How to play GameCube games off a USB HDD.

Welcome to my guide! This will teach you to "backup" your games that you TOTALLY legally own. Right?
This guide is completely compatible with Windows, Mac (Wine), and Linux (Wine). I do not have access to an Apple machine, but theoretically, it should work. Please note that this guide requires you to format your HDD, however you can still use it for storage after we're done, so just back it up before we begin.


NOTE BY A MODERATOR :

There are different methods to play Gamecube games off a USB HDD, and this outdated guide will only tell you ONE method.
It will not explain to you how to run gamecube games from USB HDD, but instead will tell you to do things blindly and install specific outdated files and use a specific outdated USB Loader version.
It doesn't cover other USB HDD methods or other Gamecube loaders.
Don't follow this guide if you want updated informations, updated loaders or if you want to use a different gamecube loading method.

You can follow it only if you want DIOS MIOS 2.8 (outdated) and CFG Loader v70 r36 (outdated).
Thanks for reading,
Cyan

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You will need:
-An SD Card
-A USB HDD
-Wii Mote
-GameCube Controller
-A Wii with Homebrew Channel installed
-A GameCube iso

Download Links:

COMPUTER:


1.) Download WiiFlow from the Download List above. Put it in the apps folder of your SD Card.

2.) Download the DIOS MIOS v2.8 RAR. Go to 'DM', then move 'DIOSMIOS_2.8' to the root folder of your SD card, or for easier installation put it in a folder on the root titled 'wad'.

3.) Download MMM, and put it in your apps folder.

4.) In the DM folder in the RAR, there will be a file named DMToolbox.exe, run it, select your games iso file, and choose where you want the game's folder to go (Desktop will do.). Hit 'Install', and the folder will appear where you wanted it to, it will be named the game's ID, which will, to you, appear to be a bunch of random characters.

5.) Download and Install EaseUS Partition master, and open it. Find your HDD, and right click it, and select 'format'. Format it as FAT32 with 32KB Clusters. *DON'T IGNORE! Press OK, and then "Apply".

6.) Look at your empty HDD, and make a 'games' folder. Put the folder with the Game ID in there.

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WII:




1.) Plug in your HDD in USB Slot 0. Turn on your Wii. Launch Homebrew Channel. Then launch MMM.

2.) Choose WAD Manager on the menu and install DIOSMIOS_2.8.wad

3.) After you're done, exit MMM. Launch WiiFlow.

4.) Go to Settings, and change game partition to USB1

5.) Press 'B', and select the Gamecube icon

7.) Choose a game and press Start. Every time you add new games, you have to hit the home icon, and hit update cache, and your game list will refresh.

Congratulations! You can now play GC games from your USB HDD!

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CFG USB LOADERv70 r36:

COMPUTER:
Follow steps 3-7 in the COMPUTER guide above.

WII:

1.) Follow step 3 in the guide above.
2.) Install DIOS MIOS using MMM.
3.) Launch CFG USB Loader.
4.) Click the icon with tools on it
5.) Set "DML Version" to DM.
6.) Launch your game!
 

Maxternal

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Yes but if I open my hdd up theres just a bfs folder that has my games in
Ok, if you have a WBFS folder there, it's already in either NTFS or FAT32 format. A drive in WBFS format can't even be opened up normally by Windows. It would ONLY be readable through programs such as Wii Backup Manager.

Go to My Computer (or just Computer if you're on Windows Vista/7/8) and right click on the drive and go to properties.
On the window that comes up, right above the part where it tells you how much space you're using it should say "File System:". That should tell you how your drive is formatted. If it were WBFS formatted it would say "unknown" there.
 

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The file system is NTFS
ah :wink: I don't know of any free software to convert to FAT32 in that case (all the free stuff converts in the other direction) so you might have to go ahead and back up the WBFS folder and put it back after formatting your drive.
 
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TudorBlue

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I think I can do it in windows via cmd prmpt. Will have a go now and once its done will convert the whole drive using wbfs2fat. I have backed up the file onto my pc so Im good to go
 

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If you get an ISO for a Gamecube file and want to use it on Windows, the Gamecube ISO Tool is very useful. You can use it to trim ISOs and convert formats. I suggest a standard ISO, and if you are not using Devolution, you should trim it as it will usually work fine in Dolphin or Dios Mios.

Also, it will correctly name the games for you. I just take the game names, copy them to a folder of the same name, and then stick the ISO in that folder and rename it game.iso so Dios Mios will recognize it and I will know what it is.
 
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Wisenheimer

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Scratch formatting it via CMD prompt, it takes 7 hrs. Grim that. I will find another way

You can just format it via Windows after having backed up all information. It should only take a few minutes if you use a quick format. If you want to test the hard drive for bad sectors, use a full format.

If your version of Windows is too new to support DiosMios compatible FAT, then use a free Windows format tool or use an older version of Windows running in a virtual machine.
 

TudorBlue

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Formatted to FAT32 via wii backup manager. Just transferring my games back onto my hdd. is it better if i just transfer each game to the root or the entire wbfs folder?? either way, its going to take while
 

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Formatted to FAT32 via wii backup manager. Just transferring my games back onto my hdd. is it better if i just transfer each game to the root or the entire wbfs folder?? either way, its going to take while

Did you use the right cluster size (32KB)? Dios Mios will not work otherwise.

If you are using the same partition for Wii and Gamecube (which I suggest you do), put the Wii games in a folder called wbfs. But all the ISOs for each game in its own subfolder using the wbfs image format. I suggest you use Wii backup manager to create, trim, and split the wbfs format for you and name the games and game folders. Note, because it is FAT32, double layer disks need to be slplit using Wii backup manager.

Make another folder on the root called games. Use the iso manager tool I gave you to create a trimmed or untrimmed gamecube iso file and automatically name the file. Copy the name of each gamecube iso and make a new subfolder under games with the name of that game. Put the iso in the folder you just named, then change the name of the iso to game.iso. Every gamecube game should have the following structure: /DRIVENAME-ROOT/games/GAME-NAME/game.iso

For example, the game Beyond Good And Evil ntsc on my drive is: N:\games\Beyond Good and Evil [GGEE41]\game.iso
 

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Im just transferring my games over then I will use wbfs2fat and then convert my hdd to wbfs with cluster of 32kb. I had this opetion in wii backup manager but just formatted it to fat 32
 

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