Homebrew Pulled out my Wii after years

[denullz]

Since this time, I would prefer not to work with the USB port, I wanted to ask if it's possible to dump everything from Gamecube to Wii games onto an SD card, meaning also to play them? Preferably using USB Loader GX since I quite like the UI. (not important, just personal pref)

However, a few questions come to mind:

Is a 512GB SDXC card possible?
Is loading and compatibility better via USB, or does it make no difference?
Is converting to WBFS or GCN still worthwhile to save some storage space, or does it make the compatibility worse?

I appreciate your help in advance. Once my Wii2HDMI adapter arrives, I will also upload a SysCheck here. Maybe you could give me some tips along the way since I'm probably outdated.

 

[CoolMe]

Is a 512GB SDXC card possible?

Don't think so, still not all Wii games are sd card compatible (at the moment), but you can play all GC games from the sd card just fine. As for the highest sd card storage capacity possible, i wouldn't go over 128gb, but i'm not sure..
Btw, you can download the latest version of usbloadergx here.

Is loading and compatibility better via USB, or does it make no difference?

Technically using an external hdd is better than both, you still can run into issues with usb flash drives, if they can work at all as not all are the same.

Is converting to WBFS or GCN still worthwhile to save some storage space, or does it make the compatibility worse?

No it's the same for Wii games, you can convert all Wii isos to wbfs and the performance should be the same. As for GC, you can scrub isos with something like the DMLizard, but there's a compatibility list you can check as to which game is compatible with scrubbing and which are not. Though most can be.

I will also upload a SysCheck here. Maybe you could give me some tips along the way since I'm probably outdated.

Yes, you can do that. Btw you can update your softmods by dragging & dropping your generated syscheck file into ModMii, and it should tell you what to do.

 

[denullz]

Thank you for the quick and detailed response. It's a real shame about the SD card, but not a big deal.
Can Gamecube games, on the other hand, be played without issues from the USB port?
Does it have to be an external HDD, or is a USB stick with 500 GB or more sufficient?
Cause hard drive situation bothered me back then, having to keep it next to the console.

 

[Ryab]

Thank you for the quick and detailed response. It's a real shame about the SD card, but not a big deal.
Can Gamecube games, on the other hand, be played without issues from the USB port?
Does it have to be an external HDD, or is a USB stick with 500 GB or more sufficient?
Cause hard drive situation bothered me back then, having to keep it next to the console.

USB Loader GX and Nintendont both can read from a harddrive. Though the harddrive will need a USB Y cable because the USB ports on the Wii do not put out much power.

 

[CoolMe]

Can Gamecube games, on the other hand, be played without issues from the USB port?

I think so, yes.

Does it have to be an external HDD, or is a USB stick with 500 GB or more sufficient?

Like i said external hdd is the better option because you won't have issues with Wii games, the hdd either works or doesn't (on rare occasions an hdd or ssd might not work). As for usb flash drives, you will have issues with games, and a lot of people have trouble getting them to work, if they do at all with it.
As for storage capacity, you can go up to 2tb from the get go with ext hdd, 4tb too though you'd have to mess around with some things.

 

[denullz]

Alright, i bought the stuff. Im letting you guys know with a update and a SysCheck when it arrived.

 

[CoolMe]

Alright, i bought the stuff. Im letting you guys know with a update and a SysCheck when it arrived.

Also goes without saying that you'd need a hdd enclosure to hook it up to the Wii, and a usb cable with it (y-cable preferably).

 

[denullz]

Ill checked the list up
https://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/USB_Devices_Compatibility_List#500GB

and bought one. ill think ill be fine, i guess haha

 

[CoolMe]

Ill checked the list up
https://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/USB_Devices_Compatibility_List#500GB

and bought one. ill think ill be fine, i guess haha

Oh no you can get one with a higher capacity if you want, and that compatibility list isn't maintained. Personally i have a 1tb one, and when i first set it up didn't look up the compatibility list, it just worked. Like i said with hdds most of the time you won't have any issues getting them to work, it's quite rare if you find an hdd that won't work.

 

[Ricken]

I'm going to butt in and mention that WiiFlow Lite has SD Card support, and is my personal method of choice; I use it for Skyward Sword randomizers.

EDIT; For backing up, you can use CleanRip; I can't remember off the top of my head if you'll need to convert a dump into a single file or not, but if not, you can organize the folders on your SD card with WiiXplorer; or if you wish to never remove your SD card, you can use FTPii* to manage it all with FTP.

*That guide recommends FileZilla, which has an installer that offers you an ad installation. If you choose to use FileZilla and the installer asks if you would like to install another program, click decline. Have fun!

EDIT2; For SD compatibility, I have never had an issue after formatting my cards to FAT32 32k with guiformat. I've never tried an SD that large myself, but it's the best recommendation I have.

 

[denullz]

Oh no you can get one with a higher capacity if you want, and that compatibility list isn't maintained. Personally i have a 1tb one, and when i first set it up didn't look up the compatibility list, it just worked.

No worries, I'll be fine with 500GB. I'm pretty sure most games are around 4GB in size. I bought a cheap one on Amazon where someone mentioned in the reviews that it works great with the Wii. Worst case, I'll just send it back if I encounter any problems with it.

