Hacking The Definitive vWii Hacking Guide!

[Cyan]

I setup the usb loader gx to write game saves to my sd card (partial emunand) but it doesn't work. It still saves to the nand. What am i doing wrong? I use the 1262 version in vwii mode.

you want to save your Wii games disc savegame or your channel savegame to SD? (or both)

there are two different options in the loader :
EmuNAND Save : it affects ONLY games in "disc" format (all the wbfs games), and I don't remember maybe also channels installed on the system NAND. Partial will save disc games to your "emuNAND save" path. (not to the "emuNAND channel" path). Full will require you to do a full dump of your NAND first. it will also use your Mii and wiimote settings from the emuNAND dump.

EmuNAND Channel : it affects the channels installed on emuNAND (not the savegame !). It's an option to select how to launch the channels installed on emuNAND. Talways use "full" here, and it will use BOTH the channel's data and savegame on your emulated path.

Can someone help me I have recently installed vwii now I know with the original wii you used to have to install the IOS236.wad for neogamma to work properly now are you also supposed to install in on the wiiu vwii side as well? thanks.

NEVER EVER install a IOS from Wii on your vWii !!!
best way to brick it.


There is a "vWII IOS 236" that you can install. Its only purpose is "easy semi-brick fixing" in case you semi-brick your vWii. Not having it can also be fixed but it's less easy. It's NOT used for anything else. neogamma probably work, but it's old and outdated. You should use one of the 3 main loaders (USBLoaderGX, Wiiflow, CFG Loader).


If you used WUPHAx to install the homebrew channel instead of following this guide, start reading this guide right after the homebrew channel installation step. it will explain all you need to know.
again, NEVER INSTALL IOS from a WAD !
always use the proper installer homebrew, not a wad manager.

 

[Reecey]

Can anyone point me in the write direction of a backup loader that I just put my .wbfs files on my sd card plug it in and they will work? apart from using wii backup manager, format as wbfs and using the sd card through a 3.0 usb adapter in the back of the wiiu, that is.

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you want to save your Wii games disc savegame or your channel savegame to SD? (or both)

there are two different options in the loader :
EmuNAND Save : it affects ONLY games in "disc" format (all the wbfs games), and I don't remember maybe also channels installed on the system NAND. Partial will save disc games to your "emuNAND save" path. (not to the "emuNAND channel" path). Full will require you to do a full dump of your NAND first. it will also use your Mii and wiimote settings from the emuNAND dump.

EmuNAND Channel : it affects the channels installed on emuNAND (not the savegame !). It's an option to select how to launch the channels installed on emuNAND. Talways use "full" here, and it will use BOTH the channel's data and savegame on your emulated path.


NEVER EVER install a IOS from Wii on your vWii !!!
best way to brick it.


There is a "vWII IOS 236" that you can install.
If you used WUPHAx to install the homebrew channel instead of following this guide, start reading this guide right after the homebrew channel installation step. it will explain all you need to know.
again, NEVER INSTALL IOS from a WAD !
always use the proper installer homebrew, not a wad manager.

Thanks Cyan I realized I had already done this part>IOS236 Installer MOD v8 Special vWii Edition could you help me with the below question please I'm stuck on that part. Thanks for the pointer with the wad ios wad files I might of gone and done that, thanks.

 

[Cyan]

Can anyone point me in the write direction of a backup loader that I just put my .wbfs files on my sd card plug it in and they will work? apart from using wii backup manager, format as wbfs and using the sd card through a 3.0 usb adapter in the back of the wiiu.

there's no "easy" here. You need to follow steps.

First, only CFG Loader and Wiiflow can boo wbfs games from SD Card (USBLoaderGX can't).
Unless you want to put the SD in an USB adapter, in that case it's loaded from USB and not SD, so it should have better compatibility, but could be slow.

Then, if you have a "wbfs" you need it to be already split if you don't want to use a manager, or you'll have issues with games bigger than 4GB.
If you have ISO, you can't put them on SD. (FAT32 will not allow ISO > 4GB)

NEVER format as WBFS.
It's OLD, deprecated since 2010... (or even 2009)
use FAT32 for everything.


steps :
1. use FAT32
2. use wii Backup Manager (easier!)
3. plug your device to USB
4. launch a loader
5.... play


BUT you need to follow THIS guide's first post. really. follow it first or it will not work.
installing vWii 236 is of no use for playing games.
Also, why using a SD with an usb adapter, instead of a USB key or real USB HDD ?
USB Flashdrives have some issues ! (and an SD card IS a flash drive, so even if plugged on USB it could cause issues).

 

[Reecey]

there's no "easy" here. You need to follow steps.

First, only CFG Loader and Wiiflow can boo wbfs games from SD Card (USBLoaderGX can't).
Unless you want to put the SD in an USB adapter, in that case it's loaded from USB and not SD, so it should have better compatibility, but could be slow.

