Homebrew File Manager Wii U?

lordelan

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What old version of ES File Explorer do you recommend?
Hard to tell honestly. I think I have the latest Pro version, that was available, before it went off the Play Store.
A guy on xda removed the telemetry from it (for which it was banned from Google) but it only works on a device where my Google account is logged in because of the license, so sharing the APK won't help you unfortunately.
Already tried to give it to some friends but it would complain about the license and won't start.
 

OzKenny1983

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For anyone still watching this thread and hoping for an all-in-one solution, rather than having to use two separate pieces of software as lordelan suggests, I am looking into this now.

I've finally managed to compile the most recent version of WiiU-Shell from @GaryOderNichts' fork (thank you so much Gary, couldn't have done this without you!) and it works reasonably-well for anyone interested in just the SD card. You can grab the RPX from https://github.com/kenny1983/WiiU-Shell/releases/tag/v1.06.

I still have a few minor bugs on my console, which I'll try ironing out before attempting to add USB, FTP and cloud support (in that order).

Oh and the ability to edit text files and extract archives would be nice too IMO, so I'll try to look into that as well :-) If I've missed anything, just let me know! Peace B-)
 
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ploggy

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Excellent! this version fixed the bug in older versions that had missing random letters?
You mention hdd support, is that fat32 or WiiU formatted support? it would be nice to have both :P


EDIT: Would it be possible to add RPX/ELF loading support, it would truly be an all in one app then :P
 
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For anyone still watching this thread and hoping for an all-in-one solution, rather than having to use two separate pieces of software as lordelan suggests, I am looking into this now.

I've finally managed to compile the most recent version of WiiU-Shell from @GaryOderNichts' fork (thank you so much Gary, couldn't have done this without you!) and it works reasonably-well for anyone interested in just the SD card. You can grab the RPX from

I still have a few minor bugs on my console, which I'll try ironing out before attempting to add USB, FTP and cloud support (in that order).

Oh and the ability to edit text files and extract archives would be nice too IMO, so I'll try to look into that as well :-) If I've missed anything, just let me know! Peace B-)

I love you guys, it's working flawless really good the graphic of the file manager , really great job :yay:!!!!

Who wants to add the icon into the folder, I made one just for fun .....;)
 

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GaryOderNichts

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huma_dawii

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For anyone still watching this thread and hoping for an all-in-one solution, rather than having to use two separate pieces of software as lordelan suggests, I am looking into this now.

I've finally managed to compile the most recent version of WiiU-Shell from @GaryOderNichts' fork (thank you so much Gary, couldn't have done this without you!) and it works reasonably-well for anyone interested in just the SD card. You can grab the RPX from https://github.com/kenny1983/WiiU-Shell/releases/tag/v1.06.

I still have a few minor bugs on my console, which I'll try ironing out before attempting to add USB, FTP and cloud support (in that order).

Oh and the ability to edit text files and extract archives would be nice too IMO, so I'll try to look into that as well :-) If I've missed anything, just let me know! Peace B-)

Can you compile the latest, Gary said he added some stuff!
 

Masana

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Thank you very much for updating the software. After a few tests the software still has freezes When there are a lot of files in the directory. Please continue your work so that one day we are really working software. What would be cool in the next future would be to improve the speed of movement, I have 100gb of rom to move in my hard drive for retroarch lol

Ps google translate
 
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OzKenny1983

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From looking at OzKenny's fork, that release includes the changes I mentioned.
Yep the whole purpose of my fork was simply to publish the latest RPX compiled from everyone else's code. And to give me a place to push my own changes once I start making them. I still have to sort out a debugger first, since I'm bound to make 1000 mistakes or more before getting anything right lol :P
Excellent! this version fixed the bug in older versions that had missing random letters?
That was one of the bugs I was referring to that still need to be ironed out. It has gotten a lot better though...seems to happen less than it did before (at least for me) but is still completely random. Those bugs are always the most fun to work on...NOT lol.
You mention hdd support, is that fat32 or WiiU formatted support? it would be nice to have both :P
I agree wholeheartedly! I'll definitely try, although others have struggled to do this in the past. So don't get your hopes up too high! :P
EDIT: Would it be possible to add RPX/ELF loading support, it would truly be an all in one app then :P
Wow that's something I never would've thought of, thanks for the suggestion! I'll add it to the end of the list ;)
I love you guys, it's working flawless really good the graphic of the file manager, really great job :yay:!!!! Who wants to add the icon into the folder, I made one just for fun.....;)
Lol thanks but like Gary said, rw-r-r-0644 and joel16 deserve most of the credit. I like your icon better than the current one! Perhaps we should all vote for the best one :P
Thank you very much for updating the software. After a few tests the software still has freezes When there are a lot of files in the directory. Please continue your work so that one day we are really working software. What would be cool in the next future would be to improve the speed of movement, I have 100gb of rom to move in my hard drive for retroarch lol.
You're welcome mate! :D Thank you for initially pointing me in the right direction! And yes the freezing when browsing large directories or creating new ones is at the top of my "bugs to fix" list. I doubt movement speed could be improved much though; I imagine this would be limited by the Wii U's hardware and your HDD read/write speeds. I'll definitely look into it though.
 
