Hacking Issues trying to run Mods in Breath of The Wild

[XaneTenshi]

Hey guys
Sorry if this in the wrong section, wasn't quite sure where to post it.
So I am trying to run some mods in Breath of The WIld and as per the instructions here https://botw-modding-database.fandom.com/wiki/Mod_Installation_Instructions I am using FTPiiU Everywhere to try and replace the actual files with my mods. I am encountering two issues while trying to do this:

Question 1: Since I want to replace Link with Zelda and also add some Weapon mods, I thought I had to change some files in the "Base Game Folder", however, the TitleID for my game - 101C9500 - doesn't appear under this folder. Is this because I have the physical version and not the eShop version? How do I go about changing the files then?



Question 2: Since I couldn't find the Base Game Folder, I tried looking around and found some of the files I wanted to edit in the Update Data folder - 0005000e - but I have to backup the files before I can try to replace them. But I am unable to backup some of the necessary files; I just get something like "Critical Error occurred during File Transfer". This is probably just a settings issue with FileZIlla, but some files I could backup with no issues, so I'm not sure what to do next.

 

[emcintosh]

Question 1: Since I want to replace Link with Zelda and also add some Weapon mods, I thought I had to change some files in the "Base Game Folder", however, the TitleID for my game - 101C9500 - doesn't appear under this folder. Is this because I have the physical version and not the eShop version? How do I go about changing the files then?

Question 2: I am unable to backup some of the necessary files; I just get something like "Critical Error occurred during File Transfer". This is probably just a settings issue with FileZIlla, but some files I could backup with no issues, so I'm not sure what to do next.

Hopefully this will solve both issues. You can't edit the files on the physical disc. If you want to edit base game files, you will need to make an editable copy on your Wii U's internal memory or USB (or SD and load it with Loadiine). If you want to do this legally, you can use Disc2App to take your one permitted backup copy of your own disc https://wiiu.hacks.guide/disc2app.html. Alternatively you can find a functionally equivalent already-dumped copy elsewhere on the internet (don't ask where on here - GBATemp does not permit links to pirated content). Then you can replace the files with FTPiiU Everywhere, and can generate a clean copy of any files you want to back up.

http://wiki.cemu.info/wiki/Getting_Started says
- If FileZilla says transfers are failing when you are transferring a game's Update or DLC, the errors can be ignored. -
- - - - - They are data-less files that tell the Wii U it has game data in that location, similar to SymLinks. - - - - -
- - - - - - - Retry the failed downloads just to be sure you did not fail the transfer of a required file! - - - - - - -

 

[XaneTenshi]

Hopefully this will solve both issues. You can't edit the files on the physical disc. If you want to edit base game files, you will need to make an editable copy on your Wii U's internal memory or USB (or SD and load it with Loadiine). If you want to do this legally, you can use Disc2App to take your one permitted backup copy of your own disc https://wiiu.hacks.guide/disc2app.html. Alternatively you can find a functionally equivalent already-dumped copy elsewhere on the internet (don't ask where on here - GBATemp does not permit links to pirated content). Then you can replace the files with FTPiiU Everywhere, and can generate a clean copy of any files you want to back up.

http://wiki.cemu.info/wiki/Getting_Started says
- If FileZilla says transfers are failing when you are transferring a game's Update or DLC, the errors can be ignored. -
- - - - - They are data-less files that tell the Wii U it has game data in that location, similar to SymLinks. - - - - -
- - - - - - - Retry the failed downloads just to be sure you did not fail the transfer of a required file! - - - - - - -

Thank you for the answer, although that really wasn't what I was hoping to hear. The thought that it might only work on a "digital" edition had occurred to me, but I thought it was so ridiculous that I pushed the thought aside. Sigh, alright, I'll give disc2app a try and see if I can dump the game and install it with WUP Installer GX2 instead. Hope it works better than that ultra crappy DDD Dumper HomeBrew I tried years back:/

A couple more questions if you don't mind:

If I install the dumped game to USB/Nand, my savefiles will still work, right?

What about the DLC and Updates I also have? Are they going to work just like that after I install the game or do I need to do something about that to?

Thanks again for you help, much appreciated.

 

[emcintosh]

Thank you for the answer, although that really wasn't what I was hoping to hear. The thought that it might only work on a "digital" edition had occurred to me, but I thought it was so ridiculous that I pushed the thought aside.

If I install the dumped game to USB/Nand, my savefiles will still work, right?

What about the DLC and Updates I also have? Are they going to work just like that after I install the game or do I need to do something about that to?

You can load mods for the disc from the SD card using SDCafiine https://github.com/Maschell/SDCafiine, however these get pushed out of memory when a Blood Moon happens.

