Hacking Wiiflow - some games gone missing - but still on HDD?

[cerebr_al]

Hello fellas.

I have a 4.1e Wii with Wii flow and a 500GB WD Passport ext HDD.

Games are all .wbfs (in a directory titled wbfs), and the HDD is formatted to FAT32.

This setup has been working fine with 100+ games installed for over a year.

Recently however my son has noticed some games have gone missing like Mario Kart Wii and Lego Batman (all the other Lego games show up).

I checked the HDD and they're still loaded on. I re-installed them in any case.

I've deleted the Wiiflow cache on the SD card to no avail.

I checked the HDD and it found some errors. I reformatted the HDD and re-installed all the games but the same games refuse to be seen on Wiiflow while the others continue to play perfectly.

Is it an issue with the Covers (which are on the SD card)? Perhaps I need to delete all the covers and re-install them?

Do I need to re-install Wiiflow (it is the latest version)?

Any wise words of wisdom on this issue will be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[bm123456]

Are the games in sub folders .. If not use wiibackup manager to do this for u .Also download wiiflow 418 and do a fresh install.delete what is says on wiifkow wiki

 

[cerebr_al]

Thanks for your reply bm12456.

Some games are in sub folders, some aren't and some of each are the ones that are missing so I don't think there's a link there.

I will download 418 and do a fresh install as per wiiflow wiki and post my results.

 

[mrp73]

My experience with Wiiflow has been that when games suddenly aren't showing up there is a problem with the SD card. I would remove the files from the SD and reformat it. Put the files back on but erase the folders with the covers. There is usually a corrupt cover jpg that is causing it. Erase those folders and choose to redownload all covers again.

 

[cerebr_al]

I think you are onto it mrp73.

I will definitely try what you suggested first!

Thank you.

 

[cerebr_al]

OK, I have made some progress but the problem persists.

I deleted all the covers and boxcovers and it made no difference.

I tried a brand new SD card (with no covers etc), and that made no difference either.

I put the Wiiflow version 418 (latest version), boot.dol on the sd card and some games have appeared but not all. For example, Lego Batman (the one my son first noticed missing), has come back but Mario Kart Wii is still not showing up.

Doing a fresh install delete as suggested by bm 12345 above might be worth a try but I can't find step by step instructions on how to do that on Wiiflow wiki.

In other words, what are the steps to delete and re-install wiiflow if you've already softmodded the wii and installed wiiflow?

Is it as simple as I've done above - delete the boot.dol from the wiiflow apps folder and paste the newer version? Then, I've done that and it hasn't solved my problem.

Mucho frustration.

 

[bm123456]

Delete your files inside wiiflow/config. Also use wiibackup manager from the stickies to make sub folders for all ur games .and make sure ur clear wiiflow cache folder

 

[cerebr_al]

Thanks again bm123456 - will do that next and report.

I'm on a mac so getting wiibackup manager to create the subfolders (whilst possible), will be a pain.

Can I just create sub folders on my mac and name them as per the wiibackup manager protocol (I have some created previously by wiibackup manager that I can go by and I have all the gameID numbers backed up somewhere)?

Incidentally, as I've mentioned above some of the previously working/now missing games are currently on the HDD in wiibackup manager created sub-folders (while the recently re-appeared Lego Batman isn't), so I'm thinking it's a glitch in wiiflow/config. I will delete the data there along with the cache and see how I go.

 

[mrp73]

If that doesn't work then look carefully at your folder with your games to see if 1 game file is corrupt. I don't know how it shows on a mac but on a pc I'll get the file name with a file size of 0. I think it is trying to read all your games and then hitting a wall somewhere with a bad file. Have you reported this error on the wiiwiki site where you downloaded 418. Maybe it's an issue. I know 418 is very new so you never know.

 

[cerebr_al]

Yes, I can check for a bad file easily enough on a mac. I will try that.

This problem began well before I downloaded 418. In fact, as mentioned above, using it brought a few games back.

Still you make a very good point, maybe they should know I'm having these issues too!

 

[wii knee]

I've had this experience but it was with a wbfs partition. For shits and giggles, try re-ripping or replacing one of the 'missing' game wbfs files. There is a known issue with wbfs files on wbfs partitions becoming corrupt and the games don't appear in Wiiflow anymore.

 

[cerebr_al]

Hi wii knee.

Yes, I am familiar with that issue and that is why I use the FAT32 format. Maybe it's something to do with .wbfs files themselves??

It's an interesting suggestion to re-rip and I will try re-ripping Mario Kart Wii - as I think it was one of the first to disappear.

Doesn't explain why some of the others came back when I downloaded 418 though.

 

[FIX94]

If it found some error easlier that pretty much means some game must be broken - I suppose mario kart in your case. Just remove the mario kart folder from hdd, check drive for errors again, if non found reinstall it in wiiflow.

 

[air2004]

I have the same issue with a game , I posted about it before ...... anyway , other loaders will see and play it , not sure why wii flow wont

 

[cerebr_al]

OK! Good news fellas, I solved it! Woot!

All the games were fine.

What the issue seems to be is that the more recent versions of Wiiflow require you to included the GameID in the name of your .wbfs files.

This is what worked for me:

Game Name (space) [GameID].wbfs

I just had to re-name all the missing games and they re-appeared! That was all. There was no need for any sub-folders (although they do work as well).

The weird thing is (and this is what got me frustrated intially), this appears not to be a strict rule and some games will appear if just the game name is displayed before the .wbfs (that said the missing games in the subfolders did not have the GameID in their name).

Hope this helps others and saves them some frustration along the way.

Much thanks for all the posters for their tips and advice. It was all very much appreciated.

 

[theiru]

That didn't help me. What helped was going to the main Wiiflow settings (by pressing Home), and refreshing the memory or whatever it was called. I've noticed I have to do that every time I add a game to my external hard drive.

 

[hcrguy55]

That didn't help me. What helped was going to the main Wiiflow settings (by pressing Home), and refreshing the memory or whatever it was called. I've noticed I have to do that every time I add a game to my external hard drive.

This worked for me. Thanks

 

[blacksican253]

Add a new game using wbfs manager noobz

 

[shallen320]

That didn't help me. What helped was going to the main Wiiflow settings (by pressing Home), and refreshing the memory or whatever it was called. I've noticed I have to do that every time I add a game to my external hard drive.

Thank you so much, your method works for me. I reload the cache and the newly added game appeared!!

 

[snoofly]

Thank you so much, your method works for me. I reload the cache and the newly added game appeared!!

thanks worked for me too