Hacking Wii backup Manager for Windows

[Bloodlust]

Please ignore if this has been mentioned before. I add a ISO, select download covers for all. It downloads in the background but the preview doesn't show. Only after I add another game, select it and revert back to the first one only do the covers preview appear....

 

[ed_sambo]

Hi guys, really sorry if this is a dumb question, as after multiple searches I can't seem to find the answer:

Using Wii Backup Manager for making backups/transferring backups between iso/wbfs etc, should I have the settings for the Wii disk partitions set to Keep Game, Remove Update or Keep All?

If somebody could point me to a manual of some sort that would be great as well.

Thanks for your patience in answering this simple question.

 

[Spidy1000]

Hi guys, really sorry if this is a dumb question, as after multiple searches I can't seem to find the answer:

Using Wii Backup Manager for making backups/transferring backups between iso/wbfs etc, should I have the settings for the Wii disk partitions set to Keep Game, Remove Update or Keep All?

If somebody could point me to a manual of some sort that would be great as well.

Thanks for your patience in answering this simple question.

for ISO, use remove update, for wbfs files, just leave the game partition

 

[fred bloggs]

I'm struggling to get CFG to load my covers....

Backup Manager put them in the default folder on the HDD M:\Covers (Capital C)

My config.txt in sd:/usb-loader says

theme = BlueMatrix
device = usb
widescreen = auto
gui = start
gui_transition = fade
gui_lock = 1
gui_style = flow
gui_rows = 2
clock_style = 12am
confirm_start = 1
disable_remove = 1
disable_options = 0
disable_format = 1
admin_unlock = 1
unlock_password = DAD
hide_game = RDHP
sort_ignore = Agatha Christie
covers_path = usb:/Covers
covers_path_2d = covers_path
covers_path_3d = covers_path/3d
covers_path_disc = covers_path/disc
covers_path_full = covers_path/full
write_playlog = 1
profile_names = default
console_mark_favorite = 1
hide_hddinfo = 0

But I don't get any covers - any help appreciated!

 

[fig2k4]

@ratt1972
Thanks for trying.

I haven't tested dual layered discs and they obviously don't work. I've tested single layer discs using DVD-RW in ULoader using an external USB DVD drive. I've yet to get any feedback as to whether it works for anyone else. I'm guessing people don't use discs very often now.

@Bloodlust
Maybe try a different renderer for now. I might've missed a refresh with software renderer, so it doesn't get updated. I'll make sure it works in the next release.

@ed_sambo
I'd agree with Spidy1000..

@fred bloggs
Can you show a screenshot of what the cover folders look like in Explorer?

Edit:

Is it valid to use the covers_path like that? Should it be like this?

covers_path = usb:/Covers
covers_path_2d = usb:/Covers/2d
covers_path_3d = usb:/Covers/3d
covers_path_disc = usb:/Covers/disc
covers_path_full = usb:/Covers/full

Maybe someone with better knowledge of configuring CFG could help out.

I still keep my covers on the SD card with the default configuration..

 

[fred bloggs]

Hopefully :-

 

[Ato Puro]

fig, just wanted to congrat you. WBM is so easy to use (and to configure) and the covers download feature is great. Best wii backup manager hands down.

About the covers path (I'm jumping in the middle of the conversation...), if I recall correctly, it's usb:/usb-loader/covers (3d, disc, full being sub-folders). Flat covers (2d) are stored in the "covers" folder. At least with CFG USB Loader that's how it works, I believe.

 

[1776]

When I try to load an ISO directory with this latest version, it scans through about 75% of the files, then Wii Backup Manager just crashes or closes out without any notice. It happens every time.

Version 0.3.7.58 in XP Pro SP3

With version 0.3.4r4, which is the last version I have been using, it works fine.

 

[fig2k4]

@fred bloggs
Are there any cover images in those folders?

Maybe there's another config.txt that gets loaded instead of the one you want. Where do the covers end up when you download them using CFG?

@Ato Puro
Cheers.

oggzee let me know a few posts back that v63+ can use the 2d subfolder too.

@1776
Send me one of the logs from the log folder so I can hopefully see what happened. It's more than likely that there's a zero length or corrupt file that's causing it. I've already fixed the code so that zero length wbfs files don't cause problem now, maybe I need to check ISOs too.