I can't remember whether I started BotW on disc and transferred my save to the digital version or ripped it first. Anyway, you can use Saviine to transfer saves. https://gbatemp.net/threads/tutoria...uding-save-migration-from-disc-to-usb.446291/

I believe that the DLC and updates should continue working.

 

[jeannotte]

If I install the dumped game to USB/Nand, my savefiles will still work, right?

Hello,

If that can help you, I play a game with the original disc (so the game backup was on the Nand).

I used Disc2app to be able to install my game on my external hard drive.

Before installing the game on the hard drive, I move my backup and my game updates (from wii U ==> data management settings) to USB first on the hard drive, and I ended up installing the game last, and it works like a charm.

 

[XaneTenshi]

You can load mods for the disc from the SD card using SDCafiine https://github.com/Maschell/SDCafiine, however these get pushed out of memory when a Blood Moon happens.

I can't remember whether I started BotW on disc and transferred my save to the digital version or ripped it first. Anyway, you can use Saviine to transfer saves. https://gbatemp.net/threads/tutoria...uding-save-migration-from-disc-to-usb.446291/

I believe that the DLC and updates should continue working.

Thanks for the info. I know about SDCafiine though. I've used it before, and the Blood Moon removing mods is the reason why I want to try it this way. Besides, the last time I used SDCaffine something was wrong, because my Wii U kept freezing in-game. But since this is gonna take some time, I think I'll try it again anyway, just to see if the mods even work. Am currently in the middle of dumping the game to my SD Card using disc2app.

 

[XaneTenshi]

Sorry for the double post, but I'd like to update this as I am still having some trouble. I have successfully installed the title to my HDD after dumping the base game with disc2app and have been able to replace a few files using FTPiiU.

The problem is that with the sheer amount of files I want to replace, and the difficulty I have in replacing them, this is next-to-impossible.

For starters, even though I can now edit the files in the Base Game Folder, most of the time I can only find half the files I need to replace in this folder. I can usually find all the files I need to replace for a mod, in the Update folder, but why the hell would I need to replace files in this folder for something like a basic Zelda mod, which replaces Link, whom is CLEARLY a part of the base game? This just doesn't make any sense.

Essentially, how do I know which folder - Base Game, Update or DLC folder I should replace things in?

And I am still having the other issue I reported; I can only backup some of the files using Filezilla. Most of the time it is the .tex1 files that seem to fail, but I can't find any pattern to which files are gonna fail.

 

[emcintosh]

Even though I can now edit the files in the Base Game Folder, most of the time I can only find half the files I need to replace in this folder. I can usually find all the files I need to replace for a mod, in the Update folder, but why the hell would I need to replace files in this folder for something like a basic Zelda mod, which replaces Link, whom is CLEARLY a part of the base game? This just doesn't make any sense.

Essentially, how do I know which folder - Base Game, Update or DLC folder I should replace things in?

And I am still having the other issue I reported; I can only backup some of the files using Filezilla. Most of the time it is the .tex1 files that seem to fail, but I can't find any pattern to which files are gonna fail.

Yes, they seem to split the models and textures weirdly between the base game and update folders. You can figure out what goes where with the file lists or sorting tool from https://gamebanana.com/tuts/12862.

Yes, I've had difficulty backing up some files. AIUI the CemU guidance is right - the missing files show up as of zero size and are shortcuts/aliases/symlinks rather than the actual files. You only need to replace the real files (which are in the update folder if the symlink was in the game folder).

I recommend running your mods through BCML or Wildbits's RSTB editor if you're combining several, to prevent conflicts or crashes.

Have you tried the Overpowered Giant Horse mod? I installed it before trying BCML, and now get a crash when taking that horse out. I have unlocked the Master Cycle, so it's not a huge problem, but I'd like to hear how other people got on with it.

 

[XaneTenshi]

Yes, they seem to split the models and textures weirdly between the base game and update folders. You can figure out what goes where with the file lists or sorting tool from https://gamebanana.com/tuts/12862.

Yes, I've had difficulty backing up some files. AIUI the CemU guidance is right - the missing files show up as of zero size and are shortcuts/aliases/symlinks rather than the actual files. You only need to replace the real files (which are in the update folder if the symlink was in the game folder).

I recommend running your mods through BCML or Wildbits's RSTB editor if you're combining several, to prevent conflicts or crashes.

Have you tried the Overpowered Giant Horse mod? I installed it before trying BCML, and now get a crash when taking that horse out. I have unlocked the Master Cycle, so it's not a huge problem, but I'd like to hear how other people got on with it.

Thanks for the guide, I'll definitely take a look at it. Hopefully that'll make things easier. So, as a general rule at least, are you saying that if I can find some of the files in the Base Game folder, I should replace those, and any files I can't find there, I need to replace in either the Update or DLC folder?

