Hacking What's the best way to install Wiiware/VC games' wads and launch them through USB Loader GX?

[random_human_being_]

I understand that installing Virtual Console games is as easy as installing their wad file; once this is done, and I have their channel on my Wii system menu, can I launch them from USB Loader GX?

Also, what are the possible risks of installing these games? Do I just risk a banner brick if I'm not careful, or could I cause some more serious kind of brick?


SOLVED: I used the emunand feature of USB Loader GX to play them:

• I opened the settings and, in the Features submenu, I selected Dump nand to emunand; when asked, I chose a complete dump. This created a circa 200MB folder on my SD
• on the PC, I put the .wad files of the games I wanted to install in the root of the SD card
• back on the Wii, I reopened Features and selected Emunand WAD manager (or something similar, I don't exactly remember), which prompted me to choose a .wad file. I selected the files I had previously put on the SD, and waited for them to install
• to display them alongside other games I clicked, at the top of the screen, on the fourth icon from the left, the one that looks like a Wii (sort of); this opened a menu, where I ticked emunand channels
• while the last step showed the games I had just installed, it also displayed some channels which had been pointlessly copied to the emunand; to remove this I selected one of them, clicked on Settings > Game Load and uninstalled it. Rinse and repeat for every channel.
• Launching games installed on emunand might crash instantly if the cIOS used for them is an "alt" type. According to what I read, "alt" cIOSs might not work for VC games, depending on the type and manufacturer of the SD. This is easily solved by selecting a game that crashes, going into Settings > Game Load and, in the Use IOS line, switching Global with the number of a slot that has a cIOS which is not "alt" (for me, it was 250)
• You'll notice that games are stretched to 16:9. While that can, apparently, be changed on a virtual Wii, for an actual Wii that's the only option Nintendo gives us
• Also, if the games' names are not inserted automatically, you can just edit them yourself. In the setting menu, under (I think) GUI Settings, there is an option to see the disk spinning instead of the banner animation. Select that and close the setting menu. Then open any game you want to rename and, above the spinning disc, you'll see its name. Click on it (on the middle of the name) and type whatever you want. You can then put back the banner animation. (also, turn on Cache titles, otherwise the names will be reset as soon as the Wii is switched off)

 

[GreyWolf]

Try setting up an emuNAND system and using USB Loader GX's NEEK boot feature. No risk of banner bricks and it won't fill up your real NAND.

 

[random_human_being_]

Try setting up an emuNAND system and using USB Loader GX's NEEK boot feature.

Is the process described on the second post of this thread good, or is there a better way to set it up?

 

[GreyWolf]

Is the process described on the second post of this thread good, or is there a better way to set it up?

No, that's from 4 years ago before NEEK.

Try Clutz450's tutorial in this post.

 

[Clutz450]

Best way (in my opinion. Others may disagree) is to let USB Loader GX create the emunand for you. I believe it's under features and says something like dump nand to emunand. I believe the default path is SD card but you can change the custom path to USB if you'd like. Once your emunand is created, use the wad manager in USB Loader GX to install your games to your emunand. I would recommend only installing a few to start just to test it out. Like maybe one WiiWare and one virtual console game from each system. Now you are pretty much set. Try running those few games you installed and see if they run. A lot of games should run just fine this way. However there are a handful of games that will only run using neek. In that instance you will need to follow my guide that was linked above and then on a per game basis set those games up to launch using neek. Let me know if you run into any problems or need something explained further.

 

[random_human_being_]

Thanks to both of you.

 

[random_human_being_]

Best way (in my opinion. Others may disagree) is to let USB Loader GX create the emunand for you. I believe it's under features and says something like dump nand to emunand. I believe the default path is SD card but you can change the custom path to USB if you'd like. Once your emunand is created, use the wad manager in USB Loader GX to install your games to your emunand. I would recommend only installing a few to start just to test it out. Like maybe one WiiWare and one virtual console game from each system. Now you are pretty much set. Try running those few games you installed and see if they run. A lot of games should run just fine this way. However there are a handful of games that will only run using neek. In that instance you will need to follow my guide that was linked above and then on a per game basis set those games up to launch using neek. Let me know if you run into any problems or need something explained further.

