Hacking WiiFlow Lite

[Cyan]

1265 already has the fix. I don't remember but it's old enough, maybe around r1200-1220.
edit: r1225

Sector size is a physical size set at manufacturing time, you can't change it. It's the plate size itself in the HDD.
Cluster size is a software choice used by some partition format (FAT, NTFS) to store files in multiple chunks/fragments. the bigger the size, the more you lose space if you store small files as one cluster can only hold one file. you need to run "unfragment" to put the files in better position on the drive.

You can have multiple cluster in one sector.

 

[fledge68]

1265 already has the fix. I don't remember but it's old enough, maybe around r1200-1220.


Sector size is a physical size set at manufacturing time, you can't change it. It's the plate size itself in the HDD.
Cluster size is a software choice used by some partition format (FAT, NTFS) to store files in multiple chunks/fragments. the bigger the size, the more you lose space if you store small files as one cluster can only hold one file. you need to run "unfragment" to put the files in better position on the drive.

You can have multiple cluster in one sector.

Thanks. You better try downloading cheats again. It doesnt work for me using usbloader gx.

 

[GreyWolf]

A sector is one contiguous block on the HDD. A cluster is a set of sectors.

I think I've had issues getting cheats to download before, too, but not always. I could probably cobble something together to follow referrers.

 

[fledge68]

A sector is one contiguous block on the HDD. A cluster is a set of sectors.

I think I've had issues getting cheats to download before, too, but not always. I could probably cobble something together to follow referrers.

Yea i was an idiot. I got cluster size confused with sector size. The ios capacity command is working right.

This morning i tried downloading cheats and every game it gave me an error saying something about unable to download. If it works for you let me know. I will recheck things on my end.

 

[GreyWolf]

Yea i was an idiot. I got cluster size confused with sector size. The ios capacity command is working right.

This morning i tried downloading cheats and every game it gave me an error saying something about unable to download. If it works for you let me know. I will recheck things on my end.

It's probably that anti-DDoS service they're using.

 

[fledge68]

It's probably that anti-DDoS service they're using.

yes i noticed when i went to the website it shows a quick message webpage about checking my browser before showing the actual website

 

[JacobM]

This morning i tried downloading cheats and every game it gave me an error saying something about unable to download. If it works for you let me know. I will recheck things on my end.

From an end user perspective, I can't recall being able to download cheats for at least the past year in USB Loader GX. I'm not sure if Wiiflow Lite has the same issue since I've become accustomed to manually importing cheats. I assumed the servers were depreciated just like the WiiSave.com service.

 

[fledge68]

Testers needed!

wiiflow lite r1145 - http://www.mediafire.com/file/s27vp2aupp1b9nz/boot.dol

main things to check:
*downloading covers
*downloading cheats (shouldn't work but worth a try)
*categories
*try installing a gc game
*try installing a wad to your emu nand.

the last 2 please make sure you have your HDD and/or SD card backed up before hand. i claim no responsibility if any damage occurs. not that it should. but there's always that small possibility that a file or two could get corrupted.

sorry no wfl_as_wiiflow dol yet.

 

[kaisersozeh]

Testers needed!

wiiflow lite r1145 - http://www.mediafire.com/file/s27vp2aupp1b9nz/boot.dol

main things to check:
*downloading covers
*downloading cheats (shouldn't work but worth a try)
*categories
*try installing a gc game
*try installing a wad to your emu nand.

the last 2 please make sure you have your HDD and/or SD card backed up before hand. i claim no responsibility if any damage occurs. not that it should. but there's always that small possibility that a file or two could get corrupted.

sorry no wfl_as_wiiflow dol yet.

Not using a nand at the moment - can I still help?

 

[Hakaisha]

Downloading Covers: Works great! For both GCN and Wii.

Downloading Cheats: Download Error. Download not found. I tried to use more popular games that would be the most likely to have cheats.

Categories: Seems to still be working fine. Hidden category is keeping games hidden as usual, and shows different results when turned on and off.

Installing a GC Game: The resulting ISO seems to be corrupted. The file size seems right, but the banner is corrupted and the game boots to a black screen. Example below:

Note: The banner frame in Carbonik Abz and my own theme now remain visible on the screen after clicking the banner for full mode in this release.

Installing a Wad to EmuNand: Works great! The installed WAD looks to be intact on WiiFlow and boots up just fine. Not noticing any corruption.

 

[dishe]

Is it possible to change the loading animation without recompiling the source? Is that something that can be added in another update (reference a set of images for that animation that we can replace ourselves)?