I'm going to butt in and mention that WiiFlow Lite has SD Card support, and is my personal method of choice; I use it for Skyward Sword randomizers.

EDIT2; For SD compatibility, I have never had an issue after formatting my cards to FAT32 32k with guiformat. I've never tried an SD that large myself, but it's the best recommendation I have.

Thank you for the advice. However, as you can already see, I've opted for an HDD after all. Still, much appreciated! I've been using guiformat for quite some time now due to the 3DS and the Switch.

 

[morning_glory]

Is a 512GB SDXC card possible?

I used a 512gb micro SDXC (Samsung evo+ ) without any issues. Then I decided to use the same brand SDXC in 256gb. All good from my point of view.
But, I only use SDXC for GC games. USB SDXC adapter for Wii games.

Perhaps BlackBox can do his magic with USBL GX (?). He is a genius
I've read that WiiFlow lite can read Wii (WBFS files) from SD, but I never needed to try it.

My basic setup is :
-Samsung 512gb evo+ SDXC in USB adapter for Wii games (WBFS format). May not be your cup of tea, but it works much better than Fat32.
-Samsung 256gb evo+ SDXC in SD adapter for GC games & apps.

Stay aware of discrete USB flash drives compatibility issues.
SD's usually aren't a problem. Many fakes around

 

[CoolMe]

Perhaps BlackBox can do his magic with USBL GX (?). He is a genius
I've read that WiiFlow lite can read Wii (WBFS files) from SD, but I never needed to try it.

USBLoaderGX can play some Wii games from the sd card too, but not all games, i assume it's the same for Wiiflow Lite (though not entirely sure).

 

[denullz]

Quick question: Can I copy my backups to the HDD however I want, or are there specific requirements?
My HDMI adapter is arriving tomorrow, so I'd like to get my HDD ready by then.

 

[CoolMe]

Quick question: Can I copy my backups to the HDD however I want, or are there specific requirements?

Wii games go to the the wbfs folder on the root of the hdd, you'd have to name the folder for each game with its titleid in order for them to show up in USBLoaderGX, i don't recommend doing it manually, just use WiiBackupManager to transfer your Wii games it'll do the naming for you. You can also check for corruption in WiiBackupManager by verifying the hash, it'll tell you if the game is corrupt. Do that games that didn't work for you.

 

[denullz]

just use WiiBackupManager to transfer your Wii games it'll do the naming for you. You can also check for corruption in WiiBackupManager by verifying the hash, it'll tell you if the game is corrupt. Do that games that didn't work for you.

I guess i do the same with gamecube games with the GCBackupManager?

 

[CoolMe]

I guess i do the same with gamecube games with the GCBackupManager?

Yes.

 

[grandosegood]

hey there, after you have homebrewed the system, i recommend installing the latest emulators and their forwarders for the following systems;
nes, - https://github.com/saulfabregwiivc/FCEUXTX
genesis, - https://github.com/ekeeke/Genesis-Plus-GX
gba/gb/gbc, https://mgba.io/
snes. - https://github.com/saulfabregwiivc/Snes9xTX
there is also some great work on a ps1 emulator here on the forums (wiistation). for n64, your best bet for compatibility is to do one of the following (1) native n64 vc wads, (2) try to inject your game into one of the native wads,(3) use the latest release of wii64 rice or not64, some games must use one or the other, not all games work (listed in order of best compatibility/performance to worst)

for arcade, there are separate emulator cores you need depending on the game (eg, marvel vs capcom 1 uses a core that is different from final fight or the simpsons)
there are also more emulators for other retro/arcade systems, you can search here on the forums. not all games work with all emulators, due to the wii's limited power.

lastly, for games that use emulators, there is a blank template (known as a single rom loader) that will allow you to create an app of the game that can be launched from the homebrew menu. you can also build a forwarder channel, where pressing the channel on the wii menu will start the emulator with your game pre-selected. to build one, you will need a donor wad, modmii to build the fowarder doll and customizemii to edit the donor wad.

 

[denullz]

hey there, after you have homebrewed the system, i recommend installing the latest emulators and their forwarders for the following systems;

Thank you for your contribution; however, I'm not interested in emulation as I mostly use my Switch or the original consoles.

Regarding WAD files, can I also install them on the HDD and start them via USB Loader GX?

 

[Olmectron]

Wii games go to the the wbfs folder on the root of the hdd, you'd have to name the folder for each game with its titleid in order for them to show up in USBLoaderGX, i don't recommend doing it manually, just use WiiBackupManager to transfer your Wii games it'll do the naming for you. You can also check for corruption in WiiBackupManager by verifying the hash, it'll tell you if the game is corrupt. Do that games that didn't work for you.

All games work from SD Card in WiiFlow Lite. Also all Gamecube games work from SD Card.

Even games that read to/from SD card work, like Smash Bros. Brawl when it writes photos to SD card.

I mean, I've tested at least 100 games without issues at all. If there's a game it can't play it would be a very specific, non first party game that somehow needs the SD card for something else.