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

Wray said:
Can somebody recommend a good USB HDD to buy? Is there a general brand/model or two that offer better results with the WII?
Click to expand...

I bought a 250 GB WD My Passport Essential for my Wii and it's been a freaking champ so far. No spin-down problems at all, even after leaving games paused for hours at a time.
 
my essential did have spin down issues at first. all i had to do was install ios223 and it's been perfect ever since. i bet the more recent things like rev13b fix that, but i haven't upgraded yet
 
JodyAnthony said:
so am i correct that there is no way of backing up your wii, and then if it dies completely, restoring that backup on a different wii?
Click to expand...
You are correct.

big_z said:
if i install bootmii and use boot2 mode to make a backup can i use the same SD card i have my usb loader on?
Click to expand...
As long as you have 512MB of spare space on that card, yes.
 
Can someone link me to a guide that will let me partition an external hd to the needed format for usb loader, and have my regular partition handy to?
 
Oldschoolgamer said:
Can someone link me to a guide that will let me partition an external hd to the needed format for usb loader, and have my regular partition handy to?
Click to expand...
Not sure if there is a guide for that but what I did was use a tool like Partition Magic to resize the current partition I had on my USB drive, after freeing up some space I created a new NTFS partition on the drive and then used WBFS manager to format it to WBFS (what the Wii reads).

This tool can be found at http://wbfsmanager.codeplex.com/
 
God...I can't get this to work. :/ Feels like some force is blocking me. >:/ I just went ahead and formatted the entire thing, but when I plug it in I get some type of error.
 
Oldschoolgamer said:
God...I can't get this to work. :/ Feels like some force is blocking me. >:/ I just went ahead and formatted the entire thing, but when I plug it in I get some type of error.
Click to expand...

Use a GParted Live CD (ooh, I'll add a page for this to the tutorial tonight). Basically:

Burn an image to a CD
Reboot your PC and boot from the CD
Delete whatever partitions are on there and create a new, active, primary partition and leave it unformatted. That should give your Wii the best chance of detecting and formatting the drive.

Also, ensure you have the drive in the correct USB slot of the Wii (the one near the edge)
 
Well, got my Wii back after the SECOND round of repairs... twice in two years. Whee....

Guess what? They didn't bother copying any saved data over... I DID use the (clunky and badly written) save game extractor/installer for my disk based online titles, so I was able to reinstall those saves... now I'm busy redownloading all my downloaded games. Urrrrgh.

I know you can't transfer NAND from one Wii to another, but is there a BETTER savegame installer/whatever utility? ANYWHERE? Is there a current way to "back up" your Wii number (which isn't tied to any of the DRC, so that's a nonissue)?
 
Hmmm I see that some people put a lot of games on their HDs and that they use little space, while mine use about double as much (with fewer games)

Is there some kind of trimming that can be done or?
 
Melhisedek said:
Is there some kind of trimming that can be done or?
Click to expand...
With some usbloader variants you can have it strip out the update partition that is present on most, if not all Wii game discs.

When your usbloader crashes while ripping a game that apparently also eats up a bit of space too. Happened to me a lot, and I have lost some space because of it. I hope there will be a "WBFS shrinker" in the future.
 
Great thread! I owned a Wii a few years ago but sold it to pay some bills last year.

I'm in Taiwan so can only buy a Taiwanese or Japanese Wii locally. This is like the last time that I had a Wii and the menus etc are all in Japanese.

If I follow the (excellent) GAF guide, would I be able to change the menus to English? I know that I will be able to load other region games - which is excellent!

Edit: Yes! Just found this app through a bit of googling Any Region Changer

Tomorrow - Wii get!
 
So I dropped off of the Wii homebrew scene for a while, and now with all this talk of BootMii and IOS and cIOS and whatever it'd be cool if somebody could give me the quick rundown of what's worth getting and why. I've already got the homebrew channel and my Wii is 3.3 or 3.4, don't remember but I know it's not 4.0. I want to do the USB loader thing but I'm a bit intimidated by all the things I don't understand and I don't want to brick my Wii.
 
