Hacking WiiFlow - an open source GUI USB-Loader

[bostonBC]

I wrote an app to parse the XML from the WiiTDB download into the categories.ini file. It is current as of a day ago. Here is the download link for the categories.ini.
http://uploading.com...categories.ini/
Just put that into your Wiiflow/Settings folder and you will be all set.
When I get some free time I will complete the app and upload it so others can parse the XML categories themselves.

So, how does that work if there's only 11 categories on WiiFlow? Did I miss something? Does it fit more categories for widescreen TV's or something? What categories does it use?

Edit: The categories I'm using at the moment I made up in Spanish for my family. Does this parse the actual category names out of the different language XML files themselves or would I still have to edit the file and translate the names?

I use the categories in the XML for the 11 that will 'fit' in WiiFlow:

cat1=Action
cat2=Adventure
cat3=Fighting
cat4=General
cat5=Health
cat6=Music
cat7=Racing
cat8=Role-Playing
cat9=Simulation
cat10=Sports
cat11=Strategy

Since there was more in the XML, anything that is not 1,2,3 or 5,6,7,8,9,10,11 I added to category 4 - general. The parsing occurs by the GameID so no need to translate that piece. You can obviously translate the category names in the categories.ini file to whatever you want. I posted the updated link in the message above that has the complete WiiTDB for all languages parsed out.

 

[AbdallahTerro]

@[member='bostonBC'],
I came across a utility once that convert your cache database into categories.ini (maybe the same one you used) and I noticed you can merge categories together.
For instance Dance + Music + Sports can go into same category but I noticed also that many games are miscategorized.

So it's best to go over the game collection and add the games to categories one by one (takes lot of time obviously, when you have 350+ games) but I might do it some day.
Thanks anyway.

 

[AbdallahTerro]

I'm testing rev188 with DML 2 disc games:
Resident Evil zero & 4 second disc is clearly identified (after rebuilding cache)
Thanks OverJoy

 

[bostonBC]

@[member='bostonBC'],
I came across a utility once that convert your cache database into categories.ini (maybe the same one you used) and I noticed you can merge categories together.
For instance Dance + Music + Sports can go into same category but I noticed also that many games are miscategorized.

So it's best to go over the game collection and add the games to categories one by one (takes lot of time obviously, when you have 350+ games) but I might do it some day.
Thanks anyway.

I think there is a way to tell the folks at GameTDB that their XML need to be updated with correct category info.

The ultimate goal of the utility I wrote will be to allow the user to see which categories any game is assigned to and change it if needed.

 

[AbdallahTerro]

@[member='bostonBC'],
I came across a utility once that convert your cache database into categories.ini (maybe the same one you used) and I noticed you can merge categories together.
For instance Dance + Music + Sports can go into same category but I noticed also that many games are miscategorized.

So it's best to go over the game collection and add the games to categories one by one (takes lot of time obviously, when you have 350+ games) but I might do it some day.
Thanks anyway.

I think there is a way to tell the folks at GameTDB that their XML need to be updated with correct category info.

The ultimate goal of the utility I wrote will be to allow the user to see which categories any game is assigned to and change it if needed.

Did you make it public? I mean this can definitely make the job much faster. Can I test it?

 

[Maxternal]

Hey, in r190 does the "multi disk support" mean that it actually separates out all the images on the disk or does it show up as just one item on coverflow?
(I understand multi disks were already supported if you put the images in yourself but I hadn't actually tested it to see how that shows up and how the game selection was accomplished)

 

[AbdallahTerro]

I think it's pointless to add multidisk support since it will take same space as adding individual games and will look ugly (coverwise).

 

[Maxternal]

I think it's pointless to add multidisk support since it will take same space as adding individual games and will look ugly (coverwise).

That's why I was hoping the GC Ex dumper would automatically separate it out (1 disk with 5 games on it would result in 5 images on disk and therefor 5 separate coverflow games on screen). I guess I could always just pop one of my old multi-disks in and test it but I think a lot of people wouldn't find a situation to use this feature ... I guess it might be easier if you already had made up the disk instead of popping the individual ones in one by one, at least, but I fortunately still have the separate ISO's on my computer.

 

[Fox888]

Awesome with that multi disc support, just tried it and its working great so far
also it separates the games from my NGC multi game disc, Thanks a lot

 

[mugotu]

Good to see new version with corrections and improuvement but sad to see split effort.

Thank you for your hard work FIX94

It's not split It's my (more or less) private google code and we'll soon sync it with the normal wiiflow page, I just will keep committing there because of more bugs and stuff, I don't want to break things you know. It's the first time I code in c++ so I still make many mistakes.

I just noticed that wiiflow-mod googlecode page links to that post and says its not a fork....

Actually, it IS a separate project. It had been merged on top of wiiflow for a week or so and i removed that commit. It will NOT be merged in again. The real Wiiflow will eventually have many similar features, but with much more sensible code and less clutter/baggage/bloat or whatever you want to call it. I have not abandoned wiiflow and will not be adding any of the original code that has been slapped together into wiiflow-mod code directly. Some of the code they copy pasted out of other projects may be used, with some modifications for stability. (The majority of the good things added to the wiiflow-mod project are mere copy/paste from other projects.) I had attempted to make it work with a joint effort between wiiflow-mod team and myself, but we simply do not work well together. I cant add their code directly as it sits either, because it creates alot of instability on top of the instability I already had in r417 of wiiflow. They had fixed 1 or 2 bugs of mine, most notably 3 missing break; 's in a switch for updating the cache (DOH!). My local copy now has most of those previous bugs fixed, DML, and a new homebrew and channel view with icon.png sized boxes for homebrew, and channel icon sized boxes for channels... We wont need covers for channels or homebrew anymore when im done (optionally you can still use them if you wish ofc, freedom of choice is king) I'll also attempt in the future for channel, games, and dml to optionally replace fanart with the game/channel banner. I have alot of things in store for wiiflow on top of all this, once I finally get through adding/sifting through the approximately 23000 lines of mostly useless changes from wiiflow-mod, my 2500 lines of what was supposed to be r418 before wiiflow-mod swooped in and got wiiflow users rowled up over DML support (postloader's DML code and gc dumper among other things btw).