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CrisMod

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Hi guys, I did tried to do the Menu forwarded of WiiU shell using the Haxchi metod...But for some reason once I installed the forwarder and press the Icon to open the program from the WiiU Menu; it doesn't open directly the shell program but it goes to the HomeBrew page. I checked all the files and are fine even the config.txt it's named exactly as the tree directory (default=wiiu/apps/wiiushell/wiiushell.rpx); I attach here my files .......could be the problem because the software file it's in rpx extensions instead of elf? Any Idea?
 

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OzKenny1983

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Hi guys, I did tried to do the Menu forwarded of WiiU shell using the Haxchi metod...But for some reason once I installed the forwarder and press the Icon to open the program from the WiiU Menu; it doesn't open directly the shell program but it goes to the HomeBrew page. I checked all the files and are fine even the config.txt it's named exactly as the tree directory (default=wiiu/apps/wiiushell/wiiushell.rpx); I attach here my files .......could be the problem because the software file it's in rpx extensions instead of elf? Any Idea?
How did you create the forwarder? To get an RPX forwarder working properly requires a fair bit of fiddling IME, as demonstrated by rw-r-r_0644's and my own posts on this thread: Create a Custom Channel? | GBAtemp.net - The Independent Video Game Community.

I've added the ELF to my forked repo (WiiU-Shell-v1.06.elf (github.com)), but beware that loading it with Wiiload crashes the console so it probably needs to be installed properly to work. It's been so long since I've done it that I'm not sure how to anymore, nor how to create an ELF forwarder. I'm sure if you search GBATemp and/or Google though, you'll eventually find instructions. - I've now been informed that an ELF built with WUT is useless except for creating an RPX, so I've removed it from the repo. Thanks for enlightening a noob Crementif!

Good luck! :)

UPDATE: I just tried this myself, and can confirm that the following works:
  1. Download everything from this link: homebrew_launcher/channel at homebrew_launcher_rpx · dimok789/homebrew_launcher (github.com) to your user profile directory (%USERPROFILE% on Windows, ~ on *nix).
  2. Edit line 5 of the code/app.xml file to include a unique title ID. I used "00050002524D4346" but I'm pretty sure it could be anything that isn't already used for a legit title, as long as it meets the guidelines discussed here: Title database - WiiUBrew.
  3. Edit line 5 of the code/cos.xml file to include the name of your RPX file, which should also be placed in the code directory.
  4. Edit the meta/meta.xml file like so:
    1. Line 4 needs a unique product code. I used "WUP-P-WUSH" but once again, I think this can be any non-real product code.
    2. Line 18 needs the exact same title ID that you used in Step 2 above.
    3. Replace every instance of "Homebrew Launcher" on lines 72 - 95 with "WiiU-Shell" or whatever else you want.
  5. Replace the *.tga images in the meta directory with your own, or use the ones already there if you don't care. This also goes for the bootMovie.h264 and bootSound.btsnd files.
  6. Grab NUSPacker from here: https://bitbucket.org/timogus/nuspacker/downloads/NUSPacker.jar and save it to your user profile directory.
  7. Insert your SD card into your PC, open up a command shell, navigate to your user profile directory and run the following command:
    Code:
    java -jar NUSPacker.jar -in . -out "<SD drive letter or mount point>/install/WiiU-Shell"
  8. Put the SD card back into your Wii U and fire up WUP Installer GX2 from the Homebrew Launcher (grab it from the Homebrew App Store if necessary). Tap "WiiU-Shell" to select it, then tap "Install".
  9. Profit! :D
It's generally recommended to install anything custom to your USB drive or redNAND, but I've managed to get a NAND install to work as well, with one caveat: after launching the installed channel and attempting to exit back to the system menu, it boot loops and a hard console reset is required. This is with CBHC installed, may or may not happen with other CFWs, and may otherwise be different for your specific case. If so I'd love to hear about it!
 
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kfrfansub

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Thank you for this great homebrew. Can't wait to have this with usb support and more extension launching. My dream is that one day it support mp4 video via usb but i know that it's just a dream.
 

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How did you create the forwarder? To get an RPX forwarder working properly requires a fair bit of fiddling IME, as demonstrated by rw-r-r_0644's and my own posts on this thread: Create a Custom Channel? | GBAtemp.net - The Independent Video Game Community.

