Hacking Questions about USB Loading

[Notyalc]

Well, I'm currently considering buying a HDD for my Wii so that I can use it for loading games.

I'm also planning on trying to use it for usage with WiiMC basically; plonking a copy of my itunes stuff on it (possibly making a decent manual backup of it in effect) & also any other stuff like that (various AVIs & DVDripped stuff)
The main focus is for loading the games anyway, so that's priority.

I've got probably just over 30 Retail games, so guessing most are 4gb most I'd need (rounding in typical HDD sizes) at least a 120gb for those.
Though I do have a heck a lot of Backups with possibly some more of future games (though not sure how many that'd be released what with Wii U on the way, but I'd say under 10 more at most, taking into account me catching up with games)
[I'll try count up the games at some point]




Also, any suggestions for specific HDDs?
I live in the UK BTW, so many US (or otherwise) sites won't sell direct (or without some delivery charge I imagine)

I'm trying to keep it within the £30 mark, but £40 at most (depending on size/value for money).

Ideally, one that doesn't require a power supply!


I do have a 500gb external already (to compensate for my ageing laptop's 80gb), but to have to move that about (& having to give it a power supply) is probably too much hassle (especially with partitioning)- right?




A few things I want to be sure of beforehand:


How is the best way to rip the games?
(I've seen a few which have it as part of the loader, but not as part of CFG loader)

Can I rip from Retail Games & Backups?
As I have a heck of a lot of both, this is quite a deciding point for me.



CFG loader is probably best to use as a USB loader generally, yeh?



Channel forwarders to specific games possible?
If so, with which loaders do they work?
How difficult are they to setup? (Also, they take much space of Wii Internal Memory?)


Will I have to setup the coverart/boxart myself?
Or does it do it for me?
(hopefully; does it for me!

)


Do games take long to load?
(I've not seen it to be that they do, but a rough estimate of how long games take to boot would be appreciated)




Any chance of GC games working through some kind of USB loader? (Doesn't have to be the same USB loader - I don't mind!)



Is there as good a support for loading games as NeoGamma (or otherwise)?
(Admittedly, NeoGamma can load from USB too, which is useful incase CFG doesn't)




Partitioning a Hard drive isn't too difficult?
(I'll have a look on YT for some tutorials too)
With Partitions; if I want to put some itunes' movie/music stuff on the HDD, will I have to put it in a seperate partition? Or can I just put it anywhere within the same partition (assuming not interfering by putting in folders of actual games)?



Does WiiMC play nice with HDDs used for USB Game loading too?


Also, (although a smidge off topic) can WiiMC boot the rip of a DVD? (The actual ISO of a DVD)
Just a thought as I'm likely to ripping more & more DVDs for iTunes & other stuff anyway. (Have to rip to it's ISO anyway, may make a second use of it this way)


Any advice is appreciated, I'm sure a lot of you know more of this better than I do.

Thanks!

 

[zizer]

nvm

 

[Blue-K]

I've got probably just over 30 Retail games, so guessing most are 4gb most I'd need (rounding in typical HDD sizes) at least a 120gb for those.
Though I do have a heck a lot of Backups with possibly some more of future games (though not sure how many that'd be released what with Wii U on the way, but I'd say under 10 more at most, taking into account me catching up with games)
Most Games are way smaller than 4GB after you converted them and removed the Update-Partition. There aren't that many games that are 4GB or over, most are about 2GB or even smaller.

I do have a 500gb external already (to compensate for my ageing laptop's 80gb), but to have to move that about (& having to give it a power supply) is probably too much hassle (especially with partitioning)- right?
There's probably no need to partition it, since NTFS/FAT32/EXT is already supported by nearly all loaders. The games will be placed under /wbfs/, so they are in one spot.

How is the best way to rip the games?
CFG-Loader (and pretty much every other loader) can rip them. Probably the best solution for you.

Can I rip from Retail Games & Backups?
Retail, yes (duh). "Backups" (which they obviously aren't, since you don't own the original. Someone should invent a better word for them), no clue, try it.

CFG loader is probably best to use as a USB loader generally, yeh?
I would recommend it, since it's a stable and good loader, which get's new features often first (like the Block IOS-Reload). Try out the others, then decide yourself.

