Hacking Rock Band Customs (Wii/vWii)

[HarveyHouston]

GitLab Wiki Updated - Reorganized and Reformatted

Thanks to the discovery of the editable sidebar, the GitLab Wiki for RBC is now better organized (and prettier)! To be honest, I always had a problem with GitLab's way of organizing pages, but now it doesn't matter how they are organized, since I can change the order as they appear in the sidebar of the wiki!

This is convenient for more than one reason.

1. I now have the option to link to another site via the sidebar, instead of creating a whole new wiki page. Most guides on external links will either come from C3 or ScoreHero, but I can link any site I want to.
2. I can link to other places in the GitLab repo. I have already included Snippet links.
3. As I've already stated, I can order the wiki pages any way I want them to appear.
4. I can add text which was not allowed in the default sidebar.
5. Some wiki pages are contained in folders, which always appear alphabetically in the default sidebar. This caused a problem, as it would organize my page categories out of the order I wanted. Now, folders don't matter, as I can make my own categories, and can even include wiki pages from different folders in the same category!

There is one downside: now I have something else I need to keep up with, but it shouldn't be much of a hassle to update links since the sidebar already links to the wiki pages. Even if I move my repo, the links should stay valid - the only problem is that if I move pages or edit names, I have to specify the new name. Of course, that always has been a problem, one I don't think can automatically be fixed.

I realize some links are still down, but since I've been working on other projects, I haven't had time to fix them. I should have them fixed before the end of the year, but I can't guarantee anything. Just be patient!

 

[HarveyHouston]

Official Content Generation lists are being made. For those who downloaded official DLC and want to know the exact file numbers of each one, I'm in the process of moving and expanding on the old RawkSD List to my wiki. sZAE is already linked in the sidebar, but is not quite finished at the time of this post. An announcement will be made when each list is finished.

 

[HarveyHouston]

Rock Band Customs -- Wii and vWii Wiki - Official Rock Band DLC Lists

Some notable changes between the RawkSD list and my lists: The release dates, Wii Points price, and master recording have been removed since those things are no longer necessary. The APP hexadecimal numbers have been meticulously added to each list.

• Generation 1 List finished.
• Generation 2 List finished.
• Generation 3 List finished.

Instead of a new comment, this one will be updated when new ones are finished.

 

[Alexander1970]

Hello.

Thank you for your continuous great work and your tireless free Support and Updates.

It is very nice and good to have you for keeping Rockband on the Wii alive.

 

[HarveyHouston]

Current Issues

So, right now, there are some issues that persist, and even though I made that announcement that I won't be near as frequent in the Rock Band hacking scene (a much-needed vacation, of sorts), I still need answers. I'm going to leave two major problems I encountered for anyone to tackle, and then I'd like some feedback. Even if you post after Halloween, I'll still make some time to check here periodically.

DLC on Rock Band 2

With RawkSD an option that's waaaay outdated, it's come to my attention that there is no current method of getting Rock Band 2 to work on the Wii since the closure of the Wii Shop. I still think it is possible, however it may require methods that have yet to be discovered.

Here's what I know so far (again). While Rock Band 2 was still going strong, three guys who go by the names @AerialX, @tueidj, and @Mrkinator online, used a piece of software to force custom songs to load in the list. I don't know if they ever managed to get it working alongside official DLC, but they revised it to version 2. The RawkSD project consists of Windows software, as well as homebrew for the Wii. Version 2 and earlier requires a patched IOS 37, which is why RawkSD Patcher was released alongside the RawkSD Installer. What RawkSD did was that it took songs, either converted from game discs or made by players of Rock Band 2, and put them on the SD card. Then, the Installer would put them in the appropriate places on the SD card and run the game. Work on RawkSD 3 began late 2010, which had many improvements (including removing the need for a patched IOS), but sadly, the project halted when interest in Rock Band 3 customs took off.

Now, if you want to have customs on Rock Band 2, the only way to make it work is to use RawkSD, but there are many flaws. First, RawkSD 2 does not work on vWii, as it requires a patched IOS 37, and attempts to patch it under vWii corrupts the IOS. RawkSD 2 also requires System Menu 4.2 or earlier, as patching IOSes were not needed by most homebrew in 4.3 but are required for RawkSD 2. RawkSD 3, what was made of it, is still in beta, and requires you to set your Wii or vWii date back to before 2011.

At least, that's my experience. However, I've only attempted using it under vWii, so I can only guess the result for Wii. If anyone knows better, let me know.