Ok, so I used the option to dump the NAND to emuNAND, and now I have a 212MB "nand" folder on my SD. I then downloaded a .wad file containing the first Super Mario Bros., put it in the root of my SD, launched USB Loader GX, opened the settings, and selected the emuNAND wad manager. I selected Super Mario Bros..wad and chose "Install"; then, however, the game doesn't show up anywhere.
What am I doing wrong?

 

[Clutz450]

Make sure you have the loader set to display emunand. It's one of the buttons at the top of the screen (4th one from the left I think). Then just check the box that says emunand and it should show up.

 

[random_human_being_]

Make sure you have the loader set to display emunand. It's one of the buttons at the top of the screen (4th one from the left I think). Then just check the box that says emunand and it should show up.

Thanks, that did it.

Now, how do I rename the games I install? Super Mario Bros is listed as "FAGP" (after I press 1 the loader downloaded the cover, but the name stays the same).

EDIT - Nope, I spoke too soon. Every time I launch Super Mario Bros (or Super Mario Bros 3) the Homebrew Channel is launched instead. Now I'm really puzzled.

 

[GreyWolf]

Thanks, that did it.

Now, how do I rename the games I install? Super Mario Bros is listed as "FAGP" (after I press 1 the loader downloaded the cover, but the name stays the same).

EDIT - Nope, I spoke too soon. Every time I launch Super Mario Bros (or Super Mario Bros 3) the Homebrew Channel is launched instead. Now I'm really puzzled.

Go to the update menu in USB Loader GX and tell it to download titles and DB from GameTDB.

 

[random_human_being_]

Go to the update menu in USB Loader GX and tell it to download titles and DB from GameTDB.

Thanks, but I still cannot launch games. That is, when I try to launch SMB or SMB3, it launches the Homebrew Channel instead.
Tomorrow I'm going to try setting Boot/Standard to 249 (and then 250, if it still doesn't work) as this guide's step 6 suggests. I mean, it should already be 249, but I might as well try, since I have no other clue of what to do.

 

[Clutz450]

Are you launching USB Loader GX from Homebrew Channel? It sounds like you are trying to boot SMB and it is crashing back out to whatever you loaded USB Loader GX from. That's the only explanation I see.

Go into the Settings and make sure that you are trying to launch it using emunand instead of neek2o. Unless you are trying to use neek2o then their might be something wrong with your neek2o setup.

Are you using a Wii or a Wii U's vWii? If on a Wii U, is your drive hidden with UStealth? Emunand does not work with a UStealth drive unless you do some extra steps.

That's all I can think of right now.

 

[random_human_being_]

Are you launching USB Loader GX from Homebrew Channel? It sounds like you are trying to boot SMB and it is crashing back out to whatever you loaded USB Loader GX from. That's the only explanation I see.

I have USB Loader GX in my SD, and I set Priiloader to autoboot into it; I also set it to be launched when I choose to open the system menu.

Go into the Settings and make sure that you are trying to launch it using emunand instead of neek2o. Unless you are trying to use neek2o then their might be something wrong with your neek2o setup.

I don't have the Wii with me right now, but I'm pretty sure it was set to emunand.

Are you using a Wii or a Wii U's vWii?

Actual Wii.

Could the crash be related to the cIOS I'm using to load the VC game? All IOS below 200 are unmodified, but above that there are some outdated cIOSs that the previous owner of the console installed. Also, I installed the latest "alt" version of d2x in slot 249, and the latest "non-alt" in 250. Again, I don't have my Wii with me, so I can't be sure, but I think I was using 249 (i.e., the default one) to load backups. I was going to try setting it to 250, to see if it has any effect.

Also, I deleted every other emulated channel (e.g. Homebrew channel, Mii channel, Weather channel) on my emunand, but I don't think this has anything to do with it.

 

[Clutz450]

I have USB Loader GX in my SD, and I set Priiloader to autoboot into it; I also set it to be launched when I choose to open the system menu.