 

[kaisersozeh]

Is it possible to change the loading animation without recompiling the source? Is that something that can be added in another update (reference a set of images for that animation that we can replace ourselves)?

Nope, it's baked in. If you're up for compiling it, there's a few groovy animations about - I'm about to experiment with the format in the coming days - dependent on my capacity to compile (!) - if you have any requests or ideas, OR ART, drop me a PM.
@Hakaisha too, obvs. Or indeed anyone!

 

[fledge68]

Downloading Covers: Works great! For both GCN and Wii.

Downloading Cheats: Download Error. Download not found. I tried to use more popular games that would be the most likely to have cheats.

Categories: Seems to still be working fine. Hidden category is keeping games hidden as usual, and shows different results when turned on and off.

Installing a GC Game: The resulting ISO seems to be corrupted. The file size seems right, but the banner is corrupted and the game boots to a black screen. Example below:

Note: The banner frame in Carbonik Abz and my own theme now remain visible on the screen after clicking the banner for full mode in this release.

Installing a Wad to EmuNand: Works great! The installed WAD looks to be intact on WiiFlow and boots up just fine. Not noticing any corruption.

Thanks for testing!

Ill look into the gc install and the banner frame issue. Otherwise things seem to be stable in this revision.

EDIT: quick fix for small banner frame - http://www.mediafire.com/file/kwtv462n21v3w6n/boot.dol

@dishe not available now. Could maybe be possible to load them first thing but would probably slow boot up alot.

 

[dishe]

@dishe not available now. Could maybe be possible to load them first thing but would probably slow boot up alot.

Understood. Can I request than that there be an option to disable it and just have a still frame that says "loading..."?
In my installation (minivan), I'm trying to steer away from anything that makes the setup seem Wii-specific (like nintendo logos or screens that say "wii" in them. For example, I changed the cover for WiiMC to just say Video Player, etc). Obviously the controllers are recognizable, but I thought it be cool if a passenger gets into my car and I tell them they can use the entertainment system, and not have them assume its running on a Nintendo Wii.
Then I get to surprise them upon reveal where the hardware is and what it looks like. I know its a silly request, honestly if it were easy to to change the animation I would make a Honda symbol or something so it feels like its part of the car, but scrolling back a few pages it seems like some folks were having trouble getting it to compile in their environment. I haven't done anything like that in long enough that I'm afraid it will be a frustratingly complicated experience just to change the logo.

 

[dishe]

Nope, it's baked in. If you're up for compiling it, there's a few groovy animations about - I'm about to experiment with the format in the coming days - dependent on my capacity to compile (!) - if you have any requests or ideas, OR ART, drop me a PM.
@Hakaisha too, obvs. Or indeed anyone!

See, the fact that you're having trouble compiling makes me nervous to try myself. If people like you are having trouble, probably all the more so for me. And then whenever there is an update I'd have to do it again. Meanwhile, I could supply some generic looking art if you wanted to try compiling one with it. I just need to know what kind of specs the images need to have (image frame size, color limitations, frame limitations, etc).

 

[kaisersozeh]

Understood. Can I request than that there be an option to disable it and just have a still frame that says "loading..."?
In my installation (minivan), I'm trying to steer away from anything that makes the setup seem Wii-specific (like nintendo logos or screens that say "wii" in them. For example, I changed the cover for WiiMC to just say Video Player, etc). Obviously the controllers are recognizable, but I thought it be cool if a passenger gets into my car and I tell them they can use the entertainment system, and not have them assume its running on a Nintendo Wii.
Then I get to surprise them upon reveal where the hardware is and what it looks like. I know its a silly request, honestly if it were easy to to change the animation I would make a Honda symbol or something so it feels like its part of the car, but scrolling back a few pages it seems like some folks were having trouble getting it to compile in their environment. I haven't done anything like that in long enough that I'm afraid it will be a frustratingly complicated experience just to change the logo.

That environment trousers was me -Just got a Windows10 64bit license on ebay for under £3 - I'm pretty sure those issues surrounded my 32bit OS - I should be ok once updated *nervous laughter*
It's wii/nintendo specific branding you don't like - if you're willing to think on what might fit your needs -
Entirely Generic - an egg timer
Features animated game/media 'DVD' boxes, or
A stylised coverflow, but not "nintendo" or "wii"
Pertains to console gaming
Pertains to entertainment
https://gbatemp.net/threads/sourcef...s-feature-requests-artwork-discussion.356052/
I found these - not what you're looking for but a starting point to hate on - - although a greater quality, size and number of frames is a possibility, this broadly shows you what's possible

EDIT:Cross post!
We're looking at png's - 32bit - 640x480 or less - any number of frames but the sum total size of all the images can't be greater than - well - Einstein is saying a meg, but that's untested
The current 8 times 80x200 images total about 65kb!

