Hacking Homebrew Any way for a pretty, unified menu for all emulators & games?

[RazberryRaccoon]

Essentially, I would like to have a nice, pretty menu that displays all my games across all my systems (Wii, Gamecube, SNES and back) rather than lots of individual apps. I currently have USBLoaderGX set up with my Wii and Gamecube games and their box art, which I love. But in order to play other emulated games I either have to launch individual emulators (most/all of which have ugly menus, and are also all disconnected) or use Retroarch (which also has an ugly menu since the XMB gui isn't supported).

I've looked into VC injections, but they seem somewhat unreliable, but I think theres a way to at least have them display in USBLoaderGX. Is there something that I'm missing/haven't found, or is this just the way it is?

 

[a_username_that_isnt_cool]

IDK, but I wrote a comment to tell you that you could make a forwarder that's like:
"Press A for NES roms"
"Press B for SNES"
and so on.

 

[RazberryRaccoon]

Essentially, I would like to have a nice, pretty menu that displays all my games across all my systems (Wii, Gamecube, SNES and back) rather than lots of individual apps. I currently have USBLoaderGX set up with my Wii and Gamecube games and their box art, which I love. But in order to play other emulated games I either have to launch individual emulators (most/all of which have ugly menus, and are also all disconnected) or use Retroarch (which also has an ugly menu since the XMB gui isn't supported).

I've looked into VC injections, but they seem somewhat unreliable, but I think theres a way to at least have them display in USBLoaderGX. Is there something that I'm missing/haven't found, or is this just the way it is?

Okay, I've looked into this a bit more and discovered WiiFlow, which seems to do what I'm looking for, but I don't love the look of it (I know I'm being picky lol). Maybe I just need to poke around the settings of USBLoaderGX some more; if WiiFlow can do it then there has to be a way to set it up in USBLoaderGX.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Essentially, I would like to have a nice, pretty menu that displays all my games across all my systems (Wii, Gamecube, SNES and back) rather than lots of individual apps. I currently have USBLoaderGX set up with my Wii and Gamecube games and their box art, which I love. But in order to play other emulated games I either have to launch individual emulators (most/all of which have ugly menus, and are also all disconnected) or use Retroarch (which also has an ugly menu since the XMB gui isn't supported).

I've looked into VC injections, but they seem somewhat unreliable, but I think theres a way to at least have them display in USBLoaderGX. Is there something that I'm missing/haven't found, or is this just the way it is?

USB Loader GX can't do it, but Wiiflow can.

 

[fringle]

I think the only way to do this for usbloader gx would be to inject the roms into a vc wad file and use the usbloader gx channel view. It will however be a long and tedious process if you have a lot of roms.

 

[RazberryRaccoon]

USB Loader GX can't do it, but Wiiflow can.

Hmmm, okay... I've been looking through some old threads on here and I think it miiiight be possible, with a lot of work. It seems like theres a plugin for USBLoaderGX that might do what I'm looking for. I'll have to test it out when I have some free time.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Hmmm, okay... I've been looking through some old threads on here and I think it miiiight be possible, with a lot of work. It seems like theres a plugin for USBLoaderGX that might do what I'm looking for. I'll have to test it out when I have some free time.

Apparently there is a mod of USB Loader GX that supports Wiiflow plugins (so you set them up the same way as for Wiiflow)
It's very old though.

 

[RHOPKINS13]

Okay, I've looked into this a bit more and discovered WiiFlow, which seems to do what I'm looking for, but I don't love the look of it (I know I'm being picky lol).

Wiiflow has many different themes and layouts available. I'd be really surprised if you couldn't find something you like.

 

[RazberryRaccoon]

Wiiflow has many different themes and layouts available. I'd be really surprised if you couldn't find something you like.

That's what I'm learning too. I think Wiiflow might be the way to go... though I'll miss USBLoaderGX.

 

[cheloruiz79]

Essentially, I would like to have a nice, pretty menu that displays all my games across all my systems (Wii, Gamecube, SNES and back) rather than lots of individual apps. I currently have USBLoaderGX set up with my Wii and Gamecube games and their box art, which I love. But in order to play other emulated games I either have to launch individual emulators (most/all of which have ugly menus, and are also all disconnected) or use Retroarch (which also has an ugly menu since the XMB gui isn't supported).

