Hacking WiiFlow Lite

[xLAKITUx]

For my Wii I have :
Toshiba HDTB310EK3AA Canvio Basic HDD 2.5 ", 1Tb, USB 3.0.
Very happy with it. Everything works including emunand and neek2o (which requires 32k cluster size).
No external power source.
Formatted like this:
1st partition - FAT32 32k cluster size (dedicated to the Wii)
2nd partition - NTFS

Any particular reason to partition the drive? I'm assuming it's for performance?

As of right now, I have a 500GB that is just all FAT32. I have my emunand on there, my Wii and GC backups as well as my emulator roms and covers

 

[Tetsuo Shima]

No it's just that 500Gb are enough space for the Wii. The other partition is for archiving stuff (music, movies)

 

[protivakid]

great! I can officially commit it. thanks to you inserting that blank sd card otherwise I had no idea. but it was interesting to figure what the problem was and how to fix it.

Thank you so much!

Just in case you ever want to look into the cover & Game DB downloading issue, the download part always works, where my Wii freezes is with the "Making" part. At that point I have to force power off my Wii and retry since it locks up. It will usually get them all after 3-5 power cycle retries. This started in version 5.4.0+, as when I used 5.2.0 I never had the issue. I attached a pic below showing how the cover it was trying to "make" when soft-locking looks after reboot.

Again not a huge issue, I download covers maybe once a year so I can deal. I appreciate all the hard work and awesome app!

 

[ca032769]

So - end of an era. My 500GB external HDD (an older Buffalo MiniStation) that I've been using since I first installed homebrew apps on my Wii is nearly full. Looking for an upgrade. I've looked at the USB Devices Compatibility List

However, I was just curious - What external HDD are you all using? Mine is going to need to be at least 1 TB, and I'd prefer it to be portable (not needing an external power source).

Particularly curious as to what @fledge68 @Tetsuo Shima @RunningSnakes are using!

I recommend the Wester Digital Passport in the 2TB size for you, but my favorite is currently the 4TB. I'm thinking of getting a 5TB so that 100% of the Wii & GameCube titles will fit, but the 4TB fits 99% of the games if you skip having all the different games versions and a few of the sing along games. It might not be needed, but I always use a Y-Cable with it to ensure proper power to the drive at all times.

I only use Western Digital drives and have never had a problem, well once I determined how they had to be setup. For a 2TB you'd only have to change the GPT partition format to MBR, format it to FAT32 32k and then everything should be a breeze. Anything larger and you'll have to do a little extra work and I'd recommend following the link at the bottom of my signature to set it up.

I've modded a lot of Wiis over the years and have used external WD My Book drives from the beginning: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 & 10TB. Like I said, after all of this my new favorite is the WD Passport 4TB. I like being able to color match the passport drive to the Wii (except that stupid blue color doesn't have a match).

​

 

[AdamCatalyst]

So wait a second... this is just a drive enclosure? You then just stick any internal HDD in there (like you would mount it in internal hardware) essentially converting an internal HDD into an external HDD?

I would be concerned with compatibility of drives at that point though. What's your hardware setup? (i.e. - what model Wii, what drive are you sticking in the enclosure?)

YES. I personally format using the built in Disk Utility on a Mac, which defaults an FAT32 MBR format as 32k cluster size. I actually don't know much about Wii models… the first one with Gamecube disc support? Wii Model Number RVL-001? And lastly, I have a lots of old hardware, and just throw any old working pull drives from a Mac into an enclosure for the Wii. Looking back, these have actually only been Hitachi or Seagate brand 2.5" drives, from 80 GB to 160 GB.

I know people report hard drive compatibility problems, but my experience over the years handling a few dozen drives for a couple dozen machines has been that interfaces and chipsets are far more important for drive compatibility than the drive itself. But this is highly anecdotal, and perhaps others have very different experiences.

 

[xLAKITUx]

I recommend the Wester Digital Passport in the 2TB size for you, but my favorite is currently the 4TB. I'm thinking of getting a 5TB so that 100% of the Wii & GameCube titles will fit, but the 4TB fits 99% of the games if you skip having all the different games versions and a few of the sing along games. It might not be needed, but I always use a Y-Cable with it to ensure proper power to the drive at all times.

I only use Western Digital drives and have never had a problem, well once I determined how they had to be setup. For a 2TB you'd only have to change the GPT partition format to MBR, format it to FAT32 32k and then everything should be a breeze. Anything larger and you'll have to do a little extra work and I'd recommend following the link at the bottom of my signature to set it up.

