GameCube4Fun

Setup

Prerequisites

• Ubuntu (works with WSL2 too)
• Dolphin GameCube emulator (https://dolphin-emu.org/)
• Docker (see specific installatino for WSL2)
• [Optional] Visual Code with extensions (https://code.visualstudio.com/download)
  • WSL remote if using WSL2
  • C/C++ Extension Pack

Installation

From your Ubuntu non-root account:

Retrieve DevkitPro for PPC Docker image. This image contains:

• cross-compliation toolchain for PPC (and ARM but not required)
• standard libraries pre-compiled: libz, libturbojpeg, libpng/u, libvorbis, libogg, linmpg123, libfreetype, libode, libgd
• libogc already compiled which also compiles:
  • libiso9660, libmodplay, libmad, libasnd, libaesnd, libdb, lwip

sudo docker pull devkitpro/devkitppc
sudo docker images

Clone all Git repos

mkdir -p /projects/gc
cd /projects/gc
git clone https://github.com/devkitPro/gamecube-examples.git
git clone https://github.com/GRRLIB/GRRLIB.git
git clone https://github.com/PacMooseIncorporated/GameCube4Fun.git

Compile the GRRLIB, GameCube examples (already in devkitPro /opt/devkitpro/examples/gamecube in fact)

libgrrlib          <- 2D/3D graphics library
├── libfat         <- File I/O
├── libjpeg        <- JPEG image processor
├── libpngu        <- Wrapper for libpng
│   └── libpng     <- PNG image processor
└── libfreetype    <- TrueType font processor

sudo docker run -it --name devkit -v /projects/gc:/home/gc devkitpro/devkitppc bash

cd /home/gc/gamecube-examples
make

cd /home/gc/GRRLIB/GRRLIB
make PLATFORM=cube clean all install

cd /home/gc/GameCube4Fun/grrlib/examples_gc/template
make

Updating devkitPro

Ref: https://devkitpro.org/wiki/devkitPro_pacman#Using_Pacman In the docker container, ssing dkp-pacman:

# to update the database
dkp-pacman -Sy

# to upgrade installed packages
dkp-pacman -Syu

# To list packages (filtered)
dkp-pacman -Sl | grep gamecube
dkp-pacman -Sl | grep ppc

# to install a package or group of packages:
dkp-pacman -S gamecube-examples
dkp-pacman -S gamecube-dev

Documentation

• General

  • Detailled architecture analysis: https://www.copetti.org/writings/consoles/gamecube/

• devkitPro and libogc:

  • docs: https://libogc.devkitpro.org/
  • examples: https://github.com/devkitPro/gamecube-examples (cloned)
  • forums: https://devkitpro.org/viewforum.php?f=40
  • Interesting article on the GameCube GX (GPU) and libogc: https://devkitpro.org/wiki/libogc/GX#Preface

• GRRLIB:

  • docs: https://grrlib.github.io/GRRLIB/
  • examples: https://github.com/GRRLIB/GRRLIB/tree/master/examples (cloned)
  • forums:
    • http://grrlib.santo.fr/forum/ (closed, for reference only)
    • https://github.com/GRRLIB/GRRLIB/discussions

• Interesting codebase:

  • Terri Fried https://github.com/PolyMarsDev/Terri-Fried/tree/master/gamecube/source (CPP, OGG Player)
  • Cubecraft https://github.com/camthesaxman/cubecraft/ (debug_malloc, keyboard...)
  • Donut.c https://github.com/AndrewPiroli/Wii-donut.c

• Technical details:

  • DOL file format: https://wiibrew.org/wiki/DOL and converter: https://github.com/devkitPro/gamecube-tools/blob/master/elftool/elf2dol.c
  • Homebrew swiss knife: https://gchomebrew.com/ultimate/
  • forums:
    • https://www.gc-forever.com/forums/index.php

