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

Jocchan said:
Mejilan, does Ultimate 7.4 fix the red screen issue for NTSC games on a PAL console that 6.7 has?
It's the only reason why I keep a second loader (WiiPower's one) on my SD, to run uncensored US No More Heroes in color.

No clue. I have a US console, with US games. :)
I haven't heard of any widespread issues however, so I'm thinking that there might be something wrong with your settings. Possibly.
 
Firestorm said:
You can already install games from other regions onto your Wii and play them using USB Loader. Lots of people have chucked Tatsunoko vs Capcom into their NTSC-U Wiis.
I know, but it only seems to be forcing the video mode at the moment, which does not work for all games. There's a few more things that need to be added to get all imports working, I think. And playing NTSC/J on NTSC/U machines is easier than NTSC/U on PAL.
 
Mejilan said:
No clue. I have a US console, with US games. :)
I haven't heard of any widespread issues however, so I'm thinking that there might be something wrong with your settings. Possibly.
Apparently, it's due to me using a RGB cable (American Wiis have S-Video instead): even with the Freeloader and GeckoOS I got pictures in shades of red (everything got back in full color when I shifted to the crappy packed-in composite cable).
Ultimate USB Loader 6.7 has this issue too, but WiiPower's video-patching one doesn't.
I think I'll keep it, then (it's pretty bare-bones, but functional). Thanks anyway ;)

Clipper said:
I know, but it only seems to be forcing the video mode at the moment, which does not work for all games. There's a few more things that need to be added to get all imports working, I think. And playing NTSC/J on NTSC/U machines is easier than NTSC/U on PAL.
I only have one import game at the moment (US No More Heroes), and I can play it flawlessly on a PAL machine :)
 
Mejilan said:
What the hell are you talking about, dude?
Have you read any of the readmes included with the homebrew apps you're using?
Have you read this thread at all?
Have you read any of my responses, here or to the PMs you sent me?

1) cIOS36. Install rev10.
2) USB Loader. Drop Ultimate USB Loader 7.4 based on Waninkoko's 1.5 onto your SD card.
3) Launch USB Loader, initialize HDD. Install game.

That's it. It's easy. How many more times do we need to answer your questions?

Sorry, its that i didnt install my own homebrew channel or the zelda exploit so im not really in the know...
 
Bluemercury said:
Sorry, its that i didnt install my own homebrew channel or the zelda exploit so im not really in the know...

There's a difference between not being in the know, and then going ahead and quoting a post of mine, and asking a couple of questions that the very post you quoted answered for you! Also, the HBC and the Twilight Hack have little enough to do with things here.
 
Clipper said:
Oh, one question to those of you that are using this already... Do the games show up properly in your games played log on the Wii Message Board?
No, unless there's a way around it that I don't know?
 
Mejilan said:
2) Also, I've heard that some WDs have "spindown" issues where basically, after a certain number of minutes of not real HDD activity, the drive spins down and goes to sleep. This can happen a lot for games that cache heavily to RAM and only occasionally spin the DVDs. USB Loader cannot recover from this, and the next time the game tries to spin the DVD (in this case, access the ISO on the HDD), the game will freeze and die. There are solutions to fixing WD spindown issues via PC software, but it commonly entails opening up the drive and patching it directly to the PC.

I actually bought the WD Passport Essential today specifically because looking around the web it was recommended as one of the best drives for USB Loader Wii. Would suck if this spindown thing is really an issue. I hadn't heard about it until you just mentioned it :(
 
Ah, I don't like WD, so I'm not really up on the newest models.
Spindown, aka sleep mode, is pretty common in those external HDDs branded as 'portables.'

The 500GB Seagate FreeAgent Go I bought for my Wii comes with sleep mode configured to hit at 5 minutes. Thankfully, they also provide software right on the drive for disabling it, which is what I did before wiping it.
 
Mejilan said:
Ah, I don't like WD, so I'm not really up on the newest models.
Spindown, aka sleep mode, is pretty common in those external HDDs branded as 'portables.'

