EXCLUSIVE: GC Loader Specs Revealed

[Zeus]

Many of you including us at MaxConsole were left reeling by the recent announcement about a new GC modchip called the GC Loader. Well The GC Loader team have recently got in touch with us and provided us with a
some of the specs of their upcoming GC Loader modchip. The GC Loader team have told us that this mod was based on the concept of the infamous PS2 HD Loader of which Sony stamped out in record time. How does it all work you may ask ? Well we only the basics, the chip will come with a USB port capable of hosting an external USB HDD from the GC as well as supporting streaming to the GC directly from the PC.

<center><img src="http://www.maxconsole.net/content_img/gcloader_logo.jpg"></center></a>

Modchip functions:

*Direct boot of all media (No swapping)
*Supports all regions PAL/USA/JAP
*Bios selection/control supported
*Supports IPL replacements
*Network controllable

HDD functions:

*Easy switch DVD/HDD (On boot)
*User-friendly menu to list and choose all DOL (or game) in the HDD
*Connect to the computer (network) to load game to the hdd
*HDD in FAT32 file system (can connect directly to the computer)
*Fast load game option

The GC Loader is said to come with some intelligent and nicely designed software to control the HDD functions on the GC. This is all the information we have for the time being but the GC Loader team say they will reveal pictures and more information in the coming weeks as the GC Loader draws closer to a firm release date. For the time being the release and price of this mod is TBA.

Official HomePage: <A href="http://www.gcloader.com/" target="_blank">GCLoader.com</a>

[Adan0s]

wow, that`s impressive :eek:

but hdd only via usb? :/

i`m hoping, that the gecko-modchip will getting an real ide-hd-interface

[Zeus]

From what we know it is only a USB HDD supported, but I am not 100 percent sure about this!

[SigmaX6]

SWEETAGE!!!!!

Anywho this is a BIG step foreward for the gc seen, i cant wait to start sreaming gc games from a usb hdd, hopefully there is no stupid msdos formatting tools like the ps2 usb tool is.

[Krille]

Hold on, so you'll connect the HDD to the chip itself?

How will that work out performance wise? :O

[Fasman]

And I just orderd my Qoob today :( *Sigh*

[paulanka2000]

i wanna see pics on how this will look like maybe a posible case for the hdd and gamecube toghether

[lowrider]

hehe nice:)
hdd support..to bad that i got a viper chip thenn :S

[brakken]

Don't count your chickens before they are hatched as if this chip uses a USB 1.1 interface you'll have nice features such as ...

slower load then PSO method
FMV playback untollerable

Basically if it uses USB it'll be just the same crappy product as the USBExtreme for the PS2, but if it uses USB 2.0 I'll be in Linux heaven :)

[Zeus]

I was told it uses USB 2.0 for high speed transfers :D.

[Bizquick]

You guys have to be joking USB 2.0 on a the modchip. this thing will have to have its own USB 2.0 controller to work and Bios to control that function. These options on this mod chip could drive the production cost as high as 60.00 a chip (PRODUCTION alone) that means it would sell for about 90 to 110 dollars. Also is the IBM chip fast enought to handle the data speed traffic from that USB controller. (maybe depending on some of the RISC maping) I doubt this thing will be higher than 1.1 because thats all that the GC was allready setup for. you guys need to understand that these game machines when they come out they are allready behind 1.5 years from the standard PC speeds and spec's. Thats kind of why MS is pushing to get the Xbox 360 launched so quicky. the hardware will outdate its self to quickly if they don't. if I was you guys I would be happy with what you get because the GC is in the same class as all the current gamesystems as far as spec's go. if you want a more powerfull game machine and system wait till the new PS3 and X360's are hacked thoes will do more of the functions that you all seam to want.

[OuahOuah]

mmmmm

personnaly not interested in streaming iso, and if brakken is right...

and... fat32 ONLY ?
no linux (ext3), no macintosh... not even NTFS ? as NTFS is a standard with win2k and winXP...

I prefer "wait & see"... because "we are going to sell the best chip blabla" is easy to say...

[brakken]

It would be possible to implement USB 2.0, but it would of course not work at it's full capacity due to the issues stated above, although it would be fast enough to load images from the HDD fast enough to not notice any slowdown. If this is the case I'm sold! FAT32 is tolerable as I see no issues using that type of filesystem.

[Maximilianop]

About FileSystems...
As I see it, it should bother the USB interface to PC, since it will have to ask the Operative System wich files are where, instead of raw reading like with a external USB harddisk.

I think USB 1.1 would be enough to load images, but USB 2.0 is faster ( I Think) than the GC´s drive, so it could get to a bug wich PSX had once: Too much data in very short time = sync lost.

Let´s see what do they launch, and how much will it cost and what kind of support atre they gonna give.

