Wii softmod and apps questions...

NES, SNES, N64, Gamecube, Wii
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Sarge
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Re: Just soft modded my Wii, questions...

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Ziggy587 wrote:So does anyone have any tips for me on GCN HDD loading? I should be getting my HDD soon, and I wanna set it up right away. But I want to avoid having to reformat/repartition it down the road to accommodate GCN loading.

I think you can just use a combination of Nintendont and Devolution. Nintendont has lower compatibility, but is pretty simple to use. Devolution, if I remember right, actually verifies your disc to make sure you're not just dumping ISOs in there. But that's only a one-time deal. It's also got better compatibility, running stuff like Twilight Princess, Billy Hatcher, and Mega Man X Command Mission with no issues.

I think the only thing that changes between those two is where it expects the game to reside. It's always in the /games directory, but one wants it in a folder, then the iso named "game.iso". The other, I don't completely remember, it's similar, though, except it doesn't require it to be called "game.iso". Check the readme for both of those to be sure.

If you're ripping games, I think CleanRip works pretty well, if memory serves. I don't have any of this on-hand, so I can verify everything.
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Ziggy
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Re: Just soft modded my Wii, questions...

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Alright, I'm gonna give Devolution a try over DIOS MIOS. It seems like Devolution has the better compatibility of the two.

One thing I can't seem to find info for is the required (if any) file system for Devolution. I've read a few forum guides, and the read me and whatnot, but I didn't see this info anywhere. I'm gonna assume that it's like DIOS MIOS and needs to be the first partition formatted as FAT32.

Also, I can't seem to find any where the folder structure I should use to store the games. I've read the whole /games/nameofgame/game.iso thing, but where should that /games folder be? In the route of the drive?
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Re: Just soft modded my Wii, questions...

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Alright, so I did some tinkering and I think I got everything (almost) working.

I set up my new HDD with a 32GB FAT32 partition for GCN games then the rest is NTFS for Wii games. Yeah, I took the lazy route and just formatted with Windows. I decided that I don't need more than 32GB for GCN games, I have a 32GB SD card that I'm using for homebrew apps and whatnot, and I'd rather have my Wii games on a NTFS to avoid splitting images larger than 4GB. I know that USB Loader GX will scrub the images down so it'll be rare for a game to be larger than 4GB, but I was also considering any time I wanna make a 1:1 rip with CleanRip. I don't wanna have to deal with split files, it's just easier this way.

It took a bit to get Devolution set up. I still haven't been able to launch a game using the Devolution launcher, but I have been able to play a game just fine launching it from USB Loader GX. It took a bit of trial and error to get all the files in the right place, set all the paths correctly, etc.

KalessinDB wrote:Let me know what you come up with on the Y-Cables to power... I also have to get a hard drive for my Wii (and bigger for my PS3 and 360 for that matter... I've fallen behind lately on electronics) and would LOVE to not have a separate wall wart for the HDD.


I got my hard drive in today, and it works fine with the USB cable that comes with it, no Y-cable needed. Again, this is the drive that I got. You're either a Seagate or WD person, and I've been using WD drives for some years now, so that's what I went with. I found this drive (WDBUZG5000ABK) on a compatibility list as working, and it's working fine for me so far. I like this little drive a lot. It's hardly bigger than a bare bones 2.5" HDD, I love the sleek design. You can shove it anywhere if needed, like behind your Wii (mine rests on top since my Wii is horizontal).

Ziggy587 wrote:Is there any way to hard patch NSMB with the Newer patches?


As it turns out, there's a very easy way to do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy0c2TTHH_g

Check out the description and download the archive from the media fire link. It's a little Windows ISO builder for the Newer patches. The video is a how-to, but it's using an outdated version that only patches NSMB with the main Newer patch. The new tool, from the media fire link, will patch NSMB with all the Newer patches (Summer Sun, Another, Holiday Special). It's pretty self explanatory to use. Extract the contents into a new folder, put the contents from the Newer download into that folder along with the game image (either full .iso or .wbfs). Run the builder and go through the options, then it'll build the patched ISO for you. I did this for all four of the patches.

edit: I found an updated version of the tool that fixes a bug with Summer Sun. It also works for a couple more NSMBW patches. And now it even correctly names the output .wbfs image so you can just drop it right onto your HDD for use with a USB loader. https://gbatemp.net/threads/nsmbw-mod-i ... 00.349853/

There's two hiccups: I'm currently in the middle of playing Newer and I don't know how to transfer my save file to my new hard-patched version. I'm either gonna have to continue using Riivolution or start from the beginning. Starting over might not be so bad, I'm only on World 3. I found out how to transfer the save file, see my next post below this one.