Then, if you have a "wbfs" you need it to be already split if you don't want to use a manager, or you'll have issues with games bigger than 4GB.
If you have ISO, you can't put them on SD. (FAT32 will not allow ISO > 4GB)

NEVER format as WBFS.
It's OLD, deprecated since 2010... (or even 2009)
use FAT32 for everything.


steps :
1. use FAT32
2. use wii Backup Manager (easier!)
3. plug your device to USB
4. launch a loader
5.... play


BUT you need to follow THIS guide's first post. really. follow it first or it will not work.
installing vWii 236 is of no use.

Thanks I have tried it with the latest neo gamma channel for vwii and I select A for wbfs and sd/sdhc but it just comes up with error -1. I'm sure it used to work on the wii by putting games on the sd card and booting it from the latest neogamma channel. I have followed all the instructions correctly from page 1 installing ios's and backing up etc.. all the way to back up loaders part which is where I am stuck at the moment. I have Nintendont, Wiiflow & neogamma all installed as channels as well as with the homebrew channels but none work.

@Cyan I have got a 2tb External HDD plugged in my wiiu with a y-cable but its formatted for the wiiu games and I didn't think it worked also for the vwii side?

 

[Cyan]

none work?

Nintendont should work. (i use the official IOS58)
Wiiflow should work. (it use IOS58 and IOS249)
Neogama .. I'm not sure it works on vWii.

 

[Reecey]

none work?

Nintendont should work. (i use the official IOS58)
Wiiflow should work. (it use IOS58 and IOS249)
Neogama .. I'm not sure it works on vWii.

Just with the sd card, no it wont but with the usb adapter attached also, it works ok.

 

[Cava]

you want to save your Wii games disc savegame or your channel savegame to SD? (or both)

there are two different options in the loader :
EmuNAND Save : it affects ONLY games in "disc" format (all the wbfs games), and I don't remember maybe also channels installed on the system NAND. Partial will save disc games to your "emuNAND save" path. (not to the "emuNAND channel" path). Full will require you to do a full dump of your NAND first. it will also use your Mii and wiimote settings from the emuNAND dump.

EmuNAND Channel : it affects the channels installed on emuNAND (not the savegame !). It's an option to select how to launch the channels installed on emuNAND. Talways use "full" here, and it will use BOTH the channel's data and savegame on your emulated path.


NEVER EVER install a IOS from Wii on your vWii !!!
best way to brick it.


There is a "vWII IOS 236" that you can install. Its only purpose is "easy semi-brick fixing" in case you semi-brick your vWii. Not having it can also be fixed but it's less easy. It's NOT used for anything else. neogamma probably work, but it's old and outdated. You should use one of the 3 main loaders (USBLoaderGX, Wiiflow, CFG Loader).


If you used WUPHAx to install the homebrew channel instead of following this guide, start reading this guide right after the homebrew channel installation step. it will explain all you need to know.
again, NEVER INSTALL IOS from a WAD !
always use the proper installer homebrew, not a wad manager.

Ok thanks but.. i have an ntfs formatted drive with wbfs folder in games inside and a 128GB microSD. I dumped the nand with usb gx and setted up the partial save. Path is sd:/nand the default.. but it seems it is load the saves from the nand because if i delete the save from nand and start the game from usb loader gx it creates a new save.. i dont know why.

 

[Cyan]

I'm not sure, but I think emuNAND works with FAT32 only.
I don't know if that's the case for partial emuNAND save, or full emuNAND save, or only for channel EmuNAND.

Just with the sd card, no it wont but with the usb adapter attached also, it works ok.

Wiiflow and nintendont should both work with SD Card alone.

 

[hippy dave]

Thanks, I followed a lot of this guide (apart from using wuphax), made things easy considering I'd forgotten most of the Wii stuff.

USBLoaderGX detects my hard drive (fat32, ustealth, y-cable etc) when it's in port 0 (the top one on the back, right?), but doesn't detect it in port 1, is there likely to be any way to make that work? Or would a different USB loader be any more likely to work?

I'm just trying to find a configuration that will work for Nintendont and a USB loader, that also lets me leave my Wii U drive (currently a thumbdrive) plugged in. I know I can unplug it to use Nintendont but I mostly play upstairs and the Wii U is downstairs.

 

[Cyan]

keeping both HDD connected is not recommended as it can be hard to setup.
it's not "officially supported" by nintendont, because it can cause issues.


First, and you probably know it as you asked for port1 : when using IOS58, the ports are mounted in reverse order (port3, 2, 1 0), and when using cIOS they are mounted in order (0, 1) (I don't know if port 2 or 3 works with d2x).
So, it will work fine with gamecube games, but you could have issues with Wii games which are using a cIOS, and a different HDD identification.

without using cIOS:

Launch USBLoaderGX (with or without HDD plugged in)
Go to settings > loader settings > Loader's IOS : replace 249 with 58.
reboot the loader with the HDD attached to port1.
When using IOS58, the Port1 will be mounted FIRST, and the drive should be detected in both the loader and nintendont as "first mounted drive" so the partition order will match.

As long as you don't connect a drive with compatible partition on USB Port 0 (for example a WiiU HDD is fine) it should work with Wii games too, as the first partition in reversed order will be also the first working partition in correct order.