Channel forwarders to specific games possible?
They don't take that much space, should work with most loaders, can be generated with CRAP (search for it) and installed with Multi Mod Manager. But are a waste of space, imo.

Will I have to setup the coverart/boxart myself?
All Loaders will download them for you, just search for the option.

Do games take long to load?
DVD: 6x. USB: 8x, so they're faster. Also, about 1-2 Seconds until they boot from the loader.

Any chance of GC games working through some kind of USB loader?
Look at my sig.

Is there as good a support for loading games as NeoGamma (or otherwise)?
(Admittedly, NeoGamma can load from USB too, which is useful incase CFG doesn't)
What?

Partitioning a Hard drive isn't too difficult?
1) Don't look on YouTube.
2) As I said before, there's probably no need to partition it.
3) ModMii could probably do this, if you still want to partition it.

With Partitions; if I want to put some itunes' movie/music stuff on the HDD, will I have to put it in a seperate partition? Or can I just put it anywhere within the same partition (assuming not interfering by putting in folders of actual games)?
No, they can be on the same partition, as long as it's NTFS (I'm asuming the movies are over 4GB). Also, use ModMii to mod your Wii, it will help you with everything and answer most of your questions.

Does WiiMC play nice with HDDs used for USB Game loading too?
Why shouldn't it?

Also, (although a smidge off topic) can WiiMC boot the rip of a DVD? (The actual ISO of a DVD)
Yes, it can.

Next time, please search a bit, and use ModMii, which probably would have answered about 90% of your questions.

 

[SanGor]

actually about the GC loader, crediar never really gave up on it and turned it into a front-sd-loader from which basically all games run!

He even made a hack to save to front-sd instead to the gc memcard.

but nothing is released ...

 

[Notyalc]

Found this specifically on ripping backups (through windows anyway)
http://gbatemp.net/t205574-ripping-wii-backup-games
Shall I take it as a definate thing?
(I might have a go at rippping one to see actually)


As for the bit about if a DVD Rip (ISO) can be played through WiiMC - Great! Good to make use of those rips I've got still about (well a few ATM anyway)
(I'm sure it read 'no' first time I read it - maybe just my mistake)



Referring to:

With Partitions; if I want to put some itunes' movie/music stuff on the HDD, will I have to put it in a seperate partition? Or can I just put it anywhere within the same partition (assuming not interfering by putting in folders of actual games)?
No, they can be on the same partition, as long as it's NTFS (I'm asuming the movies are over 4GB). Also, use ModMii to mod your Wii, it will help you with everything and answer most of your questions.


What's NTFS sorry? (I may be mistaken with something else...Want to be sure

)
Movies, if only MP4, AVI or whatever are usually under a gig - formatted mostly for decent quality on iPod, or just however I found them online..


Also, I am planning to use ModMii soon (haven't had chance recently is all)


As for GC USB loading - no big deal for me, I've got Multi-ISO discs which I'll be fine with anyway!

Can I rip from Retail Games & Backups?
Retail, yes (duh). "Backups" (which they obviously aren't, since you don't own the original. Someone should invent a better word for them), no clue, try it.

Had a feeling someone might pick up on that bit!

For the forwarders - don't necessarily want them yet. But thought worth knowing about as it may keep it a bit simpler for anyone else using my Wii (which they do)

And for Boxart - yeh, just skimmed through the CFG thread for it too. Good feature it must be said! Though I'm curious where specifically the database of boxart must be.. (just curious anyway)


QUOTE(Blue-K @ Jun 15 2011, 06:47 PM)

QUOTE(Notyalc @ Jun 15 2011, 07:27 PM)

Is there as good a support for loading games as NeoGamma (or otherwise)?
(Admittedly, NeoGamma can load from USB too, which is useful incase CFG doesn't)
What?

I just meant will it still run most games on it without problems (like Neogamma). And that if they wouldn't run through CFG, Neogamma could (hopefully) run it instead - it has a feature to launch from USB (albeit with a less tidy looking GUI)



Anyone any suggestions towards a HDD at all?
(Brand recommendations would also be useful)

 

[kirbymaster101]

A few things I want to be sure of beforehand:


How is the best way to rip the games?
If you mean backup from disc then rip using a usb loader

Can I rip from Retail Games & Backups?
If your wii doesnt have those new d3-2 chips(basically wiis made after 2008 and all black and red wiis)


CFG loader is probably best to use as a USB loader generally, yeh?
That or usblaoder gx.(Thats what I use) Dont use Wiiflow since it seems to be dead on updates. Uloader also hasnt been updated in a while but can load games off an emulated nand. And Mighty loader only works for WBFS partition.

