recommend, those are needlessly complex) and compared to PCB scans of the English version, and saw the save EEPROM that was absent from English. Konami didn't want to spend the extra bucks for that tiny chip.

But still that point stands, doesn't matter if save-states are a workaround, you still lose the intended functionality. I assume you can't begin a new game without losing the old ones. Speaking in general. Pretty sure there were some games like Goemon or Quest 64 that allowed multiple save slots to the memory card. @Clyde_Radcliffe
(I don't know if Quest 64 has a realistic chance of showing up, but I know there sure is a fanbase for that critically-panned game.)

It's inexcusable how pathetically Nintendo launched the expansion pass service and still charged the price that they did. All of these functions, quality levels of the emulator, and another service (GB/GBA) should have launched back in October. Or seriously, just give us VC, I really only want to play Zelda & Kirby from the N64 era.

@BTB20 Save states is not a problem, the problem is that you shouldn't be forced to use them to even save at all in games like Winback.
@mikegamer I don't know what's going on to your save states but I think you should replace the SD card or something because that has never ever happened to anybody, what gets corrupted is the base save and even then, only when the emulator seriously crashes like in Paper Mario.

Hackers do what Nintendon't! Heh

I can imagine the reason the save pak isn't getting saved on close has to do with the memory being held in the emulator's ram, and there is no function being called on by the app itself to write to a save pak file. You'd likely have to find the pointer to where the save pak data is in memory, and call a modified function of what the app uses to write the cart save file.

@Clyde_Radcliffe I think most of the games that need a Controller Pak don't support rumble. But, for games that support both (like Winback), they should have done a solution to automatically switch to Controller Pak when saving/loading, and then switch to Rumble Pak anytime else. It's a bit more work sure, but save states shouldn't replace the real way to save the game. Using save states to save isn't faithful to the original experience.

Also, personally, I would prioritize Controller Pak over Rumble Pak anytime, but that might just be me.

Any word on when Nintendo will have more of these available for purchase? I have so much muscle memory built in with these games and that controller. I’m not interested in forking out $150 USD or more to a scalper though.

@BloodNinja Just because you never had it happen doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

@mikegamer Yeah, just skip over the hardware explanation lmfao

@BloodNinja Save states aren't magic lol

@mikegamer You’re drunk Mike, go home.

@BloodNinja Was thinking exactly the same.

Nintendo should hire them to sort it out

@Bunkerneath I would love that. Imagine Nintendo reaching out to the emulation community, instead of simply attempting to legislate it.

@BloodNinja You're defending Nintendo's piss poor emulator, go home

@mikegamer What? Are you replying to the right guy? I mainly come here and talk s*** about this company. I was explaining how hard drive sector failure is the main cause of save corruption. Stop being so hostile ffs

Was looking for information on controller pak emulation. Excite bike 64 was dropped today and it's still missing.