I've looked into VC injections, but they seem somewhat unreliable, but I think theres a way to at least have them display in USBLoaderGX. Is there something that I'm missing/haven't found, or is this just the way it is?

wiiflow

 

[zebragreen]

Try this: https://gbatemp.net/threads/release-clean-and-classy-wiiflow-lite-theme.636007/

As unified as it gets, use an app called Wiiflow Lite, then install Priiloader to your Wii and "Install" Wiiflow WFL to your Wii so that it boots as soon as you press the power button.

For further customization you can replace the Wiiflow boot animation with a "Nintendo" logo.

Then in Wiiflow Lite set the theme to Clean and Classy.

This theme includes all Nintendo consoles and includes very clean box size, color, etc. with as clean as possible buttons and very minimalist, just click on the box and the game plays.

Only downside is that it's so clean and minimalist that if you want to get under the hood and configure settings, swap over to the default theme to do so, then swap back.

Boxarts go in USB:/Wiiflow/boxcover/

Get the GX Plugins from the ABZ Masterpiece pack which have the cleanest GUI (Although you click on the box and the game immediately plays, you still need to press "Home" and are forced to look at at least some Emulator GUI to then exit the game) The GX Plugins look the best as they resemble a duplicate of a real Wii menu. GX Plugins from the Masterpiece pack go in USB:/Wiiflow/plugins.

Follow the instructions found in the "Instructions" file found in the Clean and Classy download.

 

[RazberryRaccoon]

As unified as it gets, use an app called Wiiflow Lite, then install Priiloader to your Wii and "Install" Wiiflow WFL to your Wii so that it boots as soon as you press the power button.

For further customization you can replace the Wiiflow boot animation with a "Nintendo" logo.

Then in Wiiflow Lite set the theme to Clean and Classy.

This theme includes all Nintendo consoles and includes very clean box size, color, etc. with as clean as possible buttons and very minimalist, just click on the box and the game plays.

Only downside is that it's so clean and minimalist that if you want to get under the hood and configure settings, swap over to the default theme to do so, then swap back.

Boxarts go in USB:/Wiiflow/boxcover/

Get the GX Plugins from the ABZ Masterpiece pack which have the cleanest GUI (Although you click on the box and the game immediately plays, you still need to press "Home" and are forced to look at at least some Emulator GUI to then exit the game) The GX Plugins look the best as they resemble a duplicate of a real Wii menu. GX Plugins from the Masterpiece pack go in USB:/Wiiflow/plugins.

Follow the instructions found in the "Instructions" file found in the Clean and Classy download.

This seems promising, I like the sound of it. Is there anywhere to see some screenshots/demos?

 

[Tetsuo Shima]

I sincerely don't understand why people in 2023 are still suggesting to use the ABZ's masterpiece pack, outdated as hell, when there is the Plugins Pack which offers all the most recent versions plus a ton of new amazing emulators.

 

[Exidous]

I sincerely don't understand why people in 2023 are still suggesting to use the ABZ's masterpiece pack, outdated as hell, when there is the Plugins Pack which offers all the most recent versions plus a ton of new amazing emulators.

Source menu is an opaque issue in newbie-friendly documentation for setting up Wiiflow. Yes, people should use the plugins pack, but most newbies don't know what the source menu is or how to set it up. And without Wiiflow's source menu, it's not obvious what advantage the plugins pack offers over separate launchers. ABZ's pack is the top google search result for source menu.

@RazberryRaccoon when you're setting up the source menu I recommend using the Source Menu Editor here https://gbatemp.net/threads/maxternals-wiiflow-plugins-and-java-apps.344802/

 

[Tetsuo Shima]

Source menu is an opaque issue in newbie-friendly documentation for setting up Wiiflow. Yes, people should use the plugins pack, but most newbies don't know what the source menu is or how to set it up. And without Wiiflow's source menu, it's not obvious what advantage the plugins pack offers over separate launchers. ABZ's pack is the top google search result for source menu.

