Hacking Wii Game Manager

[Tagischeap]

Yeah, I know, It's weird.
Should I try a different loader?

Speaking of SSBB.
It doesn't let me create wbfs out of it.

dose it matter what format its in?
It seems that wbfs is smaller then ISO.

 

[schooluser]

Yeah, I know, It's weird.
Should I try a different loader?

Speaking of SSBB.
It doesn't let me create wbfs out of it.

dose it matter what format its in?
It seems that wbfs is smaller then ISO.

I think for more information, we need to know about your hardware.

Are you using a drive formatted with WBFS or Fat32?
When you dump the game, are you able to play it from the loader right after you dump it?
Are you using a drive that is on the compatibility list?
What version of wii are you using and have you made sure you have all the necessary ios's installed?

I recommend fat32, and can give you the info you need to set up your drive as fat32, that way you can make sure the files are there properly without any tools, because i've heard the tools that load wbfs can sometimes not work properly on certain PC's.

Also, certain loaders need files to be stored in a certain directory structure.

The way for cfg loader with fat32 is the folder they are stored in needs to be like this:

usb:\wbfs\GAMEID_Game Name\GAMEID_Game Name.wbfs


If your loader can't play the game right after it dumps it, there may be a problem with your drives compatibility and the wii, there's a post on here with all the compatibility info on drives all in one place.

If you're using a drive formatted in WBFS format, then I don't know what kind of problems can arise from that as when I tried it all I got were problems so I switched to fat32.

If you want to list your ios's and their versions and their abilities, there's a homebrew program for that, it will dump a txt file to your sd card.

Try testing alternate methods for loading the games, like copying a really small one to your sd card and loading it from there, to make sure you can load games at all.


WBFS can be smaller than ISO because it is a version of the game with all the extra stuff and empty space ripped out of it, but some games like ssbb don't have a lot of extra space in it. Loaders like cfg usb loader can rip games and put them in multiple files whenever the game is too big for one file like when using fat32. An ISO that has had all the stuff ripped out of it can still report that it is full size, but when you use a program like winzip or winrar to compress it, it will show it's smaller size because all the empty space is compressed.

 

[Tagischeap]

The dumps load fine.
just when I dumped them they appeared as 7-8gb which I though was odd.
so I compressed them using your tool. After that they worked fine. but later on I get blank games on the list.

I'm using a Western Digital 300gb Hard drive docked on "BlacX" usb Hard drive docking station.
The hard drive is in WBFS format, I tried FAT32 but it didn't understand out to work it.
The Wii is one of the newer one's got it after Christmas. Because I cant back up NAND because I cant install Bootmii as boot2 (unless I got that wrong) I'm a bit on edge installing things to the wii, because I cant get it back if it bricks.

Edit:
I started using Wiiflow and they dump at a less ridiculous size.
Also I dont see any empty games on the list.
Edit Edit: Thanks for the help.

 

[Micha085]

Dude, that's a big step backward for people who aren't using your setup. Removing umlauts aside, it's safer to remove the special characters from the directory name so that other programs can work with it well, and because it's just a directory, as long as you can tell what is in it, you really don't need to have every character made the way you want. I don't go back and change all my directory names, I just edit the titles.txt if I want to change how something is displayed. No one really needs to see the directories anyway, that's what this program is for, it manages all that for you.Correctly supporting foreign languages is never a step backward - it's a big step forward!
Sorry - I don't get your argumentation...
You first have titles from titles.txt (or custom_titles.txt) - where all special charactes including umlauts currently gets replaced with '_'.
So you read in something (directory with ISOs, wbfs partition, ...) where correct names were available but then they get "filtered"; the result are "scrambled" and sometimes unreadable titles.
That will not get better if the directory names are created with such "wrong" titles, even if they're "only" directories as you call them.
To say it again: it's not only something you "don't see" - or will you tell me, that it also doesn't matter what the program shows as titles?
It does matter for me!

And if "other programs" are unable to handle special (allowed) character names they have bugs and need to be fixed!

