GAF Wii Homebrew thread: Homebrew, emulators, USB disc installs! Easy tutorial!

This is working for me, if anyone wants a quick overview to rip and play discs:

1. LetterBomb (HBC and BootMii)
2. IOS 236
3. d2x (IOS 248 and 247)
4. USB Loader

Have yet to set up a Forwarder but that will be step five. But I can play SS through the SD card now! :D I have to edit the settings file though, so I can skip the whole "cannot find USB device! cannot find partition!" things.
 
So my Wii's disc drive keeps sounding worse and worse and I've decided it's time to invest in an external hard drive.

What drives have you guys been using successfully with Configurable USB Loader? I'd prefer one that doesn't need to be powered.

Also, I recall hearing that most Wii games do not take up the full disc. I have around 60 Wii games, so what size hard drive should I need?
 
MrMan2k3 said:
Also, I recall hearing that most Wii games do not take up the full disc. I have around 60 Wii games, so what size hard drive should I need?
Click to expand...

I have around 75 Wii games and use around 200 GB. If you get a 320GB or 500GB drive, you will have more than enough space. You might be fine with a 160/250, but probably better to buy larger than what you need just to have room for end of generation budget purchases :)
 
Yeah, depends on the game.
Some games may be 200MB or 500MB, but many are 4GB and a few are even bigger (7GB; which is why some were released on dual-layer discs).

When I used it (because I had more than one game :p); I usually wet for generic brands; last one been an 500GB Adata that I got at Wal-Mart for like $60. WD and a few of the "big brands" tend to add some...bullshit to their HDD, that causes spindown and other problems that can be removed if you look around online, but still use the extra space.
 
MrMan2k3 said:
Also, I recall hearing that most Wii games do not take up the full disc. I have around 60 Wii games, so what size hard drive should I need?
Click to expand...
I seem to remember that when CFG Loader was ripping the files to .wfbs it was scrubbing the unnecessary files down at the same time. I could be wrong though so have a quick look at the features of the version you have. I know my Super Mario Galaxy 2 ended up at 1.3 gig.
 
Any WiiMC users?

Something I discovered today: if you find that you can't start a particular video file, and it's one you've already opened previously, it might mean that the resume data for the file is messed up. If you open the WiiMC folder on your SD card there's a file called restore_points which you can safely delete and it should solve the problem. If it happens a lot, you can turn off resume in settings.
 
Got a 1tera hard drive .... any recomendations for a good program to make a 100 mega wbfs partition and a normal partition with the rest ?
 
I don't know enough to comment on the ramifications of WBFS vs FAT32 but I'd always go with FAT32 since it's universal at this point. If you're looking for a free partition manager you could always use GParted:

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

I've only ever used it in Linux though so I'm not sure if there's anything tricky to using it in Windows or OSX.
 
I have a question about copying a save.

I modded my Wii with Letterbomb and Gecko to play Xenoblade. I didn't have any trouble with it and got it to work great and I completed the game. Now, I wanted to play Skyward Sword and I was having trouble getting to play so I uninstalled everything. Finished SS and before I got rid of everything I made a copy of my Xenoblade save to an SD card.

So, I re-installed everything but the save file does not show up. It showed up though before I re-installed Letterbomb and all that.

My question is, is there any way to copy that save file? Do I have to add something else? Or am I stuck starting all over?

Thanks.
 
Almond said:
I have a question about copying a save.

I modded my Wii with Letterbomb and Gecko to play Xenoblade. I didn't have any trouble with it and got it to work great and I completed the game. Now, I wanted to play Skyward Sword and I was having trouble getting to play so I uninstalled everything. Finished SS and before I got rid of everything I made a copy of my Xenoblade save to an SD card.

So, I re-installed everything but the save file does not show up. It showed up though before I re-installed Letterbomb and all that.

My question is, is there any way to copy that save file? Do I have to add something else? Or am I stuck starting all over?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Try playing the game once to get a save file for Xenoblade on the system. You should then be able to copy the save across, hopefully.
 
Configurable boots in 3D mode with one of the Coverflow GUIs. When I press "1", it switches back to the nice, flat, 2D text list. I hate the 3D mode. I would like it to start in the 2D mode. The theme is Ultimate, which I realize is old and totally out of date, but it's still the least bad looking theme I've found yet after all these years.

What should my config.txt say in terms of themes to deal with this (I'm on a Mac right now so no access to Configurator)
 
Stumpokapow said:
Configurable boots in 3D mode with one of the Coverflow GUIs. When I press "1", it switches back to the nice, flat, 2D text list. I hate the 3D mode. I would like it to start in the 2D mode. The theme is Ultimate, which I realize is old and totally out of date, but it's still the least bad looking theme I've found yet after all these years.