Rock Band 3 Specific DLC

Perhaps a more fixable problem is getting Content Generations A through D to work onder Rock Band 3, which is actually where the official DLC for Rock Band 3 is located. I've tried customs using the packers I've already released, and I have not had success. Mainly, I'm working on sZJE. Without a title.tmd in the NAND for that generation, I get:

Add-on Content is out of date and cannot be
restored to the Wii System Memory. To use the add-on content,
re-download Add-on Content for which the license has been
previously purchased.​

With the TMD, I get:

Add-on Content is corrupt and
cannot be restored to the
Wii System Memory.​

I had thought this was due to a faulty trucha.tik, but I can't seem to prove that theory.

If you have answers, don't be shy to comment! Happy Halloween, everyone!

 

[lordelan]

Interesting. So this lets me add own songs into Rock Band (3)?

 

[ChibiMofo]

Interesting. So this lets me add own songs into Rock Band (3)?

Well, that depends upon what you mean by your "own songs." If someone else has made a "custom" DLC for your songs, then yes. Otherwise you'll have to learn the very laborious task of making customs for RockBand. The experts on this are over here:
http://customscreators.com/index.php?/topic/14630-how-to-playing-customs-on-wii/page-1

There are over 20,000 songs available, so you should find plenty you'll enjoy. Note that the Wii has a 1000 song limit, though there is a "Gecko Code" to get around that. The songs generally won't be up to the quality of the songs in RB3 and may be missing support for certain instruments, but it's still great to play songs by artists that refused to let their music appear in the game (Led Zep, Prince, etc.).

That said, it is a time-consuming process to even get one song onto your SD, so set aside some time on a day when you have patience. And questions about the process are better asked over there since they are the experts and have seen it all before.
Have fun!

 

[lordelan]

Well, that depends upon what you mean by your "own songs." If someone else has made a "custom" DLC for your songs, then yes. Otherwise you'll have to learn the very laborious task of making customs for RockBand. The experts on this are over here:
http://customscreators.com/index.php?/topic/14630-how-to-playing-customs-on-wii/page-1

There are over 20,000 songs available, so you should find plenty you'll enjoy. Note that the Wii has a 1000 song limit, though there is a "Gecko Code" to get around that. The songs generally won't be up to the quality of the songs in RB3 and may be missing support for certain instruments, but it's still great to play songs by artists that refused to let their music appear in the game (Led Zep, Prince, etc.).

That said, it is a time-consuming process to even get one song onto your SD, so set aside some time on a day when you have patience. And questions about the process are better asked over there since they are the experts and have seen it all before.
Have fun!

Nice, thx for the reply!

 

[HarveyHouston]

Interesting. So this lets me add own songs into Rock Band (3)?

Adding on what @ChibiMofo said, I also have a guide (click "Wiki" in my sig), which I haven't touched in months, but should still help make things easier. If you have issues, definitely check out C3. Also, if you want more live assistance, join my Discord. Some of the same guys are on there, as well.

 

[HarveyHouston]

WOW! Has it really been so long? Since we're having to stay stuck inside, for obvious reasons (dang this little bug!), I decided to get back into Rock Band hacking and tackle the issue with RB3 DLC once more. I have finally been able to make it work... almost.

Thank you guys for being patient in waiting for seven months for an update. I really needed this sabbatical, and now I can finally share some details on how to get emulated NAND working, as well as Rock Band 3 DLC (sZJE through sZME). Please note that this stuff is still being tested, since I haven't added it yet to the wiki, so proceed with caution. If you follow the steps of this post and end up having problems, tell me what you did and what happened so I can diagnose the issue. Thank you, fellow rockers! Now on to the details...

Getting EmuNAND to Work for Rock Band 3 - No SNEEK Required!

After a careful breakdown of the emuNAND environment, I have discovered that it is not related to the Trucha bug, as I previously thought. It has to do with two files related to the outdated Wii Shop that need to be present in the emuNAND. Here's where they should be in your emuNAND (starting from the emuNAND root directory):

/shared2
 /ec
  shopsetu.log
 /succession
  shop.log

I had previously discovered that they could enable the RB3 DLC under Dolphin, but had not thought to try it under USB Loader GX. I tried it, and now all DLC for the Wii versions of Rock Band should be able to work. You can take these two files from your Wii NAND or from vWii NAND on your Wii U; either one should work. In USB Loader GX, set the disc emuNAND status to "Full", and it will be able to load all your DLC in the emuNAND for Rock Band 3. In fact, this may help other games that you got the DLC unofficially for, including Rock Band 2 and The Beatles: Rock Band, but I have not tested this theory yet.