Anyways, it will take some time for me to rewrite their code to meet my standards and be my code rather than some copy pasta, and add my new fun stuff and whatnot... But in the end I think its gonna be a huge success, and everyone will happy to be back to a loader that doesn't risk your drive or crash every other time you use it. Long live real wiiflow...Flame on.

(BTW I rarely read any forums, so I most likely wont see any flaming/trolling haha, have fun with that)

 

[FIX94]

Yeah miigotu we got your opinion often enough now and I wont continue discussing it here too now.

Lets talk about something different, I now uploaded wiiflow-mod r191 to google code!
Changes from r175 are that everything is a bit more stable, a few cases of codedumping, freezing and not stopping loading times are fixed, you can now set DML video and language options globally, when installing a GC disc in compressed mode (enabled by default from now on) and when copying a game from usb to sd it now shows the correct percentage, its now also possible to install GC Multigame discs. You can also choose the folder where USB GC games are readed from, after first start of this rev a new option in wiiflow.ini will be created, "dir_usb_games=games". You can change the folder name and wiiflow will use the new folder then to read gc games from usb instead. To change songs you now use +/- again and to scroll through the games B+L/R.
See here for download.
Today or tomorrow will also come a translation pack containing complete translations for danish, portuguese, dutch, french, chinese, italian, spanish and german. Italian and spanish are not finished yet and I'll wait for them

 

[VashTS]

hey fix maybe its time to make your own thread then that sounds fine to me, since you started working on the project its working better for me and im sure others as well.

 

[fluffykiwi]

I'd like to thank those making the quicker updates for the WiiFlow mod, showing what is possible, and keeping our options open. I am really excited about the DML-GC support, and love seeing the rapid progress, whether this is copy and paste or original code, makes no difference to me. If the choice is work now or wait indefinitely for it to appear in the original, then I'm all for rapid progress, but not at the cost of instability.

BUT I also like the idea of the original WiiFlow continuing at a slower pace with more care with the coding. That way the best of both worlds can be maintained. Extra features, but remaining stable is the ideal.

I thought this sort of branching was partly the point of open source projects.

I just feel sorry that the coder teams seem unable to work together.

Anyway thanks to everyone who is keeping my favourite loader current and still the best choice...IMO.

 

[Fox888]

a big thanks from me to the wiiflow-mod team, great work
also a big thanks to those who made themes up to date

 

[Etheboss]

I also like the idea of the original WiiFlow continuing at a slower pace with more care with the coding. That way the best of both worlds can be maintained. Extra features, but remaining stable is the ideal.

I was not sure to respond or not, but i could not resist myself...

FluffyKiwi...as you probably have read in the past...Wiiflow mod was started to update Wiiflow and to adress the bugs left in R417...since then it has greatly improved AND has extra options. So i don't think its fair to say that things are slapped together in wiiflow mod..and are unstable...

I am sure Wiiflow itself will be great once it has been finished, but wiiflow-mod is not bad either...it's just not what the current Wiiflow coder wants.

So to get a clear picture about the situation, despite the flaming Miigotu is throwing (he even admits it) here is what is happening:

Wiiflow: Is maintained by one coder, who now has a particular vision about what wiiflow is going to be..
Wiiflow-mod: Is maintained by 2 coders, they are following the trend and taking requests from users about what should be in wiiflow-mod.

So it's up to you what you prefer.
Both ways are not bad but because of the difference in approach those 2 are atm.not mergable (not because of the code).

And hopefully you all see through the statement Miigotu made...

 

[Damian666]

just split off, get a seperate thread.

both are great, lets not fight ^^

Dami

 

[nibb]

woohoo my first post on gba..
1st : Miigotu keep your version for yourself and start learning how to treat people nice...
2nd : really great work FIX94 and OverjoY... Thanks
3rd : Etheboss i think you might missed a dev for wiiflow-mod (r-win)

later all

 

[MassiveRican]

[member='miigotu'] your a trip bro. "Flame on".. that's funny, for real. Glad you have a vision for WiiFlow and all, and I'm excited for what you have in store, but real shit, there's no reason NOT to play nice with those of us who have been there from the beginning (and I'm not speaking about myself), who have admired your work, who have translated, themed and beta tested wiiflow for as long as at least I can remember bro and have just right down helped when you asked in the past when the going was getting really tough. Splitting a user base is the least of outcomes.

A project to code isn't worth ruining relationships, friends or online buddies or not. You prob won't see this anyway but hopefully you will one day cuz we all vibed with each other in the past and I'd like to continue to do so in the future. Long live all WiiFlow.

 

[FIX94]

2 questions, I now added the possibility to use the wbfs folder too for gc games, so in regular coverflow both wii and gamecube games are displayed and work fine. Should I make it possible to see the gamecube games from the regular defined usb folder too? Or even the games on sd card?

 

[MassiveRican]

2 questions, I now added the possibility to use the wbfs folder too for gc games, so in regular coverflow both wii and gamecube games are displayed and work fine. Should I make it possible to see the gamecube games from the regular defined usb folder too? Or even the games on sd card?

Yes I would like to be able to place the games anywhere, not just WBFS. Freedom of choice rules so for me USB: NGC/WBFS and SD:GAMES are all ideal. If that's what your asking lol