Installing Docker without Docker Desktop on WSL2

ref: https://dev.to/felipecrs/simply-run-docker-on-wsl2-3o8

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl gnupg2
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/${ID}/gpg | sudo apt-key add -
echo "deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/${ID} ${VERSION_CODENAME} stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
sudo docker ps 

add to ~/.profile:

if service docker status 2>&1 | grep -q "is not running"; then
    wsl.exe -d "${WSL_DISTRO_NAME}" -u root -e /usr/sbin/service docker start >/dev/null 2>&1
fi

GameCube Specs

Interesting architecture analysis: https://www.copetti.org/writings/consoles/gamecube/

CPU

• 485 MHz IBM "Gekko" PowerPC CPU based on the 750CXe and 750FX achieving 1125 DMIPS (Dhrystone 2.1)
• 7-stage floating point unit: 64-bit double precision FPU, usable as 2×32-bit SIMD for 1.9 single-precision GFLOPS performance, often found under the denomination "paired singles"
• Branch Prediction Unit (BPU)
• Load-Store Unit (LSU)
• System Register Unit (SRU)
• Memory Management Unit (MMU)
• Branch Target Instruction Cache (BTIC)
• SIMD instructions: PowerPC 750 + roughly 50 new SIMD instructions, geared toward 3D graphics
• On-chip caches:
  • 32 KB 8-way set-associative L1 instruction cache
  • 32 KB 8-way set-associative L1 data cache
  • 256 KB 2-way set-associative L2 cache
• Front-side bus: 64-bit enhanced 60x bus to Flipper northbridge at 162 MHz clock with 1.3 GB/s peak bandwidth (32-bit address, 64-bit data bus)

GPU

• 162 MHz ArtX-designed ATI "Flipper" ASIC (9.4 GFLOPS)
• Contains GPU, audio DSP, I/O controller and northbridge
• 3 MB of on-chip 1T-SRAM (2 MB Z-buffer/framebuffer + 1 MB texture cache) with ~18 GB/s total bandwidth
• 24 MB (2x 12 MB) 1T-SRAM main memory @ 324 MHz, 64-bit bus, 2.6 GB/s bandwidth
• 1 vertex pipeline, 4 pixel pipelines with 1 texture mapping unit (TMU) each and 4 render output units (ROPs)
• Color depth: 24-bit RGB, 32-bit RGBA
• Fillrate: 648 megapixels/sec, with Z-buffering, alpha blending, fogging, texture mapping, trilinear filtering, mipmapping and S3 Texture Compression[7]
• Raw polygon performance: 90 million polygons/sec
• Real-time decompression of display list, hardware motion compensation capability, HW 3-line deflickering filter

Memory

• 43 MB total non-unified RAM
  • 24 MB (2x 12 MB) MoSys 1T-SRAM @ 324 MHz (codenamed "Splash") as main system RAM
  • 3 MB embedded 1T-SRAM cache within "Flipper" GPU (2 MB framebuffer/Z-buffer, 1 MB texture cache)
  • 16 MB DRAM used as I/O buffer for audio and DVD drive
• Memory bus width: 64-bit main system RAM, 896-bit internal GPU memory, 8-bit ARAM
• Memory bandwidth: 1.3 GB/s Gekko to Northbridge, 2.6 GB/s Flipper to main system RAM, 10.4 GB/s texture cache, 7.8 GB/s framebuffer/Z-buffer, 81 MB/s auxiliary RAM[5]
• Latency: Under 10 ns main memory, 5 ns texture cache, 5 ns framebuffer memory

Audio

• Audio processor integrated into Flipper: custom 81 MHz Macronix 16-bit DSP
• External auxiliary RAM: 16 MB DRAM @ 81 MHz
• Stereo output (may contain 5.1-channel surround via Dolby Pro Logic II)

Video

• 640×480 interlaced (480i) @ 60 Hz
• 640×480 progressive scan (480p) @ 60 Hz (NTSC only)
• 768×576 interlaced (576i) @ 50 Hz (PAL only)