Playing GameCube backups on Wii

I would like to get some of my Gamecube games backed up into the external usb drive and am not sure how it is done. I have read quite a bit about different ways to play iso's but I really still am unclear.

I currently have most of my Wii games backed up onto a 750gb external usb drive and still have plenty of room on drive to add much more. I found that when I softmodded my wii to run Wii iso's, it was a very easy process thanks to the clear step by step instructions that were available to do it. Tried to find similar steps to make Wii run GC isos but nothing I found is clear enough for me to take a chance on doing it. Is there a package download all in one type deal that includes everything needed?????

I have the HBChannel already installed on Wii for starters.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Ah, I remember the first time it took me to figure it out...

Anyway, from last time I tried this, I know that you can currently boot Gamecube backups from a disc you burned yourself, which MUST be DVD-r. Recently however, Neogamma, the backup loader I use, has created a way to load Gamecube backups straight from a SD or USB drive formatted to FAT32.

So look up some tutorial on Neogamma, because I use it alot and is great for running simple backups. Also, I remember I had to install some cios files for it to work, but then again this was WAY back in like 2010. I suggest you research what your doing before you do it, because I messed my wii up a few times

Youtube is a great place for tutorials, and please don't blame me if something goes bad

 

I'll keep trying to find more out before I do start. So, Neogamma would be needed to run GC iso's from usb harddrive? I'll look that up for starters. Thanks for the tip.

My wii is a later model that will not run wii backups from disc so I don't know if it also affects GC burned discs. The best thing for me is to just run the GC iso's from the same hard drive as the wii iso's as there is lots of room left to fill.

 

Hmm...

Neogamma is best with disc based backups, but it has indeed been able to run off of usb's. The only time I've ever ran a GC iso on a usb is to play Phantasy star, but other wise I've always played wii games through a usb like you do.

But yes, it is a great idea to research what your doing before you do it

 

I just realized I have NeoGamma/Wiiflow/Configurable USB/ & USB loaderGX installed on my Wii. I always use configurable USB for my Wii backups and never switched pages on wii home page to see what I actually had.

I did a little more research and it seems that WiiFlow will work for GameCube Iso's. The way I understand it is that it will be able to show the artwork for each game installed, just like the Wii iso's do on Configurable USB.

I will keep reading and will actually do a test game on a standard usb memory stick. I believe GC iso's will have to be run in FAT32 drive, unlike wii.

 

Oh haha
I was going to mention WiiFlow, but literally forgot to mention it

WiiFlow does indeed run GC iso's, but I could never get it to work correctly. There was some special option you have to turn on before the iso could be read off the usb

 

Here's the all-in-one package deal you're looking for (I'm sorry about the lack of external links):

Google: ccabz.wordpress wiiflow mod jumbo plus pack masterpiece
(choose the second one that says ccabz.wordpress. com)

It is comprehensive, but it can be a little difficult to grasp the first time (or several times) you read it, so I advise studying the entire guide before you proceed. In fact, if you follow the guide to the letter, not only will you play Gamecube from your hard drive, but so too will you be able to load a multitude of emulators all in coverflow (movies too) as well as have an emulated NAND that allows you to to have unlimited save data space and load as many WiiWare and Virtual Console games from your HDD as you want (and leaves your Wii impossible to brick).

If you take nothing else from the guide above, just make certain you have installed the IOS, cIOS, and Dios Mios (DM), so Gamecube will function. Anyway, from my experience, Gamecube is maddeningly frustrating to initially set up from a HDD, so here are the lessons that I have personally learned: Not all hard drives can play Gamecube games (I have never gotten a Toshiba drive to play Gamecube), and I recommend Western Digital drives as they have excellent compatibility (I use WD MyPassport 2TB). My HDD is set up with one, single partition set as FAT32 (my Wii games play perfectly fine as space-saving wbfs files on my FAT32 with Wii Backup Manager). In addition, your drive must be set to ACTIVE (type diskmgmt.msc into the start menu, right click the drive and mark as active), and your partition with the Gamecube games must be set to PRIMARY (I recommend one partition with everything on it for best results). Next, on the root of your HDD, there needs to be a folder called 'games' wherein all of your Gamecube ISO's will be placed neatly into their own folders. For instance, 'K:\games\SUPER MARIO SUNSHINE [GMSE01]' is the name of a folder with the inconspicuously titled game inside. Note that the six-character game ID in brackets MUST match the game in order to work. Inside of the folder will be the ISO file of Super Mario Sunshine, but it will be called 'game.iso'. Furthermore, if it is a two-disc game, the sequence will be 'game.iso','disc2.iso','disc3.iso', and so forth, all in the same folder. From my experience, there is another folder called 'sys' that must be present in every game's folder (contains apploader.img, bi2.bin, and boot.bin). If you downloaded Gamecube games, I suggest ripping any one Gamecube game from the disc directly onto your Wii in order to obtain this folder, and then copy the 'sys' folder to each and every other Gamecube game's folder. I don't understand the function of the 'sys' folder, but I do know that my games play properly. To sum up the structure of the folders, they should be: 'K:\games\SUPER MARIO SUNSHINE [GMSE01]\sys\' AND 'K:\games\SUPER MARIO SUNSHINE [GMSE01]\game.iso' in order for each game to work.