[dreary79]

Don't count your chickens before they are hatched as if this chip uses a USB 1.1 interface you'll have nice features such as ...

slower load then PSO method
FMV playback untollerable

Basically if it uses USB it'll be just the same crappy product as the USBExtreme for the PS2, but if it uses USB 2.0 I'll be in Linux heaven :)I agree that USB 2.0 is the only way to go, but..... this is something to think on:

*PSO limits the network speed to 10Mbps
(even if you're connected at 100Mbps your limited to 10Mbps, you're lucky if you get that)
*PSO almost plays FMV's
*USB 1.1 runs at 12Mbps
(is the extra 2Mbps enough to play FMV's?)
*USB 2.0 runs at 480Mbps =)

So... USB is not a "slower load then PSO method" however it may not be enough to play FMV's perfect.

[smudgeone]

The 10mb/s in pso also included plenty of network overhead required for a transfer. If there is just a straight data call, usb 1.1 should be more than adequate for loading an image. (i think, dont hate me if im wrong).
Considering that NO gc image is larger than 1.36GB, there is absolutely nothing wrong with using FAT32. As long as the chip loads stripped images, it will be great. This drive will also be awesome for gclinux, as the media player would become usefull.

[dreary79]

I wonder what their solution will be for 2 disc games. ????

[smudgeone]

This project reminded me of something I read about over at Team-Gx. They were developing a hard-drive interface and were ready to test it in May. I decided to go and see if they had any new information on their HD adapter and the forum wasnt touched. However, looking in their team members section, it turns out that Zeus is an important tester and fund raiser for Team-Gx.
Now, call this speculation, but what if the reason Zeus is promoting this chip on Maxconsole is because he is set to make some royalties or help out Team-Gx by getting potential customers interested. If this is the case, then I am willing to bet that any info that Zeus provides on this chip is going to be at least close to accurate because chances are, he has used it!

[Kastef]

any more updates on this? It's been awhile since it's been discussed.

[Xboxmodder999]

any more updates on this? It's been awhile since it's been discussed.

Nope... We probably won't hear much more about it until just before it is released.

[brakken]

This project reminded me of something I read about over at Team-Gx. They were developing a hard-drive interface and were ready to test it in May. I decided to go and see if they had any new information on their HD adapter and the forum wasnt touched. However, looking in their team members section, it turns out that Zeus is an important tester and fund raiser for Team-Gx.
Now, call this speculation, but what if the reason Zeus is promoting this chip on Maxconsole is because he is set to make some royalties or help out Team-Gx by getting potential customers interested. If this is the case, then I am willing to bet that any info that Zeus provides on this chip is going to be at least close to accurate because chances are, he has used it!

Your logic has a valid point to it, but with my dealing with TGX they had just been working with the CZN adapter and not an entirely new chip with a USB interface, but who knows.

[toad86]

This is would be good chip, but i really waited IDE interface :( Now i gotta buy USB-HD :mad: if i buy the chip...
But i'm more interested about that 2€ chip now :D

[lowrider]

hope there will be any other than a usb hd, but those hds isnt so expensive..

mmm..beer! ;P

[dreary79]

External cases go on sale for dirt cheap anyhow.

[vandalisthero]

Yeah, so if you already happen to have an extra IDE HD lying around, you can just buy the case for the IDE HD that converts it into a USB HD. Try newegg.

[kgonepostl]

ok this is probobly a stupid question but do you think any soldering will be involved. This hasn't been discussed if there is then crap on that stink, and if not yay! I'm guessing it will be just an adapter.

couple things to point out.

1. If your a nintendo fan you may want to keep in mind that the revolution is coming out fairly soon and if the 90-100 dollar rumor is true you should hold off in my oppinion.

2. External hard drives are not expensive i put a 160 together myself with a bitchen case for 50 bucks go here to find deals on hard drives and enclosures
http://forums.slickdeals.net I got a 160 maxtor with 8 meg cache 7200 rpm at office max for 120 -100 dollars after rebates and picked up a 30 dollar enclosure from thinkgeek.com with firewire, fan, usb 2.0 etc etc. If you don't have an external drive buy it early anyway, If this product blows who cares, external drives are an extremely usefull thing to have anyway.



3. I like cheese.

[dreary79]

ok this is probobly a stupid question but do you think any soldering will be involved. This hasn't been discussed if there is then crap on that stink, and if not yay! I'm guessing it will be just an adapter.It is being called a mod chip and most modchips you do have so solder on.


If your a nintendo fan you may want to keep in mind that the revolution is coming out fairly soon and if the 90-100 dollar rumor is true you should hold off in my oppinion.Fairly soon could be Christmas of 2006 or even 2007, really who knows. And $100 for the revelution? I'm guessing $200 or $150 at the least, but $100 on opening day won't happen. Anyhow, GC games running from a hard drive sounds great to me! =)


External hard drives are not expensive i put a 160 together myself with a bitchen case for 50 bucks go here to find deals on hard drives and enclosures
http://forums.slickdeals.net I got a 160 maxtor with 8 meg cache 7200 rpm at office max for 120 -100 dollars after rebates and picked up a 30 dollar enclosure from thinkgeek.com with firewire, fan, usb 2.0 etc etc. If you don't have an external drive buy it early anyway, If this product blows who cares, external drives are an extremely usefull thing to have anyway.Thats great for your PC, but for Gamecube... you won't need much of a hard drive. A 40gb hard drive will hold 40 single disc games, thats a lot, and thats if we won't be able to dump the bad data on the dvd's.