Channel forwarders to specific games possible?
If so, with which loaders do they work?
Honestly I think Crap is a really good homebrew to use.


Will I have to setup the coverart/boxart myself?
Or does it do it for me?
Well on Usbloader gx just click on the cover and select what you want to download. pretty sure thats how all usb laoders pretty much work for covers.

Do games take long to load?
Retail Disks load 6x, backup discs load from softmod 3x and USb loads faster than 6x so the game will acutally load faster.

Any chance of GC games working through some kind of USB loader?
Well there was DIOS MIOS but that project was adbandoned and still very buggy. While using Swiss(Load GameCube from drive) only works with an SD Gecko or IDE-Exi drive. So basically no.

Is there as good a support for loading games as NeoGamma (or otherwise)?
Way better since you can select different ios to load up games. If you dont have a cios I recommend d2x6 which you can get the homebrew installer here
http://gbatemp.net/t277659-ciosx-rev21d2x-...another-hot-fix? recommend insatll with base 56.


Partitioning a Hard drive isn't too difficult?
(I'll have a look on YT for some tutorials too)
If you're usinh WiiMc you can actually just put all your wii games and music in the same partition. However I recommend 2 partitions. One Fat 32 and Ntfs. NTFS for usblaoder becuase games larger than 4gb wont be split and Fat32 for homebrew apps since most homebrew doesnt support NTFS.

Does WiiMC play nice with HDDs used for USB Game loading too?

what do u mean by that? Its not like you can load USB loader and wiimc at the same time of course it'll be fine.


Also, (although a smidge off topic) can WiiMC boot the rip of a DVD?
If you mean read an iso no, but read a dvd yes. make sure you have homebrew channel 1.0.8 sinche ity has aw_prot.

 

[Bumper]

Well, I'm currently considering buying a HDD for my Wii so that I can use it for loading games.

I'm also planning on trying to use it for usage with WiiMC basically; plonking a copy of my itunes stuff on it (possibly making a decent manual backup of it in effect) & also any other stuff like that (various AVIs & DVDripped stuff)
The main focus is for loading the games anyway, so that's priority.

I've got probably just over 30 Retail games, so guessing most are 4gb most I'd need (rounding in typical HDD sizes) at least a 120gb for those.
Though I do have a heck a lot of Backups with possibly some more of future games (though not sure how many that'd be released what with Wii U on the way, but I'd say under 10 more at most, taking into account me catching up with games)
[I'll try count up the games at some point]




Also, any suggestions for specific HDDs?
I live in the UK BTW, so many US (or otherwise) sites won't sell direct (or without some delivery charge I imagine)

I'm trying to keep it within the £30 mark, but £40 at most (depending on size/value for money).

Ideally, one that doesn't require a power supply!


I do have a 500gb external already (to compensate for my ageing laptop's 80gb), but to have to move that about (& having to give it a power supply) is probably too much hassle (especially with partitioning)- right?




A few things I want to be sure of beforehand:


How is the best way to rip the games?
(I've seen a few which have it as part of the loader, but not as part of CFG loader)

Can I rip from Retail Games & Backups?
As I have a heck of a lot of both, this is quite a deciding point for me.



CFG loader is probably best to use as a USB loader generally, yeh?



Channel forwarders to specific games possible?
If so, with which loaders do they work?
How difficult are they to setup? (Also, they take much space of Wii Internal Memory?)


Will I have to setup the coverart/boxart myself?
Or does it do it for me?
(hopefully; does it for me!

)


Do games take long to load?
(I've not seen it to be that they do, but a rough estimate of how long games take to boot would be appreciated)




Any chance of GC games working through some kind of USB loader? (Doesn't have to be the same USB loader - I don't mind!)