@RazberryRaccoon when you're setting up the source menu I recommend using the Source Menu Editor here https://gbatemp.net/threads/maxternals-wiiflow-plugins-and-java-apps.344802/

Surely the fact that Wiiflow Wiki 4 page went down does not help, but if someone asks for a way to e.g. launch megadrive games from Wiiflow, we should simply inform him about the steps to execute (involving .ini files to edit with a text editor) instead of suggesting to download gigabytes of outdated stuff (no offense meant to the ABZ's pack from the great AbdallahTerro, it was a milestone here on GbaTemp, a truly titanic work!).
But it was released on 29 October 2012...

I agree that nobody should be forced to download a theme to get source_menu.ini but apart from that, nowadays it's even easier to configure the source menu. Once you have a source menu file you can do many operations within Wiiflow, like hiding unneeded buttons, link source buttons to plugins, set Rom paths.

Just install Rhapsodii Shima and the Plugins Pack to have a much recent base for your setup. Discard my theme if you don't want it, remove or hide every unneeded button or plugin, and use the Source Menu Setup (Home button) to set things up. Much better than going crazy with magic numbers.

 

[zebragreen]

I sincerely don't understand why people in 2023 are still suggesting to use the ABZ's masterpiece pack, outdated as hell, when there is the Plugins Pack which offers all the most recent versions plus a ton of new amazing emulators.

Because the ABZ Masterpiece Pack comes preconfigured- it doesn't require any extra editing or input from the user, it's already usable.

If an emulator already runs at full speed and has 100% compatibility, there's sincerely no reason to use the plugins pack over the ABZ Masterpiece Pack.

What's changed? The not64 plugin in the plugins pack STILL doesn't support launching games directly from the Wiiflow menu.

Just install Rhapsodii Shima and the Plugins Pack to have a much recent base for your setup. Discard my theme if you don't want it, remove or hide every unneeded button or plugin

Are you suggesting that people should only ever use your theme "just because" and if they ever want to do anything with Wiiflow, they should manually edit and reverse engineer your theme, rather than use one that's already done?

To remove buttons, you do realize that if you include any references to either font_size=0 or width=0 in your theme, with nothing else in the button, then Wiiflow becomes unstable and multisource buttons black screen when launching games? Doesn't really seem like the most straightforward way to do things.

 

[Tetsuo Shima]

Because the ABZ Masterpiece Pack comes preconfigured- it doesn't require any extra editing or input from the user, it's already usable.

Wrong. You still need to configure plugins .ini's and source menu, exactly the same things of the Plugins Pack. But good luck with magic numbers if you ever need to add a new emulator.

If an emulator already runs at full speed and has 100% compatibility, there's sincerely no reason to use the plugins pack over the ABZ Masterpiece Pack.

Ok, so you're basically saying that you know nothing about all the advancements made in recent years. Make some research, you won't believe your eyes. Wiimpathy's Mame 2003+, the WIISX emulators with Lightrec support, Sega 32X emulation, Dosbox with dynarec... just to name the first ones that comes to mind. And yes, lo and behold, even GX emu's where you don't need to navigate the GUI to exit.
I don't even want to talk about platform.ini. Do you realize an outdated version can seriously create a mess with plugins?
Only the Plugins Pack includes the most recent and commonly used version.

Are you suggesting that people should only ever use your theme "just because" and if they ever want to do anything with Wiiflow, they should manually edit and reverse engineer your theme, rather than use one that's already done?

Yes, I'm suggesting it "just because" my theme includes the most complete source menu files (with new updated magic numbers) and a set of icons and buttons that should suit everyone. Yes, even icons for people who still use the old fashioned source menu, instead of sourceflow. Everyone is free to take what they want and switch to another theme with a few clicks. I don't care at all if people won't use my theme, I'm forcing no one to use it.
You seem also confused about the reverse engineering term. Being a much complete source menu, everyone can spend a few seconds of their time to delete some lines from the included .ini files and just keep what they want.
They don't want tiers? With basic text editing it's not a big deal to build a personal menu, copying the desired buttons and adjusting the buttons numbers.