The 500GB Seagate FreeAgent Go I bought for my Wii comes with sleep mode configured to hit at 5 minutes. Thankfully, they also provide software right on the drive for disabling it, which is what I did before wiping it.

Yeah, I was deciding between the cheaper 500GB Freeagent and the WD Passport today at Best Buy and I went with WD because I've always had good experiences with WD drives.

Anyhow I googled about the spindown issue and it seems to randomly affect some WD drives and not others. So I'm ripping my Mario Kart Wii which is supposedly a good test if you leave it for 20-30 mins paused and then resume. I'll see what happens. If it has the spindown issue I'll either have to open it up and manually fix it or I could return it but I think all they'd do is exchange it for another one which is no help.

/cross fingers current drive has no spindown issues.
 
From what I've read, the WD spindown fix is more of an annoyance than an actual barrier.
I think it might void the warranty, though.
 
So I rip MK Wii and go to run the test. I get to the menus. Select single player...black screen frozen. :(

I thought I had fixed the freezing :( I dunno what's up.
 
I hard reset it and try again and now it gets past the 1p to the grand prix -> 50cc -> finish with the menus -> black screen hard frozen.

This is so weird because it's freezing at different spots everytime. Also this can't be a spindown problem because it's constantly accessing the hard drive (I see it flashing).
 
You don't have two USB devices plugged in at once, do you?
LAN Adapter, RB/GH peripheral, Wii Speak, or USB keyboard?

If you don't, try plugging the HDD into the OTHER USB port.
 
I can't get the custom IOS (required for USB Loader) installed onto my Wii (I already have HBC)
Does it have anything to do with the fact that I installed 4.0 when it came out?
 
There's a link in this thread (I recently referenced) that points to a tutorial for getting a cIOS installed on a 4.0 Wii. Previously, it was impossible, but I think it's now doable.
 
Mejilan said:
You don't have two USB devices plugged in at once, do you?
LAN Adapter, RB/GH peripheral, Wii Speak, or USB keyboard?

If you don't, try plugging the HDD into the OTHER USB port.

Ok, tried the other USB port and it made it to the actual race. Have it paused doing the spindown test right now.

So maybe that fixed it and all the freezes were due to a bad USB port. Or maybe it didn't fix it and it just managed to make it to the race this time. I guess I'll see soonish.
 
I have several questions:

1- Is there a way to find out "what" is installed on the Wii? Like which IOS, cIOS, etc etc.

2- I first updated to 4.0 using Waninkoko's updater but then, I updated using Nintendo's. Should I run Waninkoko's updater again? (see #3)

3- I have now some troubles running homebrew. SMS and Genesis emus will turn into a Code Dumps screen while the SNES will load once then display a black screen the next time I run it. I've tried reinstalling the apps w/o any success. Could it be the SD card?
 
anyone know what Wii games are under 512 megs? I want to test it out on a usb drive before convering my portable hard drive that I have other uses for.

thing isn't even working at all. IT actually just froze. I'm so confused.

ok, so you need to have the USB drive and the DVD out of the system before booting it up...ok

Is there anyway to install games using my PC directly to the hard drive? My old fat PS2 DVD reader got fucked up just ripping games to the HD Loader back when it was released.
 
Ok, it went 25 mins and then unpaused and no freezing. It loaded the next race instantly. Hopefully that means I won't have spindown issues. Especially since I can't really exchange it for a different brand drive even if I wanted to.
 
Linkzg said:
anyone know what Wii games are under 512 megs? I want to test it out on a usb drive before convering my portable hard drive that I have other uses for.

thing isn't even working at all. IT actually just froze. I'm so confused.

ok, so you need to have the USB drive and the DVD out of the system before booting it up...ok

Is there anyway to install games using my PC directly to the hard drive? My old fat PS2 DVD reader got fucked up just ripping games to the HD Loader back when it was released.