 

[fledge68]

Understood. Can I request than that there be an option to disable it and just have a still frame that says "loading..."?
In my installation (minivan), I'm trying to steer away from anything that makes the setup seem Wii-specific (like nintendo logos or screens that say "wii" in them. For example, I changed the cover for WiiMC to just say Video Player, etc). Obviously the controllers are recognizable, but I thought it be cool if a passenger gets into my car and I tell them they can use the entertainment system, and not have them assume its running on a Nintendo Wii.
Then I get to surprise them upon reveal where the hardware is and what it looks like. I know its a silly request, honestly if it were easy to to change the animation I would make a Honda symbol or something so it feels like its part of the car, but scrolling back a few pages it seems like some folks were having trouble getting it to compile in their environment. I haven't done anything like that in long enough that I'm afraid it will be a frustratingly complicated experience just to change the logo.

I personally would rather have one image with the words booting or loading.

Problems with a folder with a image or iimages are you have to wait for devices to be mounted and initialized and even tthen you dont know if the user is using sd or usb.thats why its included in the compile code.

 

[kaisersozeh]

I personally would rather have one image with the words booting or loading.

Problems with a folder with a image or iimages are you have to wait for devices to be mounted and initialized and even tthen you dont know if the user is using sd or usb.thats why its included in the compile code.

You functionally need some animation to show the machine hasn't frozen - I'd prefer a smaller, abstract animation in the top right, or a greater pixel depth - nothing can look good @ 640x480 blown up on 40"+ screen
Broader exploration here - I'd appreciate your thoughts
https://github.com/einsteinx2/wiiflow-lite-einstein-mod/issues/6

 

[dishe]

It's wii/nintendo specific branding you don't like - if you're willing to think on what might fit your needs -
Entirely Generic - an egg timer
Features animated game/media 'DVD' boxes, or
A stylised coverflow, but not "nintendo" or "wii"
Pertains to console gaming
Pertains to entertainment
https://gbatemp.net/threads/sourcef...s-feature-requests-artwork-discussion.356052/
I found these - not what you're looking for but a starting point to hate on - - although a greater quality, size and number of frames is a possibility, this broadly shows you what's possible

EDIT:Cross post!
We're looking at png's - 32bit - 640x480 or less - any number of frames but the sum total size of all the images can't be greater than - well - Einstein is saying a meg, but that's untested
The current 8 times 80x200 images total about 65kb!

I was thinking similar- a spinning wheel (ala Mac OS) to be generic. Some of the ones in that thread aren't terrible (the moving boxes grid), but not really what I had in mind either.

I personally would rather have one image with the words booting or loading.

Problems with a folder with a image or iimages are you have to wait for devices to be mounted and initialized and even tthen you dont know if the user is using sd or usb.thats why its included in the compile code.

Totally makes sense. This displays before/during mounting, so I get that. I don't want it to say booting because it also sometimes does it after you've booted. Especially when returning from something else. I think Loading makes sense, but like @kaisersozeh mentioned, it is nice to have something animated so we know it hasn't frozen.
Could be something like Loading with a night-rider style red swish bouncing back and forth under it, or if we wanted to go super simple, ellipses after loading that blink on/off. (ex: Loading, Loading., Loading.., etc). I actually think a 2 or 3-frame animation like that would be nice- low resource footprint, classy, generic. And we can tell if the unit has frozen.

 

[Hakaisha]

The ability to add a custom user-provided image as a loading prompt is an attractive option I would eventually like to see; under the circumstance that it doesn't completely replace or do away with the option to keep the standard WiiFlow logo animation the program is already compiled with.

As odd as it may sound, I find the WiiFlow loading animation to be rather therapeutic and relaxing as opposed to most loading screens. But I do see the benefit in having the option to customize. I would definitely use it on a future media center-focused setup.

Edit: Perhaps this feature could be incorporated as a user-adjusted line defined in something such as the wiiflow_lite.ini for people wanting to experiment with the option.

Example: [GENERAL]
"custom_boot_image=yes" would find the image in a user-specified file "custom_boot_dir=sd:/apps/wiiflow_lite/imgs"

"custom_boot_image=no" would bypass the search for a custom image and use the standard animation provided inside the program.

In this way, the user could basically choose between "custom, but slower" and "default, but faster".

Edit2: Now that I think about it; it seems like it would probably be slower with either option introduced since the SD or USB has to first be mounted to read the wiiflow_lite.ini anyways?