I've modded a lot of Wiis over the years and have used external WD My Book drives from the beginning: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 & 10TB. Like I said, after all of this my new favorite is the WD Passport 4TB. I like being able to color match the passport drive to the Wii (except that stupid blue color doesn't have a match).

View attachment 211821
View attachment 211822​

It seems like the Elements line from WD are also portable and stand to be a little bit cheaper. Any reason to skip those in favor of the My Passport?

Amazon -
WD 2TB My Passport - $65
WD 2TB Elements - $60

As far as my very limited research goes, the My Passport gets loaded with some proprietary software for backing up and encrypting your drive... Doesn't seem worth it for something I'll never use. It's not sensitive data or PII. It's ROMs. Seem like the Elements are just fine.

 

[RunningSnakes]

I used a 500GB Seagate 10 years ago. I gave it to my sister & kids 7 years ago and it still works. I also used a couple of 2TB WD My Books that worked very well & i still have them both around for archive purposes. What i use now is a 2TB WD My Passport Ultra that i've had for 4-5 years FAT32 of course with no partition(s). I do not use SD for anything so everything i use for Wii (WII, GC, EmuNAND, SNEEK, All Emulators, etc) is on 1 partition. For everything I have WII related, it takes up about 1.5TB. I only buy & recommend WD to everyone purchasing HDD for Wii. I have modded up to 25-30 different Wii/WiiU for friends & family & WD are consistently Better for longevity IMO. Toshiba has been the most faulty in my experience, becoming corrupt or completely dying within the first few years on at least 3-4 occasions. Just my experience though. I've also used the WD Elements and i don't remember any problems.

 

[xLAKITUx]

I used a 500GB Seagate 10 years ago. I gave it to my sister & kids 7 years ago and it still works. I also used a couple of 2TB WD My Books that worked very well & i still have them both around for archive purposes. What i use now is a 2TB WD My Passport Ultra that i've had for 4-5 years FAT32 of course with no partition(s). I do not use SD for anything so everything i use for Wii (WII, GC, EmuNAND, SNEEK, All Emulators, etc) is on 1 partition. For everything I have WII related, it takes up about 1.5TB. I only buy & recommend WD to everyone purchasing HDD for Wii. I have modded up to 25-30 different Wii/WiiU for friends & family & WD are consistently Better for longevity IMO. Toshiba has been the most faulty in my experience, becoming corrupt or completely dying within the first few years on at least 3-4 occasions. Just my experience though. I've also used the WD Elements and i don't remember any problems.

This is good info on the hard drives. I'll gonna probably grab a 2TB WD Elements that'll serve me well.

Also - You're kinda blowing my mind. Are you saying that I can eliminate the need for my SD card entirely? I say this because I do not trust my 2GB SD card to last long-term.

Presently, the USB drive has all the big items. Every game backup. Every wiiflow plugin. ROMs. Covers. I would love to upgrade to a external HDD with more storage, and basically re-mod the thing from the ground up eliminating the need for the SD card. Would this be a pain in the ass to do?

 

[Tetsuo Shima]

I'm personally against having everything on usb. There are many reasons behind.
1. Some apps like mame2003 need the roms on the sd card for better compatibility.
2. An sd card with all the apps and important files is better because for example it's easier to backup a 32gb card than a 2Tb hard disk.
3. With everything on usb you're forced to constantly plug unplug the usb cable each time you have to do even the slightest changes. Over the years I broke port0.
All the big files like wii/gc games and other roms can safely stay on the hdd.

Just my 2 cents

 

[fledge68]

Thank you so much!

Just in case you ever want to look into the cover & Game DB downloading issue, the download part always works, where my Wii freezes is with the "Making" part. At that point I have to force power off my Wii and retry since it locks up. It will usually get them all after 3-5 power cycle retries. This started in version 5.4.0+, as when I used 5.2.0 I never had the issue. I attached a pic below showing how the cover it was trying to "make" when soft-locking looks after reboot.

Again not a huge issue, I download covers maybe once a year so I can deal. I appreciate all the hard work and awesome app!