Has anybody tried using a Samsung Series S2 portable hard drive? I know it goes into sleep mode after 5 minutes of no use but I can't find if there is a way to deactivate that...

Also, what is thing thing I heard about the spin down issue being fixed? I thought that was independent of the Wii [as is, the actual HDD being the problem and not really the console/software/loader]...

One last thing, would anybody be so nice to try Sam & Max installed on the HDD? I want to know if there is improved in performance [like HOTD] because the game runs horribly from the disc and there is so much loading :( ...
 
pubba said:
Great thread! I owned a Wii a few years ago but sold it to pay some bills last year.

I'm in Taiwan so can only buy a Taiwanese or Japanese Wii locally. This is like the last time that I had a Wii and the menus etc are all in Japanese.

If I follow the (excellent) GAF guide, would I be able to change the menus to English? I know that I will be able to load other region games - which is excellent!

Edit: Yes! Just found this app through a bit of googling Any Region Changer

Tomorrow - Wii get!
Click to expand...
It's likely any Wii you buy now will not work with that though, as the newer models cannot be downgraded, which is neccessary to change region completely. You should buy second hand.

With an older model it is possible, I have a Japanese Model that I have turned into a PAL model, with NTSC video, with access to the Japanese Wii shop.
 
Jokey665 said:
So I dropped off of the Wii homebrew scene for a while, and now with all this talk of BootMii and IOS and cIOS and whatever it'd be cool if somebody could give me the quick rundown of what's worth getting and why. I've already got the homebrew channel and my Wii is 3.3 or 3.4, don't remember but I know it's not 4.0. I want to do the USB loader thing but I'm a bit intimidated by all the things I don't understand and I don't want to brick my Wii.
Click to expand...


Farore said:
Has anybody tried using a Samsung Series S2 portable hard drive? I know it goes into sleep mode after 5 minutes of no use but I can't find if there is a way to deactivate that...

Also, what is thing thing I heard about the spin down issue being fixed? I thought that was independent of the Wii [as is, the actual HDD being the problem and not really the console/software/loader]...

One last thing, would anybody be so nice to try Sam & Max installed on the HDD? I want to know if there is improved in performance [like HOTD] because the game runs horribly from the disc and there is so much loading :( ...
Click to expand...
IOS rev 12/13/13b and Hermes' IOS222/223 fix spindown on many drives (rev12/13/13b fix more problems than Hermes'). See the Tutorial
 
Can anyone recommended a cheap but compatible 2.5" hard drive enclosure for the USBloader? The one I bought must not work with it as the program never finds it and errors out (though it does that for SD card too, which is odd).
 
Clipper said:
IOS rev 12/13/13b and Hermes' IOS222/223 fix spindown on many drives (rev12/13/13b fix more problems than Hermes'). See the Tutorial
Click to expand...

is 13b worth upgrading to if IOS223 is working fine
 
Clipper said:
flow-z is a mode of Configurable USB Loader. After installing it, edit the config.txt file and add the following lines:

gui_style = flow-z
gui=start

config.txt is located in two places at sd:/usb-loader and sd:/apps/usbloader. It will read the one in sd:/usb-loader first and then the one at sd:/apps/usbloader only if you are using HBC (or another launcher) to launch it.

So if you use HBC, edit sd:/apps/usbloader/config.txt. Otherwise edit sd:/usb-loader/config.txt.

Also, look through README-cfg for more notes on how you can configure the Loader because many of the options are highly useful.
Click to expand...
I added

gui_style = flow-z
gui=start

to the config.txt and I still can't get that coverflow to work....what am I doing wrong?
 
Synless said:
I added

gui_style = flow-z
gui=start

to the config.txt and I still can't get that coverflow to work....what am I doing wrong?
Click to expand...