Do you know if PriiLoader is launching the forwarder or the actual USB Loader GX .dol file? The proper way would be to have it launch the forwarder. If it is launching the main .dol file there's a possibility that you are using an old version.

What version of USB Loader GX are you using. Please don't say latest or 3.0. I need the revision number like 1260 (which is currently the latest). You can find out with in the setting or look in the lower left hand corner when it starts up.

One other thing to try is once USB Loader GX starts up exit back out to the Wii System Menu then try launching USB Loader GX from the Homebrew Channel and try launching those games again.

The CIOSes may be an issue but we will troubleshoot that after to get back to me with the other things I asked first.

 

[random_human_being_]

I'll post the exact details as soon as I can, in the meantime here's what I remember.

Do you know if PriiLoader is launching the forwarder or the actual USB Loader GX .dol file? The proper way would be to have it launch the forwarder. If it is launching the main .dol file there's a possibility that you are using an old version.

What version of USB Loader GX are you using. Please don't say latest or 3.0. I need the revision number like 1260 (which is currently the latest). You can find out with in the setting or look in the lower left hand corner when it starts up.

I am launching the .dol file; I didn't really install a forwarder, thought I didn't need one. I guess I'll just deactivate autoboot and launch everything from the HBC until I get things to work, then see about it.

I'll look up the revision number in two days (or, hopefully, tomorrow); if it helps, though, I recall downloading the .dol no longer than a week ago from their sourceforge page (the file suggested in the main page).

On a side note, thanks for your aid; I understand I'm not making it easy for you to help me, and I hope I'm not taking advantage of your helpfulness.

 

[Clutz450]

On a side note, thanks for your aid; I understand I'm not making it easy for you to help me, and I hope I'm not taking advantage of your helpfulness.

No worries. I don't think you are taking advantage. We all have real lives that take priority.

Anyway, about the dol file. I know you say you have a dol downloaded from a week ago but since you have PriiLoader autoboot in into USB Loader GX there is a possibility that it is booting an older version. You see because in order for PriiLoader to autoboot, the .dol file has to be installed into the Wii. The right thing to do would be to install the Forwarder .dol file so that PriiLoader will autoboot the forwarder which will then launch the loader dol in the apps folder. But if you have installed the full version of USB Loader GX dol file into PriiLoader then it will always boot that version and ignore whatever dol file is in your apps folder. I hope I'm explaining this well for you and that you are getting it. If not, don't worry because I will still get things working for you anyways. Lol.

 

[random_human_being_]

Ok, it seems to be working now.
I deleted the previous nand dump, reset USB Loader GX's settings do default, made a new dump, installed Super Mario Bros, set it to be launched with cIOS 250, and now it seems to work.

I'm still having only two problems:

• the screen is stretched to 16:9, and setting a per-game option to force 4:3 doesn't seem to do anything. Is that normal, or is there a way to use the original ratio?
• using GreyWolf's advice for game titles doesn't work, even with "download titles from GameTDB" SMB and SMB3 are still named FAGP and FCWP (or something similar); the cover download just fine. Can I set the name of individual games manually?

 

[jugi]

OFFTOPIC:
How do people get SNES mario games as a channel? Also, how is it possible to customize your wii Home Menu? Sorry that I didnt make a topic. Its hard to get some support this site seems kinda dead to me

 

[random_human_being_]

OFFTOPIC:
How do people get SNES mario games as a channel? Also, how is it possible to customize your wii Home Menu? Sorry that I didnt make a topic. Its hard to get some support this site seems kinda dead to me

Nah, I've asked a couple of questions so far, and I've always received some responses shortly after.
Regarding your question, that's exactly what I asked in this thread, so that's not really an off-topic. Just read the answers I received.

 

[jugi]

Nah, I've asked a couple of questions so far, and I've always received some responses shortly after.
Regarding your question, that's exactly what I asked in this thread, so that's not really an off-topic. Just read the answers I received.

Thanks.
Do you know how to split .wbfs files? The file is 3.93 gb but my USB is 4gb :\.