Hacking Slightly confused after reading around: installing Wii U games directly to USB HDD without SD card

[ArtemisM]

I'm pretty new to the Wii U cfw/hacking scene and I've been doing some research. I've hit some confusion about the modern way of installing Wii U backups to an external HDD without using an SD card and have been getting conflicting info. What's the best accepted way to go about this? i.e. not using an SD as a middleman to transfer the files? And is it preferable to use loadiine or directly install the titles to the home screen? Thanks

 

[Shadow#1]

I'm pretty new to the Wii U cfw/hacking scene and I've been doing some research. I've hit some confusion about the modern way of installing Wii U backups to an external HDD without using an SD card and have been getting conflicting info. What's the best accepted way to go about this? i.e. not using an SD as a middleman to transfer the files? And is it preferable to use loadiine or directly install the titles to the home screen? Thanks

Over WiFi or Ethernet just remember without the "missile man" method it will be shit slow

 

[ArtemisM]

Over WiFi or Ethernet just remember without the "missile man" method it will be shit slow

I'm not sure I follow on the "missile man" method But I figured FTP would be slow from past experiences

 

[Shadow#1]

I'm not sure I follow on the "missile man" method But I figured FTP would be slow from past experiences

Well u didn't want to use the "middle man" aka SD card method

 

[ArtemisM]

Well u didn't want to use the "middle man" aka SD card method

Oh, that's what you meant. The word missile threw me for a loop rofl. As for loading backups, is it preferable to use loadiine or something else? I'm piecing together all of the info I need.

 

[Shadow#1]

Oh, that's what you meant. The word missile threw me for a loop rofl. As for loading backups, is it preferable to use loadiine or something else? I'm piecing together all of the info I need.

Loadiine is shit and slow use Wii u formatted hdd and wiiup installer

 

[ArtemisM]

Loadiine is shit and slow use Wii u formatted hdd and wiiup installer

Alright, thanks. I have a 500GB external that I'm sacrificing to the Wii U, so that part's fine. Already have the Y cable and everything. Just trying to figure out the software end of getting things set up. So I'm guessing the one I want is the WUP Installer GX2?

 

[Shadow#1]

Alright, thanks. I have a 500GB external that I'm sacrificing to the Wii U, so that part's fine. Already have the Y cable and everything. Just trying to figure out the software end of getting things set up. So I'm guessing the one I want is the WUP Installer GX2?

Yes

 

[brandon916]

You're gonna have a hard time filling that up. I got a 500gb and I try throwing as much as possible and still can't dent it.

 

[ArtemisM]

You're gonna have a hard time filling that up. I got a 500gb and I try throwing as much as possible and still can't dent it.

Its a spare from when I upgraded the HDD in my PS4. And I have another spare 500GB from a laptop I tossed a SSD in thats going towards my vWii storage. I'm a hard drive hoarder kind of lady. I must have five or six spares sitting around

 

[Dark Ronin]

You should check their smart attributes and pick the one that has better stats. It's the pain in the arse when your U-formatted HDD begins to lose sectors.

 

[ArtemisM]

You should check their smart attributes and pick the one that has better stats. It's the pain in the arse when your U-formatted HDD begins to lose sectors.

Yup, already did that. Both of the drives reported as healthy, so the 7200RPM is going for to the Wii U and the 5200RPM for the vWii.

 

[Dark Ronin]

Yup, already did that. Both of the drives reported as healthy, so the 7200RPM is going for to the Wii U and the 5200RPM for the vWii.

As I see it, no need for separate drive for vWii as you can convert pretty much anything with TeconMoon's VC Injector, install it to WiiU HDD and launch from home menu. No need to modify vWii too!

 

[ArtemisM]

As I see it, no need for separate drive for vWii as you can convert pretty much anything with TeconMoon's VC Injector, install it to WiiU HDD and launch from home menu. No need to modify vWii too!

Oh, not even for vWii-based emulators or Nintendont ISOs?

 

[Dark Ronin]

Oh, not even for vWii-based emulators or Nintendont ISOs?

Yes and yes. GC games launches straight from their respected icons and fully playable using WiiU gamepad, which is the best possible way to play them, and this cannot be achieved from vWii. You still have to have a CFW like Mocha up and running cause sigpatches are needed.

 

[ArtemisM]

Yes and yes. GC games launches straight from their respected icons and fully playable using WiiU gamepad, which is the best possible way to play them, and this cannot be achieved from vWii. You still have to have a CFW like Mocha up and running cause sigpatches are needed.

Interesting, so it's basically just running GC and Wii injects from Wii U mode with the Gamepad emulating a GC controller/Classic Controller? Is there any downside to not having vWii hacked then? Will I even HAVE to go into vWii at all? Because it'd be fantastic if I can just use a single HDD for everything instead of having to swap the caddy out. Are there compatibility issues with the injects or is it just a "it just works" sort of deal?

Also, how is Retro Arch on the Wii U, performance-wise?

 

[Dark Ronin]

Most of the games work flawlessly, and no, there's no need to mess with vWii at all.
As for emulators, I don't really cared much about it cause my Vita and PSTV handles it pretty well.

 

[Cyan]

there are two methods to install games to WiiU system :

With SD card :
1. SD-> internal
or
2. SD->WiiU HDD

Without SD Card (using Mocha beta FAT32 bug which messed the mount order and made the HDD being seen as SD card. The console lose access to HDD):
1. SD(actually the FAT32 HDD)->internal
AND NO, you can't do "SD(actually the FAT32 HDD)-> WiiU HDD".
so, if you want the game to WiiU HDD you need to :
Mocha beta -> FAT32 HDD -> Internal -> WiiU HDD

just buy an SD card!


if you want to try loadiine, you can do the same :
game on SD, or using Mocha beta with game on SD(actually the FAT32 HDD)
Loadiine doesn't have network, is slow, and some games are not playable.

 

[ArtemisM]

just buy an SD card!

Honestly, what I'm probably going to do is gut the 32GB MicroSD from my Vita's SD2Vita setup (its a high-quality card, so no performance concerns) and use that on the Wii U. The only game that could possibly give issues transferring, size-wise, is Xenoblade Chronicles X. I never use more than 11-12GB on my Vita anyways, so it's a no-brainer in a roundabout way.

 

[Cyan]

xenoblade is 9GB (13GB if you add the DLC at the same time), so you have enough of 32GB microSD Card to install any game.
the biggest game is 23GB.

performance wise, the SD card class is not really important in read mode, it'll be longer to copy the files on it from your PC if it's a lower class, that's all.