View attachment 211819

so have you been using the same wiiflow_lite.ini or have you ever had wiiflow create a new fresh one?

anyway maybe this is something to try:
open wiiflow_lite.ini in a text editor and look under [GENERAL] for the following lines:

custom_banner_url=https://banner.rc24.xyz/{gameid}.bnr
url_custom_flat_covers=https://art.gametdb.com/{console}/cover2/{loc}/{gameid}.png
url_custom_full_covers=https://art.gametdb.com/{console}/coverfullHQ2/{loc}/{gameid}.png
url_flat_covers=https://art.gametdb.com/{console}/cover/{loc}/{gameid}.png
url_full_covers=https://art.gametdb.com/{console}/coverfullHQ/{loc}/{gameid}.png|https://art.gametdb.com/{console}/coverfull/{loc}/{gameid}.png

try changing all those https to http. save it and start wiiflow and try downloading covers again. but that shouldn't work because you say its when making a cover. really odd that it freezes for you. everyone else says it just doesn't make the cover. which makes sense since when wiiflow says there's not enough memory it doesn't get stuck in an endless loop. it just skips that action and keeps on moving.

oh by the way try turning off HQ covers in main settings. one of the pages10 thru 13.

 

[matt!]

and hope this doversion eventually helps someone besides just me.

I hope it'll help me. I've tried devolution in the past but not had any luck. I want to play one GC game that runs better using devo than Nintendont. Can I confirm that you're running games from usb without an original disc?

 

[protivakid]

I'm personally against having everything on usb. There are many reasons behind.

3. With everything on usb you're forced to constantly plug unplug the usb cable each time you have to do even the slightest changes. Over the years I broke port0.


Just my 2 cents

My Port0 is still tight but that's something to think about.

so have you been using the same wiiflow_lite.ini or have you ever had wiiflow create a new fresh one?

... really odd that it freezes for you. everyone else says it just doesn't make the cover. which makes sense since when wiiflow says there's not enough memory it doesn't get stuck in an endless loop. it just skips that action and keeps on moving.

oh by the way try turning off HQ covers in main settings. one of the pages10 thru 13.

This is using a fresh wiiflow_lite.ini. Every release I try I delete the old folders completely and start fresh.
-Does WFL do a memory check before building the cover or does it simply try and perhaps get stuck?
-HQ covers, was that something new or something that's been in there a while?
-Is the goal to leave it off permanently or just for testng?

I hope it'll help me. I've tried devolution in the past but not had any luck. I want to play one GC game that runs better using devo than Nintendont. Can I confirm that you're running games from usb without an original disc?

You will still need an original disc with devolution for initial validation on first boot of a game but after that it won't ask for it again. No tricky installs, just place devolution's loader.bin from the source download into the root WiiFlow folder.

 

[ca032769]

It seems like the Elements line from WD are also portable and stand to be a little bit cheaper. Any reason to skip those in favor of the My Passport?

Amazon -
WD 2TB My Passport - $65
WD 2TB Elements - $60

As far as my very limited research goes, the My Passport gets loaded with some proprietary software for backing up and encrypting your drive... Doesn't seem worth it for something I'll never use. It's not sensitive data or PII. It's ROMs. Seem like the Elements are just fine.

I think both drives are probably close to the same, but I don't know for sure, but you should be good. I've been getting the Passport because of the different available colors which I don't think the Elements offers so I can color match to the Black, White & Red Wiis. As far as the extra software that comes with the passport I archive it and wipe the drive clean anyways, so I don't use it either.

I see in your link it's the newer model then I have and the 4TB Blue looks like a match to the Wii, crap so now I'm going to have to get a couple of those. I've also been meaning to pick up one of those newer style 5TB Passports so I can put all the Wii's & GameCube's on, too bad its only available in Black.

Here is the style of Passport I have been purchasing, I probably have a dozen of the 4TB in Black, White & Red: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LQQH86A/ref=twister_B07XNJ7NLH?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

[xLAKITUx]

I think both drives are probably close to the same, but I don't know for sure, but you should be good. I've been getting the Passport because of the different available colors which I don't think the Elements offers so I can color match to the Black, White & Red Wiis. As far as the extra software that comes with the passport I archive it and wipe the drive clean anyways, so I don't use it either.

I see in your link it's the newer model then I have and the 4TB Blue looks like a match to the Wii, crap so now I'm going to have to get a couple of those. I've also been meaning to pick up one of those newer style 5TB Passports so I can put all the Wii's & GameCube's on, too bad its only available in Black.

Here is the style of Passport I have been purchasing, I probably have a dozen of the 4TB in Black, White & Red: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LQQH86A/ref=twister_B07XNJ7NLH?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Sorry to be the catalyst to that extra hurt on your wallet lol No white color in the new version though! Just silver.

 

[ca032769]

This is good info on the hard drives. I'll gonna probably grab a 2TB WD Elements that'll serve me well.