Using d2x cIOS:
go to settings > hdd menu > USB Port : 1 (don't use "both" if you don't have a vWii HDD on both port)
reboot the loader with the HDD attached to port1.
When using d2x, it will mount port1 only (not both) and the partition ID should be the same when loading Nintendont with IOS58.

this mode should work too.


so, to make it simple, either:
set Loader's IOS to 58
OR
set the HDD to port1

I don't know what will be broken. I think something will have issues, I can't catch it right now.

 

[hippy dave]

Thanks @Cyan, really helpful!
I should have said I'd already tried setting the port to 1 (with the default cIOS), and it didn't detect the drive, but changing to IOS 58 seems to have fixed it It's found all my games anyway, will have to check if they'll run. I just seem to have got USBLoaderGX to stop responding by changing it to channel display, which I didn't really want anyway, so gotta go reboot again...

 

[Cyan]

Some users reported that the loader wasn't responding correctly on 1260 and 1262.
I don't know if that's the same issue you had, or if it's related to using both port and 2 HDD at the same time.
If you have the same issue again, please let me know and it would be great if you had time to do some tests (like using only port 0, or not using 58, etc.)

setting port 1 should have worked, as long as you installed d2x r53.
v10 has better compatibility with emuNAND but doesn't support port1
v10-alt supports port1 (not sure why it didn't work for you) but can have issues with emuNAND channels and some Wii games.

 

[WiisleyU]

The new "No game method" looks promising but Smash Stack seems easier yet.

 

[hippy dave]

Some users reported that the loader wasn't responding correctly on 1260 and 1262.
I don't know if that's the same issue you had, or if it's related to using both port and 2 HDD at the same time.
If you have the same issue again, please let me know and it would be great if you had time to do some tests (like using only port 0, or not using 58, etc.)

setting port 1 should have worked, as long as you installed d2x r53.
v10 has better compatibility with emuNAND but doesn't support port1
v10-alt supports port1 (not sure why it didn't work for you) but can have issues with emuNAND channels and some Wii games.

Thanks, I'm waiting for an extension cable to arrive so my hard drive's y cable can take power from one of the front ports, then I'm happy to do any testing. I'll get back to you then. Yeah I did install the alt version of d2x.

 

[tuttutchild]

Hello, I have a question about the USB loader. Instead of an external HDD, can I use a FAT32 SD card that's inside a USB card reader?

 

[fatsquirrel]

@Cyan Hey, I was wondering is it possible to use WiiU formatted (Brazil method) external HDD for vWii?
Im trying to load the games off the SD card but its inconvenient and annoying as heck

I wont ask stupid questions, deleting ^^

 

[dodgypast]

Got a vwii question....

I followed the guide which said that I should replace ios 56-58... I tried with both beta 52 and alt beta 53, both get nintendont working but while USB loader and Wii flow can see my games neither can load them successfully... They exit to either homebrew menu ( USB loader) or Wii menu ( wiiflow). Also worth adding that USB loader only sees the hard drive when I change the loader ios to 58.

I've tried both of the back USB ports ( though I'm using a powered hub).

I backed up ios 58 using yet another blue dump mod and from what I've read it might be worth restoring that but Google is failing me on how to restore it.

Any general or specific advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[fatsquirrel]

Oh no I may have a stupid question again but ...well here it goes...

I am trying to load a backup of a game from the SD card in CFG Loader however when ran I get this error
''ERROR setting up fragments ID mismatch''
I think I remember seeing this error somewhere here on the temp, being it caused by wrong ios set up, alt 53 instead of 52.
So I was wondering, to revert ios to v52, can you simply overwrite the old one? Or am i being completely off here?

 

[Cyan]

yes, overwrite the IOS by running the installer again. you don't need to delete the old IOS first.

just install r52 instead of r53, and be sure to plug your USB to port0. (as only r53 support port1, but has few compatibility issues).
Also, note that some games just doesn't work on SD. (but should work on SD with USB adapter plugged into USB port 0)

I followed the guide which said that I should replace ios 56-58...

I really REALLY hope you didn't REPLACE your IOS56-58
THAT'S NOT WHAT THE GUIDE IS TELLING YOU TO DO.

if you did that, you semi-bricked your vWii.


What the guide is telling you, is to "use the existing IOS 56-58" as base for the custom IOS. these base file are copied, patched and installed into slot 249-251.
as a result, you need to have :
IOS 56-58 official untouched
IOS 249-251 : copy of 56-58 patched


if you made a backup of your IOS before touching them, and you did a "proper" backup (no patch!), then you can restore them by using a Wad manager and re-install the backup wad.

But before doing anything to IOS below 200, you should give us a syscheck report. we will see if they really are messed up or not.
Do NOT touch slot below 200 if not necessary.

 

[fatsquirrel]

yes, overwrite the IOS by running the installer again. you don't need to delete the old IOS first.

just install r52 instead of r53, and be sure to plug your USB to port0. (as only r53 support port1, but has few compatibility issues).
Also, note that some games just doesn't work on SD. (but should work on SD with USB adapter plugged into USB port 0)

Thank you @Cyan
As for the USB drive, Im not using it..well I have only WiiU Formatted one connnected
This is a long shot maybe but do you know if metroid triology works off sd? Probably the worst game to pick eh