Here's the catch, though: it hangs for about a minute while loading the DLC, and after selecting your profile. If it hangs, DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR CONSOLE. Wait a full minute or two, and it should clear up. If it doesn't, then reset. Also, I have not been able to get the game to transfer the DLC from emuNAND to the SD - it hangs with "Please wait" forever after telling me that DLC needs to be moved to the SD. Previous tests have shown that real NAND is able to do this, so I think I may be missing something here. Some have had success in getting it to work under emuNAND, but just play it safe and don't allow SD card access until I can test it out some more.

About Rock Band 3 DLC

Since I am able to finally see the Rock Band 3 DLC in its entirety, I am actually shocked that only sZJE has content from previous titles' discs (Rock Band 2 and Green Day: Rock Band), the rest of sZJE and all of sZKE, sZLE, and sZME are DLC that has not been on previous titles (disregarding songs that have the "RB3 version" label, which isn't much). I expected LEGO Rock Band, The Beatles: Rock Band, and the original Rock Band to be released as DLC for the Wii, but it's mostly DLC that hasn't appeared on other titles.

I'm not sure if Rock Band 3 ever had the ability to "import" songs from the missing titles by downloading them, since they do not appear here, but in any case, I still have my guides on how to import those songs by ripping them from their respective Wii discs, so it's not too big of a deal. Also, StackO has methods to import the Xbox 360 versions into Rock Band 3 for Wii, which I've heard is not as much of a hassle, so there's that to consider.


...And there you go! A quick update on what I've figured out over the past couple of weeks. I still have some more stuff to figure out, but maybe that will help others who have been relying on my somewhat incomplete guide. As always, keep rocking on!

 

[HarveyHouston]

A Small Update Regarding Rock Band 3 DLC: I am having trouble getting some DLC to load. I'm not sure if they got corrupted during the transfer over, or if I downloaded them incorrectly through the DLC downloaders. Frustrating! I'll keep trying different things, to see what gets them to work.

 

[TeleTubby666]

Why would you choose to install customs to EmuNAND when you can have them on your SD Card as .bin files?

 

[HarveyHouston]

Why would you choose to install customs to EmuNAND when you can have them on your SD Card as .bin files?

Good question! The two methods produce different results.

In the case of RB3, I have never managed to get its own DLC working as BINs. Well, I say "never", but I did import the APPs to real NAND and have the songs be converted to BINs in-game, but that takes a very, very long time as you only have so much space in Wii/vWii NAND to do so. Loading the APPs in emuNAND is what got it to work.

I prefer loading songs from the SD card, but so far it hasn't been working well. Of course, I have yet to exhaust every possible method, so it may just be that I haven't discovered the appropriate way. If I can get the RB3 DLC to work as BINs, I can have all of my DLC together on the SD card (all the ones I want, anyway, because not every single song will fit on a 32GB card), and then I can use the emuNAND just for verifying the RB3 DLC on the SD card.

That's the ideal method. The actual method that gets it to work on the SD may not be so straightforward. But, we'll see.

 

[TeleTubby666]

Good question! The two methods produce different results.

In the case of RB3, I have never managed to get its own DLC working as BINs. Well, I say "never", but I did import the APPs to real NAND and have the songs be converted to BINs in-game, but that takes a very, very long time as you only have so much space in Wii/vWii NAND to do so. Loading the APPs in emuNAND is what got it to work.

I prefer loading songs from the SD card, but so far it hasn't been working well. Of course, I have yet to exhaust every possible method, so it may just be that I haven't discovered the appropriate way. If I can get the RB3 DLC to work as BINs, I can have all of my DLC together on the SD card (all the ones I want, anyway, because not every single song will fit on a 32GB card), and then I can use the emuNAND just for verifying the RB3 DLC on the SD card.

That's the ideal method. The actual method that gets it to work on the SD may not be so straightforward. But, we'll see.

Okay, at the Moment I have loads of Songs on my 64GB SD card downloaded via eShop years ago. Now I intend to import all the RB, RB TP 1&2 and RB2 Songs from the original disks using RawkSD, enhance them with the RBHP files and put them as .bin files on my SD Card.

Do you have an explanation of how you tried to achieve using .bin files directly and where exactly you struggled? I would like to also try my luck and hopefully I can help you in some way...

 

[ChibiMofo]

If I remember correctly, their was never a code for importing the original Rock Band songs into RB3 on Wii specifically. But I do know that The Beatles Rock Band songs and DLC were never available for export to any other game on any platform/console. The Beatles would never allow that. Having said that, I have seen Xbox 360 "cons" of The Beatles Rock Band songs for RB3 over at Frets on Fire. But those aren't official, of course. And they won't be as beautiful as they were on The Beatles Rock Band. (They do, however, have some pro upgrades.)