BTW, why would you need to change your directory names?
Keep them as they are now - WGM will still detect the games by their ID - doesn't matter what title is set;
WGM will manage everything for you

(at least I hope it'll detect them by ID, I didn't test it)

I really do appreciate his work and want him to keep going whenever he gets the urge to do soI second that!

as a programmer I know when dealing with customers it can be frustrating to have them overwhelm you with suggestions or annoying you by constantly changing their minds.

I'm a software developer and know how it (sometimes) is - and I think I'm not such a customer.
I don't "constantly change my mind" - it's just that my native language is not English and I think that languages with special "native" characters should be supported by programs.
Often native English speaking developers don't know how to handle other languages .
I then try to bring problems with Non-English languages to their attention - at least my knowledge about it.
(and I can only speak for some European languages - I've no idea how to handle Korean or other Eastern languages)

QUOTE(schooluser @ Feb 16 2010, 07:21 PM)

If you appreciate what he's doing, hit the little "donate" button and show him. I know I will as soon as I get some funds.

I often donate for programs I use and which I like...
What about you?

 

[pccfatman]

If you can do me a favor and send me a text file with the characters that are being filtered that are not supposed to be I will add them to the filtering system.

The file must be saved as UTF8.

Unfortunately the filtering is a necessary evil as windows does not allow many characters in file and folder names. An example is chr(160) which is displayed as a blank space but is different from (crap I forgot, it either chr(20) or chr(32)) which is the space created by the space bar. Both are spaces but chr(160) is invalid in a filename/foldername.
Keep in mind this is just an example and may not be the right chr code

Ed

Edit: I was just thinking about this, I will need a complete alphabet for each language in question, any characters not specifically defined will be filtered. I will have to think on this some so filtering can occur but still allow for foriegn language characters.

I will work on this some.........hmmm.......

Ed

 

[erolz]

nice tool!
thanx.

 

[PJIV]

Would be nice to display the total Est. size of the files selected so we could tell if they might fit or not.

 

[pccfatman]

Would be nice to display the total Est. size of the files selected so we could tell if they might fit or not.

Good Point, Ill fit that in there.
Ed

 

[Emula]

suggested Feature

option to add .cISO files to the drive (as in Custom iso not compact dvd iso)
i managed to snoop up some games like Littlest pet shop wich where cISO and no program so far has been able to read them or put them on the drive

i find it there are simply to many programs lacking this feature


Manageability when using the Original names text the manager changes the game names but doesnt activate this on the hard drive games

Suggestion
when using the original names text add a small button to activate the names on the hard drive to be renamed to the original names from the text

ie. game called RJ2P52 (007 James Bond: Quantum of Solace) to be displayed and changed to that name so the Wii also shows the game as 007 James Bond: Quantum of Solace rather then RJ2P52

Q.
will there be a possibility to dump games from Original game discs directly to ISO or cISO files somewhere later on with this program ?
rawdump 1.2 only works with 4 special types of LG dvd drives wich makes the entire program nearly as useless as trying to find one of those drives

 

[pccfatman]

suggested Feature

option to add .cISO files to the drive (as in Custom iso not compact dvd iso)
i managed to snoop up some games like Littlest pet shop wich where cISO and no program so far has been able to read them or put them on the drive

i find it there are simply to many programs lacking this feature


Manageability when using the Original names text the manager changes the game names but doesnt activate this on the hard drive games

Suggestion
when using the original names text add a small button to activate the names on the hard drive to be renamed to the original names from the text

ie. game called RJ2P52 (007 James Bond: Quantum of Solace) to be displayed and changed to that name so the Wii also shows the game as 007 James Bond: Quantum of Solace rather then RJ2P52

Q.
will there be a possibility to dump games from Original game discs directly to ISO or cISO files somewhere later on with this program ?
rawdump 1.2 only works with 4 special types of LG dvd drives wich makes the entire program nearly as useless as trying to find one of those drives

A) .cISO support is not going to happen any time in the near future unless Ogzee adds that feature to wbfs_file.exe (which he has already stated he will not)
B) The only time filenames are changed is when you are creating/converting files. I plan to add renaming functionality at some point.
C) There is no option for changing the name that is displayed on the Wii because I have no control of that.
D) Unless the functionality for dumping Wii originals is added to wbfs_file.exe this too will not be added to this program. The PC drive simply does not have the capability to read originals at this time. This may change at some point in the future but at this point don't count on it.