I like cheese.http://www.tillamookcheese.com I'm addicted to this stuff.

[Xboxmodder999]

I'm betting that the Revolution will be released in spring-summer of next year(2006), and that it will sell for $199-249. There is no way that it will be $100, and I highly doubt that it will be less then $199 at launch.

[kgonepostl]

sorry I meant the 90-100 dollar rumor for the modchip that we're refering to, plus if i'm not mistaken the revolution is backwards compatible. All I'm sayin is if it happens to be 100 dollars for the chip like the dude was sayin and you got a good chip already just showing some ideas.

[kgonepostl]

i'd also like a confirmation on whether or not this will be solder/non solder. This is a very important aspect.

[Xboxmodder999]

Yes, the Revolution will be backwards compatible with all gamecube games, and you wilkl be able to download many, many NES, SNES, and N64 games onto it and play them.

and kgone, If it is indeed a modchip(as they are calling it), then I'm sure it will have to be soldered to the motherboard. If it is just an adapter, it might just replace the DVD drive But I bet whether it is a chip or an adapter, there will be some soldering involved.

[Shakey_Jake33]

Don't mean to be rude, but if even the most basic GameCube modchip requires soldering, how the heck would they make an advanced one like this solderless?

It ain't gonna be solderless, it's dillusional to expect it to be, no offence.

[brakken]

It could possibly just plug into the interface of the DVD drive, but who knows. Soldering for the GameCube is easier then building one of those 5 year old kids lego sets.

[smudgeone]

No kidding about the lego, threw out the instructions and went for it; that was tough.

After finnally getting the chance to open up my xbox, the gamecube really is much easier to work with. While the gamecube has soldier points the size of a felt marker tip, the xbox has points as small as the tip of a mechanical pencil. If you think that soldiering in the gamecube is hard, give up on modding and get a real job so that you can buy all the extra copies of games out there. I personally hope that this mod chip does have some soldering so that the useless people out there can generate some buisness for the "real" modders. (It really is hypocritical of me to say this considering I dont have a mod chip installed, BUT I have soldiered for school before.)

[kgonepostl]

re: @smudgezone about the soldering crap

I recently wrote an email to somebody about why I like softmodding compared to a hardmod.

btw this doesn't apply to this situation but to the quote that softmodding is for lamers.

and quote.

"tell you the truth I think the gamecube
sucks and I guess I mostly mod things not for the games not even for
the thrill of being able to burn backups. But just because I think it's cool your doin something that wasn't intended and/or wasn't practicle which is why
I've always softmoded everything. If you think about it, softmodding
is a harder process as it is differen't on each platform plus you learn more with it, I mean **** it's basically program, solder, config or reverse/mix order
for a modchip. With softmodding It's an experience. I traded in some
stuff to eb games a couple days ago got my bba my memory card, bought
some pens, melted then unscrewed the ***** set up the streaming method
and played my burned dvd+r. Ya soldered chips are better in aspect if
you play all the time (don't get me wrong I'm a hardcore gamer) but I
think you get a better understand of the cube xbox and ps2 quicker if
you use softmods."

quote was slightly modified as some stuff was not needed....but ya.
That's the reason why I softmod. And to tell you the truth if/when a softmod comes out for the 360 I'm probobly gonna mess around with it then immediately after solder some crap down.

In the end I consider myself a hardcore modder. But then again are you? Do you understand how the modchip works in full or get a very close to complete understanding as you do a softmod? Your kinda sayin smudgezone something along the lines like.

"Ya my tv rocks because I got rid of my vcr and put in a dvd player, I even hooked up all the cords myself!!!"

I consider the hardcore modders the ones like emu_kidd who makes this **** and puts it out for us. God bless man.

I aint tryin to flame you smudgezone, I just took that kinda personally.

[smudgeone]

kgonepostl, that is one of the best rebuttles anyone has ever given to me, congrats.

Softmodding is way more difficult, even for a beginner modder like me. I only modded my cube a year ago with PSO, all with software, before the viper. I was stuck figuring out the samson's loader for about a week in around January.

BUT all i was trying to say was all the noobs out there who can't soldier could do so on the cube without practice because it has very large soldier points when compared to other consoles (just agreeing with Brakken). Also, since there really aren't any holes like the ones on the xbox, its is unlikely that there can be a soldierless "modchip" on the gamecube. (The $2 chip sounded more like a drivecode loader)

[Z80]

The drivecode is all you really need though. Hell you could use FreeLoader or AR probably, if you could inject the drive code at anytime, or maybe even the bios, to stick in your DVD-R, send the drivecode to init the disc and be on your way. I for one don't care about bios screens and what not. I just wanna play the import or dvd-r.

[kgonepostl]

smudgezone tell me what you think of the signature :-D

btw brakken hows the 2 dollar modchip diagram comin anyway? I'd love to build me one of them for fun.