Audio Streaming
Audio Streaming
The term "Audio Streaming" or "Audio Streaming game" refers to a type of GameCube title which made use of in-hardware audio decoding on the GameCube DVD drive.
Details
ADPCM data is stored on the disk drive in 32K aligned LBAs and the drive can be told to play audio from a particular position on disc whilst simultaneously reading regular data (slow and not recommended). The drive automatically mixes the decoded audio directly into the DSP and there are various commands which will allow the game to cancel, repeat or check what position the drive is up to when playing a particular track.
Confusion with the terminology
GameCube modchips utilized a feature which corrected streaming audio on backup disc media labelled "GameCube Audio Fix". This "Audio Fix" was implemented in drive firmware patch code which enabled playback from backup discs. Without this fix games would try to read internally from an incorrect offset, and although the game wouldn't report a read error, there was static instead of audio.
Wii initial modchips (drive chips) provided the same fix as the GameCube modchips did (although no Wii game ever used this functionality, it was only there for GameCube discs).
Then the Wii DVD drives locked modchips out slightly so the only solution was to intercept read commands between the DVD and the Wii and turn them into DVD-Video requests, at this point, any kind of Audio Streaming fix was thrown out the door. Because of this, Audio streaming games would throw read errors and/or play static instead of actual audio.
modchip manufacturers started using descriptions such as "GameCube Audio Fix" with a new meaning now. These modchips only disabled the streaming audio data commands to prevent read errors and/or static sound instead of providing a true ability to read the stream data correctly.
Solutions
Solutions to play these titles depend on method media or modchip being used.
GameCube
All native GameCube modchips work to play audio streaming titles from DVD disc.
Swiss also supports audio streaming from disc and SD Gecko.
Wii
Wii drive replacement modchips usable on GameCube such as WKF/WODE will be affected by audio streaming titles due to the design on the modchip. (need validation:) Since these modchip types rely on media such as SD or USB and not the DVD drive, there is no hardware conversion of the ADPCM audio to PCM audio. The modchips do not include on-board hardware conversion nor the ability for firmware based conversion. Without this audio, the GC will display error messages. To work around this issue, the audio stream is disabled by providing a successful (completed) return command to the GC to prevent error messages and in game crashing.
Currently WKF and WODE are not able to send audio streaming data to the GameCube using SD, HDD, USB media respectively. To regain ability to correctly play these audio streaming titles with a drive replacement modchip, a dvd drive must be utilized in conjunction with the modchip in bypass (flat) mode....or using Swiss to boot a dvd
| WKF | WODE | |
|---|---|---|
| original disc | wire mod | nothing |
| backup disc | xenoGC + wire mod Qoob + wire mod |
xenoGC Qoob |
- note: IPL replacement modchips (viper) has not been tested and may fail to detect these drive replacement modchips.
These work around modifications are the only solutions available to for WKF/WODE to allow playback with audio streaming from disc.
List of Audio Streaming Titles
SD card playback compatibility is known to have various issues with audio streaming titles. The chart below indicates the specific issues discovered per title with SD card playback. DVD disc playback allows for "most" audio streaming titles to playback properly. The chart below indicates any issues observed from DVD playback.
| Title | WKF / WODE Compatibility | Swiss Compatibility | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SD CARD | DVD FLATMODE | SDGecko/IDE-EXI (software) | DVD | |
| 1080 Avalanche | ||||
| Alien Hominid | ||||
| Amazing Island | ||||
| Aquaman | ||||
| Bloody Roar: Primal Fury | ||||
| Bomberman Generation | ||||
| Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex | ||||
| Crazy Taxi | ||||
| Dakar 2: The World's Ultimate Rally | ||||
| Darkened Skye | ||||
| Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 | No in game music | |||
| Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure | ||||
| Dragon Ball Z: Sagas | ||||
| Dragon's Lair 3D: Return to the Lair | ||||
| DreamMix TV World Fighters ** | ||||
| Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem | Intro Poem audio. Intro credits audio/animation. No in game music | |||
| Fantastic 4 | ||||
| Freestyle MetalX | ||||
| Freestyle Street Soccer (Urban Freestyle Soccer - PAL) | ||||
| Future Tactics: The Uprising | ||||
| Geist | ||||
| Go! Go! Hypergrind | ||||
| Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee | ||||
| GT Cube ** | ||||
| Harvest Moon * | ||||
| Ikaruga | No in game music | |||
| James Bond 007: Agent Under Fire | ||||
| Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs. Death | ||||
| The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition | ||||
| The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time / Master Quest | ||||
| Lost Kingdoms | ||||
| Lotus Challenge | ||||
| Mario Kart: Double Dash (Bonus Disc) | ||||
| Mario Superstar Baseball | ||||
| Monster Jam: Maximum Destruction | No music in menu. No in game music | |||
| MX Superfly | ||||
| Namco Museum | ||||
| Naruto: Clash of Ninja | ||||
| Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2 | ||||
| Naruto: Gekitō Ninja Taisen! 3 ** | ||||
| Pac-Man Fever | ||||
| Pikmin 2 | ||||
| Pool Paradise | ||||
| Pro Rally | ||||
| Red Faction II | ||||
| Resident Evil | ||||
| Resident Evil 4: Preview Disc | ||||
| Smuggler's Run: Warzones | ||||
| Speed Kings | ||||
| Star Fox Adventures | ||||
| Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast | ||||
| Star Wars: The Clone Wars | ||||
| Street Racing Syndicate | ||||
| The Sum of All Fears | ||||
| Summoner: A Goddess Reborn | ||||
| Super Monkey Ball | ||||
| Super Monkey Ball 2 | ||||
| Swingerz Golf (Ace Golf - PAL) (Wai Wai Golf -JP) | ||||
| Tak and the Power of Juju | ||||
| Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow | ||||
| Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 | ||||
| Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 | ||||
| Top Gun: Combat Zones | ||||
| Tube Slider | No menu music. No in game music. | |||
| Universal Studios Theme Parks Adventure | ||||
| Virtua Striker 3 Ver. 2002 | ||||
| Wave Race: Blue Storm | ||||
| Worms Blast | ||||
| Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions | ||||
| XG3: Extreme G Racing | ||||
| XIII | ||||
| Zoids: Battle Legends | ||||
| * certain areas??
| ** NTSC - J only