Copy and paste this into your config.txt :

Code: 
gui_style = flow-z
gui = start
gui_rows = [1]

If it doesn't work can you paste your config.txt?
 
It's still not doing it....I dunno. I'm missing something here. I put it in both config.txt files like it says in the first post I quoted. I'll PM you a picture of how I have it set up.

I just erased everything and re-installed it on my SD card and got it to work by doing that. Thanks!
 
Here's my config.txt. Edit as you see fit.

config.txt said:
# USBLoader config
# lines starting with # are comments
# see README-CFG.txt for help on options

background = bg_black.png
wbackground = bg_black_wide.png
layout = large3
buttons=options_1
covers = 1
hide_header = 0
hide_hddinfo = 0
hide_footer = 0
cover_style = 3d
console_transparent = 1
gui = start
gui_transition = fade
gui_style = flow-z
gui_rows = 3
gui_text_color = black
theme = cfg_3d
video = auto
ocarina = 1
language = console
contry_patch = 1
home = reboot
device = usb
confirm_start = 0
simple = 0
install_partitions = all
music = 1
widescreen = auto
confirm_ocarina = 0
cursor_jump = 0
ios = 223-mload
Click to expand...

I'm assuming default folders, so x:\usb-loader\config.txt
 
So I've been looking lately into softmodding my with the HBC and to put the USB loader on there as well, but I more or less have one concern and I can't seem to find any previous posts on it, so if any of the knowledgeable Gaffer's here can help me, that would be fantastic.

After installing HBC and USB loader and whatnot through the tutorial that's been linked numerous time, will I still be able to access the Wii Shop channel or will that no longer be an option? That's more or less the only thing that's holding me back from going on with this operation.
 
xSL4INx said:
So I've been looking lately into softmodding my with the HBC and to put the USB loader on there as well, but I more or less have one concern and I can't seem to find any previous posts on it, so if any of the knowledgeable Gaffer's here can help me, that would be fantastic.

After installing HBC and USB loader and whatnot through the tutorial that's been linked numerous time, will I still be able to access the Wii Shop channel or will that no longer be an option? That's more or less the only thing that's holding me back from going on with this operation.
Click to expand...
Yes.
 
xSL4INx said:
Awesome, so I shouldn't have to worry about having any problems accessing and downloading new stuff from the shop channel for sure?
Click to expand...
Congratulations, you are now responsible for an addition to the GWHT.

http://gwht.wikidot.com/upgrade

Nabs said:
is 13b worth upgrading to if IOS223 is working fine
Click to expand...
Not really. I think it might have slightly faster installing of games, but if IOS223 works for you, stick with it. Also, 13 is better than 13b if you are using Configurable or another compatible loader.
 
D.Lo said:
It's likely any Wii you buy now will not work with that though, as the newer models cannot be downgraded, which is neccessary to change region completely. You should buy second hand.

With an older model it is possible, I have a Japanese Model that I have turned into a PAL model, with NTSC video, with access to the Japanese Wii shop.
Click to expand...

Oh no.. this is bad news. I was going to pick up a new Jap Wii on the way home from work tonight.

I don't really need to change the region completely, I just want to be able to have English menus and boot games that I buy from the US and PAL regions.
 
pubba said:
Oh no.. this is bad news. I was going to pick up a new Jap Wii on the way home from work tonight.

I don't really need to change the region completely, I just want to be able to have English menus and boot games that I buy from the US and PAL regions.
Click to expand...

If you do get one that you can't change the region of, you can still do most of that. You can get the booting of foreign games working and English in games easily with either Gecko OS or Configurable USB Loader. One of the rebooter type things might give you English menus (you'd need to boot into Japanese and then use homebrew to reboot into English each time). You will not be able to buy stuff off the foreign Wii shops, though.
 
im on 3.0U using wii hack, tempted to go to 4.0 just to get the usb loader+cover flow but im fairly novice on this stuff as it is, not even sure if that is a smart choice to begin with
 
GodfatherX said:
im on 3.0U using wii hack, tempted to go to 4.0 just to get the usb loader+cover flow but im fairly novice on this stuff as it is, not even sure if that is a smart choice to begin with
Click to expand...
You don't need to go to 4.0. I suggest you don't.
 
