Gaming Does installing .WADs in vWii count towards the Wii U's 300 game/program limit?

[AskingForTrouble]

Was hoping to take advantage of my .WAD collection and get around the 300-title limit on my Wii U for my library's injection collection (I've got well over 300 games when accounting for my GameCube, Wii and Wii U libraries, not to mention eShop downloads and Virtual Console).

Edit - And I guess the next question is, what's the title limit for vWii?

 

[Jayinem81]

No only games on the Wii U menu, but if you made a forwarder of the Wad with the VC Injector to show up on the Wii u menu then each forwarder would count. So if that's what you're asking then yes it counts, but not the wad on the vwii itself.

 

[AskingForTrouble]

No only games on the Wii U menu, but if you made a forwarder of the Wad with the VC Injector to show up on the Wii u menu then each forwarder would count. So if that's what you're asking then yes it counts, but not the wad on the vwii itself.

I was inquiring about the first point but both answers are very informative, thank you.

Although I guess the next question is, what's the title limit for vWii?

 

[Jayinem81]

Oh yeah just remembered there's a different problem on vWii very limited storage space for wads. I only have like 11 installed and tried to install a 12th but ran out of space. I don't know of a way to install a huge wad collection there may be a workaround but I don't personally know it.

I also can't remembered if like USB Loader GX allows wads because there's no limit to how many games you add for it, that I'm aware of.

 

[Cyan]

USBGX don't load wads directly, but they can be installed in a "emuNAND", which is a copy of vWii file system on SD or USB.
then you can use your SD or USB as if it was your internal Wii memory, up to 2TB instead of 512MB !
you need your drive as MBR + FAT32 to use that feature.

might be outdated:
guide to use emuNAND (simple (wii and vwii compatible), and neek mode. though, it might not cover vWii neek mode)
https://gbatemp.net/posts/6592730

 

[AskingForTrouble]

Oh yeah just remembered there's a different problem on vWii very limited storage space for wads. I only have like 11 installed and tried to install a 12th but ran out of space. I don't know of a way to install a huge wad collection there may be a workaround but I don't personally know it.

I also can't remembered if like USB Loader GX allows wads because there's no limit to how many games you add for it, that I'm aware of.

USBGX don't load wads directly, but they can be installed in a "emuNAND", which is a copy of vWii file system on SD or USB.
then you can use your SD or USB as if it was your internal Wii memory, up to 2TB instead of 512MB !
you need your drive as MBR + FAT32 to use that feature.

Can't I just install the WADs onto an SD card, or move them?

 

[Jayinem81]

Can't I just install the WADs onto an SD card, or move them?

If you could just do that why would he even bring up using an emunand? You have to use an emunand Wii or vWii only gives 512 mb and without it doesn't allow additional storage.

 

[Cyan]

if you install WAD to the internal Wii/vWii memory, you can move them to the official "SD menu" allowing you to install more than 512MB of data to the Wii.
You can then launch them from the SD menu (no need of USBLoaders), but they are not really launched from SD menu, they are silently copied into internal memory and launched from there.
so you need at least 40MB free on internal to be able to launch game.
when you launch another game, it deletes the "invisible channel" on internal memory and replace it with the new game.

To be able to launch games from SD menu, you need a patched IOS 70 (Wii) or 80 (vWii)


I talked about EmuNAND because you mentioned USBLoaderGX !
and USB Loader GX can't launch games installed on SD menu ! remember, they are not "launched from SD menu", they are stored encrypted with your unique console key waiting for you to use the SD menu to "silently copy one at a time into the internal memory" before launching it.

using the official Menu or Sd menu has better game compatibility, BUT you risk bricking your vWii.
be sure to follow guides to make a vWii NAND backup so you can restore it if you ever brick it.
also, restoring vWii NAND will delete all your savegames so be sure to backup them regularly using the official "data management menu" to SD card.

 

[AskingForTrouble]

if you install WAD to the internal Wii/vWii memory, you can move them to the official "SD menu" allowing you to install more than 512MB of data to the Wii.
You can then launch them from the SD menu (no need of USBLoaders), but they are not really launched from SD menu, they are silently copied into internal memory and launched from there.
so you need at least 40MB free on internal to be able to launch game.
when you launch another game, it deletes the "invisible channel" on internal memory and replace it with the new game.

To be able to launch games from SD menu, you need a patched IOS 70 (Wii) or 80 (vWii)


I talked about EmuNAND because you mentioned USBLoaderGX !
and USB Loader GX can't launch games installed on SD menu ! remember, they are not "launched from SD menu", they are stored encrypted with your unique console key waiting for you to use the SD menu to "silently copy one at a time into the internal memory" before launching it.

using the official Menu or Sd menu has better game compatibility, BUT you risk bricking your vWii.
be sure to follow guides to make a vWii NAND backup so you can restore it if you ever brick it.
also, restoring vWii NAND will delete all your savegames so be sure to backup them regularly using the official "data management menu" to SD card.

This is extremely helpful, thank you for taking the time to clarify all of this. Would you recommend using emuNand and USBLoaderGX, the official SD card method, or a different method/program entirely for optimal WAD usage?

 

[Cyan]

I usually recommend a mix.

EmuNAND is very easy to setup and use, with around 80-90% of game compatibility.
some games will require a different method to launch them, called neek, which is an additional layer added to your existing emuNAND. so they are both compatible and merged, you just enable the "neek" option over the existing "emuNAND" to play some specific games otherwise not working with regular emuNAND mode.

I don't recommend to use neek all the time, but only on specific games. it has some incenvenient and would cause much issues I don't want to help users fix, while they can just not use it and don't have issues.

Even if it would be a lot easier to install the WAD directly to real NAND, with full and better compatibility, I always recommend people not to, because if brick risk.
if you try to install a bad WAD, you'll brick and will need to restore a nand dump to fix vWii (Wii has additional way to fix and prevent brick that vWii doesn't have)