I've added the ELF to my forked repo (WiiU-Shell-v1.06.elf (github.com)), but beware that loading it with Wiiload crashes the console so it probably needs to be installed properly to work. It's been so long since I've done it that I'm not sure how to anymore, nor how to create an ELF forwarder. I'm sure if you search GBATemp and/or Google though, you'll eventually find instructions.

Good luck! :)

UPDATE: I just tried this myself, and can confirm that the following works:
  1. Download everything from this link: homebrew_launcher/channel at homebrew_launcher_rpx · dimok789/homebrew_launcher (github.com) to your user profile directory (%USERPROFILE% on Windows, ~ on *nix).
  2. Edit line 5 of the code/app.xml file to include a unique title ID. I used "00050002524D4346" but I'm pretty sure it could be anything that isn't already used for a legit title, as long as it meets the guidelines discussed here: Title database - WiiUBrew.
  3. Edit line 5 of the code/cos.xml file to include the name of your RPX file, which should also be placed in the code directory.
  4. Edit the meta/meta.xml file like so:
    1. Line 4 needs a unique product code. I used "WUP-P-WUSH" but once again, I think this can be any non-real product code.
    2. Line 18 needs the exact same title ID that you used in Step 2 above.
    3. Replace every instance of "Homebrew Launcher" on lines 72 - 95 with "WiiU-Shell" or whatever else you want.
  5. Replace the *.tga images in the meta directory with your own, or use the ones already there if you don't care. This also goes for the bootMovie.h264 and bootSound.btsnd files.
  6. Grab NUSPacker from here: https://bitbucket.org/timogus/nuspacker/downloads/NUSPacker.jar and save it to your user profile directory.
  7. Insert your SD card into your PC, open up a command shell, navigate to your user profile directory and run the following command:
    Code:
    java -jar NUSPacker.jar -in . -out "<SD drive letter or mount point>/install/WiiU-Shell"
  8. Put the SD card back into your Wii U and fire up WUP Installer GX2 from the Homebrew Launcher (grab it from the Homebrew App Store if necessary). Tap "WiiU-Shell" to select it, then tap "Install".
  9. Profit! :D
It's generally recommended to install anything custom to your USB drive or redNAND, but I've managed to get a NAND install to work as well, with one caveat: after launching the installed channel and attempting to exit back to the system menu, it boot loops and a hard console reset is required. This is with CBHC installed, may or may not happen with other CFWs, and may otherwise be different for your specific case. If so I'd love to hear about it!

Hi OzKenny1983, you anticipated me man :)…… yesterday I was all evening doing Test and here I bring you my experiences that have happened on my side with the hope that we can find a solution to create a Wii U Menu Icon/Channel working well.

RPX file: From my side working well by the HomeBrew Channels list page (so, Open- Working- and Close well the software).
ELF file: Doesn’t work at all, once press the icon by the HomeBrew Channels list page, the software it seems that boot-up but in the end it doesn’t show anything. So the WiiU freeze on black screen.

Methods used to install the Channel directly from the WiiU menu:

1. Haxchi method =
usually works with other .rpx /.elf files, but with "WiiU Shell" it doesn't want at all to works. The Haxchi installation, creates everything perfectly if I press the Channel / Icon from the Wii U Menu and then the software it seems that boot-up but instead of starting the "wiiushell.rpx" it starts the Home Brew Channels page (with the list of all rpx/elf programs installed). I have searched over and over again for the directory tree and into the files, but I don't notice any problems. Also because, I have created many other Channels/ Icons Menu in this way and have always managed and working well.

2. NUSPacker.jar method (thanks for reminding me this method man) = Last night I also tried this method, and it gives me the same results as you. The installation works, opens the software WiiU Shell, everything is fine but when I close the application the Wii U goes into Freeze / Loop stage on the Wii U Menu Loading wording Screen. In order to "unlock the console” I have to press the shutdown button on the base console (and as you can understand it's not so nice for the health of the components, to shut-down the console in this way). Therefore, it is not really convenient in this way. Since apparently it is the only method that works for now but has that little problem, I would like to take advantage on it of trying together to solve the nature of this freeze.
This Freeze, I do not know why it is happen due because I tried to recompile the WUP installable in different ways and I tried both on Windows 7 and Windows 10 with 2 different Java versions as well.

I had this same freeze with the Super Mario 64 Port, and a user has the same problem as our @cagerhager (this is the link with the comment at the bottom: https://gbatemp.net/threads/super-mario-64-port-wii-u.571682/page-9 ).
I didn't understand if it is a problem with the RPX file or something else .... but if it was the RPX why doesn't it give this problem when you start it from the HomeBrew Channels screen?

I hope someone can help us, or that we can find a solution to understand where this freeze comes from…. and than once we fixed this we can share the WUP installable folders for the rest of the community.

Thanks so much for your afford man;)….
 