What should my config.txt say in terms of themes to deal with this (I'm on a Mac right now so no access to Configurator)
Click to expand...
Sounds like you're switching between the GUI and console, rather than themes, which defaults to the B button, not the 1 button. If you want this, which is the mode with a single game image and a bunch of text listing the games, then add "gui=3" to config.txt (use gui="1" to disable the gui menus as well).
 
Clipper said:
Sounds like you're switching between the GUI and console, rather than themes, which defaults to the B button, not the 1 button. If you want this, which is the mode with a single game image and a bunch of text listing the games, then add "gui=3" to config.txt (use gui="1" to disable the gui menus as well).
Click to expand...

Basically I want it to look like (ignore the hideous wolf howl theme in the first shot):
pNhka.png
mTSWu.png


Instead of like this:
CdUiQ.jpg
w9UY6.png



Edit: gui=0 ended up working for me.
 
Stumpokapow said:
Basically I want it to look like (ignore the hideous wolf howl theme in the first shot):
pNhka.png
mTSWu.png


Instead of like this:
CdUiQ.jpg
w9UY6.png



Edit: gui=0 ended up working for me.
Click to expand...
0 means you can't turn the GUI on, so yeah, it works. 1 and 3 will also start you at the console, but you can switch to GUI with B if you want. Otherwise, I guess you can use the button_B option to assign another command to the B button.
 
Is there any more up to date guide to do the soft modding? My cousin bought a Wii last week and ask me for help. Also, would soft modding allow playing import?

I remembered when I did mine, I had to follow 3 or 4 different guides before finally get USB loader working.
 
elty said:
Is there any more up to date guide to do the soft modding? My cousin bought a Wii last week and ask me for help. Also, would soft modding allow playing import?

I remembered when I did mine, I had to follow 3 or 4 different guides before finally get USB loader working.
Click to expand...
http://gwht.wikidot.com/

It has everything you need. Clipper wrote almost all of it and will answer questions.
 
Yeah, there haven't been any updates in a while, but that's because there haven't been all that many big improvements lately. The GWHT is complete, easy and pretty much foolproof.
 
This may be a stupid question but I'm currently on 4.3U but it says I need an update when I try to play skyward sword. Will the update for skyward sword put me above 4.3? I want to install homebrew but was curious if I have to do it before the new update. Thanks.
 
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
This may be a stupid question but I'm currently on 4.3U but it says I need an update when I try to play skyward sword. Will the update for skyward sword put me above 4.3? I want to install homebrew but was curious if I have to do it before the new update. Thanks.
Click to expand...

I just recently installed Homebrew Channel with Bannerbomb and I got the Skyward Update prior to that.
 
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
This may be a stupid question but I'm currently on 4.3U but it says I need an update when I try to play skyward sword. Will the update for skyward sword put me above 4.3? I want to install homebrew but was curious if I have to do it before the new update. Thanks.
Click to expand...

It promts an update because it verify that you have an unoficial IOS installed, it will not install any firmware over 4.3 (it doesn't exist anyway), it will overwrite your custom IOS, the wiki explain how block disc updates with start patch, if you are already on 4.3 you don't need more updated IOS.
 
TunaLover said:
It promts an update because it verify that you have an unoficial IOS installed, it will not install any firmware over 4.3 (it doesn't exist anyway), it will overwrite your custom IOS, the wiki explain how block disc updates with start patch, if you are already on 4.3 you don't need more updated IOS.
Click to expand...

So if I did do that update I wouldn't be able to do homebrew? I haven't done homebrew yet, I just started reading some of the instructions but I have to find my sd card first.

Edit: Ah, so according to fudge puppy it won't block it, it will just remove it if you have it at the time of install? That's sort of weird.
 
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
So if I did do that update I wouldn't be able to do homebrew? I haven't done homebrew yet, I just started reading some of the instructions but I have to find my sd card first.
Click to expand...

You still can do Homebrew after that update (I think), but you will need do more steps, that the SS update will overwrite all the IOS used by Hombrew, it's easy when you have that IOS slots free beforehand, and I'm not sure, but if SS update contains a superior version of IOS236 it will be even harder to try Homebrew your Wii later.

Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
Edit: Ah, so according to fudge puppy it won't block it, it will just remove it if you have it at the time of install? That's sort of weird.
Click to expand...

Can this update REALLY delete Homebrew Channel? The latest HBC update use an ID that can't be detected, it doesn't use the normal four character ID used for normal channels.
 
TunaLover said:
You still can do Homebrew after that update (I think), but you will need do more steps, that the SS update will overwrite all the IOS used by Hombrew, it's easy when you have that IOS slots free beforehand, and I'm not sure, but if SS update contains a superior version of IOS236 it will be even harder to try Homebrew your Wii later.