Clipper, I just wanted to let you know of my experiences with hacking a bud's Wii recently.

He was at 3.4 and already had an older HBC installed, so I allowed HBC to auto-update to 1.0.3 and went to install cIOS rev10 which failed, returning error 2011. I tried installing various versions such as rev13b using WAD installations and different IOS version, all which failed. I finally deduced that even though he was 3.4, he needed to do the steps list here in the 4.0 section:
http://gwht.wikidot.com/ios249
Once I ran CMDVDX34 which downgraded IOS35, then I used WAD Manager to install IOS35 and cIOSrev7, then (and only then, heh) was I able to install cIOSrev10 or higher. I think the reason his IOS35 didn't have the bug is because of:
1.) He upgraded his Wii to 3.4 AFTER October 23rd
~or~
2.) He has Animal Crossing, and IT upgraded his IOS35

This is my contribution to society, heh.
 
So I'm on 3.3U and I'm attempting to install "cIOS38 rev 13" so I can use a USB loader. The first time I tried the network installation the download failed and returned -1, the second time the download finished but it said the install failed and returned -2011. Is there something I'm doing wrong? I was installing it to IOS 36 btw because that was the one it selected by default.
 
Wray said:
Im sure this has been asked before, but does the USB Loader also work with Gamecube games?
Click to expand...
I don't believe that it does at this time, if ever. I might be wrong but last time I checked it did not.
 
Wray said:
Im sure this has been asked before, but does the USB Loader also work with Gamecube games?
Click to expand...

No it doesn't.

When the Wii runs a GC game, it physically becomes a GC. Anything related to the Wii (Wiimote, Nunchuck, SD card, USB ports) don't work.
 
I just discovered USB Loader GX, can anyone point me in the direction of a covers/disc art collection or site that's frequently updated?
 
bryehn said:
I just discovered USB Loader GX, can anyone point me in the direction of a covers/disc art collection or site that's frequently updated?
Click to expand...
There should be an option in USB Loader GX to download it directly, assuming you're connected to the net.
 
bryehn said:
I just discovered USB Loader GX, can anyone point me in the direction of a covers/disc art collection or site that's frequently updated?
Click to expand...
If you are in the list view, just click on the blank boxart and it will give you the option of downloading 2D or 3D covers, as well as disc art.

Personally, I love USB Loader GX, especially for the updating feature. They're constantly updating it (sometimes 3-4 revisions per day), but the downside to this is that they obviously don't test as much as they should, and new revisions often introduce code dumps. They're fixed pretty quickly, though.
 
Jokey665 said:
So I'm on 3.3U and I'm attempting to install "cIOS38 rev 13" so I can use a USB loader. The first time I tried the network installation the download failed and returned -1, the second time the download finished but it said the install failed and returned -2011. Is there something I'm doing wrong? I was installing it to IOS 36 btw because that was the one it selected by default.
Click to expand...
Quoting myself to add some info and maybe make it easier for you to help me! I just tried the wad installation instead of the network installation and it also returned error -2011. What the heck am I supposed to do to fix it? This is the first time I've tried messing with cIOS.
 
Jokey665 said:
Quoting myself to add some info and maybe make it easier for you to help me! I just tried the wad installation instead of the network installation and it also returned error -2011. What the heck am I supposed to do to fix it? This is the first time I've tried messing with cIOS.
Click to expand...
Read the post one above your original one... Basically, try following the instructions for a 4.0 Wii.

I just updated the GWHT to reflect this: http://gwht.wikidot.com/ios249
 
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