That's gonna be fun to figure out

I don't know too much about this, but BCML and RSTB editor is for CEMU only right? I don't use CEMU, just my Wii U. Doubt my 10-year old desktop can run Breath of the Wild in CEMU well enough for me to consider it playable.

I haven't tried out that mod, but I don't mind checking what happens if you want? Though if you meant that it crashes the game in CEMU, I don't know how relevant any testing I do would be.

 

[emcintosh]

Thanks for the guide, I'll definitely take a look at it. Hopefully that'll make things easier. So, as a general rule at least, are you saying that if I can find some of the files in the Base Game folder, I should replace those, and any files I can't find there, I need to replace in either the Update or DLC folder?

I don't know too much about this, but BCML and RSTB editor is for CEMU only right? I don't use CEMU, just my Wii U. Doubt my 10-year old desktop can run Breath of the Wild in CEMU well enough for me to consider it playable.

I haven't tried out that mod, but I don't mind checking what happens if you want? Though if you meant that it crashes the game in CEMU, I don't know how relevant any testing I do would be.

You need to *install* CemU to use BCML, in order to make sure the files are organised the way the program needs them, but you don't need to be able to run the game, and you can transfer the merged mods to Wii U as in the guide I linked to. But you don't need to if you're only using one mod - it is useful for combining several mods.

As a general rule, all the files of the same type (.Tex1 &c.) will be in a single folder, but the corresponding files of different types may not be stored together. You really need to check where each file is stored and replace it there. I think a few files may even be in both the base game and update folders. It's mildly annoying that e.g. the Linkle mod armour icons are nearly 1000 files, but once you've located the UI/StockItem folder, you can bulk-copy them as they're replacing a whole lot of adjacent files and you don't need to check each individually.

PLEASE DON'T try the OP Giant Horse if you haven't already! I don't want to ruin your game. Even after restoring the original GameRomHorse00L.sbactorpack file, it crashes my Wii U, and I don't know what I've done wrong. I am just interested to hear from anyone else who has tried it (either on CemU or on actual hardware).

Giant Horse update: I've now done everything properly and (backed up my save and) reinstalled the game so I would have a fresh set of files before modding, and booted into Windows rather than running BCML in Parallels. The errors it threw yesterday are gone. My excessively large horse is back! I was even able to equip the teleporting Ancient gear by editing my save. The model looks a bit weird (saddle, bridle and mane clip inside the body), so I unequipped the bridle (which wouldn't have any effect on spur-less the Giant Horse anyway) and her mane returned.

 

[XaneTenshi]

You need to *install* CemU to use BCML, in order to make sure the files are organised the way the program needs them, but you don't need to be able to run the game, and you can transfer the merged mods to Wii U as in the guide I linked to. But you don't need to if you're only using one mod - it is useful for combining several mods.

As a general rule, all the files of the same type (.Tex1 &c.) will be in a single folder, but the corresponding files of different types may not be stored together. You really need to check where each file is stored and replace it there. I think a few files may even be in both the base game and update folders. It's mildly annoying that e.g. the Linkle mod armour icons are nearly 1000 files, but once you've located the UI/StockItem folder, you can bulk-copy them as they're replacing a whole lot of adjacent files and you don't need to check each individually.

PLEASE DON'T try the OP Giant Horse if you haven't already! I don't want to ruin your game. Even after restoring the original GameRomHorse00L.sbactorpack file, it crashes my Wii U, and I don't know what I've done wrong. I am just interested to hear from anyone else who has tried it (either on CemU or on actual hardware).

Giant Horse update: I've now done everything properly and (backed up my save and) reinstalled the game so I would have a fresh set of files before modding, and booted into Windows rather than running BCML in Parallels. The errors it threw yesterday are gone. My excessively large horse is back! I was even able to equip the teleporting Ancient gear by editing my save. The model looks a bit weird (saddle, bridle and mane clip inside the body), so I unequipped the bridle (which wouldn't have any effect on spur-less the Giant Horse anyway) and her mane returned.

Glad to hear you got it working again, and no worries, I never did try to install the the Giant Horse Mod.

Thing is, since I couldn't originally replace the files with FTPiiU, in the meantime, I decided to go back and take another crack at getting SDCafiine up and running again - and now it does, not the way I want it to, but it works at least.

Only thing is that the mods disappearing under a Blood Moon is really not the worst part about it. I've had amour mods randomly stop working, while strangely enough, the mods for my currently active equipment continues to work. I guess maybe that's still a memory thing, as it usually only happens after quite some time.

I did take a look at the guide you suggested and I did successfully replace the Master Sword with the Red Paladin Master Sword mod. It's NOT easy though; I really have to pay close attention what I am doing since there are so many steps involved in replacing the files permanently and unless I find a specific order to go by, I'll mess up at some point. I'll take my time and slowly implement the mods 1 by 1. In the meantime, hopefully SDCafiine will keep me going.

Thanks for your help