Wii Sports is like 0.31 GB I'm pretty sure
 
yeah, it froze again trying to install a DVD. I'm so lost and have no clue what I just did to my Wii, but it doesn't seem to be paying off.

2nd try installing, froze again in the 30% range.
 
Synless said:
Interesting issue I think. I have Ulitimate usb loader installed and everytime I load it my contoller shuts off and won't turn back on. Any ideas?
posting again for possible solutions...
 
So is it a good idea to just install preloader for no reason what so ever because then you are safe against bricking your Wii?

Also how do you install it? Is it just an app you run in the homebrew channel?
 
ok, I finally got a game working but new problem rises to keep me from enjoying this. A minute or so into the game, the controller and every button on the Wii system is locked up. Game still runs with sound and video, but the controls are dead.

is it just fucked up for me or is there practical use to be found eventually?
 
About Preloader 0.29:

Since a couple of weeks ago I have it installed (thanks to Mejilan as always, I wish I could properly thank him because he is a pretty fucking awesome dude... and patient!) the Preloader, could I now delete it from the SD card?
I'm just trying to clean the HBC a bit, too much stuff in there makes the navigations a tad cluttered. But i have no idea if it's possible to do that without screwing things up.

What about the .ini hack though?
Also, when I installed it, I used to have a .ini hack for US, I've replaced the file with an hacked EU 4.0, do I need to re-install or it's just fine the way it is?
 
Synless said:
posting again for possible solutions...

That happened to me when I tried to use the app without a HDD, it will work once you connect a drive that the application recognizes.

Maybe the problem that you have Linkzg have something to do with that issue of hdd, maybe some kind of sleep mode triggers that problem?

So many questions and so few answers : (
 
I've experimented with getting HBC up and running on my friend's Wii so I'm familiar with that process, but the one thing that is keeping me from doing it to my own Wii is I'm a bit confused at what are the risks of updating to 4.0? I've seen people stick to 3.2 but not clear as to why?

Also can anyone point out a good FAQ that answers questions like these, and what the various components are? I see stuff mentioned like cIOS thrown around and I've installed them but I really don't know what everything is and why it's needed.
 
I hope I'll help someone not going crazy like me:

Guys, there's a fucking BUG that will prevent USB Loader working:

You can't have your connection setup as using a Lan Adapter, no sir,
NOT EVEN IF THE ADAPTER ISN'T ACTUALLY CONNECTED.


So here, after hours and hours wasted trying tons of different drives, I "discovered" I was forced to completely neglect my Wii from accessing the net, therefore NOT Agreeing to the Wii Connect 24 and such.

That was the ONLY way to be able to use any of the USB Loader, even after having changed the config.
 
Marty Chinn said:
Also can anyone point out a good FAQ that answers questions like these, and what the various components are? I see stuff mentioned like cIOS thrown around and I've installed them but I really don't know what everything is and why it's needed.
From the second post in this thread.

http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Main_Page

There's a lot of great stuff at the beginning of this thread.
 
Marty Chinn said:
I've read that FAQ and it's too basic and doesn't cover enough topics. Doesn't explain the various components of the installs and stuff like that. Also doesn't address the pros and cons of sticking with 3.2.

It's really hard to quantify all the pros/cons, and many of them keep changing (like Twilight Hack compatability) so constant updates would be required to keep a list like that relevant.

The key things to know are that upgrading to 4.0 from 3.2 will currently disable the Twilight Hack, disable Freeloader (but who cares these days), stop the HBC from being installed and block some (mostly piracy- and cheat-based) apps from running. On the positive side, your Wii would support SDHC cards and would allow you to move your channels to SD card. You would also have access to the Wii Shop, although that upgrade can be performed without changing the system menu, I believe.

There are plenty of other differences, but they are mostly minor.

Given the choice of whether to update or not, I'd basically leave it to whether you want the new SD stuff that came with 4.0.


And on the components and what they do...

Twilight Hack: Buffer overflow attack requiring Twilight Princess game leading to running homebrew apps.