And Summer Sun freezes before I get to the title screen. I'll run the tool again for Summer Sun and see if it works. I used the updated tool and it works now.
Last edited by Ziggy on Sat Nov 08, 2014 2:39 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: Just soft modded my Wii, questions...

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Ziggy587 wrote:I'm currently in the middle of playing Newer and I don't know how to transfer my save file to my new hard-patched version. I'm either gonna have to continue using Riivolution or start from the beginning. Starting over might not be so bad, I'm only on World 3.


Excellent, I figured out how to do it.

http://wiibrew.org/wiki/SaveGame_Manager_GX

I loaded Newer SMB from USB Loader GX once and created a save file. Then I used SaveGameManager GX to extract that save file to my SD card. Then I copied the save files from the Riivolution version on top of it. Then I used SaveGameManager to copy the save back to the Wii, and now my Riivolution Newer SMB save works in USB Loader GX!
Last edited by Ziggy on Fri Nov 21, 2014 7:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Just soft modded my Wii, questions...

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So the NAND flash memory inside the Wii... is EVERYTHING stored on that? All IOSes and whatnot?

I'm asking because of my backed up NAND file. I made the backup shortly after hacking it, so really the only thing on it at the time was the HBC. Since then I've installed a few forwarder channels and whatever custom IOSes I needed for USB Loader GX. If I restored my NAND with the backup I have now, I'm assuming it would erase all that stuff. Right? So since I have everything installed now, and it's working without any problems, should I back up my NAND again? So if I ever have to restore it, it'll restore to a point where I have things installed but still operates correctly. I could rename the old backed up NAND .bin with a date and use them as restore points like I would in Windows. Am I right?
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Re: Just soft modded my Wii, questions...

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Yeah, almost everything is on the internal memory. If you back it up, that'll take care of all your current IOS setup and whatnot, just not any apps installed on the SD. Do you have BootMii installed as boot2, or just as an app? If you're able to do the boot2, you're practically brickproof.
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Re: Just soft modded my Wii, questions...

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Yeah, I have BootMii installed as boot2. I know what's stored on the SD card, I was just wondering about everything else like WADs, cIOSes, etc. Alright, I'll make another backup now that I have more things installed. Thanks.
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Re: Just soft modded my Wii, questions...

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So currently I'm using both Devolution and Nintendont for GCN USB loading. At this point in time they each have their own strength and weaknesses. I assume at some point one will be the ultimate/superior method, but until then.

Does any one know anything about Nintendont? I'm wondering exactly what the "force widescreen" mode does. Obviously I'm looking for more info other than "it displays games in widescreen."

I know there's options for supporting a bunch of different USB and Bluetooth controllers, but I currently don't care about any of that. For the meantime (and probably forever) I'm only interested in using actual GCN controllers on my GCN compatible Wii. That being said, when I boot a GCN game all four blue lights on my Wii Remote stay lit the entire time I'm playing the game. Is there any way to get Nintendont to shut off the Wii Remote so I'm not needlessly draining the battery? I didn't see anything obvious in the settings. I guess I could pull the battery as a work around, as annoying as that would be to do every time (and also, if there aren't any bugs that this would cause a problem with the loader).
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Re: Just soft modded my Wii, questions...

Post by Ziggy »

So I realize that a lot of my questions are more technical, rather then the typical how to Wii soft mod questions, and that they'd be better answered on forums and Wikis where the actual devs of the apps post. I just don't like signing up to forums only to make a few posts then vanish forever. I find it kind of rude.

Is any one a member on such a forum? If so, would you mind forwarding my questions there?

I think my only questions right now are about Nintendont: What exactly does "force widescreen" do? And why does my Wii remote stay on after booting a GCN game - Is there anyway to shut it off or will future updates fix this?

______________________________________________________________________

Does any one know if there's any patches or codes to add Classic Controller support for Metal Slug Anthology?

I wanted to pick it up for the Wii, but I was reading about the shortcomings of the controller options. I've read that the Japanese version, Metal Slug Complete, has VC support and also also enables use of the D-Pad on the GCN controller, but it goes for about $100 on eBay and Amazon so... the hell with that.

I have it for the PS2, and although I've read that a lot of people complain about an input lag, I've never noticed it. I like using the PS2 controller, and I even have one of those Neo Geo CD PS2 controllers. My copy is messed up though, I have to get a new one. I'd rather have it on the Wii, but without Classic Controller support I'd rather just get it on PS2 again.


PS: Thanks for everyone's help and input! :D
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