Can this update REALLY delete Homebrew Channel? The latest HBC update use an ID that can't be detected, it doesn't use the normal four character ID used for normal channels.
Click to expand...

I don't know? I thought that's what you guys were saying was it removed homebrew. I thought that's what you meant by overwriting the custom IOS. I'll definitely do it before then. Thanks.
 
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
I don't know? I thought that's what you guys were saying was it removed homebrew. I thought that's what you meant by overwriting the custom IOS. I'll definitely do it before then. Thanks.
Click to expand...
HBC is a channel, it works totally different from a IOS, IOS are like mini OS that handle different funtions of the system. Overwriting IOS/custom IOS has nothing to do with deleting HBC from your system.
 
Ok, it rebooted and just has a bootmii screen that has wii, homebrewchannel, sd, ,and settings option symbols stuck on my screen and my wiimote isn't syncing up. Am I supposed to do something?

Edit: everything worked but I need a bigger sd card apparently. All the instructions say at least 512mb and my sd is only 256mb. I'll have to wait until monday for a new card to arrive.
 
Actually, that update won't delete any of your homebrew if you follow the instructions in the tutorial. The GWHT method is specifically designed to avoid all current updates. What the Skyward Sword update is actually doing is updating all IOSes to their latest versions, as there is a new feature that SS likes to use on one of them.

If you had a cIOS installed in the 249 slot, it might get deleted by the Skyward Sword update because Nintendo installs a stub in that slot. However, the tutorial doesn't use that slot in any way and thus, nothing you install gets overwritten.

Long story short, it's perfectly safe to update before or after installing homebrew at the current time.

Oh, and as to the most recent post, read the rest of the BootMii page. You don't need a bigger SD card. You just can't use the Wiimote to operate BootMii and can only control it with GameCube controller or the buttons on the console itself. You can also set up an autoboot using the other instructions on the BootMii page. What you need the larger SD card for is if you want to make a backup.
 
Clipper said:
Actually, that update won't delete any of your homebrew if you follow the instructions in the tutorial. The GWHT method is specifically designed to avoid all current updates. What the Skyward Sword update is actually doing is updating all IOSes to their latest versions, as there is a new feature that SS likes to use on one of them.

If you had a cIOS installed in the 249 slot, it might get deleted by the Skyward Sword update because Nintendo installs a stub in that slot. However, the tutorial doesn't use that slot in any way and thus, nothing you install gets overwritten.

Long story short, it's perfectly safe to update before or after installing homebrew at the current time.

Oh, and as to the most recent post, read the rest of the BootMii page. You don't need a bigger SD card. You just can't use the Wiimote to operate BootMii and can only control it with GameCube controller or the buttons on the console itself. You can also set up an autoboot using the other instructions on the BootMii page. What you need the larger SD card for is if you want to make a backup.
Click to expand...
Ah, missed the gamecube thing. I hope I still have one laying around. And ya, I thought I needed bigger since I wanted the region free thing to start playing xenoblade and it advised to make a backup. I don't want to mess up my thing by accident. :/

Is there anyone that uses the SD card to store a lot of things? I'm assuming rips you'll do on a separate hard drive? Debating what size I should get.
 
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
Ah, missed the gamecube thing. I hope I still have one laying around. And ya, I thought I needed bigger since I wanted the region free thing to start playing xenoblade and it advised to make a backup. I don't want to mess up my thing by accident. :/
Click to expand...
Don't worry, you won't mess it up unless you start installing other things. Just follow the instructions carefully and you can't have anything go wrong.
 
Fuck, is there any place that has the start patch files? They were all megaupload hosted so they're all gone the links... Is there something else I should use instead?
 
I'm having a weird USB loader issue after upgrading to a larger external hard drive. If the hard drive is plugged in, the USB loader never gets past the the cfg title screen.

To try to work around this, I've changed 'device' in both settings.cfg and config.txt to start on 'sdhc'. If the hard drive is not plugged in the SD card mounts just fine and I can then plug in the hdd, mount it, and play games. However, USB loader still freezes on the title screen if the drive's plugged in, despite the fact it should just be mounting the SD card.

I found some post on another forum where a guy seems to have the same issue:
Problem solved! Finally!

My great thanks to FIX94 and davebaol who figured this out.
The problem was on the ehci modules. Installing cIOS d2x v7 alpha 5 solved the problem.
Now I can switch games without getting up to unplug and plug the hdd.Thanks again guys.
Click to expand...
Is this safe? Will I have to mess with WADs? Clipper?
 
TelemachusD said:
I'm having a weird USB loader issue after upgrading to a larger external hard drive. If the hard drive is plugged in, the USB loader never gets past the the cfg title screen.

To try to work around this, I've changed 'device' in both settings.cfg and config.txt to start on 'sdhc'. If the hard drive is not plugged in the SD card mounts just fine and I can then plug in the hdd, mount it, and play games. However, USB loader still freezes on the title screen if the drive's plugged in, despite the fact it should just be mounting the SD card.