Is there as good a support for loading games as NeoGamma (or otherwise)?
(Admittedly, NeoGamma can load from USB too, which is useful incase CFG doesn't)




Partitioning a Hard drive isn't too difficult?
(I'll have a look on YT for some tutorials too)
With Partitions; if I want to put some itunes' movie/music stuff on the HDD, will I have to put it in a seperate partition? Or can I just put it anywhere within the same partition (assuming not interfering by putting in folders of actual games)?



Does WiiMC play nice with HDDs used for USB Game loading too?


Also, (although a smidge off topic) can WiiMC boot the rip of a DVD? (The actual ISO of a DVD)
Just a thought as I'm likely to ripping more & more DVDs for iTunes & other stuff anyway. (Have to rip to it's ISO anyway, may make a second use of it this way)


Any advice is appreciated, I'm sure a lot of you know more of this better than I do.

Thanks!

WOOT

All of the info you require can be found HERE

 

[Taleweaver]

Man...you sure ask a lot of questions.

It's not really a bad thing, but i suggest not to try to do everything at once. I'd say focus on getting the hard disk. Take a look at the compatibility list and take your pick from one that is confirmed. My reccomendation would be one that doesn't use external power, but that's up to you (the drive won't be slower or faster either way).

i think most (if not all) of your other questions are already answered by others. And I gotta agree that you should do some searching as well. I understand there are many things you want to know and it's good to have a list...but please don't rely on us for everything. Finding it out may seem daunting, but when you look back afterward, you'll see that it's really not that complicated as it first looked.

 

[Blue-K]

actually about the GC loader, crediar never really gave up on it and turned it into a front-sd-loader from which basically all games run!

He even made a hack to save to front-sd instead to the gc memcard.

but nothing is released ...
Oh, nice work

. Though, he was asking about an USB-Loader, that's also why I didn't mention SWISS.

QUOTE(Notyalc @ Jun 15 2011, 09:45 PM) Found this specifically on ripping backups (through windows anyway)
http://gbatemp.net/t205574-ripping-wii-backup-games
Shall I take it as a definate thing?
Should probably work. Try ripping it via CFG first though, much easier if it works.

(I'm sure it read 'no' first time I read it - maybe just my mistake)
Yeah, I misread the question the first time (thought you wanted to rip Movies with WiiMC, which isn't possible). It works, at least last time I checked it.

What's NTFS sorry? (I may be mistaken with something else...Want to be sure

)
The fileysystem you formated your HD with. If you're using Windows (which you probably are using), it's NTFS or FAT32 (more likely NTFS). You can check it from the Explorer (right-click the HD, Infos, or something like that).

Though I'm curious where specifically the database of boxart must be.. (just curious anyway)
WiiTDB.com. You can donate to the site if it helped you a lot, btw

.

I just meant will it still run most games on it without problems (like Neogamma).
CFG has the same compatibility like NeoGamma (in case of loading from USB). WiiPower (creator of NeoGamma) and Oggzee (creator of CFG-Loader) are even working together, at least to some degree.

Anyone any suggestions towards a HDD at all?
http://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/USB_Devices_Compatibility_List

/sight

 

[Notyalc]

WEll, I know I ought to search some more for some things. but some stuff I'm sure I know the answer, but just want to be sure. Like that WiiMC will be fine witha HDD for USB game loading.
I just want to be sure of the possible pitfalls (or at least my own mistakes) which could happen. Just trying to cover all bases really.

Thanks for answering the questions though. I'll try do more research beforehand though in future.


I'll try rip a Backup later, once I get CFG loader onto it
Will I need a premade CFG folder (when using my current drive) to rip to?
Or will it just make one as needed
(Sorry, I know, another question)

As I say for Gc Games, I'll just run my multi-iso discs through Neogamma, it's no problem.


My current HDD (which I'll try out with for now) is NTFS, so should be fine.

I'll also try out Modmii - good to get it up to 4.3E or whatever it ought tobe (4.1 or .2 ATM I think).
The Wii is also aan original December 06 - so shouldn't have problems with Disc Drives either.

As for homebrew being better on FAT32 than NTFS - no problem I'll put HB on either my USB stick or SD card (eventually, all of it's on SD, I just put it on USB to beign with as my laptop has no SD caard slot)


Thanks very much for the help though - Genuinely!

I think that's all of it answered now - Thanks!
I'll try some stuff out soon (& do research first if I've more questions

)


Thanks Again!