Note: This program is a GUI for wbfs_file.exe, without that none of the processing finctions will work. I have added my own code for handling images, titles, printing and many other things, but the core of this program still relies on wbfs_file.

Ed

 

[ragde]

Kinda lazy to go back 20 pages. So i'll ask. I have all my games in a folder. Is there a way that everytime I open the program it would remember the list of games. Kinda like a music program. Take a look at Itunes, Windows Media, Winamp. Everytime I open them I don't have to go looking for my files. Just an idea. Thanks

 

[pccfatman]

Kinda lazy to go back 20 pages. So i'll ask. I have all my games in a folder. Is there a way that everytime I open the program it would remember the list of games. Kinda like a music program. Take a look at Itunes, Windows Media, Winamp. Everytime I open them I don't have to go looking for my files. Just an idea. Thanks

Thanks for the suggestion, I think on it
Ed

 

[ChaosEnergy]

See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException: InvalidArgument=Value of '0' is not valid for 'index'.
Parameter name: index
at System.Windows.Forms.ListView.SelectedListViewItemCollection.get_Item(Int32 index)
at Wii_Game_Manager.frmMain.lv2_MouseClick(Object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnMouseClick(MouseEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ListView.WmReflectNotify(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ListView.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)


************** Loaded Assemblies **************
mscorlib
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3603 (GDR.050727-3600)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v2.0.50727/mscorlib.dll
----------------------------------------
Wii Game Manager
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 1.5.0.2
CodeBase: file:///Y:/wbfs/_copy_script/Wii%20Game%20Manager/Wii%20Game%20Manager.exe
----------------------------------------
Microsoft.VisualBasic
Assembly Version: 8.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 8.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/Microsoft.VisualBasic/8.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll
----------------------------------------
System
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Windows.Forms
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Drawing
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Configuration
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Configuration/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Configuration.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Xml
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3082 (QFE.050727-3000)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Xml/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Xml.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Runtime.Remoting
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Runtime.Remoting/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Runtime.Remoting.dll
----------------------------------------
Accessibility
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/Accessibility/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/Accessibility.dll
----------------------------------------

************** JIT Debugging **************
To enable just-in-time (JIT) debugging, the .config file for this
application or computer (machine.config) must have the
jitDebugging value set in the system.windows.forms section.
The application must also be compiled with debugging
enabled.

For example:





When JIT debugging is enabled, any unhandled exception
will be sent to the JIT debugger registered on the computer
rather than be handled by this dialog box.

clicked a name in logpanel on bottom during downlaoding covers

 

[Micha085]

Sorry that I answer so late, but I was very busy in the last days...

If you can do me a favor and send me a text file with the characters that are being filtered that are not supposed to be I will add them to the filtering system.
The file must be saved as UTF8.Do you still need this?

QUOTE(pccfatman @ Feb 18 2010, 02:11 AM) Unfortunately the filtering is a necessary evil as windows does not allow many characters in file and folder names. An example is chr(160) which is displayed as a blank space but is different from (crap I forgot, it either chr(20) or chr(32)) which is the space created by the space bar. Both are spaces but chr(160) is invalid in a filename/foldername.
Keep in mind this is just an example and may not be the right chr code

As far as I know it doesn't depend on Windows itself but on the underlaying filesystem which characters are allowed and which not.
NTFS does allow a lot of characters, only a few are forbidden (look at "Wikipedia: NTFS" - especially at the box at the right).
Regarding MS (e.g. "MS: File System Functionality Comparison"), FAT32 does also allow the same unicode character set - and does also share the same filename length.
There are some special names which are not allowed (or better: which have to be treated in a special way to use them) like "CON.", but otherwise not much restrictions exists.

BUT: some (strange) restrictions occur depending on the API functions you're using, e.g. when using the stdlib-functions (fopen, stat, etc.) it'll depend on the codepage which characters are allowed and which not - But I don't think this is a problem in WBM as it's an .NET application

So maybe I'm missing something - but could you please explain why the filtering was necessary?
Were there problems with some names? In which programs?

