Hacking The Definitive vWii Hacking Guide!

[Cyan]

The WBFS format is for Wii games only. You can't play gamecube backups from a WBFS partition.
All gamecube loaders need a FAT32 partition. Only recently (this week), ExFAT has been added to Nintendont. But no other homebrew support that format.

I don't know why FAT32 is not working for you, but if you want both gamecube and wii, then you will have to format the drive with 2 primary partitions : First one FAT32 (for gamecube), second one WBFS (for Wii games).
The order is important, don't make it WBFS+FAT32, but FAT32+WBFS. even if newer gamecube loaders should detect the partition correctly, other (older) loaders are loading the first partition for gamecube, and expect it to be FAT32 32k/cluster.

The guide is only for vWii, I don't think the typical user will need the program all too often

That is a really bad assumption. Users are ALL using that program. because you don't pirate doesn't mean nobody does, and the majority of users don't dump their own games but get the ISO elsewhere and they NEED a tool to put the game on the drive. That's as much important as how to hack the wii/vWii for users who want to play games. That's not ethical but we must be blind to think users don't pirate. the guide should help everyone.

That's the same for the channel loading part. you said to me people don't want or need EmuNAND, but I constantly help people using it and setting up neek2o (I did it yesterday again).


I'll gives you some steps and information in PM for the WiiBackupManager section.

 

[7Robins]

The WBFS format is for Wii games only. You can't play gamecube backups from a WBFS partition.
All gamecube loaders need a FAT32 partition. Only recently (this week), ExFAT has been added to Nintendont. But no other homebrew support that format.

I don't know why FAT32 is not working for you, but if you want both gamecube and wii, then you will have to format the drive with 2 primary partitions : First one FAT32 (for gamecube), second one WBFS (for Wii games).
The order is important, don't make it WBFS+FAT32, but FAT32+WBFS. even if newer gamecube loaders should detect the partition correctly, other (older) loaders are loading the first partition for gamecube, and expect it to be FAT32 32k/cluster.

Sweet, at least it's good to know that it can work. Would I use wwt/BackupManager to partition the drive? I've never partitioned a storage space before and I'm assuming a default method with a built in program wouldn't work since half of it would be WBFS.

Also, I might not even decide to put any GC games anyways since the ones I'd want I already have easy access to through an actual GC.

Regardless, thanks for the info again I appreciate it.

 

[CJB100]

Hopefully it is, since as I understand, that format is specifically for the Wii, and since the Wii had direct backwards compatibility, it might possibly work. If it doesn't, then couldn't I technically create two partitions, one for WBFS and one for FAT32?

You could definitely have two partitions, but the FAT32 partition for Gamecube games would need to be the first partition.

The WBFS format is for Wii games only. You can't play gamecube backups from a WBFS partition.
All gamecube loaders need a FAT32 partition. Only recently (this week), ExFAT has been added to Nintendont. But no other homebrew support that format.

I don't know why FAT32 is not working for you, but if you want both gamecube and wii, then you will have to format the drive with 2 primary partitions : First one FAT32 (for gamecube), second one WBFS (for Wii games).
The order is important, don't make it WBFS+FAT32, but FAT32+WBFS. even if newer gamecube loaders should detect the partition correctly, other (older) loaders are loading the first partition for gamecube, and expect it to be FAT32 32k/cluster.



That is a really bad assumption. Users are ALL using that program. because you don't pirate doesn't mean nobody does, and the majority of users don't dump their own games but get the ISO elsewhere and they NEED a tool to put the game on the drive. That's as much important as how to hack the wii/vWii for users who want to play games. That's not ethical but we must be blind to think users don't pirate. the guide should help everyone.

That's the same for the channel loading part. you said to me people don't want or need EmuNAND, but I constantly help people using it and setting up neek2o (I did it yesterday again).


I'll gives you some steps and information in PM for the WiiBackupManager section.