I have been downloading songs for years over at CustomsCreators but have yet to ever add a custom DLC to my Wii. I hit the 1000 song limit on real DLC way back in 2012 and, though I learned of the Gecko code for getting around that, never took the time to add songs as it looked time consuming. I need to revisit that now.

Thanks for your posts and guides, Harv.

 

[HarveyHouston]

Okay, at the Moment I have loads of Songs on my 64GB SD card downloaded via eShop years ago. Now I intend to import all the RB, RB TP 1&2 and RB2 Songs from the original disks using RawkSD, enhance them with the RBHP files and put them as .bin files on my SD Card.

There's several things here I'd like cleared up here. First of all, I didn't think that the Wii/vWii can handle SD card sizes beyond 32GB, as it can only support SD or SDHC types. Anything larger than 32GB is considered SDXC, which I didn't think was usable. However, it may work for you; I say go for it! I could be wrong.

Secondly, are you trying to import songs for RB2 or RB3? RawkSD is designed for RB2 on the Wii only, and then only System Menu 4.2 or earlier (unless you're using the beta version, which you have to set your clock back for). If you're trying to import for RB3, I recommend using my wiki or StackO's C3 guide instead of RawkSD.

For ripping disc songs, you'll want to see this wiki page: https://gitlab.com/HarvHouHacker/ro...Customs/Using-Rock-Band-Disc-Songs-as-Customs Keep in mind that several Track Pack songs as well as all of the on-disc RB2 songs are available as official DLC; you may want to visit my Discord if you'd like to get them. Do not ask for them here!

RBHP upgrades can be finicky, but StackO also has a guide on that: http://customscreators.com/index.php?/topic/12021-how-to-rbhp-for-wii/ A newer version of the RBHP upgrades are available on GitHub. https://github.com/rbhp-espher/rbhp

Do you have an explanation of how you tried to achieve using .bin files directly and where exactly you struggled? I would like to also try my luck and hopefully I can help you in some way...

Basically, it's giving me a verification error on the BINs. I am able to spoof verification using the emuNAND method described in an earlier post, but that has only worked for APPs, and it's very buggy. When I compile the BINs myself, it doesn't work on real NAND nor emuNAND, so I try to let the game build the BINs by moving them from the NAND. This works well in the real NAND, but it will take days because there's not enough room to do large amounts at a time. It doesn't work for me in emuNAND, as it hangs at the "Please wait" screen.

That's the situation. Hopefully, it'll work for you.

 

[TeleTubby666]

There's several things here I'd like cleared up here. First of all, I didn't think that the Wii/vWii can handle SD card sizes beyond 32GB, as it can only support SD or SDHC types. Anything larger than 32GB is considered SDXC, which I didn't think was usable. However, it may work for you; I say go for it! I could be wrong.

Yes, fortunately you are. SD Cards work far beyond 32GB as long as they are formnatted in FAT32. As mentioned already, I have dozens of songs on my SD card, exceeding the 999 song and any 32GB limit for sure if there was one

Secondly, are you trying to import songs for RB2 or RB3? RawkSD is designed for RB2 on the Wii only, and then only System Menu 4.2 or earlier (unless you're using the beta version, which you have to set your clock back for). If you're trying to import for RB3, I recommend using my wiki or StackO's C3 guide instead of RawkSD.

For ripping disc songs, you'll want to see this wiki page: https://gitlab.com/HarvHouHacker/ro...Customs/Using-Rock-Band-Disc-Songs-as-Customs Keep in mind that several Track Pack songs as well as all of the on-disc RB2 songs are available as official DLC; you may want to visit my Discord if you'd like to get them. Do not ask for them here!

Okay, thank you for the advice! I imported most of the songs years ago when it was still legally possible via eShop. For the other ones I tried to extract the songs from their original disc yesterday but Wiixplorer would not mount the original DVD in the drive for some strange reason.

RBHP upgrades can be finicky, but StackO also has a guide on that: http://customscreators.com/index.php?/topic/12021-how-to-rbhp-for-wii/ A newer version of the RBHP upgrades are available on GitHub. https://github.com/rbhp-espher/rbhp

Basically, it's giving me a verification error on the BINs. I am able to spoof verification using the emuNAND method described in an earlier post, but that has only worked for APPs, and it's very buggy. When I compile the BINs myself, it doesn't work on real NAND nor emuNAND, so I try to let the game build the BINs by moving them from the NAND. This works well in the real NAND, but it will take days because there's not enough room to do large amounts at a time. It doesn't work for me in emuNAND, as it hangs at the "Please wait" screen.