BTW, this URL is also very interesting: MS: Naming Files, Paths, and Namespaces

regards,
Micha

 

[pccfatman]

Sorry that I answer so late, but I was very busy in the last days...

If you can do me a favor and send me a text file with the characters that are being filtered that are not supposed to be I will add them to the filtering system.
The file must be saved as UTF8.Do you still need this?

QUOTE(pccfatman @ Feb 18 2010, 02:11 AM) Unfortunately the filtering is a necessary evil as windows does not allow many characters in file and folder names. An example is chr(160) which is displayed as a blank space but is different from (crap I forgot, it either chr(20) or chr(32)) which is the space created by the space bar. Both are spaces but chr(160) is invalid in a filename/foldername.
Keep in mind this is just an example and may not be the right chr code

As far as I know it doesn't depend on Windows itself but on the underlaying filesystem which characters are allowed and which not.
NTFS does allow a lot of characters, only a few are forbidden (look at "Wikipedia: NTFS" - especially at the box at the right).
Regarding MS (e.g. "MS: File System Functionality Comparison"), FAT32 does also allow the same unicode character set - and does also share the same filename length.
There are some special names which are not allowed (or better: which have to be treated in a special way to use them) like "CON.", but otherwise not much restrictions exists.

BUT: some (strange) restrictions occur depending on the API functions you're using, e.g. when using the stdlib-functions (fopen, stat, etc.) it'll depend on the codepage which characters are allowed and which not - But I don't think this is a problem in WBM as it's an .NET application

So maybe I'm missing something - but could you please explain why the filtering was necessary?
Were there problems with some names? In which programs?

BTW, this URL is also very interesting: MS: Naming Files, Paths, and Namespaces

regards,
Micha

I will work more on the naming, however in the tests I performed the program would routinely crash when an invalid name was used. This is why I originally added that name filters. I have not had a chance to rewrite that code so it remains that way. Hence, A necessary evil to stop the program from crashing until I rewrite those routines.

Ed

 

[pccfatman]

clicked a name in logpanel on bottom during downlaoding covers

Well, don't do that

j/k
The Queue window on the bottom is my current priority. Queue management is really basic at the moment and as you found out, very buggy.
Ed

 

[gac1967]

Hello fantastic program
Just a minor problem when I download the themes and apply them to program they are always hidden ie cant see mario properly

 

[Royusmc]

I have a problem that might have been ask, But I will ask again. When I backup the games to a folder with sub folders and try to display all the games in the sub folder it shows non of the games. I have to point to the game folder it self. This problem was not there in rev 1.4.0.2 but now it is. Please if you have any questions ask as this dose not explain very well. Thanks.

 

[DMzda]

Hello fantastic program
Just a minor problem when I download the themes and apply them to program they are always hidden ie cant see mario properly
You have to enable one of the show cover options to see the picture (I think so anyway)

QUOTE(Royusmc @ Feb 24 2010, 09:25 PM) I have a problem that might have been ask, But I will ask again. When I backup the games to a folder with sub folders and try to display all the games in the sub folder it shows non of the games. I have to point to the game folder it self. This problem was not there in rev 1.4.0.2 but now it is. Please if you have any questions ask as this dose not explain very well. Thanks.

You have to go to Options and tick "Recurse Subdirectories"

 

[Royusmc]

Hello fantastic program
Just a minor problem when I download the themes and apply them to program they are always hidden ie cant see mario properly
You have to enable one of the show cover options to see the picture (I think so anyway)

QUOTE(Royusmc @ Feb 24 2010, 09:25 PM) I have a problem that might have been ask, But I will ask again. When I backup the games to a folder with sub folders and try to display all the games in the sub folder it shows non of the games. I have to point to the game folder it self. This problem was not there in rev 1.4.0.2 but now it is. Please if you have any questions ask as this dose not explain very well. Thanks.

You have to go to Options and tick "Recurse Subdirectories"

Thanks I tryed it again and it work great. I must have done something wrong the first time I tryed the option.