Also - You're kinda blowing my mind. Are you saying that I can eliminate the need for my SD card entirely? I say this because I do not trust my 2GB SD card to last long-term.

Presently, the USB drive has all the big items. Every game backup. Every wiiflow plugin. ROMs. Covers. I would love to upgrade to a external HDD with more storage, and basically re-mod the thing from the ground up eliminating the need for the SD card. Would this be a pain in the ass to do?

Not sure if you can get away without having an SD card completely. I'm sure in some way it's possible, but most not.

I use the HDD only for Wii & GameCube titles. Everything else like emuNand and apps are on my SD card. Any system menu over 4.0 can use larger cards and I've been using a 256GB SDCX from PNY for years now which has always served me well. It's a little over kill, but that's what I do with most things. The 256GB has plenty of room but one day I'll get a 512Gb or 1TB.

I use a 128GB card in all the Wiis I setup these days seeing they are only about $20 (256GB currently at $40) and I only stick to PNY & SanDisk staying away from off brands. At the current costs you can by a couple and keep one as a backup if it were to fail: https://www.amazon.com/PNY-Elite-Pe...d=1&keywords=256GB+sdxc&qid=1591287122&sr=8-9

 

[AdamCatalyst]

I'm personally against having everything on usb. There are many reasons behind.
1. Some apps like mame2003 need the roms on the sd card for better compatibility.
2. An sd card with all the apps and important files is better because for example it's easier to backup a 32gb card than a 2Tb hard disk.
3. With everything on usb you're forced to constantly plug unplug the usb cable each time you have to do even the slightest changes. Over the years I broke port0.
All the big files like wii/gc games and other roms can safely stay on the hdd.

Just my 2 cents

No, not just your $0.02, I agree 100%. So now we're up to $0.04. But my money is Canadian, so take that for what it's worth.

 

[MrSW]

My SD card slot is broken, so out of necessity I am running an USB-only setup. I can confirm that almost all (or at least almost all worth using) homebrew is compatible with it, so an USB only setup is definitely possible

 

[RunningSnakes]

I agree, using both SD & USB together is recommended. My original Wii had the SD interior tore out some years ago so I went USB HDD only route & it works 99% (RA mGBA & Official mGBA do not work as plugins). It is a pain always unplugging to make changes (I do this several times daily/weekly) but I do alot of testing/tinkering most end users would not dare or care to. Point is, if you are going setup WFL emulation station once and end user just wants to Play games, the SD card is not needed. Although there are a few draw backs as mentioned, you don't have to worry about possible conflicts or faulty SD if problems arise. If SD compartment is no good or fried Disc Drive, you can still enjoy everything the Wii has to offer.

 

[xLAKITUx]

I agree, using both SD & USB together is recommended. My original Wii had the SD interior tore out some years ago so I went USB HDD only route & it works 99% (RA mGBA & Official mGBA do not work as plugins). It is a pain always unplugging to make changes (I do this several times daily/weekly) but I do alot of testing/tinkering most end users would not dare or care to. Point is, if you are going setup WFL emulation station once and end user just wants to Play games, the SD card is not needed. Although there are a few draw backs as mentioned, you don't have to worry about possible conflicts or faulty SD if problems arise. If SD compartment is no good or fried Disc Drive, you can still enjoy everything the Wii has to offer.

Welp. Seems like I’m not only upgrading the USB drive from 500GB to 2TB but I’m backing up my old 2GB SD card and getting a new one. Gotta future proof!

Question - I think the 2GB SD card is the same one I was using when I first installed HBC pre 4.0U... Was thinking about upgrading to a 32GB SDHC so I could have some room to finally get into CTGP-R.

Anything I should be aware of before doing that? Any potential issues going from the 2GB SD to a higher capacity SDHC?

 

[RunningSnakes]

Awesome to hear @xLAKITUx extra storage is always welcome for backup purposes. I don't think you should run into any problems with the SD upgrade. I recently mod a neighbor's Wii and another for my brother & they are using Verbatim 16GB SDHC SD. I did all normal emulators setup on WFL (Atari 2600, 7800, Sega SG, GG, MS, MD, TG16, Nintendo GB, GBC, GBA, NES, SNES, Coleco) with a few Wii & WiiWare EmuNand. Both are still working afaik. Huge MKW fan & used to play CTGP on nightly basis until my SD went down. I played Wiimms distributions for a few years as well as making a few of my own for personal use I still have on my HDD. I was given a Verbatim SDHC SD & have 2 perfectly working Wii's stored away. Maybe I'll see what's new on the CTGP scene too.