Homebrew Channel: Channel that stays installed on Wii and allows running of homebrew apps more easily than the Twilight Hack

cIOS36: Hacked version of Nintendo's IOS that includes USB/SB boot support. Replaces a real IOS on the Wii, which can lead to bricking if not installed properly. Technically illegal due to the inclusion of Nintendo's original code.

USB Loader (check GBATemp's Wiki page for the multitude of released versions such as Ultimate and Configurable): Homebrew app (with installable channel options) that uses the hooks in the cIOS to allow you to rip discs to a hard drive and/or SD card and play them.
 
Can anyone vouch for the 4.0 downgrading? I'm on 4.0 with HBC installed, but I'd like the DivX codec or whatever, or the custom cIOS. I don't really want to brick my Wii though.
 
EatChildren said:
Can anyone vouch for the 4.0 downgrading? I'm on 4.0 with HBC installed, but I'd like the DivX codec or whatever, or the custom cIOS. I don't really want to brick my Wii though.

can you install those after the 4.0 firmware??i installed the cios36 rev10 and it worked...unless you've never installed any cios before upgrading....
 
Dash Kappei said:
About Preloader 0.29:
What about the .ini hack though?
Also, when I installed it, I used to have a .ini hack for US, I've replaced the file with an hacked EU 4.0, do I need to re-install or it's just fine the way it is?

You'll need the hacks for US 4.0. They're on the preloader hacks wiibrew page.
 
TheSonicRetard said:
The best part about the USB Loader is that I can FINALLY play farcry venegence without any load times.

Yes, but why would you want to?

Dash Kappei said:
I hope I'll help someone not going crazy like me:

Guys, there's a fucking BUG that will prevent USB Loader working:

You can't have your connection setup as using a Lan Adapter, no sir,
NOT EVEN IF THE ADAPTER ISN'T ACTUALLY CONNECTED.

I found this bug, not in the USB loader proper, but in the cIOS rev 10 installer. It would not perform network installation if I used the LAN adapter.

Fortunately, WiFi is an option at my place. But this definitely sucks, and the impossibility of using USB peripherals (even if you're loading from the SD card) is something that I definitely would like to see addressed.
 
EatChildren said:
Can anyone vouch for the 4.0 downgrading? I'm on 4.0 with HBC installed, but I'd like the DivX codec or whatever, or the custom cIOS. I don't really want to brick my Wii though.
I downgraded mine from 4.0 to 3.2 and then back to 4.0.
 
jhu5jd.png


I love you, Stump. :lol
 
Machado said:
it sucks to be me

sorry dude :(

there might be some stuff coming down the pipe soon that will make it possible for you to get in on this stuff. i will update my guide when that happens, and i'm sure this topic's title will be changed too
 
scitek said:
Is it not possible to rollback to 3.2 from 4.0, install the HBC, then upgrade to 4.0 again?

not yet.

simplest explanation:
if you have homebrew channel, you can do the usb backup stuff by rolling back, but you can't roll back if you haven't done the homebrew channel.
 
Quick question.Once you have an external HDD cleared and formatted through the USB Loader can it no longer be recognized by a PC unless reformatted again?Just wondering because I don't want to use a 500 GB+ HDD solely for the 5 Wii games I own :lol
 
Caj814 said:
Quick question.Once you have an external HDD cleared and formatted through the USB Loader can it no longer be recognized by a PC unless reformatted again?Just wondering because I don't want to use a 500 GB+ HDD solely for the 5 Wii games I own :lol
As far as I know, USB Loader supports partitions, so you could partition a small part of your drive. I think. I haven't tried USB Loader myself.
 
Caj814 said:
Quick question.Once you have an external HDD cleared and formatted through the USB Loader can it no longer be recognized by a PC unless reformatted again?Just wondering because I don't want to use a 500 GB+ HDD solely for the 5 Wii games I own :lol


you can partition it in advance. Can't remember if the USB loader lets you choose which partition to use, or if it uses the first partition on the drive.

I have my 400GB one partitioned, with my MBP backup on the other partition
 
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