Hacking Games freeze whenever a new area is loaded

[uthoria]

Complete noob here, here is my problem:

I softmodded my Wii a couple of years ago (I think it’s a 4.1) using the India Jones method and lately my installed games freeze at a black screen. I can boot up and play a game via USB Loader GX, but whenever the game needs to load a new area the game will simply freeze. Deleting the game from my HDD and re-ripping solves the problem but it is frustrating.

What is causing this? Any solutions?

Thanks for any help

 

[PsyBlade]

use a WBFS partition -> check for delete bug
check for filesystem corruption on any FS
if both come up negative its probably fragmentation

or if the "fix" is just coincidence it could be a spindown problem (but ist unlikely imho)

 

[uthoria]

use a WBFS partition -> check for delete bug
check for filesystem corruption on any FS
if both come up negative its probably fragmentation

or if the "fix" is just coincidence it could be a spindown problem (but ist unlikely imho)

thanks for the reply...but I have no idea what any of what you posted means

 

[PsyBlade]

which filesystem do you load the games from?

 

[uthoria]

which filesystem do you load the games from?

Not sure what you mean. I use WBFS Manager 3.0 to load games to my HDD or I rip directly from the source via USB Loader GX.

 

[PsyBlade]

find the drive in windows explorer
rightclick it and select properties
find the line that says filesystem

 

[uthoria]

find the drive in windows explorer
rightclick it and select properties
find the line that says filesystem

RAW

 

[PsyBlade]

that means you use the WBFS filesystem
WBFS has what I called the delete bug

if you delete a game using the wrong tool it also deletes part of a second game
the affected games seems fine until a install of another game overwrites the deleted part of the second one
if you then enter an area in the second game which needs that overwritten data it will crash
which in turn causes you to delete it and install it again, cycling the whole process

download wii backup manager (WBM) and use it to check the games for errors:
select the drive1 tab
select your drive
in the bar below the tabs select tools,sha1,all

 

[uthoria]

Doing it now....it is going to take awhile as I have a lot of games.

what do I do with the games that do not pass the verification process. I know I delete them....but what is the correct way/tool to avoid the issue you mentioned?

also, thank you for all your help

 

[PsyBlade]

there is no simple way to know which tools are OK
but I know WBM is OK, if you loader is updated regularly it sould be OK too

While the issue is real im not sure if that really is the problem you have.
I read WBFS Manager is NOT OK but Im not sure.

If the crashing games pass the test the problem is probably somewhere else.
Rerip defect games regardless (but later, after finding the real problem).

If it turns out this was the problem you need to fix the the WBFS first.
There might be some games that are affected but not already overwritten,
they can be saved. I will look up on how to do it in windows then.

 

[uthoria]

My loader is out of date (USB Loader GX) so Im going to use WBM to delete the files.

The games the crash failed so I think your bug theory is correct

What do you mean by "fix the WBFS"? Do you mean simply re-ripping to get a new WBFS game file on my HDD?

Also, would you recommend I update my softmod via ModMii before I rerip my games? Or should I simply update my USB Loader?

 

[PsyBlade]

For this purpose updating the loader is sufficient
But running modmiis update function would be a good thing regardless

When you delete a game with a bad tool you corrupt the WBFS.
Until this is fixed installing games (even with tools that don't cause the bug) can overwrite parts of other games.

From here you have two basic options
a) stay with WBFS
fix the WBFS partition (see later) and take care with the tools you use
basically everything stays the same

b) switch to loading from fat32
this would enable you to access the drive from windows and store normal files
eg music, videos, emulator roms or whatever you might want to use on your wii
game management would still be done by WBM and stay much the same
you might need to update and reconfigure your loader
fixing WBFS before is not needed
the conversion can keep the games (see sig) or start fresh (format in windows)

search the forum to read more about the options

I think the only way to fix WBFS is wiimms wit (see sig)
unfortunatly it needs some explanation and its a bit late for me
look for a tutorial, if you don't find anything I can write something tomorrow

 

[uthoria]

think the only way to fix WBFS is wiimms wit (see sig)
unfortunatly it needs some explanation and its a bit late for me
look for a tutorial, if you don't find anything I can write something tomorrow

any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[Hielkenator]

There's a tool wich can convert your wbfs partition to fat in about 20 sec but I forgot the name..
At least make sure you backup your favourite games to iso before removing any more.

