Cobra v1.6 was released mainly for Viper GC Extreme users. It was released due to issues the Cobra BIOS v1.5 had with the Viper GC Extreme chip. It was also released in place of the much anticipated Cobra v2.0 BIOS. It basically adds support for DOL Streaming and Backing Up Original Discs via USB. There are no noticable changes for normal Viper GC users.

[ BIOS RUNDOWN]

DIRECT DISC BOOT – This will boot the backup of your choice. Simply put in an backup. It supports booting directly from DVD+R and DVD-R media. DVD Rewriteable Media is *not* supported.

ORIGINAL BIOS – Boot your original BIOS with region free enabled (play games from any country)

CONFIGURATION MENU – (has the following sub-options)

COBRA DISPLAY MODE – (has the following sub-options, note that these options only apply to the BIOS display, not the original/backup game you are going to by booting)

AutoDetect – AutoDetect TV display mode
NTSC – NTSC display mode
PAL 50 Hz – PAL 50Hz display mode
PAL 60 Hz – PAL 60Hz display mode

DEFAULT BOOT ACTION – (BIOS boot action)

Display Main Menu – Displays Main Menu
Boot DVD – Goes directly to backup booting mode
Run Original BIOS – Like it says
Run Original BIOS (Region Free) – Like it says

(X) KEY BOOT ACTION – ( 'X' key is pressed at boot)

Display Main Menu – Displays Main Menu
Boot DVD – Goes directly to backup booting mode
Run Original BIOS – Like it says
Run Original BIOS (Region Free)– Like it says

LID SENSOR BEHAVIOR IN ORIGINAL BIOS

Passthru (if your GC is assembled) – Uses the pass-through cable to determine if the lid is closed or not

Closed (if your GC is disassembled) – Doesn’t use the pass-through cable to determine is the lid is closed, tells the GC it is closed at all times

VERSION INFO – (displays various information about your cube)

Original BIOS Copyrights
Original BIOS Region/Revision
Drive Version & Date
Cobra Version and GC Version Codes

DISC EXPLORER – This will let you browse the contents of your DVD disc

Explore DVD – Browse the contents on an original or burnt DVD Disc

CHEAT CODES – This will let you manage and use your cheat codes.

Enable Cheat Codes – This will either enable or disable the cheat codes. When enabled the string “Cheat Codes Enabled” will appear under the Version 1.0 text

Select/Edit Cheat Codes – Select, Add, Delete, Alter cheat codes

CHANGE DISCS – Changing Discs will let you change to another DVD, backup or original game without restarting the Cube. Sometimes to boot games you will need to start the Cube with an original game in the system then use this option and swap with the backup.

PLUG-IN: GCOM - I included this as it's a major plug-in that should be covered as part of the main BIOS as it will allow you to stream DOL files (GameCube Executables), Backup Images and load files from DVD. It's very handy for BBA users who wish to use their BBA instead of the Viper GC Extreme USB Module. Please see the GCOM Guide for more information on how to use it and see below on how to make it into a Cobra Plug-In.

Detailed Information on certain BIOS options

STREAMING DOL FILES VIA USB

Coming soon!

BACKING UP ORIGINAL DISCS USING USB

Coming soon!

DISC EXPLORER

Using the DISC EXPLORER option to EXPLORE DVD you can run custom made GameCube executables (.DOL files), view images (JPEG), load cheats (.COD files) and/or update the BIOS (.VGC files). See ( Preparing a DVD Readable by the GameCube) for more information.

CHEAT CODES

The first menu you come to in the Select/Edit Cheat codes option is the “Game Selection” menu. From here you can (Y)=Add, (A)=Select, (Z)=Remove or (B)=Quit. When quitting the codes are automatically saved; this is a nice feature.

If you pick ‘Y’ to add a game you will get a menu where you can input the name of the game. After adding the name or pressing ‘A’ to select a game you will come to a sub-menu where you can either (A)=Select, (Y)=Add, (X)=Edit, (Z)=Remove or (B)=Back.

Picking ‘A’ to select a code will either enable/disable it (look at the checkbox to confirm.) Picking ‘Y’ to add a code will let you put in the codes name then bring to the same screen you’ll get from picking ‘X’. From this screen you can (Y)=Add, (Z)=Remove, (L/R)=Move Up/Down or (B)=Back.

Selecting ‘Y’ will let you add a code. I guess they decided to not let you edit the code so make sure you add the right one!

To load pre-made cheat code files simply use the DVD browser and select and run the COD file you wish to merge with your database.

FLASHING THE BIOS USING DVDR MEDIA

Using the DISC EXPLOER to update your BIOS is pretty easy. Just select the BIOS file (filename.vgc) and press (A) on it. It’ll ask you if you want to flash the BIOS. When flashing do not power off the system or you will have no choice but to flash it using the Parallel Port Flasher.

MAKING AND BOOTING A MULTI-IMAGE DISC

This option will allow you to burn a few images onto a DVD and then select which one you would like to boot. This is handy for booting multiple emulator .ISO/.GCM images!

You'll want to grab the GCM-Utility v0.5 or Looney Cube's Multi-Image Disc Creator from our downloads section to make these multi-disc images with.

Using the file above you can create a multi-image disc. This will not allow you to play two disc games, but will allow you to put more then one game/iso on a disc. Most images need to be size swiped before adding. Please see the file “GCMUtility.zip” which will size swipe any GameCube game.

SETTING UP COBRA FOR RECIEVING FILES VIA THE BBA

Cobra can be a pain in the ass when it comes to being able to stream files to it. The simply way is to use Cobra with the GCOM Plug-In; simply select the Plug-In. Another way is to either load 'Viper Riper Multi' from a DVD or make a Plug-In out of it. Once you have 'Viper Rip Multi' booted change the IP addresses. The last way is to simply boot an older version of GCOM from a DVD. Once you have your streaming solution setup refer to our 'Streaming Guide' to learn the different ways to stream files to your Viper GC!

CREATING A COBRA PLUG-IN

Using the 'Cobra Plugin Creator 1.0' filename 'CobraPlugin.exe' (included in the Cobra v1.2 BIOS release) you can convert any DOL file that is less then 45,057kb into a Cobra Plug-In (.CBP) file. To do this run the CobraPlugin.exe file from DOS with either of these commands

encoding: CobraPlugin "Name (16 chars max)"

example: cobraplugin nes_emu.dol nes_emu.cbp "Nintendo EMU"

decoding: CobraPlugin --decode

example: cobraplugin nes_emu.cbp nes_emu.dol --decode

 To add the plug-in into the Cobra v1.2 BIOS simply do a binary copy command

example: copy /b cobrav12.vgc + nes_emu.cbp cobrav12_nes_emu.vgc

Now you can flash the VGC file from DVD or USB (USB for Viper GC Extreme Users Only!)