True, but my section should be sufficient. It tells you how to compress an .ISO on your computer into a WBFS file and transfer it to your hard drive all in one fell swoop using the program. Since that is all Wii Backup Manager is absolutely necessary for, that's all the instruction that is really neceasary. If someone wants to use the program for more, there are many sites (including the official one) they can go to for help. Again, it's just a guide for hacking the vWii. Under the same logic you are using, I would also be inclined to provide a full guide on the emulators and USB Loader GX as well. But really the users need to figure that out for themselves. I've given them all the necessary info, for hacking, now if they have further questions, they can ask here, where someone more experienced than I can answer their specific question.

 

[Cyan]

You can partition the drive with your operating system tool, or easeUS. The free version is enough, and you shouldn't need to convert MBR to GPT.
For gamecube, GPT support was recently added, but if your drive is not bigger than 2TB, don't use GPT.

in the partition program, it should tell you the drive doesn't have a partition, or the partition is unknown/raw format, as WBFS is not a known format.
You can delete that partition to get a "empty drive".
on that clean drive, create one "primary partition" with a size you want (not the full drive, see how much size you need based on gamecube/wii ratio you want). Then create a new "primary partition" after the first one up to the end of the drive.
Both partitions are unformated. Format the first one to FAT32. make sure both partitions have assigned letters for windows.
You can format the second partition to WBFS using whatever tool you like capable of formatting it.

It tells you how to compress an .ISO on your computer into a WBFS file and transfer it to your hard drive all in one fell swoop using the program.

It's missing the step where you mount the game partition on the "drive1" tab.

 

[CJB100]

It's missing the step where you mount the game partition on the "drive1" tab.

You don't need to do that in the method described. Just open the file or directory, select the games you want to compress / transfer, hit transfer, and then WBFS. A prompt asks you where you want to save the WBFS files.

 

[Cyan]

I just tried, When I select "transfer", then the choices are grey'd out.
I can't pick "drive1" nor "drive2" to automatically install the game to the proper location and filename.

You can convert an ISO to WBFS and put them on your computer, but you have to copy the file manually (and a LOT of users don't understand how to use Explorer to copy files to another drive). that's easier to just tell the program where to put the game. If you think it's enough to let the user convert and save the file on his computer and then transfer the file manually to his HDD, then I guess that's fine too. it's just too bad to not use the available options to make it simpler.

 

[CJB100]

I just tried, When I select "transfer", then the choices are grey'd out.
I can't pick "drive1" nor "drive2" to automatically install the game to the proper location.

You can convert an ISO to WBFS and put them on your computer, but you have to copy the file manually (and a LOT of users don't understand how to use Explorer to copy files to another drive). that's easier to just tell the program where to put the game. If you think it's enough to let the user convert and save the file on his computer and then transfer the file manually to his HDD, then I guess that's fine too. it's just too bad to not use the available options to make it simpler.

You should be able to save it directly to your WBFS folder on your hard drive from the prompt. You are checking the game, then clicking transfer, then selecting WBFS on the drop down menu, correct? Afterwards it gives you an option on to where to save the converted file after conversion and you can select the WBFS file on your hard drive. It converts and saves to the drive in one fell swoop.

And I suppose, but let's be honest: if someone finds their way here, and knows about Wii hacking and is even remotely comfortable attempting it, and they can't use file explorer on a Windows machine? I think they might just be in too far over their heads.

My video tutorials should bridge the gap, if any. People can actually look and see what the steps are, rather than read and mess things up along the way.

 

[Cyan]

that's right, you can pick the drive instead of the computer. I never thought about it as it's not how the tool was meant to be used. It's just simpler to me to mount the drive in the tab and choose "transfer to drive1". the drive1 tab would also list all games from the drive and can be managed the same way "select -> transfer" etc.
that's how the program was designed "first", when only WBFS was possible and users didn't save the file to the partition, but had to install the game to wbfs. I just continued using the drive the same way.
You are supposed to "manage" the backups from within the program, not from the explorer. But that works too. Mounting the drive also "fix" existing folder and game filename errors automatically.
Using drive1 tab work with WBFS partition format and unlettered partitions too. too bad it wasn't updated to work with UStealth drive, the author disappeared and never came back. he never accepted to release his sources either, saying "it's nothing important, just a gui over existing libraries". making very small changed to things like Ustealth would have been useful with the sources, no need to create a new GUI.