This is like a game of speed domino, this bug makes your games corrupt very fast.
One affect the other etc, etc...

EDIT: Found it! http://gbatemp.net/topic/292391-how-to-convert-from-wbfs-to-fat32-or-ntfs/

 

[uthoria]

Would it be easier to completely format my HDD and start from scratch? Would that stop the bug or will it simply happen again?

I have most of my favorite games already saved as ISOs via backup disks

 

[PsyBlade]

yes formating would fix it
if you don't know how to use a commandline it would be a bit easier to
I would really use fat32 in that case (its much more stable and has better fixing tools at the same time)

but if you do know how to use a commandline fixing it would be faster
to fix download wiimms wwt (see sig)
"wwt analyse" finds the correct partition (called DEV henceforth)
use "wwt check DEV --verbose" to check that all corrupted games are gone
if it lists problematic games use WBM or "wwt verify -p DEV --verbose GAMEID6" to verify their checksums again
delete delete the bad ones
then run "wwt repair DEV --verbose"
that should be all
http://gbatemp.net/topic/197745-wbfs-hd-corrupted-any-chance-to-recover/ has further info

 

[uthoria]

yes formating would fix it
if you don't know how to use a commandline it would be a bit easier to
I would really use fat32 in that case (its much more stable and has better fixing tools at the same time)

but if you do know how to use a commandline fixing it would be faster
to fix download wiimms wwt (see sig)
"wwt analyse" finds the correct partition (called DEV henceforth)
use "wwt check DEV --verbose" to check that all corrupted games are gone
if it lists problematic games use WBM or "wwt verify -p DEV --verbose GAMEID6" to verify their checksums again
delete delete the bad ones
then run "wwt repair DEV --verbose"
that should be all
http://gbatemp.net/t...nce-to-recover/ has further info

I am going to try to fix the issue using wiimms....if all else fails (i.e. the whole command line thing becomes overwhelming) I can simply format my HDD and reinstall my games.

Question: What do I do to avoid this bug? I previously would delete games via USB Loader GX and from my research, deleting files from a USB loader causes the problem. If I plan on using WBFS, should I simply stick with WiiBackupManager if I need to delete a WBFS file?

Also, I am avoiding FAT32 as I am already use to using WBFS....what do I do to use FAT32 with my wii instead (any noob friendly tutorials would be great).

again, thanks for the help

 

[Hielkenator]

You can't do anything to avoid this. You get it or you don't.
It's an annoying bug. screwed me 2 times in the past years.
That's why fat32 is recommended for about 2 years now.

 

[PsyBlade]

yes sticking to WBM would probably the best thing
there is not much else you can do

finding out which tools are save requires testing or reading the source
I would not count on people exerting much effort on fixing it
this bug was discovered years ago and if they did not care then
they won't do now with the use of wbfs partitions declining

I don't know of any tutorial but fat32 istn't really different to use from the perspective of usb loader gx or WBM.
simply format or convert and use it with these programs as you did with WBFS
the main advantage is that you can access it using windows explorer to put other files there too
eg video/music to play with wiimc

 

[uthoria]

once I format my HDD back to FAT32 do I need to install any special folders? Will I still be able to rip via the Wii console?


Edit:

I tested it out with a FAT32 formatted flash drive. I plugged it in to my PC and ran WBM. I then created a a WBFS folder as WBM instructed. The Wii/USB Loader GX now rips games to this folder and I can also use WBM to convert ISOs I have on my PC to the the WBFS folder as well. I assume this is what I am suppose to do if I plan to use a FAT32 HDD?

I can also keep other non-WBFS files (i.e. the ISOs themselves) on the Flash drive. I can see why ppl were pushing this option

Does this mean I will never have to worry about this WBFS bug moving forward if I do this with my HDD?