 

[fig2k4]

This was supposed to be a little progress update in a quick edit, but it got a bit long so new post..

I got held back quite a bit by 2 problems.

1. I implemented the offline cache and everything was working great. Then, when all the files were coming from the cache, the app was lagging something rotten. I spent a good few hours trying to track down the problem. At first I thought something was taking too long, so I profiled the app and found nothing that could cause it. Then I had the theory that something was stalling the Windows message queue. Still I found nothing that could cause it. I found the answer in Task Manager (In hindsight I should've looked there first). My cover folders were in my SVN path and Tortoise SVN was taking up all the CPU cores to update the bloody icon cache, I turned off the icon cache in it's settings and everything was working fine. What a complete waste of time that was.

2. NTFS formatting wouldn't work on my pen drive. After a few hours of Googling, I found that not every USB drive is considered to be a hard disk and the constants I came across on the web weren't named correctly. I should've been using "Removable Media" for some types of USB drives. So now I read the media type from the drive itself and pass that info to the Windows API functions. It should work with any media type now. While I was at it, I updated the format dialog with better logging, error checking etc. So if a format fails, it'll show why.

For the next release I've changed the functionality of the cover downloads. Now it's more of a "sync".

I've finished the "Download and sync all" function.

The sync will optionally delete covers from the folders that don't exist on the drive and copy covers from the cache to the folders. Obviously if you share the cover folder with multiple drives, you'll want to turn that off. There's an option to keep covers that don't exist in the cache too.

The download part is better now because it knows what region the images came from. It'll queue up all the covers that are either missing, or you don't have your first choice image for. eg. You have the US cover, but your first choice is UK. It'll try to download in your order of preference again and stop when it finds the already cached file.

It'll be pretty handy because you can quickly check to see if any covers have been uploaded for your preferred region.

The other functions I plan are..

"Download and sync missing" This will only download the missing covers and sync the cover folders with the drive's game list. ie. There's no check for updates to existing covers. If there's something already in the cache, it just uses that. Otherwise it's just he same as the sync all.

"Sync with cache only" This will only use files that have already been downloaded. No downloads are queued whatsoever. I'm not sure yet if this is worth coding, since the sync missing function would probably work exactly the same if there's no missing covers.

"Update displayed cover cache" This will download all covers that will be used in WBM, to the cache only. The "displayed covers" are the ones you've chosen to show on the cover panel in WBM. It'll just save some time instead of waiting for the download every time you click on a game that doesn't have the cover cached.

I hope you can see that I've not exactly been slacking off, lol.

 

[fig2k4]

@1776
I see the problem.. The unfinished GameCube support.

Could you possibly move all the GameCube and Wii ISOs to separate folders? I know it'll be a pain in the ass, but if it works with just the Wii ISOs then I'll know that I should disable the GameCube stuff until it's finished.

I really meant to disable it anyway, I just forgot..

 

[dexter222]

@dexter222
I don't think that error is related to the 3TB drive. Do you have a floppy drive or something similar in that system?

About the duplicate drive sizes.. I think there's a small bug in my code where I don't reset the size to zero. So if the call to get the current size fails, the value from last time is still there. I see the same thing with Subst drives on my system. I should be able to fix that without any problems.

I think I have an idea of how to fix the speed issues.

Yes there's a floppy drive in the system.

It's not a huge deal but if you could fix the speed issues that would be great! The ETA reporting is a bit messed up also. It runs out while the files are still transferring and the total time stops. Here's a speed comparison:

Transfer times 22 games (ISOs) 31.69 GB WBM 0.3.7

SATA to eSATA (2TB) 8:41 62.27MB/s NTFS to NTFS
SATA to USB 3.0 (2TB) 8:56 60.49MB/s NTFS to NTFS
SATA to USB 3.0 (3TB) 34.23 15.73MB/s NTFS to WBFS

 

[fred bloggs]

@fred bloggs
Is it valid to use the covers_path like that? Should it be like this?

covers_path = usb:/Covers
covers_path_2d = usb:/Covers/2d
covers_path_3d = usb:/Covers/3d
covers_path_disc = usb:/Covers/disc
covers_path_full = usb:/Covers/full

Maybe someone with better knowledge of configuring CFG could help out.

I still keep my covers on the SD card with the default configuration..

Fig you were right - needed to have the full path in each line.