 

[7Robins]

So update on dumping game discs, I'm using a WBFS formatted drove and I switched the Loader IOS to 58 (the Game one is still 249) and dumping hasn't frozen. However, its severely slowed down, all the way down to 100kb/s from the initial 3000kb/s .

 

[Cyan]

Maybe flash drives are not even good with IOS58
I don't know why it happens.

 

[7Robins]

Maybe flash drives are not even good with IOS58
I don't know why it happens.

I tried to set the other option to 58 but then it said I didn't have it installed (?) And then it defaulted to 200.

It could be my drive but I'm pretty sure its supposed to be pretty fast, or at least not that slow.

I'm gonna try using CleanRip later today using another SD card, hopefully that'll be able to dump the game, and I can transfer it to the flash drive.

If I can't then its not a huge deal, I can just download an ISO. As long as GX can read and play the Wii games, I'm good.

 

[CJB100]

I tried to set the other option to 58 but then it said I didn't have it installed (?) And then it defaulted to 200.

It could be my drive but I'm pretty sure its supposed to be pretty fast, or at least not that slow.

I'm gonna try using CleanRip later today using another SD card, hopefully that'll be able to dump the game, and I can transfer it to the flash drive.

If I can't then its not a huge deal, I can just download an ISO. As long as GX can read and play the Wii games, I'm good.

It's the drive, there's just no way around it. Save up some cash and get a small USB Hard Drive, Y cable if necessary, and format it to one FAT32 Partition.

Also, @Cyan , I forgot about transferring to WBFS format -- can't save to a WBFS drive using the current method. And I suppose having WBM automatically name the folders correctly would be better than making the folders yourself. Well, send me a PM on the mount drive method, actually, and I'll update the guide to use the correct way to Manage games in WBM.

 

[Kafluke]

It's the drive, there's just no way around it. Save up some cash and get a small USB Hard Drive, Y cable if necessary, and format it to one FAT32 Partition.

Also, @Cyan , I forgot about transferring to WBFS format -- can't save to a WBFS drive using the current method. And I suppose having WBM automatically name the folders correctly would be better than making the folders yourself. Well, send me a PM on the mount drive method, actually, and I'll update the guide to use the correct way to Manage games in WBM.

I gotta say, setting up multiple partitions is too "high tech" for most the users on here. For years I've just converted .iso to .WBFS. less complicated and super easy. Keep the drive aso a single fat32 partition. That's my game

 

[CJB100]

I agree. They are too complicated for a lot of people and honestly just plain not necessary.

 

[antiswirl]

Does anybody know if I can use a single SD Card for vWii (USB Loader GX, Nintendon't, ...) and Wii U (like Loadiine)?
I know for setting up the initial vWii hack I need a 2GB non SDHC or CDXC Card. But for later use I'm planning to get a 128GB or 256GB micro SD Card and formatting it to FAT32 64k.
Will it work for both vWii and Wii U?

 

[Cyan]

You can use the same card for both as homebrew are not in the same folders.
vWii : sd:/apps/
WiiU: sd:/wiiu/apps/

But I don't know if vWii works with SDXC nor if there's a max size.

 

[antiswirl]

What is Required for Dumping vWii Info?

This section assumes you have followed all previous articles up to this point, and therefor have The Homebrew Channel already installed on your vWii.

Req 1. Now that the vWii has been hacked, you can use High Capacity SDHC and SDXC cards for storing data! Most cards under 128GB will work fine, and there is at least one known case of someone successfully using a 256GB card. You will need a card with at least around 2GB of free space to dump all the pertinent files from your vWii.

I think it could work. I just want someone to proof this before I waste my money on multiple SD Cards

 

[7Robins]

I think it could work. I just want someone to proof this before I waste my money on multiple SD Cards

Can confirm, you can use the same SD card for both WiiU Loadiine and vWii. That's what I'm currently using.

 

[antiswirl]

Can confirm, you can use the same SD card for both WiiU Loadiine and vWii. That's what I'm currently using.

Thanks!
What SD Card are you using?

 

[7Robins]

Thanks!
What SD Card are you using?

A SanDisk 4GB SDHC Class 4.
It's actually the SD card that comes with newer models of the 3DS/XL/2DS.

I actually plan on upgrading it later but its good for now.