All my installed Wii ware/virtual console games have randomly disappeared?

[azakhan]

It's been a long time since I soft modded my wii and installed over 100 hand-picked retro VC and WiiWare games (don't actually remember the method I used), haven't used my wii in a long time and turned it on to discover they've almost all vanished (about 4 of them left). I've double checked USB loader GX had all app types selected so they should have shown up. Is there any way to bring them back or are they gone for good?

 

[godreborn]

you might not have wiiware selected in usb loader gx. the ones that show up could be on the regular nand, which is selected.

 

[azakhan]

you might not have wiiware selected in usb loader gx. the ones that show up could be on the regular nand, which is selected.

None of the VC games show up either, and I have all the types selected I checked "emuand games" in USB Loader GX's main menu? They used to show up when I selected all options before. How could I go about checking where they were all installed to?

Also, the VC games are stored on USB right? I remember putting everything on the USB, but wondering if there's a chance VC games have to be installed don't SD card so maybe I did that and lost the SD and that's why they're missing?

 

[godreborn]

They may be in an emunand. Check settings custom folders to see if you have an emunand location.

 

[azakhan]

They may be in an emunand. Check settings custom folders to see if you have an emunand location.

In 'settings/custom paths it says Nand emu path USB8/nand/ and same for nand emu channel path. I couldn't see anything else saying emunand?

 

[godreborn]

see if you have a folder named nand on the usb.

 

[azakhan]

see if you have a folder named nand on the usb.

Yup it's there, the 4 games that show up are in the Wad folder

 

[godreborn]

change the location to that usb nand. it will probably be usb0 or usb1. I think usb8 might be if using a hub or something.

 

[azakhan]

change the location to that usb nand. it will probably be usb0 or usb1. I think usb8 might be if using a hub or something.

So I changed both to USB1:/nand/ (the only option apart from SD) but it made no difference for some reason.

 

[godreborn]

no idea then. it's difficult to help when you don't know where the games were to begin with. maybe @XFlak has a suggestion.

 

[azakhan]

no idea then. it's difficult to help when you don't know where the games were to begin with. maybe @XFlak has a suggestion.

I managed to find the guide archive (which I'm sure I used but not 100% as I can't remember):
https://web.archive.org/web/2015051...-play-vc-wiiware-via-iso-forwaders-guide.html

 

[XFlak]

If this was a long time ago, I don't think usbloader's had emunand support back in the day. So it was likely either a neek+emunand setup, or you installed titles to real nand then transferred them to the official sd card menu.

In any case, I wouldn't spend much time trying to figure out what was done in the past. Rather just install the content you want to an emunand, or use wad2bin to install content directly to the official sd card menu (without having to install to real nand first)
https://gbatemp.net/threads/wad2bin-convert-wii-wads-to-content-bin-format-for-the-sd-card.567903/

 

[azakhan]

If this was a long time ago, I don't think usbloader's had emunand support back in the day. So it was likely either a neek+emunand setup, or you installed titles to real nand then transferred them to the official sd card menu.

In any case, I wouldn't spend much time trying to figure out what was done in the past. Rather just install the content you want to an emunand, or use wad2bin to install content directly to the official sd card menu (without having to install to real nand first)
https://gbatemp.net/threads/wad2bin-convert-wii-wads-to-content-bin-format-for-the-sd-card.567903/

I modded it Jan 2014 and I'm almost certain my link is the method I used (the other 2 methods don't sound familiar to me). I remember thinking it was amazing being able to install on the USB and it didn't take any space up! So it must have been emunand?

I no longer have the files available to reinstall everything all over, if I download wad2bin and riiconnect24 from github will that retrieve all the wiiware/VC games and I'll need an SD card instead? If you could link me to a step by step guide explaining everything that'd be great as I'm a bit confused, thanks

 

[XFlak]

Right, so back then if you had titles on an emunand u couldn't launch them via a usb loader unless u created and launched a forwarder iso. Now that last step is not needed, simplifying the process.

Nothing you do will retrieve your old content, unless u find your old content somewhere on a drive or SD card. If u had purchased games from the official wii shop channel, that's a different story.

Create an emunand, either by dumping your own using bootmii and converting the nand.bin to an extracted folder format using showmiiwads (under tools). Then add content to it by using showmiiwads' showmiinand view/mode, drag and drop wads/content you want to install.

Alternatively you can build a minimal/fresh emulated nand using modmii, boot into it one time using neek, then add content to it using showmiinand (or modmii's emulated nand modifier).

Once you have a working emunand, just adjust usbloader gx's settings, pointing it to the directory you have the emunand, and change the view to show emunand content

@godreborn can perhaps describe his optimal emunand/neek settings for gx. Most titles won't need anything special, but some need full neek mode, and iirc godreborn has suggested installing those to 2 emunands. He'll be able to better describe the procedure

 

[godreborn]

I'm not sure if I'll be all that helpful with neek and the wii. I had uneek installed, and it worked, but it's been so long that I don't remember much. I have neek2o installed on my vwii on the wii u though. it's not that hard to set up if you have the files. however, lots of people have reported black screens when exiting a game on that system. that doesn't happen to me. the system is supposed to restart or at least reload the wii u portion. I think it might be restarting, but I've heard that that's wrong. it does say the cbhc "autobooting" thing. this is normal with neek, since you're essentially in a new environment, I think. I think @Cyan mentioned that it might be possible to prevent the wii u from restarting or reloading the wii u portion or whatever it's doing through usb loader gx. I think since it reloads, nothing more needs to be done. to get out of neek on the wii, I think you need nk2o or something to that effect, since that system doesn't reload after exiting. I've forgotten how to sett that up though. I have it though:

I think I have all the sneek files too, for both systems:

with neek2o on the vwii, you only need vwiikernel.bin (can be named kernel.bin or left as is) and font.bin. the other files needed will be created automatically iirc. I think you need the di.bin if you're going to play a disc game as well. fontr is the red font (needs to be named font.bin). I got this from a friend.

 

[godreborn]

btw, here's what my neek2o folder looks like on the system itself. there was a reload.sys file in there, but I don't know what happened to it. I switched over to @blackb0x 's usb loader gx, and I did test neek2o. it worked without issue.. also, the reason you need two nands is that one is to have the game appear, since you can only select one nand in custom folders, the second is for neek only, so enable that nand for each game individually in their games' settings. even though it says wii hdd, I use it on the vwii. this is the system I was using with the wii as well, but neek had different files:

 

[azakhan]

If this was a long time ago, I don't think usbloader's had emunand support back in the day. So it was likely either a neek+emunand setup, or you installed titles to real nand then transferred them to the official sd card menu.

In any case, I wouldn't spend much time trying to figure out what was done in the past. Rather just install the content you want to an emunand, or use wad2bin to install content directly to the official sd card menu (without having to install to real nand first)
https://gbatemp.net/threads/wad2bin-convert-wii-wads-to-content-bin-format-for-the-sd-card.567903/

Yup that's what the link showed in my guide using a forwarder, but if I can't get my games back I'll have to start from scratch and a lot of that went over my head lol. I guess I'll look for a beginners guide and come back here if I run into problems.

But I'm still confused as for years it worked fine and I installed the same games on my brother's wii too, but the exact same thing happened to him they all disappeared not long ago! Just wondering why it happened, and is there really no way at all to retrieve those games, assuming I used a forwarder like mentioned in the guide I linked? I couldn't access the place they were stored in any way?