Next is game compatibility. Not all Gamecube games can play from a HDD with Dios Mios. Some, like Kirby Air Ride, will leave you screaming into the night, because they won't stop freezing (Kirby works, but not when the file is condensed). Here's the list of games that will and won't work with Dios Mios (sorry again about lack of external links):

Google: dios mios compatibility list

The very first game that I got to play properly was Sonic Adventure DX and recommend it as your test game as you set this up. Otherwise, make sure that the game you choose doesn't have any issues with compatibility. And don't bother attempting to play any game that requires the microphone as there is no compatibility for that. Beyond setting everything up properly, Dios Mios will still freeze and come up with an error message the first (or even second) time you try loading EVERY individual game. So ALWAYS try each game at least twice, because it may work the next time. I have no idea why, but when I first set up Dios Mios, I had to open every game, read the error message, hard reset the wii, open the game again WITHOUT doing anything differently, and then get to play the game. But that was only the FIRST time I opened each game, so perhaps it just configures them?

Regardless, I hope this helps you to get Gamecube working from USB, and that I explained this coherently enough. I remember spending over a month trying to get all of the pieces to fall into place, and trust me: there are a LOT of pieces that have to fit perfectly together. Fortunately for you, Gamecube is only the second hardest thing you can mod a Wii to do (in my opinion). An emulated NAND takes that trophy. Happy modding!

P.S. Both Wiiflow and Dios Mios have updated since this all-in-one package was created, so if you wanted, you could follow the guide through and then update the programs if you'd like. I will also note that I have never used NeoGamma and store ALL of my games on my HDD. I have not taken a single disc out of its case in almost a year.

 

I have installed DiosMios and used CleanRip to get Melee ISO. Now my problem is getting the iso into proper form into the flash drive. I have tried it a couple times with different drives and used Configurable USB to locate the GC iso and am not able to find it. I must be the way I setup the iso into the flash.

Now that I installed DM I cannot load my GC retail disks. I remember in the process of installing DM there was a way to set it to go back to using Disks but don't remember how to get to that option.

 

If indeed you have installed all of the wads to your NAND as described in the guide (which are necessary for DM to function properly), might I suggest inserting the disc into your Wii and using the "install game" function found within Configurable USB Loader? That way, the ISO is extracted in the exact format and placed in the correct location as required by the loader. If the loader offers an option to extract the ISO in its true format (the unmodified, uncompressed, 1.37 GB ISO), I would recommend trying that first as MOST Gamecube games will work perfectly fine without using tools such as DiscEX and DMToolbox (note that those tools should only be used on troublesome games or ones that will still play well in a smaller file size in order to save space).

After installing the game to your drive, remember to remove the disc from the Wii, otherwise you'll be as upset as I was the first time I attempted this when I realized the game ONLY played, because it was still in the Wii...>.>

As for the retail discs not playing, it is because DM overwrites MIOSv10 in order to bypass one of the Wii's protocols. You see, the whole reason that playing Gamecube backups on a Wii in any form is an agonizing process, is because ordinarily the disc drive switches into a compatibility mode in order to read the smaller Gamecube discs. By default, the Wii searches for the disc before proceeding, which serves as an obstacle to anyone wanting to play from a flash drive as the Wii does not know to look there. Overwriting this particular MIOS tricks the Wii into "seeing" a disc is in the slot (hence the flashing blue lights) while DM tells the Wii to read the external drive (hence the pause during the Dios Mios logo). If for any reason, you need to play a retail disc, simply install the MIOSv10 from ModMii or any similar homebrew to reverse this process. Keep in mind that reinstalling MIOSv10 will UNinstall DM.

P.S. I have also remembered that when the HDD is formatted to FAT32, it must ALSO be set to a cluster size of 32KB. This is sometimes already defaulted, but it depends on the drive itself. I recall using EaseUS Partition Master (freeware from its website) in order to adjust this number. Unfortunately, 32KB may not be optimal for the contents of the rest of the drive (e.g. how the data is stored), but happens to be the format the Gamecube itself utilized.