But you've confused me! Why have a covers option in the Manager but still keep your covers on the SD card?

Fred.

 

[DR_HAMMER]

Thanks a lot for your backup manager!

I noticed a problem with Windows XP and Windows 7. In Windows XP I could copy SSBB from one HDD to another HDD without problems. But in Windows 7 after the copy progress bar reaches 100% it will just output an error. And also the MD5 hashing doesn't work with SSBB in Windows 7.

I think that has something to do with the large file size.

 

[winny.uk]

In the modmii release notes there is a change recommending to use fat32gui to format drives as there are some reported problems with WBM.

I have been tearing my hair out for weeks thinking I had a dodgy usb drive, but there does seem to be a difference.

1. fat32gui formatter (as now recommended by modmii)
2. WBM v036b43
3. WBM v037b58

The two WBM formats did not work with Cfg-usb, however fat32gui is working fine. The drive is a WD Passport 2.5 500gb.

WBM = 119200 sectors per fat
fat32 = 119119 sectors per fat

I'll pm you the logs from Drive Inspector to see if it helps at all.

PS. Loving the latest version. The ios column is awesome

 

[FGOD]

i'm having some issues converting some games to ciso... it leaves me with a .tmp file which i cannot open... any ideas? the ones i had that problem with were for now, fifa11 and mario sport mix.

 

[fig2k4]

@FGOD
I released a fix for CISO. I've posted the link to it in the OP now too.
http://www.4shared.com/file/GFvCfpcQ/WiiBa...SO-fix-exe.html

Let me know if the fix helps or especially if you're already using it. When you get an error, you can quickly send me the log via the Help-Feedback menu item, of just manually attach the log to an email.

@winny.uk
Please send the log.

From the values, it looks like I might've missed a -1 somewhere..

@DR_HAMMER
Tricky one. Are you sure the MD5 hash is enabled in the settings? If you have "Allow changes to Wii discs" enabled and you rename a title, the MD5 hash is removed because it isn't valid any more. In that case, you need to recalculate the hash after renaming.

Can you send me the log when the transfer fails? Are you sure you have enough space left on your temp drive?

@fred bloggs
Glad you got it working.

I keep the covers on SD card because I just haven't got round to configuring everything to use the USB drive. Too busy or just lazy, you decide

@dexter222
That's exactly what's causing the error then, the floppy. I need to disable IO errors while checking the floppy, or detect the drive type and ignore anything that's not useful.

Copying to NTFS is much faster because Windows can cache the data better than with a raw filesystem like WBFS. I think I can speed it up by reverting to the old WBFS technique, where a whole WBFS sector is copied at a time instead of 1 Wii sector. (2MB vs 32KB)

 

[fig2k4]

@winny.uk
I've fixed that error. It was a little discrepancy in the code conversion from C++ to Delphi. In the function get_fat_size_sectors() the code looked like this..

FatSz = Numerator / Denominator;
// round up
FatSz += 1;

and mine was..

result := round(Numerator / Denominator)+1;

I had to remove the +1 because I'm already using a function that rounds it up.. Duh!!

Are you in a position to test this? It would be nice to confirm that it does make a difference..

Thanks for the help anyway.

 

[Wiimm]

FatSz = Numerator / Denominator;
// round up
FatSz += 1;

This code generally fails if Numerator is a multiple of Denominator.

Better and correct rounding up for integers && Denominator>0:
CODEFatSz = ( Numerator + Denominator - 1 ) / Denominator;

btw: Delphi knows ceil(), or?

 

[fig2k4]

This seems to produce the same result.
ceil() and round() round the value up, and it's 1 more than it should be, trunc() rounds down to the nearest integer.

result := trunc((Numerator + Denominator - 1) / Denominator);

Or I could just use the same math as the original code. I changed to using trunc() because it's more like what happens with the integer divide in C++.

result := trunc(Numerator / Denominator) + 1;

I tested your calculation using a couple of VHDs in Windows 7. With 2GB the sectors per FAT was 969 and with 40GB the sectors per FAT was 10237, which is identical to FAT32format. It seems to work the same with both lines of code above, but I'll use yours since there might be situations where the other one will fail.

Thanks.

If anyone is able to format a large drive to FAT32 and test in a USB loader, send me an email. I'll send an exe for testing..