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Lingcod: Difference between revisions

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|platform = [[Emulators on Android|NVIDIA Shield TV]]
|platform = [[Emulators on Android|NVIDIA Shield TV]]
|target = [[Game Boy/Game Boy Color emulators|Wii]]<br>[[GameCube emulators|GameCube]] (unused)
|target = [[Game Boy/Game Boy Color emulators|Wii]]<br>[[GameCube emulators|GameCube]] (unused)
|developer = [https://developer.nvidia.com/gameworks NVIDIA GameWorks]
|developer = [https://www.mobygames.com/company/26027/nvidia-lightspeed-studios/ NVIDIA Lightspeed Studios]
|architecture = ARM
|architecture = ARM
|active = No
|active = No
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}}
}}


'''Lingcod''' is the [[Wii emulators|Wii]] emulator used for [[Emulators on Android|NVIDIA Shield TV]] units sold exclusively in China. It was licensed by [[Nintendo]] as part of a deal by bringing the Tegra X1 SoC used on [[Nintendo Switch emulators|Nintendo Switch]].
'''Lingcod''' is the [[Wii emulators|Wii]] emulator used for several first-party Wii games brought to [[Emulators on Android|NVIDIA Shield TV]], a lineup codenamed '''Northport''', sold exclusively in China. The games were licensed to NVIDIA by [[Nintendo]] as part of a deal for bringing the Shield TV's Tegra X1 SoC to [[Nintendo Switch emulators|Nintendo Switch]]. While there were plans to release the Wii in China through iQue (Nintendo's representative in the country), ultimately those fell through, so the Shield TV releases are the first time the region saw these games officially. The games were distributed by iQiyi, a Netflix-like Chinese service that replaced Google's services in the Chinese version of the Shield TV's Android firmware.


==Overview==
==Overview==
The emulator is packed in a framework made by NVIDIA known as '''Northport'''. It seems the emulator was built upon a port of [[Dolphin]] with additional DRM code, as there is mentions of ''Super Mario Sunshine'' inside the emulator's internal files. The games also must be played online, however, the servers for these games were shutdown in 2021, rendering them unplayable.
The emulator doesn't run unmodified Wii games. Instead, games are recompiled with a build system that outputs a custom executable format containing extra information about functions in the code. This allows the emulator to "hook" any function and run a native implementation instead. This is used for several things, including general HLE of SDK functions, performance optimizations, and the emulator's DRM.


While there were plans to release the Wii in China through iQue (Nintendo's representative in the country), Nintendo limited sales of Wii units just to Hong Kong and Taiwan instead, by importing Japanese units and games.
==DRM==
The emulator required an internet connection to perform a standard license verification, and to decrypt a re-implementation of some code removed from each game essential to playability, which would run on the Tegra's security processor, TSEC (a much more difficult layer of DRM to bypass than the license verification). Without this replacement code, called the "snippet", the game has a silly effect that makes the game extremely difficult or even impossible to play, such as disabled rendering or restricted player movement.
 
However, the NVIDIA server that handled this DRM was shut down in 2021, rendering the games unplayable.
 
As a side effect, even upon converting the game into a valid Wii ROM that can be run on a Wii, [[Wii U emulators|Wii U]], or another Wii emulator, the functionality from the snippet is never restored to the game, thereby "triggering" the anti-piracy effect.


==Features==
==Features==
* All games feature localized versions of Wii games in Simplified Chinese made by iQue;
* All games were given Simplified Chinese localizations (some of which were originally made for the cancelled iQue Wii);
* Games must be played with an Internet connection, as part of DRM;
* Texture packs, which allowed higher definition textures to be applied at runtime
** Since the servers were shutdown in earlier 2020s, these games are not playable anymore in the unit.
** This feature was only used for Twilight Princess, added in a patch downloaded from the iQiyi storefront
** Games were also updated with online patches.
* Cloud saves synced to an iQiyi account
* Games are upscaled and optimized for HDTVs;
* Games run at a higher, HD native resolution (about 1080p);
* All games' internal code were changed in order to not run in other Wii (or [[Wii U emulators|Wii U]]) units and/or emulators.


==Games==
==Games==
Lingcod has official compatibility for 5 games, which are:
Five games using Lingcod were released:


*Donkey Kong Country Returns
*Donkey Kong Country Returns
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*The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
*The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess


In addition, Cooking Mama and Super Mario Sunshine are mentioned in the emulator's internal files, but were never released (the latter is a GameCube game). Mario Kart Wii did receive a playable demo for the system, but it did not end up being released on retail format.
In addition, Cooking Mama and Mario Kart Wii are mentioned in the emulator's internal files, but were never released (although the latter was demoed at trade shows).


==References==
==References==
Retrieved from "https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/Lingcod"