I found some post on another forum where a guy seems to have the same issue: Is this safe? Will I have to mess with WADs? Clipper?
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's safe. You shouldn't need to muck about with mods, just get the latest version of d2x.
 
The latest game I played on my unmodded Wii was xenoblade.

Can I (still) homebrew my wii? I'd, for instance, like to give dolphin a try.
 
nincompoop said:
You need a homebrewed Wii to dump your games
Click to expand...

Really? There's no disk loading like other emulators allow for? I never knew that. I always assumed it was like the PS2 and Saturn emulators I used where I just pop my disk into the drive. Surprised there's nothing to rip the isos or whatever to play on dolphin either.
 
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
Really? There's no disk loading like other emulators allow for? I never knew that. I always assumed it was like the PS2 and Saturn emulators I used where I just pop my disk into the drive. Surprised there's nothing to rip the isos or whatever to play on dolphin either.
Click to expand...

GC and Wii disks are in a proprietary format that only very specific drives can read. Just using the Wii's own drive through homebrew thus is the most straight forward way to rip disks nowadays.
 
Clipper said:
Yeah, it's safe. You shouldn't need to muck about with mods, just get the latest version of d2x.
Click to expand...
Well, I'm still having issues. The d2x 3.1 installer didn't fix it.

I think this new drive is just going to give me too many problems; even if I wait to plug it in until after I start up the USB loader, games are locking up after 15 minutes or so. Maybe the drive is going to sleep.

Also, I noticed your Wii shop channel update page links to megaupload. You might want to find a new link for the dop_shop file.
 
So I was having an issue with my Wii earlier today where it was completely shut down and wouldn't turn on, and I had to do an AC adapter reset (unplug everything for 2 minutes). After plugging everything and booting the system back up, I went to load the USB loader and it's telling me it's missing some config.sys(?) file and won't boot the HDD now. What do I need to do to get this sorted out?
 
TelemachusD said:
Well, I'm still having issues. The d2x 3.1 installer didn't fix it.

I think this new drive is just going to give me too many problems; even if I wait to plug it in until after I start up the USB loader, games are locking up after 15 minutes or so. Maybe the drive is going to sleep.

Also, I noticed your Wii shop channel update page links to megaupload. You might want to find a new link for the dop_shop file.
Click to expand...

Yeah, there's a few megaupload links around there I should get around to fixing. It's really hard to find the new links, though...

tim1138 said:
So I was having an issue with my Wii earlier today where it was completely shut down and wouldn't turn on, and I had to do an AC adapter reset (unplug everything for 2 minutes). After plugging everything and booting the system back up, I went to load the USB loader and it's telling me it's missing some config.sys(?) file and won't boot the HDD now. What do I need to do to get this sorted out?
Click to expand...
What USB Loader are you talking about? Cfg uses a config.txt file, but it isn't required and would never give such a message.
 
I'm surprised to see no mention of the return of crediar to the development of DIOS MIOS Lite. It allows you to play Gamecube games from the SD card with close to 100% compatibility. The only games that aren't working at the moment are games that utilize audio streaming, games that require disc swapping and a handful of games that don't boot (which are being worked on).

Here's a great video of DML in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ZgC6bw4OU
 
Clipper said:
Yeah, there's a few megaupload links around there I should get around to fixing. It's really hard to find the new links, though...


What USB Loader are you talking about? Cfg uses a config.txt file, but it isn't required and would never give such a message.
Click to expand...

Cfg, if it still gives that message tomorrow I'll take a photo of it.
 
Quick question: I haven't turned on my Wii for about a year or even more. Just turned it on, tried updating the homebrew channel and now the fucking channel is gone.
Read about the letterbomb exploit and want to try that - how do I update my Wii (3.4E) to 4.3E?
Is 4.3E the latest update, so can I just update via internet?
It say so on the GAF homebrew wiki
This tutorial is suitable for all Wiis on firmware update 4.3 or less, which is all known Wiis at this time.
Click to expand...
but I found a few references to 4.4 on the web and now I'm scared. :(
Halp plz

Edit: Launch Wii btw, if that makes a difference
 
scar tissue said:
Quick question: I haven't turned on my Wii for about a year or even more. Just turned it on, tried updating the homebrew channel and now the fucking channel is gone.
Read about the letterbomb exploit and want to try that - how do I update my Wii (3.4E) to 4.3E?
Is 4.3E the latest update, so can I just update via internet?
It say so on the GAF homebrew wiki

but I found a few references to 4.4 on the web and now I'm scared. :(
Halp plz

Edit: Launch Wii btw, if that makes a difference
Click to expand...

4.3 is the latest update.
 
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