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OzKenny1983

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1. Haxchi method = usually works with other .rpx /.elf files, but with "WiiU Shell" it doesn't want at all to works. The Haxchi installation, creates everything perfectly if I press the Channel / Icon from the Wii U Menu and then the software it seems that boot-up but instead of starting the "wiiushell.rpx" it starts the Home Brew Channels page (with the list of all rpx/elf programs installed). I have searched over and over again for the directory tree and into the files, but I don't notice any problems. Also because, I have created many other Channels/ Icons Menu in this way and have always managed and working well.
Hmm very interesting...I was just about to try the Haxchi method myself to see if that worked any better, but now I know it would be a waste of time, so thanks for that :)
2. NUSPacker.jar method (thanks for reminding me this method man) = Last night I also tried this method, and it gives me the same results as you...In order to "unlock the console” I have to press the shutdown button on the base console (and as you can understand it's not so nice for the health of the components, to shut-down the console in this way)...
Yeah definitely...it worries me too that I'm having to hard reset my console 10 - 20 times a day while trying out various things with homebrew. It can't be good for the components and I'm just waiting for it to completely die on me. But you're welcome for the reminder and yes, we should work together to figure out the cause of this freeze ;) To that end: are you running CBHC or just regular Haxchi for signature patches etc.? And are you attempting to install this channel on NAND or USB?
I didn't understand if it is a problem with the RPX file or something else...but if it was the RPX why doesn't it give this problem when you start it from the HomeBrew Channels screen?
Do you mean the Homebrew Launcher? Or the Wii System Menu? I've only tried launching the WiiU-Shell RPX via wiiload or the NUSPacker-created channel. I'm running out of space on my SD card so I haven't tried a "traditional" SD install yet.
I hope someone can help us, or that we can find a solution to understand where this freeze comes from…. and than once we fixed this we can share the WUP installable folders for the rest of the community.
Definitely! Having a fully-working channel is crucial IMO, so I'll keep working on this and would very much appreciate your help :D
Thanks so much for your afford man;)
You are most welcome! Thank you for teaching me some stuff as well!
 
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OzKenny1983

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so uhh if this is still going on has anyone heard of https://apps.fortheusers.org/wiiu/vgedit
LOL I did install vgedit from the app store the other day, but haven't actually checked it out yet. Perhaps it would be a good second candidate for adding more features to, since it already does basic SD browsing and text file editing. If you read the whole thread though (or even just the whole last page), you'll see that those who are interested in this are looking for many more features as well, most predominantly USB support ;)
 

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Hmm very interesting...I was just about to try the Haxchi method myself to see if that worked any better, but now I know it would be a waste of time, so thanks for that :)!

:)

[QUOTE="Yeah definitely...it worries me too that I'm having to hard reset my console 10 - 20 times a day while trying out various things with homebrew. It can't be good for the components and I'm just waiting for it to completely die on me. But you're welcome for the reminder and yes, we should work together to figure out the cause of this freeze ;) To that end: are you running CBHC or just regular Haxchi for signature patches etc.? And are you attempting to install this channel on NAND or USB?![/QUOTE]

Yes, my system configurations it's:
  1. Haxchi CFW + CBHC
  2. OS latest US-5.5.3
  3. I tried both ways, the Channel was installed in the Nand and external USB

[QUOTE="Do you mean the Homebrew Launcher? Or the Wii System Menu? I've only tried launching the WiiU-Shell RPX via wiiload or the NUSPacker-created channel. I'm running out of space on my SD card so I haven't tried a "traditional" SD install yet.![/QUOTE]


Yes, in this passage I mean I'm launching the WiiU-Sheel RPX by the Homebrew Launcher, pardon me if it wasn't clear :).

[QUOTE="Definitely! Having a fully-working channel is crucial IMO, so I'll keep working on this and would very much appreciate your help :D
You are most welcome! Thank you for teaching me some stuff as well![/QUOTE]


:yay:

I was thinking.........because you ask me if I'm running the CBHC, so CBHC it's one external instance of the CFW and because simetimes (as Spiik or others apps for Wii U) the Wii U cannot launch 2 instance working toghether usually those apps once you press them to running in background those apps will "nest" temporary in the RAM of the Wii U. So, maybe ther is some kind of conflict between them as happened to me for others apps (but not with the CBHC).....I will try to disable it to understand if it's this...[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]
 
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OzKenny1983

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I was thinking.........because you ask me if I'm running the CBHC, so CBHC it's one external instance of the CFW and because simetimes (as Spiik or others apps for Wii U) the Wii U cannot launch 2 instance working toghether usually those apps once you press them to running in background those apps will "nest" temporary in the RAM of the Wii U. So, maybe ther is some kind of conflict between them as happened to me for others apps (but not with the CBHC).....I will try to disable it to understand if it's this...
Sounds like a great place to start! Good luck! :yay:
 

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