To remove buttons, you do realize that if you include any references to either font_size=0 or width=0 in your theme, with nothing else in the button, then Wiiflow becomes unstable and multisource buttons black screen when launching games? Doesn't really seem like the most straightforward way to do things.

And why the hell you should do such a thing? To remove buttons you just delete lines of text from source_menu.ini, like you say in your post. OR if you're not sure what to keep or not to keep, just hide them using WF interface.

Zebragreen, you think it's a "use my theme" matter? We should all comply to the same most commonly used platform.ini and magic numbers, or it will be a mess with updates.
It's not my fault if it was the first theme to make full use of all WFL's features and became widely used.

To the OP, sorry for going off topic. Use the theme you like best, but for everything else, try to consider avoiding outdated stuff.

 

[zebragreen]

We should all comply to the same most commonly used platform.ini and magic numbers, or it will be a mess with updates.

Exactly, your copy of the plugins pack has only been around for a couple years. You realize that if I copy the GX plugins from the plugins pack, rename the .dol files identically, and exactly replace the same .dol files in the ABZ Masterpiece Pack, that those emulators then break and cease to function.

If you're going to update the Masterpiece pack with another one, at least have some way of updating using all of the plugins everyone has already been using since 2012.

Wrong. You still need to configure plugins .ini's and source menu, exactly the same things of the Plugins Pack. But good luck with magic numbers if you ever need to add a new emulator.

No you don't, you copy and paste the Masterpiece Pack onto your Wii USB, and without a single change you can immediately play those games on your Wii.

It's complete disinformation that if anyone else ever wants to use another theme on this platform, they first need to copy a bunch of foreign themes onto it first, if people paste my theme's files over yours, my theme wouldn't function or look good any more.

It's this whole idea that anyone who has ever used a Wii must be using YOUR files OR ELSE they are making a GIANT MISTAKE. Why? My emulators run at full speed and with 100% compatibility. Just because something is old doesn't mean a thing, it's like saying the Wii came out in 2006, therefore you're making a giant mistake.

 

[Exidous]

The bottom line is that installing ABZ pack or another theme just to get the source menu is overkill and overcomplication. And most users are looking for the source menu first, rather than a comprehensive theme or pack.

All I was pointing out is that the visibility of ABZ in search results was why it was coming up, to answer @Tetsuo Shima 's question, to fill this source menu gap.

What we need is a tutorial writeup that gets added to the Wiiflow sticky about source menu, with a download link for the actual ini. I'd be happy to write the parts I understand. But what I understand about it is incomplete, because like nearly everyone else in recent years what I did was download ABZ pack for the source menu and then stumble around until I found a way to edit the source menu to my preferences.

I agree that nobody should be forced to download a theme to get source_menu.ini but apart from that, nowadays it's even easier to configure the source menu. Once you have a source menu file you can do many operations within Wiiflow, like hiding unneeded buttons, link source buttons to plugins, set Rom paths.

I respectfully disagree about the ease of editing the source menu on the Wii, for anything more than minor tweaks. When you're setting it up, you want something much more robust, which goes back to my point about what most users are looking for when these questions come up.

 

[Tetsuo Shima]

@zebragreen The Plugins Pack is not my project, but a community effort which involved several experienced Gbatemp users. So you're disrespecting the hard work of a whole group of people, which worked hard and for FREE. Since it's around (I lost the early versions but rev5 is 3 years old) it constantly improved and grew in size and it's now the point of reference for Wiiflow plugins. And you're the only one complaining, trolling and spreading false information.
You clearly show all your ignorance and arrogance on every argument, so bye bye.

@Exidous I agree with you, a stickied guide on top of the Wii Forums could be useful for people new to Wiiflow. Or even a complete .ini file with every possible button, but with everything in a single file.
I seem to recall that @fledge68 was on the way to restore WiiFlow Wiki 4 and that in the Wiiflow Lite's thread someone posted some backups.
However, which were the difficulties you encountered in setting up your source menu?
Which arguments were less clear to you? Which info you're still lacking?