That's the situation. Hopefully, it'll work for you.

Phew! As I am not using EmuNAND I would have to import every single song to SysNAND before exporting them to the SD card. Is that what you are saying?!? Is there no guide somewhere in the Internet for verification of the .bin files?

 

[HarveyHouston]

Yes, fortunately you are. SD Cards work far beyond 32GB as long as they are formnatted in FAT32. As mentioned already, I have dozens of songs on my SD card, exceeding the 999 song and any 32GB limit for sure if there was one

Good to know! I'll certainly test that out myself to make sure before adding this to the wiki.

Okay, thank you for the advice! I imported most of the songs years ago when it was still legally possible via eShop. For the other ones I tried to extract the songs from their original disc yesterday but Wiixplorer would not mount the original DVD in the drive for some strange reason.

Did you check WiiXplorer's IOS setting? If you have one of Waninkoko's IOSes installed (I strongly recommend 249 with base IOS 56, but I've also used 251 with base 58), make sure to set WiiXplorer to use it. You'll find that option in the settings.

Phew! As I am not using EmuNAND I would have to import every single song to SysNAND before exporting them to the SD card. Is that what you are saying?!? Is there no guide somewhere in the Internet for verification of the .bin files?

Well, that's only for RB3 DLC, AFAIK. All DLC originally released for RB2 on the Wii (generations sZAE through sZFE), as well as custom generations, will work almost perfectly on Wii, vWii, and Dolphin. I haven't updated the wiki to address the issue with RB3 DLC, since I'm still testing it. Just follow the wiki for getting RB2 generations to load with customs or unofficially downloaded DLC, and you'll do fine.

 

[HarveyHouston]

Rock Band Customs -- Wii and vWii Wiki - Basic Guide Rewrites

So, I've learned some things on hacking Rock Band 3 that should be useful for ALL Rock Band versions. I've learned that shopsetu.log and shop.log need to be present in the emuNAND for Wii, vWii, and Dolphin to get songs to work using the emuNAND method I outlined. I've also learned that APP files without a folder structure must be converted by actually writing a script. I've used a homebrew called CleanRip to rip Wii discs and use them in Dolphin. I've also begun work on sZDE/sZDP, after some time away from the insanity of making such lists.

All this and more is reflected in my wiki, plus some minor edits for better clarification. Mainly in the Basic Guide. Oh, and I worked some on the tutorial here on GBAtemp. I may refresh it for a different purpose, but for now, it borrows some more from my wiki. How original.

 

[HarveyHouston]

Rock Band 3 DLC Now Works on the SD Card!

If anyone has been having issues trying to get Rock Band 3 DLC working, I've previously outlined how to get it working via the emuNAND method. Now, thanks to my latest discovery which spoofs the licensing issue, you can add back official RB3 DLC on the SD card - no emuNAND required!

NOTE: This is how to get official DLC working alongside customs. This requires that you have the official DLC already, as BINs or converted to BINs. If you don't own any DLC, you'll have to get it via unofficial means, which are NOT provided here! If you want the DLC, please ask for it only in RBC Discord!

1. First, download Parannoyed Wii's DLC Packer/Unpacker. This is the essential tool that will do the trick. Extract the ZIP somewhere (maybe a folder called "DLCPackerUnpacker"?).
2. Move the RB3 DLC BINs to the root of the DLC Packer/Unpacker folder. One content generation at a time, please! We'll use sZJE as an example.
3. Edit the recrypt.bat script. For sZJE, the lines should be like this:
   

   dlcunpack %1
   dlcpack 00010005735a4a45 %1 535a4245

4. Run recrypt-all.bat. You should end up with a folder containing APPs and BINs.
5. Move the BINs to the SD card. Or copy and paste, if you'd prefer. Put the BINs in SD:/private/wii/data/sZJE.

Make sure that your console is properly modded to accept the DLC, and that you run RB3 through a USB Loader using IOS 249 as outlined in my wiki, else this will not work! When you run the game, it should say "Downloading New Content" without any errors, and all your RB3 DLC will appear and be playable!

Still Not Working?

• If using an emuNAND, make sure the tickets are installed in the emuNAND!
• If using real NAND, uninstall the ticket WADs and install them again. It may be residual files in the NAND keeping them from working.
• You did remember to supply your console's unique ID and PRNG seed, right? Use a hex editor to add these keys to the appropriate files - and make sure it's editing in HEXADECIMAL, not plain text.
• Are you trying to convert APP files? That may not work; convert them to BINs using WAD Packer and then try again.